Good morning tech

Good morning!

Advance look: Distracted-driving push coming to Capitol Hill next week. Democratic Reps. Carolyn McCarthy (N.Y.) and Nita Lowey (N.Y.) are welcoming companies who say distracted-driving bills must be narrowly tailored to avoid banning beneficial technologies. Heading to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the companies will make this point: If distracted-driving regulations are too onerous, technologies that reduce crashes could be banned from cars. Companies say lawmakers have been receptive to that message. “There is no reason for any life to be lost due to distracted driving. We are a smart nation and the technology is available, we just need put it to work to save lives," McCarthy, who has introduced distracted-driving bill, told The Hill. Companies heading to Capitol Hill include Ford and Nuance. Read more in The Hill: http://bit.ly/bru3CK.

Rep. Hank Johnson commends Apple for App decision. Apple revised its rules for iPhone and iPod software applications on Thursday, possibly in reaction to mounting competition from Google's Android mobile platform. The rules will allow developers to use more programming languages and removes restrictions on which advertising services can provide ads for iPhone applications. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy, praised Apple's decision. "Today's announcement is a great first step in ensuring that the mobile device market remains vibrant and competitive," he said. http://bit.ly/bxbiEA

ECPA hearing on tap. The Senate Judiciary Committee will consider how to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act later this month, hearing from Microsoft and the Commerce and Justice departments. Microsoft and other companies invested in cloud computing, such as Google, want an update in part because they see users' discomfort with the privacy dimension of cloud computing, which stores user data online rather than on their desktops, as a main barrier to adoption.

Internet service providers plan lobbying spree. Broadband providers will send their chief executives to Capitol Hill next week to argue that net-neutrality rules are not necessary and could hurt job creation, trade associations announced Thursday. The trade association officials said it's a critical period to get that message across, as the FCC delays its net-neutrality rule-making process to seek additional data. "This is really, really important to our industry, especially in these economic times," said Danielle Coffey, vice president of government affairs at the Telecommunications Industry Association. http://bit.ly/bKTSDK

Web users spend more time on Facebook than Google. Americans spent more total minutes surfing on Facebook than using Google's various services during August, according to estimates from comScore.com. July was the first month in which Facebook had passed the search giant on the rankings; Yahoo came in third but showed a decrease of 3 percent from last year. http://bit.ly/c0Zr6r

Executive notes

Agencies showing more interest in Google Apps. Google's recent federal security certification and efforts to ramp up its salesforce inside the Beltway have resulted in more agencies showing interest in Google Apps, according to the search giant's federal enterprise team. Services such as Gmail and Google Docs are appealing to agencies seeking to move their in-house messaging and collaboration suites to the cloud, which can reduce costs by up to 50 percent. http://bit.ly/aqdQ0Y

Hill notes

Craigslist removes 'censored' tag from its adult services section. The online classifieds site Craigslist has removed the word "censored" from its adult services section even though the controversial listing service remains blocked to users. The House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for next week about sex trafficking that will address the Craigslist issue. http://bit.ly/cmGoW4

Industry notes

Military bans sale of video game on bases. Soldiers seeking a copy of the new "Medal of Honor" game out on Oct. 12 won't be able to pick it up at their base's exchange shop; the military has banned sale of the game on its bases because of an option in multiplayer mode that allows users to play as a Taliban fighter and take aim at American soldiers. The latest edition in the popular series is set in modern Afghanistan; previous versions were set during World War II and allowed users to play as either a member of the Allied forces or the Nazi regime. http://bit.ly/ccNg6W

IG says DHS networks full of security holes. A new report from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general shows the team in charge of protecting the government's networks is facing hundreds of vulnerabilities in its own systems, mostly due to a failure to apply software patches and updates in a timely fashion. The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has subsequently installed the patches and updates their policies to allow for more frequent updates. http://bit.ly/cjoAvA

HP bribery probe expands. Hewlett-Packard disclosed Thursday that a U.S. government investigation of possible bribes paid by the PC maker to Russian officials is wider than previously reported, according to The Wall Street Journal. Both the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating claims HP officials paid bribes to secure a contract with the prosecutor general of the Russian Federation. German and Swiss authorities have been investigating the allegations for the past two years. http://bit.ly/aIB0Gg

SAID

"If everyone uses Google Instant globally, we estimate this will save more than 3.5 billion seconds a day. That’s 11 hours saved every second."

—Google on its new search feature Google Instant, which displays search results as you type. google.com/instant

WATERCOOLER

ZUCK — A former Harvard classmate of Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder, panned the upcoming movie about his rise in a Daily Beast commentary. The movie is "is paranoid, sleazy, and grim," she said. 

Trying to correct the record on Zuckerberg, she talks about his reputation in college. "There are always a handful of kids at Harvard who are notorious before arriving on campus, and Mark was among them. As a student at Phillips Exeter Academy, Mark had created an adaptive music player (think iTunes Genius), prompting Microsoft to offer him a few million dollars and a job, which he turned down to go to college. This, we thought, was cool and rebellious," she writes. She adds that Zuckerberg's college nickname was "Slayer" because he tracked down organizational dues from his frat brothers. http://bit.ly/9sNkCb