Congressional investigators told a House panel that FirstGov is inadequately protected from hackers. In recent weeks, GAO reports have roundly criticized the security of most major government Web sites. A federal directive preventing commercial Web sites from accepting personal information from kids under 13 hasn't kept government sites, including the White House, from soliciting the names and addresses from visitors in that age group. The law does not apply to federal Web pages, though many now think it should. After months of whining, the tech industry got its way on the foreign tech worker visa issue when the Senate voted Tuesday to provide up to 600,000 new visas to foreign technology workers over the next three years.
Critics say the measure lets companies undercut the wages of U.S. workers.
The industry says it's in dire need of employees. Olympic officials banned Web sites from offering even short audio reports featuring competition from this year's Sydney Games. EMI, Time Warner drop music deal EU now likely to block Warner-EMI AOL asks FCC to probe Disney Priceline drops the bag Sigh. The announcement doesn't affect other Priceline services. Nor, apparently, does it affect the company's signature William Shatner commercials, which are still running.