Voices

Panel Seeks to Overhaul Spy Practices

A presidentially appointed panel reviewing U.S. surveillance programs is recommending a significant overhaul of both foreign and domestic spy practices that, if adopted, would amount to a major wing-clipping of the National Security Agency.

Voices

Obama Tries to Ease Silicon Valley’s Concerns Over Spying

President Barack Obama, under fire from Silicon Valley over the government’s surveillance programs, met with technology executives Tuesday to try to ease their concerns about the National Security Agency’s spying operations.

Microsoft Veteran DelBene Tapped to Run Health Care Site

The former head of Microsoft’s Office division reports to work tomorrow.

Voices

Obama to Meet With Tech Giants Over Surveillance, Obamacare

President Barack Obama, facing growing pressure from Silicon Valley, will meet Tuesday with executives from Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and other technology and telecommunications giants to discuss their concerns about America’s surveillance operations.

Voices

As Deadline Expires, Problems Persist With Health Site

Technicians in the Washington area raced up to a month-end deadline set by the Obama administration to make the troubled federal insurance website work for a majority of users, but officials acknowledged they still faced a raft of problems that could take weeks or more to fix.

Voices

Hollywood Presses Anti-Piracy Trade Measures With Obama

Entertainment executives meeting privately with President Barack Obama Tuesday asked him to ensure copyright protections are enshrined in new trade agreements and help facilitate better relations between Silicon Valley and Hollywood, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Voices

Obama Nods to Rocky Start on Health Law

President Barack Obama acknowledged his frustration Monday with the technical problems that have hampered the online health-insurance marketplaces, but pledged that the issues would be resolved and the Affordable Care Act would prove successful.

SNL’s Winners and Losers From the Government Shutdown (Video)

Nothing like a good old-fashioned government shutdown to create an opportunity for some equal-opportunity political skewering.

Federal Government Shutdown Idles Some Tech Projects, but Not Others

Weather prediction? Yes. Health-care enrollment? Yes. Tweeting about food safety? Not so much.

News Byte

Have a Housing Question for President Obama? Vine It, Zillow Says.

Online real estate site Zillow will host a housing-related Q&A with President Obama on Wednesday, and it’s getting all social media-y with the question-submission process. The company says it will take questions for the president delivered through tweets and Facebook posts with the hashtag #AskObamaHousing. But because more social media integration is apparently always better, Zillow is welcoming video submissions on Vine, Instagram and YouTube that you then share to Facebook or Twitter. The chat is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 am PT, and will air at Yahoo.com, Zillow.com/WhiteHouse and WhiteHouse.gov.