September 2007

Google Deputy General Counsel Nicole Wong took a brief break from her busy trip to Washington on Friday afternoon to meet with a small group of reporters at the Internet search giant's D.C. office.

A day earlier, David Drummond, Google's vice president for corporate development, squared off against Microsoft General Counsel Brad Sherman at a hearing on Google's proposed $3.1 billion bid for the DoubleClick online advertising firm.

With the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee showdown still fresh in her mind (and ours), Wong responded to suggestions made by some industry and consumer advocates that the merger should hinge on specific conditions.

"I don't think there should be conditions on this deal [from an antitrust perspective]," she told us over an assortment of Corner Bakery sandwiches and cookies. Google's rivals similarly acquired firms with no strings attached, she pointed out.

Yahoo recently bought ad firm Right Media; America Online acquired the European-based player Adtech AG online and behavioral targeting firm Tacoda; and Microsoft paid $6 billion for the Web ad provider aQuantive.

The National Association of Broadcasters released the first of its digital television transition TV spots this week. The videos were sent to stations nationwide last week in an effort to boost consumer awareness of the Feb. 17, 2009 switchover. After a gentle nudge from yours truly, the spots were put on YouTube too. See above.

A posting on the social networking site MySpace that appeared to threaten the judge in music producer Phil Spector's murder trial has become the latest twist in the lengthy case, the AP reported.

On Tuesday, court officials disclosed the posting, which stated "I love Phil Spector" and "The Evil Judge should die!" The message was on a MySpace page called "Team Spector" and was taken down, officials said. The judge in the case is Larry Fidler.

Sheriff's investigators were looking into the messages, which were signed "xoxo Chelle," AP reported. Spector's wife is named Rachelle, but one of his defense attorneys, said she denied having anything to do with the notes.

Specter is charged with second-degree murder in the February 2003 death of actress Lana Clarkson. The case went to the jury on Sept. 10 and the jury could not reach a decision.

The 1991 Supreme Court copyright case, Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service, served as the basis for quite a bit of the discussion at an intellectual property summit held Friday by the Software and Information Industry Association.

At issue was whether Feist had copied information from Rural's telephone listings after Rural had refused to license the information. Rural sued Feist and the high court ruled that information in Rural's white pages was not copyrightable.

In all of the intellectual property policy roundtables that I've covered in recent memory, Feist has never come up. It may be acknowledged as a precedent-setter by those "in the know," but references to the ruling have obviously waned.

When someone mentions Feist these days, folks may think of Canadian crooner Leslie Feist whose tune "1234" is featured in the new Apple iPod ads. Her creative, colorful video is posted above.

Read more about the SIIA event in Technology Daily's PM Edition.

Say sayonara to Cinematube.net and Ssupload.com -- two Web sites that allegedly facilitate copyright infringement. The Motion Picture Association of America filed lawsuits against them this week in a California federal court.

It is estimated that Cinematube, believed to be operated out of Georgia, averages more than 24,000 unique users per day who view more than 85,000 pages of content. Ssupload's servers are in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the site averages 55,000 daily visitors who view over 190,000 pages of content, MPAA said.

Cinematube and Ssupload both highlight on their sites the availability of the latest in pirated movies that are frequently still in theatrical release. Both get significant profits via third party advertisers and user donations.

"No matter how you slice it, the sole purpose of these sites is to disseminate and profit from creative content that has been illegally reproduced and distributed," MPAA Executive Vice President John Malcolm said. Both sites were still online Thursday evening.

The only trade association representing Microsoft, Google, DoubleClick, aQuantive and many others in the Internet advertising industry reaffirmed its commitment to consumer privacy and the role that the industry plays in the U.S. economy on Thursday.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau's comments came on the same day a Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee examined the pending $3.1 billion Google-DoubleClick merger. The plan has spurred complaints from rivals like Microsoft as well as some high-tech watchdogs (See Technology Daily's PM edition for more).

"The interactive advertising industry is proud of its long-term commitment to the protection of consumer privacy and to the fundamental principles of relevancy, transparency and accountability," IAB President Randall Rothenberg said. Web ads are the "principal pillar that supports the delivery of free, rich Internet content, as well as free access to unparalleled products and services."

The 2006 IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report showed Internet ad revenues reaching nearly $17 billion, a 35 percent increase over the same period from a year before. The surge continued an annual growth rate that has reached as high as 40 percent over the past three years.

MySpace and MTV brought a whole new level of accountability to a presidential townhall format Thursday. Technology has given voters more ways to ask candidates questions, but this was the first time they could rate the answers in real time using an online widget on MySpace.

New Hampshire college students asked questions ranging from genocide to health care during the hour long interview with vice presidential candidate John Edwards. Edwards wore jeans for the occasion and stood on a small platform featuring a screaming mouth bursting amid red and white rays with students surrounding him.

Host Gideon Yago invited online viewers to use the polling widget on MySpace to show "if you're feeling spun or inspired by his answers." Chris Cillizza, a political blogger for the Washington Post, announced that Edwards' answer to a question about Katrina recovery was a hit online, with most viewers giving giving him a thumbs up and 63 percent saying he had good ideas.

Utah Republican Orrin Hatch went straight to the source on the Senate floor Thursday in a speech opposing a proposal targeting hate crimes -- the source anyone can edit, that is.

Hatch was speaking about legislation by Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy, which he believes would be "unwise, unnecessary and unconstitutional." To make one of his points, he cited the definition of "gender identity" on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia edited by readers around the globe.

The site has been used lately for a variety of political tricks. But it's not often that a politician cites the resource in discussions about policy. That may have something to do with the running disputes about its accuracy.

At one point last year, the Wikipedia entry for Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., claimed he was 180 years old. The entry cited by Hatch, though, closely mirrored the one for the same topic in Encyclopedia Britannica.

Hatch, himself a musician, finished his speech about the hate crimes bill by invoking the Rolling Stones classic, "You Can't Always Get What You Want." In that song, Mick Jagger reminds us that if we try sometimes, we can get what we need.

This nugget of wisdom might have applied to what he was saying about the bill, but it certainly doesn't seem to work for Wikipedia. Because if you can't find what you want there, can't you just write something up yourself and say that it's true? -- Michael Martinez

This is the latest report from the National Journal/NBC reporters embedded with the campaigns of top presidential contenders and in two key states.

Yogi Berra stole the show at the first house party webcast for Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday evening. "We want an Italian president," the Yankee legend said in introducing Giuliani to what the campaign said was 1,000 house parties in all 50 states.

Speaking from a party in New Jersey, Giuliani reiterated his campaign's focus on being offensive against terrorism and shrinking the size of government.

His first question came from another famous voice, comedian Dennis Miller, who suggested that the best way to end the threat from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad "is to have [Democratic campaign consultant]Bob Shrum run his re-election." Shrum has worked on seven losing presidential campaigns, including the 2000 race by former Vice President Al Gore.

"The first thing I would do is not invite him to the inauguration," Giuliani said of Ahmadenijad, in a jab against Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Giuliani said the way to deal with terrorist leaders is to "ostracize, not engage."

Miller seemed convinced. "I know Yog feels it ain't over til it's over, but in terms of this election, it's over," Miller said. "You're it."

In an odd moment, Giuliani took a question from a nine-year-old about what he would do as president, and wound up speaking about how citizen vigillance against terrorism helped prevent the Fort Dix terrorism plot earlier this year. -- Matthew E. Berger

By Aswini Anburajan
© National Journal Group Inc.

It's not just Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama who believes in the power of Barack Obama. Republican John McCain believes in it, too. The McCain presidential campaign has at least two different advertisements with Google AdWords that use Obama's name to direct users to McCain's Web site.

AdWords are text-based advertisement that appear on a viewer's screen next to the list of Google search results. Advertisers bid on search terms using an automated process based on what users are searching for at that moment; placement of the ads is determined by who won the bid and the relevance of the ad. Advertisers pay per ad clicked.

Both of McCain's AdWords have the headline "Obama for President?" followed by a pitch for McCain. Under the heading, one ad asks, "Why not learn more about John McCain for President," with a link to the candidate's Web site. The second ad reads, "Learn more about John McCain's journey on the '08 campaign trail" and also includes a link to McCain's home page.

Searching for the term "Obama for president" brought up both McCain ads, which appeared in the top five search results on the first page.

Obama isn't the only presidential moniker that the McCain team has embraced. Searches for Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney -- as well as for the word "president" -- also bring up AdWords for McCain, with similar language to those appearing next to the Obama results.

Christian Ferry, McCain's deputy campaign manager, said bidding on the names is part of a much larger online strategy that takes advantage of frequently searched terms. "We buy hundreds or thousands of different AdWords -- that's monitored all the time," Ferry said. "It's based on what's going in the news cycle [that is] relevant to the 2008 cycle."

Well, I guess we're about a day late and 89 cents short but it has been a busy week. Amazon.com officially opened its eagerly anticipated online music store on Tuesday that offers more than 2 million tracks free from digital rights management (DRM) restrictions.

The Digital Freedom campaign, which is backed by the Consumer Electronics Association, Public Knowledge and others, congratulated the e-commerce site and urged others to follow Amazon's lead. The site will offer individual songs for 89 cents per download, 10 cents lower than Apple's iTunes store.

"Amazon.com’s recognition that giving consumers what they want – digital music – the way they want it … makes good business sense," campaign spokeswoman Maura Corbett said. The move is "a tremendous step forward for artists, consumers, and the music industry itself."

The announcement came on the heels similar decisions by Wal-Mart and music labels EMI and the Universal Music Group.

