The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the panel that hears patent disputes from around the country, is slated to examine a high-profile case on Friday involving a dispute over Patent and Trademark Office rules announced last fall aimed at increasing patent system efficiency. The PTO's regulations, which limit applicants to filing two new continuing applications and one request for continued examination, were challenged by drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline and an independent inventor, Triantafyllos Tafas. Read CongressDaily's recent coverage here and here.
U.S. District Judge James Cacheris of the Eastern District of Virginia decided in April that the rules were an improper expansion of the PTO's statutory authority and the agency took its case to the appellate panel. At the time of the decision, GlaxoSmithKline, which complained that about 100 of its pending applications would be jeopardized, said the lower court's judgment was "in support of innovation across all industries." The PTO believes that its rules are consistent with existing statutes and would strengthen the U.S. patent system for all, an agency spokeswoman said.
Thought leaders from the private and public sectors will convene in Washington on Monday to discuss how the Obama administration and the new Congress can broaden innovation in the United States and use the ongoing economic crisis as a catalyst to drive new investments in technology. The day-long forum is sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, the Breakthrough Institute, the University of California and the Ford Foundation.
Speakers include UC administrators, ITIF President Robert Atkinson, Sun Microsystems senior vice president David Douglas, venture capitalist Victor Hwang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Michael Piore and many others. At the event, UC researchers Fred Block and Matthew Keller will release a report that examines government's role in promoting innovation; the extent to which weaknesses in the U.S. system has affected deployment of new technologies; and what steps a new administration should take to ensure innovation to foster global leadership.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday the majority staff of the House Homeland Security Committee will host a series of discussions on the future of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties at the Homeland Security Department. Topics include protecting civil liberties in a natural disaster; privacy implications of data-mining; privacy, domestic intelligence and information sharing; transportation security, privacy and civil liberties; border security, privacy and civil liberties; and cyber security. Click here for the full agenda.
The European Union's antitrust investigation of Intel is "discriminatory and partial," the computer chip manufacturer argued in an action that is detailed in a recent edition of the EU's official journal. The company, which has come under fire in the United States and in several other countries, complained that it is not being allowed to properly defend itself against charges that it has tried to shut out rival Advanced Micro Devices.
In the filing reported by the Financial Times and other news outlets, Intel claimed the European Commission failed to obtain "documentary evidence" from the complainant in the case, an apparent reference to AMD, and rejected Intel's assertion that it cannot respond to the antitrust charges without these documents, the journal stated. Intel said that decision was "manifestly illegal" but did not describe what documents it wants to see or how they would bolster the firm's claims of innocence.
Computer and Communications Industry Association President Ed Black issued a statement saying he was disappointed that Intel "has apparently chosen to attack the law enforcement organization that is investigating it" -- a tactic he said other companies have employed when they have concluded they cannot effectively argue the merits of their wrongdoing. Black said the EC's credibility is "strong" and the body has "consistently struck the right balance in antitrust action in recent years."
The new cadre of freshman coming to Capitol Hill might be a more tech-savvy group than previous classes, but a few of the freshman have direct experience working in the technology sector. Rep-elect Jared Polis was in college when he co-founded his first company, American Information Systems, an Internet access, web hosting and application service provider. He also co-founded bluemountainarts.com, an online greeting card Web site which he latter sold to Excite@Home. Polis also launched a Web company to sell flowers direct from growers to consumers that has expanded to become Provide Commerce, Inc., which was recently acquired by Liberty Media.
Meanwhile, Rep-elect Gerry Connelly of Virginia, once served as a vice president in the Washington office of SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute) and he currently serves as director of community relations for SAIC, a Fortune 500 company that specializes in scientific and technology solutions for government and commercial clients. Also on the tech front is Senator-elect Mark Warner who is more well-known to the tech sector for co-founding the company that became Nextel.
-- Winter Casey
As Tech Daily Dose previously reported, President-elect Barack Obama's technology, innovation and government reform working group within his transition team is being led by Sonal Shah, Julius Genachowski, and Blair Levin. Here's a full list of those serving on the working group, which is organized into four sub-teams: (1) Innovation and Government, (2) Innovation and National Priorities, (3) Innovation and Science, and (4) Innovation and Civil Society.
▪ Howard Buffet ▪ David Burd ▪ Dan Chenok ▪ Aneesh Chopra
▪ Jack Chorowsky ▪ Cheryl Dorsey ▪ Joshua Dubois ▪ Judy Estrin
▪ Tom Freedman ▪ Jim Halpert ▪ Mark Johnson ▪ Michele Jolin
▪ Tom Kalil ▪ Kei Koizumi ▪ Vivek Kundra ▪ Don Lamb
▪ John Leibovitz ▪ Bruce McConnell ▪ Andrew McLaughlin
▪ Parry Norling ▪ Beth Noveck ▪ Spencer Overton ▪ Lori Perine
▪ Kartik Raghavan ▪ Alec Ross ▪ Paul Schmitz ▪ Clifford Sloan
▪ Steve Spinner ▪ Marta Urquilla ▪ Chris Warren ▪ Daniel Weitzner
▪ Irving Wladawsky-Berger
Continue reading Who's Who On Obama's Tech & Innovation Team.
The federal panel charged with setting music royalty rates and terms handed down its final determination Monday on fees pertaining to the reproduction and distribution of phonorecords (compact discs), including digital downloads under Section 115 of the Copyright Act. Under the proceeding, the rate to be paid to songwriters and music publishers for their works in physical recordings and permanent digital downloads is the larger of 9.1 cents or 1.75 cents per minute of playing time with a late payment fee of 1.5 percent. The rate to be paid for ringtones is 24 cents.
A deal struck by the National Music Publishers Association and the Recording Industry Association of America in 1997 set the per-song fee for physical recordings like compact discs at 9.1 cents but did not address digital delivery, which has been popularized in recent years by services like Apple's iTunes music store. Under the decision, the rate for CDs and digital downloads will be frozen for five years. The board rejected an appeal that publishers be moved to a percentage rate rather than a penny rate. The 109th Congress considered legislation to set royalty rates but the bill fizzled and did not reappear this session.
One intellectual property expert whose name had been floated recently as a potential contender for Patent and Trademark Office director in the Obama administration says he is "delighted to be an observer" of the presidential transition process and "has not expressed an interest [in the PTO job] or taken any steps to advance that idea." In a Tuesday interview, Eli Lilly general counsel Robert Armitage said "it's always nice to be thought of, but… there are a number of people who have an interest and apparently are pursuing that interest."
CongressDaily recently reported that Armitage's name was being circulated among industry insiders as well as the names of Q. Todd Dickinson, who ran the PTO under former President Clinton; 3M IP counsel Gary Griswold; patent attorneys Ray Millien and James Pooley; and law professors Mark Lemley of Stanford and Arti Rai of Duke, a Harvard classmate of Obama's. "My hope is that the Obama administration will do what I've seen it do thus far -- get highly qualified, highly skilled people who can bring together diverse groups and get consensus," Armitage said.
Microsoft researchers have concluded that Internet search engines have the potential to heighten Web users' medical concerns and that escalation is influenced by "the amount and distribution of medical content viewed by users, the presence of escalatory terminology in pages visited, and a user’s predisposition to escalate versus to seek more reasonable explanations for ailments." The new study of "cyberchondria," which Microsoft describes as "the unfounded escalation of concerns about common symptomatology, based on the review of search results and literature on the Web," involved 515 individuals.
"Our findings underscore the potential costs and challenges of cyberchondria and suggest actionable design implications that hold opportunity for improving the search and navigation experience for people turning to the Web to interpret common symptoms," the researchers stated. Search engine architects have a responsibility to ensure users do not experience unnecessary concern generated by ranking algorithms their engines use, the study concluded. Web engineers must be "focused on serving medical search results that are reliable, complete, and timely, as well as topically relevant," they said.
So-called Internet phishing gangs are concentrating their efforts within specific top level domains (TLDs) but anti-phishing policies and mitigation programs by domain name registrars and registries are having a significant and positive effect, according to a new study by the Anti-Phishing Working Group -- a group that monitors and attempts to decrease the online practice whereby scammers trick users into giving up sensitive information.
For the study, APWG surveyed 47,324 unique phishing attacks located on 26,678 unique domain names. The group found the number of TLDs abused by phishers expanded 7 percent from 145 in the second half of 2007 to 155 in the first half of 2008. The proportion of Internet-protocol number-based phishing sites decreased 35 percent in that same period, declining from 18 percent in the second half of 2007 to 13 percent in the first half of 2008.
“We’re seeing a trend away from fixed IP-based URLs which are readily shut-down to use of more domain based URLs,” said Internet Identity's Rod Rasmussen, co-chair of APWG’s Internet Policy Committee. “Many of these are on compromised servers which already have established ‘good’ reputations, while others are on fraudulently registered domain names supported by botnets or other throw-away hosting resources."
The report finds some correlations between registry policies and the prevalence and duration of phishing activity in their TLDs. APWG researchers’ analysis of phishing site uptime and other metrics showed that anti-phishing policies can help reduce phishing activity. Specifically, the .cn, .info, and .biz TLDs, whose managers have implemented counter-phishing programs, had phishing site uptimes notably below the industry average.
The State Department, Facebook, Google, MTV, AT&T and others will bring leaders of 17 organizations from 15 countries together with technology experts next month in New York City for the first-ever summit to empower youth against violence and oppression through the use of the latest online tools. These young leaders will form a new group, the Alliance of Youth Movements, which will produce a field manual for youth empowerment. The Dec. 3-5 event at Columbia Law School will also be streamed live online by Howcast.com and on ThinkMTV.com.
The manual will stand in stark contrast to the Al-Qaeda guidebook on the basics of terrorism, found by Coalition Forces in Iraq, officials said in a Monday press release. The gathering was inspired by the success of the One Million Voices Against the FARC, a group started on Facebook by young people in Colombia who led 12 million people in 190 cities to take to the streets in protest against the longstanding extremist Colombian group. Summit speakers include "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy James Glassman.
Panel topics include: How To Build Transnational Social Movements Using New Technology, How To Use New Mobile Technologies and How To Preserve Group Safety And Security. Participants will also be honored at a red-carpet event featuring celebrities, business leaders, and civil society figures at MTV's Times Square headquarters. Glassman said at a briefing that State provided "a small amount of money on the order of, I believe, $50,000" to help bring participants to the United States. Howcast.com, a Web site that offers how-to videos -- like how to tie a tie and how to avoid jet lag -- is the event's main sponsor, he said.
Continue reading State Dept., Tech Leaders Unveil Anti-Extremism Effort.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has published "Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World," which projects the potential impacts of climate change, population growth, political reshuffling and a host of other dynamic trends on the world of the near-future. Think of it as the National Intelligence Council's own little Magic 8-Ball.
A couple of tech-related excerpts:
"Companies in China, India, and other major developing countries have unique opportunities to be the first to develop a host of emerging technologies. This is especially the case in those instances where companies are building new infrastructure and not burdened by historical patterns of development. Such opportunities include distributed electrical power generation, development of clean water sources, and the next generation of Internet and new information technologies."
"The adoption of irregular warfare tactics by both state and nonstate actors as a primary warfighting approach in countering advanced militaries will be a key characteristic of conflicts in 2025… Modern communication technologies such as satellite and cellular phones, the Internet, and commercial encryption, combined with hand-held navigation devices and high-capacity information systems that can contain large amounts of text, maps, and digital images and videos will greatly enable future irregular forces to organize, coordinate, and execute dispersed operations."
(Photo Credit: White House/Chris Greenburg)
Go to the White House Web site to cast your vote for the National Thanksgiving Turkey which President Bush will pardon in an upcoming Rose Garden ceremony.
