liberty

Feathers fly in IAC-Liberty Media cockfight

In what may shape up to be one of New York media's most colorful feuds of 2008, IAC/InterActiveCorp Chief Executive Barry Diller and one of its most high-profile stockholders, Liberty Media head John Malone, are at each other's throats Mean Girls-style. And they've brought both their legal and PR teams along for backup.

A vicious press release from IAC on Tuesday morning said that Liberty "has gone off the deep end" in its attempt to control the company's board and oust Diller from his role, and that Malone's cable giant "will … Read more

Cheney: Telecoms deserve immunity for NSA aid

Yet another brawl is brewing among congressional Democrats and the Bush administration over enacting a controversial spy law that would immunize telephone and Internet companies from lawsuits alleging wrongdoing.

With barely a week before the Protect America Act--a six-month-long expansion of electronic surveillance law--expires, the White House has been ratcheting up pressure to renew and further expand that law.

It started Tuesday with a new press release that warned: "The terrorist threat does not expire February 1, and neither should legislation critical to keeping our nation safe."

And it continued on Wednesday by sending Vice President Dick … Read more

B&W liberates its speakers

Yet another nail has been placed on the coffin of the poor old wire, and this time it's British speaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins wielding the hammer. B&W have been showing off their wireless Home Theater in a Box solution, The Liberty. The system can handle up to eight separate channels, allowing a full 5.1 setup in one room with a two-channel system in another. Four speakers will be available when the system launches at the end of 2008: the floor standing XTW8, the bookshelf XTW2, the XTW Center and the PVW1 Sub. The system looks … Read more

Review: 2008 Jeep Liberty Sport

The Jeep Liberty Sport has been redesigned for 2008 to look even more macho than its predecessor. The longer, wider, squarer, (and cheaper) Liberty gets an imposing front profile, some notable cabin tech options including Chrysler's MyGig system, and an available Sky Slider roof, giving all passengers an open-top driving experience. Check out our full review and video of the Jeep Liberty Sport.

Senators shelve vote to shield corporate wiretap collaborators

Update 12:42 p.m. PST: A key U.S. Senate panel on Thursday pushed back a hotly anticipated vote on a new proposal to shield telephone and Internet companies from lawsuits alleging illicit cooperation with federal spying programs.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had planned to consider the bill, known as the FISA Amendments Act, at its morning business meeting. The lengthy measure, among other things, would effectively crush the pending lawsuits against companies like AT&T and Verizon, as well as some ongoing investigations by state utility commissions into their practices. It was already approved by a 13-2 … Read more

Republican senator: Should taxpayers pay for illegal spying?

WASHINGTON--Despite demands from President Bush to shield telephone and Internet companies from surveillance-related lawsuits, key U.S. senators are reluctant to offer legal immunity. But they may force taxpayers to pick up the legal tab instead.

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the co-chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said at a hearing here Wednesday that they still don't have enough information to decide whether it's wise to immunize any past assistance by telecommunications providers to a wide swath of U.S. government agencies over the last six years.

That's precisely what would happen, however, … Read more

Privacy questions stall 'spy satellite' plans

Score one for the skeptics on the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee.

Under fire from politicians citing privacy worries, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is delaying plans--previously slated to kick in Monday--to begin making detailed spy-satellite images available to a wider range of government agencies.

A Wall Street Journal report in August first revealed publicly that the agency planned on October 1 to open what it has dubbed the National Applications Office (NAO), drawing a rash of questions from politicians who complained they had been left out of the discussion. (Homeland Security has maintained, however, … Read more

President Bush rallies for immortal spy law changes, telco protection

President Bush this week ventured by helicopter to the National Security Agency's Maryland headquarters, where he made a public, photographed, 6-minute plea to Congress: Make expanded Internet and phone surveillance powers permanent.

Without an extension of the "tools" provided by the Protect America Act, which is set to expire February 1, "our country will be much more vulnerable to attack," Bush said Wednesday, according to the White House's transcript of his remarks.

The president said Congress must heed the repeated statements by Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell about the importance of the temporary … Read more

Spy chief: Oops! FISA changes didn't aid arrests

Earlier this week, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told a Senate committee that a recent expansion of electronic snooping law helped lead to a recent trio of terror arrests in Germany.

Now he's publicly admitting that he was wrong, which may complicate the Bush administration's efforts to renew and further expand the controversial new law.

"The Protect America Act was urgently needed by our intelligence professionals to close critical gaps in our capabilities and permit them to more readily follow terrorist threats, such as the plot uncovered in Germany," he said in a statement issued … Read more