POLITICS: U.S. Lifts Restrictions on Web Services Eli Clifton WASHINGTON, 9 Mar (IPS) - After U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's January address on the role of internet freedom in U.S. foreign policy, the Barack Obama administration appears to be taking the first steps to introduce specific legislation and policies to exploit the role of the internet in opening up those countries ruled by oppressive or authoritarian governments. more...   U.S.: Gov't Sued Over Cell Phone Tracking William Fisher NEW YORK, 22 Feb (IPS) - If you are a U.S. resident who owns a cell phone, you should care about the outcome of a court case that "could well decide whether the government can use your cell phone to track you - even if it hasn't shown probable cause to believe it will turn up evidence of a crime." more...   U.S.: Telecom Lobby Tests Pledge of Transparency William Fisher NEW YORK, 15 Feb (IPS) - Despite President Barack Obama's pledge in his State of the Union address last month to "require lobbyists to disclose each contact they make on behalf of a client with my administration or Congress," the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says the Obama administration has been "fighting hard to stop the release of the names of these representatives." more...   MIGRATION: Lost in the Desert? There's an App for That Enrique Gili SAN DIEGO, California, 5 Feb (IPS) - Over the past two decades, Ricardo Dominguez has made a career for himself tweaking the sensibilities of government officials and developing software tools meant to disrupt the status quo. more...   MEDIA: Foreign News Channels Drawing U.S. Viewers Haider Rizvi NEW YORK, 29 Jan (IPS) - Television viewers in the United States seeking international news are starting to switch over to foreign channels to learn what is happening in the outside world, media watchers here say. more...   US-CHINA: Spat Escalates Over Internet Freedom Eli Clifton WASHINGTON, 26 Jan (IPS) - The stern warning given to China by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemning internet censorship and responding to allegations that Chinese hackers had accessed Google email addresses has received a pointed response from the Chinese government, raising questions over what the next move will be for Google, the United States, and U.S. firms that do business in China. more...   U.S.: Clinton Criticises China over Internet Censorship Eli Clifton WASHINGTON, 22 Jan (IPS) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech Thursday laying out the Barack Obama administration's position on internet freedom, and publicly called on Chinese authorities to investigate the security breaches which preceded last week's decision by Google to end its cooperation with Chinese internet censorship. more...   HAITI: Social Networks Offer News, and Comfort Garry Pierre-Pierre* PORT-AU-PRINCE, 19 Jan (IPS) - On Tuesday, Jan. 12, a small story from the Associated Press came across the wires that an earthquake had hit Haiti. Almost instantly, phones began to ring as Haitian Americans started calling each other to find out if there was more to this story. more...   MEDIA-US: Afghanistan Dominated TV Foreign News in 2009 Jim Lobe* WASHINGTON, 7 Jan (IPS) - Afghanistan and the U.S. military escalation in the civil war there dominated foreign-related news coverage by the three major U.S. television networks in 2009, according to the latest annual review by the authoritative Tyndall Report. more...   DEVELOPMENT: Clinton Lays Out U.S. Strategy Jim Lobe* WASHINGTON, 6 Jan (IPS) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday pledged to make development, along with defence and diplomacy, "a central pillar" of U.S. foreign policy and results, rather than ideology, a guiding principle in devising development policy. more...