This year's contenders:
▪ Popcorn & Cranberry
▪ Yam & Jam
▪ Dawn & Early Light
▪ Roost & Run
▪ Pumpkin & Pecan
▪ Apple & Cider
The Federal Trade Commission on Monday asked the Supreme Court to review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s April decision in the agency's case against Rambus. The FTC had determined that computer memory manufacturer engaged in unlawful market monopolization. Judge Stephen Williams wrote that the FTC “failed to sustain its allegation” that Rambus, while participating in a standards-setting process for dynamic random access memory deceptively hid the fact that four of its technologies were incorporated into the standard.
Commissioners voted unanimously in August 2006 that Rambus distorted the standards process and engaged in an anticompetitive “hold up” of the computer memory industry. The agency charged Rambus with the antitrust violation in June 2002. In its request to the Supremes, the FTC argued that the appeals court erred in its conclusions respecting causation; the court of appeals took an improperly narrow view of competitive effects; and review is needed to clarify and ensure uniformity on fundamental issues of antitrust jurisprudence.
The good folks at 463 Communications who represent a number of Silicon Valley heavyweights in Washington sent out their humorous yet sadly appropriate holiday party invitation on Monday. The title and tagline for the somewhat exclusive soiree: "463’s Depression 2.0 Party: We’re gonna party like its 1929…"
The invitation reads:
It was a time when…
Selling Apple had nothing to do with iTunes
Stampedes were held on the steps of financial institutions
The excesses of big business tanked the economy
The Yankees didn’t make the playoffs
And don’t forget to bring your money (hard cash, your credit probably isn’t any good here) for our annual charity raffle. In addition, to our major prize, don’t miss your chance to win other Depression 2.0 novelties including SPAM, Hamburger Helper, watered down shampoo, airline soap and many other great prizes !
Last year's "Self-Important Holiday Bash" was a show-stopper -- and served as 463's third anniversary party. They commemorated that milestone by showing a really funny video. Click here to relive the hilarity.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy wrote to Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich on Monday requesting statistics on the number of prosecutions and/or investigations the Justice Department has undertaken to date pursuant to the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act -- a 2007 statute that Leahy co-sponsored to address the growing number of data breaches involving sensitive phone records. He also asked Friedrich to state whether the agency has found the law effective in protecting Americans' privacy.
Leahy's letter came on the heels of recent news report that employees of Verizon Wireless improperly "accessed and viewed" the personal cell phone records of President-elect Barack Obama. Even though the individuals involved in the incident have been fired, the larger problem remains, the senator stated. "Cell phone records provide a wealth of sensitive personal data that can be of great use to criminals, and the unauthorized disclosure of these records can further acts of domestic violence and compromise the safety of law enforcement officers and their families," he wrote.
The Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act amended the federal criminal code to expressly prohibit a telecommunications carrier from obtaining confidential phone records by accessing customer accounts through the Internet, or by fraudulent computer-related activities, without prior authorization. Read more on that topic here.
Close to all the newly elected members of the House and Senate used some type of new media tool on their campaign pages and nearly half provided links to online blogs, according to a National Journal analysis. A little under half of the elected members also linked to YouTube videos, followed by Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and Blip.tv sites. A spokesman for YouTube said the company did a lot of outreach to candidates early on. In September, the Senate Rules Committee adopted Internet usage regulation changes to allow a member, committee or office to separately maintain Web sites or post material on third-party platforms as long as they abide by set guidelines. The rules hold that approved third-party sites must agree to disclose when content is maintained by a Senate office and they are not allowed to show commercial or political material or links to an office-maintained page. Outside sites are also prohibited from using data-gathering tools on a Senate-maintained page and a senator's third-party hosted content must be removed at the end of his or her term. -- Winter Casey
Surf on over to CongressDaily's TechCentral for a new "Issue of the Week." Here's a taste:
The United States lacks a fully defined policy and legal framework for using offensive cyberwarfare capabilities against adversaries, making it difficult for policymakers to determine the origin of computer attacks and when pre-emptive action is justified against criminals, terrorists and hostile foreign nations, according to current and former government officials.
The information networks of U.S. government agencies and critical industry sectors, such as the nation's power and banking companies, are under persistent and increasing cyber attack from foreign foes, including major criminal organizations and countries like China, according to officials and recent high-level reports. Although the U.S. government has an arsenal of cyberwarfare capabilities at its disposal, policymakers are grappling with how and when to use them, along with what kind of privacy and civil liberties issues are raised in doing so.
We know you spend all of your waking hours on Facebook (don’t worry, we won’t tell your boss) so why don’t you become a friend of Tech Daily Dose via the popular social networking site? Click here to join us and while you're there, become a fan of National Journal's Under The Influence blog too.
Comedy Central funnyman Stephen Colbert's holiday spectacular premiered Sunday night and it features a clip of him sitting at the piano writing new Christmas carols. Why? He explains that, while he likes all the old Christmas songs ["White Christmas," "Silver Bells," "Puff the Magic Dragon"], he would only get royalties if he wrote them. "When we sing those old holiday standards, someone else gets the royalty check. That doesn’t sound like Christmas to me," Colbert muses (watch the clip above). FYI: The dispute over the U.S. system of royalties gained steam in the 110th Congress and is expected to return in 2009. (Hat tip, Broadcast Law Blog)
Excerpt from President-elect Barack Obama's weekly YouTube address:
"I have already directed my economic team to come up with an Economic Recovery Plan that will mean 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011 – a plan big enough to meet the challenges we face that I intend to sign soon after taking office... We’ll put people back to work... building wind farms and solar panels; fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead."
High-tech spending projections for the first quarter of 2009 are "abysmal -- the worst ever," reports ChangeWave, a firm that has surveyed companies since 2001. The bottom line: 45 percent of respondents said their business's IT spending will decrease (or there will be no spending at all) in the quarter -- that's 16 points lower than the previous survey, ChangeWave's Paul Carton said in a blog post. Ten percent of respondents said IT spending will increase -- a three point drop from earlier reports.
Meanwhile, spending is plunging at a time of year when the industry normally experiences seasonal increases. ChangeWave asked respondents if their IT spending was on track thus far in the fourth quarter and by a wide margin, the results were the worst on record. In one of a few upbeat findings, the corporate smart phone market continues to show growth -- with BlackBerry maker Research in Motion maintaining its lead, but Apple continuing to make inroads in small to medium-sized businesses.
At National Public Radio's Intelligence Squared debate:
Siva Vaidhyanathan:
Jeff Jarvis:
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez recently named three new members to the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC). They will serve three-year terms on the panel, which advises the Patent and Trademark Office director on the agency's goals, performance, budget, and user fees.
The new PPAC members are:
▪ Marc Adler, founder of a private intellectual property strategy consulting practice and immediate past president of the Intellectual Property Owners Association and the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel.
▪ Stephen Pinkos, a senior advisor with PCT Government Relations who previously served as deputy director of the PTO and was instrumental in the development of the Bush administration's STOP! (Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy) program.
▪ Maureen Toohey, founding member of Toohey Law Group and former law clerk to U.S. Federal Circuit Judge Randall Rader.
Tech-savvy Republican consultant David All wants the GOP to "start calling out" the mistakes President-elect Barack Obama has made on his Change.gov transition Web site "so that we stop ceding ground to him and his liberal agenda." In an e-mail, All calls for "fewer Web sites touting why we're Republican and more Web sites actually working to impact change... A modern war room response apparatus tasked with conservative content spiders working hard to do just that."
A couple of the Obama team's alleged slip-ups, according to All: Change.gov was launched with a robust policy agenda and it was then removed. Also, the transition team released six YouTube videos which have already received over 1.5 million views. User comments, ratings, video responses have been disabled. Read more on TechRepublican.com.
Is the economic slump impacting Sin City's hotels, which in previous years have noticeably increased their rates in anticipation of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in January? It appears so. The Consumer Electronics Association, which puts together the massive international high-tech trade show, sent out an e-mail Thursday pointing out that more than 10 Las Vegas properties have reduced their room prices and potential attendees who have not flocked to CES before "may find it more affordable than ever."
The expo takes place Jan. 8-11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and just about every other banquet hall and ballroom in the city. On a personal note, after several years of staying at the Venetian, where all of the evening CES keynotes occur, I've made the switch to the Flamingo. It's a cost-saving move and a chance to check out one of the historic hotel's newly remodeled, tech-tastic rooms with amenities like a premium sound system, iPod docking station, CD/DVD player, electronic window treatments, and a 42" HD flat panel TV and wireless Internet connections.
Meanwhile [shameless plug], mark your CES calendar for "Washington Update: The Times They Are A Changin'" -- a session I'm moderating with several fantastic speakers: the Cato Institute's Jim Harper; Center for Democracy and Technology's Leslie Harris; and Public Knowledge's Gigi Sohn. Click here for more details.
President-elect Barack Obama's administration should craft sound policies on government use of data -- especially in the national security context, cybersecurity expert Fred Cate told reporters at a Friday briefing sponsored by Hunton & Williams' Centre for Information Policy Leadership. "Nobody has said the current state of law is good -- even people who are advocates for less privacy protection in this area want clearer laws," said Cate, who is also director of Indiana University's Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research. Joining Cate were CIPL principals Marty Abrams, Paula Bruening, Lisa Sotto and Orson Swindle as well as Harriet Pearson, IBM's chief privacy officer.
Nearly all the components of Obama's ambitious "change agenda," which includes reforms to the financial services sector, healthcare system and the economy, relate to the collection, use and processing of information, Abrams said. Privacy and information security are "at the top of the heap" and will be part of the regulatory, policy and legislative agenda going forward, he said. Days before the election, the center took the pulse of its members -- 41 companies from the financial services, retail, tech, and pharmaceutical industries -- about possible government privacy policy activities.
Here's what they had to say:
▪ 90.9 percent predicted an Obama administration would reexamine issues of privacy and information security; 51.5 percent believed a McCain presidency would do the same.
▪ 72.7 percent expected Congress to enact major privacy legislation.
▪ 65.6 percent thought Congress would legislate in the area of data breach; 59.4 believed members would act on behavioral advertising; and 50 percent thought Congress would propose minimum requirements for security.
▪ 64.5 percent believed the U.S. approach to protecting personal information is ineffective at promoting consumer trust.
▪ 63.3 percent believed "better enforcement and oversight of existing laws and regulations" is needed to enhance security of personal information.
Hollywood heavyweights have joined forces with the National Academy of Sciences to connect the entertainment industry and top scientists and engineers with the goal of getting science incorporated into television shows, films, video games, and other productions. "Television and film can involve the public in the latest advances in science, medicine, and technology," NAS President Ralph Cicerone said. "By building strong connections between the entertainment and science communities, we're hoping to provide an important service to both Hollywood and the viewing public." Read more about the Science and Entertainment Exchange here.
The project will provide filmmakers with "an invaluable connection to scientific truth, but more importantly, we will have the ability to invent and explore the unknown with the great visionaries of science," said Jerry Zucker, director of the movies "Airplane!" and "Ghost." His wife Janet Zucker, a producer, said the exchange will offer "a place where scientific and artistic minds can come together to inspire each other, building a two-way street for both communities to learn and create." TV shows such as "CSI," "House," and "ER" routinely incorporate science into scripts. Films like "Children of Men," Mission Impossible," and "A Beautiful Mind," have similarly capitalized on science themes.
