Senate Commerce Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.V., said Tuesday that he may pursue legislation to crack down on some controversial online marketing tactics that result in consumers paying for products and services they did not realize they signed up for or used. During a hearing on these aggressive online marketing methods, Rockefeller detailed the results of a committee investigation into the marketing tactics of three firms: Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty. "Tricking consumers into buying goods and services they do not want ... It's not ethical. It's not right and it's not the way business should be done," Rockefeller said.
The problematic transactions, detailed in a committee report, take place when a consumer is ready to finish buying a good or service online from a trusted retailer. Consumers are asked if they want a discount or reward and if they agree, they are often automatically signed up for the services offered by the three firms and charged a monthly fee. "For a few extra bucks in profits, these merchants pass their customers' personal billing information on to mysterious companies," Rockefeller said. Among the online retailers that have partnered with Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty or others include major companies such as US Airways, Continental airlines, Pizza Hut and Travelocity. The marketing firms and their online retail partners have made more than $1.4 billion from these tactics and have charged more than 30 million Americans, he added.
Ray France of Florida, a military veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was one of two consumers who testified at the hearing. He said he was unaware he had signed up for one of the services until he got a call saying his bank account was overdrawn. France was told one of these marketing firms had been withdrawing a monthly fee for a service he did not know he had signed up for when he used the Internet search services of a firm called Intelius.
Other senators at the hearing agreed with Rockefeller that legislation may be needed to address the problem. University of Minnesota Law School professor Prentiss Cox said there is an easy legislative fix: "Shut down the selling of access to consumers accounts" to other firms. As a result of the panel's probe, Affinion and Webloyalty have announced changes to their marketing practices.
A Senate Commerce Committee report released Monday on the eve of a Senate hearing on aggressive online marketing tactics claimed three firms knowingly charged millions of consumers for services they did not use or did not realize they had signed up for. The report is the result of a probe into the marketing tactics of three firms: Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty. The probe was launched after thousands of consumers complained to state attorneys general, the Better Business Bureau and consumer advocates about an enrollment process viewed as "misleading and deceptive," the committee said.
The practices at the heart of the report come into play when consumers are ready to buy a service or product online from reputable online Web sites and retailers, which have agreements with Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty. The three companies insert their sales offers when consumers have made their purchase but before the confirmation process is completed, according to the report. "These offers generally promise cash back rewards and appear to be related to the transaction the consumer is in the process of completing" and include misleading "yes" or "continue" buttons that may cause consumers to think they are completing their original transaction. Instead, they enter into a new transaction with Affinion, Vertrue, or Webloyalty, which charge a monthly fee after a free trial period unless consumers cancel, the report said.
The committee's report said internal documents show the firms know most consumers are unaware they have signed up for the firms' services and most cancel them after discovering the charges on their credit or debit cards. "One Webloyalty employee candidly commented in an e-mail that, 'at least 90% of our members don't know anything about the membership,'" the report said. The committee probe also claimed that some of the e-commerce sites that partner with the three firms know consumers are being deceived. The report said one company official acknowledged, "to generate more revenue through Webloyalty, it seems we must be more aggressive (and deceptive) in our marketing techniques." Some of the three firms' partners, however, have ended their relationships with Webloyalty Affinion and Vertrue or called on them to change their tactics, the report noted.
These aggressive sales tactics have been profitable, earning the three firms and their e-commerce partners a total of $1.4 billion, according to the report. Among the e-commerce retailers cited in the report as having partnered with the firms include 1-800-flowers.com, movietickets.com and restaurants.com.
In response to the report, James Hart, a senior vice president at Affinion, which announced new marketing guidelines Friday, said in a statement that his firm has "always complied with the highest standards and guidelines set for online marketers and are committed to continuously reviewing and updating those industry-best standards to ensure that our customers are always making fully informed decisions." A Webloyalty spokeswoman said the firm no longer uses many of the tactics described in the committee report. "We believe the changes we have made over the years and continue to make show that we are committed to learning from our experience and continuously improving the way we engage with consumers," Webloyalty CEO Rick Fernandes said in a statement.
There are several tech and telecom-related events this week. Here are some of the highlights:
Tuesday, Nov. 17
Broadcasters and music executives will begin congressional-led negotiations over performers and record labels' demands for royalties for music played on radio stations.
The Senate Commerce, Science and Technology Committee will hold a hearing at 2:30 p.m. on aggressive sales tactics on the Internet and their impact on consumers.
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on preventing terrorist attacks in cyber space and protecting privacy.
The House Energy and Commerce Communications, Technology, and the Internet Subcommittee will hold a hearing at 9:30 am on the Universal Service Reform Act of 2009,
The Copyright Alliance holds its EXPOnential conference with a discussion on copyright and innovation from 12-2 p.m., featuring House Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith, R-Texas. A discussion on copyright and the local economy from 5-7 p.m. will feature House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich.
Wednesday, Nov. 18
The House Science and Technology Committee will meet to markup the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2009.
The FCC will hold an open meeting at 10 a.m. to consider a petition for a declaratory ruling to establish timeframes for state and local zoning authorities to consider wireless facilities siting applications and will hear an update on the status of the national broadband plan, being crafted by the FCC.
Thursday, Nov. 19
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on the collection of information both online and offline.
Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs ranking member Susan Collins and Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., on Friday said a Government Accountability Office report showing that 16 critical federal information technology projects will cost $3 billion more than originally estimated is proof of lax oversight and underscores the need for immediate corrective action. Carper chairs the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services and International Security.
The GAO report also notes that the IT investments will likely need an additional $1 billion to be completed on time. Two investments in particular are especially egregious, Carper and Collins said. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and the Veteran's Affairs Health Information System Modernization will collectively overrun their original budgets by more than $798 million.
Earlier this year, Carper asked the GAO to study whether the Office of Management and Budget was providing Congress with the true cost of IT investments based on several hearings that revealed agencies often under-report the price tag for federal projects. "At a time when our country faces record deficits and dramatic budget cuts, it is unacceptable that agencies are not telling Congress and the taxpayers the true costs for these large-scale technology investments," Carper said in a statement.
National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith wrote to House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and others on Thursday in response to an Oct. 30 letter that sought a meeting to discuss legislation that would force AM and FM stations to pay a new fee to performers and record labels. In the letter, the former Republican senator for Oregon writes that he appreciates their interest "in gaining a greater understanding of the impact that this legislation will have on your local radio stations and the local communities they serve."
Due to laws prohibiting him from lobbying Congress for two years after leaving office, Smith said he requires an ethics waiver that indicates his participation in their planned Nov. 17 meeting is legally and ethically permissible. Smith was defeated by Democrat Jeff Merkley in 2008 after two terms in office and was named head of NAB in September. He said there may be an exception for communications made in congressional testimony and needs confirmation from the Senate that his involvement falls within that, or another exception.
Read more in Tech Daily Dose here and in CongressDaily here (subscription required).
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy said members of his committee have their work cut out for them as winter recess nears. His panel made a big stride Thursday when it passed a pair of data security bills (see CongressDaily's PM Edition for details) and several measures that have cleared the committee and await floor action. Leahy said the Senate needs to take up a bill that would modify and reauthorize expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and the Satellite Home Viewer Act before they expire Dec. 31.
He noted he has been working with Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl and other leaders from both parties to help make that happen. Leahy said last month that he wants to work with Majority Leader Harry Reid to schedule, before the end of the year, floor debate on legislation that would overhaul the U.S. patent system. The Obama administration has thrown its support behind the bill. Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos recently told a group of IP attorneys that a legislative fix is needed immediately.
A dozen senators, including Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, sent a letter to Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stating the bill needs more work before it is brought to the floor. Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions and Kyl have questioned the bill's approach to challenging a patent after it is granted.
House Administration Elections Subcommittee ranking member Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss., unveiled draft legislation Thursday [see PDF here] designed to increase online voter registration services while preserving safeguards to protect against fraudulent registration tactics witnessed in past elections.
"Americans are increasingly enjoying the convenience of online services provided by both private and government entities and voter registration shouldn't be an exception," they said in a statement, acknowledging the bill is still a work in progress. "Providing states with incentives to implement online programs would not only assist registrants, but would also help state election administrators reduce costs, save time and increase accuracy," they said.
The draft bill would direct the Election Assistance Commission to reimburse states for the cost of creating Web-based voter registration programs. In order to qualify, a program would have to be operated through the Web site of the chief state election official. The state agency would also have to ensure the accuracy, integrity, and security of the information provided by an applicant. That includes flagging registration attempts originating from an automated source or multiple attempts by the same individual.
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl and Financial Services Committee ranking member Spencer Bachus wrote to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week opposing calls to delay by a year the implementation of a 2006 law that banned Internet gambling in the United States. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act directed the Treasury and Federal Reserve to issue regulations by July 2007. After a lengthy process, the final rules are set to take effect on Dec. 1.
"There is no justification for delaying the compliance date for the long-overdue regulations implementing UIGEA," Bachus and Kyl wrote. If the final rule represented an "unreasonable burden on regulators and the financial services industry," as some lawmakers have claimed, the Treasury and Federal Reserve could have reconsidered the regulations early in the new administration and before the industry began taking steps to comply. This did not happen and the financial services sector did not petition to have the rule amended, they wrote.
Kyl and Bachus said the Treasury and Federal Reserve should carefully monitor the law's effectiveness after they go into effect and consider modifications if necessary. "Delaying the compliance date serves no interest except that of the Internet gambling enterprises that have long evaded American gambling laws and will continue to do so until effective enforcement is in place," they wrote. Read the letter here (PDF).
Texas Reps. Gene Green, a Democrat, and Mike Conaway, a Republican, wrote to House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers on Wednesday asking to be included in any discussions regarding legislation that would force AM and FM radio stations to pay a new fee to performers and record labels. Conyers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy have requested that music and broadcasting executives come together on Capitol Hill Nov. 17 to begin two weeks of negotiations.
Green and Conaway sponsored a resolution opposing the bill and it has garnered more than 250 backers. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., introduced an identical proposal. "We have serious concerns that legislation imposing a new royalty on local radio stations, particularly in this economic climate, will be tremendously harmful to radio stations and their employees, local communities that rely on radio, and recipients, such as charities and non-profits, that receive free airtime for their causes," Green and Conaway wrote.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina made her candidacy for one of California's Senate seats official on Wednesday at an event in Orange County. Fiorina, who was an advisor to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during his run for the White House last year, was also the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. Prior to joining HP, she served as an executive vice president at AT&T and helped coordinate Lucent's spin-off. She was ousted by HP's board in 2005.
Fiorina made her announcement at Earth Friendly Products in Garden Grove, Calif., where she discussed her top priorities including job creation, economic recovery and restoring fiscal accountability in Washington. "Throughout my career I've brought people together and solved problems and that is what I plan to do in government - set aside ego and partisanship and work to develop solutions to our problems," she said in a statement.
"I believe big change is not impossible, but it does require leadership, innovative thinking, teamwork and tackling the most obvious and pressing problems first," Fiorina said. "My campaign is going to be about solutions that work for the people of California and about holding Barbara Boxer accountable for her failed record over her last 18 years in the Senate, her utter failure to lead and her track record of bitter and ineffective partisanship."
She will face off in the GOP primary against California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. For more information visit CarlyforCalifornia.com.
The stage is set for a potentially raucous day in the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday as Democrats try to push legislation to modify and reauthorize expiring portions of the USA PATRIOT Act, CongressDaily's AM Edition reported. They are also scheduled to mark up a separate bill to provide courts with specific standards for handling state-secrets claims by the government in civil lawsuits.
House Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith and other Republicans have unsuccessfully argued that the PATRIOT Act bill introduced two weeks ago by Chairman John Conyers with House Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va., deserves a hearing before it is teed up for a vote.
Smith called the lack of a hearing an "unwarranted departure" from the regular committee process. He chaired a GOP briefing on the bill Tuesday. Smith said Democrats insist on making unnecessary changes to the law that could undermine law enforcement. The Obama administration backed a full reauthorization of the expiring provisions but said it remained open to suggestions for modifications.
Read the full CongressDaily story here (subscription required) and read more coverage in Thursday's AM Edition.
[Updated 4:10 p.m.] New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit against microchip giant Intel Corp. making his the first formal antitrust action against Intel by any U.S. agency in more than a decade. The FTC launched an examination into Intel in 2008 but has not made its probe official. Cuomo's complaint charges that Intel violated state and federal laws by engaging in "a worldwide, systematic campaign of illegal conduct" to maintain its dominance in the microprocessor sector.
"Rather than compete fairly, Intel used bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market," said Cuomo, who served Intel with a wide-ranging subpoena in January 2008. "Intel's actions not only unfairly restricted potential competitors, but also hurt average consumers who were robbed of better products and lower prices," he added. Intel has repeatedly denied antitrust allegations and filed an appeal against a recent European Commission ruling.
More than 20 lawmakers recently urged Justice Department antitrust chief Christine Varney and FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz to view the European antitrust ruling with a critical eye and weigh its impact on U.S. high-tech firms. The Sept. 18 letters to Varney and Leibowitz, spearheaded by Oregon Reps. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat, and Greg Walden, a Republican, argued the Intel ruling "is the latest evidence of a troublesome trend in Europe toward regulatory protectionism."
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced Wednesday that they are launching a campaign to evaluate technologies that may help curb the dangerous epidemic of distracted driving. Their news came at a joint hearing of two House Energy and Commerce Committee panels where both Obama administration officials testified.
The DOT-FCC partnership will also include outreach efforts to educate the public about the dangers of texting and taking on cell phones while driving and other behavior that can lead to accidents, according to a press release. LaHood told lawmakers distracted driving "is costing lives and inflicting injuries across the nation's roads and railways. Genachowski said combining the resources of both agencies "can have a major impact on this problem."
Other witnesses included CTIA - The Wireless Association President Steve Largent; David Teater of Transportation Strategic Initiatives; Center for Auto Safety Executive Director Clarence Ditlow; Robert Strassburger of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers; Tom Dingus of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute; and Anne McCartt of the Insurance Institute for Highway and Auto Safety.
Former U.S. Assistant Trade Representative Victoria Espinel who was tapped in September by President Obama to serve as the first White House intellectual property enforcement coordinator will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Espinel, who taught at George Mason University after leaving USTR in the Bush administration, is expected to easily win approval of the panel, which is considering an appeals court judge and several district judges the same day.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy received letters in support of Espinel's nomination from a range of stakeholders including the Copyright Alliance, National Music Publishers' Association, American Intellectual Property Law Association, International Trademark Association, Motion Picture Association of America, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others.
The Chamber called Espinel's confirmation "an important step towards fulfilling the promise of the PRO-IP Act," an IP enforcement bill that Congress passed and Bush signed into law last year. MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman called her an "excellent choice" for the office and said his experience with her at USTR was top notch. AIPLA hailed her "impressive and substantive background."
House Republicans have launched an online offensive geared to take down the Democratic healthcare reform package. Minority Leader John Boehner announced the Web crusade Tuesday morning, which employs Amplify.com to start a section-by-section dialogue with the American public. As members review the 1,990 page bill and uncover what they believe are harmful provisions, Amplify allows them to clip specific portions and explain what they mean in plain English, according to Nick Schaper, Boehner's new media director.
Additionally, when visitors arrive at healthcaretruth.amplify.com they will be able to easily leave their own comments on any portion, or share the content using Twitter, Facebook, Digg and other popular social tools.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will take its turn Wednesday at hearing perspectives on the dangers of using handheld devices while driving. The joint session of the Subcommittees on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and Communications, Technology and the Internet comes a week after the Senate Commerce Committee staged a similar event. At the Senate hearing, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said his agency wants to play an active role in encouraging technologies that can reduce injuries and loss of life due to distracted driving.
Genachowski has been invited to the witness table once again. He is expected to be joined by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood; CTIA - The Wireless Association President Steve Largent; David Teater of Transportation Strategic Initiatives; Center for Auto Safety Executive Director Clarence Ditlow; Robert Strassburger of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers; Tom Dingus of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute; and Anne McCartt of the Insurance Institute for Highway and Auto Safety.
Read coverage of last week's Senate Commerce hearing here.
Internet industry stakeholders are keeping an eye on legislation intended to provide the Securities and Exchange Commission with additional authorities to protect investors. The bill, introduced by Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., earlier this month, could come before the House Financial Services Committee as soon as next week, sources tell Tech Daily Dose.
According to the bill text, "any Internet service provider that, on or through a system or network controlled or operated by the Internet service provider, transmits, routes, provides connections for, or stores any material containing any misrepresentation... shall be liable for any damages caused thereby, including damages suffered" by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, an entity that protects investors from financial harm if a broker-dealer company fails.
Under the measure, the ISP would be liable if it has "actual knowledge that the material contains a misrepresentation [or] in the absence of actual knowledge, is aware of facts or circumstances from which it is apparent that the material contains a misrepresentation [and] upon obtaining such knowledge or awareness, fails to act expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material."
Senate Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions, introduced legislation Friday to reauthorize three expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act two weeks after his panel approved 11-8 a related reauthorization bill offered by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman and Sen. Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., joined Sessions in offering the new bill.
Sessions said his measure "provides a common-sense and uncontroversial path to timely reauthorization." Bond said the bill "makes clear to our intelligence professionals that keeping our nation safe is their highest responsibility and ensures they have the tools needed to get the job done." Lieberman cited FBI Director Robert Mueller's recent urging that Congress reenact the provisions as essential tools in the FBI's counterterrorism efforts. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., has also introduced a PATRIOT Act bill.
Feingold and civil liberties groups criticized Leahy's measure for not going further in reworking the anti-terrorism statute. The expiring sections include authority to go after the individual terrorist suspects -- the "lone wolf" -- who may not readily be associated with a foreign power, power to institute roving wiretaps on multiple phones or computers, and authority to require third parties such as telecommunications or computer companies to secretly turn over records.
Senate Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions, introduced legislation Friday to reauthorize three expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act two weeks after his panel approved 11-8 a related reauthorization bill offered by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman and Sen. Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., joined Sessions in offering the new bill.
Sessions said his measure "provides a common-sense and uncontroversial path to timely reauthorization." Bond said the bill "makes clear to our intelligence professionals that keeping our nation safe is their highest responsibility and ensures they have the tools needed to get the job done." Lieberman cited FBI Director Robert Mueller's recent urging that Congress reenact the provisions as essential tools in the FBI's counterterrorism efforts. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., has also introduced a PATRIOT Act bill.
Feingold and civil liberties groups criticized Leahy's measure for not going further in reworking the anti-terrorism statute. The expiring sections include authority to go after the individual terrorist suspects -- the "lone wolf" -- who may not readily be associated with a foreign power, power to institute roving wiretaps on multiple phones or computers, and authority to require third parties such as telecommunications or computer companies to secretly turn over records.
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., on Thursday released an analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation on the opportunity to generate up to $41 billion in new government revenue over the next decade through the regulation and taxation of Internet gambling. McDermott and Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank introduced companion bills earlier this year to regulate Web gaming rather than banning it entirely. The activity is currently prohibited in the United States under a 2006 law.
"I suspect that many of my colleagues, especially those on the fence, will take more interest in this issue once they see $41 billion available that they can match up with any number of worthy programs," McDermott said in a press release. "I would suspect it's only a matter of time before Congress appropriately moves to regulate the industry in order to protect consumers and reverse the flow of billions of dollars currently lost offshore as Americans gamble billions online despite attempts to prohibit the activity."
"Given the many critical government programs currently going under-funded or not funded at all, Internet gambling regulation should be given fair and immediate consideration, " McDermott said. "Prohibition in various guises has failed before and is failing once again. There is a better way." Read the Joint Committee on Taxation document here (PDF).
The Republican transparency train rolls on with Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., introducing legislation Wednesday that would require each of the 21 standing committees in the House to record votes on their Web sites within 48 hours. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., sponsored a resolution last week calling for cameras to be installed in the House Rules Committee hearing room and freshman Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., recently sponsored a measure to require committees to post the text of adopted bills and amendments online within 24 hours.