The Copyright Office responded to Internet activist Carl Malamud and several others this week who recently wrote to Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters asking for bulk access to the copyright catalog of monographs, documents, and serials.

In the response, the office said it "neither sets the price nor receives any direct revenue from the sale" of materials in the database. Access to those records is a service offered through an arm of the Library of Congress that is mandated by Congress to charge "a production and distribution cost plus 10 percent."

The mission of that branch, the Cataloging Distribution Service, is "to share the library's vast bibliographic resources with American libraries, the American people and the international information community on a cost-recovery basis."

According to the letter, the databases and their weekly updates require "considerable personnel and other resources to maintain and deliver." Each year, CDS evaluates its fees and at the end of September will make recommendations to management about potential cost adjustments.

Any new pricing structure will appear first at on the CDS Web site in late October or early November, then in the 2008 CDS product catalog in January 2008. Meanwhile, the database is still accessible for free on a record-by-record basis through the Copyright Office site.

For those of you keeping score at home, Internet billionaire Mark Cuban put up a 21 on Tuesday night in his “Dancing with the Stars” debut on ABC.

Cuban, who also owns the Dallas Mavericks, foxtrotted himself ahead of several competitors heading into Wednesday's elimination episode. News.com’s Caroline McCarthy has the full rundown on Cuban’s opening dance and the follow-through on his promise to “churn the butter.”

He also vowed to work “the motorboat” into a future routine as a tribute to fellow dancer Jane Seymour’s performance in the movie “Wedding Crashers." We’ll have to wait to find out whether he’ll get another shot at making that happen. -- Michael Martinez

Tuesday's House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing was a big draw for the technology crowd. There was a fairly robust discussion among lawmakers and entertainment industry representatives about the harmful effects of violent media on American culture and how the Internet has contributed to the problem.

But the marathon session didn't really start to get interesting for me until Levell Crump and Percy Miller, better known as the rappers "David Banner" and "Master P," stepped forward to testify.

Miller, the founder and CEO of No Limit Records, promised to turn over a new leaf. He acknowledged that he tailored his lyrics in the past to be more violent and degrading so that he could sell more records.

Crump, on the other hand, was more willing to challenge the lawmakers on the panel. He insisted that "hip-hop is sick because America is sick," and that gang violence affected inner-city areas long before his musical genre became popular.

Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said he was a fan of hip-hop. But Rush, a former Black Panther, also said Congress needs to seriously consider the "violence, hate and degradation" projected in popular culture.

Also, while we're on the subject of hip-hop, this Ron Paul-inspired ditty is worth checking out (via Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic): -- Michael Martinez

Just like the bigger election, voting is just open for a day at the presidential campaign Web site for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Supporters are being asked to vote on the best amateur campaign advertisement at http://www.mittromney.com.

The campaign posted the nine finalists on Tuesday after chosing among hundreds of entries. The winning ad will be aired on television. Voting is open until a minute before midnight Wednesday. Those voting will be required to give their e-mail address.

So far, Romney has spent almost $10 million on television and radio ads.

A controversial conservative legal scholar and failed Supreme Court nominee said on Tuesday that the furor over judicial oversight of the federal government's electronic surveillance program is "part of a much broader drive to judicialize everything."

Robert Bork, a former judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, told a Hudson Institute seminar that "all aspects of life" are being held up for judicial scrutiny "from grade schools to fire departments to police departments to the military."

"We have Harry Reid, the ACLU and MoveOn.org, but we have a lot of less extreme anti-war types too," Bork said. "Now we have something we've never had before -- extensive judicial supervision of various aspects of the war [on terror], including gathering of intelligence."

The Hudson fellow recalled the moment when he was informed of the previously secret warrantless wiretapping program while serving as acting attorney general. A pair of FBI officials briefed him on the initiative and he was asked to sign authorizations for the work. "I did and so did every other attorney general in our history that was asked."

Bork also noted that the extent of the spying during that era was "much broader than anything that takes place now or has been proposed today." Contrary to what many believe, Bork also said he was unaware of any abuses under the program.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., started his hearing on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Tuesday by issuing a stern warning to a handful of protesters in the audience.

He noted that there seem to be more demonstrations in hearing rooms lately and did not want his to be one of them. The House Judiciary Committee's hearing on the same issue last week was interrupted several times by rowdy "Code Pink" members.

"Just so everybody understands, I want everyone to be able to watch this hearing and watch it comfortably," Leahy boomed. "If people stand up, they'll be removed [but] I’m sure that's not going to be necessary."

Read more about the hearing in Technology Daily's PM Edition.

A federal agent could face up to a decade in prison and a $250,000 fine for using a Homeland Security Department database to cyber-stalk his former girlfriend, eWeek reported recently.

Benjamin Robinson, a Commerce Department employee, was indicted Sept. 19 by an Oakland, Calif., jury for unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer and making a false statement to a government agency.

When the 40-year-old's relationship with an unidentified woman fell apart, authorities allege Robinson accessed the TECS (Treasury Enforcement Communications System) at least 163 times to track the travel patterns of the woman and her family.

Agents are authorized to use the database to perform their official duties and not for personal reasons. The indictment also claims that Robinson threatened to have the woman deported or to have her and her family killed, according to eWeek.

Reach way back into your Internet pop culture memory banks for this one. Remember Alex Tew -- the British college student who successfully raised $1 million by selling pixels on his Web site? Once buzz started building about MillionDollarHomepage.com, advertisers scrambled to slap their logo on the page.

There have been a number of copycats since Tew launched his site in August 2005, all hoping to strike it rich by selling image-based links. But earlier this month, a new, creative entry appeared on the scene -- MillionDollarsOutOfMyButt.com.

The site, created by a St. Louis team (whose self-purported specialties include "Web design, snide commentary, and innovative problem solving"), is offering ad space at $1 per pixel with a hundred dollar minimum. So far, there's plenty of room on the page, so step right up.

Site owners Daniela Droke and Shawn Gaston devised the site as a way to minimize their student loan and credit card debt. The page features a photo of Droke's blue-jeaned derriere and provides an answer the humorous question: "How are we going to pay all these bills?"

BoingBoing reports on Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly's latest creation -- a personal countdown clock that shows him how many days of life he has left. He came up with the Web-based clock to remind himself to make the best use of his remaining 8,500 days.

"I am now 55 years old. Like a lot of people in middle age my late-night thoughts bend to contemplations about how short my remaining time is. Even with increasing longevity there is not enough time to do all that I want," he wrote.

"My hope was that a reckoning of my numbered days would help me account for how I spend each precious 24 hours, and to focus my attention and energy on those few tasks and projects I deem most important to me. Indeed, it might help me decide which ones are most important, which is the harder assignment," he added.

I guess that Kelly believes when you're eligible for Denny's senior menu, you really have to start taking stock of life... and death. Now, that's deep.

When stakeholders in the ongoing patent reform debate on Capitol Hill don't get invited to a closed-door meeting with congressional staffers, they get a wee bit testy. Case in point: the Professional Inventors Alliance.

The group issued a press release on Monday announcing that staffers for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., were going to meet later in the day with interested parties but PIA was snubbed. Instead representatives from large companies got a seat at the table, officials complained.

Upon hearing about the meeting last week, PIA offered to make intellectual property expert Irving Kayton of George Mason University and economist Pat Choate available. The group claimed a staffer turned them down.

In its release, PIA demanded that the meeting be canceled and rescheduled with all stakeholders invited. "This sort of conduct by Leahy's staff is an outrage," the group said. PIA also accused a named Leahy staffer of personally rebuffing prior attempts to include the inventor community.

The bill currently being considered by the Senate (S. 1145) "would kill America's economy by facilitating theft and transfer of American ingenuity to developing countries," PIA argued. When asked, a Leahy spokeswoman did not have details about meeting attendees.

A securities fraud case before the Supreme Court this term could have repercussions for those harmed in the 2001 collapse of the Enron energy firm and other "mega-cases," Georgetown University law professor Donald Langevoort said at a Monday briefing.

In Stoneridge Investment v. Scientific-Atlanta, the court is asked to determine whether defrauded investors can recover money from third parties (read more in Technology Daily's PM Edition). It's not a stretch to call this "securities law's Roe v. Wade," he said.

The case involves a group of Charter Communications investors who want to sue the cable television provider's business partners Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta. The firms reportedly engaged in sham transactions to inflate Charter's revenue by $17 million.

Here's how it all went down, according to Langevoort: The two vendors sold set-top boxes to Charter at inflated prices; the extra money was used to buy additional advertising airtime; the ad sales helped Charter's revenue grow. Pretty clever, eh?

The virtual version of Capitol Hill in the popular Second Life online community will host a presentation by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday. His speech will coincide with a real-world address the Georgia Republican is delivering in Atlanta.

Gingrich will appear in Second Life in the form of an avatar likeness and his presentation will be streamed in Second Life via a live audio feed, according to a press release. The event is sponsored by American Solutions for Winning the Future, as part of a new wave of citizen collaboration designed to apply real world know-how to public policy solutions.

Digital marketing firm Clear Ink created Capitol Hill in Second Life as a nonpartisan virtual destination for political discussion and education. The venue launched in January with a virtual visit by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., and a video stream of the opening of the 110th Congress.

The Supreme Court is gearing up for its new term, which begins next week, and Technology Daily's PM Edition will have a preview story. But during my weekend review of the cases that have been granted certiorari, I couldn’t help longing for last fall.

