September 2008

NationalJournal.com Q&A: Jim Burger

In advance of a public briefing on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement last week, Intel and other stakeholders sent a letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative requesting that language from a key domestic law be included in the forthcoming international pact. Specifically, they asked the USTR to be sure that any language referring to Internet service providers include provisions agreed upon under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The legislation gives providers "safe harbor" from liabilities for copyright infringement being committed across their networks.

NationalJournal.com's Theresa Poulson spoke with Jim Burger, intellectual property attorney with Intel, about the letter and other issues surrounding the controversial agreement being negotiated in secret. He shared his thoughts on the threat the pact could possess if it doesn't include language from the U.S. copyright law, as well as standards for secondary liability that have been defined in U.S. courts.

Read edited excerpts from the interview here.

The Motion Picture Association of America filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking a federal court in Los Angeles to stop RealNetworks from distributing the company’s RealDVD software, which studios argue allow movies to be copied illegally. In the complaint and motion for a temporary restraining order, the studios said RealDVD violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because it bypasses the copyright protection built into DVDs that protect movies against theft.

"RealNetworks knows its product violates the law and undermines the hard-won trust that has been growing between America’s movie makers and the technology community. The major motion picture studios have been making major investments in technologies that allow people to access entertainment in a variety of new and legal ways," the MPAA said. "We will vigorously defend our right to stop companies from bringing products to market that mislead consumers and clearly violate the law.”

In response to the studio's threat, RealNetworks said it planned to file an action for a declaratory judgment against DVD Copy Control Association, Disney Enterprises, Paramount Pictures Corp., Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., NBC Universal, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and Viacom. The suit asks the court to rule that RealNetworks' software fully complies with the DVD Copy Control Association's license agreement.

"We are disappointed that the movie industry is following in the footsteps of the music industry and trying to shut down advances in technology rather than embracing changes that provide consumers with more value and flexibility for their purchases," the company said. "We expect to successfully defend our right to make RealDVD available to consumers and consumers' rights to use it."

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and other members of the California delegation wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey last week regarding the Justice Department's consideration of a preemptive lawsuit to block Yahoo’s non-exclusive advertising agreement with Google. In the letter released Monday, the lawmakers state that "if such action were taken, we believe such an unprecedented suit could detrimentally affect the online advertising market and electronic commerce."

"To our knowledge, DOJ has never before taken preemptive action against a non-exclusive contractual agreement of this type," the letter goes on. "Similar agreements are commonplace in many industries and standard among Internet companies." Microsoft, one of the chief opponents of the Google-Yahoo deal, had a similar arrangement with Yahoo and Google has similar arrangements with tens of thousands of companies, they argued.

"We believe robust competition serves the public interest but if the DOJ blocks this agreement we fear that the threat of additional scrutiny may chill future agreements," the members stated. "The competitive and disruptive nature of the Internet makes it extraordinarily difficult for any company to dominate." The letter concludes by urging the department to "carefully assess the serious consequences" of a challenge to the arrangement and the precedent any action by the DOJ would set.

Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Thomas Barnett told CongressDaily last week that "we're looking at the issues and we're trying to work through them as quickly as we can" but he would not indicate how much longer his staff needs to reach a resolution. Read more here.

The House on Monday afternoon rejected, 228-205, a $700 billion financial rescue plan that was agreed upon over the weekend, with more than two-thirds of Republicans voting against it. The news swept across the financial markets sending the Dow Jones industrials down as much as 705 points and sending Capitol Hill into a tizzy. Even the House Clerk's Office Web site felt the strain, presumably collapsing under a flood of Internet users looking for information on the vote. The Library of Congress THOMAS site, a clearinghouse for legislative information, was also buggy for much of the afternoon. Not a good day for Wall Street or the Web.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, was one of many members who made one-minute speeches on the floor of the House on Sunday about the ongoing negotiations surrounding the federal government's proposed multibillion-dollar financial services bailout. What made the straight-shooting former judge's speech memorable for me was his comparison of the situation on Wall Street to "Y2K," the millennial computer bug that caused much less damage than predicted when computer clocks rolled over into 2000.

"They say it’s going to be Y2K all over again. Remember all the media hype about the date January 1, 2000 -- that the worldwide computer systems would fail, that financial records and transactions would be lost and go haywire and that the world would be gloom and doom and despair?" Poe boomed. "This is the same politics of fear we are hearing from the fat cat financial bullies from Wall Street. They say Congress must save them from their financial sins before the stock markets open tomorrow or the country will fail into the abyss."

He went on: "So Congress is working on a plan in the back rooms of this Capitol. There are no public congressional hearings, no witnesses before committees. This Sunday, the plan for financial salvation to save us all is being discussed by only a few in the shadows of this great hall." "By the way, the Y2K scare was just a mythical hoax. And that’s just the way it is," he concluded.

The House passed a sweeping intellectual property enforcement bill on Sunday after the Senate approved the same version on Friday. The bill, introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, ranking member Arlen Specter, and Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, was the product of months of negotiations with the Bush administration, consumer groups and members who opposed certain provisions. The bill now awaits the president's signature.

A similar bill sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers passed that chamber in May but a number of changes were made in the Senate. Sunday's House vote was 381-41, an indicator that not everyone was on board with the proposal. Read my story in CongressDaily's special edition for details about those who spoke out against components of measure. House members took up a number of last-minute bills as they awaited details of the economic bailout package.

Meanwhile, weekend warriors at the Motion Picture Association of America win the award for fastest distribution of a statement upon the IP bill's approval. In an e-mail to reporters a little over an hour after passage, MPAA Dan Glickman lauded Congress for acknowledging "the significance of creative endeavors." Congress sent "a clear message that the protection of intellectual property and American industrial innovation is a national priority," he said.

I'll post other reactions [after the jump] as they arrive in my inbox...

An interesting story posted last week on nationaljournal.com:

It's been months since John McCain first caught flak for calling himself a computer "illiterate" in an interview given this January. But while McCain's personal comfort with technology wouldn't seem to rank up there in importance with the other issues of the day, the subject has refused to disappear, popping up most recently in an attack ad from Barack Obama's campaign and in news coverage of a McCain adviser's claim that his candidate had invented the BlackBerry.

Now, with the first of three presidential debates days away, the stage is set for the issue to resurface yet again as the candidates tussle over the problems facing the high-tech financial sector and the larger global economy. Both candidates will be under pressure to show not only that they grasp the 21st-century challenges that will come their way, but that they're in touch with the daily realities of ordinary Americans. For a good many voters, that may mean having a working knowledge of computers and the Web.

"I think it's a valid question," said Susan Mills, executive producer of a forthcoming "NewsHour" documentary about the presidential forums. "But I would see it coming up in the town hall meeting more than the other two." In that debate, the candidates' second, they will field questions from audience members as well as from visitors to MyDebates.org, a partnership between the Commission on Presidential Debates and the social networking site MySpace.

Read Kevin Friedl's full article here.

After last-minute negotiations on Saturday night, a bill introduced by Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., that supporters say would allow months of royalty negotiations between music and Internet industries to continue, passed the House. The National Association of Broadcasters had concerns with the bill's 11th hour introduction and urged the chamber not to act. Bill backers interpreted the NAB's protest as a round-about way of harming Internet radio, which is giving AM/FM stations a run for their money in the digital age.

To accommodate NAB's stated concerns, the effective date in the legislation, which authorizes digital royalty collector SoundExchange -- on behalf of copyright owners and performers -- to negotiate an alternative royalty agreement with any Internet radio service, was changed from Dec. 15, 2008 to Feb. 15, 2009, an Inslee aide said. The rest of the bill remains intact. "After a long day of negotiations, calls and emails from concerned users of Internet radio, and lobbying efforts on both sides, H.R. 7084 is no longer opposed by the NAB," the aide said in an e-mail. The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Read Tech Daily Dose's coverage of the issue as it developed here.

From CongressDaily on Saturday:

Legislation to authorize a $320 million funding boost for Justice Department-supported Internet Crimes Against Children task forces and impose higher penalties on Internet service providers that do not report child pornography found on their networks passed the House today and will be sent to President Bush for his signature. The Senate approved its version of the bill Thursday after months of negotiations and a recent on-air endorsement by talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

Under the bill, Web companies that fail to report unlawful content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children would face a $150,000 fine for the first instance, which is triple the current amount; and $300,000 for each subsequent incident per day the material remains online.
Read the full story here.

*** Developing Story *** Updated Saturday @ 8:35 pm ET

The National Association of Broadcasters is reportedly trying to kill a bill introduced by Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., that supporters say would allow months of royalty negotiations between music and Internet industries to continue. The bill, which is scheduled to be taken up in the House shortly, authorizes digital royalty collector SoundExchange, on behalf of copyright owners and performers, to negotiate an alternative royalty agreement before the end of the year with any Internet radio service.

