The New York Times reports that Russias efforts to expand Glonass, Russias version of the widely-used Global Positioning System, could be all but halted in the US due to the nations latest defense budget bill. The bill, signed into law on Thursday, would require the US secretary of defense and the director of national intelligence to provide a waiver ensuring that data transfer between the Glonass stations is not encrypted, and certify that they pose no threat to national security, among other requirements. Last year, Sony added Glonass positioning to several of its Xperia handsets, claiming that the additional data offered by Russias satellites compliment the US GPS system.
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