"The American people deserve to know how their representatives vote in all cases, and frankly, in the current information age it makes no sense that we're not already providing this service," Reichert said in a press release. "When we're debating a trillion-dollar health overhaul, constituents deserve to know how legislation takes shape - throughout the entire process." House Minority Leader John Boehner said Reichert's resolution "is a common-sense reform that should have been adopted a long time ago in Congress."
High-tech, consumer, health and child advocacy groups wrote to House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and ranking member Joe Barton on Wednesday backing legislation that would ramp up the FTC's authority. The letter from the Center for Democracy and Technology, Center for Digital Democracy, Consumers Union, Public Knowledge, Media Access Project and others was sent on the eve of the committee's scheduled vote on the bill.
The measure, which would also create a separate Consumer Financial Protection Agency, would allow the FTC to conduct consumer protection rulemakings under expedited processes; provide it with aiding and abetting liability for violations of the Section 5 of the FTC Act involving unfair or deceptive practices; and enable it to seek civil penalty liability for unfair and deceptive practices found to violate Section 5. The watchdog groups also support giving the FTC independent litigating authority in civil penalty cases.
Advertising and marketing interests are worried about several provisions of the bill. Association of National Advertisers lobbyist Dan Jaffe wrote to Waxman Tuesday arguing that "critical aspects of this proposal have received inadequate focus and analysis." The bill, which was approved by the House Financial Services Committee last week, could confusion among regulators and harm business interests groups like the ANA, Interactive Advertising Bureau and Direct Marketing Association have warned.
Read a Wednesday CongressDaily PM Edition story here about adjustments that Waxman may make to the bill; FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz's thoughts on the measure here; and an earlier story here that details advertisers' complaints (subscription required).
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday that his agency wants to play an active role in encouraging technologies that can reduce injuries and loss of life due to distracted driving. The Commission is examining whether there are ways in which it can act to create a climate that will allow consumers and industry to have more options in addressing the problem, he said.
Genachowski said he wants the FCC to set a good example and recently reinforced to agency employees the importance of complying with President Obama's recent executive order that banned the use of federal devices to text while driving. The order also prohibited the use of personal devices while driving government vehicles.
During his testimony, the FCC chief emphasized personal responsibility as well as input from companies in the wireless space and government. "Everyone involved can and should take appropriate action, with the goal of dramatically reducing and ultimately eliminating the risk of distracted driving due to the use of communications devices," he said. "We should develop a cultural norm that driving while texting is totally unacceptable."
On the eve of a Capitol Hill high-tech showcase, Intel Executive Vice President Sean Maloney and Vice President of Legal and Corporate Affairs Peter Cleveland sat down for an Oktoberfest themed dinner at Chinatown's PS7 with a handful of Washington tech reporters. The conversation, fueled by creative beer-inspired dishes, covered a range of topics from broadband deployment and network neutrality to patent reform and competition. Here are some highlights (from Maloney unless otherwise noted)
• Economic stimulus money for health IT, broadband and other tech related priorities is going out as quickly as one should expect. Intel is not applying for any stimulus funds directly but is working with groups that are trying to get money for rural broadband.
• Intel has taken a "nuanced stance" on net neutrality and supports pipeline providers "intelligently managing traffic." Grossly exaggerated worst case scenarios on either side of the debate have not helped. "This isn't impossible as long as we listen to each other."
• The two most insular places in America are Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., which makes bridging the gap between the two locales difficult. Silicon Valley ought to be more involved in policy and politics.
House Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee Chairwoman Jane Harman, D-Calif., and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ranking member Susan Collins wrote to President Obama Monday urging him to appoint members to the White House Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, CongressDaily reported Tuesday. The letter urged Obama to "fulfill the pledge you made earlier this year to reconstitute the board and accelerate the selection process of its members."
A fully engaged and independent privacy panel in the Executive Branch is particularly important as Congress works on reauthorizing expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and other issues, they wrote. Their message followed a similar effort in April by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., who called the board "a critical government component" vital to "ushering in a new era of responsibility." Read the Harman-Collins letter here (PDF), the CongressDaily story here and an earlier report on the privacy panel here (subscription required).
Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., continued the GOP's transparency crusade by introducing a resolution Friday calling for cameras to be installed in the House Rules Committee hearing room, which is among the smallest on Capitol Hill and one of the last without cameras. Under his proposal, the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, which provides operations support services to the chamber, would install the equipment and coordinate with the committee to record and broadcast its proceedings. Dent said he is concerned the American public lacks access to the actions that control and determine the legislative process in the House.
"As Congress considers some of the most pivotal policy of our time, the American people deserve full transparency in all legislative proceedings, particularly those of the powerful Rules Committee," Dent said in a press release. "There has been unprecedented civic engagement since the 2008 election. Americans understand the importance of the policy that Congress is considering and they are watching the process closely." The lawmaker said hefty amendments have stealthily come before the committee and key policy proposals have been rejected on a straight party-line vote without proper consideration -- and absent videotaped evidence.
[Update: 2:05 p.m.] A spokesman for Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter said: "We invite TV cameras to every single meeting we have. We can't dictate what the press decides to cover but cameras are always welcome at our meetings. Like all Americans, we love C-SPAN. And it's worth noting that Rules is far more open under us than it ever was under Republicans. We meet earlier, post more information online and we do it faster than ever before so the public knows exactly what happens at each of our meetings. "
A snippet from CongressDaily's TechCentral Issue Of The Week on Monday:
A broadening feud between video providers in key communities throughout the country is driving the adage home that all politics is local. Verizon Communications brought its battle over regional sports networks to Capitol Hill last week, urging lawmakers to close a 17-year-old "terrestrial loophole" through which cable operators with programming assets can avoid FCC program access requirements.
The exemption to the 1992 Cable Act rules, which apply to satellite-delivered content, has allowed cable companies to maintain exclusivity on certain content in certain cities, said Verizon Vice President Terrence Denson, whose company offers the fiber-optic FiOS video service. AT&T, which has a similar product, has joined with Verizon to wage war against Cablevision at the FCC, and the two have a case pending.
In New York City, Cablevision owns Madison Square Garden and offers coverage of professional sports teams, concerts and more. Verizon was denied standard definition format of MSG networks' sports programming until it filed its initial FCC complaint. It is currently unable to tap MSG's high-definition broadcasts, and Cablevision has asserted the HD feed is excused from program access rules.
Read the full story here (subscription required).
Lawmakers' Internet-based town hall meetings increase constituents' approval ratings for the politician, enhance citizen engagement in politics and ultimately impact the probability of participants voting for that member of Congress, according to a new Congressional Management Foundation report. CMF Executive Director Beverley Bell said online meetings offer lawmakers a flexible tool for communication in addition to traditional in-person meetings, tele-town halls and newsletters. "People like hearing from - and feeling heard by - their representatives in all formats, including online," she said Monday.
Researchers from CMF, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Northeastern University, Ohio State University, and the University of California-Riverside found that members who engaged in online town halls experienced an average net approval rating jump of 18 points with similar increases in trust and perceptions of personal qualities. Town hall meetings also attract people from demographics not traditionally engaged in politics as well as those frustrated with the political system. About 96 percent of those polled said they would like to be included in similar events in the future.
Among those taking part in the study were Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin and Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Michael Capuano, James Clyburn, Mike Conaway, Anna Eshoo, Jack Kingston, Zoe Lofgren, Don Manzullo, Jim Matheson, David Price, George Radanovich, and Dave Weldon. The town halls with the House members were conducted in the summer and fall of 2006, prior to the 2006 election, and the session with Levin was conducted in the summer of 2008.
Click here (PDF) to read the full CMF report.
Computer giant Hewlett-Packard has pulled out of the Coalition for Patent Fairness over concerns that legislation currently moving through Congress does not go far enough to curb what some high-tech firms believe are excessive damages in patent infringement lawsuits. HP, which was a prominent member of the ad hoc group, is still very supportive of patent reform and will continue to lobby for strong damages language, sources familiar with the issue told Tech Daily Dose.
The so-called "gatekeeper" compromise struck by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Arlen Specter, D-Pa., helped ensure the bill's passage out of committee in April but if it were to become law, HP believes it would be "a huge missed opportunity," the source said. Leahy and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are working to bring the bill to the floor before the end of the year. The House Judiciary Committee has not yet moved forward on its bill and, as introduced, retains the more controversial damages language.
Industry groups like CPF, which span multiple years and sessions of Congress, gain and lose members due to variations in strategy, individual companies' budget priorities and other reasons. Amazon.com, Time Warner, Visa and Verizon were members of CPF at one point but are no longer listed on the group's Web site. Google was not an original member of the coalition but has since signed up.
For its part CPF wants "the strongest possible provisions on all elements," including damages, a spokesman told CongressDaily last week.
The federal agency charged with developing and promoting standards for government computer networks has halted the reorganization of its information technology laboratory amid mixed reviews from high-tech stakeholders, the House Science Committee learned Thursday. Cita Furlani, who runs the lab within the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said she received "expressions of concern and support" and plans to reevaluate how to ensure ITL's structure is as flexible and efficient as possible.
A key goal of the proposed reorganization was to strengthen NIST's cybersecurity efforts by relocating the NIST chief cybersecurity advisor to the central laboratory office as an associate director. Officials believed that would provide the authority and wide purview needed to ensure that cybersecurity projects throughout the lab are well coordinated and strengthened through new multidisciplinary collaborations.
Experts who joined Furlani at the Technology and Innovation Subcommittee witness table cheered the news. Sun Microsystems engineer Susan Landau, who served on the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency, said she was "delighted" to hear the reorganization is off the table. Cornell University computer security scholar Fred Schneider echoed her remarks, saying the shake up offered few benefits -- but said discussions about a more sensible restructuring should continue.
With nine days left to go in October, the House on Thursday unanimously passed Rep.Yvette Clarke's, resolution honoring National Cyber Security Awareness Month. The Senate approved a similar measure several weeks ago."This Congress understands that our citizens rely on information technology in every aspect of our lives - from managing businesses to social networking," the New York Democrat said in a statement. "As innovation spurs increased access and demand for the internet and information technologies, cyber warfare and cyber crime are increasing in sophistication and frequency."
Clarke, who chairs the House Homeland Security Emerging Threats Subcommittee, added that in the digital age, "we are all interconnected and our national cyber infrastructure is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain." "The passing of this resolution is a clear message to the American people that our government will continue to protect and strengthen our critical cyber infrastructure," she added. Clarke is hosting a pair of related events next week geared toward members and staff to promote good cyber hygiene on congressional networks.
NamesOfTheDead.com, a Web site intended to honor the 44,000 people who die annually because they do not have health insurance, is the latest attempt by Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., to draw attention to the healthcare reform effort on Capitol Hill. "I hope that honoring them will help us end this senseless loss of American lives. If you have lost a loved one, please share the story of that loved one with us," the freshman lawmaker wrote on the site. "Help us ensure that their legacy is a more just America, where every life that can be saved will be saved."
Grayson announced the site on the floor of the House on Wednesday and the National Republican Congressional Committee was quick to post a clip on YouTube (see above), calling it the Democrat's "most shameless stunt yet."
Thursday's witness list for the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee hearing on video competition is pretty standard fare -- Benjamin Pyne of Disney Media Networks (big content); Verizon Vice President Terrence Denson (big telecom); Sunflower Broadband Chief Operating Officer Patrick Knorr (little cable/Internet); Cablevision Chief Operating Officer Thomas Rutledege (big cable/Internet); and Progress & Freedom Foundation President Adam Thierer (think tanker). The wild card, however, is "Battlestar Galactica" executive producer and Peabody Award winner Ronald Moore.
Moore, who is also known for his work on several iterations of "Star Trek," will most likely be at the table because of his prominent role during the massive Writers Guild of America strike, which began in November 2007 and lasted 14 weeks. His show and other popular series made available for download on iTunes were flashpoints during the feud between writers and Hollywood studios over compensation for online content.
Moore might be on hand to advocate for the revival of so-called "Fin-Syn" regulation. The FCC put the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules on the books in the 1970s to restrict formal relationships between TV networks and those who produced programming for the networks. The purpose was to encourage a vibrant market for independently produced programming. The regulations were repealed in the early 1990s after court challenges but some want them back, arguing that a structural separation between content production and distribution would be good for business. "This is a huge fracture line in the Hollywood community," one observer said.
The House late Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution introduced by House Science Committee member Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., designating the week of Dec. 7 as National Computer Science Education Week. The resolution also honors the birthday of Grace Murray Hopper, one of the first female computer scientists. Ehlers has spent much of his career on Capitol Hill fighting for improved research and education, particularly education in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.
"I believe these subjects hold special promise for the future of our nation and its workforce, and it is very critical that all of our nation's students receive a foundation in STEM," Ehlers said in a statement. "This prepares students to become the innovators of tomorrow. Without innovation, our nation and its economy will be on a declining path." Introducing students to computer science at an early age and providing them with learning experiences at all educational levels can help stem the tide of declining enrollments in computer science training, he said.
The Association for Computing Machinery and others from the computing community cheered the resolution's passage. National Computer Science Education Week will help draw attention to the need for an educational system that values computer science as a discipline and provides students with critical thinking skills and career opportunities, said Bobby Schnabel, chair of ACM's Education Policy Committee and dean of Indiana University's School of Informatics.
More than 20 open government and high-tech watchdogs on Tuesday wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader John Boehner, House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter and Rules ranking member David Dreier calling for a Rules Committee hearing to explore the benefits of requiring that legislation be posted online for 72 hours prior to consideration. Along with the letter, the groups delivered a petition with 21,000 signatures of individuals who joined the Sunlight Foundation's Read the Bill campaign. They, too, want Congress post legislation and conference reports on the Web for 72 hours before debate begins.
"House and Senate leaders understand the importance of providing online access to legislation and have indicated some willingness to make health care legislation available prior to a vote. Those promises are appreciated, but an ad hoc approach to allowing the public to read the bill is not sufficient," Sunlight's Lisa Rosenberg wrote in a Wednesday blog post. "Members of Congress should be governed by a rule that ensures that all legislation is available to the public at specific online locations for a minimum number of hours." Reps. Brian Baird, D-Wash., and John Culberson, R-Texas, have introduced a 72-hour rule resolution.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers joined Reps. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Bobby Scott, D-Va., on Tuesday to introduce legislation that would revise and extend expiring sections of the USA PATRIOT Act and related provisions. They also introduced a measure intended to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to safeguard the constitutional rights of Americans while ensuring that the government has the tools it needs to collect foreign intelligence.
Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith, Minority Whip Eric Cantor and GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana introduced their own version of a PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill in March, which would simply extend the provisions, which sunset Dec. 31, for 10 years. "Over the past eight years, Americans grew tired of the same old scare tactics, designed to fool the public into believing that we needed to give up freedom to be safe from terrorism," Conyers said. "It is a new day and an opportunity for reform."
The Conyers-Nadler-Scott measures include language that would bring sweeping changes to the way controversial administrative subpoenas known as "national security letters" are handled. Americans would be able to use libraries and bookstores "without fear that their choice of books will be monitored by overzealous federal agents," noted Nadler, who chairs the Judiciary Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Subcommittee.
NBC-Universal general counsel Rick Cotton, who chairs the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy, on Tuesday lauded legislation that would bolster intellectual property enforcement resources and tools for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He testified at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the bill that Chairman Max Baucus and ranking member Charles Grassley introduced in August. CongressDaily's AM Edition reported the bill could move through the committee before Thanksgiving.
Overall, CBP must ensure that U.S. innovation and creativity "is used to produce jobs here and is not stolen abroad -- endangering our economy, killing our jobs, threatening our citizens' health and safety, and nourishing organized crime," Cotton said in his written testimony. He went on to call IP theft "a stealth job killer" and warned that if the U.S. fails to take bold steps now, the country will be committing "slow-motion economic suicide."
The IP provisions of the broader CBP reauthorization bill would, among other things, establish an IP coordination center within ICE to prevent importation or exportation of pirated and counterfeit goods. The measure also strengthens CBP's targeting efforts to detect goods that violate IP rights and requires CBP to dedicate port personnel with primary responsibility for enforcing those rights. The bill requires strategic plan to decide where best to position those agents but in the meantime would assign at least one full time IP specialist at each of the top 10 ports.
Read the full CongressDaily story here (subscription required).
House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., on Tuesday took a swipe at an ongoing push by the Obama administration and high-tech companies to beef up so-called network neutrality rules at the FCC, describing effort as "the fairness doctrine for the Internet." The Commission rescinded that doctrine, which required TV and radio broadcasters to air opposing political viewpoints, in 1987.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in September that he does not intend to revive the fairness doctrine amid concerns raised by Republicans and conservative talk radio hosts. He is, however, championing a controversial plan to consider new rules aimed at preserving and promoting consumers' unfettered access to Web content. The FCC will begin its work on that topic Thursday.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini said Monday that he dislikes cap-and-trade provisions to address global warming, which are being considered as part of broad energy legislation on Capitol Hill. In an interview on Fox Business Network, the tech executive said the measure "doesn't take into account the fact that people build things for a global basis and you have global competition." "This either has to be done on a global basis; otherwise all you're doing is moving the pollution and making the U.S. less competitive," he said.
Otellini commented the controversial public option proposal that some want to ensure is part of healthcare reform legislation. "At face value, I don't think it would help our employees," he said. "They get a fairly good health package today... I would be afraid of any option that took away that choice." He also said government should take the uncertainty out of doing business in the United States. "Give businesses a clear view of taxation, healthcare costs, can you get H1B visas for employees you want to hire, those kinds of things."
Ending the recession is directly tied to the nation's confidence, Otellini added. "Rebuilding confidence, it's not about a different structure of the banks or anything. Do people have confidence that the economy is going to be better tomorrow than today. That will happen as the GDP improves and I think people will expand if you take the variability out," he said.
The House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee on Thursday will explore video competition in the digital age, including access by multichannel programming providers and consumers to content via TV and the Internet. A prime focus of the hearing will be a provision of the 1992 Cable Act that forces vertically integrated cable operators -- those that own both cable systems and content -- to make their owned cable networks available to satellite firms like Dish Network and DirecTV and to telecom companies like Verizon, which offers the FIOS video service, a source familiar with the issue said.
The hearing may also address the so-called "terrestrial loophole" through which a cable operator with programming assets can avoid program access requirements that apply to satellite delivered content. Witnesses scheduled to appear include Verizon Vice President Terrence Denson; Sunflower Broadband CEO Patrick Knorr; "Battlestar Galactica" executive producer Ronald Moore; Disney Media Networks President of Global Distribution Benjamin Pyne; Cablevision Chief Operating Officer Thomas Rutledge; and Progress and Freedom Foundation President Adam Thierer.
More than 20 CEOs and founders of major Internet and technology companies wrote to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on Monday in support of his controversial plan to begin considering new rules aimed at preserving and promoting consumers' unfettered access to Web content. The letter from executives for Google, Facebook, Sony, Amazon, eBay, Twitter and other tech titans comes as the FCC prepares to vote Thursday on a proposal to expand and fortify its so-called neutrality regulations.
"An open Internet fuels a competitive and efficient marketplace, where consumers make the ultimate choices about which products succeed and which fail. This allows businesses of all sizes, from the smallest startup to larger corporations, to compete, yielding maximum economic growth and opportunity," they wrote. Lobbying on the topic reached a fevered pitch last week with Senate Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison signaling she might pursue legislation to block new rules if Genachowski doesn't modify his proposal to reflect her concerns.
Also last week, 18 GOP senators -- including John McCain of Arizona, a former chairman of the Commerce Committee -- insisted in a separate document that the FCC's proposed revisions "will be counterproductive and risk harming the great advancements in broadband speed and deployment that we have witnessed." Yet another letter from 70 House Democrats urged Genachowski to "carefully consider the full range of potential consequences that government action may have on network investment."