A source close to the issue told Tech Daily Dose that lobbyists for AM and FM radio are worried about competition from webcasters and extinguishing the bill would throw a wrench into the royalty talks. "If they kill this, that means they're able to kill the negotiations," the source said. The bill does not affect the scope of performance rights or underlying copyright law and does not impact broadcasters, SaveNetRadio said in a statement. The bill only clears the path for private negotiations to continue while Congress is in recess, the grassroots advocacy group said.

Click the jump for more updates as the story develops…

(Photo Credit: David Katz via Flickr)

A few snippets from Friday night's presidential debate at the University of Mississippi between Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill.

"We've got to make sure that we're competing in education. We've got to invest in science and technology. China had a space launch and a space walk. We've got to make sure that our children are keeping pace in math and in science." - Obama

"We're going to have to rebuild our infrastructure, which is falling behind, our roads, our bridges, but also broadband lines that reach into rural communities. Also, making sure that we have a new electricity grid to get the alternative energy to population centers that are using them." - Obama

"I have a fundamental belief in the goodness and strength of the American worker. And the American worker is the most productive, the most innovative. America is still the greatest producer, exporter and importer. But we've got to get through these times, but I have a fundamental belief in the United States of America. And I still believe, under the right leadership, our best days are ahead of us." - McCain

House Republicans are circulating a "Dear Colleague" (see above) letter aimed at recruiting members for a New Media Caucus. The effort is being backed by Minority Leader John Boehner, Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam, Republican Whip Roy Blunt, Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter, Robert Latta of Ohio, Rob Wittman of Virginia and John Culberson of Texas.

My inbox was flooded with stakeholder reactions to the Senate's passage of Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy's intellectual property enforcement bill on Friday so I thought I'd offer up a few excerpts. For juicy details about the bill's passage, read CongressDaily's PM edition.

"This bill truly is music to the ears of all those who care about strengthening American creativity and jobs. At a critical economic juncture, this bipartisan legislation provides enhanced protection for an important asset that helps lead our global competitiveness."
-- Recording Industry Association of America Chairman Mitch Bainwol

“We at the Copyright Alliance thank the United States Senate for supporting hard-working U.S. artists and creators with the passage of S. 3325… At a time when the performance of our economy is front and center for policymakers and families alike, it is worth noting that the theft of intellectual property costs the U.S. billions of dollars in lost revenue and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs."
-- Copyright Alliance Executive Director Patrick Ross

“This is a win for both parties and, more importantly, for America’s innovators, workers whose jobs rely on intellectual property, and consumers who depend on safe and effective products."
-- U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue

"It is unfortunate that the Senate felt it necessary to pass this legislation. The bill only adds more imbalance to a copyright law that favors large media companies. At a time when the entire digital world is going to less restrictive distribution models, and when the courts are aghast at the outlandish damages being inflicted on consumers in copyright cases, this bill goes entirely in the wrong direction."
-- Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn

Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig and a large left-right coalition have asked the two presidential candidates to bring their debates into the Internet age by embracing "open debate" principles. The letter to Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., was signed by Newt Gingrich's group American Solutions, MoveOn.org, the founders of Craigslist and Wikipedia, top bloggers, online strategists and others.

The letter calls on the candidates to commit to "a principle that whenever you debate publicly, the raw footage of that debate will be dedicated to the public domain. Those in charge of the video feed should be directed to make it free for anyone to use." During the primaries, CNN, ABC and NBC agreed to release video rights but Fox News Channel threatened legal action against McCain for using a debate clip. "Such control over political speech is inconsistent with our democracy," the letter stated.

Furthermore, the group asked that "town hall" Web questions be chosen by the people, not solely by the media. "In order to ensure that the Internet portion of this debate is true bottom-up democracy, the format needs to allow the public to help select the questions in addition to asking them," the group said. According to the letter, questions chosen by TV producers during this cycle's YouTube debates "were considered gimmicky and not hard-hitting enough, and never would have bubbled up on their own."

Follow the jump for the full text of the letter...

Legislation to authorize more than $300 million for Justice Department-funded Internet Crimes Against Children task forces and would alter how online child pornography is reported by Internet companies passed the Senate late Thursday after a deal was reached between Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

The legislation, which took on a higher profile after Biden became the Democratic vice presidential nominee, reached further into the pop consciousness when Oprah Winfrey recently urged her viewers to voice their support for it. She was expected to mention the bill's progress on her Friday show, sources said.

The package now heads to the House for consideration. Senate aides working on the bill have been in close contact with key House staffers to ensure swift passage in that chamber. The original House companion measures were introduced by Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

Read CongressDaily's AM edition for insight into all of the horse-trading that moved this measure forward in the 11th hour.

Legislation intended to make a dent in the backlog of unanalyzed DNA samples in crime labs across the country was approved by the Senate on Thursday. The bill, backed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del -- who is now running for vice president -- would authorize $775 million in grant money over five years. The grant program was initially authorized in 2004 as part of a larger bill to provide state and local governments with crime-fighting DNA technology.

"Backlogs have seriously impeded the use of DNA testing in solving cases without suspects – and reexamining cases in which there are strong claims of innocence – as labs are required to give priority status to those cases in which a suspect is known,” Leahy said in a statement. “Solely for lack of funding, critical evidence remains untested while rapists and killers remain at large.” The bill now heads to the House for approval.

As presidential candidates Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama headed back to Washington from the campaign trail on Thursday to deal with the nation's financial crisis, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation released a pair of reports that explain how a new economics doctrine – innovation economics – should drive economic policymaking in the next White House.

One study describes how three traditional economics doctrines – conservative neo-classical (supply-side), liberal neo-classical (Rubinomics), and neo-Keynesianism – have dominated thinking in Washington. It explains how innovation economics, which is based on an explicit effort to understand and model how technological advances occur, should be the path of the future. A companion report argues that putting innovation at the center of U.S. economic policies can spur economic growth and raise standards of living.

ITIF offers eight policy ideas to drive innovation-led economic growth:

1) Significantly expand the federal research and development tax credit
2) Create a national innovation foundation
3) Allow foreign students receiving graduate degrees to get a green card
4) Reform the patent system to drive innovation
5) Let companies expense new investments in IT in the first year
6) Establish a federal chief information officer
7) Implement a national broadband strategy
8) Implement an innovation-based national trade policy

The United States experienced the most cyber attacks in 2008 with more than 20 million attempted attacks originating from computers within the country, according to a client study by security firm SecureWorks. China was second with 7.7 million attempted attacks emanating from computers within its borders and Brazil took third place with over 166,987 attempted attacks. South Korea, Poland, Japan, and Russia were also high on the list.

"This should be a warning to organizations and personal computer users that, not only are they putting their computers and networks at risk by not securing them, but they are actually providing these cyber criminals with a platform from which to compromise other computers," SecureWorks researcher Hunter King said in a press release. The findings illustrate the futility of simply blocking content from foreign IP addresses as a defense mechanism, added Don Jackson, the firm's threat intelligence director.

The Georgia/Russia cyber conflict was a good example, SecureWorks said. Many Georgian IT staffers thought that by blocking Russian IP addresses they would be able to protect their networks but the Russian attacks were actually launched from IP addresses in Turkey and the United States.

Little did I know that Wednesday was the World Day Against Software Patents, an occasion spearheaded by a coalition of more than 80 software companies, associations and developers in response to the European Parliament's revisions to patent law aimed at protecting small firms from questionable software patents. A global petition aimed at effectively ending software patents worldwide was launched on the same day.

"This is the best solution for getting rid of 'patent trolls' and uncontrollable legal risks generated by software patents," StopSoftwarePatents coalition creator Benjamin Henrion said in a press release. "The day the software industry forms a clear front against software patents will be the beginning of the end for the 'patent trolls'."

Some of the entities involved in the effort include OpenFirms, a consulting company for healthcare organizations in India; Nightlabs, a professional supplier of ticketing solutions based in Freiburg, Germany; and iMatix Corp., which provides messaging solutions for financial markets. Read more about the initiative here. Speaking of patents, catch up on the latest movement on Capitol Hill from CongressDaily's AM edition.

From CongressDaily's PM edition on Wednesday::

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl today laid down a marker in the battle to overhaul the patent system by introducing a bill that departs substantially from the one sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. The Kyl bill resulted from months of meetings with critics of the Leahy language.

It would boost Patent and Trademark Office authority on a number of fronts but does not grant the agency its biggest wish: mandatory applicant quality controls. Rather than requiring each application to be accompanied by a search report and analysis relevant to patentability, the bill makes that process voluntary and offers incentives for compliance.

Kyl's measure changes the "inequitable conduct" doctrine, which would require patent applicants to be more forthcoming to the PTO or face hefty fines. But unlike previous legislation, his bill would address allegations of misconduct administratively rather than through the courts.

The bill also would make permanent PTO's authority over money earned from patent and trademark applications. In recent years, appropriators have let the agency keep the funds instead of diverting them to unrelated projects. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and others believe permanence would lead to more certainty in longer-term budgeting at the PTO.

