executive director

The Obama administration on Tuesday gave the public a peek at the Bush administration's classified plan to secure the nation's computer systems, but the newly revealed list of broad goals provided few surprises and key provisions remain secret.

The decision to publish a summary of the cyber initiative on the White House blog came just a month after the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking release of the computer security document.

The state of New York has opened up its electrical grid allowing further net-metering with the passage of a bill in the state legislature following a "Net Metering Summit" in the state last year. Among other provisions, the new regulations cap interconnect fees for small facilities under 25 kW, and allow non-residential wind- and solar-power projects to participate in net-metering arrangements.

A student who set up a Facebook page to complain about her teacher -- and was later suspended -- had every right to do so under the First Amendment, a federal magistrate has ruled.

The ruling not only allows Katherine "Katie" Evans' suit against the principal to move forward, it could set a precedent in cases involving speech and social networking on the Internet, experts say.

The courts are in the early stages of exploring the limits of free speech within social networking, said Howard Simon, the executive director of the Florida ACLU, which filed the suit on Evans' behalf.

Intel and Nokia are combining their Moblin and Maemo operating systems to create a unified Linux-based platform that will run on a wide range of mobile computing devices, including advanced cellular handsets, netbooks, tablet computers, TV sets, and in-vehicle infotainment systems. Called MeeGo, the new open-source platform is expected to launch on next-generation devices from Nokia and perhaps other vendors in the second half of this year.

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Internet search giant Google has tapped government agencies to help the company find the person or people responsible for a recent cyberattack. But privacy advocates are not happy with the backdoor partnership between Google and government authorities.

Google is working with the National Security Administration (NSA), according to published reports. While the company admits it's working with relevant U.S. authorities on the cyberattack, Google would not disclose which agencies are involved.

It's official -- and ahead of schedule. The Symbian mobile operating system is now completely open source. The Symbian Foundation on Thursday released Symbian 3, the latest version of the platform.

With the open-sourcing of Symbian, along with Google's Android operating system, the mobile world continues forging an open strategy that invites handset makers to further customize and differentiate their products.

A research organization that tries to warn computer users about programs that do sneaky things on their computers has spun off from Harvard University.

StopBadware says it will operate as a standalone nonprofit with funding from Google Inc., eBay Inc.'s PayPal and Mozilla, which makes the Firefox Web browser. It was initially set up as part of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society.