President Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to work together to strengthen cybersecurity protections and promote a peaceful order online on Wednesday. The pair committed to sharing more information and incident data between the two nations in order to combat the growing cyber threat, according to a joint fact sheet released by the White House.
The two nations joined Australia in launching a trilateral initiative to fund new research and development for cybersecurity. The two leaders also condemned Iran and Syria for censoring their citizens' free speech online and committed to spreading the benefits of technology across the globe. Both countries will also collaborate to promote better access to data on health care, in hopes of improving patient outcomes.
BBC Official Suggests Iran Behind Cyberattack: BBC Director General Mark Thompson suggested Iran was behind a sophisticated attempt to disrupt the BBC's Persian service at a speech on Wednesday. Thompson reportedly accused Iran of threatening Persian service workers last month and "repeated jamming of international TV stations such as BBC Persian TV, preventing the Iranian people from accessing a vital source of free information." Taiwan-Based Firm Convicted for LCD Price-Fixing: A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Taiwan LCD producer AU Optronics Corp and its American subsidiary of participating in a five-year scheme to fix the prices of LCD screens worldwide, according to the Department of Justice. Seven other firms have already plead guilty to charges arising from the Justice Department's investigation, and agreed to pay $890 million in fines. Because the jury found the gain due to the conspiracy was at least $500 million, the company faces a fine of up to $1 billion. Senate To Debate House IPO Bill on Thursday: CQ's Ben Weyl reports the Senate will consider a capital measure (HR 3606) passed by the House on Thursday that would make it easier for startups and small firms to raise capital and eventually go public. Republicans had criticized Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for delaying the legislation, which passed the House with strong bipartisan support. The White House released the statement below, expressing hope the two sides can reach a compromise. Quotable: “The bill passed in the House last week includes a number of provisions that the President proposed months ago as a part of the American Jobs Act to help startups and small businesses get the capital they need to expand and hire. The President strongly supports the efforts of Senate Democrats to find common ground by supporting the most effective aspects of the House Bill to increase capital formation for growing businesses while also improving the House bill to ensure there are sufficient safeguards to prevent abuse and protect investors. We also urge both sides to vote to reauthorize the Export-Import bank which will help thousands of American businesses and achieve everyone’s goal here of ensuring American businesses can stay competitive." -- White House Spokeswoman Amy Brundage