Smart phones are hip, trendy, and loaded with user-friendly apps. But these devices also collect and store your personal information, leaving huge security gaps.

The prevalence of spyware in mobile technology and  social networking sites has huge implications as a privacy issue, since users have no way of knowing who's peeping, or for what purpose. New concerns over mobile and Internet privacy have been raised at the federal and state level, and there's already push-back from some of the major players in the tech industry.

Privacy please

Last night, Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in the special election to fill Teddy Kennedy’s senate seat in Massachusetts. Coakley’s loss puts health care reform in jeopardy.

With Coakley’s defeat, the Democrats lose their filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate. However, as Paul Waldman explains in The American Prospect, Coakley’s loss is not the end for health care reform.

Al Franken as Senator and why not him?  Today the Minnesota Supreme Court  unanimously declared Al Franken as winner (pdf) and Norm Coleman has conceded.  This takes any pressure off the Governor who will sign the election certificate.

It's been a long time coming but it is looking like any day now we might start the Al Franken Decade (well, Senate terms are actually only six years).   Franken is the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labour Party Candidate (there is no simply "Democratic Party" in Minnesota) and he took on former Democrat, now Republican, Norm Coleman in what is now Minnesota's longest ever election.

Yesterday, Senate Republicans prioritized human life over anti-abortion grandstanding and confirmed Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services. When the world totters on the brink of a pandemic, slow-walking the future health secretary begins to look unseemly.

As Dana Goldstein reports in TAPPED: "Sebelius' confirmation has been delayed as her home state Republican legislature has forced her to deal with a series of abortion-related bills. Her latest pro-choice veto inspired a Republican backer of her nomination, Sen. Sam Brownback, to hint that he may change his mind and vote "no" on her appointment."

by Lindsay Beyerstein, TMC Mediawire Blogger

Of all the hurdles facing healthcare reform in 2009, the U.S. Senate is arguably the most formidable. But the prospects for passing a healthcare bill this year have brightened noticeably over the past few days, thanks to a senate seat pickup in Minnesota, solidifying support for the budget reconciliation strategy, and tentative overtures towards bipartisanship from key Republicans.