Read the full story here and look for more in Thursday's AM edition.

Here's a quick follow-up to Tuesday night's post about the launch of a new effort to spur the creation of innovative Internet content and distribute in safe, reliable ways. The clumsily titled campaign, Arts+Labs, was unveiled at a Wednesday briefing in New York City and its founding members are a who's who of high-tech and content industry powerhouses -- AT&T, Viacom, NBC Universal, Cisco, Microsoft and the Songwriters Guild of America.

Arts+Labs is co-chaired by Mike McCurry, former White House press secretary to President Bill Clinton and Mark McKinnon, former media adviser to the campaigns of President Bush and current GOP presidential nominee John McCain. SGA President Rick Carnes and Chuck Sims of the law firm Proskauer Rose also have agreed to join Arts+Labs as the first members of its advisory board.

"Quality content drives the Internet and that distribution of easily accessible, affordable content in the Internet age requires new business models," McKinnon said in a press release, noting that consumers should know where to get safe and legal online content while protecting artists' and innovators' rights. McCurry said consumers want greater opportunities to access content "with confidence that they are safe from viruses, hackers, malware, illegal file trafficking and other net pollution."

Buzz is building about the Wednesday launch of an advocacy coalition intended to draw attention to "the opportunities and challenges that the Internet presents for consumers, artists and the technology community alike." The kick-off is being held in New York City -- not in Washington -- which already smells a little funny to me if this group's intention is to influence policy. Organizers have been tight-lipped about the affair but there are a few clues I can offer.

Among the notables scheduled to be trotted out at the event are Mike McCurry, former White House press secretary to President Bill Clinton; Mark McKinnon, former chief media adviser to the campaigns of President Bush and current GOP presidential nominee John McCain; Chuck Sims, a copyright and First Amendment lawyer; and Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America.

McCurry, a principal at Public Strategies Washington, co-chaired Hands Off the Internet, a group formed during the 109th Congress to counter calls for so-called "network neutrality" legislation. That coalition was affiliated with AT&T, NetCompetition.org and other telecom industry fueled ventures. McKinnon was an early backer of the short-lived HotSoup.com, a Web site launched in 2006 with the aim "to spark debate over hot-button topics of the day in the worlds of politics, business, and culture."

The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee late Tuesday approved a pair of federal information security bills introduced by Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., as lawmakers prepare to leave Washington later this week to campaign for the November elections.

One bill, written by Carper as chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services and International Security, is intended to improve the way agencies safeguard sensitive information and thwart cyber attacks. The bill grew out of a concern expressed by Carper and others that compliance with existing data security regulations has largely become a paperwork exercise.

"It was extremely sobering to learn how often and how easily agency information networks can be compromised," Carper said in a press release. "We are open to attack not only from countries like Russia and China, but to criminal syndicates and terrorists. It is frightening to learn that the most powerful government in the world has essentially been helpless until now in preventing these information technology attacks."

Carper's bill would require inspectors general to measure the effectiveness of data security policies; increase the authority of chief information security officers; topple artificial barriers and increase collaboration by establishing a CISO council directed by the National Cyber Security Center; and require the Homeland Security Department to conduct regular mock attacks against agency networks to discover vulnerabilities.

His second bill is aimed at improving federal agencies' and Congress' ability to monitor risky information technology investments. "IT investments contain an inherent risk that the system may cost more than expected or not perform the way it was planned," Carper said. "It is simply unacceptable that $21 billion dollars, or nearly a third of our IT budget, may be wasted this year because so many projects are poorly planned or managed."

A former Alcatel CIT executive was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months in prison for engaging in an elaborate bribery scheme to obtain a mobile telephone contract from the state-owned telecommunications authority in Costa Rica, the Justice Department announced. Christian Sapsizian, a French citizen who was most recently worked for the vice president of the firm's Latin America division, made more than $2.5 million in corrupt payments to Costa Rican officials. He pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in March 2007.

Sapsizian, a 20-year employee of the telecom company, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz in Miami, Fla., to forfeit $261,500; to serve three years of supervised release; and to pay a $200 special assessment. As part of his plea, Sapsizian agreed to cooperate with U.S. and foreign law enforcement officials in the ongoing investigation. He admitted in court that between February 2000 and September 2004, he conspired with a Costa Rican citizen who was Alcatel’s senior country officer in that country, and others to set up the bribe payments.

The money was given to a director for Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the state-run telecom authority in Costa Rica. According to plea documents, Alcatel was awarded a mobile phone contract by ICE in August 2001 valued at $149 million.

The Justice Department in partnership with the Ad Council, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and additional partners are now working on a new set of Internet safety commercials that will be unveiled in a few months, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday. The ad campaign comes on the heels of the "Think Before You Post" public service announcements that urge young Web users to exercise caution before putting personal information online.

The first new ad will target potential offenders "as a warning not to download sexual images of children or to attempt to entice a minor," Mukasey told a child safety conference in Columbus, Ohio. The second ad, which will run in Spanish, aims to remind parents about the dangers children face online and the need for supervision. "We're confident that, like our previous campaigns, these ads will spread our message and that they’ll help keep our children safe," he said.

In the past, when parents thought about threats to their children's safety, they feared what might happen on the walk home from school or at the playground, Mukasey said. "Home is no longer the sanctuary that it used to be. By simply logging on to the Internet, children open themselves to new and hidden threats." Online games and chat rooms might actually be a hiding place for adult pedophiles, he said, noting that e-mail can also be turned into a tool of deceit and abduction.

The MacArthur Foundation on Tuesday announced 25 new fellows for 2008 after the recipients learned last week in a single phone call that they will each receive $500,000 in “no strings attached” support over the next five years. The new fellows work across a broad spectrum of endeavors.

A few tech-related examples:

▪ An astronomer designing experiments and devices to advance understanding of the geometry of the universe and the story of both its beginning and its end
▪ A neuroscientist tracing the natural interactions of differentiating neurons, bringing us closer to developing effective methods for treating central nervous system damage
▪ An inventor of musical instruments that transform and transcend the musical experience and navigate the boundaries between live and recorded sound
▪ An optical physicist demonstrating that power can be transmitted wirelessly, opening the door to the possibility of a range of devices operating free of traditional power sources
▪ A structural engineer restoring cathedrals and other structures of the distant past and identifying ancient technologies for use in contemporary constructions

Read more here.

Two high-tech executives testified Monday before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security at a hearing on organized retail crime -- a discussion held specifically to address three retail crime bills introduced this year (H.R. 6713, S. 3434 and H.R. 6491). The bills have the potential to place onerous and unfair burdens on online marketplaces and small business owners who sell through them, the tech representatives argued.

NetChoice's Steve DelBianco believes that the bills create opportunities for abuse by large, traditional retailers against their smaller online competitors and that there are clear less restrictive means to stop the problem of organized retail theft by employees. Ultimately, the bills are an unjustified attack on e-commerce and the entrepreneurial small businesses that participate in it, he argued. EBay senior regulatory counsel Edward Torpoco also testified.

Meanwhile, National Retail Federation vice president Joseph LaRocca told the subcommittee that online auction sites "have gone beyond being a convenient new fencing option for professional shoplifters and have begun to lure amateurs into the growing world of organized retail crime." "The Internet seems to be contributing to the creation of a brand new type of retail thief – people who have never stolen before but are lured in by the convenience and anonymity of the Internet," he said.

LaRocca said online "e-fencing" has become thieves’ preferred method for disposing of stolen retail merchandise because they can receive as much as 70 percent of an item’s retail value, compared with about 30 percent on a street corner or at a pawn shop. The anonymity of the Internet also reduces the chances of apprehension. "We can’t keep addressing this issue by investigating and apprehending one seller at a time, we need a new approach," he said.

Tech Daily Dose welcomes the launch of another inside the Beltway blog -- K Street Café, a Web site sponsored by the public affairs firm Adfero Group where experts from a variety of backgrounds share novel ways technology, the Internet and social media are being used to shape public policies.

"As new media tactics are introduced, K Street Café will examine how advocacy organizations are continually changing the way they execute public affairs campaigns," Adfero's Jeff Mascott said in an e-mail. "Contributors to the blog will highlight and analyze the shift from one-directional communications to multi-layered conversations as the method of choice for individuals engaged in issue advocacy."

Contributors include Alan Rosenblatt of the Center for American Progress Action Fund; ePolitics.com's Colin Delany; Verizon's John "CZ" Czwartacki; John Wonderlich of the Sunlight Foundation; the Congressional Management Foundation's Kathy Goldschmidt; the Heritage Foundation's Rob Bluey and others.

Some recent posts:
Movement from email to social media for grassroots activism
Rise of Millenials and their effect on advocacy campaigns
What Washington can learn from the Cluetrain Manefesto
Measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein used One Web Day, an annual global celebration of the Internet's impact on society, to press for a more prominent national broadband strategy. "As a country, we face major challenges in broadband adoption, competition, speed, and affordability," he said at the New America Foundation on Monday, citing familiar statistics about lagging U.S. connectivity.

