U.S. Congress - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Surveillance court extends NSA's phone records collection

  A U.S. surveillance court has extended a controversial telephone records dragnet while the National Security Agency works to wind down the program on orders from Congress.

• US appeals court rules against NSA phone records collection

  The U.S. National Security Agency's program to collect domestic telephone records in bulk was not authorized by Congress in the Patriot Act, an appeals court has ruled.

• Civil liberties groups oppose bill ending NSA's bulk phone records program

  Legislation intended to end the U.S. National Security Agency's bulk collection of domestic telephone records is drawing opposition from several unlikely sources, digital and civil rights groups.

• ACLU: NSA phone dragnet should be killed not amended

  The U.S. Congress should kill the section of the Patriot Act that has allowed the National Security Agency to collect millions of phone records from the nation's residents, instead of trying to amend it, a civil liberties advocate said Friday.

• Coalition gears up to oppose trade legislation pushing Trans-Pacific deal

  Protests over a controversial international trade agreement have taken on new urgency in recent days, after U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation that would give President Barack Obama's administration broad authority to negotiate the deal.

• Congress moves quickly on cyberthreat information sharing

  The U.S. Congress is moving forward quickly with legislation that would encourage private companies to share cyberthreat information with government agencies, despite concerns that two leading bills weaken consumer privacy protections.

• US lawmakers push for auctions of gov't spectrum

  A group of U.S. lawmakers has reintroduced legislation aimed at encouraging government agencies to give up their spectrum by allowing the agencies to share in the profits when the spectrum is auctioned to commercial mobile carriers.

• Tech groups renew push for cloud, email privacy protections

  This may finally be the year that the U.S. Congress gives email and other documents stored in the cloud for several months the same privacy protections from police searches as newer files or paper records stored in a file cabinet, say backers of electronic privacy reform.

• Republican bill would overturn FCC municipal broadband decision

  It didn't take long for congressional Republicans to attack the Federal Communications Commission's vote to strike down two state laws that prevent municipal broadband networks from expanding.

• Both sides make last-minute push on Net neutrality

  The clock is running down on the chance to lobby the US Federal Communications Commission before it votes on putting stronger net neutrality rules in place, and both sides of the battle are making sure their voices are heard.

• Republicans call on FCC to release net neutrality proposal before voting

  The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission should release his proposed net neutrality rules to the public before the commission votes in late February, three top Republican lawmakers said Friday.

• Obama promises to promote net neutrality, broadband

  U.S. President Barack Obama promised to push for net neutrality rules and for more transparency in the government's surveillance programs during his State of the Union address late Tuesday.

• Republican net neutrality bill allows 'reasonable' network management

  Draft net neutrality legislation released Friday by Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or selectively slowing legal Web content, but it would allow them to engage in "reasonable" network management.

• Republican bill: Net neutrality protections without reclassifying broadband

  Top Republicans in Congress plan to introduce legislation that they say will ensure net neutrality protections for Internet users and will spur U.S. economic growth.

• Obama calls for US data breach notification law, privacy bill of rights

  U.S. President Barack Obama will push Congress to pass a law requiring companies that are victims of data breaches to notify affected consumers within 30 days and a second law that gives consumers more control over their digital data, he said.