January 2011

A report commissioned by NBCUniversal has concluded that nearly a quarter of all Internet traffic infringes on copyrights, with the open source file sharing application BitTorrent accounting for nearly half of the infringing content.

Conducted by Internet intelligence company Envisional, the 56-page report claims to be the first such study to comprehensively estimate the amount of Internet traffic that infringes on copyrighted material.

The study excluded pornography because it is difficult to determine its copyright status.

The report estimates that about two-thirds of BitTorrent traffic is illegitimately shared content such as films, music, computer games and software.

In a statement online, BitTorrent, Inc. asserts that it merely provides technology for others to use.

"We understand that some people may use some of our technologies in ways that represent a risk to certain copyright holders, but certainly no more so than other technologies," wrote Shahi Ghanem, chief strategist at BitTorrent, Inc.

Envisional's full report can be read here.

Comcast had barely inked its deal to acquire NBCUniversal Friday when groups critical of the joint venture sent a letter to federal regulators urging strict oversight of the new media giant.

"This deal is a win for Comcast, General Electric and NBC executives, and a devastating loss to everyone else, and to democracy itself," said Josh Silver, president of Free Press, an advocacy group that fought the deal. "As of today, Comcast has an Orwellian amount of control over your media experience and your wallet."

Free Press was one of more than 20 such groups that signed Saturday's letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski.

In the letter, the groups take more shots at the merger, and then vow to watch Comcast carefully and urge Genachowski to do the same.

"As organizations representing hundreds of thousands of diverse, local citizens around the country, we are pledging today to be vigorous watchdogs, monitoring this newly merged media giant, and consistent advocates for the public interest," the letter states. "We ask you to make the same pledge."

Under the deal finalized on Friday, Comcast now owns 51 percent of NBCUniversal and will manage the company while General Electric owns a 49-percent stake.

"This transaction brings together the rich traditions of some of the world's most well known and respected entertainment, news and sports brands at NBCUniversal with the technology and consumer reach of Comcast, creating the ideal entertainment and distribution company," said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement.

Business leaders joined administration officials Monday to launch an effort to spur more entrepreneurship and innovation.

The "Startup America" initiative comes in the wake of President Obama's State of the Union speech in which he announced the plan and urged Americans to "win the future" though increased innovation, education and manufacturing.

"Entrepreneurs embody the promise of America: the belief that if you have a good idea and are willing to work hard and see it through, you can succeed in this country," Obama said in his speech. "That's why we're launching Startup America, a national campaign to help win the future by knocking down barriers in the path of men and women in every corner of this country hoping to take a chance, follow a dream, and start a business."

Monday's launch event included Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Karen Mills, administrator of the Small Business Administration, as well as other government officials.

Locke asserted his commitment to ending the backlog of patent applications and streamlining the process to encourage small startups.

The White House also announced increased corporate investment and support for startups from companies such as Intel, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Facebook.

Facebook says it will provide new companies with assistance building new apps and incorporating social technology. "We've bet big on startups, especially those who build social into their products from the ground up.," said Facebook's Douglas Purdy in a blog post Monday.

From today's National Journal Daily:

With the Census Bureau scheduled to start providing the data needed to redraw congressional districts, a potential increase in the number of people using those numbers to make plans may complicate an already complex project.

As states dive into the sometimes divisive redistricting process, politics often overshadow the mechanics of the intricate calculations that must be made. Technology developed over the past two decades has made reapportionment easier for state governments that rarely have the expertise to manage the technical aspects of a project that takes place every 10 years, but the process remains involved, to say the least.

As with so many other areas of politics, there is a cadre of consultants, contractors, and vendors that steps in to help manage the remapping process. "States have to be thinking about what this will take, and I have a feeling many don't have any idea," said Kimball Brace, the president of Election Data Services and a consultant on redistricting since 1979.

The technology used to compile massive amounts of data and draw detailed maps of congressional districts has become increasingly streamlined and is a far cry from the restrictive process before computers became commonplace. Whereas 30 years ago interested parties could draw only a few dozen maps at a time, advanced computers and data processors can help create thousands, Brace said.

To read the rest of this article, visit the latest edition of National Journal Daily at Nationaljournal.com. (Subscription required)

Google cut a deal with Connecticut officials Friday to avoid going to court in the "wi-spy" controversy over Google's collection of unsecured Internet information.

The company's "Street View" cars collected private data in 2008 and 2009. Connecticut issued a subpoena after Google refused to release information related to the breach but as part of the settlement, the company admitted that it collected the private information, according to a statement from the Connecticut Attorney General's Office.

"This is a good result for the people of Connecticut," said state Attorney General George Jepsen. "The stipulation means we can proceed to negotiate a settlement of the critical privacy issues implicated here without the need for a protracted and costly fight in the courts, although we are ready to do so if we are unable to come to a satisfactory agreement through negotiation."

It happens almost every year. The only question is when. The Department of Homeland Security is no longer accepting applications for H-1B visas for temporary skilled foreign workers, having received enough to fill the annual cap of 65,000. This leaves employers, particularly tech firms, scrambling to figure out how they will fill engineering or other technical job openings without looking outside the United States.

It's a familiar plight that coalitions like Compete America say could be fixed with a less draconian system of meting out visas. In the last year, it took 10 months to hit the cap. In other years, the allotted visas are filled within a few days after the April 1 filing period opens. "This fluctuation of demand from year to year - primarily driven by the economic cycles - demonstrates the need for a fundamental rebalance towards a market-driven approach to H-1B visa allocation," Compete America said Friday in a statement.

This isn't a new argument, but it's likely to fall on deaf ears in Congress. The last time a fluctuating cap on guestworker visas was seriously considered, it was part of a broad immigration bill that died a spectacular death on the Senate floor. Since then, Republicans have run away from anything that looks like they favor increased immigration, and Democrats have retreated to the union-oriented theme that guestworker encourage exploitation of workers. But don't give up, Compete America. You can make the same plea again next year when the H-1B visas run out.

Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesCES President and CEO Gary Shapiro

From today's National Journal Daily:

Instead of making progress on its key priorities, the technology sector spent much of the past two years battling the Obama administration over what it viewed as regulatory roadblocks and worrisome policy initiatives.

But President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday, which featured a major push for innovation, might represent a turning point for the sector's relationship with the administration.

A series of interviews this week with the heads of some of Washington's lead associations representing high-tech and electronics powerhouses showed that there was agreement that the administration has turned a corner, but caution over grand pronouncements that lack detail.

As companies from Silicon Valley to Silicon Alley argued during the last two years that global competitiveness hinges on policies designed to promote investment and innovation, they often found themselves on the defensive from an administration that railed against their overseas operations while toughening regulations at home.

But with an economy that stubbornly remains stagnant on job creation and a resurgent Republican Party, a sea change is afoot in Washington. Obama's speech, in which he outlined an ambitious strategy for spurring innovation and investment across a range of industries, confirmed that tech-related priorities are finally resonating at the White House.

U.S. competitiveness was a prominent theme in the speech, which featured endorsements of a steep increase in research and development funding and an overhaul of the corporate tax code--two of the tech sector's main goals. The president called for the next-generation of wireless phone and Internet service to be available to 98 percent of Americans over the next five years. And he said it's time to ease strict limits on the entry of highly skilled workers into the United States, prepare 100,000 new math and science teachers, and negotiate more trade pacts.

This was "the first time he really gave a long-term vision about a strategy for the country which was focused on innovation," said Consumer Electronics President and CEO Gary Shapiro, noting that Obama used the term "innovation" nine times.

"We are cautiously optimistic that we'll see a change, not only in the rhetoric from the president, but a change in the priorities," said Dean Garfield, president and CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council, whose members include Cisco, Google, Intel, and Microsoft.

To read the rest of this story, visit the website of National Journal Daily (subscription required).

Many groups and top government officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, called on Egypt Friday to allow access to the Internet and other communications systems.

"We urge the Egyptian authorities to allow peaceful protests and to reverse the unprecedented steps it has taken to cut off communications," Clinton said at a joint appearance with Columbian Vice President Angelino Garzon.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs also addressed the communications situation during his afternoon briefing, calling Internet access a basic human right.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Internet access is a vital tool for protecting basic freedoms.

"A free and open internet is essential to ensuring the universal rights of the people of Egypt, and of all peoples, to freedom of expression, confidence in the rule of law, and government that is transparent and accountable to the citizens," he said in a statement Friday afternoon.

The Center for Democracy & Technology called Egypt's actions a "stunning and highly counterproductive step backwards" and said it illustrated the vulnerability of communications technology.

"While we appreciate that some companies involved have acknowledged their role, events unfolding across the region underscore how critical it is for companies operating in these risky environments to have robust strategies to push back on government demands inconsistent with rule of law and respect for human rights," said the center's international project director, Cynthia Wong.

And other groups looked for American connections to the Internet blackout.

Free Press Campaign Director Timothy Karr accused U.S. companies of selling technology to Egypt and helping the government crackdown on free speech.

"What we are seeing in Egypt is a frightening example of how the power of technology can be abused," he said. "Commercial operators trafficking in Deep Packet Inspection technology to violate Internet users' privacy is bad enough; in government hands, that same invasion of privacy can quickly lead to stark human rights violations."

Happy Data Privacy Day! It is a day celebrated in Canada, most of Europe and the United States to raise awareness and discussion about data privacy and protection. Whether it was meant to coincide with Data Privacy Day or not, Friday is also the deadline for comments on the Commerce Department's draft privacy report.

"Data privacy day provides an opportunity to reflect on the importance of privacy policies that promote online trust and broadband use," Lawrence Strickling, administrator of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, wrote in a blog post Friday. In discussing Commerce's privacy report, he noted it "proposes an approach to privacy that can promote innovation while increasing consumer trust, including committing to baseline privacy principles and convening stakeholders to craft enforceable codes of conduct to implement those principles."

Several groups and companies have weighed in on the report released in December, which calls for the implementation of "Fair Information Privacy Principles" that would provide baseline privacy protections, proposes creation of a Privacy Policy Office within the department, and requests comment on whether Congress should implement baseline privacy legislation. The comments will be used to help craft the Obama administration's approach to privacy.

For the most part, the Commerce report was more favorably received by industry than a staff privacy report also released in December from the Federal Trade Commission, which called for more aggressive measures to protect consumer privacy online.

In responding to the Commerce report, the credit information firm Experian voiced concern about rules that might limit the sharing of information and argued in favor of self-regulation over legislation, saying such an approach is better able to evolve and respond quickly to developing technologies.

"Any privacy framework should carefully balance restrictions on the collection and sharing of third-party information with the significant benefits that these uses of information provide to consumers, businesses, and the economy at large," Experian wrote.

Government lawyers filed a motion Friday asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to overturn new rules designed to protect Internet freedom.

In documents filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C., lawyers for the Federal Communications Commission call the lawsuit by Verizon and MetroPCS "fatally premature" and argue that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case.

The FCC asked the court to dismiss the challenge because it was filed before the net neutrality rules were published in the Federal Register, according to the documents.

"The rules that govern when and how parties may challenge FCC orders are clear, and Verizon and MetroPCS filed too early when they challenged the Open Internet order," a senior FCC official said Friday afternoon.

In a statement at the time Verizon filed its lawsuit, the company's senior vice president and deputy general counsel Michael Glover said "We are deeply concerned by the FCC's assertion of broad authority for sweeping new regulation of broadband networks and the Internet itself."

When it joined Verizon in challenging the new rules, MetroPCS also disputed the FCC's authority to enact such regulations.

Egyptian officials apparently took the unprecedented step of shutting down all Internet access across the country in response to growing civil unrest, according to reports from inside Egypt as well as international technology analysts.

Just after midnight in Egypt, analysts at the U.S.-based Internet intelligence firm Renesys observed the "virtually simultaneous" withdrawal of all Internet access to the country.

"The Egyptian government's actions tonight have essentially wiped their country from the global map," said Renesys's James Cowie on a company blog

For the rest of this article, visit Nationaljournal.com. (Free)

A revolutionary new technology that allows vehicles to communicate with each other and their surroundings is poised to become one of the biggest safety breakthroughs out of Detroit since the introduction of the airbag. Intelligent vehicles, which Ford demonstrated this week at RFK Stadium in conjunction with the Washington Auto Show, allow drivers to receive warnings from other cars, roads signs and traffic intersections. Beeps, flashing lights or even electronic voices alert drivers that they're dangerously close to each other. When necessary, the technology can instantaneously force cars take evasive action to avoid collisions.

The FCC already has set aside Wi-Fi spectrum for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, which could be offered in new cars in the next five to ten years. Retrofits are expected to be available for older models. In an e-mail exchange this week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, a division of the Department of Transportation, shared its thoughts about this new form communication, and how it might save lives. An edited version of the interview follows:

What is the DOT's view of vehicle-to-vehicle technology?
We are extremely encouraged by the research, analysis of the safety data, and other factors that all point to V2V as the next major safety breakthrough. Additional information can be found in DOT's Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Strategic Research Plan, 2010-2014.

What are the latest stats on annual highway fatalities?
In 2009, a total of 33,808 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, a 9.7 percent decline from 37,423 deaths reported in 2008, and the lowest number of deaths since 1950 (which had 33,186).

Could this technology help reduce fatalities?
NHTSA believes that V2V safety applications could address 80 percent of vehicle crash scenarios, by helping drivers avoid crashes. We're currently conducting research to verify the effectiveness of these systems.

Are you concerned that extensive deployment of vehicle to vehicle technology could further strain the nation's already congested spectrum resources?
This is not an issue because spectrum has already been dedicated for this purpose.

Is there any risk of interference to the wireless transmissions, such as from other electronic gadgets, large objects or even the elements (wind, rain, snow)?
It is a line of sight technology with a range of approximately 300 meters. The signal can be blocked by buildings or other large structures. However, it is still sufficient for priority safety applications, such as intersection collision avoidance. It is not sensitive to weather or broadcasts on neighboring frequencies.

Is this technology being used anywhere in the U.S. or globally, and if so, what has the result been?
This technology is currently being tested under a cooperative agreement between NHTSA and a consortium of automobile manufacturers. The results demonstrate that it is sufficiently reliable and effective to support the safety applications. A model deployment of the system is in the planning stage, which would demonstrate a large-scale, real-world implementation of V2V safety systems. Complementary efforts are underway in Europe and Japan.

(photo credit: Ford)

The FBI announced Thursday that it has executed 40 search warrants throughout the country in connection with a series of coordinated cyber attacks against "major companies and organizations."

The search warrants appeared to be related to the flood of cyber attacks late last year executed against PayPal, Visa and other companies that had stopped doing business with WikiLeaks. The attacks allegedly were executed by a group known as "Anonymous" and were done to protest the companies' decisions to stop doing business with WikiLeaks.

Several U.S. lawmakers called on businesses that had been doing business with WikiLeaks to cut their ties with the anti-secrecy group after it released thousands of secret and classified U.S. documents.

In December, PayPal General Counsel John Muller said his company restricted WikiLeak's "account based on our Acceptable Use Policy review. Ultimately, our difficult decision was based on a belief that the WikiLeaks website was encouraging sources to release classified material, which is likely a violation of law by the source."

The FBI did not specifically say the search warrants were connected to the WikiLeaks attacks. However, the agency said the distributed denial of service attacks, which flood a computer network's ability to function with useless commands and information, were conducted by the group known as "Anonymous," which had claimed responsibility for the attacks in protest of the actions against WikiLeaks.

The FBI said Britain's Metropolitan Police Service "executed additional search warrants and arrested five people for their alleged role in the attacks."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the chairmen of the seven Senate committees with jurisdiction over cybersecurity introduced a measure this week that recognizes the need to act to secure the nation from cyber attacks and calls on the Obama administration and lawmakers to enact legislation.

The non-binding legislation appears to set a marker for future cybersecurity legislation. It calls on Congress to enact and the president to sign "bipartisan legislation to secure the United States against cyber attack, to enhance American competitiveness and create jobs in the information technology industry, and to protect the identities and sensitive information of American citizens and businesses."

The measure outlines 10 areas that should be addressed by this still-to-come legislation.

They include enhancing the "security and resiliency" of the U.S. government's networks from cyber attacks; incentivizing the private sector to "quantify, asses"s, and mitiate cyber risks to their communications and information networks;" improving the ability of the federal government and private sector to assess cyber risks and prevent, detect, and robustly respond to cyber attacks; improving protections for U.S. critical infrastructure; and bolstering the tools for investigating and preventing cyber crimes.

In a statement announcing the legislation, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., pledged to pick up where they left off in the last Congress on the issue.

Their committees both approved separate cybersecurity bills last year but were unable to mesh their measures into one piece of legislation. In addition, Lieberman complained late last year about the failure of the Obama administration to engage on the issue until late in the 111th Congress.

"Last Congress we made great, bipartisan strides towards passing such legislation, and I'm pleased the Cyber Security and American Cyber Competiveness Act will build on that progress," Lieberman said. He also called on the administration to "engage in the legislative process as soon as possible."

Several other bills addressing other issues highlighted by the Senate nonbinding bill also were introduced in the last Congress.

The Business Software Alliance Thursday called the measure a good step forward. "For several years, we have worked very closely and constructively with both parties in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to advance legislation that protects our nation's cybersecurity. We look forward to continuing to do so," BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman said in a statement.

Two men who set up an alleged online scheme to scare more than a million people into buying bogus software have agreed to pay more than $8 million in "ill-gotten gains," the Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday.

The men, a father and son, agreed to pay the money as part of a settlement after federal investigators accused them and five others of creating "scareware" to trick people into thinking their computers were infected.

According to the complaint, the defendants created several companies that "falsely claimed that scans had detected viruses, spyware, and illegal pornography on consumers' computers" then "conned more than one million consumers into buying their software products such as Winfixer, Drive Cleaner and Antivirus XP to remove the malware the bogus scans had supposedly detected."

In the wake of the 2008 investigation, two other people involved in the alleged scam have already settled and the FTC obtained default judgments against three others. Litigation is still pending against one person.

The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday delayed consideration of Chairman Patrick Leahy's patent overhaul legislation until next week.

The Vermont Democrat said the bill is still a priority for him and vowed to push ahead.

"I hope that, when the Committee meets next week, we will join together to light a better path for American innovation by approving the bipartisan, comprehensive patent reform bill," Leahy said in a statement.