"Contrary to some views, I believe broadband penetration does matter -- we need to tap all our resources," he said. Broadband is slower and more expensive in the U.S. than it is in the countries with which we compete internationally and "consistently, the data tells us something is wrong," he said. Adelstein added that even if the country was #1 by all measures, "we [would] still need to press in a public/private effort to stay on top, as technology evolves."

At the One Web Day rally in Washington, which was one of many around the world, organizers embraced the initiative's 2008's theme of participation in democracy by launching an e-Democracy time capsule. They invited anyone to contribute text, images, sound, and video concerning Web-powered politics and a future in which online political participation can flourish. The capsule was closed Monday and will be opened in 2020.

Among those in attendance were Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md.; Alec Ross, an adviser to the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the Sunlight Foundation's Ellen Miller; BroadbandCensus.com's Drew Clark; John Wheeler of Democracy in Action and others. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., were invited but could not attend.

Surf on over to CongressDaily's TechCentral for a new "Issue of the Week." Here's a taste:

With six weeks left until Election Day, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., are feeling pressure to communicate their views on issues from national security to the economy. The presidential candidates have also been pressed to address challenges related to U.S. leadership in science, math, engineering and tech -- tenets of their innovation agenda.

In public speeches and on their campaign Web sites, McCain and Obama have both noted the importance of American innovation and leadership. As part of that effort, they responded to a questionnaire sent to each campaign asking 14 key questions on science and technology. The survey provides a side-by-side comparison of their views on energy, education, climate change, stem cell research, security and more. McCain's answers to the Science Debate 2008 query were published Sept. 15, and Obama submitted his responses to the grassroots group two weeks earlier.

Click here for more info and here for a list of events.

The Internet Security Alliance in conjunction with the Homeland Security Department and the National Institute for Standards and Technology will launch a year-long program designed to create greater assurance and security in Internet telephony (VoIP), officials said Monday. The alliance will kick off the project at a security automation conference being held at NIST's Gaithersburg, Md., campus this week.

While VoIP and other networks have plenty of perks, "there is a potentially exhaustive list of VoIP and converged network vulnerabilities which can be accessed by organized crime and others to steal confidential data from companies, governments and even the police,” ISAlliance President Larry Clinton said in a press release. "A collaborative effort to secure this popular platform is needed now."

Nortel's Lawrence Dobranski said the initiative's goal is to build a secure and cost effective solution to let government and corporate users deploy VoIP and other converged networks with greater confidence. Part of that effort is building a checklist of vulnerabilities that will form a baseline of minimum security that can be augmented by more product specific and industry specific standards and practices, he said. The Office of Management and Budget has already mandated that federal CIOs use automated security tools as they become available, Dobranski said.

Here's the latest in an occasional look at what members of Congress are telling their constituents via Twitter. Today we see what Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., is up to. He's a former presidential candidate and current chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. His last post was nine months ago, so maybe he decided tweeting isn't for him.

Not-so-recent Twitter posts:

STAFF: Today is Caucus Day - Caucus for Chris Dodd! 09:26 AM January 03, 2008 from web
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STAFF: Chris Dodd's Caucus for Results tour will stop in Ames, Indianola, Ottumwa, and Burlington Iowa today. 06:36 AM January 02, 2008 from web
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THE DODD CAMPAIGN: Happy New Year! 09:40 PM December 31, 2007
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Martha: Now, THAT is leadership! Thank you for taking the time off from the campaign trail to fight for what is right. 07:15 PM December 17, 2007
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Deborah: I am so grateful to you for your excellent effort and success - for the present. I won't forget how wonderful you were today. 07:15 PM December 17, 2007 from web

Read earlier HillTweet Blues entries here.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Citizen, Public Knowledge and the Citizen Media Law Project urged a federal judge in Chicago Friday to dismiss a law firm's trademark claims apparently aimed at quashing speech by an online news site. The firm of Jones Day filed the suit against Blockshopper.com, alleging that using its trademark to refer to the firm in a headline and linking to the Jones Day site could lead to confusion over the sponsorship of the site.

In its friend-of-the-court brief, the watchdog groups argue that routine references to Jones Day are well-established fair uses of a trademark and are protected by the First Amendment. "That reporting is protected under trademark and free speech law, and Jones Day should know that," EFF's Corynne McSherry said. The amicus brief is part of EFF's "No Downtime for Free Speech Campaign," which works to protect online expression.

Argh Matey! The Institute for Policy Innovation is using International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which is recognized annually on Sept. 19, to push for passage of legislation that would clamp down on intellectual property crimes. Unlike the amusing holiday that pays homage "to Cap’n Slappy and Ol’ Chumbucket," IPI says piracy is no laughing matter because it costs the country $58 billion per year.

"At a time when policy makers must bring all hands on deck to confront the threat of piracy, a group of Senate Republicans could stall legislative efforts to enhance intellectual property resources," IPI said in a press release. "The proposal, while likely needing some work to ensure that Internet companies do not unjustly bear a burden for others’ bad acts, would provide law enforcement resources for finding and catching thieves, and would make prominent a federal coordinator to oversee enforcement of the Constitutional right to intellectual property."

The bill in question was introduced in July by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, ranking member Arlen Specter and others and is being fast-tracked to the Senate floor. But Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Jim DeMint, R-S.C., Senate Minority Whip Kyl and Finance ranking member Charles Grassley have concerns. Read CongressDaily's latest coverage here.

Weeks after being named one of the Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites of 2008 by PC Magazine, Tech Daily Dose has been awarded a rank of "8.4" out of a perfect 10 in the technology category at Blogged.com. Our little spot on the Internets was evaluated on frequency of updates, relevance of content, site design and writing style.

Others that earned an "8.4" include The New Scientist's technology blog and British newspaper The Daily Mail's science and technology section. We're in good company and we appreciate the distinction, so thanks! Unsurprisingly, tech blog royalty like Slashdot.org, BoingBoing.net and TechDirt.com were among those that ranked the highest.

The Justice Department released a joint status report Thursday on Microsoft's compliance with the final judgments pertaining to the U.S. government's landmark antitrust case against the high-tech giant. Microsoft has been working with plaintiffs in a handful of states known as “New York Group” and another group known as the “California Group.”

A few highlights:

Work on the Microsoft Communications Protocol Program (MCPP) continues to center on efforts to improve the technical documentation provided to licensees. Microsoft is continuing to work with a technical committee (TC) to finalize a system document template, which is taking longer than anticipated. Microsoft estimated it will complete the documents on March 30, 2009. To date, 28 licensees have signed up to receive free technical support and seven licensees have signed up for Windows source code access.

Plaintiff states and the TC continue to monitor developments regarding Windows XP and Windows Vista to assure compliance with the final judgments. This includes ongoing testing by the TC of Windows Vista, Vista Service Pack 1, XP SP 3, Windows Media Player 11, Internet Explorer 7 and beta versions of IE 8, to discover any remaining middleware-related issues. The TC’s review of early builds of Windows 7 continues.

The plaintiff states' interim status report filed in December 2007 informed the court of two complaints -- one of which was resolved earlier this year and the other remains under investigation. The New York and California Groups don't believe they have received any additional substantive complaints since the prior full status report. As of Sept. 12, Microsoft has received nine complaints or inquiries since the last joint status report in June. None were related to Microsoft’s compliance obligations under the final judgment.

Some interesting stats: Over 800 Microsoft employees and contingent staff are involved in work on the MCPP documentation. Of these, about 320 product team engineers and program managers are actively involved in creating and reviewing technical content. There are about 30 full-time employees and 50 contingent staff working as technical writers, editors, and production technicians. As testing continues, about 40 full-time employees and 425 contingent and vendor staff will work as software test designers, test engineers, and test architects.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law examined legislation Thursday that would impose a five-year moratorium on any new discriminatory state or local taxes on mobile services, mobile service providers, and mobile service property. The bill was introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., in April.

Lofgren said she introduced the bill because she views wireless service and mobile devices "playing an essential role in the future of affordable broadband access to the Internet." The average wireless customer pays more than twice as much in taxes for their cell phone service (15.2 percent) as they do for other goods and services (7.1 percent), she noted. That tax burden is significant when one considers that more than 39 million American wireless subscribers earn less than $25,000 a year.

“Working families are being hit hard with the rising cost of gas, food, even healthcare. They need to be assured that their cell phone bills won’t be the next to spin out of control,” Subcommittee Chairwoman Linda Sanchez, D-Calif. "Any tax increase that may be burdensome to the average consumer should be carefully reviewed."

Witnesses included: Jackson County (Mich.) Commissioner Gail Mahoney on behalf of the National Association Counties; Illinois State Sen. James Clayborne; attorney Scott Mackey; and Tillman Lay on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, the Government Finance Officers Association and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Administrators.

With Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., planning to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee if Democrats retain control in the 111th Congress, the top spot at the Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee will go to another lawmaker. In recent months, those who watch the panel closely have listed several potential candidates including Reps. Rick Boucher of Virginia, Zoe Lofgren of California, Jerrold Nadler of New York, and Mel Watt of North Carolina.

Each of the members, however, has competing leadership roles on other subcommittees so there is no heir apparent. The affable Boucher has repeatedly rebuffed my attempts to coax an answer out of him and on Thursday, I tried my luck with Nadler, who now chairs the Judiciary's Constitution Subcommittee. When asked about whether he was interested in the job, Nadler said he has given it some thought and would make a decision after the November presidential election.

Some insiders have questioned the perceived importance of the Constitution panel's watchdog role if Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., wins his bid for the White House, hinting that Nadler would be apt to make a move. Nadler would not speculate on how Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would handle key civil liberties and privacy issues if he is elected president. In addition to the IP subcommittee and the panel he currently chairs, Nadler said he might be interested in heading up the House Subcommittee on Railroads Pipelines and Hazardous Materials.

"I need to decide, given the political circumstances, where I can be the most effective," Nadler said, noting that part of his decision-making process hinges on whether legislation that he believes is important would progress in a particular subcommittee under another chairman. Nadler also jokingly tossed out a fourth option in light of the recent upheaval of U.S. financial markets: "I think what I'll do is bid on the new Special Select Committee on Wall Street, since it's in my district."

Nearly 70 percent of U.S. businesses responding to a Justice Department national computer security survey detected at least one cybercrime and over half reported experiencing one or more cyber attacks, the agency announced Wednesday in a Bureau of Justice Statistics report. The findings were released on the same week that Congress sent a major identity theft bill to President Bush for his signature.

The legislation, which would give victims of ID theft the right to seek restitution for the loss of time and money spent restoring credit and would ensure that criminals who impersonate legitimate businesses to steal sensitive personal data can be prosecuted under federal ID theft laws, won House approval Monday. The bill also would make it a felony to use secret, malicious software to damage 10 or more computers regardless of the aggregate amount of damage caused. Sources said Bush was expected to sign the bill later this week or early next week.

The measure passed the House by voice vote after being combined with a proposal to extend Secret Service protection to former vice presidents. The cybercrime bill, sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, passed the Senate twice before the House acted. Internet safety crusader Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said the bill "takes a measured and balanced approach to dealing with the growing impact of spyware on our nation’s productivity" and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said it "correctly focuses on criminal behavior rather than imposing technological mandates."

Internet experts will join members of Congress and FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein on Monday, Sept. 22 to “bury” an e-democracy time capsule and discuss the state of the Web as part of an effort launched there years ago as "Earth Day for the Internet" by law professor Susan Crawford. The One Web Day event will feature presentations on government transparency, online tools for participatory democracy and the problem of broadband accessibility

Meanwhile, some of the Web’s great visionaries, including Tim Westergren (Pandora); Lawrence Lessig (Stanford Law); Craig Newmark (Craigslist); John Perry Barlow (Electronic Frontier Foundation); S.J. Klein (One Laptop Per Child) and others will gather for a rally in New York City's Washington Square Park.

San Francisco will witness a massive volunteer effort, coordinated by the mayor’s department of technology, to bring residents in public housing online with wireless Internet and donated computer equipment. Chicago will host a seminar sponsored by the Future of Music Coalition. In Cincinnati, technology activists will convene a meeting on “The Next President, the Internet and the Disconnected City.”

A complete description of events worldwide, including in India, Tunisia, Australia and Europe can be found here.

Rick Davis, campaign manager for Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain and his running-mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin released the following statement on Wednesday concerning reports about hackers gaining access to Palin's personal Yahoo.com email account:

"This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these emails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."

Gossip blog Gawker.com posted screenshots of Palin's emails earlier in the day, complete with family photos and exchanges she had with colleagues. Gawker reported that the Yahoo account has been shut down but said it would leave the images up on its site, noting: "It’s newsworthy and we will not be taking it down!” Wikileaks.org originally obtained the Palin data.

Lauren Weinstein of People For Internet Responsibility said in an email that the Palin hacking was "dumb, wrong -- and dangerous -- both from ethical and practical standpoints." "The hackers who released her data have handed that campaign a gift that on balance will probably help Palin's and McCain's efforts between now and Election Day," he wrote.

Jay Bhatti, co-founder of Internet-based people finder Spock.com has an interesting take on how the economic meltdown, which has dominated national news coverage this week and sent stock markets spiraling, will affect the high-tech industry. Bhatti, a former Microsoft product manager, secured $7 million in venture capital in 2006 to take his start-up Web offering to the next level. Here are some excerpts from his blog:

Big players like Oracle, Sun, Microsoft, and SAP: "These guys will feel an immediate impact. Financial service firms are some of the biggest spenders of IT budgets around. I can imagine memo’s coming from the top to CIOs at banks telling them to cut costs ASAP. Naturally, they will start to push back on upgrades to new software (sorry Vista), ask for greater concessions on license pricing, and in some cases, abandon plans for new technology deployments such as new hardware or new ERP applications."

Why green technology may be in for a scare: "I can see the biggest impact happening on green tech investments. Green technology requires a lot of capital (wind energy is not cheap, have you seen how big those turbines are?). Most software start-ups can be funded in under $20 million and get to profitability or an exit with that investment. However, in Green Tech, the amount of investment needed in many cases go well past the billion dollar mark."

More traditional start-ups in the valley are also being impacted: "When hedge funds were popping up all over the place, they needed a new place to invest their money. One of the investments they started looking into was high tech startups. Entrepreneurs welcomed this with joy. It gave them another outlet to get funding outside of traditional VCs (just look at the private investments made in Facebook less than a year ago). However, with hedge funds now reverting back to their traditional channels and many closing shop, a lot of funding that entrepreneurs were expecting may never surface." Read his full blog post here.

The 10 most tech-savvy states in the nation were announced Wednesday by e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute focused on information technology policies. State chief information officers and senior executives from across the nation participated in the survey, which benchmarks progression in digital government. Verizon Business sponsored the study.

Top Ten States:
1st Place Utah
2nd Place Michigan
3rd Place Virginia
4th Place Arizona
5th Place California
6th Place Washington
7th Place Kentucky
8th Place South Dakota
9th Place Maryland
10th Place Tennessee (tie)
10th Place Pennsylvania (tie)

From Wednesday's CongressDaily AM edition:

Government leadership to safeguard the nation's high-tech networks from threats in the next presidential administration should reside at the White House and not within the Homeland Security Department, the head of a prominent panel studying the topic said Tuesday.

James Lewis, who runs the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency, said the agency has lacked focus despite recent efforts to right the ship with its coordination of a multibillion-dollar cybersecurity directive signed by President Bush in January.

"Only the White House has the authority" to effectively monitor and manage cyberstrategies across federal agencies, Lewis told the House Homeland Security Emerging Threats Subcommittee. Still, Lewis said after the hearing, "We're better off now than we were a year ago," regarding Homeland Security's handling of cybersecurity. Read the full story here.

The Associated Press reports that the Smithsonian Institution will work to digitize its collections to make science, history and cultural artifacts accessible online and dramatically expand its outreach to schools. "I worry about museums becoming less relevant to society," said Secretary G. Wayne Clough told the newswire's Brett Zongker in his first interviews since taking the helm of the museum complex in July.

Clough, 66, who was president of the Georgia Institute of Technology for 14 years, says he's working to bring in video gaming experts and Web gurus to collaborate with curators on creative ways to present artifacts online and make them appealing to kids, AP reports. "I think we need to take a major step," Clough said in an earlier interview. "Can we work with outside entities to create a place, for example, where we might demonstrate cutting-edge technologies to use to reach out to school systems all over the country? I think we can do that." Read the full story here.

Presidential hopefuls Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., have now both weighed in on a questionnaire about the future of U.S. science policy. Obama provided his answers to "Science Debate 2008" in August and McCain on Monday. The group that sent the campaigns the top 14 science questions facing America is backed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Council on Competitiveness, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

On innovation: Obama calls for doubling federal budgets for basic research over 10 years and supports broadband connections "for all Americans." McCain emphasizes policies to foster "broad pools of capital, low taxes and incentives for research in America," as well as the streamlining of "burdensome regulations." Read Obama's answers here; McCain's answers here; and a side-by-side comparison here.

From Tuesday's CongressDaily's AM edition:

Stark IT Bill Differs From Energy And Commerce Version

House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Fortney (Pete) Stark, D-Calif., Monday introduced a bill to create a nationwide system of electronic medical records that would use Medicare reimbursement to prod physicians and hospitals to adopt new technologies. Read more here.