The initiative, which is endorsed by the Directors Guild of America and Writers Guild of America, was unveiled at a symposium this week attended by entertainment industry professionals in Los Angeles. The forum, hosted by writer and producer Seth MacFarlane (creator of "Family Guy"), attracted more than 300 participants including writers, directors, producers, production designers and executives, as well as scientists, engineers, and health professionals.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on Thursday recommended that Congress carefully examine any agreement involving Internet service providers that addresses pressures from the Chinese government to provide personally identifiable information about Internet users and that Congress periodically review the effectiveness of such arrangements. In its annual report to lawmakers, the bipartisan panel also called on Congress to investigate the possibility that Chinese government press and Internet censorship violates the country's obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization.
The recommendations come on the heels of considerable attention to the issue by several House and Senate panels whose members probed U.S. high-tech companies' relationships with China and other countries with restrictive governments. Internet networking giant Cisco Systems took the hot seat at a Senate Judiciary Human Rights Subcommittee hearing in May for reportedly having a role in China's construction of a system for monitoring, censoring and prosecuting online dissidents who speak in favor of democratic values. Google, Microsoft and Yahoo executives also testified on related topics at various junctures during recent sessions of Congress.
A coalition of information and communications companies, human rights groups, academics, investors and technology leaders last month launched a long-awaited effort to protect freedom of expression and privacy on the Internet. The Global Network Initiative will be supported by specific commitments to provide a systematic approach for companies, nonprofits and others to resist efforts by governments that want to enlist tech firms in acts of censorship and surveillance. The initiative requires commitments from participants including: greater transparency with users; assessing human rights risk; and challenging human rights violations.
Continue reading Congress Pressed To Examine Chinese Web Activities.
The House Democratic Caucus on Thursday reelected Rep. Bart Gordon as chairman of the Science and Technology Committee for the 111th Congress and the 12-term Tennesseean didn't waste time laying out his top agenda item for the new year -- helping craft policies that can grow new sectors of the U.S. economy and ensure the nation's long-term competitiveness. "The major challenges facing our country -- a foundering economy, a changing climate, a growing need for clean energy we produce at home -- will be solved by science, technology, and American innovation," he said in a statement.
"I want this to be the committee of good ideas," Gordon said. "I recognize that neither party has a monopoly on that. I appreciate the cooperation we had in the last Congress -- everyone was willing to roll up their sleeves and work shoulder-to-shoulder towards consensus." In this session, his committee was able to pass most bills unanimously, because members worked through their differences ahead of time, he said. In the 110th Congress, Gordon's panel held 123 hearings and 17 full committee markups. More than 80 bills originated in the committee and were passed by the House, including 27 bills that were signed into law.
Committee members are expected to be assigned in January.
From CongressDaily...
A communications industry lobbyist who has represented some of the nation's most powerful cable, Internet and telecommunications firms is drawing scrutiny for his role on President-elect Barack Obama's transition team. James Halpert, an attorney and registered lobbyist with DLA Piper, is advising on matters involving the Patent and Trademark Office and intellectual property, according to many sources in the technology sector who are familiar with Obama's transition operations.
Critics are crying foul because they insist Halpert lobbied these issues just a few months ago, in violation of Obama's strict ethics guidelines, which state that parties joining the transition effort are prohibited from working in areas in which they focused as registered lobbyists in the last 12 months. "When we saw his name pop up as the transition guy for IP, I mean, everybody nearly had a heart attack," an industry source said.
Read the full story here.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has ousted Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. The House Democratic Caucus ousted Dingell on a secret-ballot vote, following a tight Steering Committee vote Wednesday. The unofficial tally was 137-122. The vote weakens the seniority system and signals the rise of California liberals who backed Waxman. It also strengthens House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who stayed neutral but whose allies supported Waxman's bid. The result gives Waxman, an environmentalist, a key role in shaping legislation on climate change, energy, healthcare and other priorities of President-elect Barack Obama. Dingell will stay on as chairman emeritus.
Read more in CongressDaily's PM.
Academics, industry experts and government officials convened Thursday in Brussels, Belgium to discuss the standards-setting process and the important role standards can play in the information, communication and technology sector. The forum, sponsored by the Intellectual Property Institute and the Center for European Law and Economics, was one of several taking place in the de facto capital city of the European Union this week on standards.
Forum participants felt that the value of ICT standards in today’s interconnected economy cannot be over-stated. “We have established an important precedent in this debate,” IPI's Christopher Stothers said in a statement. The collaborative, open dialogue among key players "sheds light on the issues surrounding possible improvements to the standards system and brings diverse voices into the discussion,” he said. “Standards can promote innovation and competition, fuel market growth and protect investment," added CELC's Mattias Ganslandt.
At the meeting, there was a general consensus that standards can improve efficiency and interoperability. They allow different products and services to work together better and improve product safety and productivity for businesses and consumers. For instance, standards mean that travelers can get cash from an ATM anywhere, any time, and from any bank while standardized wireless technology allows users to connect to more than 2.3 million Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide; granting access to the Internet at Starbucks in London or Sydney, Australia.
The new Congress should consider providing additional money for military, intelligence, and homeland security programs that safeguard the nation’s critical computer networks -- specifically those tasked with protecting against damage caused by cyberattacks -- according to recommendations released today by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The bipartisan panel’s annual report to Congress, portions of which were obtained by CongressDaily, also calls on lawmakers and the Obama administration to work with international allies in dealing with cyberattacks originating in China.
To maintain the security of computer networks used by U.S. agencies and defense contractors, the Commission suggests that Congress examine the security and integrity of the supply chain for computer equipment employed by government and contractor networks -- particularly those used by the Defense Department -- and, if necessary, supplement existing funding to ensure that high-tech equipment is purchased from secure sources. Additionally, the panel will recommend that the new administration engage China “in a military dialogue on its actions and programs in cyber and space warfare, including threat reduction mechanisms, transparency initiatives, and international laws of conflict as they apply to the cyber and space domains.” Read more in CongressDaily here.
Canadian regulators on Thursday rejected the Canadian Association of Internet Providers' request that Bell Canada cease the traffic-shaping practices it has adopted for its wholesale Gateway Access Service. However, in the future, the telecommunications firm will be required to notify its wholesale customers at least 30 days in advance of making changes that impact on the performance of its gateway service. "Based on the evidence before us, we found that the measures employed by Bell Canada to manage its network were not discriminatory," said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.
"CAIP’s application asked us to only consider the specific issue of wholesale traffic shaping within a specific context. The broader issue of Internet traffic management raises a number of questions that affect both end-users and service providers," von Finckenstein said in a release. "We have decided to hold a separate proceeding to consider both wholesale and retail issues. Its main purpose will be to address the extent to which Internet service providers can manage the traffic on their networks in accordance with the Telecommunications Act."
The growing popularity of certain Internet applications, such as online video, can lead to network congestion. To deal with this congestion, some Internet service providers are managing the flow of traffic on their networks or adopting new business models. In the case of the CAIP application, the Commission’s assessment of traffic shaping was limited to Bell Canada’s practice of slowing down the transfer rates of peer-to-peer traffic at certain times of the day, officials said. Read more here.
Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg made his pitch Wednesday for revitalizing America’s healthcare system at the Senate Finance Committee’s first post-election hearing on healthcare reform. Seidenberg, who chairs Business Roundtable’s Consumer Health and Retirement Initiative, said "rampant cost increases in the medical system mean we’re paying more for less value." "Healthcare costs are inhibiting job creation and damaging our ability to compete in global markets," he added.
Business Roundtable’s health care policy plan has four pillars:
▪ Creating Greater Consumer Value in the health care marketplace by using health IT and empowering consumers with more information about good, quality healthcare.
▪ Providing More Affordable Health Insurance Options for All Americans by creating an open, all-inclusive private market for health insurance, replacing fragmented, state-by-state market with multi-state markets.
▪ Placing an Obligation on All Americans to Obtain Health Insurance, either through their employer or the private market. Americans would also be encouraged to participate in employer or community-based prevention and chronic care programs.
▪ Offering Health Coverage and Assistance to Low-Income, Uninsured Americans, creating a stable and secure public safety net.
At least it's not a segment about the virtual Jessica Yellin.
President-elect Barack Obama's technology, innovation and government reform working group within his transition team has been announced. Members include Sonal Shah, Julius Genachowski, and Blair Levin. Shah, who heads the Google foundation's global development efforts, previously served as vice president at Goldman Sachs where she developed the firm’s environmental policy. Genachowski, a longtime friend of Obama's, is cofounder of Rock Creek Ventures and a former senior executive at IAC/InterActiveCorp. Levin is a managing director of Stifel Nicolaus and serves as the firm’s principal telecom, media and tech regulatory and strategy analyst. He previously served as chief of staff to FCC Chairman Reed Hundt in the Clinton administration.
Meanwhile, my colleague Bara Vaida reports on Obama's congressional affairs team roster on NationalJournal.com's Lost In Transition blog. The congressional aides chosen by Obama and his transition directors to plot strategy before Jan. 20 are names to know on K Street -- and elsewhere around Washington, she writes.
As expected, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin poked fun at himself at Tuesday night's annual Federal Communications Bar Association dinner. Following a brief line-up of one-liners, he wrapped up his self-deprecating speech with a list of potential positions he might pursue when he leaves office early next year. Some of the funniest suggestions he dished out (to ample applause):
▪ Mailroom clerk at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration sending out digital television converter box coupons in anticipation of the Feb. 17, 2009 transition.
▪ Wardrobe consultant for pop star Janet Jackson, whose infamous "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show resulted in a court battle that the FCC lost.
▪ Running for mayor in Wilmington, N.C., the first market in the United States to make the change to digital-only broadcasting, which has become a pet project of the Commission's.
▪ Playing Harry Potter in a Broadway musical. Many have joked about Martin's boyish, bespectacled look.
From the file labeled "everyone loves a gimmick" comes "Raders Of The Lost Art," a Dec. 4 event at the Newseum sponsored by Avue Technologies, a firm that specializes in public sector management platforms that help increase effectiveness, workforce productivity, and manager and worker satisfaction. The event, which may or may not involve government IT administrators donning fedoras and impersonating Indiana Jones, features a keynote by Dee Dee Myers, press secretary for former President Bill Clinton and current contributor to Vanity Fair magazine. What on Earth will she say about federal IT solutions? No clue. But the invitation blares: "See the incredible quest to put OPM End-2-End Hiring Roadmap into action! Thrill to the new User Interface design! Experience the spine tingling new features for Regulatory Compliance! Quake at the transformational power of Avue's Center for Excellence in Human Capital Management! Tremble at awe inspiring and spirited process of becoming a brilliant Leader of Change!"
Consumer Watchdog, a group that has begun to press Google to enhance the privacy and security of its applications (see earlier blog post), is a newcomer to the lets-bash-the-Internet-behemoth brigade so the obvious question is: who bankrolls the Santa Monica, Calif.-based organization? The group's work in the privacy arena, according to its president Jamie Court, is 100 percent funded by the Rose Foundation. The foundation, which believes that "environmental stewardship, community regeneration, consumer protection, robust civic participation and a healthy economy are all inextricably linked," laid down $100,000 this year to fund a so-called "Google Privacy Rights Project."
The grant's description reads: "Few search engine users are aware of the extent to which Google and other leading search engines collect and categorize customers’ personal information, and the extent to which this information may be shared with marketing partners. This vast collection of customer specific data is also an attractive target for hackers, identity thieves, and governmental surveillance. The project will develop a comprehensive set of model privacy protection polices, and conduct a campaign to encourage Google to become the standard-setter in customer privacy protection."