The bill was put on hold for one week at the request of one of the committee members. It is now scheduled for markup on Feb. 3. At least seven members of the Judiciary Committee from both parties have signed onto the legislation.

At least one committee member, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is considering an amendment that would authorize a pilot program for business-method patents.

House and Senate committee leaders on Wednesday backed dueling legislation to extend online surveillance provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that are set to expire at the end of February, Nextgov.com reported.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced the bipartisan 2011 USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act, which would continue to allow roving wiretaps of suspects who change computers or phone numbers to avoid monitoring; tracking of "lone wolves" -- people of interest with no known links to terrorist groups; and retrieval of records and other tangible evidence from organizations with a court order. The proposal, which would expire in December 2013, also demands greater judicial supervision.

Last Congress, Leahy's committee approved a nearly identical bill (S.1692) backed by the Obama administration, but the full Senate instead opted to pass a straight temporary extension -- without the oversight measures -- that expires Feb. 28.

Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, announced on Wednesday he has thrown his support behind a bill, H.R. 67, that House Ingelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., unveiled on Jan. 5 that would extend the three expiring provisions for a shorter period of time, to 2012. It contains no additional oversight provisions. To read more, click here.

As part of its ongoing work examining how Americans use the latest technologies, the Pew Research Center's new report released Thursday found the digital advantage that Democrats had over Republicans during the 2008 campaign had largely evaporated by the 2010 midterm elections, when the GOP scored huge gains.

The survey from Pew's Internet and American Life Project found overall that 22 percent of Americans used social media tools like Facebook or Twitter to follow events surrounding the November midterm elections. Most of those, 21 percent used social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace, while just 2 percent used Twitter,.

Of the 22 percent who used these tools, 45 percent voted for Republicans while 41 percent chose Democratic candidates. Of the social network site users, the survey found that 40 percent of Republican voters and 38 percent of Democrats used these sites to get politically involved.

"The social networking population as a whole has grown larger and demographically more diverse in recent years, and the same is true when it comes to political activity on social networking sites," said Aaron Smith, a senior researcher specialist at the center and the report's author, in a statement. "These platforms are now utilized by politically active individuals of all ages and ideologies to get news, connect with others, and offer their thoughts on the issues that are important to them."

Meanwhile, the survey showed 11 percent of Americans were willing to say on social networking sites who they voted for in the 2010 elections, while 9 percent of online adults received campaign or political content and 8 percent posted political content on Twitter or a social networking site.

The survey of 2,257 adults was conducted Nov. 3-24 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., Wednesday re-introduced a nonbinding resolution calling on President Obama to oppose any efforts by the United Nations to take over governance of the Internet.

"It has become increasingly clear that international governmental organizations, such as the United Nations, have aspirations to become the epicenter of Internet governance. And I'm going to do everything I can to make sure this never happens," Bono Mack, the new chairwoman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, said in a statement.

She introduced a similar resolution in the last Congress. Bono Mack wrote House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., Wednesday to urge her to advance the measure.

The resolution notes that some countries that favor having the United Nations or another international entity play a bigger role in Internet governance "use the Internet as a tool of surveillance to curtail legitimate political discussion and dissent." Such countries want the United Nations or another international entity to "endorse national policies that block access to information, stifle political dissent, and maintain outmoded communications structures," according to the resolution.

The main group that currently has a formal governing role over the Internet is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a California-based nonprofit that was picked by the U.S. government in 1998 to take over management of the Internet's domain name system.

In December, the United Nations hosted a meeting on ways to enhance "cooperation on international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet." At the meeting, ICANN President and CEO Rod Beckstrom called for continuing support for ICANN and its process of working with Internet stakeholders, including the United Nations and national governments.

"The entire ecosystem collaborates: ICANN, Internet service providers, domain name businesses, [the Internet Society], [the Internet Engineering Task Force], governments, regional Internet registries, individual Internet users, non-profits and businesses around the world. And it works," Beckstrom said in his prepared remarks. "The multi-stakeholder model is not the problem. It's the solution."

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is circulating an amendment to the comprehensive patent reform legislation introduced Tuesday.

Schumer's amendment would "authorize a pilot program for review of business method patents," a relatively new patent concept that protects new ways of doing business.

Business -method patents faced a test last year when the Supreme Court ruled that patent's can't cover an abstract idea. Schumer's proposed amendment would establish a pilot process to review the validity of business-method patents.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D- Vt., introduced a bill Tuesday designed to reform the U.S. patent system. The bill is scheduled for markup Thursday but observers say that the bill likely won't come up until next week.

Technology is everywhere. In Washington, what has followed is an increasing clash between the tech companies and government regulators as the industry continues to evolve. And poised to take a greater role in that confluence is Eric Schmidt, Google's former CEO.

After being pushed into a new position at Google, the exact shape of Schmidt's new role has yet to materialize but he has said he will focus on strengthening the company "externally," including through government outreach.

The latest edition of National Journal Daily has a look at how Schmidt's history with the Obama administration may play into the company's work in D.C. and what challenges the former CEO may face.

Read the rest of the story on the website of National Journal Daily.

Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said Wednesday he plans to move ahead with legislation that would overhaul the universal service fund, which subsidizes telecommunications in rural and high-cost areas, even though the Federal Communications Commission is moving forward on its own reform effort.

Terry said he was given the go ahead this week to begin working on the issue by Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., "It's on the to-do list" for this Congress, said Terry, vice chairman of the Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee.

The FCC put on its February agenda a vote on a notice of proposed rulemaking on ways to expand the USF to include support for broadband in unserved areas and a proposal for overhauling the inter-carrier compensation system, which are the fees paid by one telecom carrier to another to originate, transport or terminate telecommunications traffic.

When asked if Congress needs to act given that the FCC has indicated it will take on the issue, Terry said there are issues that the FCC cannot tackle without legislative authority. He said they include expanding the pool of contributors who pay into the USF.

He also said he plans to begin looking for a Democratic partner to help him craft and move the legislation. In the last Congress, Terry introduced a USF overhaul bill with then-Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who was defeated for re-election. Terry told Tech Daily Dose last month that he believed it was necessary to work with a Democrat on the issue, saying "it needs to be bipartisan."

Coincidence? Maybe, but just a day after Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's account was reportedly hacked, the company unveiled new security measures that will allow users to use Facebook over a secured connection and prevent more remote breaches.

Usually reserved for times when a user inputs a password or credit card information online, HTTPS secured connections will now be available for the entire time a user is on Facebook, according to a company blog posted Wednesday.

"Facebook currently uses HTTPS whenever your password is sent to us, but today we're expanding its usage in order to help keep your data even more secure," wrote Facebook security engineer Alex Rice. "Starting today we'll provide you with the ability to experience Facebook entirely over HTTPS."

The company suggests users enable the feature if they frequently use public Internet networks. The option is available as part of the "account security" section of the "account settings" page.

Another security feature unveiled Wednesday is "social authentication," which will be activated if Facebook spots suspicious activity on a user's page. If such activity is detected, the user may be prompted to identify someone in one of his or her photos.

"Hackers halfway across the world might know your password, but they don't know who your friends are," Rice said.

A hacker apparently left a message under Zuckerberg's name Tuesday, calling for the company to become a "social business."

Facebook did not comment on the hacked account and no mention of it was made in Wednesday's blog post. Instead, the company said it unveiled the measures to coincide with Friday's Data Privacy Day.

Tech Groups largely welcomed President Obama's focus during his State of the Union address Tuesday night on the need to promote U.S. innovation by improving education and investing in research and development, but they also noted that the United States must support other key priorities such as free trade and tax policies that will help American firms remain competitive.

"We heartily agree with the president that if we are to win the future, our nation's focus must be on accelerating entrepreneurship, innovation, global competitiveness and job creation," TechAmerica CEO and President Phil Bond said. "Much remains to be done to keep America at the cutting-edge, however. Pro-innovation tax reform, free trade, improved education, immigration reform, broadband deployment, a permanent R&D credit and securing cyberspace are all critical for honing our competitive edge in the 21st century economy."

In particular, he pointed to the need to overhaul the nation's tax code, noting that if "nothing changes by this spring, the U.S. will tax corporations at a higher rate than any other nation."

Consumer Electronics Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro argued that the "spotlight on innovation must include trade agreements, as we need overseas markets for U.S. businesses to grow and create American jobs. The Korea, Panama and Colombia Free Trade Agreements will bolster U.S. exports of goods and services and CEA continues to urge swift passage of these" agreements.

Several groups also praised the president's focus on the need to better educate children in science, technology engineering and math (STEM).

After its previous attempts have failed, Consumer Watchdog is taking its campaign to get Congress to hold a hearing into Google's collection of information from unsecured Wi-Fi networks to Washington.

The group, an aggressive critic of Google, will be unveiling a new ad campaign Wednesday that will involve an animated video played from a truck that will be driven around the nation's capital for a week. The video features a sinister cartoon-like depiction of Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who announced last week that he would be stepping down from his current post in April, and mocks Google's privacy policies.

Consumer Watchdog has been lobbying lawmakers to hold hearings into Google's privacy policies, particularly its admission last year that its vehicles that collect photographs for Google's Street View service "mistakenly" collected some information from unsecured home and business Wi-Fi networks.

In the new video, Schmidt is asked by a cartoon senator how he can "protect myself from being spied on" by Google. The cartoon-like Schmidt answers that, "you could move or you could change your name." The group launched a similar video campaign last year in New York's Times Square.

Google has argued that the Wi-Fi collection incident was a mistake and has cooperated with state, federal and foreign authorities who have investigated the matter. The Federal Trade Commission last fall dropped its investigation into the incident after Google agreed to take several steps to improve its internal processes.

In his State of the Union address Tuesday evening, President Obama offered technology companies something they say they desperately need to stay competitive in a global economy - a substantial and potentially historic increase in federal funding for research and development, National Journal.com reported.

But with no details about how this goal would be achieved, or guarantees that Congress will approve the proposed spending hikes in this era of belt-tightening, the pledge is a headline grabber that will be tough to implement. To read more, click here.

A group that measures the public's satisfaction with the federal government found that while public satisfaction with the services provided by federal agencies has "plunged," Americans remain satisfied with government websites.

The annual American Customer Satisfaction Index from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business found that satisfaction with services provided by the U.S. government dropped by 4.8 percent to 65.4 out of a scale of 100. However, Americans' satisfaction with government websites remained largely unchanged from last year with a score of 75 compared with 75.2 in last year's survey.

"If the federal government continues to support e-government growth within agencies, while stressing the need to adopt relevant private-sector technologies, these websites should remain a bright spot for government in years to come," according to University of Michigan business Professor Claes Fornell, head of the ACSI.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., introduced legislation Tuesday that would implement stronger rules aimed at preserving the openness of the Internet than those adopted by the Federal Communications Commission last month.

The bill would add a new section to Title II of the Communications Act that would incorporate the six network neutrality principles originally proposed by the FCC in 2009. Those proposed rules were later supplanted by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's more modest proposal, which was adopted on a party-line vote by the commission in December.

The original 2009 proposed rules would have codified four general open Internet principles along with two other more controversial rules that would require broadband providers to treat all Internet content, applications and services in a nondiscriminatory manner and mandate that providers be transparent about their network management practices.

The FCC order that was ultimately adopted did not apply the rule against "unreasonable" discrimination to wireless broadband, which many net neutrality proponents criticized.

Cantwell's bill also would bar broadband providers from instituting paid prioritization of Internet content. In addition, the measure would require that broadband Internet access charges, practices, classifications and regulations meet a "just and reasonable" standard and allow for consumers to file complaints with the FCC or in court. The measure also includes provisions aimed at spurring broadband adoption.

Cantwell said while she believes the FCC had the authority to implement its December net neutrality order, which critics say the commission lacks, she does not believe the rules were strong enough.

"The actions that the FCC and Congress take now will set the ground rules for competition on the broadband Internet, impacting innovation, investment, and jobs for years to come," Cantwell, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, said in a statement. "My bill returns the broadband cop back to the beat, and creates the same set of obligations regardless of how consumers get their broadband."

The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who said the "FCC ruling on net neutrality does not do nearly enough to protect consumers, and this bill is designed to maintain a free and open Internet."

In a letter to Cantwell supporting the bill, Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said the "legislation would firmly cement the democratic principles affirmed by an open Internet and ensure that the Internet remains the marketplace of ideas where no central authority, public or private, has the power to pick winners and losers."

Verizon filed a court challenge last week against the FCC net neutrality order, saying the commission lacked authority to act. But other major broadband providers including AT&T and Comcast offered tepid support for the FCC's order but are likely to oppose Cantwell's bill.

Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Tuesday reintroduced legislation that would re-allocate a chunk of spectrum to public safety officials for the creation of a national broadband interoperable network.

Rockefeller said the bill mirrors the measure he offered last Congress that would re-allocate the D-block of spectrum to public safety officials instead of auctioning it off to commercial bidders as the Federal Communications Commission has proposed.

He noted that with the upcoming 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Congress needs to finally implement a recommendation by the commission that investigated those attacks to create a national broadband interoperable public safety network to help first responders better communicate during emergencies. The 2001 terrorist attacks highlighted the problems first responders have had in trying to communicate with each other during emergencies.

"I think it's a national priority," Rockefeller said.

The issue is controversial because some House lawmakers including key members of the Energy and Commerce Committee favor the FCC's plan, which also called for using the proceeds from the auction of the D-block to help pay for the construction of the public safety network.

Rockefeller's bill includes a provision authorizing the FCC to conduct incentive auctions, which are aimed at persuading broadcasters to voluntarily give up some of their spectrum in exchange for some of the proceeds from the auction of that spectrum. Rockefeller's bill notes that some of the money from these incentive auctions and funding derived from other auctions also can be used to help pay for the construction of the public safety network.

The issue has not only split lawmakers but also industry. Some of the nation's biggest wireless providers such as AT&T and Verizon favor giving the D-block to public safety, while T-Mobile, Sprint and smaller wirless carriers favor the FCC's proposal to auction off the spectrum to commercial bidders.

Rockefeller noted that he planned to meet Tuesday with officials from T-Mobile.

T-Mobile and other wireless providers are part of the Connect Public Safety Now coalition that are urging lawmakers to allow the FCC to auction the D-Block to commercial bidders and at the same time provide funding to build the public safety broadband network.

"While we respectfully disagree with Mr. Rockefeller on the way to get there, we stand with him on the need to build this network, and are committed to ensuring that it becomes a reality - quickly," the coalition said in a statement Tuesday, which also noted the FCC's move to request comments on the technical details related to building a national broadband interoperable public safety network.

A House Judiciary subcommittee grappled Tuesday with the issue of whether Congress should require Internet service providers and possibly other online firms to retain data for a set time period for possible use by law enforcement, National Journal Daily reported.

Internet service providers are already required by law to preserve data once notified by law enforcement, but they don't have to retain it for a specific amount of time. "Not all ISPs retain this important data, and the length of time such data is retained often varies from one provider to the next," Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said during a hearing on the issue before his panel. To read more, click here. (Subscription required)

The Federal Communications Commission moved one step closer to establishing a national public safety broadband network.

The Commission unanimously agreed Tuesday to elicit more input on how to design a nationwide network that will allow first responders from across all jurisdictions to communicate on common frequencies and technology.

With the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaching, commissioners stressed the importance of finally moving ahead on streamlining emergency communications in the United States.

While some progress may have been made, said Commissioner Michael Copps, the country is still "nowhere near" implementing a common broadband network for emergency responders.

Among other things, the rules call for public comment on basic technological needs of any network, including interconnectivity, security and encryption, and interference issues.

One or more hackers attacked the website and Internet domain of the Defense Department's prescription drug database, the PharmacoEconomic Center, the security firm Imperva reported Friday. The site and domain remained inaccessible into Monday afternoon, Nextgov.com reported.

Attempts to reach the site resulted in a message that read: "www.pec.ha.osd.mil
Is Temporarily Unavailable. We're working to resolve this issue."

Programs on the PharmacoEconomic Center site and domain include the Prescription Medication Analysis and Reporting Tool, which maintains a medication profile for troops slated for deployment. It also includes a version of that tool developed to track drugs prescribed for soldiers in warrior transition units, special organizations designed to assist wounded soldiers and their families. To read more, click here.

The latest edition of National Journal magazine has the low-down on the challenges NASA faces as the shuttle program winds down and congressional leaders take aim at agency budgets:

American space exploration once seized the popular imagination: Families gathered around television sets, basking in the glow of national pride and the scientific achievement required to land astronauts on the moon. It's hard to envision Americans gathering once more around TV sets to watch NASA "increase assurance and resilience of mission-essential functions," as one of the six goals in President Obama's 2010 National Space Policy puts it.

Although the policy goes on to order a manned trip beyond the moon by 2025 (and to Mars by the mid-2030s), it hardly amounts to the glory of decades past. Just last year, NASA was slotted to get a budget bump, but with Republican control of the House and a renewed deficit-cutting fervor, the agency could be in trouble. If it can't learn how to harness the imagination again while keeping its missions below cost, NASA could face a gloomy and reduced future.

The agency's budget has risen and fallen with major space programs over the years but it has shrunk considerably since the end of the Cold War, from $22 billion in 1991 (adjusted for inflation) to $18 billion today. The approaching end of the 30-year-old shuttle program means that America must decide what it wants the space agency to do, but the influx of tea party freshmen--who want to cut a total of $100 billion from discretionary spending--may force NASA and Congress to face what it can do.

To read the rest of this article, visit the website of National Journal magazine (subscription required).

As the space shuttle program enters its final stage, NASA is offering aerospace companies the chance to use some of Florida's Kennedy Space Center facilities.

"Kennedy has been working for some time to enable commercial space activities at the center that are in line with NASA's mission," Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana said in a statement. "Partnering with the commercial space industry will help NASA meet its goals and help sustain facility assets to support our nation's space objectives."

Left unsaid in Monday's announcement: NASA's bid to draw private space companies to the area may also be designed to encourage area residents who depend on the space program for jobs. Unlike some of NASA's other facilities, the Kennedy Space Center is almost entirely designed to support the shuttle program.

"Community leaders are in a minor panic," said Roger Handberg, a space policy expert at the University of Central Florida.

NASA officials say they have received notice of some industry interest in the Center.

According to the statement, "The facilities that may become available are well-suited for entities operating or directly supporting government or commercial launches or space user services." NASA reserves the right to take back the facilities if it needs them for its own purposes.