Election Could Spur Effort To Limit Spectrum Ownership

The nation's largest and second-largest mobile telecommunications carriers, AT&T and Verizon respectively, could face substantial curbs on their ability to participate in future spectrum auctions under an administration run by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in an effort to boost opportunities for small and mid-sized players. Read more here.

ID Theft Bill Approved, On Its Way To President

Legislation intended to combat identity theft passed the House by voice vote Monday after being folded into a bill to extend Secret Service protection to former vice presidents. The bill now goes to President Bush's desk. Read more here.

Commerce To Ask Congress For $7M For DTV Coupons

The Commerce Department is poised to ask Congress for an additional $7 million to cover administrative costs for its $1 billion coupon program designed to help Americans buy digital television converter boxes. Read more here.

From Tuesday's CongressDaily AM edition:

Legislation to boost funding for Justice Department-funded Internet Crimes Against Children task forces received a ringing endorsement from talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey on Monday that will likely inject the issue into presidential politics. The bill, which would authorize $320 million over five years, is part of an omnibus package Majority Leader Reid tried unsuccessfully to bring to a vote before the August recess over the objections of Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

The amount authorized is less than half of what was originally proposed when Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., -- now running for vice president -- introduced the legislation in June 2007. A similar measure by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., passed the House in November with a $1 billion authorization level. During the show, Winfrey implored viewers to help crack down on child predators by contacting senators in support of the legislation. Read the full story here.

*Tech Daily Dose Extra*

Camille Cooper of the National Association to Protect Children told us that as of 5 p.m. (an hour after the show aired in many markets), approximately 67,000 e-mails had been sent to Senate offices. Viewers were also reportedly calling Coburn's office directly, "telling him he should be indicted for holding the bill up," she said. Cooper and Flint Waters, chief of Wyoming's Internet Crimes Against Children task force, appeared as guests on Winfrey's show.

A new Information Technology Innovation Foundation report finds that both presidential candidates, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., have recognized the central role that science, technology, and innovation play in economic growth and have developed specific policy positions on those issues.

The report, which was unveiled late Thursday night, features detailed explanations of the candidates’ views on tax, research and development funding, education, trade, broadband, e-government, energy, and related policies. The analysis shows that the two "offer good ideas for a technology agenda but that both plans are incomplete."

McCain's plan tends to be more focused on promoting innovation largely through tax incentives, like extending and making permanent the R&D tax credit, ITIF said. Obama touts polices like doubling federal funding for basic research, making the R&D tax credit permanent, and providing $150 billion in new clean energy technology funding and $50 billion for health IT.

In a new ad released Friday, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign pokes fun at Sen. John McCain because he "can’t send an e-mail." See video above.

House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., bid farewell to colleagues at a copyright hearing Thursday, noting that the gathering could be his last with the gavel in-hand. Lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn later this month to campaign for the November elections and if Democrats retain control in the 111th Congress, Berman plans to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"If we don’t have a lame duck, and I certainly hope we don’t, this could be the last hearing that I get to chair with my dear friend Howard Coble," he said of the panel's top Republican from North Carolina. Coble has been "a wonderful partner on so many issues," Berman said. He noted, however, that he hopes to remain a member of the subcommittee in the new Congress. "I'll still be down the row a few seats but someone else will have the slightly dubious honor of sitting here," Berman laughed.

"If this is to be our swan song… I've enjoyed being with you," Coble responded, noting that a former staffer told him recently that he had enjoyed "The Howard and Howard Show." But Judiciary Committee John Conyers chimed in, reminding members that the goodbyes were premature. A lot could happen between Election Day and Inauguration Day, he said.

Provocateur Sandra Bernhard opens her electrifying one-woman show at the Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center on Thursday evening and folks might be shocked to learn that the comic incorporates tech topics into the act. Early in her shtick, Bernhard riffs on the blogging phenomenon, revealing that she was asked to contribute to pundit Arianna Huffington's left-leaning Web 'zine for $200 a week. Bernhard declined, saying she prefers to vent on stage -- a kind of live-blogging where she can wear designer garb and interact with her audience.

Then, as she reflects on the good old 1980s, Bernhard explains "Rickrolling," an Internet meme involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The meme is a bait and switch, she says, where an individual provides a Web link they claim is relevant to a topic at hand but the link actually leads to the Astley video. Later, she channels blues singer Nina Simone who carps about never receiving royalties for songs she recorded from George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess." "Where's my Porgy money?" she screeches. Have the performing rights organizations looked into this?

Much of the show is a revival of "Without You I'm Nothing," the performance that propelled her into the stratosphere 20 years ago. Bernhard's four-letter-word-filled cabaret is worth the money and tickets will go fast. One note for the politically sensitive and easily offended: Bernhard isn’t a fan of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain's vice-presidential running mate and she makes her viewpoint crystal clear.

The show runs through Sept. 28. Click here for information. (Apologies if this post was a bit far afield. I attended a special performance last night).

The campaign Web sites of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican candidate John McCain are not accessible and usable by all Americans with disabilities, according to the International Center for Disability Resources, a watchdog group that flags barriers to participation in society and promotes best practices and universal technology design.

"It’s a big disappointment that neither John McCain’s campaign manager, nor Barack Obama’s campaign manager, took action in response to the information we provided in support of making their web sites more accessible to persons with disabilities," ICDRI President Michael Burks said in a recent press release. The group sent an analysis of the sites to the campaigns along with recommendations for how to fix the glitches.

On Obama's campaign Web site, form fields are missing labels, ICDRI said. This can confuse users of assistive technology and prevent persons from disabilities from knowing what to type into the input fields. McCain's site is missing "alt attribute" tags, which help users of assistive technology tell what message an image or object is trying to convey.

The group also scored the campaign sites of Libertarian Bob Barr and Independents Alan Keyes and Ralph Nader, which also posed problems. On Barr's site, multimedia components lack captions or transcripts; on Keye's site, images are missing alt tags or have flawed tags; and on Nader's site, image map areas are missing alt text.

From Wednesday's CongressDaily AM edition:

An administration run by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., would likely create a national technology czar with broad authority to develop policy, elevating high-tech issues to the cabinet level in a major recalibration of the government's approach to regulating the communications sector.

The move would have substantial implications for the FCC, an independent agency that could be answerable to a new layer of bureaucracy or bolstered by it, depending on political circumstances. The plan is being floated by the Democratic presidential nominee's top tech-minded advisers and supporters, including FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, widely viewed as a contender to run the agency if Obama is elected.

"There's a need for a single source at a White House level to coordinate technology policy across different agencies," Adelstein told CongressDaily late last month after a speech in Denver at the Democratic National Convention. Click here to read the entire story.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain's vice-presidential running-mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has created such a buzz among journalists and bloggers that the City of Wasilla has posted a comprehensive Q&A page online relating to the self-described "hockey mom," who was mayor of the icy berg (pop. 5,469 or 9,780, depending on the source).

Information currently available on the Web site includes:
Certified annual financial reports FY1994 to FY2005
Election results - 1992, 1995, 1996, & 1999
Operating & capital budgets - 1999 to 2009
Tax revenues
And much, much more…

My favorite passage from the site: "If you are requesting information, please visit the Public Records Request page and follow the online directions. Be sure to include an email address as we are not returning long distance phone calls because we did not budget for the volume of calls we are experiencing."

In other Wasilla news, the last farmer's market for 2008 will be held Wednesday behind the Dorothy Page Museum (323 N. Main Street). Read more city news here.

Here's the latest in an occasional look at what members of Congress are telling their constituents via Twitter. Today we see what Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind.., is up to. He's a twelve-term congressman and member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which he chaired in the late 1990s.

Recent Twitter posts:

Dan Burton on Heading Right Radio: Listen to Dan Burton on Media Lizzy's show on Heading Right Radio! C.. http://tinyurl.com/6myfba 1 day ago from twitterfeed
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Burton interviewed about GOP Oil Protest #dontgo: http://tinyurl.com/69436z 03:06 AM August 29, 2008 from twitterfeed
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Editorial by Democrat Rep. Jim Costa: This op-ed was in the Fresno Bee and was written by Rep. Jim Cost.. http://tinyurl.com/6rmdkm 03:05 AM August 28, 2008 from twitterfeed
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Burton Energy Compromise covered in California: Congressman Burton's energy compromise bill is getting .. http://tinyurl.com/5m82qf 03:05 AM August 27, 2008 from twitterfeed
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Scam Alert: Public Beware: As the Democrats gather in Denver this week they are preparing to deceive th.. http://tinyurl.com/6eqtdm 03:05 AM August 26, 2008 from twitterfeed

Read earlier HillTweet Blues entries here.

Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., wrote to executives of the four largest wireless telephone companies on Tuesday asking them to justify sharply rising rates for customers to send and receive text messages. The letter went to Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, which collectively serve more than 90 percent of the nation’s cellular phone users.