Lawmakers backing a stalled patent overhaul bill are looking at fresh ways to move the measure by the end of the year, despite GOP opposition, CongressDaily reported Friday. The bill, which cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in April, seeks to address the Patent and Trademark Office's chronic application backlog and improve internal efficiencies. It would also change the protocol for challenging patents - a move that has divided small innovators, the life-sciences sector and the IT industry.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy said Thursday he wants to work with Majority Leader Harry Reid to schedule debate before the end of the year. Leahy made his comments the same day that PTO Director David Kappos told the American Intellectual Property Law Association's annual meeting that a legislative fix is needed immediately. "Not everyone is getting everything they want" in the bill, Kappos said, but it is a "major positive step" for the stakeholders involved.
But on the same day, 12 senators, including Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, sent a letter to Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stating the bill needs more work before it is brought to the floor. Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions and Minority Whip Jon Kyl have questioned the bill's approach to challenging a patent after it is granted and want to modify the language.
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Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., introduced a resolution to change House rules and require committees to post the actual text of adopted bills and amendments online within 24 hours. She argued in a press release that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's pledge for an open and transparent Congress has fallen short and lawmakers have failed to require transparency for one of the most powerful components of Congress -- congressional committees. "The federal government functions best when it governs in the light of day," she said.
Over the past nine months, major bills have repeatedly been drafted, filed and then changed in the dark of night or behind closed-doors, Jenkins added. The freshman lawmaker argued that it happened with the economic stimulus package, the House Energy and Commerce energy bill, and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee's healthcare overhaul legislation. "This is only my first year in Washington, but if this is 'business as usual,' then it's time for business to change," she said.
House Minority Leader John Boehner praised Jenkins saying that "the practice of secretly adding 'phantom amendments' to major bills after they pass committee is outrageous, and it should be banned." He argued that Senate HELP Democrats quietly made more than 70 changes to the healthcare bill after it was voted on in committee. Reps. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and John Culberson, R-Texas, have petitioned to change House rules to require all bills be posted online for at least 72 hours before being brought to a vote.
House Homeland Security Emerging Threats Subcommittee Chairwoman Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., will host a cybersecurity roundtable Friday that will bring together industry representatives and policymakers. The event, which is closed to press and the public, is expected to cover the White House 60-day cyberspace policy review; legal technical and operational obstacles; discussions of current legislative proposals; and recommendations for moving forward, according to the invitation sent to participants.
Clarke spoke at a Tuesday event where she called for the swift appointment of a White House cyber czar and highlighted the urgent need for collaboration and information-sharing among federal agencies, academia, and industry. She will host two additional events this month sponsored by the National Cyber Security Alliance. They will take place Tuesday, Oct. 27 and Friday, Oct. 30. The events are primarily geared toward members and staff to promote good cyber hygiene on congressional networks.
Clarke said earlier this week that ignorance about safe computing "creates vulnerabilities right here on Capitol Hill." October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos on Thursday urged industry stakeholders and lawmakers to "move together in the spirit of compromise and get patent reform done now." Speaking at the American Intellectual Property Law Association, he pressed the group's members to "show leadership" because "50 years is long enough to wait" for meaningful overhauls to the U.S. patent system. He stressed that "not everyone is getting everything they want" from the bill that emerged from the Senate Judiciary Committee in April but the measure is a "major positive step" for the life sciences sector, small innovators and the IT industry.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy earlier this month said he wants to work with Majority Leader Harry Reid to schedule, before the end of the year, Senate debate his bill. His announcement came as Commerce Secretary Gary Locke indicated the Obama administration's support of the controversial measure. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers introduced a companion bill but it remains to be seen how the bill will evolve and whether it will look similar to the compromise that Leahy brokered with Sens. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is slated to mark up legislation Thursday that would reauthorize sections of the Satellite Home Viewer Reauthorization Act set to expire Dec. 31. A key Energy and Commerce subcommittee approved a narrowly tailored version of the bill in June. The House Judiciary Committee, which shares jurisdiction, overwhelmingly approved its version of the bill in September.
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman's amendment in the nature of a substitute would make several changes. The proposal would:
• Insert new grandfathering language to ensure that consumers who are lawfully receiving distant network programming do not lose access to that programming due to Judiciary Committee changes.
• Insert a new section to account for the Judiciary Committee's decision to establish a process by which a federal court could lift an injunction that prevents one satellite carrier, Dish Network, from using the distant compulsory copyright license once it provides local into local service in every U.S. market.
• Insert a new section to ensure that nothing in this legislation, the Communications Act, or any FCC regulation stands in the way of private negotiations over the retransmission of programming.
• Require the Commission to issue a report to Congress concerning the ability of consumers to access in-state programming and the use of the designated market area system to define local markets for the purposes of receiving in-state programming.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on Wednesday called for Congress to "act in the best interest of the economy" and Patent Trademark Office users by permanently ending fee diversion at the agency. Such a change would let the PTO set fees and recover costs, which Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and PTO Director David Kappos have said would better address the agency's operational funding needs in a time of economic uncertainty.
Hatch's remarks came at a ceremony recognizing the PTO's grant of the 600,000th design patent to Goal Zero, a subsidiary of Provo Craft and Novelty, and a small business located in his home state. The patent was issued for the design of a battery system, which works in conjunction with a solar briefcase that recharges in the sun.
Lawmakers should improve the quality of patents at the front end so as to avoid costly and counterproductive litigation that stifles innovation at the back end, Hatch added. "Improving patent quality and reducing litigation uncertainty are the central tenets of the bipartisan congressional mandate for patent reform," he said, arguing that consensus is possible "but it will take willing partners from within Congress, the administration, and the patent community."
A group of minority groups and civil rights organizations on Tuesday wrote to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy in opposition to legislation he has introduced that would force AM and FM radio stations to pay new fees to performers and record labels. The bill, which the groups argue would be detrimental to minority-owned stations and the communities they serve, could be teed up for a vote by the Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Some have estimated that the measure would throw at least a third of minority broadcasters into bankruptcy.
Among those signing onto the letter include: the Black College Communication Association, the Hispanic Institute, International Black Broadcasters Association, Telecommunications Professionals, Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Spanish Broadcasters Association and UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc.
A similar measure sponsored by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers underwent a major rewrite before his committee took up the bill. The version that ultimately passed his panel included a number of carve-outs aimed at appeasing small and minority owned stations and ultimately won the support of the NAACP, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and a number of unions. It remains to be seen what changes could be made to Leahy's bill in hopes of calming the fears of broadcasters.
Want to find a congressional office phone number or a Hill aide's e-mail address? Review a bill or peek at a member's Twitter feed? There's an app for that. Several, actually. One of the most popular appears to be "Congress in Your Pocket," which ranges from 99 cents to $99.99 depending on the version, National Journal magazine reports. The software, which has more than 20,000 iPhone and BlackBerry users, will soon feature note-taking and sharing capabilities, as well as Cook Political Report rankings, according to its creators at the Cohen Research Group. Fox News Channel has also hinted at a partnership for the 2010 midterm elections. "It's quick, easy, and essential," says Morgan Reed, a lobbyist for the high-tech sector. He says he loves the app for what it's not: "another spiral-bound facebook to be lost, stolen, or obsoleted every time a member or staff person leaves."
Legislation to make Congressional Research Service reports publicly available was introduced in the House on Thursday by freshmen Reps. Frank Kratovil, D-Md., and Leonard Lance, R-N.J. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman introduced a companion bill in April, restarting the perennial attempt by some lawmakers and open government advocates. Last Congress, he introduced a resolution with Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ranking member Susan Collins that called for a more accessible system. Over the past decade, a series of bills requiring public access to CRS reports has made little progress, including a 2007 measure by former Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn.
Under the chairmanship of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., last Congress, the Rules Committee authorized CRS to create software to let senators place individual reports on their Web sites. Lieberman and his allies believe that didn't go far enough. As public debate becomes increasingly partisan and polarized, "it is more important than ever for citizens to have full access to the same neutral, unbiased information that many of us rely on to help us formulate important decisions," Kratovil said. Lance added that making taxpayer-funded research available to the American people is simply "good government."
In addition to piecemeal disclosures by lawmakers, CRS reports are made available through pay services and more intermittently at OpenCRS.com, a free Web database offered by the Center for Democracy and Technology.
A long list of colleges and universities want Congress to fix what they believe is an outdated Internal Revenue Service record-keeping requirement governing use of employer-provided cell phones and other electronic communication devices. Current IRS rules impose an onerous burden on higher education and other employers across the country, they wrote in recent letters to leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee, which have bills to overhaul the policy pending before them.
Reps. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., and Sam Johnson, R-Texas, and Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and John Ensign, R-Nev., introduced the legislation to change the regulation, which treats employer-provided phones as a taxable fringe benefit. A similar proposal was approved by the House in April 2008 but was never enacted. When Congress created the rule in 1989, cellular technology was in its infancy and devices were "big and bulky, expensive and rarely used," they wrote. Now they are "practically an appendage."
The IRS recently began enforcing the rules requiring employees to maintain detailed records of their business and personal use of phones, BlackBerrys and similar devices but has also acknowledged the law is burdensome. In June, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said he would work with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to urge Congress to repeal current law.
Privacy watchdogs on Thursday criticized the Senate Judiciary Committee's passage of legislation that would reauthorize expiring portions of the USA PATRTIOT Act, saying the version approved by the panel did not go far enough. The Center for Democracy and Technology argued the Obama administration secured changes to the bill that diminished some of the civil liberties safeguards initially proposed by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and opposed more sweeping changes that could have bolstered Americans' constitutional rights.
CDT was particularly disappointed in the defeat of an amendment that would have protected privacy by raising the standard for issuing administrative subpoenas known as national security letters. "As a result, NSLs will continue to be used to obtain sensitive records about people who are two or three steps removed from the target of an investigation," CDT senior counsel Gregory Nojeim said. Michael Macleod-Ball, acting director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington office called the action "a missed opportunity."
Read full coverage of the Judiciary Committee's mark up in CongressDaily's PM Edition here (subscription required).
Twenty members of the House who represent rural communities have requested the FCC open a formal investigation into the nature and function of Google's Internet telephony service known as Google Voice. In a Wednesday letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the lawmakers said they are concerned with Google's assertion that it is not offering a "traditional" telephone service -- despite its use of 10-digit numbers and its ability to connect calls over a local exchange carrier -- and therefore should not be treated as a common carrier service like AT&T and Verizon.
Google "should not be able to evade compliance with important principles of access and competition set forth by the FCC by simply self-declaring it is not subject to them," they wrote. "If Google is allowed to operate its telephone service outside the rules by which all other common carriers operate, we worry that the market and support for universal service will be undermined." Rural consumers, whose calls would only be selectively connected, would be most harmed, they argued. The letter was signed by Reps. Steve Buyer, R-Ind.; Charlie Melancon, D-La.; John Shimkus, R-Ill.; John Barrow, D-Ga., and others.
AT&T last month asked the FCC to force Google to play by the same rules as its competitors on the heels of reports that the Internet giant blocked calls to rural areas for users of its Google Voice service and, as a result, is reducing its access expenses. Google defended itself on its blog saying that the company's goal is to provide consumers with free or low-cost access to as many advanced communications features as possible. To do that, Google Voice restricts certain outbound calls from its Web platform to high-priced destinations.
House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa has given the committee's minority Web site an overhaul. The enhanced site is designed to create a user-friendly hub for information about the panel's work and Republicans' oversight of federal programs. Features include an interactive calendar; custom-built pages for each GOP committee member; a rotating front page video module, allowing users to simultaneously watch live hearings and explore documents; and a Twitter feed, displaying minority committee member's tweets in real time.
"Our expanded online presence highlights important investigations and efforts to achieve real accountability and transparency in government," Issa said in a statement. "Our watchdog Web site is a straight-forward platform from which we will call out Washington's fiscal irresponsibility, engage all Americans in the daily fight for effective governance and transport users into the trenches of federal oversight."
House Homeland Security Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science and Technology Subcommittee Chairwoman Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., on Tuesday introduced a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The Senate passed a similar resolution last week, which was sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Additionally President Obama issued a proclamation in honor of the month.
"Americans rely on information technology in every aspect of our lives - from managing businesses to social networking," Clarke said in a press release. "In this digital age, we are all interconnected and our national cyber infrastructure is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain." She pointed out that cybersecurity vulnerabilities can impact national and economic security. The Homeland Security Department logged 5,499 such incidents in 2008 -- a 40 percent increase over the previous year.
Clarke will join industry executives at a Tuesday event on Capitol Hill to discuss emerging threats, vulnerabilities and challenges. Additional speakers at the TechAmerica briefing include: Microsoft's Vinny Gullotto; RSA's Uri Rivner; Eric Cole of Lockheed Martin; IBM's Kristin Lovejoy; and John McCumber of Symantec.
Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos reiterated on a call with reporters Tuesday the Obama administration's support of a Senate bill that would make big changes to the U.S. patent system. Kappos said that while no industry stakeholders have gotten exactly what they want out of the measure, "it moves us forward [and] that is better than the status quo." Major high-tech and pharmaceutical companies spent months divided over the bill's handling of how damages are assessed in infringement lawsuits and recent debate has focused on administrative procedures for challenging granted patents.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke wrote to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy on Monday saying the bill "incorporates the essential elements of patent reform," but lawmakers should go further to address related issues as it heads toward the floor. Leahy, whose panel approved the measure in April, said he wants to work with Majority Leader Harry Reid to tee the bill up for a vote before the end of the year. Read more in CongressDaily here (subscription required).
On the same teleconference, Commerce Department General Counsel Cameron Kerry, who is the younger brother of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., told reporters that provisions of the Leahy bill are "important to jump-starting the economy again and getting innovation going again." He said the bill is "long overdue" and, if passed, would help the PTO "make the American patent system function the way that it ought to."
Legislation that would force AM and FM radio stations to pay fees to performers and record labels whose songs they broadcast has been added to the Senate Judiciary Committee's mark up agenda for Thursday. The controversial bill, sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, was the focus of an August hearing. A similar measure passed the House Judiciary Committee in May after key members added carve-outs intended to help small broadcasters cope with the charge. Resolutions have been introduced in the House and Senate opposing the fee.
It is unlikely that the Senate bill will see action this week because of a rule that allows any Judiciary Committee member to postpone consideration of legislation for one week after it is added to the line up for the first time. The panel has its hands full with other issues including legislation to extend and modify provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act; a bill to protect reporters who decline to reveal confidential information or sources; and a bill that would bar pharmaceutical companies from making deals with other drug companies to halt production of generic drugs.
Legislation that would let states to petition to operate wireless jamming devices in particular correctional facilities won unanimous Senate approval on Monday. The measure, sponsored by Senate Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, would require the FCC to conduct a rulemaking on the topic and establish rules and criteria for the approval of jamming systems and devices. Amid fears of signal interference in nearby areas, the bill also requires the FCC to conduct field testing of all devices submitted for approval and requires approved devices operate at the lowest possible power output necessary. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, sponsored a companion bill in the House.
"This legislation will disconnect the communications networks that prisoners and criminal enterprises have patched together using smuggled cell phones," Hutchison said in a press release. "With innocent lives on the line, Congress has a responsibility to give the nation's law enforcement community the tools necessary to effectively fight this growing problem." In 2008, corrections systems nationwide reported large numbers of confiscated phones. California reported nearly 3,000 phones found with inmates, while Mississippi had nearly 2,000. The Federal Bureau of Prisons reported the confiscation of more than 1,600 phones.
The top Republican on a House Science Committee panel thinks the Obama administration is dragging its feet when it comes to pursing its scientific integrity and transparency agendas. Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight ranking member Paul Broun, R-Ga., wrote to White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren in July and again Friday requesting details about recent events at several agencies that could reveal "a troubling pattern" of political motives clashing with scientific debate.
Broun requested a plan from the administration to reconcile the discrepancies associated with the events with the administration's principles of scientific integrity and transparency as outlined in President Obama's Jan. 21 and March 9 memos to agency heads. To ensure whistleblower protections, Broun asked for a plan to guarantee that negative employment actions will not be taken against individuals who present information contrary to the administration's policy goals.
"As additional issues regarding scientific integrity continue to mount, I sincerely hope your office's recommendations will ensure this administration's actions will match its rhetoric," Broun added.
The Senate Commerce Communications, Technology, and the Internet Subcommittee Wednesday will wade into the debate over how to reauthorize sections of the Satellite Home Viewer Act slated to expire Dec. 31. The House and Senate Judiciary committees passed their versions of the legislation last month and the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee approved its bill in June. The Judiciary and Commerce committees share jurisdiction over the statute, which permits satellite systems to retransmit local and distant television signals.
The Senate Commerce Committee announced its witness line-up on Monday:
• DirecTV Senior Vice President Robert Gabrielli
• Dish Network Executive Vice President Stanton Dodge
• Meredith Corporation President Paul Karpowicz
• West Virginia Public Broadcasting Technology Director Bill Acker
... Sen. (and Saturday Night Live alumnus) Al Franken, D-Minn., appearing at the Future of Music Coalition's annual policy summit, which runs Monday and Tuesday at Georgetown University. Franken delivers a day one keynote at noon in the university's Gaston Hall, 37th and O Streets, N.W., followed by another keynote at 2 p.m. -- in the same location -- by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. In addition, Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., a House Energy and Commerce member, as well officials from the U.S. Copyright Office and Justice Department will join high-tech and entertainment industry executives for numerous panels on the challenges and opportunities facing creators and fans in the rapidly evolving music business.
Read a full rundown of this week's tech policy events at CongressDaily's TechCentral here.
President Obama is facing pressure from House Minority Leader John Boehner and Minority Whip Eric Cantor over FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's plan to prevent telecommunications and cable broadband providers from blocking or degrading competing content and services on the Internet. In a Friday letter, the pair wrote that the Commission should direct its energy on developing the national broadband plan, which is due to Congress in February.
"We believe that network neutrality regulations would actually thwart further broadband investment and availability, and that a well-reasoned broadband plan would confirm our view," Boehner and Cantor wrote. "To hastily begin the process of adopting network neutrality rules months before issuing such a plan implies that politics are driving the FCC's decision-making process." The FCC is slated to vote on the proposed net neutrality rules at its Oct. 22 meeting.
Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge and a proponent of Genachowski's effort, called it "truly unfortunate" that the House Republican leadership has tried to slow what she called "the greatest economic engine for job creativity and innovation ever created." The FCC's aim is to establish a set of principles to preserve an open Internet for all Americans, she said. "Net neutrality is simply a guarantee of fairness, a prohibition on discrimination," Sohn added.
House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, Homeland Security Committee ranking member Peter King and others wrote to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday asking them to delay for one year implementation of a 2006 law that bans Internet gambling in the United States. The members referred to the regulations as an "unreasonable burden on regulators and the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis."
In May, Frank introduced legislation to put off the execution of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which is slated to take effect Dec. 1, 2009. Lawmakers have complained that the rules were completed by the Bush administration at the last minute and his bill would stop regulators from enforcing the measure until Congress has had a chance to decide national policy. Frank also sponsored legislation to create a federal regulatory and enforcement framework under which online gambling operators could obtain licenses allowing them to accept bets from individuals in the United States.
National Thoroughbred Racing Asssociation, the American Greyhound Track Operators Association and the Poker Players Alliance has petitioned the Obama administration to extend the date of compliance for 12 months. A copy of the letter from Frank, King and others can be found here.
House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., on Friday said he has lingering questions about an agreement that the Obama administration signed this week with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers that loosens the U.S. government's grip on the entity that administers the domain name system. Chief among his concerns are the plan's implications for potential legal and security risks if foreign powers are involved with the oversight and handling of data.
Under the agreement, which replaces a multiyear contract between ICANN and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that expired Wednesday, a handful of expert panels will supervise a range of Internet governance related activities from the security and stability of domain names to ICANN's internal functioning. The U.S. government will have only one permanent seat as part of an accountability panel.
"Surely, the United States should have a permanent seat on all four panels," Stearns said in a statement. "The United States has been the leader in the Internet's development and should provide leadership into the future. All countries may participate in it's continue development, but the United States should still retain a prime leadership role." Others have been critical of the NTIA-ICANN deal as well. Read Thursday's CongressDaily PM Edition for more (subscription required).