The court's previous calendar had a number of cases that were closely watched by the high-tech community, thus requiring me to be in the historic chamber pretty frequently. They included KSR v. Teleflex, Microsoft v. AT&T, MedImmune v. Genentech, Bell Atlantic v. Twombly and Credit Suisse Securities v. Billing (Read my round-up here).

But the upcoming term looks like it could be a sleepier one for us (with a few exceptions that you can read about in my coverage). I'm banking on the court's Monday closed-door conference where new cases could be added to the docket. A few more tech-centric ones would be appreciated.

Alas, there are some compelling cases outside of my bailiwick. The court plans to consider whether Guantanamo prisoners may bring habeas actions in U.S. civilian courts; whether the White House can direct Texas courts to engage in additional review of a murder conviction; and whether a judge can diverge from U.S. sentencing guidelines' rules for crack and powder cocaine cases.

Via Monday morning's CongressDaily:

"On Tuesday, House Energy and Commerce Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., holds a hearing on degrading media stereotypes, particularly in hip-hop songs and music videos. Rap artist Master P is a confirmed witness but at deadline it was unclear whether 50 Cent would testify."

This looks to be a can't-miss hearing for those of you who enjoy collisions of politics and pop-culture. I wonder if the committee considered inviting Flavor Flav to participate. He was in Public Enemy, after all. And the Parents Television Council just might be interested in what he has to say about the issue. -- Michael Martinez

Saturday marked the second annual celebration of One Web Day, an event previewed in Friday's PM Edition of Technology Daily, and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards used the occasion to tout his Internet policy agenda.

"I am proud to have outlined an agenda to build a universal, affordable Internet with a starting place goal of giving all U.S. homes and businesses access to real high-speed Internet by 2010," Edwards said in a statement. He said the Internet has given people the ability "to effect change and make profound differences for good in their communities," but a "digital divide" than leaves many rural and black Americans without technology access needs to be addressed.

Edwards, who along with his wife Elizabeth have actively engaged with the Internet political community, also reiterated his support for the concept of network neutrality in broadband content. "My commitment, as president, will be to ensure that the FCC preserves free expression and competition on the Internet by continuing to enforce net neutrality, ensuring no degradation or blocking of access to Web sites," he said.

Micah Sifry of techPresident lamented that Edwards was the only presidential candidate who "understood the value of One Web Day."

This is the latest report from the National Journal/NBC reporters embedded with the campaigns of top presidential contenders and in two key states.

Elizabeth Edwards told New Hampshire voters this weekend that the education plan of her husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, is the latest example of him leading the Democratic field when it comes to addressing the issues.

Mrs. Edwards led a roundtable discussion on education Saturday morning, one day after John Edwards announced his platform on the issue. The discussion at Bow Memorial School focused largely on the perceived flaws of the 2002 education law known as the No Child Left Behind Act, which Edwards contended was really an excuse for the Bush administration to go to vouchers.

"Funding the fix is the way that you commit yourself to improving public schools, not by saying, 'That didn't work, so we're going to send you some place else,'" Mrs. Edwards said.

-- By Mike Memoli

New York Times technology writer and Yale University graduate David Pogue spoke to students at his alma mater this week -- and regaled them with a song about Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Pogue, who once hoped for a Broadway career, was a music major at the pricey Ivy League institution.

Pogue has sung about technology before -- and gotten a lot of attention for it on YouTube. Watch his popular "iPhone: The Musical" video above.

Reprinted from the Sept. 18, 2007 edition of National Journal's Technology Daily

Immigrant Group Wants Changes For Green Cards
By Aliya Sternstein

An alliance representing high-skilled legal immigrants said Tuesday that it is rallying members in an effort to fix a green-card visa system that is inherently designed to create backlogs.

Immigration Voice, a 3,000-member organization that promotes the interests of legal, employed immigrants with pending applications for permanent residency, is urging Congress to make legislative changes that would let high-skilled workers already in the United States stay legally.

"We appeal to Congress" to reform the immigration system by distributing more green cards each year and removing limits on the number of green cards per country of origin, Aman Kapoor, president and founder of Immigration Voice, said on Tuesday.

"The root of the problem" is the per-country limits, he said. "The population of the world is not evenly divided."

Immigration Voice member Jay Pradhan, who moved to the United States in 2000 from India, said that this year, the group's members spent considerable time trying to meet deadlines for federal paperwork because the due dates changed. "The deadlines are short. The paperwork is huge."

Months after a gunman killed 32 people on Virginia Tech's campus, a school shooting at Delaware State University on Friday prompted questions about how best to notify students, staff and faculty when an emergency occurs.

Classes on the Dover campus were canceled after an early morning shooting that left two wounded and a suspect at large. Non-essential personnel were told not to report to work and students living on campus were asked to stay in their dormitories until further notice.

The bulletin was posted in the news section of the university's Web site, right above a press release about the debut of a DSU sociology professor's new book. Several cable news network pundits questioned whether the school had done enough to alert the community.

An internal review of the Virginia Tech massacre released earlier this summer offered some advice. The report recommended that the university improve security, enhance its communications system and better monitor at-risk students.

Technologies suggested for making the improvements included: creating electronic key-card access to some campus buildings, installing electronic banners in classrooms to notify students of critical information, and establishing an electronic location system that would track students and inform others of their whereabouts.

MoveOn.org is promising to double its TV ad buy condemning Republican senators who voted against an amendment Wednesday to allow troops serving in Iraq equal time at home with their families between deployments.

The liberal netroots group escalated its attack on the Iraq War with more personal attacks against those who support it in a new TV ad Thursday. The latest one accuses Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Republicans of a "betrayal of trust" for their vote against the troop deployment amendment from Sen. James Webb, D-Va.

MoveOn announced the additional add buy about an hour after Senate Republicans pushed Democrats to denounce MoveOn for its New York Times ad with the headline "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" that ran earlier this month. Today the Senate passed a non-binding resolution condemning MoveOn for the newspaper ad targeting Gen. David Petraeus that passed 72-25. (link: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1465

Earlier in the day President Bush weighed in at a news conference Thursday in which he called the original MoveOn.org print ad "disgusting" and said he was disappointed more Democratic leaders did not criticize it.http://http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/09/presidential-pr.html (link: http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/09/presidential-pr.html)

Four days ago I sent an e-mail to the Internal Revenue Service notifying the agency that I had received an authentic-looking tax refund message in my inbox but I believed it to be a phishing scam. I still have not heard back.

Since I'm a techie, I know not to follow the link in the e-mail, but what about countless recipients of similar notifications who are not informed enough to click "delete" or patient enough to wait for a response from IRS.gov?

Perhaps it is time that the agency reviews its mechanisms for responding to reports of possible fraudsters. Follow the jump to view the text of the purported IRS e-mail. And if Uncle Sam does actually owe me $109.30, I certainly would like to know.

Speaking at a conference on the state of free speech, association and the press in the post-Sept. 11, 2001 society, American Civil Liberties Union President Nadine Strossen on Thursday reflected on a memorable headline from a favorite news source.

The media outlet was The Onion, a popular satirical online newspaper, and the bold-faced type blared: "Bush Asks Congress For $30 Billion To Help Fight War On Criticism." The humorous article was posted July 2, 2003. [Read the full story here]

While the ACLU enjoys criticizing the Bush administration, "violations of civil liberties cut across party lines," Strossen said. Although many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle "have been too complicit in the administration's abuses," Democrats and Republicans have been working to rectify breakdowns in First Amendment rights, she said.

A conference being called the "first-ever international policy forum on the participative Web," or the expanding use of the Internet’s capabilities for creation and exchange, will take place on Oct. 3 in Ottawa, Canada.

The forum, jointly organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and Industry Canada, will ask questions such as: "What does the future hold for the participative Web? What are the implications for enhancing confidence and trust in the Internet? What is the government role in providing the right environment for stimulating Internet innovation and economic growth?"

The event will consider how governments are addressing emerging models for creation and distribution of digital information. "More open approaches to information creation, exchange and diffusion are being taken up extensively in government, education and other areas," OECD stated.

Discussions at the forum will contribute to a planned OECD meeting on "The Future of the Internet Economy" in Seoul, South Korea in June 2008.
-- Winter Casey

As the new fall television season commences, I would be remiss if I failed to mention this little tidbit: Chris Crocker, Britney Spears' biggest Web fan, might be getting his own show. Apparently anything goes in Hollywood these days.

Crocker, 19, who lives with his grandparents in Tennessee, posted a passionate YouTube defense of the embattled pop star's lackluster performance on the "MTV Video Music Awards." He got a gajillion hits and notoriety on newscasts around the nation.

Now, Variety reports that Crocker has signed with a production company. "It's going to pretty much be 'The Chris Crocker Experience,'" 44 Blue founder Rasha Drachkovitch told the paper. "He's going to be a TV star."

Gossip blog Defamer weighed in on the news: "We're confident that 44 Blue will eventually be successful in delivering the 'Chris Crocker experience' … into America's living rooms. Assuming, of course, that the televisions in those living rooms have access to the Screamy Drama Queen Channel on which it will eventually run."

(If you aren’t familiar with this issue, you can watch the video here, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

For all of you legal eagles out there, the Electronic Discovery Law Blog reports that the ethics committee of the District of Columbia Bar released an opinion on metadata mining.

The panel found that "a lawyer receiving electronic records from an adversary is prohibited from reviewing the records' metadata only when he has actual knowledge that the metadata was inadvertently sent."

In those instances, "the receiving lawyer should not review the metadata before consulting with the sending lawyer to determine whether the metadata includes work product of the sending lawyer or confidences or secrets of that lawyer’s client."