Since 2005, the cost for a consumer to send or receive a text message over each service increased by 100 percent, Kohl said. Text messages were commonly priced at 10 cents per message sent or received in 2005 and as of this month's end, the rate per text will have doubled to 20 cents on all four carriers. Sprint was the first carrier to increase the rate last fall and its rivals have matched the price hike.

The change "does not appear to be justified by rising costs in delivering text messages," Kohl wrote. "Text messaging files are very small, as the size of text messages are generally limited to 160 characters per message, and therefore cost carriers very little to transmit." He also expressed concern that it appears each of companies has changed the price at nearly the same time with identical increases. (Photo Credit: eron_gpsfsr via Flickr)

Follow the jump to read Kohl's full letter.

Computer and Communications Industry Association President Ed Black said Tuesday that a Justice Department report on monopoly law "further muddied the legal waters" rather than clarifying U.S. antitrust regulations. "With this report, the DoJ has charged ahead alone and put forward a unique interpretation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act," he said. The agency's analysis, released Monday, sought to examine whether specific types of conduct run foul of that section of the Sherman Act.

Justice's sister antitrust regulatory agency, the FTC, distanced itself from the report citing its overly pro-business, anti-consumer bent, he said in a statement. The split interpretation "will create significant uncertainty in the business sector and likely harm effective enforcement efforts," Black argued. "With several high-profile antitrust cases currently being examined by regulators around the world, antitrust policy is playing an ever important role in our economy. It is important for regulators to get it right now."

Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett said single-firm conduct offers "some of the greatest challenges in antitrust enforcement today" and while conduct that harms competition must be flagged, "we also need to avoid interfering in the rough and tumble of beneficial competition that drives innovation and economic growth." Justice's report, he said, draws on commentary created during a series of hearings, judicial precedent and scholarly research.

Notable musicians and members of the Copyright Alliance will exhibit creative works, the latest in copyright protection, and release new information detailing how copyright benefits each state at its second annual expo on Capitol Hill later this month. VIP guests at the Sept. 24 event will appeal to graying lawmakers (and fans of the golden age of music) but might be lost on some young staffers.

Martha Reeves, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee who belted out catchy Motown tunes like "Heat Wave" and "Dancing in the Street," will be on hand to sign autographs at the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists booth. Fellow hall-of-famer Felix Cavaliere of the Young Rascals ("Groovin,'" "People Got to Be Free") will meet and greet attendees at the ASACP booth. Last year's expo featured soul singers Isaac Hayes, Chuck Brown and David Porter.

Other exhibitors will include American Society of Media Photographers, Association of American Publishers, Broadcast Music Inc., Entertainment Software Association, Graphic Artists Guild, Motion Picture Association of America, National Music Publishers’ Association, Professional Photographers of America, Recording Industry Association of America and Vobile Inc. For more information, click here.

Google announced late Monday that it will be anonymizing Internet protocol addresses in its search logs after nine months instead of the previous 18-month period to address regulatory concerns and to take another step to improve privacy for users. In March 2007, Google was the first major search engine to agree to anonymize search server logs in the interest of privacy and others followed suit.

Over the last two years, policymakers and regulators -- especially in Europe and the United States -- have continued to ask Google and others to explain and justify the shortened logs retention policy, Google executives wrote on their company blog. Google responded with an open letter and this week filed an official response to EU privacy officials.

"We haven't sorted out all of the implementation details, and we may not be able to use precisely the same methods for anonymizing as we do after 18 months, but we are committed to making it work," they wrote. "While we're glad that this will bring some additional improvement in privacy, we're also concerned about the potential loss of security, quality, and innovation that may result from having less data."

Read the full post here.

Someone was busy during the August recess... the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday unveiled an eye-pleasing new Web site that features a comprehensive search function, allowing users to submit queries and locate legislation, committee reports, nominations and testimony. Additional offerings include information about the committee membership, rules, and jurisdiction and other items of interest. The House Judiciary Committee overhauled it's online presence in July.

CongressDaily's PM edition on Monday includes a free trade story based on my interview with Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez at last week's Republican National Convention. During our chat, we also discussed other topics like the nationwide digital television transition and intellectual property rights. Here are some of his thoughts:

On the February digital TV deadline:

"We've had almost a billion dollars of advertising from industry. We've had over 20 million coupons requested. We've mailed out a good portion of the coupons. The redemption rate is about 50 percent. That could mean some people are ordering them who don’t need them or some people are ordering coupons and they forget about it or they lose them. The program is on target. We've got enough coupons. We've got a lot of people working the phones. Our website is open, we've got local partnerships, and we've got national media. The date is coming and if people aren’t aware and don’t do what they need to do, on the 17th of February, their TV will go blank."

Several thousand intellectual property attorneys from as many as 89 nations are gathering in Boston this week for the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property's World IP Congress. This year's convention, which features a series of breakout panels focusing on global IP issues as well as mock trials, marks the first time the group has met in the United States since the 1970s -- ancient history in terms of developments in technology and patent law.

“The topics at this year’s congress are especially timely and significant for the state of international patent law, starting with the movement to harmonize, or standardize, patent and trademark rules worldwide,” said program chair Philip Swain, a partner at Foley Hoag. “Harmonization helps address rampant counterfeiting by allowing true innovators and product originators to seek patent, trademark, and copyright protection in the countries where counterfeits are made."

Several reports of interest were prepared for the event:
(1) The impact of public health issues on exclusive patent rights
(2) Damages for infringement, counterfeiting and piracy of trademarks
(3) Liability for Contributory Infringement of IPRs
(4) Exhaustion of IPRs in cases of recycling and repair of goods

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports that over a period of 12 hours, beginning Thursday night, American Rights Counsel LLC sent out 4,000-plus Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices to YouTube, all making copyright infringement claims against videos with content critical of the Church of Scientology. Whether or not ARC represents the notoriously litigious church is unclear, EFF's Eva Galperin wrote on the watchdog group's blog.

Clips implicated in the takedown spree included footage of Australian and German news reports about Scientology, A Message to Anonymous/Scientology, and footage from a Clearwater City Commission meeting. Many accounts were suspended by YouTube in response to multiple allegations of copyright infringement. YouTube users responded with DMCA counter-notices and at this time, many of the suspended channels have been reinstated and the videos are back online.

The Church of Scientology has used the DMCA to silence Scientology critics before, EFF notes. The church sent complaints to shut down the YouTube channel of critic Mark Bunker in June. His account, XenuTV, was also among the channels shut down in the latest flurry of takedown notices.

The Association of National Advertisers, whose members include 400 companies with 9,000 brands, wrote to the Justice Department last week citing its objections to the announced Google-Yahoo search advertising partnership now under review by antitrust officials. The letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett came after the group conducted a comprehensive, independent analysis of the deal, which included input from the board’s members and face-to-face discussions with Google and Yahoo.

The complaint, publicized on the group's Web site on Sunday, notes that a Google-Yahoo partnership will control 90 percent of search advertising inventory. Marketers are worried the pairing will diminish competition, increase concentration of market power, limit choices available and potentially raise prices to advertisers for quality, affordable search advertising, ANA President Bob Liodice said. Officials said the letter was sent privately and a copy is not being made public.

The agreement between the Web companies, announced in June, gives Google the ability to sell search and other text ads on Yahoo sites and Yahoo would get a cut of the profits. The deal was the focus of considerable congressional scrutiny before the August recess. Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee have been particularly active on that front.

One of the hottest tickets in town during the Republican National Convention was the Google-Vanity Fair bash at the Walker Art Center. The Thursday night soiree took over the entire facility with four themed rooms: air, fire, earth and water. Each zone had food, drink and decor to match. Notable guests* included...

Telecommunications Industry Association President Grant Seiffert chats about the GOP's high-tech evolution and Republican presidential nominee John McCain's relationship with technology. Prior to joining TIA in 1996, Seiffert served five years with the Arizona senator when he was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Several blocks from Xcel Energy Center, in a quaint white cottage, progressive bloggers sit with fingers poised on keyboards, waiting to pounce. The televised primetime proceedings of the Republican National Convention are about to begin and this little house will become a raucous Web war room. You might call this place the house that SEIU built, or rented as the case may be. The labor union paid for the workspace hosted by Living Liberally, a group that creates communities around progressive politics; The Minnesota Independent online newsmagazine; and a citizen journalism site called The Uptake. Bloggers have been treated to a big screen projection of major speeches as well as food, drinks and camaraderie this whole week, from 5 p.m. until midnight. About 150 are expected to participate tonight. Read the full story in Convention Nightly here here. Follow the jump for more photos...

Entertainment and technology industry officials loosened their ties and shed their suit coats Wednesday night at the highly anticipated GOP convention party sponsored by the Recording Industry Association of America, Motion Picture Association of America, Microsoft, Verizon, Comcast, TimeWarner and others. Rock band Daughtry, fronted by "American Idol" finalist Chris Daughtry, performed a rousing set and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist swung by to say a few words about the ONE Campaign, which had a prominent presence at the event. Frist is an ardent supporter of the effort that fights extreme poverty and global disease and has visited Africa with the group.