As the Commerce Department works on the near-term release of a letter providing the Obama administration's views on a Senate bill aimed at overhauling the U.S. patent system, key Republicans are pressing Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Jeff Sessions to resist proposals they believe could weaken the measure.
Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; James Risch, R-Idaho; Michael Enzi, R-Wyo.; and Robert Bennett, R-Utah, asked them to build on "careful compromises" reached when the panel approved the bill in April, 15-4. At the time, Leahy lost the support of Hatch, a key ally who was upset the amended version failed to address the issue of "inequitable conduct" claims at the Patent and Trademark Office.
Hatch, who chairs the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, said Wednesday that he voted against the bill because he "wanted to make sure patent reform was done right." Nonetheless, he said there were good provisions in the bill and he wants to make sure Leahy and Sessions are "vigilant in preserving what has been achieved." Stakeholders are divided over the bill's approach to administratively challenging a patent's validity after it is granted.
Read the full story in CongressDaily's AM Edition here (subscription required).
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman capped off Wednesday's U.S. Chamber of Commerce intellectual property summit by touching on a range of issues -- from patents to copyrights to trademarks. How does the former head of the now defunct Judiciary Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Subcommittee keep abreast of the flurry of IP activity while heading up a panel with broad jurisdiction over international and diplomatic issues? "I can walk and chew gum at the same time," he said.
Berman said he hoped that the Senate will act on a version of a foreign relations reauthorization bill that would include language to increase resources and training for enforcement of IP rights. A bill he introduced, which overwhelmingly passed the House in June, would require the Secretary of State to appoint 10 new IP attachés to serve in embassies or other diplomatic missions with priority placement given to countries with particularly egregious IP regimes.
On the ongoing debate over whether and how to overhaul the U.S. patent system, Berman said he was hopeful that legislation could move forward. He noted that the Senate is poised to pave the way in the 111th Congress. Berman also said President Obama's nomination of the first White House IP enforcement coordinator last week should lead to "a more coherent and comprehensive federal policy." Rigorous enforcement and a focus on digital piracy should be at the top of that office's agenda, he said.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee easily approved two bills on Wednesday designed to require companies that store private information to better protect it against security breaches, and to warn consumers about potential dangers of downloading the "peer-to-peer" software that has been implicated in such unauthorized breaches, CongressDaily reports. The Data Accountability and Trust Act and the Informed P2P User Act, passed on voice votes with no individual amendments.
The Data Accountability and Trust Act requires entities that hold personal information to adopt appropriate security measures to protect it. In addition, if a breach occurs, such as inadvertent release of tax records or medical information, they must notify consumers. The FTC would be empowered to enforce the law, with penalties up to $5 million for violations. The Informed P2P User Act requires installers of peer-to-peer software, that allows many people to access information contained on a personal computer, to notify computer users that the software is about to be installed.
Read the full mark up report here (subscription required).
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue urged the Senate on Wednesday to "hurry up and confirm" former U.S. Assistant Trade Representative Victoria Espinel who was tapped last week by President Obama to serve as the first White House intellectual property enforcement coordinator. The Senate Judiciary Committee first must receive a completed questionnaire that details her background and experience and then a hearing can be scheduled. Espinel, who is highly regarded on Capitol Hill, within industry, and among international IP policy arenas, is expected to easily win confirmation.
"I'm calling on the administration to take the next logical and necessary step," Donohue said during a keynote at a Chamber-sponsored summit. "Work with the business community and Congress to create a bold IP strategy." Such a plan is required under the 2008 legislation that created the IP czar position, he said. The White House must ensure that, once confirmed, Espinel will have "the resources and authority to get things done."
Donohue also pressed the U.S. government to remain strong on protecting the IP behind green technologies as negotiators plan for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. At that meeting, countries will try to reach agreement on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but some governments want carve-outs that Donohue said could diminish incentives for U.S. manufacturers. "We must reject those claims that IP rights are a barrier to climate change innovation," he said, arguing that compulsory licensing could endanger a million jobs by 2020.
When President Obama tapped George Mason University professor Victoria Espinel as the first White House intellectual property enforcement coordinator Friday, lawmakers and industry stakeholders let out a collective sigh of relief. The announcement was months in the making, and Espinel, who previously served as assistant trade representative for IP, had been considered the top candidate for the job for some time.
One reason for the delay was that administration officials were conflicted over where to put the IP czar. Eventually they settled on OMB, after ruling out the Domestic Policy Council, National Economic Council, USTR and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, sources familiar with the process said. OMB oversees strategic planning, interagency coordination and budgeting, and it is seen as a successful coordinator of programs that span multiple agencies.
The fact that Espinel, who is expected to easily win Senate confirmation, would land at OMB is ironic, since that is where 2005 legislation offered by Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, placed the head of a proposed IP enforcement network. At the time, the idea was panned by critics, who thought OMB would be a peculiar locale for the post. Read the entire "Issue Of The Week" from CongressDaily's TechCentral here (subscription required).
More than 20 lawmakers are urging Justice Department antitrust chief Christine Varney and FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz to view recent European antitrust rulings with a critical eye and weigh the impact of those decisions on U.S. high-tech firms such as Intel, Google, Microsoft, IBM and Qualcomm. Their effort comes on the heels of the European Commission's $1.45 billion judgment against Intel for excluding competitors from the market for chips known as x86 central processing units.
Sept. 18 letters to Varney and Leibowitz, spearheaded by Oregon Reps. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat, and Greg Walden, a Republican, argue the Intel ruling "is the latest evidence of a troublesome trend in Europe toward regulatory protectionism." Other successful U.S. firms have faced hefty fines, are under investigation, or possibly face scrutiny from the Commission's competition directorate, they said. The Intel decision "ignores the reality of a highly competitive marketplace," they wrote in the document initially circulated on the Hill this summer.
Intel, which is the subject of an FTC investigation, was a major contributor to the 2008 races of Blumenauer and Walden and employs more than 15,000 people at Oregon facilities, making it the state's largest private employer. The company also has a workforce of several thousand in New Mexico. Democratic Reps. David Wu of Oregon, Harry Teague of New Mexico, Rush Holt of New Jersey, House Science Chairman Bart Gordon and others signed the letter.
House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., has introduced a bill that would expand the Universal Service Fund's lifeline assistance program for broadband adoption. The bill directs the FCC to establish a broadband program that provides low-income Americans living in rural and urban areas with assistance in subscribing to affordable broadband internet service. Matsui said her measure would help "fully close the digital divide."
In California, an estimated 96 percent of residences have access to broadband but just over half have signed up for a high-speed connection at home. In most cases, adoption rates are associated with income as seen in recent data from the Public Policy Institute of California, which show that only 58 percent of the state's residents earning under $40,000 a year subscribed to dial-up or broadband at home, according to Matsui's release. In contrast, 97 percent of those earning $80,000 or more subscribed to one of the services.
"It is clear that millions of Americans cannot afford broadband services," Matsui said in a press release, pointing out that in the current economic climate, many cannot afford to pay up to $60 a month for broadband. The legislation models the assistance provided for basic telephone service under the FCC's current lifeline assistance program, which is designed to ensure that quality telecommunications services are available to low-income customers at reasonable rates.
Former Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., who was tapped last week to become the new head of the National Association of Broadcasters spoke to reporters on Wednesday for the first time since being named to the post. His conversation with the press, which followed an appearance at NAB's Radio Show in Philadelphia, included a bit of perspective on legislation that would impose new fees on AM and FM stations. NAB has been lobbying hard against the bill, which broadcasters say could do great harm. The music industry has argued paying a royalty is only fair since other platforms already pay performers for the songs they play.
Here's an excerpt:
"I don't care whether you call it a fee, a fine, a tax... It taxes [stations'] ability to stay in business. As someone who, by the way in the Senate was very helpful to the artist community...What I've tried to stop for them is unlawful downloading of their material. That's a different issue than saying 'my business model was broken by my neighbor and so to make that right lets break their business model.' The truth is artists need broadcasters, broadcasters need artists. There's a mutual benefit society here, a community of interest that somehow has been lost by pointing to broadcasters and saying somehow they have to make this right by us. I'm anxious for members of Congress to know that these broadcasters are a vital piece of the economic and cultural life of the community they represent. If you want to buy some radio stations in Oregon there are a lot of them for sale. I want them operating. I don't want them out of business."
As radio executives gather in Philadelphia this week for the National Association of Broadcasters' annual Radio Show, attendees will likely get an earful about legislation moving through Congress that would impose new fees on AM and FM stations. The NAB has waged war against a pair of House and Senate bills, claiming they would impose an unfair burden on an already cash-strapped industry. But music stakeholders argue the bills would bring AM and FM in line with Internet, cable and satellite radio services, which already pay performers.
An NAB spokesman said Tuesday that support for "free and local radio" continues to grow despite the music industry-led effort. The group noted that 251 House members and 25 senators have signed onto resolutions opposing what they believe is a tax on local radio. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., along with Reps. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif.; John Boccieri, D-Ohio; Brian Baird, D-Wash.; Joe Sestak, D-Pa., and Dan Lungren, R-Calif., were the most recent to back the resolutions.
Meanwhile, proponents of the legislation are turning up the heat on one radio giant. The MusicFirst Coalition said Wednesday that two Washington, D.C. area Clear Channel stations -- country station WMZQ and WIHT, "Hot 99.5," -- failed to comply with public disclosure rules for advertisements opposing the Performance Rights Act. MusicFirst argued the stations played NAB spots but an inspection of their public filings found no record of the broadcasts and nothing about the stations' opposition to the legislation.
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names Chief Operating Officer Doug Brent defended his group's planned expansion of top-level domains -- such as .biz, .info and .us -- at a House Judiciary Courts and Competition Subcommittee hearing Wednesday, arguing that bringing potentially hundreds of new domains to market will benefit consumers and companies that do business online. He said multiple parties from around the world have already expressed interest in securing new domains (like .eco, .nyc, and .basketball) and there have been numerous venues for public comment.
But Nike, Verizon and Marriott along with trade groups like the National Association of Manufacturers and U.S. Chamber of Commerce have built up opposition to the ICANN plan, claiming that it could exacerbate cyber-squatting, fraud, and consumer confusion while forcing trademark owners to spend more money to defend their brands. ICANN had targeted February to begin accepting applications for new domains but Brent said that date would likely be missed due to ongoing discussions about how to protect intellectual property rights.
IP concerns are crucial, he said, noting "we cannot and will not allow the expansion if it does not protect trademark holders." Steve DelBianco of the e-commerce group NetChoice said the domain name expansion controversy is indicative of the larger issue of ICANN not being fully accountable to the entire Internet community. He apologized to lawmakers for "dragging you into this food fight" and said it "shouldn't take a congressional hearing to get ICANN to focus on fraud and abuse."
Read a related story in CongressDaily's Wednesday AM Edition here and look for more in the PM Edition (subscription required). More on the hearing testimony can be found here.
A Congressional Research Service report circulated this week on the increasing use of micro-blogging site Twitter on Capitol Hill shows the following:
• 158 members of the House and Senate are registered with Twitter and issued about 1,187 tweets during the two one-week periods in July and August analyzed for the report.
• Approximately 29 percent of House members and 31 percent of senators are registered with Twitter. Members sent an average of 85 tweets per day collectively.
• House Republicans sent the most tweets (54 percent), followed by House Democrats (27 percent), Senate Republicans (10 percent) and Senate Democrats (9 percent).
• More tweets were sent on Thursday than any other day of the week.
• Members' use of Twitter can be divided into six categories: position taking, press or Web links, district or state activities, official congressional action, personal, and replies.
• The most frequent type of tweets were press and Web link tweets, which comprised 43 percent of in-session and 46 percent of recess tweets.
• Official congressional action tweets during session (33 percent) and position-taking tweets during recess (14 percent)
(Hat tip, TweetCongress)
Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., urged Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy in a Tuesday letter to insist on a committee vote Thursday on legislation to protect confidential sources of journalists. "There has been ample time for consideration so that amendments should be presented and voted upon and the bill should be reported to the floor promptly," Specter said. Last week, the panel confronted bipartisan opposition on grounds the bill does not do enough to protect national security.
Specter reintroduced the bill in February and it has been on the committee's agenda since May. Since the introduction of the original measure in 2005, the panel has held multiple hearings and heard from 24 witnesses, he pointed out. In October 2007, the committee reported the previous bill on a 15-4 vote. "If there are objections, let the objectors offer amendments without a continuing filibuster," Specter said.
Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein and Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions have argued the bill could encourage leaks of classified information. Sessions has also claimed it would impede national security investigations and make it difficult to subpoena source material from reporters, especially where the crime is related to classified information. "I'm going to have a hard time voting for this bill," Feinstein said last week.
Warning that a free and open Internet "faces emerging and substantial challenges," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on Monday outlined ambitious plans for rules designed to prevent telecommunications and cable broadband providers from blocking or degrading competing content and services. "I believe the FCC must be a smart cop on the beat preserving a free and open Internet," he told a packed audience at the Brookings Institution.
Such rules could potentially insulate the FCC from a lawsuit challenging its authority to enforce its network neutrality principles, which were introduced as voluntary. But the announcement could trigger a reaction from Republicans on Capitol Hill and at the agency, as well as major communications companies, which have argued that heavy-handed government intervention could stifle broadband investment. Industry players generally coupled their criticism with praise for areas where they have common ground, though privately, they are said to be nervous.
"I think they're reluctant to get in his face this early in his tenure," an industry source said, adding it appears that major carriers -- recognizing Genachowski has the votes to move forward -- will seek to shape regulations they can live with. The FCC will vote on the proposed changes at its October meeting, but the new rules are not expected to be in place until the spring, well after it issues a national broadband plan to Congress in February.
Read David Hatch's CongressDaily PM Edition story here and a follow-up piece in Tuesday's AM Edition here (subscription required).
Senate Republican High Tech Task Force Chairman Orrin Hatch on Monday slammed President Obama's same-day speech about innovation, arguing that his words did not match his policy proposals and in several instances "go in exactly the opposite direction." Obama's address at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y., was hailed by a range of technology industry stakeholders as a bold step toward achieving economic recovery and maintaining American competitiveness.
Obama articulated his support for making permanent a research and development tax credit, which is proposed in his FY10 budget request, by noting that it would help companies afford the high cost of developing new ideas, technologies and products. "What he failed to say, though, is that he and congressional leaders squandered the best chance in a generation to do this by not including a permanent extension in this year's stimulus bill," Hatch said. "Instead they opted to expand government social programs."
Also among Obama's talking points was the importance of a lower tax rate on capital gains to spur investments in start-up businesses. He said zeroing out the tax for investments in certain businesses is essential because they are engines of innovation and produce 13 times more patents per employee than large companies. Hatch countered that the FY10 budget "calls for a devastating tidal wave in the form of a capital gains rate increase that will totally swamp the small island of tax relief that he has proposed."
Among the more than 560 amendments submitted by Senate Finance Committee members late last week is a proposal by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to dedicate Internet gambling tax revenue -- generated through implementation of a pending House bill -- to increase low-income subsidies included in Finance Chairman Max Baucus' healthcare reform measure. Wyden also offered an amendment that requires employers to offer at least two choices of health insurance or provide vouchers their employees could use in the insurance marketplace proposed by President Obama.
House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank's Web gambling bill would overturn a 2006 federal gambling ban and create a framework to permit licensed operators to accept wagers from individuals in the United States. A companion to Frank's legislation introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., would raise revenue for the Treasury Department primarily through ensuring that applicable individual taxes, corporate taxes and license fees on regulated Internet gambling activities are collected.
"We applaud Senator Wyden's proposal to collect and put to good use tens of billions in Internet gambling revenue that would otherwise be lost in the underground marketplace," said Michael Waxman, a spokesman with the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, which backs Frank and McDermott's legislation. The group also pointed to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis that showed collecting taxes on regulated Web gambling would let the U.S. capture up to $62.7 billion over the next decade.
Four consumer and privacy groups will ask the Justice Department's top antitrust official on Monday to conduct "a thorough and rigorous examination" of the proposed 10-year advertising agreement Microsoft and Yahoo announced in July. In a letter to Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney, the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Consumer Watchdog and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, argue that the firms have historically operated competing ad-targeting businesses in search, display and mobile advertising, as well as competitive ad exchanges.
"In order to ensure that American consumers and competitors are given the 21st century safeguards they require, both the DOJ and FTC must carefully examine how the proposed
Microsoft/Yahoo agreement will impact the digital marketplace," they write in the letter, which will also be sent to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz and Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis. Kohl previously said his panel would closely review the deal. An ad arrangement between Google and Yahoo fell apart in 2008 after regulators warned they would file a lawsuit to block it.
The letter argues that the proposed combination of Microsoft's and Yahoo's search platforms effectively undermines the latter as a meaningful competitor as it gives up its ability to offer marketers a robust search and display combination. DOJ must ask whether the plan is "simply a precursor to the eventual absorption by Microsoft of Yahoo's various advertising holdings" and whether the combination of their data collection, profiling, and targeting technologies could place competitors at a disadvantage, they state.
Former Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., has been tapped to head the National Association of Broadcasters, the trade group announced Friday morning. Smith, who was defeated by Democrat Jeff Merkley in 2008 after two terms in office, starts Nov. 1. Among Smith's top priorities will be leading broadcasters' effort to stave off legislation that would force AM and FM radio to pay fees to performers whose songs they air.
NAB's former president, David Rehr, stepped down in May after four years on the job. Smith, who served on the Senate Commerce, Finance, and Foreign Relations Committees, will be introduced to NAB members and make brief remarks at the group's annual Radio Show in Philadelphia next week and will meet the entire NAB board in mid-October. While on Capitol Hill, Smith also chaired the Senate Republican High Tech Task Force -- a role that helped foster his interest in new media and technology issues.
His appointment comes on the heels of a string of recent defeats for the NAB, including its failure to block the XM-Sirius satellite radio merger. The association was also a key player in the nation's switchover to digital television signals. Smith issued a statement calling the NAB post "an opportunity of a lifetime." "As radio and television stations embrace new technologies and new business opportunities, I look forward to articulating to public policymakers the unique and positive role played by local and network broadcasters in the fabric of American society," he said.
Read more in CongressDaily's PM Edition.
The Senate Commerce Committee's timetable for advancing broad cybersecurity legislation continues to slip as aides retool key provisions and the bill's co-sponsors -- Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine -- continue their prominent roles in the high-stakes healthcare debate. It appears unlikely that a hearing on the measure will happen this month, Rockefeller aides said Wednesday. An August e-mail from Commerce Committee General Counsel Bruce Andrews to outside groups said the panel was aiming for a hearing and a markup in September or October.
Several sections of the legislation are considered "wet cement," an aide said. One such provision, which high-tech policy watchers argued could give the president the power to effectively shut off the Internet in a Web crisis, is being reworded after lengthy consultations. The goal is to map out the untested responsibilities of the public and private sector in the event of a high-tech hurricane. More prominent in a forthcoming version of the bill will be language that details how the president and pertinent government and industry officials can develop emergency response plans.
Read the full story in CongressDaily's Thursday AM Edition here (subscription required).
3121, the first professional networking tool designed exclusively for congressional members and staff launches Thursday after several months of beta testing. National Journal Group's walled-off Web site offers a secure directory of contacts, communications tools and customizable news feeds so users can find and collaborate with colleagues and create personalized news filters. 3121 has been pre-populated with 9,500 user profiles, with about 56 percent belonging to Democrats and 44 percent to Republicans. Individuals with House and Senate e-mail addresses can log-on to claim and modify their listings. Learn more about 3121 here. FYI: "3121" is the extension for the Capitol Hill switchboard.
Two of the House Judiciary Committee's top Republicans wrote to the new head of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on Tuesday to express concerns about the proposed introduction of many new top-level domains -- such as .biz, .info, and .us -- and the expiration later this month of a memo formally joining the Commerce Department and the California-based entity that administers the world's Web addresses.