In terms of general funding, Consumer Watchdog (formerly the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights) receives about a third of its backing from foundations like Rose; the Nathan Cummings Foundation ("committed to democratic values and social justice, including fairness, diversity, and community"); the California Endowment ("a private health foundation that provides grants to community-based organizations throughout California"); and the Arca Foundation ("empowering real change by empowering people to help shape public policy"). Another third comes from legal fees in court cases the group wins and the final third comes from individual donors.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke to a crowd convened by the New America Foundation in Washington on Tuesday about the ways technology can help Barack Obama's administration and Congress address two of the biggest challenges ahead: generating short- and long-term economic and job growth that can help pull the nation out of financial turmoil, and restoring public trust in government. Schmidt, who chairs the foundation's board and is a member of Obama's transition team, said America "has the intellectual foundation, leadership and literally the people in the room not just to solve problems but build a better place."
"A hundred years ago, nobody had information. Now all of you are significant users of the Internet," Schmidt said. "In our lifetime, almost all people will have access to almost all the world's information. That’s a remarkable achievement on par with Gutenberg." Just about every American can now create and publish their ideas, he said, noting that "some of them are absolutely wacko." Nevertheless, the power of communication is in everyone's hands, he said, noting that the U.S. government and individual citizens are only now beginning to understand that power. His thesis: "Technology makes a difference."
Schmidt's talk was not without controversy. During the question-and-answer session, Consumer Watchdog's John Simpson confronted him with a question about the need for Google to build greater privacy and security protections into its applications. Simpson urged Congress not to use Google programs because of certain alleged vulnerabilities and said representatives from the Internet giant are trying to sell Capitol Hill staffers on the firm's software and services. Schmidt said he read a letter Simpson sent to him and would be happy to discuss his concerns at a later date. Read more in CongressDaily's AM edition on Wednesday.
Former "campaign bundlers" for President-elect Barack Obama , including some who raised over a half-million dollars during his campaign for the White House, are now serving on the transition team and Public Citizen's Becoming 44 blog has posted a chart detailing exactly which bundlers have been tapped for the transition.
Some names familiar to the tech industry include:
▪ Julius Genachowski (Rock Creek Ventures) $500,000+
▪ Donald Gips (Level 3 Communications): $500,000+
▪ Tom Wheeler (former CTIA CEO): $200,000+
▪ Reed Hundt (former FCC Chairman): $50,000+
(Hat tip, Lost In Transition blog)
From CongressDaily's Erin McPike:
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- For many political operatives who make their living electing Republican candidates, what has injured the party extends far beyond the message. Tactically, operatives are warning that if the GOP does not systematically change campaign infrastructures to reflect the American electorate's growing comfort with technology and the Internet, Republican candidates are going to keep losing to Democrats who have gotten ahead of the technology curve.
Phil Musser, a former executive director of the Republican Governors Association who is involved with RebuildtheParty.com, laid out a call to action to several dozen members of the Republican National Committee at a weekend rebuilding retreat called by South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson. The audience included a number of the 168 state party chairmen and national committee members who will elect the next RNC chairman early next year. Read the full story here.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison on Monday praised the U.S. wireless industry for partnering with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to combat child pornography. Trade group CTIA's Wireless Child Safety Task Force, which was announced earlier in the day, is specifically directed at keeping wireless devices free from the illegal content and barring Web sites that contain the material from being hosted on their servers.
The group will work with NCMEC to "identify, review and support actions to further deter child pornography" and explore solutions that can be lawfully executed while safeguarding consumer privacy, officials said. "Wireless devices have become an important tool for many Americans and it is critical that this new partnership takes an aggressive approach to stop the spread of child pornography on wireless systems," Hutchison said in a statement.
CTIA President Steve Largent noted that innovative wireless firms "are always changing and always evolving to meet the demands of their customers" and in order to combat unlawful activity, they fully intend to "channel the same dynamic spirit and energy" into protecting America’s youth. The campaign comes on the heels of considerable attention to online child protection in the 110th Congress. Read more about the effort here.
Rumors are swirling in the intellectual property policy community about who might be in the running for Patent and Trademark Office director under President Barack Obama. CongressDaily took the pulse of some IP watchers and included a list of potential contenders in Monday's PM edition.
Some of the names circulating include: Q. Todd Dickinson, who ran the PTO under former President Bill Clinton and is now head of the American IP Law Association; Eli Lilly general counsel Robert Armitage; 3M IP counsel Gary Griswold; patent attorneys Ray Millien and James Pooley; and law professors Mark Lemley of Stanford and Arti Rai of Duke, a classmate of Obama's at Harvard Law School. Some possible picks were on the front lines of the congressional patent reform battle this year, which could be a disadvantage, sources said.
One name that was not included in the story but has been mentioned by some stakeholders is Shanna Winters. Winters, whose name was also reportedly in the mix for White House IP enforcement coordinator, is chief counsel to Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who chairs the House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and IP Subcommittee. Berman plans to leave that post in the 111th Congress to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee and reliable sources report that she plans to follow her boss to the new panel.
Meanwhile, an industry insider said that despite the names being whispered in Washington, the PTO director job is a "wild card." "Half the names you're hearing are because of self-promotion and the other half are logical," the source said, adding that the person who assumes the role must be a "well rounded candidate who has leadership and management experience" to lead an agency of 9,500 employees.
Surf on over to CongressDaily's TechCentral for a new "Issue of the Week." Here's a taste:
GENEVA, Switzerland -- The United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization was once viewed as a technical intellectual property protection body whose decisions got the attention only of copyright holders, patent-processing lawyers and their clients. Times have changed. Last month, the Geneva-based body came under the leadership of an Australian patent attorney, Francis Gurry, with a far broader vision: to tackle global economic decline, climate change and other threats through innovation and technology using the incentives of intellectual property rights.
"Humanity has always turned to technology for solutions in the face of global threats and challenges," Gurry said in a recent interview. "So, naturally, intellectual property as a system which seeks to incentivize investments and stimulate the creation of new technology, innovation and its diffusion is very pertinent to all of these challenges." Gurry plans to create a special division devoted to issues such as climate change, desertification, access to medicines and health, biodiversity preservation and food security. The organization has advertised for a global challenges czar as well as a chief economist, reflecting a trend toward economics at intellectual property bodies such as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
"In the past, the WIPO secretariat has often been seen as a cheerleader for intellectual property owners. The hiring of chief economist is a big step toward the international leadership on intellectual property issues that WIPO should be providing," said Brian Kahin, senior fellow at the Computer & Communications Industry Association. "It is recognition of the need to understand and promote the economic goals of the system by improving how intellectual property works in the real world -- as opposed to simply amplifying the views of the most interested stakeholders."
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Dallas entrepreneur Mark Cuban Monday with allegedly engaging in insider trading for selling 600,000 shares of the stock of an Internet search engine company based on non-public information. The commission’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleges that in June 2004, Mamma.com invited Cuban to participate in the stock offering after he agreed to keep the information confidential.
The complaint further alleges that Cuban knew that the offering would be conducted at a discount to the prevailing market price and that it would hurt existing shareholders. After Cuban received this information, the complaint holds that Cuban called his broker and told him to sell his stake in the company. This move enabled Cuban to avoid losses in excess of $750,000. “It is fundamentally unfair for someone to use access to nonpublic information to improperly gain an edge on the market,” said Scott Friestad, deputy director of the SEC’s enforcement division, in a statement.
-- Winter Casey
Update: Cuban responded to the claims by posting a statement on his blog. "I wish I could say more, but I will have to leave it to this, and let the judicial process do its job," he said. Follow the jump to read the statement by attorney Ralph Ferrara.
Cross-posted from NationalJournal.com's Lost In Transition blog:
Adhering to its reputation as the first digital campaign, President-elect Barack Obama's team took to the Web for another innovation this weekend -- the first presidential YouTube address. Obama recorded a video version of the weekly Democratic radio address that was posted on the popular Internet video site Saturday, a trend his advisers say will continue once he enters the White House in January. "This is just one of many ways that President-elect Obama will communicate directly with the American people and make the White House and the political process more transparent," a press release said.
On the day that leaders of the Group of 20 nations convened in Washington for a summit on the global economic crisis, Obama used his video to discuss the economic situation here at home. "Make no mistake: This is the greatest economic challenge of our times," the president-elect told viewers and listeners. But he also expressed confidence that the country can recover. "I know that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis -- because here in America we always rise to the moment, no matter how hard. And I am more hopeful than ever that America will rise once again."
Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive officer of Internet giant Google, will speak Tuesday on “What’s Ahead: Technology, Economic Growth and Open Government.” During his address to the New America Foundation, Schmidt will discuss the need to build a 21st century infrastructure, support for research and innovation, repairs to the U.S. education system, and ways to make government more open and responsive. Schmidt, who is on the foundation's board, is said to be in the running to serve as the nation’s chief technology officer -- a position that President-elect Barack Obama envisioned as part of his technology policy platform. Schmidt threw his support behind Obama in the final weeks of the campaign and is on the transition team's economic advisory board. Learn more about this event here.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez appears to have reversed course on his opposition to the newly created intellectual property enforcement coordinator position within the White House. In an interview with CongressDaily this week, the former Kellog Co. chairman said the change "puts IP rights front-and-center [and] will make it a priority for the White House and not just for Commerce" where a similar post had been housed. Intellectual property enforcement is "such an important part of our future, we want it to cut across agencies," he said.
Language to establish the IP coordinator post was included in a broader bill sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Arlen Specter but the Commerce and Justice departments panned the idea as the legislation moved through Congress. President Bush signed the measure last month, which also authorizes new grants for state and local law enforcement and beefs up prosecutorial resources. As recently as October, Gutierrez's general counsel and a principal assistant attorney general called the bill a "legislative intrusion" and warned the change could "pose significant and unnecessary challenges."
Read more about the Gutierrez interview here.
One of the chief lobbyists behind the push by major technology and media companies to overhaul the U.S. patent system in the 110th Congress wins Tech Daily Dose's award for the earliest holiday party invitation received. The e-mail summons from Steve Elmendorf arrived Friday afternoon. Through his work with the Coalition for Patent Fairness, the former adviser to former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., represented firms like Cisco Systems, Google, Microsoft, and Time Warner. The patent bill in question, sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, gained traction but didn't cross the finish line this session. Fans and foes of the measure are already gearing up for a fight next year (but first, let's have some eggnog and sing "Jingle Bells").
Receiving Elemdorf's invitation amid our seemingly ever-worsening economic climate made me wonder if this winter's congressional staffer-lobbyist-media soirees will live up to previous years' glitz and glamour. My guess is they won't, given the fact that everyone is more than a little strapped for cash. Open bars may become cash bars. Shrimp cocktail and pâté may become Ritz crackers and Cheez Whiz. Gosh, I pray that I'm exaggerating. In any case, one can only hope that the hottest party of the season -- the annual bash co-hosted by the Recording Industry Association of America, Motion Picture Association of America and others -- is on track. Last year, the celebration featured a performance by hip-hop star Wyclef Jean. This year, who knows? Pat Boone? Vanilla Ice?
Three public interest groups have filed a friend-of-the court brief urging a Kentucky appeals court to overturn a lower court ruling that authorized the seizure of more than 100 Internet domain names associated with Web sites operating around the globe. The Center for Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union argue that if the ruling stands, it would wreak havoc on Internet free speech and governance. "No speech that conflicts with any law, anywhere in the world, would be safe from censorship," CDT's John Morris said.
In a move to combat what it viewed as illegal online gambling, Kentucky regulators convinced a state court to "seize" 141 domain names because the names allegedly constituted "gambling devices" that are banned under state law -- even though the sites were owned and operated by individuals outside of the state, and in many cases even outside of the country, EFF said in a release. Unless the sites screened out Kentucky users, the court held, the seizure order was proper. The groups' brief argues the seizure order was invalid because it threatened to impede access to a range of materials protected by the First Amendment.