Want to use a piece of history? More information is on NASA's website.

A new report by Consumer Watchdog accuses the Obama administration of having an inappropriately close relationship with Google, allowing the company to escape scrutiny.

The group released the report Monday, along with a letter calling on House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to investigate Google's relationship with government agencies.

"(Google) should not get special treatment and access because of a special relationship with the Administration," the letter states. "Our report only reveals only part of the picture. The House Oversight & Government Reform Committee has subpoena power if necessary. We urge you to use all the tools at the committee's disposal to reveal the extent of Google's influence on the government and how the Internet giant has unfairly benefited."

The report says the Internet giant benefited from access to a government airfield and escaped vigorous government investigation into the controversy over Google's Street View cars, which gathered personal information from private wireless networks.

"An ambitious quest for influence with the US government is starting to pay off for search giant Google," the report states.

A Google spokesperson dismissed the report in a statement Monday. "This is just the latest in a long list of press stunts from an organization that admits to working closely with our competitors."

Google and Mozilla both announced that they will be adding "do-not-track" options to their Internet browsers, allowing users to prevent websites from gathering personal information and selling it to advertisers.

Mozilla announced its plan Sunday with Google following suit Monday.
According to a company statement, Google's "Keep My Op-Outs" feature will be available as an extension for download on its Chrome browser Monday.

"We made available, for all major browsers, a downloadable browser plugin that enables you to permanently opt out of Google's advertising cookie, even if you deleted all your browser's cookies," according to the statement."

Mozilla's Firefox version will be an HTTP header that will tell websites that a user wants to opt-out what's called "online behavioral advertising."

"The advantages to the header technique are that it is less complex and simple to locate and use, it is more persistent than cookie-based solutions, and it doesn't rely on user's finding and loading lists of ad networks and advertisers to work," said Mozilla technology and privacy officer Alex Fowler wrote in a blog post Sunday.

Microsoft announced a similar feature for its Internet Explorer in December.

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said Thursday following a speech at the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council's summit that he is leaning toward adding a do-not-track provision to privacy legislation he plans to re-introduce this Congress.

Facebook has become a key tool for political dissidents around the world and The Atlantic's Alexis Madrigal took an inside look at Facebook's fight against Tunisian officials looking to cripple the site's organizing power.

Madrigal reported Monday that as the political turmoil in Tunisia increased in December, Facebook began to hear reports from users complaining that their pages had been hacked and removed.

"After more than ten days of intensive investigation and study, Facebook's security team realized something very, very bad was going on," according to the article on TheAtlantic.com. "The country's Internet service providers were running a malicious piece of code that was recording users' login information when they went to sites like Facebook."

In the end, Facebook's team decided to treat the issue as a technical problem, not a political one. But the report concludes with the question of whether Facebook needs to "own its position as a part of The Way the World Works and provide protections for political speech and actors."

As Congress seeks to stoke the American economy and spur job growth, the Patent and Trademark Office could play a key role, said PTO Director David Kappos Friday.

Speaking to a crowd at a conference organized by Innovation Alliance, a group of companies seeking to protect patent rights, Kappos said his unheralded agency could help pump jobs and billions of dollars back into the economy if Congress is successful in passing legislation to ease a massive backlog in patent applications.

"As our country seeks to regain the 8 million jobs lost during the recent recession, the USPTO is a great place to start," Kappos said. "Countless inventions that can spark new businesses are right there, sitting in the backlog. And reducing that backlog is one of (our) highest priorities."

A bipartisan group of senators announced Thursday they would introduce a patent reform bill next week. Kappos said he would not comment on details of the legislation until it is formally introduced, but he said he "strongly supports" comprehensive reform and "applauds" the latest effort.

"Proposals in this legislation - many that will help USPTO do its job better -- have been discussed for the better part of the last 10 years," he said. "And this is the Congress where we should and must finish those many years of work."

Kappos touted the value if innovation in America's economy and said that once the patent office is given all the resources it needs, it can help companies monetize their innovations better.

"We must provide an environment that allows American innovators, small and large, to protect their IP and attract capital based on their ideas," he said. "For businesses to flourish, we must provide timely and high quality access to IP rights."

An analysis by a top investment firm says D.C.'s Circuit Court of Appeals could make Verizon's challenge to new net neutrality rules an "uphill" battle for federal officials defending the regulations.

In a report by the firm Stifel Nicolaus, analysts say Verizon is going out of its way to recreate the conditions that led the court to shoot down the Federal Communications Commission's attempt to regulate Comcast's broadband Internet access.

While Verizon's decision to challenge the FCC's rules came as no big surprise given the company's vocal opposition, the report said "the procedural mechanism Verizon used is more noteworthy because it gives Verizon another argument for having the case heard by the D.C. Circuit, which should increase Verizon's chance of overturning the FCC order." Not only is Verizon seeking the same venue as the Comcast case, the company's lawyers are asking for the same three-judge panel that ruled against the FCC in that case.

The analysts went on to say that net neutrality advocates will likely try to get the case moved to a different court.

Lawmakers, meanwhile, continued to weigh in on Verizon's lawsuit.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, released a statement calling on the FCC to enforce its rules.

"Verizon has the legal right to do this, but we are disappointed that they filed suit," they wrote. "We support the FCC's efforts because they will protect consumers and provide companies with the certainty they need to make investments in our growing digital economy."

Broadband Internet is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity, especially for minority and low-income Americans, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski told a Broadband and Social Justice Summit sponsored by the Minority Media and Technology Council Thursday.

"Broadband can be the great equalizer, giving every American with an Internet connection access to a world of new opportunities that might previously have been beyond their reach, and expanding their opportunities to succeed and thrive in a digital economy," Genachowski said. "As you know, many groups find themselves on the wrong side of a digital divide. The digital divide is seriously troubling; more troubling now than in the past, because the costs of digital exclusion are rising."

He went on to say that his top priority will be providing more spectrum for increasing access to broadband services.

Genachowski's full remarks are here.

Google Thursday announced some major personnel shakeups including that Eric Schmidt would be giving up his post as CEO for a new position at the company.

In a blog post highlighting the firm's financial results for the fourth quarter of 2010, Google said that beginning April 4, co-founder Larry Page will take over as CEO and run the company's day-to-day operations.

Schmidt, meanwhile, will assume the role of "executive chairman" and focus "on deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership -- all of which are increasingly important given Google's global reach." He also will continue to serve as an adviser to Page and Google's other co-founder, Sergey Brin, who will focus on "strategic projects," particularly new products.

Schmidt said the personnel changes will help "simplify our management structure and speed up decision making for a long time." He added, "By clarifying our individual roles we'll create clearer responsibility and accountability at the top of the company. In my clear opinion, Larry is ready to lead and I'm excited about working with both him and Sergey for a long time to come."

Schmidt, however, has come under scrutiny in recent years for some controversial comments he has made, particularly about privacy. He told CNBC in 2009 that, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

Page, however, praised Schmidt as having done "an outstanding job leading Google for the last decade. The results speak for themselves."

Google reported revenues of $8.44 billion for the fourth quarter of 2010, a 26 percent increase over the same period in 2009.

The Federal Communications Commission released the full order Thursday approving Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal.

The 279-page document lays out the conditions of the approval as well as the voluntary commitments made by the companies.

Calling the joint venture "an unprecedented aggregation of video programming content with control over the means by which video programming is distributed to American viewers offline and, increasingly, online as well," the order said close FCC oversight was necessary because "the harms that could result are substantial."

The conditions are divided up into three general categories: An improved system for resolving commercial disputes over content; protection of online competition; and ensuring access to Comcast's distribution system by companies not affiliated with Comcast or NBC.

The document also includes statements from each commissioner explaining their votes. The FCC voted 4-1 on Tuesday to approve the merger with Democrat Michael Copps providing the one dissenting vote.

In a blog post Thursday, Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen touted the support he said the merger has drawn from a variety sources, such as Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., the NAACP and the Independent Film & Television Alliance

"These expressions of support reflect a broad-based expectation that this transaction will benefit the public interest," Cohen Wrote. "We look forward to delivering on this terrific promise."

Verizon said Thursday that it has filed an appeal of the net neutrality rules approved last month by the Federal Communications Commission.

The appeal was filed in the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia, which last year struck down the FCC's previous effort to enforce network neutrality principles.

"Today's filing is the result of a careful review of the FCC's order. We are deeply concerned by the FCC's assertion of broad authority for sweeping new regulation of broadband networks and the Internet itself," Verizon Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Michael Glover said in a statement. "We believe this assertion of authority goes well beyond any authority provided by Congress, and creates uncertainty for the communications industry, innovators, investors and consumers."

Updated: 5:45 p.m.

The appeal was filed under the grounds that the FCC moved to change or modify Verizon's wireless license by requiring compliance with network neutrality rules, a move that allowed the company under current law to file an appeal before the order was published in the Federal Register. It also ensures that it will be heard by the D.C. federal appeals court and makes it more likely that any other appeals to the order would be dealt with by the D.C. circuit, which has already ruled against the FCC once before on the issue, according to a source familiar with Verizon's thinking on the issue.

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and other key GOP lawmakers on the panel, said they "welcome" Verizon's effort to block the FCC's "misguided attempt to regulate the Internet." The lawmakers have vowed to also try to block the FCC's net neutrality order through legislation.

"At stake is not just innovation and economic growth, although those concerns are vital. Equally important is putting a check on an FCC that is acting beyond the authority granted to it by Congress," according to a statement from Upton, Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb.

Several public interest groups, however, criticized the appeal. Harold Feld, legal director for Public Knowledge, noted that by filing the case with the D.C. federal appeals court, Verizon was "trying to be too cute in trying to pick not only the venue for the challenge to the rules, but also to pick the judges to hear it."

Free Press, which has criticized the FCC's net neutrality order as not going far enough to protect the Internet's openness, said Verizon's appeal "demonstrates that even the most weak and watered-down rules aren't enough to appease giant phone companies," according to a statement from Aparna Sridhar, the group's policy counsel.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and two Republican colleagues Thursday released the text of their proposed Patent Reform Act of 2011, saying they plan to introduce the measure when the Senate returns next week.

The bill had been expected after Leahy announced earlier this month his intention to revisit patent reform this year. According to a statement from the senators, the legislation is based on a plan proposed in the 109th Congress by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and also includes provisions from a compromise measure Leahy developed last year with Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who served as Judiciary ranking member in the last Congress.

Leahy said the bill represents a "commonsense, bipartisan effort to protect jobs and bolster the economy."

Senate Judiciary ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, will join Leahy in pushing the bill this Congress. "Reforming our patent system is a critical priority whose time has more than come. It is essential to growing our economy, creating jobs and promoting innovation in our nation," Hatch said in a statement.

Industry observers say that Leahy has expressed an interest in pushing the legislation through committee to get it to the point the legislation was at last year. The bill has been put on the Judiciary Committee's agenda for its Jan. 27th markup.

But some groups are already anticipating opposition to the plan. "We will reserve judgment until we see the final bill, but if it's anything like the last one, we will oppose it," Mark Isakowitz of the Coalition for Patent Fairness, which represents tech firms such as Google, Intel and Oracle, told Tech Daily Dose Thursday before the bill's text was released.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said Thursday he expects there will be a battle over what should be done with a chunk of spectrum that the FCC would like to auction off and public safety officials want to use for a national broadband public safety network.

Stearns made the comments following a speech at the Minority Media and Telecom Council's annual summit. Stearns was asked about issues he may take up as the new chairman of the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee and indicated he may focus on network neutrality depending on what comes out of a hearing that the Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee is expected to hold next month with all five FCC commissioners. Stearns said that if "there are areas that the FCC is not complying with" his subcommittee would step in and examine those.

On the D-block, Stearns noted the disagreement he and other members of the Energy and Commerce Committee had with other lawmakers over what should be done with the D-block spectrum. Stearns and former Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., offered a bill in the last Congress that would have implemented an FCC proposal to auction off the D-block to commercial bidders and use the proceeds to help fund the creation of a national interoperable broadband network for public safety. Public safety officials have been seeking to build such a network since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks highlighted the problems first responders had in communicating with each other.

But Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and the chairmen of the House and Senate Homeland Security committees have sided with public safety officials who are calling for the D-block to be re-allocated to them, a move that would require legislation. Stearns said he expects there will be a battle over that issue this Congress and indicated he may re-introduce his D-block bill from the last Congress.

On net neutrality, Stearns acknowledged that the order the FCC approved last month is "light-touch" regulation, but added that it's "still a touch." He said regulation of the Internet is the "prerogative of Congress" and that the FCC's order creates more uncertainty in the market that will hamper the willingness of broadband providers to invest in building out their networks.

Stearns has reintroduced legislation that would require the FCC to demonstrate that there is a market failure before it could regulate the Internet.

Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., released his agenda Thursday for the committee during the 112th Congress. Below is the text of his announcement:

"I look forward to working with my colleagues to tackle issues that are critical to America's future," Rockefeller said. "In the new Congress, I will continue my fight to bring modern day protections for consumers and accountability to fraudsters, promote high-tech job creation and competitiveness, and keep Americans safe, secure, and on the move. I intend to not only complete a number of top priorities that I began in the 111th Congress, but also take on a number of new challenges Americans are facing every day."

Key Priorities for the U.S. Senate Committee On Commerce, Science, and Transportation in the 112th Congress Include:

A FOCUS ON JOBS, ECONOMIC SECURITY AND GROWTH

* Building out America's manufacturing sector and promoting exports

* Bolstering our infrastructure through:

o Improving transportation in the highway, rail, pipeline, and maritime sectors;

o Making necessary investments in our nation's aviation infrastructure and air service development; and

o Broadband deployment and Universal Service Fund reform

* Alleviating the financial pinch felt by railroad shippers nationwide

* Strengthening our commitment to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education through the America COMPETES Act

* Implementing the NASA Authorization Act of 2010

* Protecting coastal economies, jobs, and our nation's valuable energy resources through continued oversight of the Gulf spill recovery efforts and long term restoration

A PROACTIVE APPROACH TO AMERICA'S HOMELAND SECURITY

* Enacting comprehensive cybersecurity legislation

* Ensuring the necessary public safety communications resources for our nation's first responders

* Reinforcing constructive advancements to Transportation Security Administration screening and improving security in all modes of transportation

* Improving security of our cargo and general aviation traffic

* Securing our ports and the transportation of chemicals

* Increasing the Coast Guard's response capabilities

* Keeping Americans safe by improving the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's weather forecasting and disaster preparedness

* Protecting the federal government's investments in biometrics

21st CENTURY CONSUMER PROTECTION & SAFETY

* Continuing oversight of important federal agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Surface Transportation Board, and the Federal Communications Commission

* Protecting consumer information and privacy on the Internet

* Cracking down on consumer fraud, including online billing scams

* Furthering efforts to make our nation's highways safer and eliminate distracted driving

* Increasing motor vehicle and truck safety by passing National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Reauthorizations

* Granting victims injured or killed offshore--such as the victims and families of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy--parity with those injured or killed onshore

* Boosting the accuracy and effectiveness of forensic science by employing the National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Science Foundation scientific and standards expertise

A cell phone starts shaking on a coffee table in California, instantly triggering an application that alerts the phone's owner to drop to the ground, take cover under a sturdy piece of furniture and hold on until the earthquake stops.

The resident sends a text message through the social media site Twitter, saying, "Quake.Trapped.555CreekSt90210." Soon after the magnitude 7 quake strikes, emergency responders locate and free the victim, and Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, already has started mobilizing to rush in electrical power, food and shelter.

Nextgov.com reported that this is the not-too-distant future for Fugate, who has seen cell phones equipped with accelerometers that measure vibration, he said. Under the alias "@CraigatFEMA," he currently searches the Twittersphere regularly for signs of state, local and national emergencies. Click here, to read more.

Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday picked Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., to be the ranking member on the subcommittee with jurisdiction over technology and telecom issues.

Eshoo was chosen over Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., to serve as the top Democrat on the Communications and Technology Subcommittee. Rush made an aggressive push for the job and had the support of the Congressional Black Caucus and several civil rights and minority groups.

But at least one minority group, ColorOfChange.org, vocally opposed Rush's bid to serve as the ranking member on the panel because of what the group claimed was Rush's past resistance to network neutrality rules.

The panel's Democrats chose Eshoo over Rush on a 14-9 secret ballot vote, according to Hill sources. Rush, however, was picked instead to be the ranking member on the committee's Energy and Power Subcommittee. In addition, Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., was chosen to serve as the ranking member on the Commerce, Manufacturing & Trade Subcommittee, which shares jurisdiction over privacy with the Communications Subcommittee.

"I'm grateful to my colleagues for giving me the honor to lead the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology," Eshoo said in a statement. "My congressional district, home to Silicon Valley, is the innovation center of the world, and the policies we shape can advance America's competitiveness and job growth."

Eshoo said she planned to focus on such issue as expanding access to affordable broadband service, privacy, freeing up more spectrum, and working to transition the nation's 911 system to a next-generation broadband network.

Free Press Research Director S. Derek Turner applauded the panel's Democrats for picking Eshoo as the subcommittee's ranking member, saying she is a "strong defender of the public interest with a clear record of protecting consumers and the open Internet. She has been a leader on media and technology issues, and we look forward to working with her on crucial issues that will shape the debate over the future of the media."

Last month, Republicans chose Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., to serve as chairman of the Communications Subcommittee. The full committee will formally approve the subcommittee chairmen and ranking member spots at an organizational meeting Thursday.

As part of Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to Washington, the White House said Wednesday that China has agreed to boost its efforts to promote the use of legal U.S. software by Chinese government agencies and the private sector in China.

China has agreed to allocate government funding for the purchase of legal software, audit the use of legal software and publish the results of those audits, and also encourage private companies and state-owned enterprises to use legal software, according to a fact sheet released by the White House.

In addition, the White House said it "welcomed" China's commitment to "hold accountable" those who violate U.S. intellectual property rights on the Internet and to boost protections for intellectual property in Chinese libraries.

U.S. software makers have long complained about rampant piracy of their software in China. Nearly four out of five software programs installed on personal computers in China are "not paid for as they should be," according to a 2010 study released by the Business Software Alliance.