In their letter to ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom, Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith and Courts and Competition Subcommittee ranking member Howard Coble, R-N.C., said they are worried that a vast expansion of domains will carry "serious negative consequences" for U.S. businesses and consumers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and others have complained that adding hundreds of new domains could exacerbate cyber-squatting, fraud, and overall confusion in the Internet marketplace.
Smith and Coble said the absence of price caps in the new registry deals could mean that legitimate businesses could be discriminated against and asked to pay a premium for each domain they register or renew. ICANN, which has said it plans to begin accepting applications for new domains in early 2010, could bring in an initial $90 million from the plan, according to some estimates. The letter argued the only economic justification put forth so far is an ICANN-commissioned report that has been criticized for failing to include empirical data to support of its claim that the project will benefit consumers.
Legislation slated to come before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday will reflect the end to a copyright feud between cable television and content providers, Democratic aides told CongressDaily earlier this week. Under the deal, cable companies would give the Copyright Office $85 million over five years to cover "phantom signals" -- transmissions that are not viewable by consumers but nevertheless necessitate payment under a 2008 decision by the Copyright Office. Hollywood studios would get a portion of the money. The arrangement also includes money for past obligations, sources said of the deal reached by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and the Motion Picture Association of America.
Both groups were hesitant to comment ahead of Judiciary Chairman John Conyers' introduction of the broader bill, which would reauthorize sections of the Satellite Home Viewer Act that expire Dec. 31. MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman issued a statement lauding Conyers and his staff for bringing the parties together to reach a consensus. "This is a good agreement for consumers who enjoy entertainment programming, the people who create that programming and the cable systems that retransmit it," he said. NCTA had argued that its members should not have to pay for content that subscribers cannot access but is transmitted as a result of cable company consolidation.
Read the full story in CongressDaily here. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Jeff Sessions introduced their version of the reauthorization bill on Tuesday. Read more here. (subscription required)
Even though Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and ranking member Charles Grassley are up to their eyeballs in healthcare reform, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy wants them to keep intellectual property on their radar screen. Coalition Chairman Richard Cotton, who also serves as general counsel for NBC Universal, wrote to the pair Monday commending them for including provisions aimed at bolstering IP protections in their customs and trade enforcement reauthorization bill. The measure was introduced just before August recess.
The legislation would ensure that there is sufficient leadership, resources, and legal tools to sustain effective IP enforcement at the Homeland Security Department, Customs Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Cotton wrote. The measure would allow those agencies "to work smarter and faster to stop the importation of counterfeit goods while also speeding legitimate commerce." Protecting IP is essential to creating quality jobs and growing the U.S. economy, he stated, noting that IP dependent industries in the U.S. account for more than $5 trillion of the gross domestic product and comprise more than half of all exports.
House Cybersecurity Caucus co-chairs Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, urged President Obama last week to swiftly appoint a permanent cybersecurity coordinator within the White House. In a Thursday letter, the pair said the absence of such an official "impedes the ability of federal agencies to move forward in updating and strengthening their aging cyber policies," while complicating efforts to collaborate with private institutions that also play a critical role.
The appointment of a cyber czar was among a number of recommendations offered by the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Commission on Cybersecurity, which Langevin and McCaul co-chaired, and the administration's own comprehensive review of the government's cybersecurity infrastructure. Both reports also said the creation of a national security strategy for cyberspace is needed and the lawmakers lauded Obama for getting the ball rolling on that front.
"Foreign aggressors and criminals have been able to penetrate inadequately protected U.S. computer networks," the letter stated. "Those attacks have provided access to vast quantities of valuable information, and while our most sensitive U.S. military communications remains safe, economic competitors and potential military opponents have not hesitated to exploit opportunities presented by our lack of robust cybersecurity protections." The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has scheduled a Monday hearing on the topic.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman and ranking member Susan Collins over the weekend gave a sneak peek at a Monday hearing intended to examine cybercrime that is directed at small- to medium-sized companies. In a Sunday press release, the pair said the event precedes the introduction of legislation focused on combating high-tech attacks on the private sector. Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, also introduced a broad cyber bill earlier this year.
"The Internet now is a global asset - a new strategic high ground - that simply must be secured just as any military commander would seize and control the high ground of a battle field," Lieberman said. "But unlike a battlefield, securing cyberspace is much more complicated to do since the Internet is an open, public entity. Security cannot be achieved by the government alone." Collins added that for every communications advance, there is a risk that the technology will be misused. She cited estimates that cybercrime may cost the global economy $1 trillion in losses - nearly $8 billion of that in the United States.
Witnesses at the hearing include Heartland Payment Systems CEO Robert Carr; Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center President William Nelson; U.S. Secret Service Office of Investigations Assistant Director Michael Merritt; and Homeland Security Undersecretary for National Protection and Programs Philip Reitinger.
The U.S. government's top copyright official told lawmakers Thursday Google's pending $125 million deal in a class-action lawsuit with authors and publishers will encroach on Congress' role in setting copyright policy. The settlement, which would embolden the Internet giant's effort to create the world's largest digital library and bookstore, would also let the firm "engage in a number of indisputable acts of copyright infringement," Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters told the House Judiciary Committee.
Specifically, the settlement awaiting a federal court's blessing would allow Google to sell out-of-print works without rights-holders' consent, Peters said, calling it "an end-run around copyright law as we know it." The deal would also interfere with lawmakers' recent efforts to rework a statute dealing with "orphan works" -- musical tracks, writings, images, videos or other content whose owners cannot be easily found. The Senate passed such a bill last Congress, but a companion bill stalled in the House.
Read the full story in Thursday's CongressDaily PM Edition here and a related story in the AM Edition here that questions whether the Google feud could fuel a renewed push for copyright reform on Capitol Hill (subscription required).
An executive at the Biotechnology Industry Organization on Wednesday said his trade group is hopeful that a Senate bill aimed at updating the U.S. patent system will reach the floor and receive a favorable reaction from the House. BIO Vice President for Governmental Relations Brent Delmonte told reporters that a measure that passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in April is a "fair, responsible compromise." Chairman Patrick Leahy worked with Sens. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to smooth out contentious language that would alter how damages are awarded in patent infringement lawsuits. Previously divided industry stakeholders lauded the changes.
"We hope that type of process will replicate itself [in the House]," he said. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers introduced a similar bill but his panel has yet to move the measure forward. A House Judiciary Republican aide told CongressDaily recently that there is a "real possibility" that legislation can advance without major changes even though damages language has yet to be tweaked in his chamber. "We'll see over the course of a few weeks whether we can reach a consensus," the aide said. "We've seen great ideas originate on both sides of the Capitol and in both parties," Delmonte said of damages proposals and efforts to adjust the system by which individuals can challenge an issued patent.
The National Association of Broadcasters on Tuesday filed comments with the FCC dismissing a complaint filed by music industry stakeholders as nothing more than a "carefully crafted public relations document" that runs counter to the First Amendment, the Communications Act, and precedent set by both the Supreme Court and the FCC. As such, the MusicFirst Coalition's argument that AM and FM stations are threatening and intimidating artists while rejecting the group's ad dollars, should be rejected, NAB said.
Music groups have backed legislation that would require over-the-air stations to pay a fee to performers when their songs are aired. They argue the bill would bring AM and FM stations in line with Internet, cable and satellite radio services, which all provide such compensation. NAB has deemed the effort a ploy by the Recording Industry Association of America to levy a "tax" on local radio. Read a detailed description of the NAB's FCC filing here and MusicFirst's initial complaint here.
Meanwhile, reports that Apple will include an FM tuner in the new iPod Nano highlight the important role music will play in radio's future success, MusicFirst Executive Director Jennifer Bendall said Wednesday. She called the iPod murmur "great news for music and great news for radio." "Radio needs music more than ever before. It must fairly support the artists and musicians who bring music to life and listeners' ears to the radio dial."
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers on Wednesday unveiled his witness list for a Thursday hearing on competition and commerce in the digital book industry. The hearing comes on the heels of considerable controversy over Google's plan to digitize mass quantities of libraries' stacks. A New York federal court has scheduled a fairness hearing for Oct. 7 on the $125 million settlement Google reached in a feud with authors and publishers. Amazon.com, Microsoft, Yahoo and others have protested Google's project.
Witnesses include:
• Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond
• National Federation of the Blind President Marc Maurer
• Authors Guild Executive Director Paul Aiken
• University of Chicago law professor Randal Picker
• Amazon Vice President Paul Misener
• Consumer Watchdog John Simpson
• Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters
• Center for American Progress Senior Fellow David Balto
Washington reawakens next week after its late summer slumber and there are plenty of high-tech events taking place on and off Capitol Hill. Here's a quick rundown:
• The Gov 2.0 Summit takes place Wednesday and Thursday. Notables include White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra; Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra; Deputy CTO Beth Noveck; Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas; Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf; Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey; Facebook's Tim Sparapani; and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
• The Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Privacy Coalition unveils a privacy report card for the Obama administration on Wednesday at the National Press Club. A panel of privacy experts will also discuss the administration's performance on several critical privacy issues.
• The House Judiciary Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee holds a Wednesday hearing on expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and on Thursday holds a full committee hearing on digitizing literature as a result of controversy surrounding the Google Books project.
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz on Thursday expressed concern about Google's plan to digitize mass quantities of books, saying it "raises serious privacy challenges because of the vast amount of user information that could be collected." He said he was pleased that Google is taking steps to protect the privacy of Google Books users and noted that the Commission will have an ongoing dialogue with Google and others to ensure consumer privacy is protected when new technologies emerge. "As Google Books evolves we'll work to ensure that the privacy of online readers is fact, not fiction," he said in a statement.
Google recently told the FTC that users of Google Books are not and will not be required to have a Google account or register with Google to use most features although an account will be required to access books that a user has purchased. The application will also adhere to Google's existing privacy policy governing how it handles consumer data. Under that policy, Google only shares "personal information" when the consumer tells Google to do so or in certain other narrow circumstances. Google is also in the process of creating a specialized privacy policy specific to Google Books.
The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to examine "competition and commerce in digital books" next Thursday and a New York federal court has scheduled a fairness hearing for Oct. 7 on the $125 million settlement Google reached in a feud with authors and publishers. The Open Book Alliance says Google's response to the FTC "essentially boils down to this - trust us." "We think it's too important to leave to blind faith that Google would do the right thing for consumers if the settlement is approved," said the group, whose members include Amazon.com, Microsoft, the Internet Archive, Yahoo and others.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will get an update by Obama administration officials next Thursday on implementation of the $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program, Tech Daily Dose has learned. While the panel has not noticed the hearing on finalized a witness list, one might expect officials from the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service to testify. One might also expect those representatives to declare the program's early days a success, given the preliminary figures that have been floated.
The NTIA and RUS said last week that they received almost 2,200 applications requesting nearly $28 billion in funding for proposed broadband projects across 50 states and the District of Columbia. The initial $4 billion round of grants and loans are aimed at expanding broadband access and adoption to help bridge the technological divide and create jobs building Internet infrastructure. NTIA will utilize $4.7 billion to deploy broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas and other projects while RUS will invest $2.5 billion to facilitate broadband deployment in primarily rural communities.
"Applicants requested nearly seven times the amount of funding available, which demonstrates the substantial interest in expanding broadband across the nation," NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling said in a press release. "We will move quickly but carefully to fund the best projects to bring broadband and jobs to more Americans." RUS Administrator Jonathan Adelstein added that the overwhelming response "underscores the extensive interest in expanding broadband across the country."
Steve Largent, president of wireless association CTIA, told reporters Thursday that his trade group will use the FCC's recently announced notices of inquiry on innovation and competition in the mobile marketplace to share his industry's success story. Having a fact-based examination, which FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski requested at last week's Commission meeting, will "be a good thing for our industry," Largent said. Genachowski has faced pressure from Congress and smaller telecom firms to investigate whether firms like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Nextel are unfairly dominating the space.
Largent insisted, as telecom companies' executives have, that there is vigorous competition in the wireless industry. Prices continue to fall; 95 percent of U.S. consumers have a choice of three or more carriers; consumer satisfaction is up and complaints are down, he said. Largent also acknowledged that the mobile industry has been impacted by the economic slump. "We have not seen the numbers grow the way they have the last three years but nonetheless we're still growing," he said.
CTIA is also lobbying hard for regulators to make available more spectrum. The FCC has held two auctions in recent years, which resulted in the freeing of valuable spectrum, but Largent said more is needed. He said the last auction took about a decade to come to fruition and companies and customers "cannot afford to wait" years for the next auction. Additionally, his group is pressing Congress to change tax laws -- namely placing a five year moratorium on increases to wireless taxes. Consumers pay an average of 15.3 percent taxes on their wireless bill and "that's unacceptable," Largent said.
Internet radio company Live365 has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking an injunction to prevent any further proceedings by a three-judge panel that determines music royalty rates, officials said late Monday. In the complaint Live365, which has 5 million monthly listeners and more than 270 diverse genres, questions the constitutionality of the Copyright Royalty Board and whether its judges were appointed in violation of the Constitution's separation of powers.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia recently refused to rule on the CRB's constitutionality in a case brought by licensing firm Royalty Logic. The company had argued the CRB should be forced to vacate its decision in high-profile a proceeding that set the fee structure for webcasters. The panel has convened yet another rate-setting proceeding and music labels, licensing entities, artists, broadcasters and others are expected to spend millions of dollars presenting their cases, Live365 said.
"The constitutional issue is the elephant in the room at the CRB," Live365 CEO Mark Lam said in a statement. "Before any hard-earned artists' royalties and webcaster investments are spent on a potentially invalid royalty setting court, we are just requesting, for the benefit of all parties, to have this significant concern addressed and answered. The National Music Publishers' Association wrote to House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers recently calling for legislation that would make moot any constitutional challenges to the CRB.
The House Judiciary Committee is planning a hearing soon after lawmakers return to Washington this month to examine Internet giant Google's controversial effort to digitize mass quantities of books. Sources on Capitol Hill and within industry told Tech Daily Dose on Tuesday that the hearing could occur next week or the following week in Chairman John Conyers's full committee or the Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy, which is chaired by Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga.
A New York federal court has scheduled a fairness hearing for Oct. 7 on the $125 million settlement Google reached with publishers last October that lets authors and publishers cash in on the company's plan to display books online and profit from them by selling access to titles and by selling subscriptions to its collection. The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers filed a class action lawsuit against Google in 2005. The Justice Department formally acknowledged an investigation into the settlement this summer.
In related news, the National Writers Union wrote to former Vice President Al Gore on Tuesday asking him to use his influence to extend a Sept. 4 date for rights holders to opt out of the Google Books initiative and the Oct. 7 court date on the pending settlement. The deal "threatens to monopolize the access, distribution and pricing of the world's largest digital book database," NWU President Larry Goldbetter wrote. Gore serves as a senior advisor to Google and has a personal relationship with co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Update: A House Judiciary spokesman confirmed that a full committee hearing would be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10.
Representatives of consumer and privacy advocacy groups on Tuesday will unveil recommendations they are making to Congress for new legislation that is intended to protect Internet users' privacy. Citing growing threats from the increasingly common practice of online behavioral tracking and targeting, the groups will make detailed recommendations for updated fair information practices that they believe would offer adequate consumer privacy for the 21st century.
House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., is crafting legislation that policy watchers believe will be introduced soon. "Today, electronic information from consumers is collected, compiled, sold secretly and without reasonable safeguards," the groups said in a media advisory. "Tracking people's every move online is an invasion of privacy. It's like being followed by an invisible stalker." Among those pressing Boucher and others for action include the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
Boucher told CongressDaily earlier this year that he envisioned language that would give Internet users greater confidence in how information collected about them online is used and would offer some consumer control over that use. "That will encourage people to engage in electronic commerce more readily," he said. Boucher and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., introduced legislation four years ago that would have required consumer notification and prominent privacy policies that explain what is being collected and how it could be used, sold or otherwise disclosed.
Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller said Monday's release of an FCC report on existing technologies that block television content deemed inappropriate for children was a welcome step but more must be done by the agency and Congress. Government and the private sector must go beyond simply offering information, he said in a statement. They must provide "simple ways for families to control and monitor their children's screen time [and] must offer the tools and policies that make it easy for people to be good parents and oversee the viewing that goes on in their homes."
Rockefeller said he looked forward to the FCC's next action in this area, noting that his interest in the topic has long been high as are his expectations. He vowed to "continue fighting for these important protections" and said he looked forward to working with Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and other Commerce Committee colleagues on the issue. The FCC report was required under the 2007 Child Safe Viewing Act and over the past six months, the agency has compiled a record on parental control technologies in use as well as those still in development.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the report "contains some important information for parents [but] also raises important questions and exposes the need for further study of this essential issue." The Commission will soon unveil a notice of inquiry seeking more information on the topic as well as others related to children and media in the digital age. "We recognize that technology has created profound new challenges for parents by vastly expanding the scope and quantity of media available to our children. But technology also can -- and must -- be part of the solution," Genachowski said in a statement.
Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., on Thursday welcomed the announcement by the FCC that it will open an investigation into the wireless industry. The five-member Commission unanimously approved a sweeping examination into the sector intended to better understand factors that encourage innovation and investment and identify concrete steps it should take. The FCC also wants to gauge the adequacy of consumer protection policies through "truth in billing" rules for communications services. See CongressDaily's coverage here (subscription required).
In June, Kohl's subcommittee held a hearing to examine competition in the wireless space and the senator subsequently contacted the FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and the Justice Department's Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Christine Varney, urging the agencies to take action to ensure that the cell phone industry is fully open to competition and that barriers to entry and expansion by new competitors be removed. "Strong competition in this market is the only way to ensure that consumers in all parts of the country have access to innovative produces and services at fair prices," Kohl said.
An Internet tribute to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., launched Wednesday hours after the legendary lawmaker's death at age 77 on Tuesday night. TedKennedy.org allows the public to share thoughts and memories about the senator who had been battling brain cancer since a May 2008 diagnosis. A schedule of memorial events and media logistics will be released as soon as they are available on the site. In the meantime, tribute areas honoring Kennedy are being set up at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum in Boston, the JFK Museum in Hyannis, Mass. and Kennedy's Washington Office in the Russell Senate Building in Washington. Read complete Kennedy coverage at NationalJournal.com and CongressDaily.com.
Sweeping cybersecurity legislation introduced by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, in April has undergone major changes during the August recess and now features a more prominent focus on ensuring that the U.S. government and private sector have a properly trained workforce to thwart high-tech threats.
A revised version of the bill sent to Commerce and Intelligence committee aides late last week "captures a lot of the input we've received since its introduction" but is still a draft and has not been approved at the member level, Rockefeller aide Chan Lieu said in an e-mail to colleagues obtained by CongressDaily. A separate e-mail from Commerce Committee General Counsel Bruce Andrews said the panel is aiming for a hearing and a markup in September or October.
High up in the reworked document are provisions instructing the Commerce secretary to work with the White House Office of Personnel Management to train and certify government cyber professionals. Under the proposal, uncertified individuals could not represent themselves as such nor could uncertified service providers handle critical infrastructure information systems or networks. A new section would require the head of each federal department to develop an annual workforce plan that includes hiring projections, short- and long-term planning to address skill deficiencies, recruitment strategies and an analysis of barriers to recruitment.
Read the full story on CongressDaily's Web site here (subscription required).
A diverse coalition including retailers, real estate firms and state governments this fall is set to renew its decade-long push to require collection of online sales tax on out-of-state purchases, CongressDaily reported Friday. Aides to Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., and Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., said they are working on revamped versions of measures they introduced in the 110th and previous Congresses, although there is no timeline for introduction. Sources said they expect the "Main Street Fairness Act" to be unveiled as early as September.
Under a 1992 Supreme Court decision, retailers are not required to collect sales tax on online purchases in states where they do not have a physical presence, such as a warehouse, store or distribution center, although some states have passed laws requiring online collections. Supporters claim that leaves brick-and-mortar stores victimized by online retailers like Amazon and eBay that generally do not have to collect the tax and deprives states of billions of dollars in tax receipts annually.
