"That effort was in our opinion the most sophisticated effort to date of a government entity analyzing the uniquely 21st century problem of cybersecurity and outlining a path forward," ISA President Larry Clinton said in a statement. "It is primarily for this groundbreaking work that the Internet Security Alliance has decided to honor Melissa today." As part of the review, the administration announced it would tap a White House official to coordinate the federal government's cybersecurity efforts and in December named Howard Schmidt to the post.

Hathaway, who also served under former President George W. Bush, left the administration in August. While noting the work done in recent months, Hathaway said in a statement Tuesday that "I feel like we have lost the sense of urgency of this situation. A full-spectrum threat requires a full-spectrum response, and it requires a mobilization of all of the resources that this country can bring to bear and it requires strength, leadership and bold steps moving forward."

Markey's bill (H.R. 4619) would require the FCC to create three pilot programs aimed at expanding Internet access and narrowing the digital divide. The first pilot program would require the distribution of vouchers to low-income students to purchase residential broadband service. The second would use a competitive grant program to extend funding for broadband equipment and services to some community colleges and Head Start facilities that can show the need and an ability to incorporate broadband use into their educational programs. And the third pilot called for in the bill project would enable some E-Rate applicants servicing low-income students to apply for discounted services and technology for the use of e-books.

The bill also would adjust the cap on the current E-Rate program to increase with inflation and also make changes to the application process. Markey, who authored the original E-Rate legislation included in the 1996 telecommunications act, said the program has helped to boost Internet access in schools. The number of elementary and high schools with Internet access has gone from only 14 percent when the bill was enacted in 1996 to more than 95 percent today, he said.

"This critical bill will help narrow the digital divide by increasing the range of the latest telecommunication services and devices accessible to low-income students, including residential broadband services and e-books incorporated into students' classroom lessons," Markey said in a statement.

"It makes it easy for the American people to visually track progress on the deadlines to date," Aneesh Chopra said in post on the White House blog. "The dashboard also links to each agency's Open Government Web page, where the public can find more details on the steps taken to implement the [open-government] directive."

After launching Version 1.0 of the dashboard after "just 60 days," Chopra said "the next big step" will be to evaluate each agencies' open government plans, which are due April 7th. He said after agencies meet the deadlines set out for the first 120 days of the initiative, Version 2.0 of the dashboard will "deploy a more holistic set of metrics, informed by agency [open-government] plans. Identifying the right set of metrics will help steer agencies toward high-impact efforts in the years to come."

The commission, the European Union's regulatory arm, praised the steps taken by the 20 Web sites that signed on to the "Safer Social Networking Principles" proposed by the commission last year but said more needs to be done to protect teens online. In particular, the commission is urging social networking sites to make profiles of minors visible only to their friends by default.

"Last year the European Commission urged companies to act, and I am glad that many have heeded this call," EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding said in a statement. "However, I expect all companies to do more. Minors' profiles need to be set to private by default and questions or abuse reports have to receive quick and appropriate responses."

• "Google Inc. is taking a swipe at Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. with a new feature that makes it easier for users of Gmail to view media and status updates shared online by their friends," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports.

Google has dropped its "equipment recovery fee" on the Nexus One to $150 from $350 for customers who cancel or downgrade their wireless service contracts within 120 days, while those who break the contract after that time will not have to pay any fee. However, customers will still have to pay a separate early termination fee of $200 to T-Mobile, according to the AP.

Last month, the FCC sent letters to several wireless phone providers including Google, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless seeking information to determine whether consumers are adequately informed about early termination fees. "We're glad Google has lowered their fee as a direct response to [the] FCC inquiry," Free Press Policy Counsel M. Chris Riley said in a statement. "This is clear evidence that the wireless industry needs an active cop on the beat to look out for consumers."

The grants, being funded from the $7.2 billion in broadband money included in last year's economic stimulus package, will help fund the construction of 575 miles of new high-speed Internet infrastructure in southern Virginia, the department said. "Building-out the broadband capacity in Southwest and Southside Virginia is a critical piece of our effort to expand economic and educational opportunities in rural parts of our state," Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a news release.

One grant worth $16 million, which will be enhanced by $4 million in matching funds from the applicant, will go to the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative to add 465 miles of new fiber-optic lines to an existing 800-mile fiber-optic, high-speed network. The new lines will connect 121 elementary and high schools to the existing network, allowing for new distance learning and virtual classroom opportunities, Commerce said. The other $5.5 million grant, matched by $1.4 million from the applicant, was awarded to the Virginia Tech Foundation to add 110 miles of open-access, fiber optic lines between Blacksburg, Va., and Beford City, Va., which will connect Virginia Tech University's main campus to its medical school near Roanoke, Va.

During the Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the broadband funding, Strickling indicated that one of the seven criteria the agency will use in the second round will be whether a proposed project is in an "economically depressed area." Rhode Island's unemployment rate hovered at 12.9 percent in December, the third worst in the country, according to the Providence Business Journal. The NTIA must be listening because it announced Friday that Rhode Island has been awarded a $1.2 million grant to expand broadband Internet access to 71 public libraries in the state.

"This funding comes as libraries are playing an increasingly important role in our communities by offering such assistance as help with writing resumes and searching and applying for jobs online," Reed said in a statement issued by NTIA. Strickling also noted the importance of Internet access to job seekers, adding that the broadband stimulus grant will "open up more opportunities for Rhode Islanders to participate in distance learning, online training and other online applications."

At the same hearing, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told the subcommittee that he expects every state will receive at least one broadband grant, as stipulated by the economic stimulus package legislation. NTIA also announced Friday a $5.9 million grant to expand broadband access at South Carolina technical colleges. The grant will expand broadband capacity at 51 public computer centers and "create 19 new computer labs at the South Carolina Technical College System's 16 member colleges."