The full text of the ethics opinion can be found here.

The Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee had a packed agenda on Wednesday morning but that didn't stop Chairman Howard Beales from having a little fun at the beginning of the meeting.

The former director of the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau told his colleagues and audience members that the "contest for the coolest cell phone ring tone is at lunch." He advised everyone to switch off their mobile devices so they wouldn't give away their favorite polyphonic jingles before the big event.

Obviously, it was just a clever way of telling folks to silence their noisemakers, but that begs the question -- what does his ring-tone sound like? I forgot to ask him during an interview after the morning session. There were too many pressing privacy topics I wanted him to address.

Read more about the meeting in Technology Daily's PM Editon.

This is the latest report from the National Journal/NBC reporters embedded with the campaigns of top presidential contenders and in two key states.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton talked up her proposal to provide health insurance for everyone in a live webcast Tuesday night, calling it a "uniquely American solution" to a lack of affordable health care. She also stressed the challenges ahead in turning her plan into law.

The Democratic frontrunner answered a dozen questions from participants around the country who were asked to sign up online. In a nod to the new media for the new millennium, one question was submitted by text message.

The webcast was the latest installment of a major rollout for the plan. Clinton's campaign also debuted a television ad in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire , touting her record on health care. While the webcast was billed as interactive, it wasn’t exactly a conversation. Clinton's campaign blogger, Crystal Patterson, moderated the forum, reading the questions chosen.

Clinton said thousands of people had logged on to hear her talk about the $110 billion a year "American Health Choices Plan" she unveiled Monday in Des Moines, Iowa. The proposal would require that everyone have health insurance, give them a choice of plans and provide tax credits to help subsidize coverage. All of the initiatives would be paid for in part by repealing tax cuts for the wealthy.

This is the latest report from the National Journal/NBC reporters embedded with the campaigns of top presidential contenders and in two key states.

When Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson makes his first official campaign visit to Texas on Wednesday, a visit to the offices of the Dell computer maker there is on his agenda.

Thompson's campaign reports that he "will become the first 2008 presidential candidate to tour a Dell U.S. facility." The factory that Thompson will visit is Dell's Topfer Manufacturing Facility in Austin, which according to the campaign "assembles commercial and consumer desktops."

Thompson also will participate in fundraising activities in Texas in preparation for the close of the third fundraising quarter of the year. -- Adam Aigner-Treworgy

This is the latest report from the National Journal/NBC reporters embedded with the campaigns of top presidential contenders and in two key states.

Ads. Hillary Clinton launched a healthcare ad buy here after her policy rollout in Des Moines. Mitt Romney starts one today that voices his opposition to a ruling allowing same-sex marriage that's now pending before the Iowa Supreme Court. And Rudy Giuliani is up with a new radio ad that raises the volume on his spat with the liberal group MoveOn.org.

The ad saturation begs the question: Airtime can do wonders for a candidate's name recognition and visibility, but are people even listening anymore? Who's hitting the mute button every time they hear "And I approve this message"?

And while Romney's ad addresses a local constituency, Giuliani's banking on the fact that Iowan Republicans share the same caustic hatred of MoveOn that's second nature to the New York and Washington GOP crowd.

If they do, perhaps Romney -- like President Bush -- owes John McCain a thank you note. McCain educated his audiences about MoveOn's campaign against David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, at each of his Iowa stops last week. -- Carrie Dann

The horizontal smiley face, created by pairing a colon, a dash and a closing bracket -- like this :-) -- turned 25 years old on Tuesday. Carnegie Mellon University researcher Scott Fahlman says he invented the emoticon at 11:44 p.m. on Sept. 19, 1982.

On his university Web page, Fahlman claims the keyboard concept came to him because humorous comments posted on the school's bulletin boards were often misinterpreted.

"In at least one case, a humorous remark was interpreted by someone as a serious safety warning," he wrote. Fahlman said he also suggested the use of :-( to indicate a message was meant to be taken seriously, though that symbol evolved into a marker for displeasure or anger.

A day after releasing her health care plan, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., answered questions about it in a half-hour prime time webcast Tuesday evening on her Web site. Questioning began with Jay in St. Louis who asked a question Republicans plan to hit her with -- whether this is really any different than the plan she tried to offer as First Lady 14 years ago.

Clinton said her new health care plan has a big difference -- "it's not government run." She said people can choose from a wide variety of plans and those who like what they have won't need to change. Clinton said what she is offering is targeted at the 47 million uninsured Americans, those whose plan is too expensive or those who face problems getting coverage for a pre-existing condition or for a particular procedure their doctor has recommended.

Clinton said everyone has a role to play to improve the nations health including Americans choosing healthier habits. She said insurance companies will have to change how they do business. "The way insurance companies make money now is by figuring out how not to insure [certain] people," Clinton said. "It really undermines the quality of our health care."

Internet watchdog Carl Malamud and a handful of other high-tech watchers wrote to Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters this week asking her to provide bulk access to the copyright catalog of monographs, documents, and serials on the Internet.

Currently, the information is available through a Copyright Office online application that allows the public to search for individual records -- but no bulk access is available, meaning that the entire database cannot be downloaded.

Alternatively, the Library of Congress's cataloging and distribution service sells a subscription to the current database for $31,500 and makes a retrospective database available for $55,125. The grand total for cost of entry is $86,625 and it comes with copyright restrictions, the group said.

The catalog "is not a product, it is fuel that makes the copyright system work," the letter stated. "Anybody should be able to download the entire database to their desktop, write a better search application, or use this public domain information to research copyright questions."

High-tech experts debated the interplay between social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook and users' privacy expectations at the Pike & Fischer "Legal Risk Management in the Web 2.0 World" summit.

Panelists included Xanga.com Chief Security Officer Stephen Kline; FTC attorney Phyllis Marcus; Microsoft's Rob Dolin; Cyveillance General Counsel Adam Palmer; and Holch & Erickson partner Markham Erickson.

Questions addressed included whether consumers give up substantial privacy rights when they post their information on social networks and what responsibilities Web sites bear in protecting their users from cyber criminals.

Moderator Christopher Wolf of the Proskauer Rose law firm, said social networks are "turning notions of privacy absolutely inside out." Congress, agencies, state attorneys general and privacy advocates are all wrangling with the issue, with different beliefs about what needs to be done.

Sign-toting protesters interrupted the House Judiciary Committee's government surveillance hearing on Tuesday, eliciting an angry response by Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich. The panel heard testimony from National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein.

Conyers called activists' disturbances "counterproductive" and threatened to clear the room unless they stopped disrupting his proceedings. "We're working under a very serious time restraint. I have 30 members who want questions answered," Conyers said. "I'm not in a mood to tolerate this. This is not a place for demonstrations rallies or protests."

Read more about this hearing -- and a similar one being held concurrently by the House Intelligence Committee -- in Technology Daily's PM Edition.

Two of the leading presidential contenders will spend quality time on the Internet tonight -- one to talk health care and the other to take questions on an array of topics.

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton released a healthcare plan yesterday and will make that the focus of a webcast at 8 p.m. The plan, which would cost an estimated $110 billion a year, includes health information technology provisions. In fact, Clinton expects to pay part of the cost of the plan with savings achieved by modernizing the American health system.

If you want to ask Clinton about that or other tech aspects of her plan, though, you'll have to RSVP for the webcast.

On the Republican side, meanwhile, candidate Mitt Romney will hold his first "Ask Mitt Anything" online chat at 7:15 p.m. So if you're curious about Romney's "Ocean" ad and his plan to cleanse American culture by attacking Internet pornography and videogame violence, register to ask him a question.

More than 1,700 people already have registered and submitted questions, according to the campaign.

Kansas congressman turned agriculture secretary turned Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Dan Glickman started Tuesday's Pike & Fischer "Legal Risk Management in the Web 2.0 World" summit with a joke.

I'll spare you the details, but it involves a Jewish rabbi, a Hindu priest and a congressman driving cross-country together. Why? Who knows. They wind up getting stuck in a snowstorm, can't travel further, and approach a farmhouse looking for refuge.

The farmer's home is full but he says the trio can sleep in the barn with the farm animals. The weary travelers agree and about 15 minutes later the farmer is awakened by a knock at the door. It's the rabbi who explains that he cannot lie next to a pig. Next comes the Hindu priest who complains he cannot sleep with a cow.

Finally, there's a third knock at the door. It's the cow and the pig.

Two House committees are slated to hold hearings on the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act on Tuesday. National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell and Assistant Attorney General for National Security Kenneth Wainstein are scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee.

The House Intelligence Committee will host Jim Dempsey, policy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology; former Secretary of State James Baker; Lisa Graves, deputy director of the Center for National Security Studies; and David Rivkin, an attorney at Baker Hostetler.

Technology Daily will have full coverage in the PM Edition, so stay tuned.

The National Security Archive on Monday published a collection of documents concerning the operation of the Pentagon's Counterintelligence Field Activity and its anti-terrorism database known as TALON.

The Defense Department announced earlier this summer that it would close the controversial information gathering program preserve the data collected in accordance with intelligence oversight requirements (Read Technology Daily's coverage).

The archive's declassified papers include the key departmental directive on the collection of information about Americans, as well as documents on CIFA, an evaluation of charges of mismanagement by CIFA executives, and examples of TALON data collected about protest activities.