Earlier this year, the jewelry stores' trade association wrote Enzi and Delahunt urging them to move quickly. Jewelers said they have been hurt by consumers browsing to get a sense of what they wanted, and then heading home to buy at online vendors like Blue Nile to avoid sales tax. "Internet retailers should not receive a tax advantage at the expense of traditional retailers and state and local governments," say August talking points from the International Council of Shopping Centers. Read the full story here (subscription required).
GovernmentExecutive.com reports that it's unclear whether President Obama's campaign proposal to post copies of all government contracts online has the support of Congress or is even logistically viable. Kenneth Baer, communications director for the Office of Management and Budget, said Wednesday that Obama continues to support the principles of a bill he introduced while in the Senate that would have added vastly more information to USASpending.gov.
In June 2008, then-Sen. Obama and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., introduced a follow-up to their 2006 Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act, which created USASpending.gov. The 2008 legislation -- ballyhooed at the time because it was co-sponsored by Obama's Republican rival for the presidency, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. -- received high-level support but never moved out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. An identical bill in the House also floundered.
A Senate Democratic source familiar with the legislation said in an e-mail that the bill failed to move because "OMB and others questioned whether it was possible to do everything that the bill tried to do, and Sens. Obama and Coburn didn't [or] couldn't address the concerns that were raised in time. "While many of the original sponsors continue to support the legislation's intentions, "there is no plan to reintroduce the bill," the source said.
Read the full story here.
Days after visiting with South Korean leaders and praising them for their progress on the intellectual property enforcement front, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman admonished the Chinese government for its failure to provide adequate protections for IP rights. Berman and others met Thursday with the National People's Congress Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo, Vice Premier Wang Qishan, NPC Foreign Affairs Chairman Li Zhaoxing, Foreign Affairs Minister Yang Jiechi and Commerce Minister Chen Deming in Beijing.
"China's efforts to stop intellectual property theft have been weak and ineffective - heavy on tough talk but light on implementation," said Berman, whose congressional district houses a number of TV and movie studios. "Hundreds of Web sites provide downloads and links to pirated movies, recordings and games. And sales of 'hard goods' such as illegally duplicated CDs and DVDs continue at close to ninety percent of what they were before China launched its vaunted anti-piracy campaign. It's time for more serious action."
Optical disc plants in China produce and export millions of CDs, DVDs, software and videogames in violation of Chinese law, his office said, while Web services such as Baidu provide direct links to recordings and video games without paying the people who produced them. The country's infamous track record for IP infringement costs U.S. creative communities anywhere from $2.2 to $3.5 billion in each of the past four years, Berman said, urging Chinese authorities to impose stiff fines and meaningful criminal penalties. The country routinely ranks among the world's top offenders in evaluations of global IP like the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's annual "Special 301" report.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration transmitted its second quarterly status report to Congress this week highlighting steps being taken to effectively advance the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program that was created as part of the economic stimulus package. The paper, which is dated Aug. 17 but was released publicly Wednesday, focuses on the release of the first notice of funds available; public outreach initiatives; preparations to accept and evaluate applications; and other steps to improve NTIA's organizational readiness.
Up to $1.6 billion in BTOP funds will be available in the first grant round and NTIA is authorized to spend up to $141 million for administrative expenses through Sept. 30, 2010. The agency has hired approximately 80 percent of the federal staff planned for the program, the report stated. To assist with acquisition support, NTIA also entered into an interagency agreement with a division of the Interior Department and on Aug. 3 issued a contract to Booz Allen Hamilton for program development and administrative services. NTIA will provide its next quarterly report to Congress no later than Nov. 16.
Read more about BTOP here.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman praised key government officials in South Korea on Tuesday for their efforts to protect U.S. content creators' intellectual property rights. In meetings about the proposed U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement with President Lee Myung-bak, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon, Berman emphasized the deal would bolster IP safeguards but said he remains concerned about its potential impact on the American automotive industry.
The trade deal would set penalties for those who abet piracy, including the seizure and destruction of pirated and counterfeit products; protect copyrighted performances on the Internet; and ensure the right of authors, performers and producers of recordings to determine use of copyrighted products. Earlier this year, Korea amended its copyright law to give producers and performers the right to remuneration for the public performance of their sound recordings and to impose obligations on Internet service providers to suspend the accounts of serial copyright abusers.
"South Korean authorities refuse to let the copyright pirates win," said Berman, whose California district is home to a number of major television and movie studios. "Through tightened legislation and international commitments, this country is taking important steps to protect the rights of the creative community, which in turn will safeguard U.S. businesses and jobs." Berman, however, noted that Internet music piracy remains a problem in Korea and urged police and prosecutors to coordinate more closely on enforcement actions.
High-tech industry giants such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle will intensify their opposition this fall to an Obama administration proposal aimed at limiting what critics insist are offshore tax breaks, according to CongressDaily's PM Edition. This showdown over the tax deferral on corporate revenue derived from overseas operations is a major lobbying battle that will stretch well into 2010.
"This is the linchpin in American competitiveness," Phil Bond, president of TechAmerica, the nation's largest high-technology advocacy group, said at a news briefing Tuesday. "The tax provisions around overseas income are critical to allowing our companies to go overseas to compete and succeed." With the United States representing only 5 percent of the world's population, domestic companies need to reach global markets, he emphasized, adding: "We do not think that it is a good trade to sacrifice long-term jobs for short-term revenue. And we'll be making that point on the Hill."
Read the full story here (subscription required).
The FCC is seeking comments on a petition filed by the Music First Coalition that claims radio stations across the country have refused to air their advertisements in support of legislation that would overturn a decades-long royalty exemption afforded to AM and FM stations. The music group also argues that the stations are running misleading ads produced by the National Association of Broadcasters. The Commission wants comments on the actions and, according to the FCC notice, "whether and to what extent broadcasters are engaging in a media campaign [coordinated by NAB] which disseminates falsities" about the Performance Rights Act.
"Corporate radio's spokespersons have not only confirmed the charges made in the petition, but boasted that they will continue to use the public airwaves to misinform policy makers and the public and punish artists and musicians for speaking out in support of a fair performance right," Music First Executive Director Jennifer Bendall said. "NAB will be commenting on the distortions raised in the Music First petition at the appropriate time," NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton said in a statement. "Contrary to suggestions in the petition, broadcasters are under no obligation to carry everything that is offered or suggested to them."
The Justice Department under the Obama administration believes that a digital download of a sound recording does not constitute a performance or a public performance, and thus does not justify the imposition of public performance royalties. The government asserted its position in a federal appeals court's review of a 2007 district court decision that rejected the royalty claim by performance rights organization ASCAP.
Digital Media Association Executive Director Jonathan Potter issued a statement Monday saying he was pleased that DOJ has sided with his group, which represents online entertianment services. He argued that PROs have long sought "to stretch current law by asserting that every transmission of a copyrighted musical work is a 'public performance' under the Copyright Act, regardless of whether that work is ever publicly, or even physically, performed."
The court activity comes as PROs along with composers and songwriters urge Congress to legislate the application of public performance rights to downloads of audiovisual works. The groups recently wrote to lawmakers asking for the change as they consider separate proposals to reauthorize expiring provisions of the Satellite Home Viewer Act and bring AM and FM radio in line with Internet, cable and satellite music platforms that pay performers. Read CongressDaily's recent coverage of this topic here (subscription required).
Oregon Reps. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat, and Greg Walden, a Republican, want Justice Department antitrust chief Christine Varney to view recent European antitrust rulings with a critical eye and weigh the impact of those decisions on U.S. high-tech firms such as Intel, Google, Microsoft, IBM and Qualcomm, CongressDaily's PM Edition reported Friday. Their effort comes on the heels of the European Commission's $1.45 billion judgment against Intel for excluding competitors from the market for chips known as x86 central processing units.
"That ruling is the latest evidence of a troublesome trend in Europe toward regulatory protectionism," they wrote in a draft letter circulating on Capitol Hill. Other successful U.S. companies have faced hefty fines, are under investigation, or possibly facing scrutiny from the Commission's competition directorate, they said. The Intel ruling "ignores the reality of a highly competitive marketplace," said the draft, noting that microprocessor prices have dropped drastically in the last decade. "The significant decrease in prices, together with the unprecedented increase in quality, speed, functionality and choice of microprocessors, reflects that market's robust health."
Read the full story here (subscription required).
The full Senate late today confirmed IBM Assistant General Counsel David Kappos as the next director of the Patent and Trademark Office, following Kappos' approval Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a voice vote. The Senate's action came as it wrapped up business prior to a month-long August recess. Kappos will also hold the title of undersecretary for intellectual property at the Commerce Department. In a written statement following the Judiciary Committee's action, Chairman Patrick Leahy emphasized the importance of getting a PTO director in place quickly. "The PTO needs strong and accountable leadership," he said, pointing to the agency's growing backlog of patent applications and economic woes - which required recent passage of emergency legislation, due to a drop in user fees that fund PTO operations. Leahy said he also looked forward to working with Kappos on a bill the senator introduced that would overhaul the U.S. patent system.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., introduced legislation Thursday that would allow federally-regulated online poker and other games of skill. The bill is designed to raise revenue while protecting families through a crackdown on predatory Internet gaming sites that target minors and fleece their customers. A 2006 law banned most forms of Internet gambling in the United States and some members have been trying to get the statute repealed or significantly modified.
Under the Menendez bill, gaming companies would have to undergo a thorough review by the Treasury Department including an analysis of the financial condition of the applicant, business record, and background checks. In addition, an applicant must submit a full financial statement, corporate structure documentation, and a certification that the applicant agrees to be subject to U.S. gambling laws. The Treasury could deny licenses for any firm believed to not meet the criteria set by the government. The measure proposes a license term of five years and renewal would be subject to the same requirements.
The Treasury would be directed to develop guidelines for ensuring age verification and that bettors are physically located in a jurisdiction where gambling is legal. The agency would also have to ensure all taxes due are collected. Further, there are requirements to combat fraud, money laundering and compulsive gambling and to ensure games are fair and bettors' privacy is protected. Licensed sites would have to pay a 10 percent tax on all deposits into playing accounts, the proceeds of which would be split evenly between the federal government and the government of the state where the player is located.
Legislation that would ban inmates in some prisons from using smuggled cellular phones took a step toward the Senate floor Wednesday when the Commerce Committee approved the measure sponsored by ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison. Her bill would allow the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a governor or a governor's designee to petition the FCC for a wireless jamming device for a correctional facility. Hutchison's bill includes safeguards to ensure that jamming does not impair the ability of public safety officials or legitimate commercial mobile radio services outside a prison's walls.
"Imprisoned convicts are using contraband cell phones to coordinate murders, plot extortion schemes, and run drug trafficking, credit card fraud, and identity theft enterprises," Hutchison said in a statement. "Prisons are meant to stop the commission of crimes, but cell phones inside prisons mean business as usual for dangerous felons. With innocent lives on the line, Congress has a responsibility to make available all technologies that can prevent the illicit use of cell phones in prisons."
Wireless industry association CTIA said its members believe policy should favor non-interfering technologies but appreciate Hutchison's willingness to redraft her bill to protect commercial and emergency services from interference. AT&T Executive Vice President Tim McKone said his company supports Hutchison's effort and urged the full Senate to act. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, has introduced a companion bill in the House. Consumer groups and think tanks have warned the bills could cause more problems then they would solve. Read more here.
Grammy Award nominee Sheila E. faced off against Commonwealth Broadcasting Corp. CEO and NAB Radio Board Chairman Steve Newberry on Tuesday afternoon at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on legislation that would end a fee exemption afforded to AM and FM radio. Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy issued a warning to Newberry and broadcasters at large: "This is legislation that's going to move," Leahy said. "The time to sit down and talk is now." The House Judiciary Committee has already passed its version of the bill. Read the full story in CongressDaily's AM Edition here (subscription required).
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman joined Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., late Tuesday in calling for the creation of a permanent relationship between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which administers the world's Web addresses, and the Commerce Department. A memo formally joining the two entities is slated to expire late next month amid concerns on Capitol Hill and within industry that ICANN faces problems with transparency and accountability. ICANN leaders have claimed that after 10 years in business, the California nonprofit is ready for its independence.
A letter to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke from Boucher, Waxman and eight other Democratic lawmakers said a set of enduring principles "will place beyond doubt the value of the current model for managing" the domain name system and will prevent any one entity from controlling the underpinnings of the Internet. Their proposal would provide for periodic reviews of ICANN performance and create a mechanism for implementing ICANN's proposed broad expansion of top-level domains like .com and .biz. Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee are said to be preparing their own letter to Locke with recommendations for ICANN's path forward.
House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee members at a June hearing called for an extension of the U.S. government's formal oversight agreement with ICANN. At the time, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said ICANN remains "far from a model of effective and sustainable self-governance" and it would be unwise to shrink the federal government's role amid increased cyber attacks and rapid Internet innovation. Subcommittee ranking member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., and Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., John Shimkus, R-Ill., and Lee Terry, R-Neb., each backed extending the oversight agreement between ICANN and Commerce.
Read the full story from CongressDaily here (subscription required).
House Cybersecurity Caucus co-chairs Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, pressed the Obama administration on Tuesday to move quickly in appointing a high-level White House official to coordinate agencies' efforts to identify and guard against attacks on public and private sector information technology networks. Their separate statements came on the heels of the news that Melissa Hathaway, acting senior director for cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security Councils, was resigning effective Aug. 21.
"I greatly appreciate Melissa Hathaway's service and her dedication to ensuring the security of our nation's cyber infrastructure," Langevin said. "She has helped us make significant progress towards that goal, and I wish her the best in the future." He added that several months have passed since Hathaway completed the administration's cybersecurity review and he is hopeful President Obama will appoint a cyber coordinator soon. In May, Obama vowed to handpick such an official who would report to the National Security Council and National Economic Council.
McCaul called Hathaway's departure "a loss to our efforts to better protect our nation's cyber networks." "I hope the administration will proceed with deliberate speed to fill this important position," he said. Langevin and McCaul also served as co-chairs of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency. That panel's report informed much of Hathaway's deliberations and spurred several hearings on Capitol Hill. Read more congressional reaction to Hathaway's resignation in CongressDaily's PM Edition here (subscription required).
Music and broadcasting industry lobbyists have ramped up their rhetoric ahead of Tuesday afternoon's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on legislation that would end a royalty exemption extended to AM and FM radio, according to CongressDaily's AM Edition (subscription required). The bills Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers introduced in February would bring over-the-air radio in line with cable, Internet and satellite services, which pay performers -- but broadcasters warn some stations could go out of business.
On Monday, the MusicFirst Coalition drew attention to a July CBO report that the group insists puts to rest the National Association of Broadcasters' refrain that the legislation is a "tax" on local radio. The CBO's analysis of the bill that passed Conyers' committee in May found the measure would not cost taxpayers money to implement nor result in federal revenue. A Monday release from the NAB highlighted a Senate resolution that opposes "any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge" on AM and FM stations, which has attracted 23 co-sponsors. A group of 246 lawmakers signed onto a similar House measure. Additionally, 22 House Democrats wrote to Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Friday urging her not to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.
Read complete overage of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Wednesday's CongressDaily AM Edition.
President Obama's pick to head the Patent and Trademark Office could be confirmed before the August recess, CongressDaily's AM Edition reported on Tuesday. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy has scheduled a Thursday morning business meeting for his panel to vote on IBM Assistant General Counsel David Kappos, tapped by Obama in June to become PTO director and undersecretary for intellectual property at the Commerce Department. The committee, which held Kappos' confirmation hearing Wednesday, is also scheduled to consider three other nominees. If the nomination is approved by the Judiciary Committee, Leahy would have to work with Senate leaders to find time for a floor vote before they leave town Friday.
With heightened international pressure facing Iran, some lawmakers are hoping to advance legislation that would crack down on foreign technology firms that do business there. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., introduced identical bills in late July that would punish companies selling equipment to aid the Iranian government in monitoring or blocking Internet and cellular phone communications. In particular, the bills would ban such firms from applying for U.S. government contracts or renewing expiring ones unless their ties with Iran were severed.
Electronics giant Siemens, for example, has thousands of federal contracts worth more than $250 million in 2009, and a joint venture with Nokia holds about $5 million worth of U.S. government contracts, Schumer's office said. Both have been implicated in Tehran's efforts to spy on its citizens and stifle communications, especially after the country's post-election unrest. Officials involved in the Siemens-Nokia joint venture have denied any wrongdoing. Nokia Siemens Networks Head of Corporate Affairs Robert Weisberg told Tech Daily Dose Monday afternoon that his firm has a stringent code of conduct and its work in Iran and other countries is done with an eye toward export control requirements and international human rights conventions. He added that the presence of companies like his are "a good thing" in Iran and have helped the world learn more about what is going on inside the country than ever before.
Read the full story in CongressDaily's PM Edition here (subscription required).
It's August, and the House is already in its summer recess -- with several legislators heading for the Other Coast. On Wednesday, House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. -- both of whom are also co-chairmen of the Congressional Internet Caucus -- will be in Silicon Valley at the third annual State of the Net West conference at Santa Clara University. They'll be joined by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Aneesh Chopra, the Obama administration's chief technology officer.
The event, which draws a range of scholars, public interest advocates and industry executives, is organized by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee and is an offshoot of a similar conference held annually in Washington. The conference begins a couple of days after a visit to Stanford University by newly installed FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who will discuss telemedicine and health information technology along with Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. Read more about this week's tech policy events at CongressDaily's TechCentral site here (subscription required).
Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, plan to circulate after the August recess a retooled version of sweeping cybersecurity legislation they introduced in April, CongressDaily's PM Edition reported on Friday. The bill will likely be the subject of a September hearing, with a markup scheduled shortly thereafter. They had been aiming for July committee action but the healthcare debate "put everything on simmer," said one staffer.
One of the bill's most controversial provisions, which high-tech policy watchers say would give the president the power to effectively shut off the Internet during a cyber crisis, has been a critical component of discussions with stakeholders. It is uncertain how the measure may change in light of the White House's roadmap for fighting high-tech attacks, which was released in May. The original bill would establish an Office of the National Cybersecurity Adviser within the Executive Office of the President. But under the administration's plan, the cyber czar will report to the National Security Council and the National Economic Council.
Read the full story here (subscription required).
Reps. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., reprised the congressional push for a so-called "network neutrality" mandate on Friday by introducing legislation that would prevent Internet service providers such as telephone and cable companies from interfering with Web content that passes through their pipelines. The bill would essentially bar ISPs from using the claim of network management to impose their own priorities on data traffic, based on financial arrangements or other considerations.
Open Internet groups cheered the move. Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said the measure would "bring online certainty to millions of Internet users and companies" and Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press, said the legislation would "help to ensure that the public -- not big phone and cable companies -- controls the fate of the Internet." Prior attempts at legislating in this arena have been met with fierce lobbying for and against the measures but they ultimately failed.
U.S. Telecom Association President Walter McCormick called the bill's introduction "a disappointing but not unexpected development." He said the language "would not preserve Internet freedom, but would instead lead to a government-managed Internet." President Obama, however, has repeatedly called for net neutrality and new FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski plans to fortify the agency's Internet guidelines -- which focus on protecting consumer rights -- by adding a fifth principle explicitly barring discriminatory behavior by broadband providers.
President Obama signed on Friday into law a temporary extension of a federal program that awards R&D grants to small businesses on the day it was set to expire. As a result, the Small Business Innovation Research program has been prolonged until Sept. 30, 2009 as lawmakers work on differing versions of reauthorization bills. Senate Small Business Chairwoman Mary Landrieu said the temporary relief ensures that the SBIR effort "will continue creating cutting-edge technologies and high-paying jobs" but a permanent reauthorization of that and the Small Business Technology Transfer program is critical.
"We have been working hard [with the House] to reach a fair compromise that will reauthorize and strengthen the SBIR and STTR programs and that will guarantee that these programs remain for truly small businesses," she said in a statement. The version that passed the Senate recently reauthorizes the programs for eight years while capping awards for start ups that are majority-owned and controlled by multiple venture capital firms. The House bill extends the programs for only two years and places fewer restrictions on the allocation of funds. A 2003 ruling made small businesses that receive substantial funding from venture capitalists ineligible for the programs.