"The court's theory -- that a state court can order the seizure of Internet domain names regardless of where the site was registered -- is not only wrong but dangerous," EFF attorney Matt Zimmerman said. "If the mere ability to access a Web site gives every court on the planet the authority to seize a domain name if a site's content is in some way inconsistent with local law, the laws of the most world's most repressive regimes will effectively control cyberspace."
The Patent and Trademark Office is playing musical chairs in the waning days of the Bush administration. With the departure of deputy director Margaret Peterlin from the agency [see CongressDaily story], Commissioner for Patents John Doll will now serve as acting deputy director. Peterlin, a key voice for the Bush administration as members of Congress worked on patent reform, left after just over a year on the job. During the interim period, Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations Margaret Focarino will assume the responsibilities of the Commissioner for Patents.
Doll has been with the PTO for more than 34 years, serving in a variety of capacities, including patent examiner, supervisory patent examiner and technology center director. He has been a driving force behind hiring record numbers of new examiners, and in aggressively expanding PTO’s e-government programs. Focarino has been with the agency for more than 31 years, and has significant experience as a patent examiner, supervisory patent examiner and technology center director.
(Photo Credit: The 463 Blog)
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Lamar Smith believes the decision by Chairman John Conyers to address intellectual property in the full committee in the 111th Congress "reflects the importance of these issues to American businesses and workers." "Because of the complex nature of these issues, this move will help all members on the committee better address our nation’s intellectual property needs," he said in a Thursday statement. Adding that IP will remain a top priority for the Judiciary, Smith said: “Given the current state of the economy, Congress must promote American ingenuity and protect our creative ideas." Read more about the subcommittee switcheroo here.
President-elect Barack Obama's transition team Wednesday announced 19 people to help oversee the effort. Several are some familiar names from the tech and telecom arena.
▪ Don Gips, former chief domestic policy adviser to Al Gore during his vice presidency and former FCC international bureau chief.
▪ Reed Hundt, former FCC chairman 1993-1997, is responsible for the international trade and economics agencies.
▪ Tom Wheeler, former CEO for the National Cable Television Association and the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, is responsible for the science, technology, space and arts agencies.
▪ Louisa Terrell, Yahoo's recently hired DC policy shop senior director, was formerly deputy chief of staff for Vice President-elect Joseph Biden.
▪ Jon Wilkins, former FCC staffer; partner at McKinsey & Company
Chris Bowers, Joe Gandelman and Walter Olson were the top finishers in NationalJournal.com's prediction poll of top political bloggers for the 2008 election, the Web site reported Thursday. Bowers, of OpenLeft, and Olson, of Overlawyered, prevailed on the left and right, respectively. Gandelman, of The Moderate Voice, had the high score overall outside of the poll's left-right divide. For purposes of this contest, Missouri was awarded to John McCain even though official declarations had not been made by Wednesday afternoon. In House and Senate races, candidates who were ahead were considered the winners. One point was awarded for each correct answer. The Electoral College tally was used as a tiebreaker.
Read more about the bloggers poll here.
Academics, industry executives, congressional aides and high-profile attorneys are among those whose names are swirling as potential candidates for the high-level White House job to oversee government-wide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting efforts in Barack Obama's administration. The position was written into a broader intellectual property bill sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Arlen Specter along with Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio. President Bush signed the legislation last month.
Leahy will offer a list of names to Obama's transition team, but the post is viewed as "second-tier" -- one that will be addressed after Cabinet and other major nominations are made. Leahy's picks will be "pretty weighty," one source said, noting that he was one of several senators to endorse Obama over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., early in the Democratic primaries. Victoria Espinel, a Democrat who served as the first assistant trade representative for intellectual property, a position created by Trade Representative Susan Schwab in 2006, is a likely contender. Read CongressDaily for details on other names that have been floated...
The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve issued a final rule late Wednesday aimed at stopping illegal Internet gambling - two days after House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank had called for a delay in the rule because of the problems he said it would cause for banks. But the regulation pleased Republican lawmakers: The GOP still controlled Congress when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed in 2006, and the Republicans have been pushing for the Bush administration to issue the rule before leaving office in January.
"No longer will the offshore gambling interests benefit from any turning any computer into a casino that is available every minute of the day," Financial Services ranking member Spencer Bachus said in a statement welcoming the new rule, which he noted was more than one year late. The 2006 law cost Europe's online gambling companies billions in lost market value as they were forced to retreat from one of their most lucrative markets, Reuters reported. Read more in CongressDaily here.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers will abolish the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property in the new Congress and instead keep intellectual property issues at the full committee level, a Judiciary aide told CongressDaily today. A Subcommittee on Courts and Antitrust will be created, but no other subcommittee changes are expected, the staffer said.
In the 110th Congress, the IP subcommittee was among the House's most active under the direction of Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who plans to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the coming session. Hot topics like overhauling the U.S. patent system; ending a long-standing music royalty exemption for AM and FM radio and changing a portion of copyright law that deals with musical tracks, writings, images, videos or other content whose owners cannot be easily identified drew ample attention from the high-tech and entertainment industries. Conyers plans to remain just as active on IP issues at the full committee level, the staffer said.
Read the full story in CongressDaily here.
Gawker.com founder Nick Denton has released his 2009 Internet Media Plan. The key message: "Publishers should be planning for the worst -- now." Private companies, he writes, can move more nimbly than established behemoths to boost revenues and reduce costs." There are six main levers, the details of which you can read here.
1. Get out of categories such as politics to which advertisers are averse.
2. Renegotiate vendor contracts.
3. Consolidate titles.
4. Offshore more.
5. Variable compensation.
6. More value for marketers.
Denton's bottom line: "It looks pretty bleak: but at least lean Internet businesses can make it through!"
The Justice Department unveiled a national public service announcement campaign Wednesday aimed at educating parents about the potential dangers their children face online and, for the first time, warns potential Web predators that exploiting a child online is a serious federal offense. The four PSAs were developed jointly by DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and Project Safe Childhood partners INOBTR (“I Know Better”), iKeepSafe and the Hispanic Communications Network.
“One of our highest priorities at the Department of Justice is combating the sexual exploitation of children," OJJDP Administrator J. Robert Flores said in a release. “Our message to parents is--know where your kids go on the Internet, and to would-be predators we say--your illegal activity will have lifelong consequences."
▪ iKeepSafe developed one of the PSAs, ntitled “Know Where They Go,” to highlight the risks children face on the Internet. For more on the advertisement, which has television, radio and print components, click here.
▪ INOBTR created a PSA ntitled “Exploiting a Minor Is a Major Offense." Elements of this campaign include television, movie theaters, print, radio and Web banners. For more details, click here.
▪ The Hispanic Communications Network produced two series of Spanish-language PSAs for television, radio, print and the Web. The first targets parents and the second targets potential predators. The ads can be found here and here.
From Monday's CongressDaily PM Edition...
Senate Commerce Panel Expects New Faces, Shakeup
Change is coming to the Senate Commerce Committee in the new Congress with Commerce Chairman Daniel Inouye expected to take over for Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., as head of the Senate Appropriations Committee. His departure, paired with Election Day losses for Republican Sens. Gordon Smith of Oregon and John Sununu of New Hampshire, opens at least two spots on the committee. There is also the question of what happens to the seat of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. He may lose his bid for an eighth term, but if he wins he could be expelled from the Senate because of his Oct. 27 conviction on corruption charges. Stevens served as ranking member -- and before that as chairman -- but relinquished his leadership post to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, before his trial began.
Read the full story here.
Groups: DTV Shift May Leave Behind Millions Of Viewers
With the nation's shift to digital television signals just 100 days away, officials representing the interests of the disabled, elderly and minorities warned today that those populations are among the most vulnerable to losing reception when the Feb. 17 transition occurs. "On Feb. 18, there will be millions of Americans who will wake up and will not have [television] service available," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, at a news briefing intended to reinforce the message of a transition on track.
Read the full story here.
Surf on over to CongressDaily's TechCentral for a new "Issue of the Week." Here's a taste:
High-tech, telecommunications and media companies can expect increased antitrust scrutiny in President-elect Barack Obama's administration after eight years of what some believe has been a hands-off approach to marketplace competition within the Justice Department, the FCC and to some extent the FTC. The Democratic Illinois senator made ensuring competitive markets part of his campaign platform, which stated the United States needs "a business and regulatory landscape in which entrepreneurs and small businesses can thrive, start-ups can launch, and all enterprises can compete effectively while investors and consumers are protected against bad actors that cross the line."
Obama pledged to step up review of mergers and stop or restructure mergers that are likely to harm consumers while clearing those that do not pose such risks. According to a campaign position paper, Obama will strengthen antitrust authorities' competition advocacy programs to make certain that special interests do not use regulation to insulate themselves from the competitive process. He pledged to boost competition advocacy domestically and internationally and take steps to ensure that antitrust law is not used to interfere with competition or undermine efficiency to the detriment of U.S. consumers and businesses. Obama has said he will improve the administration of those laws in the United States and work with foreign counterparts to change their unsound laws and avoid needless duplication in enforcement.
Entertainment, software, and pharmaceutical industry executives share their perspectives on the role of intellectual property in commerce and innovation in a new white paper from the Washington Legal Foundation. The document, which examines the existing legal framework's ability to accommodate advances in technology and business, includes input by former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and several corporate general counsels including Eli Lilly's Robert Armitage, Viacom's Michael Fricklas and Microsoft's Brad Smith.
“Copyright compensates artists and journalists and other creators for putting all these ideas into the public domain and encourages people to write and create in new ways.” -- Fricklas
“We have an obligation in our industry to be leaders in addressing counterfeiting problems on a global basis. For us, it is a life-and-death issue for the patients we serve.” -- Armitage
“We are concerned that some nations may seize on exclusions and interpret them broadly to deny patent protection for computer-implemented inventions.” -- Smith
Read "The Changing Legal Landscape For Intellectual Property" here (PDF).
The Sunshine in Government Initiative, a transparency watchdog whose members include the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Associated Press, National Association of Broadcasters, Radio-Television News Directors Association and other media groups urged President-elect Barack Obama's administration Monday to take four steps "to counteract years of growing government secrecy in a climate in Washington increasingly hostile to the people’s right to know."
1. Restore the presumption of disclosure across the executive branch. Federal agencies should exercise their discretion to withhold information under the Freedom of Information Act only when a foreseeable harm would result from disclosure.
2. Create an independent, online ombudsman to help citizens access their government. The Obama administration should quickly ramp up the Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives and Records Administration to mediate disclosure disputes.
3. Ban agencies from proposing or endorsing unnecessary statutory exemptions from disclosure. Any new laws proposed or supported by the administration to specifically exempt certain information from disclosure should be limited in scope and life and include oversight.
4. Speak on the record, and urge his senior deputies and aides to do the same, in all statements about policy and news about public matters.
Hip-hop star Will.i.am, who made headlines during the campaign season for his "Yes We Can" YouTube video in support of Barack Obama, debuted his latest ditty dedicated to the president-elect on Oprah Winfrey's Friday TV show. As of Monday morning, "It's A New Day," had been viewed 134,580 times on YouTube and is available on DipDive.com. Watch the video for the foot-tapping tune above.
(Photo Credit: Darcy Burner for Congress via Flickr)
Darcy Burner, the Microsoft program manager and cause célèbre of the liberal blogosphere who was challenging Republican Rep. Dave Reichert for Washington's 8th District seat conceded late Friday after the Associated Press called the race for the incumbent. Three days after the election, 81 percent of precincts had reported and Reichert captured 52 percent of the vote (143,012) while Burner received 48 percent (134,480).