Technology Daily's PM Edition has coverage of President Bush's nomination of retired federal judge Michael Mukasey to serve as attorney general. The story has some stakeholders' early reactions, but here's a bit more:

The American Civil Liberties Union urged senators to refuse Mukasey's nomination unless he agrees to a list of demands. "It is imperative that the Senate receive a pledge under oath that the nominee’s first allegiance will be to the rule of law and the Constitution, not to a president or a political party," ACLU chief Anthony Romero said.

The ACLU wants him to pledge to give the Senate Judiciary Committee all documents in the Justice Department's possession concerning the authorization to monitor phone calls in the United States without a warrant, and concerning the use of "national security letters" to obtain documents domestically.

Senate Intelligence Committee ranking Republican Christopher (Kit) Bond of Missouri said he believes that Bush's nominee "will uphold the rule of law, protect our civil liberties and ensure that terror-fighting intelligence officers have the information and tools they need to protect our families.

Our parent company launched a fantasy political stock market on Monday called the National Journal Political Stock Exchange (NJPSE), which is viewable at the top of the page at nationaljournal.com.

The feature allows players to put their political knowledge to the test by predicting outcomes for a range of political events, including all angles of the highly contested 2008 presidential campaign. The NJPSE is powered by prediction market provider Intrade.

Who will win the major party nominations in 2008? Which party will control the House and the Senate after the 2008 election? What will the president's job approval rating be on Dec. 31, 2007? Take stock of the situation using the publicly available Web tool.

NJPSE's launch "brings the age-old Washington parlor game of predicting political events into the online world,” said NJ President Suzanne Clark.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., addressed the Future of Music Coalition annual policy summit on Monday afternoon, where he revealed his love for an eclectic array of tunes: "I love music. I know less about it than I'd like to know, especially about the music that is around today."

Nevertheless, the Senate Commerce Committee member said he jogs with a handheld XM Satellite Radio device and has a vintage jukebox in his basement. "It's a pretty good jukebox," he said, ticking off a few of the 50 records that he spins in his spare time. His favorite 45s include Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, and the Rolling Stones.

"I don’t have Limp Bizkit … but I'm trying to keep freshening the music on my jukebox," Dorgan admitted. He did say, however, that he recently met with the Grammy award-winning rock band OK Go and they were well-dressed gents. They wore "neckties and the whole deal," Dorgan said.

National Journal has partnered with NBC to embed reporters with the campaigns of top presidential contenders and in two key states, Iowa and New Hampshire. This is the latest report from the field. Check "Tech Trail 2008" for other tech-related campaign developments.

By Adam Aigner-Treworgy

The campaign kickoff of Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has certainly generated a lot of media attention, and in the Southern primary states of South Carolina and Florida, it has generated a fair amount of voter attention. But how much of that attention has translated into much-needed donations to Thompson's campaign?

Following the candidate's big announcement speech in Des Moines earlier this month, his communications staff was diligent about releasing numbers that touted the success of Thompson's Web-based announcement strategy at attracting visitors and donations on its Web site, Fred08.com. The campaign bragged that it raised more than $300,000 in 24 hours online.

But after that, nary a word has come from the Thompson campaign on fundraising tactics until Friday, when the campaign announced a new gimmick meant to get Thompson devotees more involved in the campaign. In an e-mail sent to supporters, the campaign announced the "Kick-off Challenge," a program that encourages supporters to make a fundraising commitment and fulfill it by the end of the month. Successful fundraisers then will be dubbed Kickoff Champions and will be eligible for special merchandise commensurate with the amount they raise.

National Journal has partnered with NBC to embed reporters with the campaigns of top presidential contenders and in two key states, Iowa and New Hampshire. This entry has been compiled from last week's reports by the embeds.

Tech Daily Dose will continue to publish technology-related reports from the field. Check back periodically at "Tech Trail 2008" for the latest news.

The decision by the liberal, online activist group MoveOn.org to criticize the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq via a full-page New York Times advertisement gave Republican presidential candidates an easy target last week. More than one of the candidates took potshots at MoveOn.

In Iowa, National Journal/NBC reporter Carrie Dann said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., visited a Des Moines Veterans of Foreign Wars hall and a Waterloo American Legion chapter to push his support of the Iraq war. The senator was rewarded with applause for his fierce defense of Gen. David Petraeus in the wake of MoveOn's ad. At both events yesterday, he held up an oversized poster of MoveOn's "General Betray Us" graphic, slamming it as "one of the worst things I've seen in my life."

He had tough words for Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, who has stayed mum about the ad. In Waterloo, he challenged Clinton to speak out against MoveOn's message.

Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, a New Orleans Mardi Gras icon for over 40 years, kicked off the Future of Music Coalition's annual policy summit on Monday with a rousing rendition of his latest song, "Lower Ninth Ward Blues."

Johnson, whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, is best known for his ditty "Carnival Time," which dates back to February 1960. There have been numerous releases of the track over the years and its creator has fought to secure his legal rights to it.

FMC Executive Director Jenny Toomey said her group has spent time in the Big Easy in the past year organizing what she called "musician activist camps." The events brought bands to the recovering region to "look at what's not happening" with respect to the reconstruction effort and talk about media policy, she said.

"There's no place to understand more clearly how important infrastructure is than in New Orleans," Toomey said. The historically musical city was failed by its infrastructure, from levies and local elected officials to federal overseers, she said.

Emmy censors made their best efforts on Sunday to block expletives uttered by three actors during the award show's live broadcast on Fox, the AP reported. The censoring dance comes as a debate brews over the FCC's "decency" policy. A federal appeals court in June rejected the FCC's rule that fines broadcasters for "fleeting expletives."

The network silenced the show for a few seconds when comedian Ray Romano used an expletive and Sally Field, who took home the award for best actress in a drama series, was "bleeped" after slipping a swear word into her acceptance speech. Actress Katherine Heigl also mouthed an expletive after winning an Emmy for her role on "Grey's Anatomy." Fox cut to another camera in an unsuccessful attempt at avoiding the exclamation.

The Senate Commerce Committee in July approved legislation by Sen. John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W. Va., that would reaffirm the agency's authority to penalize broadcasters for "fleeting" utterances of profanity during live programming. A companion bill was also introduced in the House later that same month. -- Theresa Poulson

Former Democratic White House hopeful and Vice President Al Gore accepted an Emmy on Sunday night for the groundbreaking cable television and online broadcasting endeavor, Current TV, which he founded in 2005.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' board of governors voted to recognize interactive TV during the popular annual awards show. The winner was chosen by an interactive-media "peer jury."

The network beat out four other contenders -- Major League Baseball, NBC-owned Bravo, DisneyChannel.com and Time Warner's Fantasy Football Television Tracker -- for the unique noncompetitive honor. Current reaches an estimated 50 million homes in the United States and the United Kingdom via satellite TV and various cable systems.

Masi Oka, the star of NBC's "Heroes" introduced MySpace founder Tom Anderson who introduced Gore and Current CEO Joel Hyatt. "We are trying to open up the television medium … to reclaim American democracy," Gore said during his acceptance speech.

He also hinted that there was "more to come" with the fledging Current network next month. So, stay tuned…

It's awards night in Hollywood and the city is abuzz. Washington, DC on the other hand, is slightly less festive. But one charity Web site is letting viewers of the 59th annual Emmys from around the world take home a piece of the red-carpet action – for a price.

For the sixth year in a row, the celebrity-fueled nonprofit Clothes Off Our Backs will put stars' donated Emmy outfits up for bid to the public with proceeds going to benefit children's charities. The organization was started by actors and philanthropists Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm In The Middle") and Bradley Whitford ("The West Wing").

Starting Sunday evening, the Web-based aid organization said it would start adding television stars' clothing and accessories to its auction site. Additional items will be added throughout the week.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says if some members of Congress want to put their daily schedules online "that's excellent" -- but don't expect her to do it.

"I'm certainly not publishing my schedule on the Internet. I have enough security problems as it is," Pelosi said. In response to a follow up question about just listing who she is meeting with without saying where, Pelosi she said she tends to meet with fellow legislators. She added she doesn't think publishing lawmakers' personal schedules is something that will make a difference in open government.

Pelosi spoke during a press conference to celebrate President Bush signing lobbying and ethics reform legislation Friday afternoon.

A new University of Wisconsin-Madison study indicates that despite an explosion in academic patenting, most life science professors still do research the "old-fashioned" way -- by winning federal grants, publishing results in scientific journals, and graduating PhD students, researchers Brad Barham and Jeremy Foltz.

Their online survey of more than 1,800 U.S. life scientists 125 universities found that 90 percent of researchers held one or fewer patents, and just 8 percent had received patent revenues. Federal funds made up 67 percent of the pool's research budget, while industry funds contributed 5 percent.

Furthermore, 53 percent of scientists reported no commercial ties whatsoever, such as invention disclosures or company board memberships. "The connection to commercialization appears to be marginal in terms of funding the overall research enterprise," Foltz said in a press release.

When the Bayh-Dole Act gave American universities the right to patent inventions made with federal dollars and license them to firms for profit, patenting soared, they said. In the years since, the number of patents issued annually has grown from 40 to nearly 800 in life sciences alone, and so have licensing deals and faculty spin-off companies.

The Hotline, a widely read and well-respected member of our happy National Journal family, celebrates its 20th birthday this weekend. "Two decades later, the faces have changed (or not), as have many other things. (How many of you got your first Hotline off a fax machine?)," the staff wrote.

