Good morning tech

CAN’T-MISS NEWS

Financial overhaul targets minerals used by Intel and Apple: An amendment included in the financial overhaul bill completed on Friday aims to force high-tech manufacturers to reconsider the use of minerals that could be fueling violence in Congo. The language mirrors a bill introduced by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) requiring companies to make annual Securities and Exchange Commission disclosures about what materials they use and the origin of certain minerals.

Sen. Bond: DHS shouldn’t oversee cybersecurity: The Department of Homeland Security is already overburdened and shouldn’t be put in charge of protecting the country’s computer networks, according to Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.). “Frankly I don’t think there are a lot of senators or House members with confidence that Homeland Security is the proper organization” to oversee federal cybersecurity, Bond told Hillicon Valley. Bond’s words were aimed at the cybersecurity bill approved Thursday by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

White House lifts ban on how agencies can track users online: The White House updated its policies Friday on how agencies can interact with citizens online and track their movements using online “cookies.” The guidance signaled an end to the government’s decade-old ban on pieces of data collected from website visitors known as cookies. Federal websites may now collect personal information from users who opt-in, but may not track their activity on non-governmental websites. Federal Web managers have advocated for allowing the use of cookies for several years.

SAID

“Byrd’s words lit up the Internet.”

— In a 2003 Time magazine piece, Matthew Cooper looks at how, despite his age, the late Sen. Robert Byrd became an “Internet icon” drawing online “throngs” after he raised concerns about the Iraq War during the Bush administration.

SCHEDULED

…3 p.m. National eHealth Collaborative conference call to discuss the National Health Information Network. Call in: 866-699-3239. Access/Event code: 666 129 690. Webinar available online. 

…12:15 p.m. Lawrence Summers delivers tech address at the New America Foundation. 1899 L Street N.W., Suite 400. 

…6:30 p.m. Copyright panel at the New America Foundation. 

NUMBER PUNCH

23: The percentage increase in online crime complaints to the FBI between 2008 and 2009, according to the latest FBI report.

660,000,000: Dollars lost as a result of those crimes for 2009.

FOR THE WATERCOOLER

FEES: Verizon recently got bad press over a report that it charged a Marine’s widow an early termination fee. She canceled her service when she moved home to be with her family, where Verizon service was not available. Verizon imposed an early termination fee even when “I told them the situation with my husband. I even said I would provide a death certificate,” the woman told a reporter. However, once the reporter contacted Verizon’s press department, voila, the decision was reversed.