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

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• Senate passes bill allowing mobile phone owners to unlock devices

  The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that would allow mobile phone customers to unlock their devices for the purposes of switching carriers.

• US senators introduce bill to expand Wi-Fi spectrum

  Two U.S. senators have introduced legislation aimed at expanding the amount of Wi-Fi spectrum available in a band now designated for intelligent vehicle communications, satellite service and amateur radio.

• Mobile spying apps fuel domestic violence, US senator says

  The U.S. Congress must pass legislation to ban mobile spying apps in order to protect victims of domestic violence, a senator said Wednesday.

• Senator scraps legislation targeting patent trolls

  Legislation aimed at curbing so-called patent trolls may be dead until 2015 after the chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee pulled the bill off the committee's agenda, citing a lack of consensus.

• Senators want to limit companies' use of student data

  Two U.S. senators want to prohibit companies from sharing students' personal data when advertising their products or services and require that organizations holding student data put data security safeguards in place.

• Senators: Comcast deal could mean higher broadband prices

  The proposed US$45.2 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable by Comcast would give the company huge market power to determine broadband prices and Internet content, a group of U.S. senators said Wednesday.

• Carriers say they support mobile kill switch effort

  Executives with three U.S. mobile carriers have voiced support for an effort in the U.S. Congress to encourage mobile carriers to offer services to customers that would render smartphones and tablets inoperable if they're stolen.

• US Democratic lawmakers look to restore net neutrality

  A group of Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives to restore net neutrality rules at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

• Senators want permanent ban on Internet access taxes

  Two U.S. senators have introduced legislation that would permanently extend a current moratorium on Internet access taxes in the country.

• Senators push for changes in NSA data collection

  Several U.S. senators will push for changes in the way the National Security Agency collects the telephone records of millions of U.S. residents, with lawmakers saying they will focus on making the NSA program more transparent to the public.

• US senators demand to know from Clapper extent and benefits of spy program

  A group of 26 U.S. senators, cutting across party lines, are seeking "public answers" on whether the National Security Agency collected in bulk other data such as credit card purchases and financial information in the U.S. besides phone records.

• Senators, Google push for transparency at surveillance court

  A bipartisan group of eight U.S. senators has introduced legislation that would require the nation's attorney general to declassify opinions issued by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in an effort to shed light on the government surveillance programs the surveillance court approves.

• Bill aims to discourage nations from sponsoring cyberattacks

  Three U.S. lawmakers have introduced legislation that would allow President Barack Obama's administration to deny U.S. travel visas to cyberattackers sponsored by foreign governments and to freeze their U.S.-based assets.

• Obama targets so-called patent trolls

  The U.S. Congress should allow new challenges to patents on processes that are enabled by computers, and lawmakers should make it more difficult for patent-holding firms to gain import injunctions at the U.S. International Trade Commission, the White House has recommended.

• Apple defends offshore decisions that result in low taxes

  Apple pays a fair share of the taxes it owes the U.S. and other nations, its CEO said Tuesday, despite criticism from U.S. senators that the company is ducking taxes by shifting profits to subsidiaries that the company does not consider tax residents of any nation.