"The incremental measures announced today do not go far enough in ensuring legal software use," BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman said in a statement. "We appreciate the tremendous effort the U.S. government has made and expect that, going forward, these intense efforts will continue as part of the U.S. government's comprehensive strategy for improving the enforcement of intellectual property rights in China."

During a news conference with Hu Wednesday, President Obama noted that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked about his firm's problems with piracy in China.

"So we were just in a meeting with business leaders, and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft pointed out that their estimate is that only one customer in every 10 of their products is actually paying for it in China," Obama said. "And so can we get better enforcement, since that is an area where America excels -- intellectual property and high-value added products and services."

Obama added that China has "taken steps to better enforce intellectual property. We've got further agreement as a consequence of this state visit. And I think President Hu would acknowledge that more needs to be done."

The conditions imposed by the Federal Communications Commission in approving Comcast's merger with NBC Universal have some free market proponents claiming that the agency is trying to impose television-era regulation on the nascent online video market.

The FCC voted Tuesday to approve the merger on a 4-1 vote with certain conditions.
During a discussion Wednesday on the online video market at the annual State of the Net conference, Adam Thierer, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Technology Policy Program, said the conditions imposed by the FCC were "unprecedented" and amount to a "regulatory shakedown of a company that would do just about anything" to gain approval of the deal. He added that the conditions amount to a "death by a thousand cuts" that will make it difficult for Comcast to leverage the new content it is getting from NBCU for profit and will ultimately doom the transaction.

One of the biggest concerns raised about the $30 billion merger related to its potential impact on the growing online video market. The conditions imposed by the FCC require Comcast-NBCU to provide other multichannel video programming distributors with access to any content that Comcast makes available online to its own subscribers; offer its video programming to "legitimate" online video distributors on the same terms and conditions available to multi-channel video programming distributors; and make its comparable programming available on "economically comparable prices" and conditions to an online video distributor that has entered into a deal to obtain programming from at least one of Comcast-NBCU's peers.

Thierer said the conditions "foreshadow the rise of a compulsory license" for online video distribution.

Richard Bennett, a senior research fellow with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, agreed with Thierer that television-era regulations should not be transferred to online video distribution, saying mandates such as program carriage "are meaningless in a world where most content is delivered over the Net."

University of Nebraska law professor Marvin Ammori said while online video distributors offer an opportunity to "counteract the media consolidation we've seen over the years," he rejected Thierer's notion that it will grow without any regulation.

Cardozo Law School Professor Susan Crawford said the FCC's conditions on the merger get around the edges of trying to help open up the market for online video distribution without forcing Comcast into a new business.

However, one of those potential competitors argued that the FCC's conditions do not go far enough.

Online video provider ivi TV had been pushing the FCC to ensure online distributors have equal access to NBCU content as other multichannel video programming providers.

"The FCC just gave a green light to Comcast to hinder competition and limit consumer choice. This is the opposite of what the FCC should be doing," ivi TV CEO Todd Weaver said Tuesday in response to the FCC's vote in favor of the merger. "Further consolidation of the industry with distribution acquiring content means more victimization of consumers and less choice."

Telecom giant AT&T went before the Supreme Court Wednesday to argue that it deserves the same privacy protections usually reserved for individual people. The company asserted that it is entitled to the "personal privacy" protections granted under the Freedom of Information Act.

The case stems from a 2004 Federal Communications Commission investigation into AT&T, which resulted in a $500,000 settlement. In the wake of that investigation, Comptel, a trade association that represents many of AT&T's smaller competitors, filed a records request for the documents related to the case.

The FCC sided with Comptel, deciding that "personal privacy" did not apply to corporations. A federal appeals court overruled the agency, however, sending the case to the Supreme Court.

The case will revisit some of the debate surrounding the controversial Citizens United case in which the justices ruled that a corporation has the same right to spend money on political ads that individual people do.

But the Obama administration continues to fight that notion, arguing that it is absurd to compare a company to an individual.

"A corporation itself can no more be embarrassed, harassed, or stigmatized than a stone," wrote government lawyers in documents filed with the court. "And while a corporation may have commercial or property interests that can be adversely affected by disclosures of certain information, those interests are addressed elsewhere in the law... Nothing suggests that Congress intended to give such unprecedented and expansive protections under the rubric of 'personal privacy.'"

The federal government's review of the massive Comcast-NBC Universal deal is over, but a congressional review of the Federal Communications Commission's process for scrutinizing mergers is about to begin, National Journal Daily reports.

As part of FCC oversight hearings tentatively set for February, House Republicans plan to examine how the Democrat-controlled agency assessed the $30 billion transaction, and whether it overstepped its regulatory authority in the process.

Meanwhile, the FCC is facing considerable pushback from Democrats, with Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., saying he's "very disappointed that the consumer protections were not stronger." To read more, click here. (Subscription required)

More than a month after their Republican counterparts picked their subcommittee chairmen, Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are expected to meet Wednesday afternoon to pick their ranking members for the panel's subcommittees.

Tech and telecom stakeholders will be watching to see who is picked to be the top Democrat on the Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Va., has been lobbying hard for the job but appears to face competition from Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., for the post.

Rush, who chaired the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee in the 111th Congress when Democrats still controlled the House, is backed by the Congressional Black Caucus and several civil rights groups such as the NAACP and the Rainbow Push coalition. Eshoo, who represents Silicon Valley and has been active on tech issues for many years, has the backing of some proponents of strong network neutrality rules.

One of the groups actively working against Rush is ColorofChange.org, which was making last minute pleas Tuesday to Energy and Commerce ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to oppose Rush's bid for the subcommittee ranking spot.

The group claims Rush will not be a strong enough advocate to fight GOP efforts to block the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality order approved last month. Rush has vowed, however, to fight Republican efforts to overturn the FCC's net neutrality rules.

The Federal Communications Commission's tentative agenda released Tuesday for its February open meeting includes a proposal for overhauling and modernizing parts of the Universal Service Fund, which helps subsidize the cost of telephone service in rural and high-cost areas and provides support for Intenet access for schools and libraries.

The tentative agenda includes a notice of proposed rulemaking on ways to expand the USF to include support for broadband in unserved areas and a proposal for overhauling the inter-carrier compensation system, which are the fees paid by one telecom carrier to another to originate, transport or terminate telecommunications traffic. A portion of these fees, which are passed on to consumers, go to support universal service.

In its national broadband plan, the FCC proposed reforming the inter-carrier compensation system to reduce incentives that keep some carriers, particularly smaller ones, from migrating to broadband technologies because of the fees they get from the current inter-carrier compensation system. In addition, the plan called for creating a new Connect America Fund as part of universal service to help expand access to broadband.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has indicated, as recently as last week, that inter-carrier compensation and USF reform are linked and should be dealt with at the same time.

The proposed rule making on the FCC's tentative agenda for its Feb. 8th meeting "proposes near-term support for broadband deployment in unserved areas and measures to address ICC arbitrage, as well as a long-term transition from current high-cost support and ICC mechanisms to a single, fiscally responsible Connect America Fund," according to the commission's notice.

In the last Congress Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., and ex-Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., introduced a USF reform bill. While Boucher was defeated for re-election in November, Terry has indicated he plans to continue to pursue the issue this Congress.

However, an aide to Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-Va., said Tuesday at the State of the Net conference that his boss apperas likely to let the FCC take the lead on the issue for now.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs's decision to take a medical leave of absence and the ensuing stock-market tremors sparked debate over the balance between Jobs's right to privacy and the needs of investors to evaluate his company.

Writing in The Atlantic online, General Electric's former counsel, Ben Heineman, led the charge by arguing that Jobs is legally required to disclose the nature of his illness.

"The right to privacy of a CEO about medical conditions should be outweighed by the need for disclosure under certain conditions," he wrote. Heineman went on to urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to establish stricter rules for disclosing illnesses to investors.

The SEC declined to comment on whether it is considering such a move, but analysts say any new regulation would be complicated.

Although the commission requires relatively immediate disclosure in some circumstances--including the retirement, resignation, or termination of top company officials--Jobs's situation doesn't fall neatly into any category.

Read the rest of the story at Nationaljournal.com.

Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., said Tuesday that among the issues his newly reinstated Judiciary subcommittee would like to examine include an examination of the FCC's network neutrality order.

Speaking at the annual State of the Net conference, Goodlatte, co-chairman of the Congressional Intenet Caucus that helped sponsor the event, discussed some of the tech issues that may come up before the Judiciary Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet Subcommittee that he will chair this Congress.

On the FCC's net neutrality order, Goodlatte echoed comments made during an earlier speech by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., in criticizing the FCC's move to implement rules aimed at barring broadband providers from discriminating against online content and applications.

Goodlatte said while most agree that Internet providers should not discriminate against online content or restrict access to online services, he does not favor the FCC's approach to enforcing such principles. A "one-size fits all approach" that gives crucial rule-making authority to government "bureaucrats" is not the way to go, he said.

Instead, Goodlatte said he favors a "light-touch" approach that punishes anti-competitive behavior and also involves enforcing antitrust laws and "potentially tweaking them so they operate as intended in the digital age." After his speech, he noted that several years ago he and former Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., offered similar legislation aimed at using antitrust laws to help "keep the Internet open."

Goodlatte also said he would like to examine cybersecurity, though added that he was not sure whether he would do that in his subcommittee or through another Judiciary panel on which he sits. He said he would like to craft legislation to strengthen the ability of the private sector to protect its systems from hackers and thieves. But just as with net neutrality, Goodlatte said he rejects "heavy-handed mandates" that can have unintended consequences and can hamper the ability of the private sector to implement innovative solutions to cybersecurity.

But Goodlatte said Congress could act to help the private sector by providing limited liability protection as an incentive to do more to protect their infrastructure from cyber attacks. He said he believes such legal protection, which might be similar to what was provided to private companies to take steps to update their computer systems to counter the Year 2000 bug, would "encourage folks to try new ways" to protect their systems.

In addition, Goodlatte said Congress also could boost criminal law "to go after those who hack into private systems" and steal information.

In an eleventh-hour move, Democratic Sens. Al Franken of Minnesota, Maria Cantwell of Washington and Tim Johnson of South Dakota urged the FCC and Justice Department today to strengthen the regulatory conditions it will impose as part of its approval of the Comcast-NBCU deal.

"We hope you will ensure that these conditions are meaningful - not fleeting - particularly when it comes to Comcast-NBCU's commitments to local news, public affairs and other public-interest programming," they emphasized in a letter to both agencies. "We remain concerned that, without additional strong conditions, this transaction will result in less program choice, lead to higher cable and Internet bills for consumers and smother the emerging market for online video."

Both the FCC and Justice are expected to announce their approval of the transaction at any moment . . . stay tuned to National Journal for the latest details.

The head of the Homeland Security Department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency Tuesday defended his agency's aggressive efforts to combat online piracy and counterfeiting by seizing Internet domain names.

During a speech at the annual State of the Net conference, ICE Director John Morton defended the agency's "Operation In Our Sites" actions that involved the issuance of warrants in June to seize nine Internet domain names engaged in piracy of copyrighted content. A second operation carried out in November involved the seizure of 82 domain names of commercial websites that the agency said were illegally selling and distributing counterfeit goods and copyrighted works.

Morton said the first action led many other sites that offer pirated content and counterfeit products to voluntarily shut themselves down. "In my many years of law enforcement, I have never seen that kind of deterrence come from a single law enforcement action," he said.

He added that the agency would continue such enforcement actions and "to exercise good judgment about how we did this." He noted the agency has sought court orders for its actions and has no intention of being "the cop of the Net" nor in limiting free speech.

"We will follow criminal activity where it occurs including on the Internet," Morton said. "We can't live in a society where the Internet has some protection for criminals. ... We are going to stay at it. I am not apologetic on this last point."

Updated News Alert: The FCC and Justice Department are set to approve the massive Comcast/NBCU deal early this afternoon. The FCC will vote 4-1 with a dissent from Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps. Stay posted for more breaking details . . .

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is meeting Thursday for its organizational meeting, which means there will likely be some decisions made before then on which Democrats will serve as ranking members on the panel's subcommittees.

The committee will vote on the committee's rules, jurisdiction, and appointment of members to each subcommittee. In addition, the panel will approve the appointment of subcommittee chairmen and vice chairmen and subcommittee ranking members, according to a committee notice.

The most closely watched spot is for the ranking Democratic position on the committee's Communications and Technology Subcommittee. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., is making an aggressive push for the ranking spot on the panel but appears to be meeting strong competition from Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., who has been active on many tech issues over the years and represents Silicon Valley.

Republicans have already picked their subcommittee chairmen. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., will chair the Communications Subcommittee.

Rush is backed by several minority groups and the Congressional Black Caucus. But at least one minority group, ColorOfChange.org, has waged a high-profile battle to block Rush from becoming the ranking member on the subcommittee, citing his past resistance to open Internet rules for why he should not get the post.

Some sources say that Eshoo is working hard for the job, but Democrats could come under fire from the Congressional Black Caucus if they pass over Rush who has more seniority on the committee.

A new Pew Research Center survey released Tuesday found that Internet users are more likely than nonusers to participate in volunteer groups and organizations and reach out to other members.

The survey from the center's Internet & American Life Project found 80 percent of Internet users, including 82 percent of social network users and 85 percent of Twitter users, say they participate in a voluntary group or organization, compared with 75 percent of all U.S. adults.

"Use of the internet in general, and social media in particular, has become the lubricant for chatter and outreach for all kinds of groups ranging from spiritual communities to professional societies to ad hoc fan clubs," Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project and one of the authors of the report on the survey's findings, said in a statement.

Overall, 68 percent of all of those surveyed say the Internet has had a "major impact" on the ability of the groups they participate in to communicate with their members, while about 60 percent said the Internet has had a big impact on their group's ability to draw attention to an issue and connect with other groups. A little more than half of all respondents also said they believe the Internet has played a big role in the ability of groups to raise money and recruit new members.

In addition, 62 percent of online adults said they use social networking sites like Facebook, while only 12 percent said they use Twitter. Of those who participate in a group, 48 percent said those organizations have a page on a social networking site, according to the survey. Social media users are among the most active members of their group, the survey found.

"They post about group activities on their Facebook pages and in Tweets; they are more likely than others to invite newbies into a group; more likely than others to be targeted for invitation to groups; more likely to use the Internet to discover groups; more likely to say the Internet enables them to participate in more groups; and more likely to say they spend more time on group activities because of the Internet," according to the report.

Tech Daily Dose is taking a break Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. We will be back Tuesday, January 18 to bring you the latest technology and telecom policy news.

The latest edition of National Journal Daily's PM Update included a look at upcoming privacy legislation:

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., plans to pick up where he and former Rep.Rick Boucher, D-Va., left off in the last Congress in trying to craft an online privacy bill.

Stearns is reworking the draft bill he helped develop with Boucher, who was defeated in November, to address concerns raised about the measure in comments provided to the lawmakers last year. "Rep. Stearns has taken those comments and is working with stakeholders on developing legislation that he plans to offer soon," a Stearns spokesman said.

The draft Boucher-Stearns bill would have required websites to inform users how they collect and use personally identifiable information. Under the bill, consumers, for the most part, would have to opt out of having such information collected, although it would mandate that users opt in before websites could collect sensitive information such as financial and health data or share personally identifiable data with some third parties. Third-party ad networks would be exempt from the opt-in requirement as long as they adhere to certain guidelines.

To read the rest of this article, visit the website of National Journal Daily (subscription required).

The news that the Department of Justice may be preparing to sue Google over its plan to acquire travel search company ITA has renewed criticism of the proposed merger.

Federal officials are reportedly preparing a potential court case to block Google's plan, but no final decision has been made.

Morgan Reed, executive director of the Association for Competitive Technology, a group that has been criticized for its close ties to Microsoft, called the acquisition an underhanded attempt by Google to stifle competition and gain a "choke hold" on the market.

"Google claims it is buying ITA to improve search results and the customer experience," said Reed. "I have yet to discover a corporation that spends $700 million to make customers feel good unless that includes profits from selling them something."

Another critic, John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog, also called the proposal anticompetitive and urged DOJ officials to launch a full investigation.

"Justice needs to go beyond examining proposed deals as they come up and launch a full investigation into how Google uses its current monopoly in search unfairly to promote its other services," Simpson said in an interview. "European antitrust officials and the Texas Attorney General are investigating. It's past time for the DOJ to launch a probe."

But Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich told Tech Daily Dose that such concerns are unjustified.

"While we continue to cooperate with the Justice Department's review, we are ultimately confident that this acquisition will increase competition," he said.

Fairsearch.org -- a coalition of Internet travel search companies including Expedia, Kayak and Travelocity, among others -- has previously called on the department to challenge Google's acquisition of ITA.

A Justice Department spokesman refused to comment on Google's proposal or a potential lawsuit.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's decision not to seek reelection in 2012 may reshape the debate over new federal regulations on Internet freedom in the coming years.

Hutchison, the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee and a vocal opponent of the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules, announced her decision Thursday.

After the new rules were enacted in December, the Texas Republican blasted as a symptom of government overreach. She has promised to introduce a "resolution of disapproval" to try to block the FCC from implementing the rules.

"We have an Internet that is working. It does not need the heavy hand of government," Hutchison said during a floor speech. Asserting that Congress must take a stand, she added: "We have not delegated this authority to the FCC."

The latest edition of National Journal magazine has the low-down on a new kind of economic stimulus being touted by tech companies and other corporations with sizable operations overseas:

Seeking rapprochement with the Obama administration, which has been strident in its criticism of offshore tax havens, technology companies with sizable overseas operations are floating a compromise: a temporary tax holiday for American corporations in exchange for more domestic investment. Silicon Valley heavyweights such as Cisco, Oracle, and Qualcomm want to bring home more of the revenue they earn in foreign countries (at lower tax rates)--but only if Uncle Sam cuts them a break on their liabilities here.

Tax cuts for corporate giants might seem like a nonstarter for an administration that has already bailed out the financial sector and General Motors. But high-tech companies insist that it would be a good deal for the United States, providing a much-needed economic boost. A growing chorus of CEOs is trying to convince Washington that at least $1 trillion in earnings parked overseas, much of it generated by Silicon Valley corporations and pharmaceutical companies, would be better invested at home.

"That could be a great stimulus," said Paul Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, in an interview with National Journal at last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "The truth of the matter is, there's lots of places to invest in the world now, so you don't really need to bring that money back into the United States to run your business."

