Technology, Obama Administration | featured news

The Obama administration said consumers should be allowed to unlock smartphones and tablet computers without risking criminal penalties, siding with critics of a ruling from the U.S. Library of Congress.

The Obama administration unveiled plans Wednesday to create an elite corps of master teachers, a $1 billion effort to boost U.S. students' achievement in science, technology, engineering and math. The program to reward high-performing teachers with salary stipends is part of a long-term effort by President Barack Obama to encourage education in high-demand areas that hold the key to future economic growth - and to close the achievement gap between American students and their international peers.

To minimize identity theft, the Obama administration is urging Internet companies to agree upon and adopt a standard, reliable identity-verification system that people can use for any website. Each person would choose one company, perhaps their e-mail service provider, to handle credentials for sensitive personal or financial information on other sites.

The Obama administration has opened a virtual embassy for Iran to encourage dialogue with the Iranian people.

A computer glitch corrupted the State Department's annual worldwide lottery for U.S. immigrant visas and the results will be scratched, the Obama administration said Friday, disappointing tens of thousands of would-be immigrants who were notified this year that they had won a chance to come and live legally in the United States....

The Obama administration is expected to announce Internet privacy regulations as well as a new position to oversee what would be a more aggressive government involvement with the Internet, according to a published report.