The House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee held a morning hearing on the Comcast-NBC deal, while the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee held an afternoon session examining the proposed merger. Comcast Chairman CEO Brian Roberts and NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker appeared at both hearings.

During the House hearing, lawmakers appeared generally split along party lines over the proposed union of Comcast, the nation's largest video service provider, and NBC Universal, the country's fourth-largest entertainment company, CongressDaily reported. Despite this, several Republicans called for approval, while the worst thing Democrats could say was that the transaction should be closely scrutinized and heavily conditioned.

At the Senate Hearing, Zucker and Roberts received a tongue-lashing over the consequences of their proposed merger from Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who worked as a writer and performer in years past for NBC's "Saturday Night Live" show. Franken questioned whether the companies would live up to the public-interest commitments they've made to federal regulators to win approval of the merger, according to CongressDaily.

In his recap of the hearings, Harold Feld of Public Knowledge claimed Zucker had "told a little fib" when he told House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., that the management of the free, online programming site Hulu, owned partially by NBC, decided to block access last year to users of the online site Boxee because it was illegally taking Hulu content. Feld argued in a blog post that Zucker acknowledged in a May news interview that he had a hand in Hulu's decision because he was concerned about NBC content being streamed via Hulu to television sets.

"The Department of Justice's filing recognizes the progress made with the revised settlement, and it once again reinforces the value the agreement can provide in unlocking access to millions of books in the U.S.," according to a joint statement from Google and the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. They added that if the settlement is approved, it will "significantly expand online access to works through Google Books, while giving authors and publishers new ways to distribute their works."

Justice, which filed comments with the federal court hearing litigation over the Google books project, said in a statement that the proposed revised settlement "eliminates certain open-ended provisions that would have allowed Google to engage in certain unspecified future uses, appoints a fiduciary to protect rights holders of unclaimed works, reduces the number of foreign works in the settlement class, and eliminates the most-favored nation provision that would have guaranteed Google optimal license terms into the future." Despite this, the department said the "changes do not fully resolve the United States' concerns," which include issues with class certification, copyright and antitrust.

David Balto, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, came to Google's defense, saying in a statement issued by Google that the Justice Department "is simply wrong on the ability of a class action settlement to address forward-looking business arrangements." Balto added that the department also erred in pointing to a "supposed competitive advantage the settlement confers on Google. The DOJ's view is clouded by taking a microscopic and static view of an incredibly dynamic marketplace."

The department said in its filing that "the amended settlement agreement suffers from the same core problem as the original agreement: It is an attempt to use the class action mechanism to implement forward-looking business arrangements that go far beyond the dispute before the court in this litigation."

The proposed agreement, between Google and the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, would settle a class action lawsuit filed in 2005 by authors and publishers who fear Google would infringe on their copyrights by making books available online. The parties proposed a settlement in September, but the Justice Department recommended that the court reject it. Google filed an amended settlement in November. The court has scheduled a Feb. 18 hearing on the revised settlement.

In a statement, the Open Book Alliance, which opposes the settlement, applauded the Justice Department's filing saying, it will "help to preserve competition, promote innovation and protect the public interest. The Department of Justice has made it crystal clear that the proposal before the court is overreaching and cannot be approved." The alliance members include Amazon.com, Microsoft and Yahoo, as well as some library, writer and publishing groups. John Simpson with Consumer Watchdog also praised the department in a statement for "standing firm in opposing this private deal that unfairly benefits the narrow agenda of one company" and predicted the court will reject it.

• "The chief executives of NBC Universal and Comcast received a tongue-lashing Thursday from a former NBC comedian-turned-senator who lectured them about the consequences of their proposed merger," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., "questioned during a hearing whether the companies would live up to the public-interest commitments they've made to federal regulators to win approval of the megamerger."

• "Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, addressing the worries of department employees whose personal information was released on the Internet, told them Thursday, 'These failures are simply unacceptable,'" the Washington Post reports.

Ballmer appears to have made the most of his Washington visit. He also met with a group of about 15 House Republicans including Washington Rep. Dave Reichert, whose Seattle-area district includes many Microsoft employees. Reichert, a member of the House Ways and Means Trade subcommittee, said in an interview that Ballmer talked about the importance of free trade and for Congress to approve pending trade deals. In addition, Reichert said Ballmer discussed his concern with a White House proposal to reform rules that allow U.S. firms to deduct the costs of their overseas operations and defer paying taxes on those overseas profits until the revenue is brought back to the United States. Ballmer indicated that changes to this tax provision could cost lots of jobs, Reichert said.

Reichert said Ballmer also discussed the flap involving Google and China. After revealing last month that it was the victim of cyber attack originating from China, Google said it would stop censoring its search results for users in China. Ballmer indicated his firm is watching the issue but was not asked whether his firm would follow Google's lead, Reichert said. Ballmer did say that Microsoft is concerned about the protection of its intellectual property in China. Reichert noted that Ballmer said Microsoft could make 10 times the revenue as it does now if China would, at a minimum, follow the lead of another Asian country, Indonesia, in protecting intellectual property. China has been criticized for its lax protection of intellectual property.

Women can sign up for the text4baby service by texting to 511411 (or BEBE for Spanish). They will receive three free SMS text messages each week timed to their due date or baby's date of birth that will focus on such issues as nutrition, seasonal flu prevention and treatment, mental health issues, risks of tobacco use, oral health, immunization schedules and safe sleep. The service also will provide information on public clinics and support services for prenatal and infant care.

"Text4baby represents an extraordinary opportunity to expand the way we use our phones, to demonstrate the potential of mobile health technology, and make a real difference for moms and babies across the country," federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, who announced the new service at a health technology conference, said in a statement.