Jacobs, who has had discussions with administrations officials, has proposed that American companies be allowed to bring overseas profits home--known as "repatriation"--at a reduced tax rate if they agree to use the money for specific purposes such as job creation, research and development, and capital expenditures.

To read the rest of this article, visit the website of National Journal magazine (subscription required).

The European Commission Thursday released the results of a survey it conducted that found while most software programs it tested do a good job of blocking kids from accessing certain websites, they are less effective at blocking access to social networking sites and blogs.

The commission, the European Union's regulatory arm, analyzed 25 parental control tools for personal computers, three aimed at video game consoles and two for mobile phones and found that 84 percent are good at allowing parents to block access to certain websites, but at least 20 percent of sites offering "unsuitable" material for kids could pass through the filters, while blocking sites targeted for children.

The survey also found few tools that can filter content available on social networking sites or blogs or block instant messaging and chat protocols. In addition, the survey found that while one third of European children access the Internet via mobile phones and a quarter use their game consoles to go online, not all products are able to filter Web content on those devices.

The survey rated filtering technologies based on four criteria including their functionality and compatibility with computer operating systems; security; effectiveness in blocking unsuitable websites; and ease of use.

A separate EUKidsOnline survey also released by the commission found, however, that only 28 percent European parents use online filtering technology. The levels of use, however, vary by member countries with Britain reporting the highest use at 54 percent and Romania with the lowest at 9 percent.

The survey is part of an ongoing effort by the commission aimed at giving European parents more tools to help their children surf the Internet more safely. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission is in the midst of a review of a rule aimed at protecting children's privacy online to determine if the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act rule should be updated to reflect the new ways children go online.

While they compete fiercely in the marketplace for the dollars of consumers around the world, when it comes to getting the attention - or avoiding it - of policy makers in Washington, Apple and Microsoft take much different approaches, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics.

Playing off Apple's Mac Vs. PC television ads, the center's Evan Mackinder examined in a blog post Thursday where the two tech firms come down when it comes to how much they spend on lobbying and campaign contributions. As far as which company "reigns supreme in Washington," Mackinder's conclusion is that it's Microsoft, which far outspends its rival in Silicon Valley when it comes to lobbyists and the dollars it donates to political candidates.

Apple is "investing more and more cash into its political operation," according to Mackinder. "But ultimately, it's Microsoft that comes out on top in this digital matchup. With a longtime presence inside the Beltway and a bulging political budget, Microsoft spends millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions -- enough to still put the prize well out of reach for a steadily surging Apple."

The center notes that apple's lobbying budget has "steadily increased" since 1998 when it spent about $180,000 compared to about $1.7 million in 2008. But this amount is easily dwarfed by Microsoft, which averaged $7.5 million a year on lobbying activities between 1998 and 2008. As far as the number of lobbyists employed by each firm, Apple had 16 registered lobbyists listed through the first nine months of 2010 compared with 103 for Microsoft during the same period, the center said.

On campaign donations, Microsoft like many major tech companies has a corporate political action committee, which has doled out $22 million in the last 20 years, the center said.

Apple does not have a corporate PAC, but its CEO Steve Jobs has given more than $253,000 to political candidates, all of whom have been Democrats. That's still well below the $441,000 given by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who gave slightly more to Republicans than Democrats.

However, Jobs' wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, has been more active on the political giving front, donating more than $502,000 to federal candidates, political party committees and political action committees, most of them Democrats, compared with the $69,000 donated by Gates' wife, Melinda Gates, according to Mackinder's blog post.

Neither Apple nor Microsoft would comment on their respective company's giving and lobbying activities.

Federal officials say four-fifths of the nation's hospitals and 41 percent of private practice doctors are planning to take advantage of government incentives to switch to using electronic health records as the funding becomes available for the first time.

David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, touted the numbers Thursday as he urged organizations to achieve "meaningful use" of certified electronic health records. To meet the federal government's meaningful use standard health providers must meet certain benchmarks such as electronic prescribing and entry of basic data about patients.

Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, eligible hospitals may now receive millions of dollars to help implement new IT programs while individual practitioners may receive thousands of dollars in support.

"For years we have known that electronic health records would improve care for patients and bring about greater cost effectiveness in our health sector, yet adoption rates by health care providers remained low," Blumenthal said. "In 2009, Congress and the president authorized major new federal support for EHR adoption and use, and in combination with medical professional and hospital leadership. I believe we are seeing the tide turn toward widespread and accelerating adoption and use of health IT."

The American Hospital Association conducted the survey on hospitals, while the Center for Disease Control's National Center for Health Statistics conducted the survey of office-based physicians.

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill, is continuing to lobby his fellow Democrats to choose him to be the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee.

Republicans announced last month that Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., has been tapped as chairman of the Communications panel, but Democrats have yet to name their ranking members for the Energy and Commerce subcommittees.

Rush Thursday touted the latest support he's received from the Computing Technology Industry Association for his bid to be the top Democrat on the subcommittee that overseas tech and telecom issues such as network neutrality, privacy, and telecom-related issues.

CompTIA President Todd Thibodeaux praised Rush in a letter to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Energy and Commerce ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., saying Rush has "a deep understanding of the issues and challenges facing the IT marketplace. His experience working on the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and numerous other IT focused legislation demonstrates Representative Rush's ability to work across party lines and among divergent stakeholders. He has shown himself to have expert knowledge on the issues and an even-handed and measured approach."

Rush also has attracted the support of the Congressional Black Caucus and several minority groups such as Minority Media & Telecommunications Council, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Rainbow Push coalition.

However, the group ColorofChange.org, which touts itself as a group aimed at using the Internet to organize and inform its members about issues of importance to the black community, is actively lobbying against Rush's bid to be the ranking member on the subcommittee, citing his stance on network neutrality in particular.

While Rush has voiced support for the net neutrality order approved by the Federal Communications Commission last month and vowed to fight GOP efforts to block it, ColorofChange.org argues that Rush has been resistant to the issue in the past and will not be a strong enough advocate for net neutrality against Republican opposition.

"It's critical that Democrats select a ranking member with a keen understanding of why net neutrality is important for everyday Americans - especially the underserved - and a record that backs up their words," ColorofChange.org Executive Director James Rucker said in a letter Wednesday to Pelosi and Waxman. "Democratic leadership has ... several good options for a ranking member who hasn't expressed the kind of hostility to net neutrality that Rush has. "

Another possible contender for the subcommittee post is Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. Although a spokesman would not comment on whether she is actively lobbying for the post, she recently hired a new technology and telecom staffer and signed on to be the new House co-chairman of the Congressional Internet Caucus, replacing ex-Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who was defeated for re-election.

While some reports have also listed Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., as another candidate for the spot, a Doyle spokesman said his boss has indicated he would defer to Eshoo.

Nextgov.com reports that the government can fix the immigration system without legislation, by automating visa processing and by granting priority to skilled workers, including technology professionals, over family members, according to a new report by the Brookings Institution.

"The infrastructure for considering and granting visas needs a major upgrade," Darrell M. West, founder of the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings, a nonpartisan think tank, wrote in a policy paper released on Wednesday.

Currently, the visa program requires people seeking entry to the United States to provide paper copies of sometimes hard-to-obtain documents that are then often lost in the government's system and must be submitted repeatedly, he said. Repairing the nuts and bolts of the immigration process would get to the root of what West sees as the solution to the nation's immigration debate.

The visa system should adopt digital technology to reduce both errors and delays," he wrote, noting that obtaining a visa often is the first step talented foreigners must take to gain U.S. citizenship. "Changing the composition of the immigration stream, even without increasing its size, would result in a 'brain gain' for the United States." To read more, click here.

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., Wednesday urged Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to place the whistleblower website WikiLeaks and its founder on a U.S. government list that would ban people and companies in the United States from conducting business with both.

WikiLeaks has come under fire by lawmakers and some Obama administration officials for releasing classified and other sensitive U.S. government documents, including most recently thousands of State Department diplomatic cables.

In a letter, King called on Geithner to place WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange on Treasury's Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons List, which is maintained by the department's Office of Foreign Asset Control. The list includes such groups and invidusals as terrorists and narcotics traffickers, according to the State Department.

"The U.S. government simply cannot continue its ineffective piecemeal approach of responding in the aftermath of WikiLeaks' damage," King wrote. "The administration must act to disrupt the WikiLeaks enterprise. The U.S. government should be making every effort to strangle the viability of Assange's organization."

King noted that U.S. firms such as Amazon.com, PayPal and Visa that had been doing business with WikiLeaks have since stopped. But he noted that Assange signed a book deal late last year with U.S. publishing company Alfred A. Knopf that will pay him about $1 million, which will help him keep WikiLeaks going. "Assange seems more emboldened than ever in WikiLeaks' continued viability," King added.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., along with Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., introduced legislation in the closing weeks of the last Congress that would amend the Espionage Act to make it illegal to publish the names of human intelligence informants to the U.S. military and intelligence community.

Two key players in the telecommunications arena who don't always see eye to eye found themselves on the same page Wednesday when they argued that the key to maintaining U.S. leadership in mobile technologies comes down to ensuring an adequate supply of spectrum to meet the growing consumer demand for wireless devices.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson discussed the issue along with Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Bewkes at a forum at the Brookings Institution on how to enhance U.S. competitiveness and innovation for long-term economic growth.

Stephenson said one "brick wall" to the future growth of new wireless technologies is the availability of spectrum. He noted that in the past while it might take AT&T four to five years to use up 10 megahertz of spectrum, now "we'll burn through that in about 10 months." To read more, click here. (Subscription required).

The NASA Inspector General's office released a report Wednesday detailing more than $2 million of waste and fraud involving NASA research grants provided in conjunction with the Small Business Administration's Small Business Innovation Research program.

The audit was initiated after an investigation found unscrupulous applicants collected payments multiple times. The SBIR program works with other federal agencies such as NASA to direct federal research dollars to qualified small businesses.

The review found that "while NASA's initial choice of SBIR award recipients appeared objective and merit-based, its oversight and monitoring of awards was deficient," with the result that about 25 percent of the awards included improper payments totaling $2.7 million.

In response to the IG report, Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., urged NASA to quickly implement the inspector general's recommendations. They included calling on the agency to implement 24 internal controls aimed at helping to prevent and detect SBIR fraud and abuse such as better training for SBIR evaluators and enhanced cooperation with SBA on combating waste and fraud.

"Government-supported scientific research and innovation is one of the keys to our country's future economic growth. We can't afford to lose any of our precious research and development dollars to waste, fraud or abuse," Rockefeller said in a statement.

The Senate passed legislation in the last Congress to reauthorize SBIR and the SBA's Small Business Technology Transfer program that included language added by Rockefeller and Senate Small Business ranking member Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, aimed at addressing concerns about fraud and abuse, Rockefeller said. The bill, however, died in the House.

Snowe said the IG's report "highlights the need for Congress to pass comprehensive legislation reauthorizing the SBIR program and providing agencies with the necessary tools to improve their oversight efforts."

AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson gave some more details Wednesday as to why his firm decided to provide backing, albeit lukewarm, for the open Internet order approved late last month by the Federal Communications Commission.

During a forum on U.S. innovation and competitiveness at the Brookings Institution, Stephenson was asked about the obstacles he sees to innovation and job creation in the United States. He cited tax policies that discourage investment in the United States as the top barrier, but he also pointed to regulatory obstacles. "Regulation creates uncertainty," adding that uncertainty is one of the biggest obstacles to investment, he said.

Stephenson noted this in explaining why AT&T worked "very aggressively to come to a place on how wireless and the Internet is regulated." FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski appeared at the same event, and sitting next to him, Stephenson said the chairman would "know I was lying if I said I was very pleased" with the open Internet order. But he added that it gave broadband providers with more regulatory certainty.

"We didn't get everything we wanted," Stephenson noted. "I wanted no regulation. ... But we ended at a place where we have a line of sight and we know and can commit to investments."

But while other broadband providers also provided tepid support for the order, Verizon did not. Public interest groups blasted the exemption for wireless broadband from the non-discrimination provision of the open Internet rules, while congressional Republicans vowed to block it because they said it goes too far in regulating the Internet.

At the same time, the order may end up being challenged in court providing more uncertainty.

After an expected round of hearings on the FCC's open Internet order in Congress, "the next bit of action happening is in the courts," telecom lobbyist Catherine McCullough, a former Democratic counsel to the Senate Commerce Committee, said Friday during an appearance on C-Span's "The Communicators" program.

She added that while there is still much disagreement on what "neutrality should look like, everyone is in agreement that a delay in determining the playing field hurts everyone and yet that is of course what court action is going to mean."

As students prepare for annual science fairs staged in school gymnasiums and auditoriums around the country, Google is launching its first-ever online science fair, opening a global science competition to students from around the world.

In partnership with CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), LEGO, National Geographic and Scientific American, Google announced Tuesday that it would accept entries from students 13 to 18 years old until April 4.

Students have the chance to win a grand prize that includes a $50,000 scholarship, a trip to the Galapagos Islands, and other prizes from the competition's sponsors.

"(Google's founders) were fortunate to be able to get their idea in front of lots of people," says the company's announcement. "But how many ideas are lost because people don't have the right forum for their talents to be discovered? We believe that science can change the world--and one way to encourage that is to celebrate and champion young scientific talent as we do athletes and pop idols."

This online contest joins other international science competitions sponsored by companies such as Siemens and Intel.

In December, Congress voted to reauthorize the America COMPETES Act, which authorizes funding for basic research, programs aimed at boosting science, technology, engineering and math education and other measures aimed at promoting U.S. innovation, and President Obama has repeatedly called for more focus on science education to help Americans compete in the global market.

A group that advocates innovation in health care has released a poll showing broad support among Americans for increased government funding for research and development into new medical technologies.

The Council for American Medical Innovation sponsored the poll that found that 58 percent of respondents say the federal government should spend more money on medial innovation. Failure to spend more on medical technology and research will hamstring the country's future development and economic growth, said 72 percent of respondents.

And nearly 80 percent of respondents said they favor research and development tax credits; "government reforms to bring new innovations to market faster and at lower costs;" developing public-private partnerships between government and research institutions; and creating incentives to promote exports of medical technology and other innovation.

In a statement released Wednesday, the council urged federal officials to increase investments in medical technology and health care innovation.

"Never before in our history has there been a greater opportunity to create jobs, grow our economy and deliver the treatments, cures and breakthroughs necessary to combating the world's most pressing medical challenges," council co-chairman Dick Gephardt, a former U.S. representative from Missouri who served as House Democratic leader in the 1990s, said in a statement.

The 2009 economic stimulus package included billions of dollars to help spur health information technology and the adoption of electronic medical records.

The poll surveyed about 1,000 adults by telephone from Jan. 6-10. It has a margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percent.

Nextgov.com reports that an international treaty to establish regulations for computer security might be unattainable, according to a new report by the EastWest Institute think tank.

"It could take years to arrive at a global treaty on cybersecurity, since many states are not ready for it -- and perhaps never will be," concludes the study, which is based on ideas gathered during a May 2010 international summit sponsored by the Brussels-based institute.

The organization's leaders determined that cybersecurity legislation isn't the best fix for the frail digital economy. Voluntary private sector agreements and international standards are more practical avenues to pursue, they said. The report comes as lawmakers in both chambers have pledged to make comprehensive cybersecurity legislation a top priority this Congress. To read more, click here.

In addition to his promotion to chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., also has upgraded his Capitol Hill office space.

Walden has traded his third floor Rayburn office in for a more convenient first floor office where he is now on the same floor as the Energy and Commerce Committee. More notably, he also is right around the corner from the office of Energy and Commerce's new chairman, Fred Upton, R-Mich., who held on to his current Rayburn office after being elevated to the panel's top spot with the GOP takeover of the House. A Walden spokesman said the move near Upton's office was "just a coincidence."

Another perk to Walden's new congressional home is that it is right around the corner from a bank of elevators that lead down to the congressional subway to the Capitol building. The one downside may be that his new digs also are very close to the House daily press gallery's Rayburn office.

Walden's new office was held in the last Congress by Rep. Vern Ehlers, R-Mich., who retired at the end of the 111th Congress. It also is down the hall from the office held in the last Congress by Walden's predecessor as chairman of the Communications Subcommittee, former Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who was defeated in his bid for re-election. That office is now held by Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., the new chairman of the Transportation Committee.

Key Capitol Hill staffers say patent reform will come up in a big way in the 112th Congress, although what shape that reform takes remains to be seen.

Although some issues remain intractable, there is a growing consensus among lawmakers that half-baked patent reform would likely be worse than none at all, said five staffers representing top lawmakers in both the House and the Senate, speaking at an event Tuesday.

Looking ahead to the new Congress, several staffers said lawmakers may look to "break the log jam" by sponsoring stand-alone pieces of intellectual property legislation that gather wide support, rather than trying to bundle everything into a comprehensive reform package.

Laurent Crenshaw, legislative director for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., predicted that patent reform will be addressed by the new GOP majority in the House and that lawmakers will likely be willing to take a more dynamic approach.

"One of the ways my boss has looked at the issue in the past is, if we can't get comprehensive patent reform done we shouldn't let that stop us from moving ahead on areas where there's broader agreement," he told the assembled audience of congressional staffers, journalists and industry representatives.

From the other side of the Capitol and the political spectrum, Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's chief counsel, Neil Quinter, agreed that even if comprehensive patent reform is blocked again, changes to things like the patent fee structure and patent office processes could be passed to help alleviate some of the problems.

And Ryan Clough, legislative counsel for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., warned that any rushed reforms could do more harm than good.

"Patent issues will certainly carry over from the last Congress, but one of the questions we immediately face is whether a comprehensive reform bill is what we want right away," he said.

The staffers said intellectual property issues are vital to encouraging American innovation during the current economic recovery.

"We are very mindful of the balancing act between competition and property rights," said Caroline Holland, staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. "In this economic time we are looking at what America is producing and what we are producing is innovation."

At a separate event on Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said that patent reform would be among his top priorities and something he wanted to try to complete this year so that it would not get "tangled up next year with the presidential elections and everything else."

The Innovation Alliance, which was active on the patent issue in the last Congress and removed its opposition to the Senate patent bill after changes were included in a proposed manager's amendment crafted by Leahy and others last year, outlined its concerns with possible changes to current patent law, while also urging action to help reduce the extensive backlog of patent applications.