"But some things haven't, like our fascination w/the game and its players, our love of the story and our devotion to wisdom, before it's conventional," they said. "The best part about today, is knowing the next 20 years will be even better. "

The popular Patently-O blog reports that Eugene Quinn, known by many as a fierce intellectual property watchdog, has put his Web site on the auction block. Since its founding in 1999, Quinn has developed his IPWatchdog.com site as a valuable resource for demystifying IP.

The Web address is for sale on SitePoint with a minimum price of $10,000 but Patently-O's Dennis Crouch predicts that the bidding may go well higher. Earlier this year, Patents.com was sold by patent attorney Carl Oppedahl for an undisclosed amount.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will deliver remarks at his farewell ceremony at the Justice Department on Friday afternoon. The going away party will be packed with Bush administration A-listers like FBI Director Robert Mueller; Solicitor General Paul Clement; and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein.

Will there be cake, ice cream and balloons? Will there be a greatest hits reel or a bloopers video? If it's anything like the Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson or Flavor Flav, I'm so there. Plus, I need to thank him for generating so much news for me over the past few years.

Iconic pop musician Prince has asked video-sharing site YouTube to remove clips of his recent concerts in London. The "Little Red Corvette" singer said he is taking action against the site and others like it to "reclaim his art on the Internet," the BBC reported.

More than 1,000 unauthorized clips have been stripped from the Web in recent days, according to Web Sheriff, the U.K. firm he has hired to spearhead the takedown effort. The star is also targeting electronic commerce sites which, he says, infringe his copyright by selling unauthorized merchandise.

Prince spent the summer playing more than 20 shows at the O2 arena in London. Fans have been banned from taking pictures or video footage on their mobile phones, but many have still posted clips on YouTube, BBC said.

"Prince feels very strongly that people should remember his concerts as they were, not as some grainy mobile phone footage," a Web Sheriff spokesman noted. The bottom line: Prince takes his work seriously. In the 1990s, he fought with Warner Bros. over who owned his master tapes.

A handful of Web addresses -- luckytrump.com, luckytrumpcasino.com, magictrump.com, magictrumpcasino.com, trumpcasinogroup.com -- have been handed over to famous entrepreneur Donald Trump by the World Intellectual Property Organization's Arbitration and Mediation Center.

The real estate mogul, who also hosts NBC's "The Apprentice," has used his surname since 1985 in connection with his business and operates three casino/hotel facilities that have Web sites (www.trumptaj.com, www.trumpcasinos.com, www.trumpplaza.com and www.trumpmarine.com).

The respondents in the case known as "Casinova" and "FBA Partners," which operate out of Gibraltar, the United Kingdom and Ireland, registered the disputed domains in 2004. The arbitration center found that addresses are confusingly similar to Trump's marks and gave them to "The Donald."

Hungry for more? Read about several other settled domain name disputes in Technology Daily's PM Edition.

Mark Warner made his business fortune in the telecommunications industry before entering politics in Virginia. He served as Virginia's governor from 2001 to 2005 and last year flirted with the idea of a presidential run in 2008.

But now the Democrat has decided to seek the Virginia seat being vacated by a man with the same last name, Republican John Warner. Mark Warner announced his candidacy in a video today. Here's the video, and read the PM Edition of Technology Daily today for the full story.

[Cross-posted from National Journal's Beltway Blogroll]

When Amazon.com announced that Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, would post blog entries on the Web site in anticipation of his new book "The Age of Turbulence," many people were intrigued.

But The New York Times reports that after the first blog entry was published, "there was none of the gossip and flair that readers have come to expect from the blogosphere."

In his first entry on Aug. 31, Greenspan blogged about breaking free from the shackles of "Fedspeak," but he spoke nothing after that. "It looks like he's saving the good stuff for those who are willing to pay $35 for his book," the Times wrote. -- Danny Glover

Assistant Attorney General Regina Schofield, who oversaw online child protection efforts and contributed to law enforcement information sharing initiatives, announced her departure from the Justice Department on Wednesday. Her last day is Sept. 28.

President Bush nominated Schofield in March 2005 and the Senate confirmed her in June of that year. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Schofield has served the agency and the American people "with distinction and honor." Gonzales said in August that he would step down next week.

Schofield also served as the national coordinator of the AMBER Alert program where she facilitated the creation and strengthening of regional, state, and local plans to aid in recovering abducted children. Before her appointment as assistant attorney general, she worked for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Electronics giant Motorola, which joined the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform earlier this year to express concerns with the pending patent legislation on Capitol Hill, is now "encouraged by the direction" of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy's bill.

Language in the Vermont Democrat's legislation pertaining to how damages are awarded in patent lawsuits "takes into account marketplace licensing realities that we'd like to see come out of conference," Motorola Vice President Bill Anaya said. Flexible damages rules are vital to "securing balance" between the rights of patent holders and accused infringers.

"This legislation matters, and comparing our experience as an innovator to the competing public and private interests voiced in this debate -- we find we're a bit of a centrist," Anaya said.

An array of other coalition members, including 3M, Eli Lilly, General Electric, presumably still have problems with the bill. Read more about the patent reform push in the Senate in Technology Daily's PM Edition.

Well, it looks like the MSNBC-NBC-National Journal reporters embedded on the 2008 campaign trail have started filing dispatches. The team of caffeinated political scribes is covering “Decision 2008” full-time now, each serving as their own mobile campaign bureau.

While several posts have been spotted on MSNBC's First Read political blog, these crackerjack campaign watchers will soon be filing video, audio and text reports while canvassing the country with the candidates.

A few recent dispatches from embeds:
Hillary Clinton picks up National Association of Letter Carriers endorsement.
Barack Obama lays out Iraq withdrawal plan.
Rudy Giuliani's campaign alters Web site in memory of 9/11.
Fred Thompson's campaign lashes out against Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney commemorates the sixth anniversary of 9/11.

So far, the bylines I've seen are Aswini Anburajan, Matthew Berger, Athena Jones, Erin McPike and Adam Aigner-Treworgy. Good luck gang -- and don't forget to sleep and eat.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy's patent reform bill needs to attract some new cosponsors before the bill is ready for prime time, policy watchers told Technology Daily on Wednesday.

The Vermont Democrat's legislation already has the support of a number of influential members, including John Cornyn, R-Texas; Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. Other backers include Robert Bennett, R-Utah; Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; Ken Salazar, D-Colo.; and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

Larry Craig, the Idaho Republican currently involved in a high-profile sex scandal, is also a cosponsor of S. 1145. Craig was arrested earlier this summer in an airport bathroom and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct. He has since argued that his plea was a mistake and might reconsider his decision to resign from the Senate.

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the legislation 13-5 in July and the House version, H.R. 1908, won the full chamber's approval on Friday. Look for more patent reform coverage in Technology Daily's PM Edition.

It has been a busy couple of days and I neglected to mention the results of a new poll on the pending merger between satellite radio giants Sirius and XM. The survey results, released by the companies on Monday, showed that the proposed "a la carte" offerings are seen as attractive options.

Seventy-seven percent of respondents said the $6.99 per month package, where listeners choose individual channels they want to receive, would be good for consumers and 72 percent said the $14.99 plan, where consumers could select channels on one service plus popular selections from other, would be good for consumers.

About 70 percent were supportive of the $16.99 “best of both” package, which would feature channels on one service plus the most popular channels on the other and 62 percent approved of the mostly music and separate mostly news, sport and talk packages ($9.99).

More than half of respondents (56 percent) said the proposed "family friendly" packages at $11.99 and $14.99 that exclude adult-themed programming would be a win for consumers.

Dennis Wharton at the National Association of Broadcasters was quick to slam the survey. "Here's what XM and Sirius conveniently did not ask poll participants: Do you like monopolies? Does competition restrain a monopolist's price-gouging?" The poll "signals the lengths to which XM and Sirius will game the system in order to achieve monopoly status," he added.

From "Hotline On Call" on Tuesday:

If you try to visit Rudy Giuliani's Web site today -- the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks -- you will be in for a bit of a surprise. Instead of the usual welcome page displaying the latest news, buzz, photos, and video from Giuliani's WH bid, there's instead a simple and somber message: "September 11, 2001. We will not forget." The page -- which, according to dep. comm. dir. Maria Comella, will be up all day -- displays a quote from Giuliani's 10/1/01 address to the UN: "This massive attack was intended to break our spirit. It has not done that. It has made us stronger, more determined and more resolved." Read the full blog post here.

Hillary Clinton [link], John Edwards [link], Barack Obama [link], Mitt Romney [link] and other presidential hopefuls posted 9/11 messages on their campaign sites.

The 463 Blog points out the ideal timing of the Progress and Freedom Foundation's release of Harvard University professor Lawrence Tribe's recent talk on the First Amendment in the 21st century. Tribe spoke at PFF's summit in Aspen, Colo. last month and the transcript was published on Tuesday, the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

In his presentation, Tribe said:

The broad lesson of this discussion of television violence is the centrality of the First Amendment's opposition to having government as big brother regulate who may provide what information content to whom, whether or not for a price. The large problem that this exposes is that especially in a post-9/11 world, where grownups understandably fear for themselves and for their children and worry about the brave new world of online cyber reality that their kids can navigate more fluently than they can, it is enormously tempting to forget or to subordinate the vital principles of constitutional liberty. Even if, after years of litigation and expenditure, the First Amendment prevails, it can be worn down dramatically by having to wage that fight over and over and over.

Read the full transcript here and watch the video here.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., asked National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell on Tuesday for previously undisclosed information about domestic surveillance in advance of his testimony before the panel a week from now.

McConnell is slated to discuss changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act alongside Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein. Another letter was also sent to White House counsel Fred Fielding reiterating previous requests for information about the programs, made as early as January, that have not been fulfilled.

