Barack Obama

The Obama administration on Saturday issued a veto on a proposed potential ban on a number of Apple products in the U.S., including some iPhones and iPad devices. “After extensive consultations with the agencies of the Trade Policy Staff Committee and the Trade Policy Review Group … I have decided to disapprove the USITC’s determination Continue Reading →

The Federal Communications Commission has been working to beef up internet access across the US, and it’s just voted to move ahead with a proposal that’ll help to bring high-speed internet connections into almost every school in the nation. The proposal would overhaul the government’s E-Rate program, which was established in 1997 to help connect Continue Reading →

237-ish years ago, a great, nascent political experiment fought its way into being. A government of the people, by the people and for the people – just writing the words makes you feel proud. Like many Americans during these past few weeks, I have started to question the state of our Union, and wonder about "the government" in ways I have not wondered about it before. Continue Reading →

NPR has learned that the Obama administration, under pressure to lift a cloak of secrecy, is considering whether to declassify a court order that gives the National Security Agency the power to gather phone call record information on millions of Americans. The document, known as a “primary order,” complements a shorter Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court Continue Reading →

President Obama may still be facing many questions over the NSA surveillance efforts of phone and internet users, but he’s moving forward with another government technology effort that’s not likely to draw quite as much controversy. In an executive order announced on Friday, the president issued a memorandum ordering the government to free up a Continue Reading →

President Obama just delivered his first public statements on the massive government surveillance efforts on internet companies and phone records targeting millions of ordinary citizens, which were revealed by leaked documents published online earlier this week. Answering a reporter’s questions after his speech on healthcare in San Jose, California, the president sought to downplay both Continue Reading →

President Barack Obama thinks American students aren’t connected enough, and that access to faster Internet connections and technologies is crucial in today’s schools. That’s why he wants to make sure that 99% of students have high-speed broadband access within the next five years. “We are living in a digital age, and to help our students Continue Reading →

The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI believe they don’t need a search warrant to review Americans’ e-mails, Facebook chats, Twitter direct messages, and other private files, internal documents reveal.  Government documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union and provided to CNET show a split over electronic privacy rights within the Obama administration, Continue Reading →

A recently released Pew study declared, “The reaction on Twitter to major political events and policy decisions often differs a great deal from public opinion as measured by surveys.”  Sometimes Twitter reaction is more liberal than public opinion, sometimes more conservative, said Pew.  But when it comes to Twitter reaction regarding the 2012 elections and President Obama’s Continue Reading →

In President Obama’s inaugural Fireside Hangout on Google+, he faced the public and answered a bevy of questions along a wide range of topics, including immigration, gun violence, and even technology. One of the five Americans selected to speak with the President happened to be Limor Fried, an entrepreneur and CEO of Adafruit, an electronics Continue Reading →