"It is likely at this point that Congressman Reichert has won re-election, and while we will certainly ensure that every valid vote is counted, we accept the decision of the voters," Burner said in a statement thanking her supporters and trumpeting Democratic President-elect Barack Obama's win over GOP Sen. John McCain. Obama's selection "will ensure that the change to the direction of our country called for in this campaign is realized in the new year," she said.
Continue reading 'Netroots' Candidate Concedes Wash. State Race.
Tuesday’s historic election signals a new era of sweeping change and reform and President-elect Barack Obama has proposed a number of major tech policy initiatives. In a short Friday interview for BlogTalkRadio, I sat down with Robert Holleyman, president and CEO of the Business Software Alliance to discuss what we can expect. During our chat, we discussed what the tech policy agenda will look like under Obama; the expected appointment of a chief technology officer for the federal government; and major tech policy efforts expected early in the new administration.
Holleyman said Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress will face a host of challenges like the overall economic posture of the United States; global implications of spending; the two major wars still being fought; and social priorities such as healthcare and taxes. In light of those pressures, some might say the IT agenda is less urgent, he said, but it is important to note that technology policy's reach is far beyond Silicon Valley. "In a world that runs on innovation, information technology is a key part of the solution to almost every economic and social challenge we're facing," Holleyman said. Listen to the show here.
Three Republican members of the House Judiciary's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property lost their reelection bids to Democrats on Tuesday, raising questions about who might fill those vacancies in the 111th Congress. Rep. Tom Feeney of Florida lost to Suzanne Kosmas, a former state legislator and small business owner. Kosmas won with 57.2 percent of the vote while Feeney received 41.1 percent. Fellow Floridian Ric Keller was defeated by Alan Grayson, an attorney who formerly ran telecommunications company IDT Corp. Grayson won 52 percent of the vote while Keller received 48 percent. In Ohio, former state legislator Steve Driehaus defeated Rep. Steve Chabot with Driehaus winning 51.5 percent of the vote and Chabot taking 48.5 percent.
President-elect Barack Obama, who demonstrated through the success of his campaign's Internet outreach effort that he sees value in technology, may replace the White House's traditional Saturday radio address with a weekly speech on the popular video-sharing Web site YouTube, New Democrat Network founder Simon Rosenberg predicted Thursday. Rosenberg, who spoke at a Computer and Communications Industry Association reception, said he envisions the talk being translated in near real-time to Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish and other languages and available to a global audience. In short, Obama will do for the Internet what President Roosevelt did for radio, he said.
During the campaign, Obama perfected the Web-based tools that 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean pioneered and as a result has "fundamentally changed the game" by allowing average people to get involved in the political process, Rosenberg said. "We can see it play out in politics and in democracies around the world," he said. "I think that’s a permanent condition of global politics, not just American politics." Rosenberg cited hip-hop star Will.i.am's "Yes We Can" YouTube video as proof. The pro-Obama clip has been viewed 12 million times. That kind of Web outreach was not possible during the last presidential election, he said.
With Obama in the White House, "we're going to see something more radical and innovative than what they did on the campaign because more people are going to be paying attention now," he said, noting that Obama's ability to use whitehouse.gov to ask Americans to "help him solve the problems of our day" could be revolutionary. Rosenberg said technology will be "central to the way he tries to govern" because innovative platforms are "now so engrained in their brand." The progressive pundit said he expects to see "massive experimentation" with Web efforts to get public input and also rally netroots to push the administration's agenda on Capitol Hill.
In an effort to thwart potential Internet scams, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies issued a warning on Thursday that tickets to President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in will be provided free of charge and distributed through members of the 111th Congress and not through any other Web site or ticket outlet. “Any Web site or ticket broker claiming that they have inaugural tickets is simply not telling the truth,” said Howard Gantman, staff director for the inaugural committee.
"We urge the public to view any offers of tickets for sale with great skepticism,” Gantman said in a statement. Tickets for the Jan. 20, 2009 event will not be distributed to congressional offices until the week before the inauguration and will require in‐person pick‐up. About 250,000 people are expected to be seated and standing between the U.S. Capitol and 3rd Street plus hundreds of thousands more will pack the National Mall and line the parade route. Ticketing resource StubHub.com shows vendors have already listed tickets to the swearing-in for as much as $3,715.
High-tech hackers that tried to infiltrate the campaign computers of Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., likely originated in Russia or China, Newsweek's Evan Thomas said at a National Press Club briefing on Thursday. The FBI would not disclose much about the incidents when they occurred and the Obama camp was supposed to be briefed on the problem "but that was put off," he said. The hackers were looking to swipe information that might be useful in future negotiations with the next American president, the magazine reported, quoting several unnamed sources, in its special election edition.
According to Newsweek, the attacks happened sometime around midyear and were reported to the Obama and McCain camps by the U.S. Secret Service , the FBI and even the White House. The story does not detail how the government learned about the intrusions but said they assured the Obama camp that the break-ins didn't appear to be the work of his political opponents. A federal agent told Obama campaign officials that they had an IT security problem "way bigger than what you understand. You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system," the article stated.
The Web site for President-elect Barack Obama's transition project, aimed at ensuring a smooth passing of the torch from the Bush administration, is officially up and running at Change.gov but job-seekers might have trouble applying to work in the new White House -- at least until the IT department flips the switch on some back-up servers. Access to the site's "Apply for a Job" section was spotty throughout the day Thursday.
Some applicants saw a scaled-down, text only version of the page while others saw this message:
The Internet's key administrative agency's blueprint for making sweeping changes to the way top-level domains, such as .biz, .info, and .us, are assigned must take into consideration the impact of potential changes to the registrar and registry marketplace and demonstrate that it has the sufficient capacity to enforce contract compliance with an as yet unknown number of new contracts, a top Commerce Department official told attendees at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' meeting this week in Cairo, Egypt.
National Telecommunications and Information Administration chief Meredith Baker warned against expanding the marketplace before having "effective and meaningful tools to protect consumers and brand owners" and said appropriate mechanisms must be in place to address dispute resolution with respect to new domain names "including the delicate issues of morality and public order." She also urged ICANN to provide clarity on the fee structure, the possible use of auctions, and the disposition of excess revenues given ICANN’s status as a non-profit.
NTIA is reviewing ICANN's progress as part of a three-year agreement to extend a contract between them, which expired in September 2006. When that expires, Baker said what replaces it needs to include performance metrics; results-based budgeting processes; fact-based policy development; improved cross-community deliberations; and more responsive consultation procedures that provide explanations of the basis for decisions, including why certain contributions have not been accepted.
The Government Accountability Office unveiled a new Web site on Thursday designed to help make the presidential transition a smooth one across the federal government. The site focuses on 13 urgent issues that the watchdog agency believes needs the attention of President-Elect Barack Obama and the 111th Congress. The topics include:
• Caring for Service Members • Defense Readiness • Defense Spending • Food Safety • Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan • Oversight of Financial Institutions and Markets • Preparing for Large-Scale Health Emergencies • Protecting the Homeland • Public Diplomacy and International Broadcasting • Retirement of the Space Shuttle • Surface Transportation • The 2010 Census • Transition to Digital TV
Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who head the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, commended the GAO for the site's launch. Akaka said he hoped the resource "will encourage all congressional oversight committees to pay more attention to agency management." Voinovich said he hoped in the 11 weeks until Inauguration Day, Obama and his advisers will work with Congress to create a strategic plan to confront the issues flagged on the site.
Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith on Wednesday cheered the Justice Department's finding that a now-defunct advertising agreement between rivals Google and Yahoo would have accounted for 90 percent or more of each relevant market and would likely harm competition in the Internet search advertising and search syndication fields. “The Department of Justice’s finding is significant for advertisers, publishers and consumers, who voiced overwhelming concern about this illegal deal to law enforcement and policymakers," he said.
Microsoft, which tried to buy Yahoo in a $44.6 billion unsolicited bid earlier this year, reportedly pulled out all the stops to make sure the ad-sharing deal did not go through. The company's intense lobbying against the arrangement and its executives' scathing public testimony when key congressional committees asked for views on the proposed endeavor from interested parties likely did not help matters for Google and Yahoo. Stifel Nicolaus analysts said in an e-mail that they would not be surprised if Yahoo shareholders pressed for an arrangement of some sort with Microsoft.
The analysts also pointed out that "this represents the first time to our knowledge that Google has bumped up against a situation where the government would not allow it to pursue a business venture, and as such is nevertheless not a welcome outcome." They argued that the deal was always more critical for Yahoo, which has struggled with a strategy for its future. Yahoo issued a statement saying the cancellation of the Google deal "does not change Yahoo's commitment to innovation and growth in search" and vowed to "continue to provide the cutting-edge advances in products, platforms and services that the industry needs and expects."
Continue reading Microsoft Wins In Google-Yahoo Deal's Demise.
A trade group representing NBC, News Corp., Time Warner, and other copyright industry interests urged the Supreme Court on Wednesday to review a lower court's decision that they believe threatens to upend the market for creative works and undermine years of legal precedent. The Copyright Alliance's friend-of-the-court brief in Cartoon Network v. CSC Holdings is the first such paperwork ever filed by the group, which was "impelled to do so in this case because the decision below could be so detrimental to the health of our copyright system."
The case was originally brought by several audio-visual content creators against Cablevision, which has developed a service used to make numerous copies of copyrighted programming and re-transmit them to customers without licensing that delivery from copyright owners. A lower court found the service to be a violation of copyright law but an appeals court overturned that decision. The alliance brief argues that even though the case arose in the context of reproduction and public performance of audio-visual works by a cable systems operator, "its potential impact across copyright industries is much broader."
The appeals court's ruling "suggests one can circumvent copyright law by implementing an absurdly complex and woefully inefficient delivery system that would have made the late Rube Goldberg proud," alliance executive director Patrick Ross said. "If this decision stands, it could cause harm across the copyright industries. It runs counter to the very heart of copyright as an incentive system that has made America’s creative works the most vibrant and sought after in the world." The court could decide whether to hear the case between now and June.
President-elect Barack Obama wasn’t the only one who walked away with a victory on Tuesday night. Progressive grassroots political network MoveOn.org also patted itself on the back for encouraging more than 4.5 million members to contribute $88 million to the Illinois Democrat's White House race. The group endorsed Obama in February and since that time has organized a million MoveOn members to work in field efforts in coordination with the Obama campaign.
The breakdown:
▪ MoveOn and its members contributed $58 million-plus directly to Obama
▪ Raised and spent more than $30 million in independent election efforts
▪ Delivered up to 600,000 battleground state volunteers
▪ Delivered 400,000 volunteers from non-battleground states
▪ Added a million young members from June to Sept. and mobilized them
▪ Registered 500,000-plus young Obama supporters in battleground states
“Our members sense the opportunity to achieve things that seemed improbable if not impossible only a year ago," MoveOn's Eli Pariser said. "For our members, this is the culmination of a decade of work to build a progressive, people-driven politics in America." Pariser added that Obama will face daunting challenges from the day he takes office but his group looks forward to being part of "the enormous wave of civic and political engagement that his presidency has inspired and that will enable him to achieve the things that have been on the top of his agenda and ours."
Internet giants Google and Yahoo decided Wednesday to abandon their high-profile advertising agreement after the Justice Department informed them that it would file an antitrust lawsuit to block the long-planned deal. The agency said, if enacted, the arrangement would have accounted for 90 percent or more of each relevant market and would likely harm competition in the Internet search advertising and search syndication fields. Justice's reasoning echoed a chorus of concerns raised by key members of Congress, consumer groups and rival Microsoft in the months since the partnership was announced.
Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., House Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton and others repeatedly expressed their apprehension over the deal since it was unveiled in June. Just last month, Barton wrote to the Justice Department urging officials to take a close look at largely unexplored issues of privacy and pricing arising from the proposed partnership. In his letter, the Texas Republican argued that Yahoo has resisted congressional inquiries about the arrangement, noting that "many of their responses seemed designed to obscure rather than clarify how the Google-Yahoo partnership would work." Yahoo insisted that it had "fully cooperated" with Barton's staff.
"The companies’ decision to abandon their agreement eliminates the competitive concerns identified during our investigation and eliminates the need to file an enforcement action," Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett said in a statement. "The arrangement likely would have denied consumers the benefits of competition -- lower prices, better service and greater innovation." The pairing would have let Yahoo replace a significant portion of its own search ad results with those sold by Google. Yahoo predicted the arrangement would generate as much as $800 million a year in additional revenue.
Continue reading Google, Yahoo Abandon Controversial Ad Deal.
It's Wednesday morning -- the day after Election Day -- and one of the most closely watched races in the country from the high-tech perspective is still up in the air. In the battle for Washington's 8th District, only 40 percent of precincts have reported and Republican Rep. Dave Reichert is maintaining a slim lead. As of 6:43 a.m. EST, he has 50.1 percent (68,541 votes) while Democratic challenger Darcy Burner has captured 49.9 percent (68,165 votes). The campaigns don't expect final results until later in the week but both candidates said they felt good about their chances, the AP reported. The Burner-Reichert race was by far the closest congressional race in the state with Washington's other House members clinching re-election.
The hard-fought race is a rematch from 2006 where Reichert, a former sheriff, defeated Burner, a Microsoft program manager, 51-49 percent. This time around, the campaign has gotten nasty with Burner fighting accusations she lied about her Harvard University education and Reichert having to answer to published materials that misstated his own higher ed experience. Over the course of her run, Burner became the darling of the liberal blogosphere, collecting a heap of cash from Internet activists. She also received $93,894 from Microsoft and its employees this cycle while Reichert got a total of $35,750 from the high-tech giant.
LostRemote.com posted some historic home pages from Election Night
For more, click here.
Friend --
I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history. And I don't want you to forget how we did it. You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change. I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.
But I want to be very clear about one thing...
All of this happened because of you.
Thank you,
Barack
*John McCain: "We have come to the end of a long journey" [read].
What are people searching for on Google as of 12 a.m. EST? Here's the round-up from the Internet search giant:
1. mccain concession speech
2. did prop 8 pass
3. mccain concedes
4. obama acceptance speech
5. california election results 2008
6. obama elected president
7. 44th president
8. california proposition 8
9. obama won
10. california secretary of state
For more, see Google's blog post for analysis and more details.
The GOP regained the Texas seat of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay Tuesday night, with Republican Pete Olson beating Democratic Rep. Nick Lampson. The change also means that Congress will lose a prominent Internet era child safety advocate who cosponsored a number of key bills, including several that were signed by President Bush this year. One such measure strengthened and reauthorized funding for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and another authorized a $320 million funding boost for Justice Department-supported Internet Crimes Against Children task forces. That bill, which was combined with a proposal from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., also imposed higher penalties on Internet providers that do not report child pornography found on their networks.
As the major television networks christened Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the next president of the United States, bloggers from the left and right reacted -- some more extensively than others. Some initial thoughts:
"Hell yeah"
-- Markos Moulitsas, Daily Kos
"It's over."
-- Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo
"It is an extraordinary thing, an achievement that will be recognized a hundred years hence, that Barack Obama has won the White House. Even those of us who opposed him, and who will no doubt be opposed to many of his policy objectives over the next four years, must pause and say congratulations on an improbable, amazing rise."
-- Hugh Hewitt, Townhall.com
"It’s a historic moment. Congratulations. Here’s my promise to you: As long as I can still publish a blog and speak my mind openly about the next denizen of the White House, I will. First order of business: He can now change the “0″ to a “1.”
-- Michelle Malkin
"I have many, many disagreements with Barack Obama. But tonight I congratulate him on his victory. I have seen a few critics say, 'he won't be my president,' but that is nonsense. He will be my president, and I will wish him well, particularly as he takes on the duty of protecting the American people in a dangerous world."
-- Jim Geraghty, National Review
©2008 NPR Photo by Stephen Voss
National Public Radio is broadcasting and webcasting live until at least 3 a.m. ET with all coverage available at NPR.org and on stations nationwide. This is the public radio network's most extensive coverage to date, involving more than 120 reporters and bloggers. The news is accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing through the first-ever live captioned radio broadcast -- a project being demonstrated at NPR until 11 p.m. with a test audience at NPR. The captioned broadcast uses HD radio technology developed by NPR, Harris Corporation and Towson University to allow the deaf and hearing impaired to experience NPR’s broadcast via scrolling text on specially-equipped receivers.
Internet magazine Slate.com proclaimed “President Obama” on its home page a bit ago... Video blog Rocketboom.com called it at 6:37 p.m.
(Photo Credit: DavidAll06 via Flickr)
Election Night is a great opportunity for the television networks to try out their latest, greatest technology. Here's a round-up of the gadgets and gizmos helping tell the story as the returns come in… (hat tip, AP)
NBC/MSNBC: Projecting a map of the United States on the Rockefeller Center skating rink, turning states blue or red as they are called. Massive banners for Barack Obama and John McCain climb up 30 Rockefeller Plaza, tallying the 270 electoral votes.
CNN: They have the "magic wall," which lets anchors manipulate information (as seen in a parody on "Saturday Night Live") as well as a virtual-reality Capitol to track control of Congress. Don't miss the holograph projection device that makes it appear that someone being interviewed in a separate city is in CNN's New York studio.
ABC News: A trio of gigantic video screens shine on Times Square.
CBS News: Katie Couric anchors the night's coverage plus special reports are scheduled via Webcast in the early morning hours.
FOX News: TV, radio and Internet newscasts originate from Manhattan studios where the network is debuting its "launchpad" -- a technology that uses a control pad to allow reporters to customize visual elements like results, maps and live shots.
Qorvis Communications, best known to Tech Daily Dose readers as the brains behind the Digital Freedom campaign, SaveNetRadio and a slew of other high-tech initiatives, hosted an Election Night party at their downtown DC headquarters on Tuesday evening. Despite the damp weather, the event drew a number of tech policy pros from the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Consumer Electronics Association, Digital Media Association, Information Technology Association of America and other groups. Among the familiar faces gracing the gathering, which was cosponsored by Beam Global Spirits & Wine, were Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and President Bush (wax likenesses from Madame Tussauds). Life-sized cardboard cut-outs of GOP presidential nominee John McCain and vice-presidential picks Sarah Palin and Joe Biden were also on hand for plentiful photo ops.
From CongressDaily's special coverage...
Google, Intel, Microsoft and other technology giants scored a major victory Tuesday when the FCC permitted them to harness unused broadcast spectrum to offer the next generation of mobile broadband service -- despite strong opposition from television stations. The unanimous agency decision to tap so-called "white spaces" came despite warnings that mobile gadgets using these frequencies would wreak havoc with digital TV signals, as broadcasters complete their switch to the digital spectrum on Feb. 17.
Concerns also were raised about disruptions to wireless microphones at live events, including theatrical performances and football games. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., House Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, and such performers as Dolly Parton and the Dixie Chicks were among the lawmakers and celebrities urging caution.
In other action during an unusual Election Day meeting, the FCC also approved two wireless mergers: Verizon's combination with Alltel to create the nation's largest mobile carrier with more than 80 million customers, and a partnership involving Sprint Nextel and Clearwire. Read the full story here.
One way to follow what fellow Americans are thinking about on Election Day is to check out Google’s list of the 10 fastest-rising queries. As of 12 p.m. ET, the list included: "exit polls 2008," "early voting exit polls," "voting results," "presidential election results," "poll results," "election coverage 2008," "election update," "election tracker," and "who is winning the election." Read more about Google's Hot Trends here.
Also on the list was Chick-fil-A, the restaurant chain headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. Why, might you ask, is a fast food joint in the top 10? Some Chick-fil-A stores around the country are said to be giving away a free chicken sandwich to voters. Other companies such as Gifford’s Ice Cream & Candy Co., California Tortilla, Starbucks, and Ben & Jerry’s were also expected to hand out freebies, according to news reports. USA Today wrote that “due to possible conflict with election laws in various states most are not requiring proof of voting.”
According to Google’s search analysis, "Obama" was the number one top campaign-related queries during the election season followed by "Palin," "McCain," "Tinda Fey," "Joe Biden," "Chuck Norris," "Cindy McCain," "Bristol Palin," "SNL Palin" and "Colin Powell." Also making the top political topics list included "socialism," "the electoral college," "gas prices," and "social security." -- Winter Casey
On Tuesday morning, while most of the country focused on voter turnout and predicting how the chips may fall for Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the hotly debated case, FCC v. Fox Television Stations. At issue was whether the commission provided an adequate explanation or acted arbitrarily and capriciously, in changing its policy to permit isolated uses of expletives on broadcast TV to be considered "indecent" under federal law. The transcript of the argument is available here [PDF].
It has been 30 years since the Supreme Court ruled for the first time that the Constitution allowed the government to ban the broadcast, on radio and TV, of vulgar words that were indecent, though not obscene, according to an overview of the case on the SCOTUS Blog. That was the ruling in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation. Justice John Paul Stevens, the author of the main Pacifica opinion, is the only member of the court still serving. This time, the FCC is back, seeking to enforce a more restrictive policy after a lower court ruled the FCC lacked grounds to target so-called "fleeting expletives." The case involves the single use of a vulgar word -- specifically, two four-letter words, one a sexual epithet, the other a bit of barnyard or toilet slang.
According to the SCOTUS Blog's analysis, the Supremes "spent a spirited hour Tuesday talking about dirty words, but nobody ever uttered one of them." Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia appeared to be the only ones to tip their hand by enthusiastically promoting government authority to ban “fleeting expletives” while the other members "wandered somewhat randomly through alternative legal principles," the blog said. The “big elephant in the room,” as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg referred to the possible First Amendment implications of the FCC’s indecency policy, did not appear likely to emerge as the basis for a ruling against the Commission and in favor of broadcasters, the blog said.
Continue reading Supreme Court Hears FCC 'Fleeting Expletive' Case.
Progress toward the implementation of new so-called generic top level domains (gTLDs) is expected this week as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers opens its 33rd meeting in Cairo, Egypt. Over 1,000 delegates from around the world have gathered for the conference, which is the first assembly since the group's board voted in July to proceed with the expansion of gTLDs. Since that time, several steps have been taken including the release of a draft guidebook that provides information for those interested in applying for a gTLD. Community feedback is expected during this week's meeting.
The meeting will also see further progress toward the introduction of internationalized domain names (IDNs) which, when combined with new gTLDs, will create a range new possibilities for the internet users of the world, ICANN said. Currently, there are 1.5 billion Internet users worldwide and only 21 gTLDs from which people can choose, ICANN President Paul Twomey pointed out in a release. The expansion will be the largest since the domain name system's inception. For more information about the meeting, click here.
The boards of the American Electronics Association and the Electronic Components Association announced Tuesday that they have agreed to discuss a potential merger. The resulting trade group would represent thousands of member companies that would benefit from access to a wider variety of government and commercial programs, officials said in a release. The news comes on the heels of AeA's decision to merge with the Information Technology Association of America in September. If you're keeping score, ITAA also recently acquired the Cyber Security Industry Alliance and the Government Electronics and Information Association.
