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President Barack Obama asked his Cabinet to help him find more ways to use his executive powers.

“You’ve already seen the power of some of our executive actions making a real difference for ordinary families,” President Obama said. “We’re going to have to be creative about how we can make real progress.”

The President is increasingly relying on executive orders and regulatory moves to move his agenda, despite opposition from House Republicans, who have threatened to sue him over his executive actions, and the Supreme Court, which just ruled that President Obama’s recess appointments were unconstitutional.

“The people who sent us here, they just don’t feel as if anybody is fighting for them or working them,” he said. “We’re not always going to be able to get things through Congress … but we sure as heck can make sure that the folks back home know that we are pushing their agenda and that we’re working hard on their behalf.”

The virtual currency bitcoin is now legal in California. Gov Jerry Brown (D-CA) has signed into a law a bill that will allow businesses and individuals to use bitcoin in transactions.

The bill -- from Assemblyman Roger Dickinson -- repeals a state ban on using currency that is not “the lawful money of the United States.”

The Assembly's report on the bill notes the popularity of bitcoin -- which "has gained massive media attention recently as the number of businesses has expanded to accept bitcoins for payment" -- as well as the "frequent shopper" reward programs.

After the one-sentence bill passed the Assembly 52-11, Assemblyman Dickson touted the bill as recognizing the popularity of virtual currency.

“In an era of evolving payment methods, from Amazon Coins to Starbucks Stars, it is impractical to ignore the growing use of cash alternatives,” he said.

The Federal Communications Commission is taking another step to make the Internet more accessible, voting in July on rules for closed captioning online video clips.

The vote, planned for the FCC’s July meeting, is the result of a years-long push -- and Chairman Tom Wheeler's personal interest -- to increase accessibility online. But the companies that would have to do the legwork to get the closed captions on online videos are warning the FCC to avoid unreasonable technological demands and timelines.

A coalition of privacy groups is ranking lawmakers over their stance on surveillance reform as they press Congress to pass legislation. Twenty-one groups -- including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Reddit and the Sunlight Foundation -- released a Congressional Scorecard that assigns lawmakers a grade based on their support for surveillance reform measures.

Some of the high scorers include surveillance critics Reps Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Justin Amash (R-MI) and Suzan DelBene (D-WA), as well as Sens Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

The leadership of the Intelligence Committees -- Senate committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), House committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) and ranking member Rep Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), who have defended the surveillance programs -- received failing grades.

“We believe that people have a right to know whether their members of Congress are doing their jobs and helping to end mass spying,” the groups said on the new site housing the scorecard. “Our scorecard shines a light on all members of Congress, allowing citizens of the Internet to see whether their elected representatives stand as champions or roadblocks to real surveillance reform.”

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) will release its next analysis of US spying programs soon.

The new report from the PCLOB, which declared that the National Security Agency’s (NSA) phone records collection program was illegal, will examine the agency’s collection of foreigners’ data.

The analysis comes as the Senate continues debate on legislation to overhaul the NSA’s operations and could provide ammunition to reformers looking for major changes.

The PCLOB’s report “will contain a detailed analysis” of programs targeting foreigners authorized under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, it said. The government has cited that section of the law as authorization for its controversial PRISM program, which allows agents at the NSA to tap into networks at Facebook, Google and other major websites to scoop up information.

“It will address the Section 702 program's development and operation, statutory basis, constitutional implications, and whether it strikes the right balance between national security and privacy and civil liberties, and will make recommendations for policy reforms,” the PCLOB announced.

A group of Democratic lawmakers is backing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler as he pushes for municipal broadband networks, despite state laws that may stand in the way.

“Communities are often best suited to decide for themselves if they want to invest in their own infrastructure and to choose the approach that will work best for them,” the lawmakers said. Signatories include Sen Ed Markey (D-MA), Reps Mike Doyle (D-PA), Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA).

Rather than being inhibited by state laws, “local communities should have the opportunity to decide for themselves how to invest in their own infrastructure,” including working with incumbent Internet providers, creating public-private partnerships and creating their own networks.

A coalition of privacy advocates have come out against a new Senate cybersecurity bill that critics say ignores the revelations about US surveillance. In a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee, 22 privacy groups warned against taking up the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act.

That recently introduced bill from Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) would make it easier for companies to share information about cyber threats with each other and the government.

In their letter, the groups -- including the ACLU, the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation -- said the bill would allow for more information sharing with US intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA) despite public backlash over NSA surveillance. “Instead of reining in NSA surveillance, the bill would facilitate a vast flow of private communications data to the NSA.”

The Federal Communications Commission’s complex and highly anticipated 2015 airwave auction is “absolutely not a train wreck,” according to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.

FCC Commissioner Clyburn said that the agency “must be vigilant” as it prepares for the first-of-its-kind auction in 2015. That auction will involve the agency purchasing airwaves from television broadcasters, repackaging those airwaves and then selling them to spectrum-hungry wireless companies looking to boost their cellphone networks.

Much of the attention surrounding the auction has focused on whether the FCC would limit how much spectrum certain wireless companies -- namely industry giants AT&T and Verizon -- can purchase through the auction. At its May open meeting, the FCC voted 3-2 to limit those companies’ participation.

The limitations were less than those originally proposed by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler after Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel pushed for lessened limits in the hopes of driving up the auction’s revenue, which will go toward funding a nationwide network for first responders.

On the other side of the auction, some are worried about the incentives TV broadcasters have to show up to the auction and sell their airwaves at all.

Rep Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) doesn’t see Congress moving a bill to protect consumer privacy anytime soon.

“We’re not doing that,” Rep Lofgren said.

Earlier in 2014, the Administration renewed previous calls by President Barack Obama for baseline consumer privacy legislation through its report on Big Data. That report -- initiated after the administration faced public backlash over government surveillance practices -- called on the Commerce Department to work with the private sector to develop legislative proposals.

Rep Lofgren said that there is no enthusiasm in Congress for such a bill at the moment. “Do you see any appetite to do that? No,” she said. That appetite might increase based on consumer reactions to evolving, and potentially privacy-threatening, technologies, she acknowledged. “Consumer reaction … will shape what goes on,” she said.

High-speed broadband Internet can be vital to gay, lesbian and transgender people struggling to understand their sexuality and gender identity, Rep David Cicilline (D-RI) said.

Rep Cicilline, who is gay and one of the co-chairs of the congressional LGBT caucus, said that the Web can be especially important for people in countries where homosexuality is illegal. He urged Congress to do what it could to allow as many people as possible to get online.

“It has particularly important significance... in places where gay and lesbian and bisexual people -- transsexual people -- live in dangerous, repressive conditions,” he said. “Access to the Internet may be the salvation for these individuals to connect and understand that there are other places to be, other people who are experiencing the same kind of challenges.”

A recent report from the LGBT Technology Partnership and Institute called for the government to ensure that computers at schools and libraries allow people to search for LGBT information, make more of the nation’s airwaves available for public use and make sure that people’s privacy is protected online, among other recommendations.