"In terms of the Chairman's legislation, we urge him and the committee to keep in mind the strong concerns of the Innovation Alliance and others on changes to the existing law on damages and post-grant review," the group, which includes firms such as Dolby Laboratories, QUALCOMM, and Symyx, said in a statement on Leahy's agenda. "Strong, reliable patent protections drive economic growth and job creation for American companies. A weakened system could slow our recovery, disincentivize innovation and harm our international competitiveness."

More than 10 years after 9/11, the U.S. Capitol Police still conducts its daily operations on an analog, non-encrypted radio network that can be effortlessly and legally monitored with a cheap police scanner, National Journal reported.

For years, officers, management, and labor representatives have asked Congress to upgrade the system, parts of which were built when Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neil was the Speaker of the House. It is so old that replacement radios are hard to come by and repairing them is difficult because many of the parts are no longer made.

Monday morning, anyone listening in with a scanner would have heard units responding to a "10-100"--the code for a potential hazardous material incident or suspicious package--at the Capitol South Metro Station. They could have monitored routine responses to door alarms, requests for assistance, and redeployments around the Capitol grounds. They would have heard an officer performing a routine explosives sweep on the exterior of the Cannon House Office Building. To read more, click here.

A coalition of self-described public interest groups is urging federal regulators to investigate wireless provider MetroPCS for blocking certain Internet content.

In a letter filed Monday, the groups accuse MetroPCS of violating recently enacted net neutrality rules that prohibit anti-competitive blocking and degrading of competing online services and are enforceable by the Federal Communications Commission.

The coalition consists of such groups as Media Access Project, Free Press, and others that insisted the FCC's rules, enacted last month, did not go far enough in protecting consumers.

"The FCC's mobile broadband loopholes adopted in its December Net Neutrality order are already leading to anti-competitive, anti-consumer practices," said Free Press policy counsel Chris Riley. "The agency must act quickly to investigate MetroPCS's service plans before similar blocking and content-based discrimination on wireless networks becomes an industry-wide problem."

According to the six-page letter, MetroPCS has introduced a tiered system under which customers are changed more for accessing high-usage sites such as Netflix and Skype.

"MetroPCS has announced recent changes to its mobile broadband service plans that offer a glimpse of the future of the mobile Internet, one in which carriers, not users, decide what content, applications, and services are important and will be delivered," the letter states. "This future would present great risks to innovation, competition, and consumer choice, and create a new "digital divide" between the fixed Internet and the mobile Internet, one that would have a significant, harmful impact on millions of American Internet users and thousands of American businesses."

Media Access Project Vice President Andrew Jay Schwartzman warned that if the FCC does not act, other Internet providers will likely follow.

MetroPCS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., has been tapped as the new House co-chairwoman of the Congressional Internet Caucus.

Eshoo, who represents Silicon Valley and has been active on tech issues for years, will replace former Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who was defeated for re-election in November. She joins Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., as the other House co-chairman. The Senate co-chairmen are Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, and John Thune, R-S.D.

"As the representative of the innovation capitol of our country, Silicon Valley, it is an honor to join Rep. Goodlatte, Senator Leahy, and Senator Thune as co-chairs of the Congressional Internet Caucus," Rep. Eshoo said. "I look forward to working together to address the complex issues facing access, innovation, and the prosperity of the Internet."

The caucus aims to educate lawmakers and the public about policy issues related to the Internet.

A new report that examined online sites that offer pirated content and counterfeit goods found that online trafficking in both is "rampant."

"While counterfeiting and piracy in the physical world are serious problems, these issues are growing at a significant rate online and pose unique challenges in remediation, due to the inherent nature of the Internet with its global reach, cost efficiencies, and anonymity," according to the report releaesed this month from MarkMonitor, which helps companies monitor their trademarks online.

The firm used publicly available Internet traffic data to examine several sites that offered counterfeit luxury goods or prescription drugs for sale or allowed users to download, stream or share pirated movies, television shows, music, software or video games. The firm said 67 percent of the pirated sites were hosted in the United States or Western Europe.

MarkMonitor focused on 10 "media brands" and found 43 sites that offered the pirated content. The sites attracted a total of 146 million visits per day on average and an estimated 53 billion visits per year. The top visited site, rapidshare.com, had 32 million daily visits on average, according to the report.

The 48 sites offering a dozen different types of counterfeit goods examined by MarkMonitor were much less trafficked, receiving more than 240,000 visits per day on average or more than 87 million visits per year.

The issue of online piracy and counterfeiting gained new attention last year with the approval of legislation by the Senate Judiciary Committee of a bill aimed at targeting the problem, especially among foreign websites. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is set Tuesday to outline his agenda for the 112th Congress and he is expected to reintroduce his bill.

"The MarkMonitor report underscores the urgency of enacting proactive policies to enhance enforcement tools to shut down these rogue websites," Steve Tepp, senior director of internet counterfeiting and piracy at the Chamber of Commerce's Global Intellectual Property Center, said in a statement.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced Monday he had appointed six members to the board of directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company.

USAC is a non-profit corporation that administers programs to provide high-cost telecommunications services to rural or low-income consumers, rural health providers, and schools and libraries.

Named to the board were:

• Representative for commercial mobile radio service providers: Scott Bergmann, Assistant Vice President for Regulatory Affairs, CTIA

• Representative for schools that are eligible to receive discounts: Anne Bryant, Executive Director, National School Boards Association

• Representative for libraries that are eligible to receive discounts: Anne Campbell, Consultant, ALC Consulting

• Representative for cable operators: Jose Manuel Jimenez, Executive Director, Regulatory Policy & Industry Relations, Cox Communications, Inc.

• Representative for state consumer advocates: Wayne Jortner, Senior Counsel, State of Maine Office of the Public Advocate

• Representative for non-rural incumbent LECs: Joel Lubin, Vice President-Public Policy, AT&T Services, Inc.

Consumer advocacy groups pressed the Federal Communications Commission Monday to go further in protecting consumers from unexpected hidden fees and overage charges in their wireless bills.

Designed to combat such so-called "bill shock," the proposed rules, unveiled in October, would require wireless carriers to warn their customers when they near their limits. But a coalition of groups says the FCC must go further and require companies to provide an opt-out option for consumers to stop service after their limits are reached.

Calling the FCC's efforts "long overdue," Free Press policy counsel Chris Riley released a statement urging federal regulators to enact stricter rules.

"While this is a good first step, the FCC needs to go further," he said. "The FCC should adopt a 'circuit breaker' rule that allows consumers to avoid having to pay overage fees. The decision to accept overage fees should rest squarely in the hands of informed consumers."

AT&T filed comments with the FCC Monday and insisted that the system should be left up to free market forces.

"Wireless competition compels providers to offer consumers effective means of avoiding unexpected charges, and it will continue to generate more powerful and user-friendly tools than would result from one-size-fits-all regulation," the document states.

The company also asserted that the FCC likely has no authority to issue bill-shock regulations.

Comcast officials are expecting a decision from federal regulators "very soon" and are touting support from a range of sources, including members of Congress.

The company has continued to make the rounds on Capitol Hill, rounding up support for the proposed joint venture with NBC Universal. Last week nearly 100 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to approve the plan.

In the letter, the representatives call on the FCC to move quickly and not impose any more restrictions.

"Any further delay in your agency's review process, and any further efforts to laden the transaction with formal regulatory requirements, could undermine much needed jobs and investment," the members wrote.

Opponents of the proposal were quick to point out that 84 of the 97 signatories received campaign donations from Comcast, but in a statement released Monday, Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen insists the plan will benefit consumers and communities.

"It has been two and a half weeks since the Chairman of the FCC initiated the final procedural step in granting approval for the Comcast-NBC Universal transaction," he wrote. "With an FCC decision expected very soon, we appreciate the continuing supportive comments from a variety of stakeholders - including diversity groups, elected officials, policymakers, independent filmmakers, and others - recognizing the many ways the combined company will benefit consumers and communities."

According to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, Verizon is confident enough in its network that it will provide unlimited data-use for iPhone customers when the carrier acquires the popular Apple phone sometime later this month.

Citing "a person familiar with the matter," the WSJ article pointed out that "Such plans would provide a key means of distinguishing its service from rival AT&T Inc., which limits how much Internet data such as videos and photos its customers may use each month."

So far, AT&T has been the exclusive carrier of the iPhone, but the company has been plagued by complaints about patchy service. While Verizon's foray into the iPhone world has sparked intense interest, it is unclear how long Verizon could offer unlimited data use.

David Hunt has been named as inspector general for the Federal Communications Commission, a post he has been covering on an acting basis for a year and a half.

Hunt has been at the FCC since 1996, after working as a trial lawyer. At the FCC he has worked as an attorney for the Common Carrier Bureau and Enforcement Bureau and served as assistant inspector general since 2006 before being named acting inspector general in June 2009, according to an FCC statement.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski praised Hunt in a statement released Monday.

"During the time he served as Acting IG, David and his team have been instrumental in working with us to uncover millions of dollars of fraud in federally funded programs, and helping to obtain numerous indictments and criminal convictions nationwide," Genachowski said.

In the aftermath of crisis, social media sites have become the go-to place for Americans - whether they are journalists spreading news or probing a suspect's background, mourners expressing grief, or pundits and politicians debating who's to blame.

During this latest tragedy, social media often became as a much a part of the story as a medium with which to share it.

NPR's tweet erroneously declaring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., had died after Saturday's shooting spread quickly over the Internet, even after the next wave of urgent twittering sought to correct the story.

Almost as quickly, the Internet lit up with speculation about Sarah Palin's controversial "gun sight" graphic on her Facebook page. When the former vice presidential candidate reacted to the shooting, it came on the ubiquitous social media site.

When officials named Jared Lee Loughner as the man accused of gunning down Giffords and more than a dozen others, the first information on who Loughner is and why he may have acted came from YouTube rants about mind control and currency issues, as well as his MySpace page with its now-famous book list.

Since then, the debate over all of it has dominated social media websites.
According to numbers provided by Facebook, "Giffords" or "Gabrielle Giffords" has garnered 2.7 million mentions on the site over the weekend. Other trending "mentions" are: "Arizona" or "Tucson," with 2 million; "shooting," with 665,000 mentions; and "condolences," with 30,000 mentions.

Despite her supporters' efforts to distance Palin from any relation to the tragedy, mentions of "Sarah Palin" hit 440,000 over the weekends, according to Facebook statistics.

Commenting on his Facebook page, New Jersey resident James Hannon wrote: "(Palin) really should've known better. Her rhetoric was a bomb waiting to go off. And now it did." His short comment then produced a string of more than 30 responses, both in agreement and disagreement.

But others also took to Facebook to defend Palin and other conservative commentators.

"A crazy person is going to misinterpret anything said by anyone; we can't just stop criticizing our political opponents during contested campaigns just because someone may go out on a crazy binge!!!" wrote Florida resident Emmy Maldonado on Sunday. Monday she went on to say: "How is putting a 'bullseye' on a congressional seat any worse 'vitriol' than saying 'if they bring a knife, we'll bring a gun?' The later phrase was used by Pres. Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign to refer to campaign fighting tactics ... We will not be intimidated into shutting up!!"

Other hot topics on the site are mental health, gun control, the 9-year-old victim, and the tea party, said Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes.

Whether posted in a status update or expressed in spurts of 140 words or less, the national debate and a search for answers and healing continues to dominate the social media scene after Saturday's fatal shooting in Arizona.

While they would rarely get an A in any English class, the conversations on social media sites have shared the opinions, thoughts, and feelings of a nation. With the political debate still raging, social media sites also become a form of "makeshift memorial" as family and friends, members of congress, and complete strangers offered their condolences.

"Just wanted to send my thoughts and condolences for the people who were involved in the tragic events on Saturday. GET WELL GABBY," tweeted @Jim_in_Tempe.

And Pittsburgh resident Robert Burnett used Facebook to express how the shooting haunted him.

"I can't stop thinking about the 9-year old girl who went to see her Congress woman to learn about govt and got capped," he wrote.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was among those shot at a supermarket Saturday in Arizona. Giffords has worked on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee and served as chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. Giffords is linked closely to NASA through her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, as well. In the wake of the shooting, lawmakers, administrators and industry leaders released their reactions.

• From NASA Administrator Charles Bolden:

"We at NASA are deeply shocked and saddened by the senseless shooting of Representative Giffords and others at Saturday's public event in Tucson. As a long-time supporter of NASA, Representative Giffords not only has made lasting contributions to our country, but is a strong advocate for the nation's space program and a member of the NASA family. She also is a personal friend with whom I have had the great honor of working. We at NASA mourn this tragedy and our thoughts and prayers go out to Congresswoman Giffords, her husband Mark Kelly, their family, and the families and friends of all who perished or were injured in this terrible tragedy."

• From Rep. Ralph M. Hall, R-Texas, chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee:

"I am shocked and saddened by this terrible news, and my prayers are with Gabrielle, her husband Astronaut Mark Kelly, her family, her staff, and all those who were injured and lost their lives and their families. Gabrielle has so many friends in Congress and is an outstanding Congresswoman for her district and for the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. I have been to her district with her to support solar energy and to the Cape with her to support the Shuttle flights. She is a wonderful person, and our prayers are with her, Captain Kelly, and the families of all the victims of this tragedy."

• From the Aerospace Industries Association:

"The Aerospace Industries Association is deeply saddened by the senseless attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) at a constituent event outside Tucson, Arizona today."

"Rep. Gabrielle Giffords serves her constituents and her country with passion and with genuine enthusiasm," said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. "Our prayers are with her family and her staff as they get through this difficult situation."

"Rep. Giffords most recently served as Chair of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee where she has been tireless champion of the nation's space program. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Giffords has also demonstrated a deep understanding of the national security, economic and technological benefits of a strong U.S. space program and aerospace industry."

A report by the Office of Engineering & Technology Laboratory confirmed the explosive growth of wireless technology in the last decade.

The Federal Communications Commission released the report Friday.

The report notes a few unsurprising observations, including that new devices are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are offering consumers more options. But it also reported hard numbers that reveal just how significant the increase in wireless transmission devices has become.

From the FCC report:

• "The number of wireless transmitters authorized by the FCC in 2010 was nearly 12,000, an increase of almost four times the amount from a decade ago."

• "A 700-percent increase since 2008 in the number of devices with more than three or more transmitters, up from 7 percent of total devices in 2008 to more than 50 percent today."

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley wrote Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski Thursday, expressing concerns from "Oregonians" about Comcast's plan to buy a majority share of NBC Universal.

In the letter, the Oregon Democrat urged Genachowski to consider four concerns: high prices in rural markets, increased prices in the future, the ability to watch the Portland Trailblazers, and net neutrality.

"As both a content provider and Internet service provider, Comcast is playing the role of traffic cop while having a vested interest in which cars slow down and which race ahead," Merkley wrote. "This dual role creates a structural incentive for Comcast to provide a fast lane for its own content while assigning a slow lane to competitors - a violation of net neutrality."

"For over a century, antitrust law has reflected a healthy skepticism of the distorting effects of great concentrations of market share," he went on to say. "There are potential benefits to customers, but also potential costs. Thus, please provide thorough and fair consideration of these concerns expressed by Oregonians."

LAS VEGAS - Commerce Secretary Gary Locke launched into a spirited defense Thursday of the Obama administration's $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program amid growing accusations from Republicans in the new Congress of wasteful and duplicative spending. The initiative, which stems from the 2009 economic stimulus package, is designed to promote broadband deployment in mostly rural areas with little or no Internet access.

"We had much greater demand than available dollars," Locke told reporters during a press briefing here at the Consumer Electronics Show. In the communities that received funding, "the governors, the local officials were very, very supportive of these projects -- we're talking about Democrats and Republican governors, and office holders and local government officials." He also emphasized that his agency and the Agriculture Department, which are running the program, have received strong support from the private sector, and have the resources to conduct their own oversight.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee, told National Journal magazine this week that both federal agencies "flushed the money out the door" before mapping of broadband availability was complete. He plans to conduct rigorous oversight to determine if there was unnecessary spending.

During his prepared remarks, Locke focused on the Obama administration's efforts to promote innovation, free up additional spectrum resources for wireless broadband and remove trade barriers in foreign markets.

LAS VEGAS -- The attacks on television broadcasters at the CES Show this week just keep on coming. In the prepared version of a speech he's scheduled to deliver Friday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski accuses television broadcasters of underutilizing digital frequencies that could be devoted to a "higher" purpose.

"Since the DTV transition, some broadcasters are making effective use of the capabilities of their spectrum, but some are not," says the text of Genachowski's speech. "For those who are not, their spectrum could be put to higher use for other purposes." Genachowski goes on to say that proposed "incentive auctions" that would compensate stations for vacating airwaves would "enable market forces to unleash the value of that spectrum for broadband use."

The comments follow sharp criticism of broadcasters from Consumer Electronics Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro during a Thursday morning keynote and press briefing later that day. "The fact is that broadcasters can continue to provide a signal in a reduced capacity," he told reporters, noting that broadcasters "are sitting on a lot of spectrum" yet reach less than 10 percent of U.S. homes.

Broadcasters, who dispute the 10 percent figure, argue that concerns about inefficient use of their airwaves are overblown and that many operators are tapping the full extent of their frequencies by offering multiple digital channels and planning for delivery of mobile DTV signals to handheld devices.

EMBARGOED UNTIL 9PM EST, JANUARY 6

Prepared Remarks of Chairman Julius Genachowski
Federal Communications Commission

2011 Consumer Electronics Show

Las Vegas, NV

January 7, 2011

Thank you, Gary Shapiro, for that introduction.

This is a big week for Gary. He has a new book out. "The Comeback: How American Innovation Will Restore the American Dream." It was released as an eBook yesterday and hits bookstores next Tuesday -- making this year's CES the most elaborate book-launch party in history.

Gary's doing a great job as head of CEA. I don't just say that because Gary's our host. I say it because his book has a chapter that praises the FCC's National Broadband Plan and our recommendations on spectrum.

Speaking of spectrum -- well, that's what I'd like to do today -- because what's happening here at CES so strongly illustrates both the immense opportunity and the critical challenge around this vital public resource.

The consumer electronic industry is going wireless, and the future success of this wide-ranging industry and others depends on whether our government acts quickly to unleash more spectrum -- the oxygen that sustains our mobile devices.