AeA Chairman Peter Boni said the move continues the trend started by ITAA and AeA "to consolidate associations into a national voice for the technology industry." "This partnership benefits the entire industry, whether large or small, electronics or software based," he said. "Whether focused specifically on the electronic component supply chain, government or commercial markets, technology companies should be able to come together in one place to advance the industry and help keep the United States at the forefront of innovation," ECA Chairman James Kaplan said. Read related coverage here and here.
Continue reading Tech Daily Dose Poll: Best Of Campaign '08.
Posted Saturday on NationalJournal.com...
Alexandra Kernan-Schloss waited in line for 11 hours in 2004 to vote near her school, Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio. With just two voting booths at the polling place, she wasn't able to cast her first-ever presidential ballot until 3 a.m. -- after news of her candidate's defeat had been widely reported. The young Democrat was deflated but determined to get more involved. Now a senior at George Mason University, she has dedicated recent months to registering her peers, advising them about how and where to vote, and getting them pumped up about turning out on Tuesday.
"Ohio was lost," said Kernan-Schloss, a Barack Obama supporter, before heading out for a door-knocking expedition on a cool fall evening. "Virginia won't be lost this time. You can see the difference that we're making." Kernan-Schloss is one of thousands of young people across the country who are volunteering in the waning days of the presidential campaign to help get out the vote. Hers is a new generation of activists, wooed to the fight for the White House by way of Facebook and Twitter. Text messages keep them in the loop. Technology has facilitated their participation and hooked many of them on politics.
Read the full story here.
Tech Daily Dose's parent company, National Journal Group, has unveiled Under the Influence, a blog that aims to take coverage of lobbying, lobbyists and the K Street community to new heights by helping readers grasp the business of the powerful $3 billion-plus industry. Contributors include a handful of scribes with their fingers on the pulse of the lobbying game -- Bob Gettlin, Julie Kosterlitz, Peter H. Stone and Bara Vaida.
Why this blog? Why now? Because the lobbying and advocacy sector is poorly understood and heavily stereotyped by the media, the public, politicians, and, at times, by K Street professionals themselves, the blog says in its mission statement, adding: "We want to give voice to the individuals - the contract lobbyists, corporate representatives, trade group officials, nonprofit advocates, public affairs practitioners, and thousands of other professionals - who make up the diverse K Street community."
A few samples of recent posts:
▪ No Lobbyists in the White House in 2009?
▪ Adelson's Troubles Hit Freedom's Watch
▪ Engler Angling for Bigger NAM Role
Under the Influence is the latest in a series of blog launches by National Journal Group. The company started a healthcare blog on Oct. 6, an economy blog on Oct. 14 and an energy blog on Oct. 20. Read more about those blogs here. Tech Daily Dose welcomes you all to the blogosphere!
The U.S. Internet Industry Association provided some advice for the new president and the 111th Congress in its weekly e-mail bulletin on Monday. The trade group, which represents small Internet service providers, said the successful use of broadband technologies can address the realities of economic recovery, national security and the emerging need for new solutions in healthcare, energy management and education.
USIIA's detailed recommendations will be released soon but the three basic themes include:
1. Do no harm. Popular claims notwithstanding, there is nothing wrong with the nation's broadband infrastructure, and the Administration should not move in haste to fix a system that is demonstrably not broken. Unlike the financial system, the automotive industry or the airline industry, the broadband industry in the U.S. is not broken and is not in need of a bailout.
Continue reading Internet Group Offers Advice To New President.
Jessica Cutler, the former congressional staffer turned blogger turned author who was fired from her Capitol Hill job in 2004 for describing online her active sexual life, including receiving money for late-night escapades, is in the news again. The producers of the upcoming HBO series based on Cutler's Washingtonienne book were spotted shooting scenes in Adams Morgan on Saturday night.
The comedy pilot created by "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, some of which is being shot in DC and Baltimore, revolves around three 28-year-old Hill staffers: Jackie (Rachael Taylor) a Manhattan transplant pursuing a speechwriting career who must work her way up from the intern desk; Laura (Amanda Walsh), a small-town GOP gal; and April (Bitsie Tulloch), Jackie's college friend (hat tip, Hollywood Reporter). The show is said to be only loosely based on the novel by Cutler, 30, who lives in New York City and has filed for bankruptcy.
From Monday's CongressDaily PM edition:
Tech Firms Back Two Senate Commerce Republicans...
With the seats of Republican Sens. John Sununu of New Hampshire and Gordon Smith of Oregon on the line Tuesday, media and technology heavyweights such as Google, Cisco and Time Warner Inc. are opening their wallets in an effort to keep these members of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee in office for another term. Both lawmakers have taken pro-business stances on a range of communications issues, which may explain why so many companies want them around in the 111th Congress.
Read the full story here.
... But Still Angle For Strong Relationship With Democrats
If Sen. Barack Obama is elected and Democrats pick up seats in Congress, they can expect a collegial relationship with inside-the-Beltway technology and entertainment industry leaders. Computer and Communications Industry Association President Ed Black went to bat for the Illinois Democrat last week, posting a YouTube video that urged citizens in Florida to vote for Obama.
Read the full story here.
From CongressDaily's TechCentral:
Rank-and-file voters won't be the only ones casting their ballots Tuesday: There's also a series of votes scheduled at the FCC, albeit FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is facing mounting blowback from Capitol Hill, state officials and numerous lobbying interests for calling an Election Day commission meeting on major regulatory items without allowing time for public comment. Critics accuse Martin of rushing to act before the next president replaces him as chairman and while FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, who was not reconfirmed by Congress, is still at the agency.
There are a number of controversial items at least tentatively on the agenda -- including a restructuring of the rules governing intercarrier compensation, an overhaul of the universal service fund that subsidizes telecom service in rural and low-income areas, and a proposal to allow such high-tech giants as Google, Intel and Microsoft to tap unused broadcast spectrum (so-called white space) for a new wave of mobile wireless broadband applications. Also on Tuesday's packed schedule: votes on Verizon's planned merger with Alltel -- thereby creating the nation's largest wireless phone company -- as well as Sprint's proposed wireless partnership with the high-speed Internet provider Clearwire Corp.
The Center for Democracy and Technology's Sophia Cope posted an item on the high-tech think tank's PolicyBeta blog on Election Day eve urging the next president -- be it John McCain or Barack Obama -- to devote considerable attention to global Internet freedom, the concept that governments around the world will not interfere with the free flow of information and ideas on global communications networks, particularly the World Wide Web.
Political leaders in many countries are "successfully remaking the Internet into a tool of government control" and the United States has not led by example, Cope argues, noting that "we can’t just be a leader in words; we must also be a leader in deeds." The Bush administration has spoken out of both sides of its mouth: decrying the human rights record of the Chinese government before the Olympics while defending National Security Agency warrantless wiretapping, she said.
"A vow from the highest reaches of the U.S. government to uphold the digital human rights of freedom of expression and privacy on the Internet and other communications technologies will echo throughout the world," Cope wrote. "Repressive regimes will be put on notice that the U.S. government holds itself to a high standard and expects other governments to follow suit." Read the full blog post here.
Regardless of who wins the White House on Tuesday, both presidential candidates’ agendas would have significant impact on the information technology outlay of state and local governments, according to consulting firm INPUT's experts, who have been mining the major policy positions of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama and posting their analysis on the company's B2G Exchange blog.
"The candidates only rarely discuss policies with direct IT implications for state and local governments, such as REAL ID,” INPUT's Chris Dixon said in a release. “Yet, you do find some surprising nuggets with IT implications, such as Barack Obama’s support for more intelligence fusion analysts at the state and local levels and John McCain’s commitment to using tele-health technologies in healthcare." "A lot of folks will ask us which candidate will be ‘better’ for state and local IT," INPUT's Tim Brett added. "In our view, they are both very big on IT."
In the end, the next president will have to negotiate with Congress to win the legislation and funding that will drive state and local governments' IT decisions, they said. Plus, the economic downturn will most likely dominate the first 100 days of the new administration and Dixon and Brett believe that some sort of stimulus is likely to trickle down to states and localities via federal grant programs.
Telecommunications giant AT&T has ranked second behind the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees on the Center for Responsive Politics' list of "heavy hitters," top all-time donors 1989-2008. During that period, AT&T has given $39.9 million with 43 percent going to Democrats and 55 percent to Republicans. This election cycle, the company gave $3.5 million, with $2.6 million padding PACs and $863,211 filling individual campaigns' coffers. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama received $180,813 and $154,366 from AT&T respectively while Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. and House Democratic Conference Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois were also major beneficiaries.
Other high-tech notables that made the watchdog's 19-year tally include the Communications Workers of America (#12) at $25.7 million with 99 percent going to the Democratic Party; Time Warner (#29) at $18.6 million with 70 percent going to Democrats and 29 percent to Republicans; Microsoft (#30) at $18.3 million with 51 percent going to Democrats and 48 percent to Republicans; Verizon (#33) at $17.1 million with 39 percent going to Democrats and 60 percent to Republicans; and BellSouth (#48) at $14.3 million with 45 percent going to Democrats and 54 percent to Republicans.
On Election Night, cable giant Comcast Corp. will make it easier for subscribers to monitor campaign-related news on CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, FOX, CNN Headline News, and MSNBC simultaneously. The company's recently launched news feed service, which is part of Comcast Central (channel 960), lets users toggle from one station to another on a single screen, eliminating the need to switch back and forth from different networks (I tried it out last week and now I'm addicted). Disclaimer: the service, which will continue after the election, isn’t available across Comcast’s entire footprint but is accessible to about 9 million customers that have digital cable.
Over the weekend, David Oxenford at the Broadcast Law Blog pondered what would happen if radio hosts in the United States prank called vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (or any public official or private citizen for that matter) and aired the interview without permission. His commentary comes on the heels of news that a pair of Canadian shock jocks tricked the Alaska governor into engaging in an on-air conversation under the premise that she was talking to French President Nicholas Sarkozy. Had such a stunt been executed here, it would have led to an FCC fine, he wrote.
"Under U.S. law, you cannot air a telephone conversation on a broadcast station without first getting the permission of the person at the other end of the line -- even if the person just says 'hello' before being informed that they are on the air, and even if they are a public official," he said. The FCC rules were made clear in a recent FCC ruling that fined a station $4,000 for failing to inform two airport employees that they were on the air when the station called to ask about certain policies concerning taxis at the airport. The station argued that the interviewees were public officials and the conversation was newsworthy, but the FCC rejected that argument.
Listen to the conversation between the Quebec comedy duo "The Masked Avengers" and an unsuspecting Palin here and read a transcript here. Palin's campaign issued the following response: "Governor Palin was mildly amused to learn that she had joined the ranks of heads of state, including President Sarkozy and other celebrities, in being targeted by these pranksters. C'est la vie."
Leonardo DiCaprio and his celebrity friends have released another unconventional get-out-the-vote video. This one features Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Snoop Dogg, Harrison Ford, Julia Roberts, Ben Stiller, Will Smith, Steven Spielberg and many more. Watch the public service announcement -- the second in a series backed by Google, YouTube, Declare Yourself, and MySpace. Click here for the first star-studded video.
(Photo Credit: seaworthy via Flickr)
The folks over at eBay's government relations shop have channeled their election-related excitement into a productive (and profitable) endeavor -- an office pool offering "big prizes" for the top three places and, as deputy general counsel Tod Cohen described in an e-mail to staff last week, "perhaps more importantly the esteem and respect of your peers." Senior regulatory counsel Jack Christin won last time around. Follow the jump to see the races included in eBay's fourth biennial election contest (in case your office would like to copy their entry form). The tiebreaker -- predicting Electoral College totals for John McCain and Barack Obama.
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