Grant Gross

A bill before the U.S. Senate targeted at spyware needs some fine-tuning, with part of it seemingly allowing broadband providers and computer software and hardware vendors to scan users' computers without authorization, a couple of spyware experts said.

A trade complaint has been filed against the European Union by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), saying the E.U. has violated a World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement by taxing the import of some tech products.

Population density and the cost of broadband are some of the factors that contribute to U.S. residents lagging behind several other nations in buying high-speed Internet service, but the government can take some steps to improve the numbers, according to a report released last week.

Partly because of a lack of markets for some electronic materials, many discarded electronic devices in the U.S. wind up being dismantled overseas using crude and unsafe methods, e-waste experts told a congressional committee on Wednesday.

Recruiting and retaining employees was a big topic of discussion at the FOSE technology-in-government trade show this week as the U.S. government is facing a potential worker shortage in the coming years.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced last week that a former education consultant from California has been sentenced to serve seven-and-a-half years in prison for rigging bids and defrauding a U.S. government program designed to help schools and libraries in poor areas connect to the Internet.

A health privacy initiative has been launched by the Center for Democracy and Technology, which said that privacy needs to be a higher priority as the U.S. government and other groups push for adoption of health IT as a way to improve the country's health-care system.

A Web site and campaign designed to persuade physicians to switch from paper-based prescriptions of medications to electronic prescribing has been launched by five medical organizations.