The Conyers letter included a list of questions that McConnell should answer in writing prior to his testimony. The Fielding letter also asks that the requested information be provided prior to next week's hearing.

Free speech experts and journalists assembled Monday night at American University to discuss "Freedom of the Press in the Post 9-11 World" as part of a series of events at the school to commemorate USA Today's 25th anniversary.

The event featured National Security Archive General Counsel Meredith Fuchs; National Journal's Shane Harris; New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau; USA Today editor Ken Paulson; and national security authority Suzanne Spaulding.

Discussion topics included terrorism, increased government secrecy, the unpopularity of the Iraq war and attacks on the news media for breaking stories about U.S. intelligence-gathering.

On Thursday, the school will host an invite-only affair honoring recipients of the Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media. Honorees are legendary White House writer Helen Thomas, CBS anchor Bob Schieffer, PBS anchor Jim Lehrer and others.

Read more here.

Popular Internet gossip site, TMZ.com, made its small-screen debut on Monday with the maiden voyage of "TMZ On TV." The syndicated show, airing in Washington on Fox 5/WTTG, is essentially a televised slice of the snarkiest, celeb-crazed spot on the Web.

The show was chock-full of MTV Video Music Awards coverage (Britney Spears' distressing comeback and the behind-the-scenes brawl between rockers Kid Rock and Tommy Lee). No word on whether the program will be digging for dirt in the nation's capital. TMZ's plans for a D.C. spin-off were quietly put on hold earlier this year.

TMZ.com is the Internet's top-ranked entertainment news site, with 9.1 million unique visitors in July, according to comScore Media Metrix.

Internet billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will be a contestant on ABC's hit primetime show "Dancing with the Stars" this season. He'll square off against a Spice Girl, an Abercrombie & Fitch model and an odd roster of other "celebrities."

Cuban addressed the issue on his blog last week, saying: "The opportunity to do something unique that makes me smile is something I try not to pass up. It's not about how well I can dance. It's about the opportunity to compete at something I enjoy."

The show's choice of costumes also prompted some colorful commentary from Cuban: "Yesterday I felt like they had found Ricky Ricardo's garage sale and bought up his clothes just for me."

Read more about the contestants here and here.

The Internet Innovation Alliance has launched a blog featuring a trio of top-notch contributors: Clinton Administration telecommunications advisor Larry Irving; Bruce Mehlman, President Bush's former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy; and Laura Spining, previously of the U.S. Telecom Association.

The blog, "Broadband Hub," will provide information about "the debate over Internet funding and our efforts to secure more investment to ensure continued swift access to the Internet," Spining wrote in an inaugural post. "This is not a matter of making fast connections faster, but of guaranteeing that future innovation is not hampered by traffic jams," she said.

Our parent company, National Journal Group, announced a new partnership on Monday with satellite radio giant XM as the race for the White House kicks into high gear. You'll be able to hear NJ experts on POTUS '08, a station dedicated to the 2008 election.

As part of the joint venture, NJ Contributing Editor Linda Douglass will host "National Journal On Air," a one-hour weekly show providing a recap of the top political news and events from the week as well as a preview of the week ahead.

Other NJ favorites who will appear on XM include Charlie Cook, editor of The Cook Political Report; Hotline Editor-in-Chief Amy Walter; NJ Political Correspondent Jim Barnes; and other journalists and experts who call our Watergate headquarters home.

XM's POTUS '08 (Channel 130) is scheduled to go live in late September. NJ readers will be able to access podcasts of "National Journal On Air" and other segments as well as links to related news and articles on NationalJournal.com.

We caught up with Douglass to ask her about her new endeavor...

Countless bloggers tuned to C-SPAN, with itchy fingers poised on keyboards, as the top American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, testified on Capitol Hill on Monday. But at least one, Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review's "The Corner," was irked with what appeared to be some technical difficulties at the onset.

She wrote: "So you think technology is bad in Iraq? The U.S. House of Representatives can't get the commanding general a working mic in Washington, D.C. Ike Skelton seems to be offering to read his statement for him.... he should have stayed in Baghdad. Completely embarrassing."

The Wall Street Journal's Susan Davis also reported on the glitch: "House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., grew increasingly irritated as staff scrambled to fix Petraeus’s microphone, which remained stubbornly silent, and to get copies of his prepared testimony to committee members."

The Politico and Mother Jones offered additional commentary (here and here) on the microphone crisis.

Much has been said and written on the topic of technology and entertainment convergence and speakers at a Practicing Law Institute webcast on Monday added to that dialogue. Tech visionary Tim Stevens kicked off the event with some interesting thoughts about the "Net Generation."

The population known as "Gen N," whose age range is roughly 14-28, is defined by connections, participation and interaction, said Stevens, the CEO of Doppleganger, a provider of next-generation avatar-based virtual worlds.

There are 88 million Gen Ns in the United States alone and 96 percent of them connect to a social network at least once a week, he said. Communication between peers is paramount, Stevens added. That is evidenced by 99 percent growth in the social network arena over last year compared to 3 percent general Internet growth.

Among Gen Ns, 77 percent have said they could live without television but not without an Internet connection. They also believe, unlike previous generations, that user-generated content is "mainstream."

Therefore, traditional broadcast media must engage audiences in new ways, Stevens said in his presentation. A basic TV show or musician Web site is no longer sufficient because Gen Ns are not satisfied with "a few clips and bios." Gen Ns want to be part of the entertainment experience and want to feel connected to the content and to other fans, he said.

The Monday morning quarterbacking surrounding Sunday night's MTV Video Music Awards has focused mainly on pop tart Britney Spears' ill-fated return to the stage, but the annual extravaganza also served as a platform for musicians to tout their albums, brands, labels, etc.

One band, however, used the limelight to publicize a humanitarian cause rather than their own. When the members of Fall Out Boy accepted their moon man statute for "best group," they quickly rattled off the Web address -- www.invisiblechildren.com.

The jarring non sequitur probably caused a number of viewers, including yours truly, to hop online and type in the URL. The site belongs to a relatively new nonprofit aimed at raising awareness about displaced or forgotten kids in northern Uganda.

Invisible Children was created in 2003 by three young filmmakers who were motivated to act after witnessing the 20-year war that has ravaged the region. Fall Out Boy has gotten involved in the effort and has promoted the project during their most recent tour.

The Bush Administration made another push for Congress to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act over the weekend. Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend told "Fox News Sunday" that "Congress and our overseers cannot walk back the vital tools that we need."

The controversial FISA changes that were enacted in August will expire in February unless lawmakers make the mandate permanent. "We need those tools. … And so we need FISA reform made permanent," she said.

As the House decides the fate of a bill that would revamp the nation's patent system, I decided to reminisce about an oft cited patent dispute that involves peanut butter and jelly sandwich technology. The U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit in April 2005 rejected an effort by J.M. Smucker Co. to patent its process for making pocket-size PB&J snacks.

Read more about this case: AP story on the court's ruling; Patently-O coverage; and the patent application. And, since it's Friday, click here for "Peanut Butter Jelly Time," a Flash animation that emerged in the early 2000s and became an Internet phenomenon.

From Friday morning's Technology Daily AM Edition:

The White House on Thursday announced its opposition to House legislation that would revamp the nation's overburdened patent system on the grounds that it would dramatically overhaul the procedure for calculating damages in infringement cases. CongressDaily reports that the Bush administration said the bill would limit a court's discretion in determining damages in infringement cases.

"Making this change to a reasonably well-functioning patent legal system is unwarranted and risks reducing the rewards from innovation -- a result that would undercut the other useful reforms in this bill," according to the statement of administration policy.

House floor debate begins shortly. More details should be available in Technology Daily's PM Edition.

[Cross-posted from National Journal's Beltway Blogroll]

Ask netroots cheerleaders Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga and they'll tell you that bloggers are successfully "Crashing The Gate" of political Washington. Ask me and I'll tell you they're taking over the Atlantic Media building -- literally.

We have new blog tenants here at the Watergate building on New Hampshire Avenue in Washington. The Huffington Post has located its four-person Washington staff, including political editor Thomas Edsall (also a contributing editor at National Journal magazine), on the other side of the fifth floor from the corner we occupy at Technology Daily.

Add that bit of news to Atlantic Media's embrace of blogs, including six of them as of now at Atlantic.com, and National Journal's experiment with campaign embeds, and it's clear: The ivory tower is being overrun by the rabble! -- Danny Glover

Apple's announcement that it would slash the price for its popular iPhone in time for the holiday shopping season prompted an open letter from CEO Steve Jobs on Thursday. The bottom line -- the people have spoken and they are royally ticked off.

Jobs said he received hundreds of e-mails from iPhone customers who were upset about the price cut (from $599 to $399) two months after the device went on sale. Even though the company is "making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone," Jobs said "we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers."

Now, every iPhone customer who purchased the product from either Apple or AT&T and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration will get a $100 store credit toward the purchase of any product at an Apple brick-and-mortar or online store. Details will be released next week.

The Public Campaign Action Fund will begin airing a TV ad (see video above) in the Bluegrass State on Thursday spotlighting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's alleged role in an interesting kind of pay-for-play politics.

According to the colorful clip, the Kentucky Republican reportedly scored a several million dollar payback for a firm based in his state to send MP3 players to Afghani tribesmen. No word on what brand of device was shipped but the silhouette in the ad looks pretty familiar.