We're in the early stages of a mobile revolution that is sparking an explosion in wireless traffic. Without action, demand for spectrum will soon outstrip supply.

To seize the opportunities of our mobile future, we need to tackle the challenges of our invisible infrastructure. We need to free up more spectrum.

If we do, we can drive billions of dollars in new private investment, fueling world-leading innovations, creating millions of new jobs, and enabling endless new products and services that can help improve the lives of all Americans.

If we don't tackle the spectrum challenge, network congestion will grow, and consumer frustration will grow with it. We'll put our country's economic competitiveness at risk, and squander the opportunity to lead the world in mobile.

That's why unleashing spectrum to support mobile innovation is at the top of the FCC's 2011 agenda.

Incentive auctions are an essential tool to unleash spectrum, and a vital part of seizing the opportunities of mobile. It's a non-partisan issue with bipartisan support.

I applaud CEA for its strong work to make incentive auctions a reality. And I'm pleased to be here at CES, with so many people who live and breathe the opportunities of technology, to talk about the importance of fighting for our mobile future.

You can certainly see our mobile future at CES, with the breakthrough devices that surround us.

4G devices, for example, from aircards to new smartphones, deliver an experience comparable to what many enjoy on desktops -- faster speeds and lower latency. I congratulate the companies whose billions of dollars of 4G investments will soon bring a tidal wave of new mobile innovations, from entertainment, to two-way video, to telemedicine.

Tablets are here at CES, another breakthrough device. Consider this: Last year at this time, there was no real commercial market for tablets. For this coming year, Gartner is projecting global sales of 55 million tablets.

Also on the CES floor you can see home entertainment manufacturers breaking new ground with Internet connectivity, which is increasingly wireless.

Machine-to-machine technologies are poised to take off. The Internet of Things could have a transformational impact in many areas of our economy. Internet-connected sensors are moving into cars and appliances, potentially saving energy; and into health-related devices, potentially saving lives.

EBooks are here at CES, and I'm hopeful they'll be moving into schools and help transform education for the better. A survey the FCC released yesterday found that most schools plan to expand the use of digital textbooks in the next three years. Digital textbooks can expand opportunity for kids everywhere.

The U.S. should be the first country in the world to move from paper textbooks to digital textbooks.

Mobile broadband has created a tremendous new platform for innovation. All of the wireless-related innovations I've mentioned are fueled by software and applications. At the 2008 CES, the first app store hadn't yet opened. In 2009, Americans downloaded 300 million apps to mobile devices. Last year, the number was 5 billion.

The new and growing "apps economy" has tens of thousands of developers and companies, including tons of startups attracting significant private investment and creating new jobs. It's vital that this innovation and investment around mobile broadband continue to thrive and grow.

Mobile also offers a powerful new platform for commerce. Look at eBay's iPhone app. It's been downloaded 12 million times, and sales by eBay sellers on smartphones could top $1.5 billion in 2010.

A growing percentage of those online sales -- and those from Amazon, Google and other companies enabling mobile e-commerce -- are coming from offline small businesses using mobile to expand their markets, grow their businesses, and create jobs.

Everywhere you look, mobile is becoming a staple of the workplace, increasing productivity and contributing to our economy. From managing crops on a farm to managing inventory at Best Buy, mobile broadband is increasing productivity and contributing to our economy.

Thanks to Skype, Facebook, Twitter and many others, mobile has become an incredible platform for connecting friends and families, kids on one end of the country to grandparents on the other.

Mobile broadband can empower people not only in 21st century economies, but can promote 21st century democracy. We've seen this around the world.

None of what I've described so far - and what we see on the CES floor -- could happen without ever more-powerful microchips and electronics.

We see this at the FCC's labs, where we review and approve spectrum-emitting devices ranging from smartphones to mobile health devices. These devices contain at least one wireless transmitter - enabling connection to, for example, 3G or 4G networks, or Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or GPS.

Earlier today, we released our first FCC Labs Report on Wireless Trends. It showed that at the beginning of 2008, only seven percent of approved consumer electronic devices had three or more wireless transmitters. Now it's almost 50 percent. A 700 percent increase in just three years.

More confirming evidence that the mobile revolution is only gaining momentum.

A recent Morgan Stanley report summed it up: Mobile broadband is being adopted far faster than any computing technology in history.

Here's the issue: All of these wireless innovations require an invisible infrastructure that is up to the task.

They require something we can't see -- spectrum, the airwaves -- the signals that beam from towers and quietly carry digital information -- data, voice, video -- until they light up those devices we increasingly rely on.

Though we can't see it, spectrum is becoming increasingly essential to the daily lives of almost every American.

This invisible infrastructure is the backbone of a growing percentage of our economy and our lives.

And whether or not most Americans know the physics of spectrum, they know what it feels like to have a slow connection or a call dropped.

And they know we need to lead the world in mobile, and not fall behind.

But while American ingenuity and our appetite for wireless technology is limitless, spectrum is not. And the coming spectrum crunch threatens American leadership in mobile and the benefits it can deliver to our economy and our lives.

It's not just me saying this. Gary and CEA have been saying this for some time.

And during our work on the National Broadband Plan, the FCC received a strong letter from over a hundred companies -- including Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Cisco, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, and Verizon -- entities representing many billions in investment and millions of American jobs. These companies were united in telling the FCC: "Without more spectrum, America's global leadership in innovation and technology is threatened."

The facts don't lie. The amount of spectrum for mobile broadband in the FCC pipeline represents about a threefold increase over where we were a few years ago. Sounds good, until you see the forecasts of a 35X increase in mobile broadband traffic over the next 5 years.

And I believe that projection is conservative, not fully accounting for the explosive growth of tablets and other devices.

This coming spectrum crunch is not just a real issue for the future of gadgets, it's a vital strategic issue for the future of our economy and job creation, our global competitiveness, and our quality of life.

Failure to tackle the spectrum challenge could have disastrous consequences.

If we don't act, frustrated consumers will be forced to choose between lousy service and rising prices, driving down both the adoption and utility of mobile broadband in the United States.

If we don't act, we will put our country's economic competitiveness at risk.

Make no mistake: We are in a global race for world leadership in mobile.

It's vital that 21st century mobile innovations be developed and launched here in America, and then exported to the growing global market. It's a key way we'll create jobs and opportunity in the United States.

Other countries aren't standing still. Countries in Europe and Asia are moving forward on freeing up spectrum and investing in mobile broadband. Some project Asia to have more 4G devices than the U.S. by 2014.

We have to move, and we have to move faster than our global competitors.

Otherwise, we'll read more stories like the one about Applied Materials, which moved its Chief Technology Officer and advanced solar R&D operations from Silicon Valley to Beijing. How many times does that have to happen before we declare a crisis?

To be clear, when it comes to mobile broadband, the U.S is off to a very strong start.

We completed our DTV transition before other countries, and are beginning to reap the benefits of our digital dividend. U.S. companies are ahead on 4G having been leaders in the development of the technology and having already invested billions in next-generation networks. And there's been tremendous U.S.-based innovation in mobile content, apps and services, the envy of the world.

But a head start does not guarantee a win. Global leadership is not a given in the 21st century digital economy.

The challenge we face here in the U.S. is not just that demand has spiked and spectrum is finite, it's that our spectrum policies are outdated, reflecting the communication needs of the 20th century, not the 21st.

That's why, in 2011, a central priority at the FCC is unleashing spectrum to spur innovation, economic growth and job creation.

In our National Broadband Plan and elsewhere, we've laid out a bold mobile innovation agenda, and we've already made significant progress on multiple fronts. It rests on four pillars.

One, we need to make more spectrum available for mobile broadband. So we are eliminating unnecessary restrictions on use of spectrum. This has allowed us to recover 25 megahertz previously used for WCS -- wireless communications services -- and will make available 90 megahertz of mobile satellite spectrum so it can be used for terrestrial broadband -- all toward our goal for freeing up 500 megahertz of spectrum for mobile broadband, almost double what is currently available.

We're also working closely with the Commerce Department and other government agencies to find ways to make more federal spectrum available for mobile broadband.

Two, we need to encourage more innovative and efficient uses of spectrum. We'll continue to encourage dynamic spectrum sharing and secondary markets for spectrum, as well as development and deployment of femtocells, smart antenna technology, and devices that can access unlicensed spectrum like Wi-Fi to off-load traffic from cellular networks.

We recently freed up "white spaces" spectrum, the most significant amount of unlicensed spectrum made available by the FCC in 25 years -- something CEA has long advocated, and an important new platform for innovation. This robust spectrum will bring innovations like Super Wi-Fi - faster and stronger than current Wi-Fi, and with greater coverage.

I'm encouraged by signs of innovation around unlicensed spectrum and Super Wi-Fi, including at companies like Microsoft, Google, Dell, Cablevision, Time Warner and a bevy of smaller companies whose names aren't familiar to us yet such as Spectrum Bridge, Shared Spectrum and Adaptrum, that are all investing in developing technology and business models around unlicensed spectrum.

I hope to see companies large and small bring Super Wi-Fi and other products using this spectrum to next year's CES.

Third, we must empower consumers and entrepreneurs by driving widespread adoption of mobile broadband, and promoting competition, transparency and vibrant innovation on the mobile platform.

Recent studies show that mobile devices are helping increase Internet adoption among low-income and minority communities, and can help address longstanding challenges for people with disabilities. Over the holidays, I saw the story of a five-year-old boy in North Carolina with a rare genetic disorder who can now communicate effectively for the first time thanks to a $10 app on his new iPad. For all the reasons that broadband in general is important for jobs and businesses, and for education, energy and health care, mobile broadband has particular promise, and will be an important part of our work around broadband adoption and digital literacy.

Fourth, we need to spur the deployment of wireless infrastructure. At the FCC, we are removing barriers to the build-out of wireless infrastructure. For example, we established a shot-clock to speed the deployment of new cell towers. We're looking to cut red tape and pursue all smart policies to speed network deployment and ensure investment dollars go to building and upgrading networks, not the inefficiencies of the process.

Let me conclude by emphasizing the importance of voluntary incentive auctions, a strong and essential idea to promote each of the objectives I've mentioned.

The core idea behind incentive auctions is to utilize free market forces to ensure that spectrum is put to its most valued uses. The proposal would unlock substantial value that is now untapped because of outdated policies.

Under the proposal, which was developed in the National Broadband Plan, the FCC would auction spectrum for flexible wireless broadband, with the spectrum in the auction supplied on a voluntary basis by current licensees, like mobile satellite licensees or TV broadcasters, who would receive some portion of the proceeds of the auction.

It relies on market-based incentives -- hence, "incentive auctions."

In the case of TV broadcasters, under our plan a broadcaster could choose to contribute the six megahertz they are using, or continue to broadcast by sharing a channel with one or more stations, or simply not participate and continue to broadcast as they do today.

Since the DTV transition, some broadcasters are making effective use of the capabilities of their spectrum, but some are not. For those who are not, their spectrum could be put to higher use for other purposes. What we need is a mechanism to enable market forces to unleash the value of that spectrum for broadband use, and we believe that incentive auctions are that mechanism.

Especially given the need for mobile broadband, how can we justify shielding broadcast spectrum from market forces?

Incentive auctions would be a big win for our country. Consumers, companies and our economy would benefit from freeing up spectrum for mobile broadband. Auctions would generate billions of dollars for the Treasury. And the current holders of spectrum that contribute to an auction can receive a capital infusion and still be able to distribute their programming by sharing spectrum with other stations, or through other platforms.

At the FCC, we've already begun to pave the way for incentive auctions in several prime spectrum bands, moving to lift technical restrictions so certain bands of spectrum can be used for broadband.

In the global race for mobile leadership, there is no time for standing still. And the FCC will continue to prepare for incentive auctions so that we can move quickly should Congress give us the authority to conduct voluntary incentive auctions.

The time is right for speedy action. Bipartisan bills were introduced last year in both the Senate and the House. President Obama has endorsed this proposal.

And just this week, the Consumer Electronics Association, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Semiconductor Industry Association and the Telecommunication Industry Association wrote a joint-letter to Congressional leaders calling on Congress to "swiftly pass legislation allowing the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions."

These groups represent more than 2,000 companies -- with nearly $2 trillion in annual revenue. They called incentive auctions "critical to furthering innovation and growing jobs in America."

It's time to take the necessary steps to ensure that spectrum will be the great enabler of mobile innovation in the 21st century, not a chokepoint.

I believe incentive auctions are a test of whether the U.S. can make the right strategic choices in a complex and fast-moving digital economy.

As the leader of the global economy in the 20th century, and as the greatest country in the world for innovation, entrepreneurship and free markets, the U.S. has huge advantages in the race for global economic leadership in the 21st century.

But we know from the work of Clayten Christensen and others that market leaders face real challenges when disruptive technologies develop -- what he called an Innovators Dilemma. Mobile broadband is a disruptive technology that creates challenges not only for American companies, but for American policy. We have to meet those challenges head on, and take the smart steps for our economic future.

To the hundreds of companies and groups that have called for incentive auctions, I share your vision of what's necessary for U.S. leadership in mobile. I look forward to working together to fight for our future.

Thank you.

LAS VEGAS -- Tom Tauke, Verizon's top lobbyist, told National Journal Thursday that the telecommunications giant is urging the new Congress not to abandon earlier Democratic plans to update the 1996 Telecommunications Act, a law widely viewed as outdated for today's broadband-driven universe. "We're encouraging Republicans on the House side to look at overhauling the Communications Act," Tauke affirmed during an interview in a private lounge reserved for exhibitors at the Consumer Electronics Show. "There's a whole array of issues that arise . . . because of the changes in technology," he said yet "there is no policy in place for the Internet broadband infrastructure."

He wants a rewrite to tackle a range of topics, from regulation of Web-based "smart grids" designed to reduce power consumption to privacy protections for digital data stored in the "cloud" of the Internet. He also sees a need for Congress to weigh in on bread and butter telecom matters, including the ongoing debate over restructuring the $7. 3 billion universal service phone subsidy fund for the broadband era. Furthermore, he said lawmakers should strengthen intellectual property protections for high-tech companies and provide more guidance on Internet tax issues.

"We have problems that need to be addressed," and need direction on concerns that are "going to be out there," Tauke said. Last year, Democrats in both chambers announced plans to begin overhauling the 1996 Act and conducted meetings with stakeholders, but dissension over how to proceed and the shift in power in the House upended their plans.

Regarding the FCC's approval last month of controversial "network neutrality" rules governing Internet providers, Tauke reiterated Verizon's opposition but said his company hasn't decided whether to sue in an effort to nullify the regulations. A final decision could come in a few weeks, he added.

When Republicans selected Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., to head a powerful subcommittee that oversees telecommunications policy, they sent a blunt message about their dislike of the Democratic-controlled Federal Communications Commission, National Journal reports. More than any other contender for the job, Walden has been scathing in his criticism of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski--denouncing his policy decisions and even his personnel choices.

The lawmaker is also a leading critic of ambitious Internet regulations that Genachowski spearheaded through the agency last month (over strong objections from the Republican commissioners). Walden's rise amounts to a declaration of war against Genachowski's agenda.

"I go into this with some strongly held principles," Walden told National Journal. "There is a proper role for government." To read more, click here. (Subscription required)

A wide swath of civil rights activists, consumer advocates, Libertarians and security analysts blasted the now-infamous airport body scanners at a conference organized by the Electronic Privacy Information Center Thursday.

The diverse group of policy leaders and advocates argued that the controversial airport security devices are at a minimum pointless and ineffective and, at the worst, dangerously intrusive.

Well-known consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader called the Transportation Security Administration's decision to use the body scanners a "fundamentally irrational strategy" based on reactionary tendencies and fueled by corporate and political pressures.

Other panelists agreed, calling on Congress to cut funding for the scanners that "see" through passengers' clothing and produce images of their bodies.

"When Libertarians and Ralph Nader agree that a program is bad, it's time for the government to listen up," said Wes Benedict, executive director of the Libertarian Party's National Committee. "Government is supposed to protect our rights, not take them away. When is enough enough?"

Several security professionals urged the TSA to focus on more effective security measures -- many less technology based -- that have been proven to work, including basic detection of guns and bombs, behavioral profiling, and bomb-detection dogs.

Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, two changes -- strengthening cockpit doors and convincing passengers to fight back -- have increased air travel safety, said Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer at the security company BT Counterpane. "Pretty much everything else is security theater."

LAS VEGAS - The battle over America's spectrum resources ratcheted up a notch Thursday when Consumer Electronics Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro accused television broadcasters of "squatting now on our broadband future." Delivering a keynote speech, Shapiro suggested that TV stations should relinquish more of their digital airwaves to meet growing demand for wireless connectivity and head off a possible shortage of megahertz for broadband.

Broadcasters have agreed to voluntary givebacks of their frequencies, an approach the FCC endorsed after initially considering forced reallocation of spectrum, but Shapiro implied that those commitments as lacking. Proponents of shifting TV spectrum to wireless carriers argue that broadcasting is an antiquated and inefficient technology and that stations often do not use all of their frequencies.

"Perhaps while he was writing his book, Gary missed the fact that broadcasters just gave back over a quarter of our airwaves after the DTV transition," responded National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton, taking a swipe at Shapiro's new book about innovation, The Comeback, which debuts today.

"He may have also missed the pay TV cord-cutting phenomenon and the fact that TV antenna sales are soaring. Broadcasting, because it is a 'one-to-many' transmission service, is a far more efficient user of spectrum than the 'one-to-one' spectrum-hogging cellphone network," added Wharton, who was in the Hilton Convention Center ballroom as Shapiro spoke.

Before a military employee allegedly leaked a mountain of classified documents to WikiLeaks, reportedly by downloading data to a music CD, the White House had been in the middle of updating rules on reporting agency network weaknesses. Obama officials have not said whether they will revise the reporting guidelines further after agencies complete self-evaluations of their classified information protections, Nextgov.com reported.

Under Office of Management and Budget rules issued in April 2010, chief information officers have been working within the confines of the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act to shift to an automated process for complying with the law's paperwork requirements. Instead of requiring managers to check boxes in reports to indicate compliance with security protocols, special software will continuously collect metrics on the status of controls so that CIOs have a more accurate and comprehensive view of vulnerabilities.

Starting this month, CIOs must update the Homeland Security Department monthly, rather than quarterly, on their overall security postures by feeding summaries of these assessments to a central, governmentwide inbox called CyberScope. To read more, click here.