The legendary late-night "warehouse" parties at this year's Republican National Convention have a lengthy list of big-name sponsors -- including a handful of industry titans that Tech Daily Dose readers might find interesting. They include Microsoft, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, Research In Motion (maker of the Blackberry), T-Mobile, VeriSign, Verizon and Verizon Wireless. The high-falutin' festivities were launched by now House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, at the GOP convention in San Diego, Calif. in 1996. Even though Boehner has not been officially tied to the parties since that year, they still bear his name in convention hall chatter like: "Are you going to the Boehner party later?" and "I stayed up entirely too late and drank entirely too much at the Boehner party last night." For the record, Tuesday night's Motown band rocked (photo above).

YouTube sensation Greg Laswell joined acclaimed singer-songwriters Brett James and Joe Nichols to perform before a rather subdued crowd at the GRAMMYs Rock the Convention party on Tuesday. Laswell's songs have been featured on "Grey's Anatomy" and other TV shows while James is best known for penning Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take The Wheel" and Nichols for "Brokenheartsville." Local pop band The Abdomen also belted out a few tunes.

Recording Academy President Neil Portnow, Chairman Jimmy Jam and lobbyist Daryl Friedman were on hand to welcome guests. The event, which followed a similar bash at the Democratic National Convention, was aimed at educating party leaders and policymakers about critical music issues. Officials received a number of high-profile RSVPs but it was unknown whether any made it to the soiree, which was held on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

What do former Virginia Sen. George Allen; actor Jon Voight; and Michael Sessions, one of the youngest mayors in U.S. history, all have in common? They've all stopped by the Republican National Convention booth run by popular video-sharing Web site YouTube to record and post an enthusiastic political message on the Internet. Aaron Ferstman, a spokesman for the Google-owned firm, said more than 200 videos have been uploaded so far this week -- and there is still a full day of activity remaining.

That compares to 500-plus clips recorded at the Democratic National Convention last month by a variety of attendees, including a Barack Obama look-alike and groups of revelers who sang and rapped their messages to the Web world. Location is a key difference between the two conventions, Ferstman said. At the DNC, the YouTube booth was more visible but at the RNC, staff was granted a larger workspace.

Republican National Convention CIO Max Everett came to Minnesota 15 months with a suitcase, a Blackberry and the task of coordinating the communications and technology infrastructure that underpins this week's big event. Everett now has an impressive brigade of workers and high-tech tools that keep the convention running smoothly. He took us behind the scenes at Xcel Energy Center for a tour of his nerve center.

Rumors that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates might make an appearance at the Republican National Convention are probably unfounded, sources told Tech Daily Dose on Wednesday, but the high-tech company does have a prominent presence at the GOP's big event this week. Microsoft is an official technology provider for the RNC and has several technical experts on-site.

Microsoft executives Jack Krumholtz, who runs the federal government affairs office is here as is Pamela Passman, vice president for global corporate affairs as well as Curt Kolcun, vice president for the U.S. public sector division. They also attended the Democratic National Convention last week in Denver, Colo. Meanwhile, Microsoft Surface, a multi-touch digital technology operated by hand gestures, was also on display. The program was fully loaded with RNC-related content (see video above).

Information Technology Industry Council President Rhett Dawson is at the Republican National Convention this week but his chief focus is as a delegate for the District of Columbia, not as an advocate for Apple, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and other prominent tech firms. Dawson, who stopped by a Consumer Electronic Association free trade rally on Tuesday, is apparently a longtime friend of presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain, R-Ariz. Before joining ITI in 1993, he was with the Potomac Electric Power Company and earlier in his career was an adviser in the Reagan administration where he managed the staff and decision-making process for the president and was responsible for the Office of Administration and the White House Military Office. "We are the leader in the world of technology and the lifeblood of technology is trade," Dawson said. "If we don’t lead on trade, we'll be set back."

Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., the Republican National Convention's parliamentarian chats with us about the challenges of new technology and the GOP's tech-driven effort to reach out to voters.

From Convention Nightly:

From flooding YouTube with pithy political ads to launching a faux social networking Web site to expose controversial "friends" of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, Republicans are clamoring to be cool in the Internet age. Investing in new media and online outreach has become a cornerstone of the campaign to get Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., elected, and that movement will reach its zenith at the Republican National Convention this week. Organizers want Minneapolis/St. Paul to be the most tech-savvy convention in history, and it appears that goal will be met if the list of contracts with big-name brands is any indication.

The convention credentialed 15,000 journalists from around the world and close to 200 bloggers from nearly every state, up from only a dozen in 2004. "We understand and appreciate the importance of the blogosphere in providing information and shaping public opinion," convention spokeswoman Joanna Burgos said, noting that bloggers and media outlets are being treated as equals in most respects. Read the full story here.

Before getting down and funky at the Republican National Convention on Monday night, those involved in the New Orleans All-Star Jam-Balaya got down to business, stuffing FexEx boxes full of provisions for those affected by Hurricane Gustav. The project was coordinated in part by FD Dittus Communications, which represents a number of high-tech clients. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Shell and others sponsored the event. Folks from National Journal Group also pitched in. See more photos after the jump.

This week's Republican National Convention party hosted by the Recording Industry Association of America and the ONE Campaign, which fights against extreme poverty and global disease, is presumably still on track. A number of events planned in conjunction with the GOP's big shindig were thrown off course by Hurricane Gustav.

"We’re working with our partner organizations to determine the best path forward," an official who helped prep for the Wednesday bash said. "We’re very concerned about the storm and we’re reviewing our plans in light of the situation." Rock band Daughtry, which is fronted by former "American Idol" finalist Chris Daughtry, is scheduled to perform. The RIAA party at the Democratic National Convention last week featured hip-hop chart-topper Kanye West and drew a number of celebs like Forest Whitaker, Jamie Foxx and Ashley Judd.

C-SPAN's Convention Hub is tallying the number of Web/mobile users employing micro-blogging tool Twitter to post thoughts about the Republican National Convention this week. As of Tuesday at 10 a.m., 5,131 posts from 563 Twitter accounts had posted using the #RNC08 tag.

These were the most active users:

St. Paul Pioneer Press - 297 posts - http://twitter.com/PiPress
Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis - 143 posts - http://twitter.com/sanuzis
The Huffington Post - 125 posts - http://twitter.com/huffpost
Jason Barnett, TheUptake.org - 94 posts - http://twitter.com/JasonBarnett
FishbowlDC - 93 posts - http://twitter.com/FishbowlDC
Ali Akbar, GOP Web rebel rouser - 87 posts - http://twitter.com/AliAkbar
Gregory "Flap" Cole - 74 posts - http://twitter.com/Flap

Laura Bush and her would-be successor, Cindy McCain, spoke briefly at the Republican National Convention on Monday about Hurricane Gustav's impact on the Gulf Coast. McCain, who appeared earlier in the day with Bush at a Louisiana delegation event, urged a crowd in Xcel Energy Center to visit www.causegreater.com -- a McCain campaign branded Web page that lists aid organizations to help those in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. "Together we can accomplish so much to help those who have been affected," McCain said.

From Convention Nightly:

Election experts warned today that the record turnout expected in November could place fresh strains on voting technology, putting other issues like voter ID requirements on the back burner. At a Minneapolis forum sponsored by the Pew Center on the States, electionline.org director Doug Chapin said that the systems they have been given by legislators are not designed to handle the anticipated number of new voters.

"For the last eight years, we've patched the plumbing," Chapin said. "We've found the leaks in the election system, but ... we're about to crank the water pressure up dramatically." Read the full story here.

One of the most highly anticipated parties at the Republican National Convention remains on track for later this week despite growing concerns and widespread scheduling changes in Minneapolis and St. Paul as Hurricane Gustav powered toward Louisiana. The National Hurricane Center expected the storm to hit southwest of New Orleans on Monday.

Organizers for the exclusive, invite-only bash sent an email to attendees Sunday evening confirming their presence at the event and offering logistics for how to pick up the all-important admission cards. The email added: "Like all Americans, we are monitoring the situation in the Gulf States with great concern and will keep you apprised of any implications Hurricane Gustav may have for Thursday evening."

Some wondered whether the get-together sponsored by the Internet giant and lifestyle magazine, which are both known for hosting over-the-top affairs, might turn into a more subdued hurricane relief benefit. The pair also hosted a party at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo.

Popular social networking destination MySpace teamed up with content swapping site Digg, Rock the Vote and the Impact Film Festival to host a late night party on Sunday at the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis. Twin Cities rock band The Alarmists provided an energetic soundtrack for the event, which saluted the Screen Actors Guild. Stuart Townsend (best known to some as Charlize Theron's boyfriend), director of Impact's opening film "Battle In Seattle," was on hand to welcome guests. His docudrama chronicles the events surrounding the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings in The Emerald City.