By Sharona Hakimi

The White House Endorses FCC Plan and Calls for More Broadband Spectrum

Reuters and CNet report that on June 28, President Obama signed a Presidential Memo endorsing the FCC’s goal to free up 500 megahertz of wireless broadband over the next ten years. The memo estimates that the flow of wireless data used in the next five years will increase to as much as 45 times the total bandwidth used in 2009. The memo calls on government agencies to work with the FCC to identify spectrum that could be repurposed or sold, determine the best purposes for the licenses, and explore new ways the spectrum could be used for public safety or deficit reduction. Television broadcasters have resisted previous plans to reclaim their spectrum, but the new White House proposal would instead offer a share of the profits to those that voluntarily share unused spectrum.

Google to Cease Rerouting China Users to Uncensored Portal

Wired and Ars Technica report that on June 29, Google announced plans to stop automatically redirecting Google China users to an uncensored portal in Hong Kong. The announcement came in anticipation of an upcoming renewal deadline for Google’s Internet Conent Provider license in China. In order to keep operating in the Chinese market, Google determined that it needed to accommodate the requests of Beijing officials. Instead of automatically rerouting users to google.hk.com, the new Google China page offers a non-functioning search box: clicking almost anywhere on the page will reroute a user to the Hong Kong site. Although the Hong Kong Google search is uncensored, Chinese firewalls still prevent users from accessing some websites, and access to the website can be periodically unstable.

New Documents in Dell Suit Reveal Knowledge of Faulty Computers

According the New York Times, new documents were recently unsealed in a three-year-old civil case against Dell regarding millions of faulty computers with components that leaked chemicals and caused electrical malfunctions. Dell shipped close to 12 million defective desktop computers to business and government customers between May 2003 to July 2005. Internal memos and other documents unearthed during discovery have recently revealed  that Dell was aware of the flaws and made concerted efforts to conceal the problems from the public. Dell has recently been the subject of an SEC investigation, as well as an external audit that revealed manipulation of financial reports.