Digital music royalty collector SoundExchange has completed four independent agreements with Sirius-XM, College Broadcasters Inc. and the National Religious Broadcasters Music License Committee, which will set the rate structure for the webcasters through 2015. An additional agreement signed late Thursday night will be confirmed publicly in coming weeks, officials said Friday. While the rates and terms are specific to each group, they all involve pre-set annual increases to reflect the rising value of sound recordings.
The deals come on the heels of an announcement earlier this month that a payment formula for "pureplay" services, whose main business is streaming music, had been reached after more than two years of private negotiations. See CongressDaily story here(subscription required). The agreements were negotiated under the Webcaster Settlement Act, which gave SoundExchange the authority to negotiate alternative rates and terms to those set by the Copyright Royalty Board in 2007.
House Foreign Chairman Howard Berman, whose previous leadership on the House Judiciary intellectual property subcommittee was instrumental in bringing negotiators together, cheered the new agreements. "I want to thank all the people who spent long hours in my office working towards a solution that works for artists, webcasters, and most importantly music fans. It was worth every moment to ensure that new technologies recognize that creators should have the opportunity to thrive," he said in a statement.
The House Judiciary Courts and Competitive Policy Subcommittee voted Thursday to prohibit agreements that set minimum prices on goods or services, reversing a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision. On a voice vote, the subcommittee agreed to the bill and sent it to the full committee, which is not expected to take it up before fall. Courts and Competitive Policy Subcommittee Chairman Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said the Supreme Court upset 96 years of law that will make consumers pay higher prices. "This bill takes a stand for the consumer," said Johnson. Read more about the split decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. here.
Internet auction giant eBay, which has emerged on the front lines of the movement to restore the vertical price fixing ban, lauded the subcommittee's action. "When large manufacturers and their biggest retail partners enact price-fixing policies they burden consumers with inflated prices and rob the economy of the value provided by small business competition," eBay Vice President Tod Cohen said. But Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said there may be occasions when minimum resale price maintenance is important, such as to preserve warranties or to protect small retailers against giant discounters. He was assured by Johnson that the bill would be developed further before the full committee takes it up.
Read CongressDaily's full mark up report for H.R. 3190 here (subscription required).
If Apple ever needs a stand-in for the hip young actor who plays "Mac" opposite the geeky, lumbering "PC" in its popular TV ads, Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., might be a good choice, National Journal reports. He told a high-tech luncheon recently that his office is 100 percent Macintosh and explained that the brand is easier to use and less prone to viruses. "I can spend more time getting things done and waste less time dealing with computer problems," he said. Stearns added that he uses the built-in video conferencing to interview and hire district office staff. "Even though we run Microsoft Office for Mac, I can also run Windows on my Mac too. So I have the best of both worlds," Stearns went on. The office of Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., is also entirely Apple, according to a spokesman for the House chief administrative officer. At last count, 268 Macs were assigned in the House, and most were laptops. Meanwhile, fewer than 5 percent of total devices in the Senate are Macs and no offices use them exclusively, said Kimball Winn, chief information officer for the Senate sergeant at arms.
Senate Judiciary Committee
"The Performance Rights Act and Parity among Music Delivery Platforms"
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226
2:30 p.m.
Sheila E
Grammy Award-winning Artist on behalf of the MusicFIRST Coalition
Bob Kimball
Executive Vice President, Real Networks
Marian Leighton-Levy
Owner, Rounder Records
Steve Newberry
Joint Board Chairman, National Association of Broadcasters
President and CEO, Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation
Ralph Oman
Adjunct Professor, George Washington University Law School
James L. Winston
Executive Director, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters
The outgoing chief of the federal government's intelligence-information sharing efforts told a House panel Thursday that his successor should report directly to Congress and the president without interference from any agency. Thomas McNamara, who has coordinated information sharing at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence since 2006, appeared before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment before leaving office Friday. At the hearing, he detailed the challenges ahead and laid out a roadmap for his replacement who has not been named. Read more in CongressDaily's PM Edition (subscription required).
Lawmakers who were instrumental in creating McNamara's job as part of 2004 intelligence reform legislation lauded the progress that has been made on his watch but said more must be done. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Chairman Joseph Lieberman and ranking member Susan Collins told Tech Daily Dose that McNamara's was a Herculean task of creating a culture of sharing among previously siloed intelligence agencies. Collins urged President Obama to quickly appoint a replacement so the momentum will not be lost. Lieberman said state-run "fusion centers" must be improved and the problem of over-classification of data must be addressed.
"In an intelligence culture that for years has been plagued by turf protection, [McNamara] is a brave voice in the wilderness," added House Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee Chairwoman Jane Harman, D-Calif. "His efforts over the years to elevate information sharing in our nation's counterterrorism toolbox have truly made us stronger and our intelligence capabilities more robust." House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson also issued a statement acknowledging progress made during McNamara's tenure but said he was concerned many enduring challenges are not new.
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., want the FCC to consider probing allegations of retaliation by AM and FM stations over pending bills that would require over-the-air radio to pay performers for songs they broadcast, CongressDaily reported Wednesday. While the lawmakers did not take a position on the merits of the June complaint by the MusicFirst Coalition, they said in a letter that the agency should conduct a "thorough examination" of the merits of the claims.
MusicFirst's petition argued that stations have refused their ads but run ads by the National Association of Broadcasters, which opposes the legislation. Most recently, MusicFirst's media buyer was rejected by Clear Channel stations in Houston and Detroit. On Thursday, MusicFirst released the 30-second ad featuring Duke Fakir of the Four Tops, which stations would not run. The bill that is the focus of the ad war passed the House Judiciary Committee in May and will be the subject of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. Read a preview story about the hearing in CongressDaily here (subscription required).
While calls to Clear Channel were not immediately returned an NAB official said broadcasters are under no obligation to accept any and all advertising. WPGC in Washington, D.C., for example, is not obliged to take ads from WKYS claiming that WKYS is the best hip-hop music station in town. The seminal 1973 Supreme Court decision in Columbia Broadcasting System v. Democratic National Committee outlines that broadcasters have the right to reject advertising.
A little bird tells Tech Daily Dose that Sheila E., the multiple Grammy Award nominee best known for collaborating with Prince , may testify on behalf of the MusicFirst Coalition at Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on legislation that would end a longstanding royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio. E. recently embarked on a country career and her first music video "Glorious Train" debuted on CMT in March (see above). Or if you prefer classic E., check out "Glamorous Life" here. The National Association of Broadcasters, which has lobbied hard against the bills in the House and Senate, will have a seat at the witness table that will most likely be filled by Commonwealth Broadcasting CEO Steven Newberry. Newberry also appeared before the committee in 2007 opposite singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett. Read a preview story about the upcoming hearing in CongressDaily here (subscription required).
An advertising partnership unveiled Monday by Yahoo and Microsoft is already raising eyebrows among lawmakers. Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., said his panel would closely review the deal, which would result in direct competitors working together. A similar deal between Google and Yahoo fell apart in November after U.S. regulators warned they would file a lawsuit to block it.
"Our subcommittee is concerned about competition issues in these markets because of the potentially far-reaching consequences for consumers and advertisers, and our concern about dampening the innovation we have come to expect from a competitive high-tech industry," Kohl said in a statement. Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he did not see "any immediate yellow flags" from an antitrust front. Competitive Enterprise Institute argued regulators "can best serve consumer interests by leaving well enough alone."
But some watchdogs disagree. They say the relationship could be an initial step toward complete integration of the two firms, raising questions about the collection and sharing of consumer data. The Center for Digital Democracy's Jeff Chester said he will ask antitrust officials in the United States and Europe to "closely and skeptically" examine the deal. "What we are now witnessing is the emergence of a global digital advertising duopoly: Google and Microsoft/Yahoo," Chester said.
Drivers in the United States would be banned from texting on a cell phone or other personal electronic device while operating a moving vehicle under legislation unveiled Wednesday by Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Kay Hagan, D-N.C. The measure comes in the wake of a rash of mass transit accidents caused by distracted operators and a new study by Virginia Tech researchers that found drivers are 23 times more likely to get into an accident when texting. A Car and Driver Magazine study last month indicated that texting while driving is more dangerous than driving intoxicated.
Under the bill, states that did not bar sending of text or e-mail messages while operating a car or truck would risk losing federal highway funds. The measure requires the Transportation Department to establish within six months of passage minimum penalties that must be contained within state law. States would have two years to pass compliant bans or else risk losing 25 percent of their highway money for each year they fail to comply. States that comply after the two-year deadline can retroactively recover lost highway funds, the senators said. Aides said a House companion has not been introduced.
"We have seen too many lives ruined due to drivers recklessly using their cell phones. With this new legislation, drivers will finally be held responsible for dangerous behavior that puts the public at risk," Schumer said in a press release. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia currently ban all drivers from texting while operating motor vehicles and 11 other states have a modified prohibition on texting while driving. Verizon Wireless General Counsel Steve Zipperstein said his company supports the bill because it is "consistent with our belief that good public policy is supported by good science."
IBM Assistant General Counsel David Kappos, President Obama's pick for Patent and Trademark Office director, appeared before a congratulatory and largely sympathetic Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. During the hearing, he outlined his priorities for the agency, should he be confirmed, and answered questions about the PTO's internal turmoil while offering thoughts about various legislative proposals before Congress that are intended to update the U.S. patent system for the 21st century. Details are available in CongressDaily's PM Edition here (subscription required).
But Kappos, who has a broad knowledge of intellectual property issues, also weighed in on the economic import of IP protection and spoke about the piracy and counterfeiting challenges faced by the movie, music and software industries. In response to a question from the committee's newest member, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., Kappos said the United States "unquestionably" faces IP theft problems on a global scale. He hinted at "new capabilities" in the Obama administration -- presumably the yet-to-be-named White House IP czar -- that he expects will lead to "aggressive actions" against bootleggers and more collaboration with foreign counterparts.
He went on to say that, if confirmed, he would work with various administration officials "to engage with whatever countries are needed" including IP offenders in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. Kappos said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's annual "Special 301" report, which documents countries doing poorly on IP and those that are improving, is "clearly an important part" of the effort. Education is also essential. He said the U.S. government should work with the governments of other countries to help put in place new laws and enforcement scenarios that protect the rights of content creators.
House Global Warming Chairman Edward Markey and ranking member James Sensenbrenner, who seldom agree on issues before their committee, will largely read from the same playbook at a hearing Wednesday intended to reinforce the importance of American intellectual property in conjunction with international climate change talks. The hearing comes as nations prepare for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December where negotiators will try to reach agreement on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Lawmakers and the business community are working to make their views known to the Obama administration, and Sensenbrenner and Markey raised the issue during a trip to China with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in May.
The House has repeatedly made clear that IP needs to be protected. The House voted overwhelmingly in June to establish U.S. policy in opposition to any climate change treaty that could harm IP rights as part of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, and the State Department's appropriations bill includes text requiring the agency to certify robust IP protections. Cap-and-trade legislation that passed the House last month said IP rights are vital for R&D investment. Sensenbrenner wrote to Energy Secretary Steven Chu in April asking for details about the administration's position on IP rights for energy technology, and Chu responded in May. In the letter, Chu affirmed his belief in protecting IP but noted opportunities to develop technologies through shared research investments.
Read a preview story in CongressDaily's AM Edition here (subscription required).
House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns on Wednesday was expected to blame the Bush administration for having a laissez-faire attitude that has allowed privacy and security problems posed by peer-to-peer networks to persist online. At a hearing on the topic, he is likely to call for legislation to guard against inadvertent file-sharing, heightened FCC and FTC involvement and the creation of a public awareness campaign to inform people about the dangers of P2P software. The panel held similar hearings in 2007 and four years earlier. In response, the P2P industry adopted a voluntary code of conduct to prevent unintentional data disclosures, but a new committee investigation showed popular platforms like LimeWire are not living up to their promises.
In his opening remarks, Towns pointed to an analysis by security experts at Tiversa and said specific examples of recent LimeWire leaks "range from appalling to shocking."
• The Social Security numbers and family information for every master sergeant in the Army had been found on LimeWire.
• The medical records of some 24,000 patients of a Texas hospital were inadvertently released and most of the files are still available on LimeWire.
• FBI files, including surveillance photos of an alleged Mafia hit man, were leaked while he was on trial and before he was convicted.
• A security breach involving the Secret Service resulted in the leak of a file on LimeWire containing a safe house location for the First Family.
Read a preview story in CongressDaily's AM Edition here (subscription required).
More than eight months after abandoning its planned advertising partnership with Google amid intense scrutiny from Capitol Hill and the Justice Department, Yahoo is joining forces with Microsoft. The companies announced an agreement Wednesday that they believe will improve the Web search experience for users and advertisers. Under the plan, which they expect to close in early 2010, Microsoft would power Yahoo search while Yahoo will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers, according to a press release.
The agreement does not cover each company's Web properties and products, e-mail, instant messaging, display advertising or any other aspect of the companies' businesses. "In those areas, the companies will continue to compete vigorously," they stated. The transaction will be subject to regulatory review and the agreement entered into Wednesday anticipates that the parties will enter into more detailed definitive arrangements prior to closing. The pair acknowledged that their deal will "be closely reviewed by the industry and government regulators" and they welcome questions.
Under the 10-year agreement, Microsoft will acquire an exclusive license to Yahoo's core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo search technologies into its existing Web search platforms. Microsoft's new search engine Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo sites. "Providing a viable alternative to advertisers, this deal will combine Yahoo and Microsoft search marketplaces so that advertisers no longer have to rely on one company that dominates more than 70 percent of all search," the firms said in an indirect jab at Google.
Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller issued his first subpoena Tuesday as head of the committee to Vertrue, Inc., for withholding information related to the company's allegedly deceptive online business practices. The subpoena requires the Norwalk, Conn. firm to produce documents that were explicitly requested by Rockefeller in May, including communications Vertrue had with business partners and credit card companies about "mystery charges" passed on to consumers as well as internal discussions regarding complaints about those unauthorized charges. The subpoena demands that Vertrue CEO Gary Johnson provide the files to the committee by Aug. 18.
Vertrue General Counsel George Thomas told Tech Daily Dose that his firm requested that Rockefeller issue the subpoena to better protect the personally identifiable information of consumers. Vertrue previously provided redacted documents that omitted individuals' names, addresses, telephone numbers and financial information. "Without a subpoena that information would not have been adequately protected in our view," he said, adding that if the contents were stolen or misappropriated Vertrue could be liable. Under the subpoena, the committee will have in its possession in a matter of days unredacted documents that include personal details and live credit card account information.
Regarding the panel's broader investigation, Vertrue maintains it has never done anything unlawful. The practices being examined by Rockefeller's staff -- including handling of so-called "pre-acquired account information" and "post-transaction sales" -- are specifically permitted by FTC laws and rules, Thomas argued. Rockefeller also issued letters to e-commerce marketing firm Webloyalty.com to get more details about the controversial business practices. Read Rockefeller's latest letter to Vertrue here and the subpoena here.
Update: A Senate Commerce aide said Vertrue requested a subpoena pertaining to the consumer complaints -- not on the larger issue of e-mail, financial documents and other internal communications. "They would like to make this look like it's a narrow issue, when the actual reason the subpoena was issued was a broader failure to cooperate in the investigation," said the aide, who accused Vertrue of "slow walking" the investigation.
Federal and technology transfer officials believe that using "march-in" authority, which allows agencies to take control of a patent under certain circumstances, could have a chilling effect on government-sponsored research, according to a Government Accountability Office report (PDF) released Monday. The officials told GAO that if a march-in occurred, investors would be less likely to provide the funds to commercialize federal inventions for fear of losing their investments. Also, because the process can be long, a march-in would have limited utility in an emergency situation, they said.
GAO reviewed the departments of Defense and Energy, NASA and the National Institutes of Health to review because they accounted for 89 percent of federal research funding for fiscal year 2006 and none had exercised its march-in authority. DOD, DOE, and NASA have never received information that would lead them to initiate such a proceeding in the last 20 years and NIH has been petitioned formally three times but never pursued a case. DOD, NASA, and NIH said they valued the authority but DOE officials disagreed, in part, because no agency has ever used it.
Until March 2009, the Bayh-Dole Act required GAO to report periodically to determine whether march-in authority should be exercised; how the authority has been used; and what barriers and disincentives have been encountered. The GAO made no recommendations as part of its analysis. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the topic in October 2007. For more details click here.
The FTC will likely recommend in an upcoming report that virtual worlds like Second Life incorporate some sort of age-verification technology to keep youngsters away from inappropriate content, Progress and Freedom Foundation senior fellow Berin Szoka said at a Monday briefing on online child safety. Requiring a small fee paid by credit card to access areas of Internet communities intended for adults could do the trick, he and DLA Piper attorney Jim Halpert said. But WiredSafety.org Executive Director Parry Aftab, who also spoke at the event, argued such a mandate could disadvantage those who do not have credit cards. Others pointed out there are ways to circumvent age verification tools and they may not keep minors out of restricted areas.
Report language from the fiscal year 2009 omnibus appropriations bill required the FTC to study the availability of explicit content in virtual worlds and report to Congress by December. An agency spokeswoman said the FTC was on target to meet that deadline. Appropriators asked for the report and for the agency to issue "a consumer alert to educate parents on the content that is available to children on virtual reality Web programs," according to the omnibus language. The Commission's last major action in this arena was a September 2000 report that was highly critical of the entertainment industry. As a result, companies promised to impose tougher standards and voluntarily comply with the paper's recommendations.
As Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., urged the Justice Department on Monday to take caution as it investigates a pending merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster, Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., sent a stronger message to regulators -- essentially asking that the $2.5 billion all-stock transaction be blocked. Kohl wrote to Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney saying she should approve the pairing only if she finds the deal is unlikely to lead to higher prices for consumers or cause substantial harm to competition in the concert ticketing and promotions. Read more on that in CongressDaily's PM Edition (subscription required).
Pascrell, whose letter was signed by more than 40 colleagues, wrote that "consumers, business managers, artists, independent promoters, and music fans in every state are likely to suffer if the merger is allowed to occur." The lawmaker has also urged a federal probe of Ticketmaster since its February sale of tickets for Bruce Springsteen's latest concert tour. Online ticket buyers were redirected by Ticketmaster to its higher priced re-sale site, TicketsNow.com, when the tickets were first offered for sale. He has also introduced a bill intended to bring greater transparency to the ticketing marketplace. The companies have justified the deal on efficiency grounds and argued it will benefit consumers.
In February, the CEOs of Live Nation and Ticketmaster tried mightily to convince skeptical senators that their merger would ultimately benefit performing artists and consumers. The executives argued at a hearing that competitors abound in the concert and ticketing arenas, but the system is broken from an artist and fan perspective. Read coverage of that hearing here (subscription required).
• More than six months since President Obama took office, the process of filling key positions in his administration continues. Obama's nominee for director of the Patent and Trademark Office, IBM Assistant General Counsel David Kappos, will appear for questioning Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The session gets underway at 10 a.m. in Room 226/Dirksen Senate Office Building.
• The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday will resume its examination of inadvertent file-sharing over peer-to-peer networks, with a hearing that will focus on how the popular platform LimeWire could adversely affect both privacy and national security. The session takes place at 10 a.m. in Room 2154/Rayburn House Office Building.
• The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee plans to mark up legislation Wednesday that would replace a 2005 law -- popularly known as 'Real ID' -- which required states to issue new secure drivers' licenses and identification documents to their residents. The session kicks off at 10 a.m. in Room 324/Dirksen Senate Office Building.
• With last month's nationwide transition to digital television signals firmly behind them, broadcasters plan to celebrate with a Tuesday reception on Capitol Hill that will trumpet their latest technology: digital broadcasts to mobile devices, including cell phones, netbooks and in-car displays. Invited dignitaries to the event -- which kicks off at noon in the foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building -- include Reps. John Dingell, D-Mich., Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Cliff Stearns, R-Fla.
