Hasta La Gadget!

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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It is being reported that Twitter is internally testing a two factor authentication security system which will be incrementally rolled out to users in the near future. Two factor or two step authentication safeguard accounts from hacking attempts in a far better way than just passwords alone. It is not clear when Twitter plans on rolling it out, but a sense of urgency is being reported, given the recent string of high profile Twitter accounts being hacked.

Yesterday the Associated Press @AP account was hacked and a bogus tweet about bombings at the White House was posted. In recent weeks several high profile accounts have been hacked, including that of 60 Minutes and the BBC. The two factor authentication solution is currently being beta tested for influential accounts such as The New York Times, the Associated Press and Justin Bieber. It is not known how Twitter will implement this solution, it can be assumed that users will be required to pre-register a device which will receive a randomly generated code either through SMS or through an application. Entering this code along with the password would be required when signing in from a new location, this will certainly be much more effective than a mere password.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: McAfee Patented Technology Will Detect And Block All Pirated Content, Facebook Testing Chat Presence Dots In News Feeds,

Breaking: The White House has Vined! The White House has Vined! It’s a predetermined fact that all political entities will eventually seize to every form social media in an effort to “speak to kids”. And the White House totally killed the casting for its first Vine. More »

The recent ruling that effectively bans third-party phone unlocking has ruffled more than a few feathers, and the people have spoken with their electronic signatures — 114,322 of them, to be exact. Now the petition to the White House, which asks that DMCA protection of phone unlockers be reconsidered, has finally received an official response, and it appears that it’s for the positive. The author of the letter is R. David Edelman, Senior Advisor for Internet, Innovation and Privacy.

“The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties,” Edelman writes. All told, the response matches that of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which wrote a letter to the Librarian of Congress in support of extending the exemption last year.

So what does this mean for us? Edelman states: “The Obama Administration would support a range of approaches to addressing this issue, including narrow legislative fixes in the telecommunications space that make it clear: neither criminal law nor technological locks should prevent consumers from switching carriers when they are no longer bound by a service agreement or other obligation.” We’re not going to see immediate change, but it appears that a chain of events is now in motion in which the FCC and Congress potentially play a huge role. We’re not out of the woods yet, but it’s relieving to see such a positive response — along with a call to action — from the government.

Read the response in its entirety below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Source: White House

International diplomacy may feel like schoolyard antics, but the participants do have something a little heavier to throw at each other. After President Obama signed an executive order to improve national cyber security, the White House is now reportedly opening the box marked Trade and Diplomatic Sanctions, which it’ll lob at any country that’s found to be appropriating US trade secrets. The executive has published a report, outlining a dozen thefts from companies such as GM, Ford and DuPont, fingering China as being behind a majority of them. If the hacking persists, then James Lewis, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the White House should deny visas or access to US banks to Chinese people and corporations — making us wistful for the courtroom dramas of yore.

Update: We’ve corrected the story to correctly attribute the comments made by James Lewis.

Filed under: Misc, Internet

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Via: WSJ

Source: White House (.PDF)