A new survey released Thursday finds that while most schools report having at least some high-speed Internet service, a majority said their connections are not fast enough to meet their needs.

The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive for the Federal Communications Commission and polled public schools and libraries that receive funds through the federal E-rate program to help pay for Internet service. The survey found that 95 percent of those polled said they have some type of wired broadband connection to at least one facility, while 2 percent have a satellite Internet connection and 3 percent still rely on dial-up Internet service.

Despite this, nearly 80 percent of those polled said their current broadband connections "do not fully meet their current needs" with 55 percent of this group citing slow connections as the top concern. The survey found that 55 percent of respondents said they have broadband speeds of 3 megabits per second or greater, while 10 percent report speeds of 100 Mbps or greater. The FCC now defines broadband as Internet service with a minimum speed of 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream.

One of the biggest barriers respondents said to obtaining the type of Internet service they need is cost, with 39 percent citing the price of faster service as the top reason why they don't have it.

As to what they use their connections for, most schools (98 percent) said e-mail is the most widely used Internet application. Libraries reported that the Internet is most widely used (86 percent) to access online reference materials.

The FCC approved an order this fall making changes to the current E-rate rules to allow schools to more easily obtain E-rate support for higher bandwidth services.

The poll surveyed 1,060 E-rate recipients February 25-April 5, 2010 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

LAS VEGAS -- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may not look like a rock star, but he packed the house like one during the Wednesday night kick-off of the annual Consumer Electronics Show here. During his appearance in the cavernous ballroom of the Las Vegas Hilton, Ballmer steered clear of Washington issues, including the debates over Internet regulation, offshoring of tech jobs, entry of skilled workers into the U.S., and the implications of cloud computing. Instead, he focused on announcements about a slew of Microsoft products, including the recently debuted Windows Phone 7, the newest line of Windows 7 computers and upgrades to the Xbox gaming system.

But spotted in the VIP section of the crowd were several luminaries of the Washington tech scene, including former Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who helmed the powerful House telecom subcommittee through the last Congress, Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell and Colin Crowell, who served as a top telecom advisor to Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. This morning, Consumer Electronics Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro and Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg will deliver keynotes, followed by the opening of the massive convention floor.

The appearance included an animated version of Ballmer that prompted the real executive to quip: "Maybe it's just me, but that avatar was pretty darn bald."

Keep checking Tech Daily Dose this week for more updates about the show.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bruce Gottlieb is National Journal's general counsel. He was previously chief counsel of the Federal Communications Commission and a staff writer at Slate, where he was the first author of the Explainer column.

The FCC has just finished a busy few months, first voting on a net neutrality order and then circulating a Comcast-NBC order to the full commission, which will likely be finalized in the next few weeks.

So with the two biggest issues of 2010 in the rear-view mirror, what's next for FCC World in the new year? Here are your ex-regulator's predictions on the issues that will dominate 2011:

1. Just Ask Mr. Upton. A newly GOP-led House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, is the big news for 2011. The Republicans are taking the helm after four years in the minority; it's been a decade since they had oversight authority over a Democratic FCC.

They may revisit every important Obama administration tech decision over the past two years. Expect particular focus on the FCC's recent net neutrality decision and the $8 billion of broadband grants from the post-election Recovery Act.

Actual legislation reversing past agency decisions or restraining future ones seems unlikely. But the practical burden and in terrorem effect of rigorous oversight are going to be big factors in 2011.

2. Net Neutrality All Over Again. The net neutrality order will also wend its way through the appellate courts. Plenty of important decision points in the months ahead. Four include:
-- Who is going to sue? Probably both ends of the ideological spectrum -- broadband providers and public interest groups who feel aggrieved by the split-the-baby compromise.

-- Which court will hear the case? Probably the D.C. Circuit. But it could end up elsewhere.

-- Will there be a judicial stay? Hard to say. But definitely possible. It matters because engineering decisions made today can't always be undone, even if the rules at issue are eventually overturned.

-- What if the FCC loses again? Maybe Congress will overhaul the antiquated Telecom Act and finally decide, up or down, whether the FCC has authority to regulate broadband. If not, it is hard to imagine any FCC, Democratic or otherwise, taking a third stab at a net neutrality rule. A lot will hinge on what Congress and the FCC look like after the 2012 elections. (Disclosure: Until this summer, I was a senior adviser to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and was involved in some of the early decisions that led to the recent net neutrality order; before that, I was an adviser to Commissioner Michael J. Copps.)

To read more, click here.

The Federal Communications Commission is challenging researchers and software developers to create applications to promote Internet openness.

The Open Internet Challenge, announced Wednesday, is designed to result in "apps that help consumers foster, measure, and protect Internet openness" and "is part of the FCC's efforts to empower end users to help preserve Internet openness," the FCC said in a statement.

"This challenge is about using the open Internet to protect the open Internet," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said. "Our goal is to foster user-developed applications that shine light on any practice that might be inconsistent with the free and open Internet. Empowering consumers with information about their own connections will promote a vibrant, innovative, world-leading broadband ecosystem."

In addition to apps development, the competition includes a research component that seeks academic papers about Internet openness. Submissions for both categories will be accepted from February 1 until June 1. A public voting period will crown a "people's choice" winner, while a panel of experts will choose final winners.

Winners will have their apps and research featured on the FCC's website and will be invited to present their work to the commission.

Ace technology developers and researchers can find out more, as well as enter the contest, at challenge.gov.

European human rights and Internet groups are urging the European Union to pressure Hungary to change a controversial media law that went into effect at the beginning of the month and places new restrictions on Internet and other content providers.

Hungary is set to take over the six-month presidency of the European Union on Thursday. The country's new law requires all content providers including newspapers, broadcast outlets and online websites to register with a Hungarian government media authority and ensure they provide balanced coverage or face possible fines or restrictions.

Several groups in Europe are participating in an online protest Wednesday of the Hungarian law by blacking out their websites. One of the participating groups, the French Internet freedom group La Quadrature du Net, wrote the European Commission and president of the European Parliament Wednesday calling on them to take "urgent and concrete steps" to oppose the Hungarian law.

"Such a law is not tolerable in the European Union, nor anywhere else for that matter," the group wrote. "If it is upheld, the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council will send a disastrous message to the rest of the world. All EU countries should be held to the highest democratic standards."

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso is set to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday. Barroso said during a news conference Wednesday that the commission has voiced concerns with the Hungarian law. During his meeting with Orban, Barroso said he wants to get "clarification of the situation and if possible the lifting of doubts that exist" about the law.

Facebook and two groups representing state attorneys general and chief information officers have reached an agreement aimed at resolving state concerns over the social media site's terms of service.

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers and the National Association of Attorneys General said the agreement will apply to states already on Facebook, and they expect it will serve as a model to be used by other states as they move to set up pages on Facebook.

NASCIO's Social Media Legal Workgroup and a NAAG task force began discussions more than a year ago with Facebook to resolve legal problems states identified related to Facebook's terms of service that kept many states from utilizing it and other social media sites. NASCIO said its workgroup would seek similar agreements with other social media sites to resolve concerns that have barred states from using those sites as well.

"Terms of service problems have impeded broader use of Facebook and other social media tools, as states push to expand use of the tools to enhance services, openness, and transparency," NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson said in a statement. "This agreement will help many states leverage social media tools to enhance communication with constituents."

Facebook agreed to make some changes to its terms of service and conditions including striking the indemnity clause except to the extent indemnity is allowed by a state's constitution or law; eliminating language requiring legal disputes to be settled in California courts and under California law; and requiring state agencies to include language prominently on any Facebook page directing consumers to an official state website.

"We are pleased to have been able to work with representatives from state and local governments in the United States to ensure that they can have a presence on Facebook," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said. "This effort is similar to our work with the U.S. federal government, which has resulted in more than 50 federal agencies creating hundreds of Facebook pages that allow them to connect with millions of Facebook fans."

President Obama has signed into law a measure that would reauthorize the America COMPETES Act, as well as legislation aimed at expanding low-power radio.

The two bills were among three dozen measures Obama signed into law Tuesday. The America COMPETES bill reauthorizes the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the research programs in the Energy Department's Office of Science. In addition to reauthorizing science, technology, engineering and math education programs, it also would establish an interagency STEM education coordination committee.

To help firms bring innovations to market, the bill calls for the creation of a Commerce Department program to provide loan guarantees to small and medium-sized manufacturers for the use or production of innovative technologies.

Obama also signed into law legislation that will allow the Federal Communications Commission to issue more licenses to low-power FM radio stations. To address concerns raised by broadcasters, stricter protections were added to the bill to help avoid interference with established radio stations.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said his agency would move quickly to implement the law. "Low-power FM stations are small, but they make a giant contribution to local community programming," Genachowski said in a statement. "This important law eliminates the unnecessary restrictions that kept these local stations off the air in cities and towns across the country."

The Federal Communications Commission late Tuesday released its tentative agenda for its January public meeting and included a proposed rule to ensure a public safety broadband network is interoperable nationwide.

The proposed order and notice of "further" proposed rulemaking is the only major item on the FCC's agenda for its January 25th meeting. An FCC official, however, said last month that the agency also could decide to vote on approving Comcast's merger with NBC Universal at the January meeting as well if commissioners have finished weighing Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposed order. Just before Christmas, Genachowski began circulating a draft order calling for approving the Comcast-NBCU merger with some conditions.

Ensuring the interoperability of first responder communications has been a key goal of policy makers since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when New York City first responders had trouble communicating with each other.

In its national broadband plan released last year, the FCC found that even nearly a decade after the attacks many public safety radio systems lack basic interoperability. Despite some improvements most jurisdictions "still only have an 'intermediate' level of interoperability at best -- not the advanced level of interoperability that is required for truly seamless communications in the event of a major emergency," according to the broadband plan.

The plan recommended the FCC create an "Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC) to ensure that these applications, devices and networks all work together, so that first responders nationwide can communicate with one another seamlessly."

A new survey found that most federal employees go above and beyond when it comes to securing confidential and sensitive agency data, Nextgov.com reported.

The survey was conducted by the Government Business Council and CDW Government and included the views of 230 randomly selected federal employees. It found that while 97 percent of respondents are required by their agencies to use authentication measures such as passwords, security tokens and biometric identifiers, most still take extra security precautions, such as only using secure network connections and proactively locking their computer screens when away from their desks.

Still, agencies may need to take extra steps to ensure employees undertake those security precautions outside of the office, particularly as they comply with new mandates to increase telework. To read more, click here.

Perhaps in an effort to reach out to younger voters, House Republicans said Tuesday that they would be broadcasting Wednesday's opening session of the GOP-controlled 112th Congress live on Facebook.

In a post on the blog of incoming House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Nick Schaper, who will serve as the new speaker's director of digital media, said it will be the first time the opening day of a new Congress has been broadcast on Facebook.

The live Web broadcast can be found at the House GOP's Pledge to America Facebook page when the session begins at noon.

"Together with new rules demanding new levels of online disclosure and transparency (including requirements that all bills [be put] online at least three days before a vote and committees broadcast their hearings online), this event is another example of the new majority's commitment to making Congress more open and accountable, and to finding new ways to connect with citizens online and off," Schaper wrote.

In a statement, Facebook touted its role in Wednesday's proceedings. "Hundreds of members of Congress use Facebook to communicate and connect with their constituents in an official capacity and we're excited to see Facebook being used prominently as the 112th Congress gavels into session this week," a Facebook spokesman said.

A federal appeals court Tuesday tossed out the Federal Communications Commission's $1.2 million fine against ABC and its affiliates for briefly airing a female character's nude buttocks during a 2003 episode of the now defunct program "NYPD Blue."

The FCC found in 2008 that ABC violated the commission's indecency rules and fined ABC and its affiliates a maximum $27,500 penalty each for airing the episode.

In its decision Tuesday to toss the fine, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York cited a ruling the same court issued last year that struck down the FCC's indecency policy for violating "the First Amendment because it is unconstitutionally vague."

The Parents Television Council blasted the decision, saying it was based on a flawed ruling from last year that has been appealed.

"This ruling is as devoid of common sense as it was predictable. The Second Circuit's three-judge panel has stated that it doesn't like the concept of broadcast decency," PTC President Tim Winter said in a statement. "The court is clearly on a quest to do everything in its power to impede the law - even if the judges' rationale today conflicts with their prior reasoning for overturning FCC sanctions."

Taking the opposite view was TV Watch, a group made up of broadcasters and some public interest groups that praised the appeals court ruling.

"Today's decision by the court is further evidence that the highest authority on family television viewing is parents and not the government," Jim Dyke, the group's executive director, said in a news release. "Parents already have tools such as the V-Chip and content ratings to help them make decisions based on their own taste, values and style."

The National Association of Broadcasters is taking its fight to limit efforts to overhaul the current process for resolving fee disputes between broadcasters and cable firms to its viewers, while critics of that process are pushing the FCC to make changes.

The NAB said Tuesday that it has created a new website "touting new technologies and services shaping the medium's future." In addition to highlighting such new technologies as mobile digital television players, the site also urges viewers to help block efforts to overhaul the process by which cable companies and other pay television distributors negotiate fees they pay broadcasters for their programming.

"Now the government is considering new policies on retransmission consent that could jeopardize the future of free TV and the programming viewers love," according to the NAB's Future of TV website. "If you love your local television, let your pay TV provider and Congress know."

FCC Media Bureau Chief William Lake said last month that the commission plans to launch a proposed rulemaking to "take a broad look at what more we might do to advance the statutory objectives of allowing [retransmission] fees to be set by market forces while protecting the interests of consumers."

Broadcasters would prefer the status quo. In a letter to the FCC last month, Fox broadcasting's parent News Corp. detailed a Dec. 10 meeting its representatives had with commission officials on the retransmission issue.

"We reiterated that the retransmission consent marketplace is not broken, but rather is working as Congress intended to provide benefits to consumers, multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and broadcasters alike," News Corp. Senior Vice President Maureen O'Connell wrote. "We also pointed out that broadcast content - which includes local news, sports and some of the best entertainment programming on television - is valuable to MVPDs, which should be required to pay fair compensation if they want to redistribute this popular content in their channel line-ups."

Calls for overhauling the retransmission negotiation process have increased in the wake of several high-profile disputes last year that left consumers temporarily without access to some broadcast programming. In the latest dispute, the DISH Network on Saturday blasted Frontier Radio Management Inc. for blocking DISH subscribers in central Georgia from accessing Frontier's ABC and Fox affiliates after the two sides failed to reach a retransmission agreement. DISH argued that Frontier is "refusing to negotiate a fair agreement" by demanding double its current fees to bring back the stations to the satellite provider's viewers.

Cable companies and other pay-television firms and some public interest groups are urging the FCC to fix what they say is a broken system.

Public Knowledge along with New America Foundation and Benton Foundation urged the FCC Tuesday to move forward with a proposed rulemaking that would give the agency a greater role to act when the current process breaks down.

"The commission's current actions and rules are insufficient to protect members of the public from losing access to important and popular programming," the groups wrote FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. "The commission has the power under its existing rules to influence these negotiations and moving forward to a notice of proposed rulemaking, and ultimately a new and stronger rule, will discourage parties from causing further harm to the public."

The new year is beginning with some personnel changes on the technology front, key among them being the departure later this month of Jen Howard, spokeswoman for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski.

Howard announced Thursday that she would be leaving the agency to take "a senior communications role" at the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created as part of the financial regulatory overhaul bill passed last year. Her last day is Jan. 14 and the commission has yet to name a successor.

"I am so proud of everything the agency has accomplished and I couldn't be more grateful to Chairman Genachowski for the opportunity to be a part of his team at such an exciting time," Howard said in an e-mail to reporters.

Howard has helped shape the FCC's dealings with news organizations and the public as it tackled high-profile issues such as implementation of a national broadband plan, outlining ways to expand access and adoption of high-speed Internet service, and approval of open Internet rules.

At the state level, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners said Tuesday that it has named Vermont Public Service Board member John Burke to lead the group's Telecommunications Committee, which works closely with the FCC, the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and other federal agencies on telecommunication and tech issues that cross both the state and federal level.

Meanwhile, the United States Information Technology Office in Beijing has tapped Matt Roberts to be its new managing director.

The organization works to help U.S. high-tech companies gain access to the Chinese market. It was established in 1994 and primarily represents five tech associations: the Information Technology Industry Council, the Semiconductor Industry Association, the Software and Information Industry Association, TechAmerica, and the Telecom Industry Association.

Roberts has worked for several companies in China including most recently for About.com but also for BlackInc China and Dow Jones.

"With over 20 years of experience of leading and building organizations in China, Matt is ideally suited to leading USITO as it represents our member companies in the important Chinese market," TIA President Grant Seiffert said in a statement.

Registration began Monday for health care professionals and hospitals to participate in the Health and Human Services Department's Medicare and Medicaid electronic-health records incentive programs.

Doctors who adopt, implement, upgrade or demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records will be eligible for Medicaid payments of up to $63,750 over six years, and Medicare bonuses of as much as $44,000 over five years. For hospitals, the incentives start at a $2 million base payment for both Medicaid and Medicare. The money comes from the 2009 economic stimulus package.

For Medicare, doctors must begin the transition by 2012 to receive the maximum benefit; those who provide services in an area with a shortage of health care professionals will qualify for additional payments. Medicare eligible professionals who do not demonstrate meaningful use by 2015 will be penalized starting at 1 percent of reimbursements and increasing each year to a maximum of 5 percent.

Continued on Nextgov.com

Nextgov.com reports on the best and worst federal information technology initiatives of 2010. According to industry officials, the best initiatives include:

-- A 25-point strategy for simplifying and speeding system installations that relies on a shift to cloud computing -- Web-based applications that agencies can lease and share.
-- A myth-busters campaign to dispel the belief that agency personnel will go to jail if they talk to contractors before issuing work solicitations.
-- A move toward open source software for sharing veterans' health records.

And the worst initiatives?

-- A freeze on all contractor work to deploy financial systems.
-- Policies that created uncertainty about when federal employees can talk to contractors and what they can say.
-- The suspension of a major federal contractor without due process.

The Obama administration extended an olive branch to technology contractors in 2010 in a broad effort to fix how agencies procure $80 billion worth of computing support annually, according to members of the information technology community. To read more, click here.