MacWilliams Kirchner Sanders & Partners produced the spot. The Huffington Post has more on the story.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., is "engaging in an all out offensive" this week to try to defeat a bill that would overhaul the U.S. patent system. The legislation, H.R. 1908, is expected to reach the House floor on Friday.

Rohrabacher announced in a press release late Wednesday that the measure is "another attempt to destroy two hundred years of American patent protection." He sent a "dear colleague" letter out urging members to vote against the proposal.

"If indeed our laws are to be harmonized with the rest of the world, it is the rest of the world that should be strengthening their protection rather than America reducing its rights to the lowest common denominator," Rohrabacher wrote in the letter. He points out that a similar bill was defeated a decade ago: "It was a bad idea then, and it is a bad idea now.”

Co-signers on the letter included Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, Illinois Republican Donald Manzullo and Michael Michaud, a Democrat from Maine.

The House Rules Committee is slated to take up the much-hyped patent reform bill (H.R. 1908) on Thursday afternoon after Technology Daily's deadline. In anticipation of the meeting, the panel released a summary of amendments that have been submitted.

Here's a quick rundown:

Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and California Democrat Howard Berman have a manager's amendment that would:
-- Retain interference proceedings for applications filed before the effective date of a claimed invention.
--Clarify the manner in which the president is to give notice of when major patenting authorities adopt a grace period similar to the one provided in the United States.
--Ensure that the jury in a patent case makes the determination of whether willful infringement has occurred.
--Limit the composition of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board by excluding political appointees.
--Adding a clause to ensure the entire bill is not struck down if one part of the act is found unconstitutional or otherwise unenforceable.
--Eliminate the so-called "venue transfer" provision.

Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., wants to introduce language that would strike provisions of the bill that expand prior user rights. It also calls for a study on whether prior user rights laws in other countries promote innovation.

The death of former Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., who served six terms in the House from 1993-2004, came as a sad shock to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

On its Web site, the group said it was upset by the death of the 66-year-old, who represented a tech-heavy district near Seattle and served as ITIF's co-chair. Dunn "provided extraordinary leadership" to the think tank, officials said, "offering not only her time, energy, and commitment, but also valuable insights and advice."

"In her work with ITIF she always put the interests of the nation first and focused on how the nation and the world could maximize innovation. We will miss her spirit and her leadership," the group said in a statement.

As an actor, "Law and Order" star Fred Thompson has played a president now he's hoping to be one. Following an appearance on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno Wednesday night, former senator from Tennessee announced his candidacy in a Webcast early Thursday morning.

When Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., announced via a Webcast, saying she wanted a conversation, some Democratic bloggers criticized her, saying the conversation was a bit one-sided. Thompson's campaign team is likely hoping to head that off by appealing to bloggers in the days before the announcement to ask Thompson anything.

The campaign asked bloggers to encourage readers to submit questions through a separate Thompson website ImWithFred, http://http://www.imwithfred.com/which, unlike Fred08.com, requires people to register their email address and contact information. That move further helps them now engage those that some argue can help or hurt a campaign.

Lawmakers leading the charge to overhaul the nation's patent system are prepping for what promises to be a busy couple of days on Capitol Hill now that the August recess is over. The full House is poised to consider a Judiciary Committee approved measure, H.R. 1908, as early as Friday.

On Wednesday morning, I sat down for a patent reform primer with Ian Martinez at the Telecommunications Industry Association. The audio interview is available here, on The TIA Network, the trade group's weekly briefing on Washington. Read Technology Daily's latest coverage here.

(Images courtesy of Apple)

Apple was the talk of the technology world on Wednesday after introducing its all new itsy-bitsy iPod Nano (with video playback capability); a new iPod classic (80GB or 160GB); widescreen iPod Touch; an iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store; and a new music partnership with premium coffee supplier Starbucks.

Oh, and they slashed the price of the uber trendy iPhone from $599 to $399 to woo holiday shoppers. Read the press releases here. "We’ve clearly got a breakthrough product and we want to make it affordable for even more customers as we enter this holiday season," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said.

The Online Publishers Association has re-launched its Web site to create a more robust destination for research, news and commentary related to online media. The revamped site also boasts a new look and feel, powerful search capability and a new member center, according to a press release.

The trade group's site continues to provide valuable features for agencies, marketers and publishers, officials said. Those materials include: the Internet Activity Index, which for the past four years has measured time spent in “key” Web categories; information on OPA events; summaries of OPA legislative positions; a directory of research organizations and trade associations; and more.

Patent reform bills currently pending in Congress include a "dangerous" requirement that would effectively outsource the patent search, "allowing applicants to contract searches to anyone, including foreign entities," the Patent Office Professional Association wrote in a new policy paper.

POPA, which opposes H.R. 1908 and S. 1145, said the bills contain provisions that would hurt – not help – America’s economic well-being by weakening the U.S. patent regime. The group sent its paper to House and Senate committee and subcommittee leadership on Tuesday.

The group also called for Congress to help the PTO "do the job right the first time” by switching its focus from “rework solutions” to retaining highly skilled patent examiners and providing them with sufficient time and resources.

Read more about the report here and catch up on Technology Daily's latest patent reform coverage in the PM Edition.

How many members of Congress does it take to change a light bulb? Well, more than one, as Rep. Bob Inglis, R-S.C., does not want to claim all the credit for an amendment he added to an appropriations bill that would change the light bulbs throughout hundreds of government buildings.

The amendment to 2008 appropriations bill, H.R. 2829, passed on a voice vote and would prohibit the purchase of light bulbs that are not labeled energy efficient by either Energy Star or the Federal Energy Management Program.

Inglis said high-efficiency bulbs like compact fluorescent light bulbs and halogen bulbs consume 75 percent less electricity than the incandescent bulbs.

The language that passed with a voice vote could have a fairly big impact, as the bill covers the Treasury Department, the judiciary, the District of Columbia, the General Services Administration, Small Business Administration, National Archives and executive office of the president, among others.

Read more about this story in Tuesday's Technology Daily PM Edition.

While Technology Daily was on vacation last week, there was quite a bit of news… and I'm not just talking about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's swan song. Here's an incomplete rundown of items that arrived in my inbox while I was lounging on a Caribbean beach, far, far away from Capitol Hill.

Napster Suit Settled

The National Music Publishers’ Association jointly announced with Bertelsmann a settlement of litigation arising out of claims asserted by certain members of the trade group relating to Bertelsmann’s relationship with Napster in 2000 and 2001.

The litigation was previously certified as a class action, and accordingly the settlement requires court approval, NMPA said. The settlement deal is expected to become final in several months' time. Bertelsmann, which financially backed Napster, admitted no liability in the settlement.

Bertelsmann's settlements set the company back millions of dollars, officials said. The German firm reported a $69.3 million loss in the first six months of 2007, largely attributable to the Napster suit.

The Patent and Trademark Office and the United Kingdom's Intellectual Property Office made an all-call on Tuesday for applicants who wish to participate in a pilot project called the Patent Prosecution Highway.

The joint initiative will leverage fast-track patent examination in both offices to allow applicants in the U.S. and U.K. to obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently, officials said. The pilot also will let each office benefit from work previously done by its counterpart, thus reducing examiner workload and improving patent quality.

"Patent offices worldwide must increase the depth and effectiveness of their cooperation," PTO Director Jon Dudas said in a press release. The initiative builds on the agency's work with the Japan Patent Office and "contributes to a more rational international patent system," he said.

Full requirements for participation in the trial program can be found here. The trial period is set to expire Sept. 4, 2008, but may be extended for up to one year or terminated earlier depending on volume of activity and other factors, the PTO said.

Apple's popular iTunes Store is saying sayonara to NBC television shows for the upcoming fall season. The move follows network's decision to not renew its agreement with the digital media provider after Apple declined to pay "more than double the wholesale price for each NBC TV episode," officials said on Friday.

The change would have resulted in the retail price to consumers increasing to $4.99 per episode from the current $1.99, Apple said. ABC, CBS, FOX and the CW, along with more than 50 cable networks, will sell TV shows from their upcoming season on iTunes at the current price.

"We are disappointed to see NBC leave iTunes because we would not agree to their dramatic price increase," Apple Vice President Eddy Cue said in a press release. “We hope they will change their minds and offer their TV shows to the tens of millions of iTunes customers.”

NBC supplied iTunes with three of its 10 best selling TV shows last season, accounting for 30 percent of iTunes TV show sales. Apple’s current deal with NBC ends in December.

The Internet Education Foundation, through its GetNetWise initiative, attempted to make the Web a little safer during the late August lull in Washington. The nonprofit group unveiled a new parental education and empowerment campaign featuring weekly interactive webinars.

The series of streaming videos, which will take place on Thursdays at 2 p.m. ET starting later this month, will focus on a variety of filtering, monitoring, and blocking tools that can be employed to aid in protecting children and families online, officials said.

The project aims to "demystify these tools for parents and policymakers alike" on the heels of two recently passed Senate Commerce Committee bills that highlight growing interest in learning more about the latest, greatest Web safety devices.

GetNetWise already hosts the largest searchable database of parental empowerment tools on the Internet, IEF Executive Director Tim Lordan said in a press release. The group hopes to enhance its repository of resources with "more media-rich information," he said.

Technology Daily and the Tech Daily Dose are back after a week-long hiatus. Did you miss us as much as we missed you? We're feverishly cleaning out our jam-packed inboxes and catching up with all the important news we might have missed during our happy little holiday. Bear with us -- it shouldn't take long before we're firing on all cylinders again. In the meantime, check out the AM Edition for this morning's top tech headlines.