By Tom Loftus
Michael Reynolds/EPA
Congress to Introduce Spyware Bill: A bill to restrict U.S. exports of technology that can be used to censor the Internet or conduct user surveillance will be introduced in the House soon, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The bill would also require that companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges disclose their internal policies on human rights, including what they would do if a repressive regime asked for personally identifiable information of its citizens.
The bill comes after a series of articles here in the Journal about how certain Mideast and North African countries have used Western products to block Internet access and monitor user online activity.
The Journal notes that previous attempts to bar U.S. companies from enabling political censorship in authoritarian countries have stumbled. Likewise, efforts by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to develop a blueprint for industry self-regulation have failed to draw broad support. [WSJ, The Surveillance Catalog / WSJ]
Some Fear a Glut in Tech ‘Incubators’: The Wall Street Journal talks to some Silicon Valley players who say that incubators–start-up “boot camps” which provide early funding and advice– are churning out too many companies with similar ideas.
“It’s the same idea in different flavors,” tech investor Bill Lee tells the Journal. [WSJ]
Carrier IQ Tracking Software Story Spreads: Experts are racing to determine which phones use software that a security expert claims has the capability to track user actions. Earlier this week Trevor Eckhart released a video detailing how telemetry software from a company called Carrier IQ was capable of tracking keystrokes. On its website the company claims that its software is pre-installed on over 141 million phones.
Forbes talks to a law expert who says that Carrier IQ’s actions are likely grounds for a class action lawsuit based on federal wiretapping law. [The Verge, Forbes]
Google Chrome Surpasses Firefox: Google’s web browser is now number two in popularity, taking 25.69% of the world-wide market, according to analytics company StatCounter. The top browser, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, holds 40.63% of the global market. [TechCrunch, WSJ]
Apple Speaks on Siri Abortion Issue: The company has told the New York Times that the failure of the iPhone 4S’s virtual assistant to retrieve information on abortion clinics was not intentional, but the result of kinks in the software. Meanwhile, the ACLU has launched a petition asking Apple to fix the glitch. [Bits / New York Times, CNet]
Another Case of iPhone Self-Combustion: A user in Brazil has recently reported that his iPhone was shooting out sparks after he plugged it in overnight to charge. This is the second case in the last two weeks. The first reported case happened on a regional flight in Australia where an iPhone “started emitting a significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow.” [Wired, Digits / WSJ]
Article source: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/12/01/tech-today-congress-to-pursue-spyware-exports/?mod=WSJBlog
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