TC Roundup: China says tech firms have nothing to fear from anti-terror law

China says tech firms have nothing to fear from anti-terror law: China's proposed anti-terrorism law will not affect the legitimate interests of technology firms, a top Chinese spokeswoman said Wednesday after U.S. President Barack Obama warned of its impact and demanded amendments.

China's proposals, which would require tech firms to provide encryption keys and install backdoors granting law enforcement access for counter terrorism investigations, drew criticism from Obama, who told Reuters in an interview this week China would have to change the draft law if it were "to do business with the United States". (Reuters)

Google wants to make wireless airwaves less exclusive, cheaper: Google Inc. wants to make the wireless industry less exclusive by facilitating the use of cheap airwaves to lower the barriers to entry, a top executive said Tuesday. (The Wall Street Journal)

Facebook is said to be working on competitor to Twitter's MoPub: Facebook Inc. is working on a competitor to Twitter Inc.'s mobile-advertising distributor MoPub, according to people with knowledge of the matter, a bid to win more business in a growing market.

The product is among several advertising moves that may be announced at the company's F8 developer conference this month, though Facebook hasn't yet decided whether it will release it then, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they're not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.(Bloomberg)

Blackberry goes cross-platform as it unveils new devices: Handset maker Blackberry has unveiled an "affordable" smartphone and announced plans for three other devices including a dual curved-screen "slider" phone and luxury smartphone.

The 5-inch $275 BlackBerry Leap will be rolled out in April and is designed for "rising stars" in business, the company said at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday.(CNBC)

"FREAK" security flaw discovered lurking in many computers for decades, Apple promises fix next week: Ugh — another week, another nasty widespread security bug to worry about. The twist this time: this one has apparently been around since the 90s.

Dubbed "FREAK" by the researchers who discovered it, the exploit allowed researchers (and potentially hackers) to sniff traffic going to and from many otherwise encrypted websites — including some government sites — thanks to some stuff left behind from the 90s. (Tech Crunch)