Read more details at CongressDaily's TechCentral here.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and a number of colleagues on Friday asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the Arbitron ratings company's use of so-called portable people meters and their impact on radio station revenue streams. Many minority-owned broadcasters have expressed concerns about the validity of data collected by the machines and National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters Executive Director James Winston complained about the devices at a hearing earlier this month. Conyers wants the report finished by April 2010.
Winston argued Arbitron has a monopoly over radio rankings and stations that do not subscribe lack data to show potential advertisers. At the same hearing, Arbitron CEO Michael Skarzynski said his firm is developing solutions to help broadcasters, particularly minority and niche outlets, weather the bad economy. One such measurement tool, which will be tested this month, would pair radio exposure with audience engagement so an advertiser could get a clear picture of what ads are most successful with a given station's audience. Read more about the hearing here (subscription required).
"The advertising revenues and viability of minority-owned radio stations depends on an accurate measurement of their audience ratings. I believe it would best serve the public interest to conduct an independent review of the methodology and accuracy of this process," Conyers said in a statement. Other members signing on to the letter include: House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns and ranking member Darrell Issa, R-Calif.; Rick Boucher, D-Calif., Hank Johnson, D-Ga., Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., Mike Quigley, D-Ill., Pedro Pierluisi, D-P.I., and Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.
Center for Democracy and Technology President Leslie Harris and Google public policy chief Alan Davidson on Friday dismissed a recent Technology Policy Institute report that argues there is a trade-off between increasing Internet privacy protections for consumers and the free flow of Web-based goods and services. Harris said "In Defense of Data: Information and the Costs of Privacy" should be renamed "In Defense of Straw Men." "Privacy and having a robust marketplace online are not inconsistent," she said at a Capitol Hill event sponsored by TPI.
"It's not true that somehow privacy advocates are anti-advertising or our ultimate goal is to rid the Internet of advertising," said Harris, who appeared alongside Davidson on a panel that included proponents of the paper written by Emory University economist Paul Rubin and TPI's Thomas Lenard. Harris rebuffed the report's "parade of horribles" including the idea that increasing privacy would curtail ads; add difficulty to search engine functionality; and diminish companies' ability to protect against network threats. She and Davidson both argued in favor of baseline privacy legislation, which is currently being drafted by House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va.
Davidson wants a bill that provides transparency, meaningful choice and security for users. Such a measure would be helpful to companies like his because it gives users some level of confidence that they will be protected online, he said. "Privacy is not about draconian restrictions on companies. It's about providing consumers with some control over their data," Harris added. Rubin defended his report, arguing he did not say "the world would collapse if there were regulation." He believes regulation will lead to more expensive Internet-based services and there will be more barriers to innovation. He also argued that no one has pointed to specific harms to consumers from the statutes already on the books.
Read more about the event in CongressDaily's PM Edition.
The battle over legislation that would end a longstanding royalty exemption afforded to AM and FM radio will move to the Senate early next month with an Aug. 4 hearing in the Judiciary Committee. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers introduced the legislation, which would bring traditional broadcasters in line with Internet, cable and satellite platforms that pay performers for their works. The Recording Industry Association of America, SoundExchange and the American Federation of Musicians are carrying the torch for that effort while the National Association of Broadcasters has fought hard against the measures. Leahy's panel previously held a hearing on the issue in November 2007 where singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett testified.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., will chair the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing. No witnesses have been announced. The House Judiciary Committee approved its version of the bill in May with a vote of 21-9 after members made changes aimed at addressing broadcasters' concerns. The committee adopted, by voice vote, a manager's amendment that would delay the bill's enactment date and reduce the amount of fees stations would have to pay. Conyers said the compromise would cover 90 percent of minority-owned stations and 77 percent of all stations. Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, sponsored a resolution opposing the royalty. More than 240 members have backed his effort. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., offered a similar Senate resolution, which has 22 cosponsors.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will wade back into the debate over inadvertent file-sharing over peer-to-peer networks next Wednesday. The panel has scheduled a hearing that will focus on how popular platform LimeWire and other services could endanger citizens and jeopardize national security. Lime Group Chairman Mark Gorton, Tiversa CEO Robert Boback and Progress and Freedom Foundation Senior Fellow Thomas Sydnor are scheduled to testify. The committee held similar hearings in July 2007 and four years earlier. After the 2003 hearing, the P2P industry adopted a voluntary code of conduct to prevent inadvertent disclosures of sensitive information.
In March 2007, the Patent and Trademark Office released a report suggesting that inadvertent file-sharing may still be a serious problem and that the industry might not be living up to its promises. In response to the PTO report, committee staff conducted its own probe. Using LimeWire, aides ran a series of common searches during a one month period. They were able to easily obtain personal bank records and tax forms, attorney-client communications, corporate strategy documents for Fortune 500 companies, confidential corporate accounting documents, government emergency response plans, and even military operation orders.
Meanwhile, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., who is not on the committee, introduced legislation earlier this year that would help educate Internet users about P2P privacy and security risks. The bill came on the heels of reports that file-sharing software was implicated in a security breach involving Marine One, the helicopter used by President Obama. Bono Mack's measure, which was cosponsored by Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., and Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton, would ensure P2P programs cannot be installed without providing clear notice and obtaining user consent. It would also make it illegal for firms to prohibit users from blocking, disabling, or removing the software.
CongressDaily's AM Edition reports (subscription required) that Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy hopes the third time will be a charm for his legislation intended to better protect citizens' personal information. The bill, which he reintroduced Wednesday and in two previous Congresses, would increase criminal penalties for identity theft involving electronic data and criminalize intentional or willful concealment of a security breach. Leahy said passage of the measure, which would pre-empt a patchwork of state data breach laws, is among his top legislative priorities.
Leahy's cybersecurity bill is one of many expected in the House and Senate. Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, were first with legislation in April, which could see committee action before August recess. Rockefeller issued a statement saying he and Snowe are working hard on the measure and hope to mark it up soon. "This is an enormously critical issue that cuts across every agency of government, every sector of our society and our economy, and of course multiple committees," he said. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman is reportedly working on his own measure.
Nearly two dozen business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter Monday to the leaders of the House Financial Services Committee raising concerns about proposals to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The letter urges Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank and ranking member Spencer Bachus to delay consideration of a CFPA until after the August recess "to provide due time for all stakeholders and decision-makers to fully understand the legislation's scope and its potential economic and legal impacts," CongressDaily reported (subscription required).
Also signing on were a number of major players in the high-tech and advertising space including the Consumer Electronics Association, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Consumer Data Industry Association, Direct Marketing Association, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The letter is viewed by some consumer advocates like Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy and Ed Mierzwinski of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group as an attempt to kill the legislation, which would create a new federal watchdog.
The IAB, whose board's executive committee includes representatives from Google, AOL and Walt Disney Co., is afraid of having an agency that would be empowered to investigate how online marketers sell and promote a wide range of financial products online, Chester said. Mierzwinski called the proposal to create such an agency "a game changer" and "the biggest thing for financial consumers since deposit insurance in the 1930s." He testified June 24 at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the issue. Read a copy of the business groups' letter to Frank and Bachus here (PDF).
Cable television, the Internet, cellular phones and other handheld electronic devices have provided new opportunities for techniques like viral and word-of-mouth marketing that add new complexities to the government's job of monitoring deceptive advertising, FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Director David Vladeck told the Senate Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee on Tuesday. "We are continually learning about new and creative methods to get promotional messages out to consumers," he said at a hearing that covered issues ranging from false claims in weight loss promotions to bloggers who are paid by advertisers to endorse certain products.
National Consumers League Executive Director Sally Greenberg said blogging, by its nature, has encouraged an explosion of discourse about practically every product available -- but the FTC needs to crack down on those who are cash in by writing favorably about a product. Marketers frequently fabricate "spontaneous" Internet "buzz" around products and services by paying for endorsements by influential bloggers and celebrities, she said. "As with any emerging means of communication, 'rules of the road' must govern to protect against deceptive advertising," she added. The FTC has proposed requiring consumer-generated media outlets to disclose a financial relationship with a product. Read more about this topic in CongressDaily's PM Edition (subscription required).
The House late Tuesday passed legislation 417-5 that would help find children or senior citizens in the critical moments after they are reported missing by expanding a widely praised Florida non-profit into a national program. A Child Is Missing utilizes the latest technology to place 1,000 emergency telephone calls every 60 seconds to residents and businesses in the area where the person was last seen. The program works in concert with the AMBER Alert, but is activated more quickly, according to a press release from Rep. Ron Klein, D-Fla., who sponsored the bill. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., has introduced a Senate companion measure.
The House bill would authorize the Justice Department to dole out $5 million a year through 2015 to broaden the initiative's reach. "This legislation is essential to every family around the county," Klein said. "Every parent's worst nightmare is to find that their child is missing, and today's legislation can put their minds at ease by utilizing the latest technology to quickly find missing children and avoid potential tragedy." Time is a critical factor as 74 percent of children who are kidnapped and murdered are slain within three hours of their abduction, he said. A Child is Missing was founded by Sherry Friedlander and is based in Ft. Lauderdale. The program has safely recovered kids from Ohio to Alaska.
Following on last week's passage of a resolution by the NAACP saluting House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and supporting performance royalties for musicians that would be provided under a bill he is shepherding through Congress, the Detroit branch of the organization is taking similar action. The Rev. Wendell Anthony, who heads the NAACP in the Motor City appeared at a news conference Tuesday to support the bill that would let performers as well as songwriters get royalties for songs played by AM and FM stations, the Associated Press reported. Radio stations in Detroit and around the country have bashed the Conyers bill, arguing that performers and record labels already are compensated and the measure could hurt stations already struggling in the recession.
"This civil rights for musicians legislation guarantees fair pay for musicians. This is a rebuke of Radio One and Clear Channel for exploiting musicians and smearing members of the Congressional Black Caucus," a spokesman for the MusicFirst Coalition said last week upon passage of the NAACP's resolution at the group's centennial conference. Radio One founder Cathy Hughes and her son, CEO Alfred Liggins, were criticized by Conyers and other members of his committee earlier this month for refusing to appear at a hearing on minority owned media. Hughes previously wrote an open letter arguing the legislation would "murder black owned radio" and in May, the Michigan Broadcasters Association vowed to defeat the measure, claiming it could cost stations in the state more than $63 million annually.
The heads of three high-tech industry associations sent letters late last week to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate committees currently writing healthcare legislation urging them to avoid technology mandates and ensure "broad, fair, and open competition" among health IT providers. The letter -- signed by Business Software Alliance President Robert Holleyman, Information Technology Industry Council President Dean Garfield, and Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology -- outlined a set of principles "to maximize the contributions health IT can make" to improving Americans' healthcare. Read the House letter here and Senate letter here.
"There is near-universal agreement that we can deliver better care less expensively through the use of existing and new technologies. Efforts that would limit new ideas and participants ... should be opposed," they wrote. "We urge you to oppose the inclusion of any explicit or implicit technology mandates in health-related legislation that would prevent ... governments or private parties from considering and procuring the best available technologies in health care management." They said health IT systems should be interoperable; information should be portable; procurement should be inclusive; cost analysis should be comprehensive; security and privacy protections should be a high priority; and usability should be a key criterion.
President Obama and key advisers appealed to liberal bloggers during a conference call Monday evening, urging them to support the administration's healthcare reform agenda. Obama was joined by David Axelrod, healthcare guru Nancy Ann DeParle and White House Online Programs Director Jesse Lee. The call marked Obama's first serious interaction with the progressive blogosphere since taking office, bloggers who were invited to participate said. Obama gave brief remarks about the healthcare reform debate, noting that the blogs can cut through the conventional wisdom and debunk myths about this legislative battle. He also pressed them to keep the pressure on members of Congress in the run up to August recess because the default position in DC is "inertia."
Obama took questions from John Amato from Crooks and Liars; Jonathan Singer from MyDD; David Dayen from D-Day; Cheryl Contee from Jack and Jill Politics; Gerald Weinand, formerly of Turn Maine Blue; and Joan McCarter from DailyKos, according to a post by Joe Sudbay of AmericaBlog. On the call, the president outlined his criteria for reform: (1) Does it cover all Americans; (2) Will it drive down costs over the long-term; (3) Will it improve quality; (4) Are prevention and wellness included; (5) Does it contain insurance reforms on issues like pre-existing conditions; (6) Does it provide relief to small business; and (6) Is there a serious public option? He warned that House and Senate bills may not have all of the above but the conference committee will be critical.
Listen to a recording of the entire call with liberal bloggers here.
CongressDaily's David Hatch writes in TechCentral's latest Issue Of The Week that the iPhone and BlackBerry Storm are at the eye of a political storm in Washington. These and other ubiquitous smart phones have triggered debate over the future of exclusive deals that tether wireless handsets to select carriers. The iPhone is only available on AT&T's network, a problem for consumers outside its coverage area or dissatisfied with its service. The BlackBerry Storm has a similar relationship with Verizon, posing the same set of challenges.
Powerful lawmakers, regulators and watchdogs want to disconnect such deals for good to give consumers more options. "The best handsets are reserved for the largest carriers," complained Harold Feld, legal director for Public Knowledge, an advocacy group that wants to ban these arrangements. For smaller carriers serving rural and less-populated markets, "there's no way they can compete." Critics of the status quo point to Europe and Asia, where many cell phones can be operated on multiple networks and customers switching providers can retain their handsets by using removable SIM cards -- short for "Subscriber Identity Module."
Major wireless carriers that routinely offer handsets under exclusive terms insist the approach spurs innovation by letting them share the risk of introducing cutting-edge products along with manufacturers. "Exclusive handset arrangements have provided U.S. consumers the most advanced devices in the world at distinctly affordable rates," AT&T lobbyist Jim Cicconi argued this month in a letter to Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis. Read more here (subscription required).
Proposed changes to the Patent and Trademark Office's post-grant review process included in a bill sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy would increase the patent pendency waiting period by more than 25 percent, and could add to the cost of defending patent validity by billions of dollars, according to an analysis by Case Western Reserve University economist Scott Shane. Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions requested that Shane examine the issue earlier this month as staffers for Leahy and Sessions continue meeting with stakeholders about the topic.
The Leahy measure, which passed his committee 15-4 in April, would adopt House-passed text from 2007 that lengthens the timeline for challenging a granted patent and strips out a "public use or sale" provision that Leahy added as a basis for challenging a patent. Specifically, Shane's research found that the length of time between patent application and issuance would increase from 32 months to 40 months and the costs of defending patent validity could rise by $2.2 billion. He also argues that the proposed changes would lead to an annual reduction of $4.4 billion in industrial R&D and would make uncertain the validity of $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion of patents issued annually.
Earlier research from Shane, which was commissioned by the Manufacturing Alliance on Patent Policy, concluded that adopting House language on how damages are calculated in patent lawsuits could lead to job loss and decreased R&D. The alliance, which also bankrolled the new report, is backed by Corning, Monsanto, DuPont and others critical of Leahy's patent reform push. A recent report by the Coalition for Patent Fairness, which supports patent overhauls and counts Cisco Systems, Apple, Dell and others as its members, found that pending legislation would create 100,000 new jobs.
Some exciting news so please forgive the shameless self promotion... National Journal Group, the parent company of Tech Daily Dose, will soon unveil 3121, a new feature on NationalJournal.com that will become available exclusively to Capitol Hill staffers in September. 3121, now in beta, will be the first professional networking tool designed exclusively for congressional members and staff. The site will offer an online directory of contacts, communications tools and customizable news feeds and users will be able to find and collaborate with colleagues and create personalized news filters. Hill staffers can visit 3121launch.nationaljournal.com to request to participate in the beta and read the latest updates about the project from the 3121 development team, which has collaborated with New Media Strategies, Jive and JESS3 on the project. *FYI* "3121" is the extension for the Capitol Hill switchboard.
Follow the jump for screenshots of 3121...
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and intellectual property rights leaders will release a new report Monday afternoon detailing the impact of copyright on the U.S. economy. The analysis covers the four years through 2007, and was prepared for the International Intellectual Property Alliance -- which represents U.S. music, movie, software and video game industries. Locke will be joined at the event -- which takes place at 12:15 p.m. at the Commerce Department -- by Business Software Alliance President Robert Holleyman, Entertainment Software Association President Michael Gallagher, and Recording Industry Association of America Chairman Mitch Bainwol, among others. Stephen Siwek of Economists Inc., who prepared the report, will also be present.
In other news, the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee Tuesday will explore the feasibility of creating a system under which the legal status and identity of all U.S. workers would be verified using biometrics, such as fingerprints or iris scans. The session kicks off at 2 p.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., plans to introduce comprehensive immigration reform legislation by Labor Day, which would give an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country a path to obtain legal status. Schumer's legislation is expected to include a mandate under which workers would have to participate in a biometric verification system, which could include requiring them to obtain an identification card.
Read a comprehensive list of this week's tech events at CongressDaily's TechCentral page (subscription required).
Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr, who helped launch companies like Amazon.com, Symantec and Google, told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday that the United States has led the world in high-tech innovation but distantly trails China on clean energy because existing policies "haven't given us any clear, long term market solutions." The key is cap-and-trade, he said. He urged senators to send a long-term signal that low carbon energy is valuable. "We must put a price on carbon and a cap on carbon emissions. No long-term signal means no serious innovation at scale, which means fewer new American success stories," he said in testimony.
The hearing came on the heels of House passage last month of cap-and-trade legislation sponsored by Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee Chairman Edward Markey. Senate Environment Republicans panned that bill, saying it would cost the country jobs and won't bring down costs for consumers. Senate Energy ranking member James Inhofe called the Waxman-Markey bill a "1,000 page contradiction." He argued it would cause a net reduction of up to 2.7 million jobs, citing an analysis by the National Black Chamber of Commerce, whose president also testified.
Senate Environment Chairwoman Barbara Boxer pledged to do even more than the House to protect consumers and ensure that traditional power companies and innovative new technologies are kept on a level playing field as it crafts its cap-and-trade bill. She added that she is "carefully reviewing" Waxman-Markey language that would assist industries that are energy intensive and that are subject to international competition. Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., noted the country faces huge energy challenges and lawmakers have the potential to "find a pony in that pile of manure." Read more about the hearing here.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman and Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, slammed Grants.gov on Thursday on the heels of a new Government Accountability Office report (PDF) that shows the Web site designed to streamline the federal grant process is plagued by technical limitations, degraded performance and user difficulties. Lieberman urged the Office of Management and Budget to work with Congress and the stakeholder community to "strengthen both the management and technology behind Grants.gov, while streamlining and increasing transparency."
Voinovich, who is ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia, said he was "concerned that a tool designed to improve the distribution and effectiveness of federal grants has so many issues in this technological age, in some cases putting applicants at a disadvantage compared to those who utilize other channels." He said the GAO report underscored the need for the House to pass the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act to help put Grants.gov back on the right course.
The legislation, sponsored by Lieberman and Voinovich, passed the Senate in March but does not yet have a House companion. Their bill would require OMB to maintain a public Web site that allows federal grant applicants to search and apply for grants; manage, track and report on the use of grants; and provide required certifications and assurances for grants. The measure also requires OMB to report to Congress within nine months of enactment, and biennially thereafter for 15 years on progress made in implementation. Additionally, the bill lays out a framework for OMB and agency-level strategic plans.
From CongressDaily's AM Edition...
FCC nominees Mignon Clyburn and Meredith Baker were generally noncommittal during their Wednesday confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, giving few, if any, hints on how they might decide policy and regulatory issues. That left lawmakers to use the hearing to reiterate their strong criticisms of the commission Clyburn and Baker would join, if confirmed, to fill the remaining Democratic and Republican vacancies, respectively. Read more.
Meanwhile... Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller has asked 11 federal agencies, including the FCC, the FTC and the Commerce, Homeland Security and Transportation departments, to report on their cybersecurity preparedness and the effectiveness of their incident-response capabilities. Read more.
And... A group of public interest, library and technology organizations are urging U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to set aside a controversial portion of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations focused on "Internet distribution and information technology." Read more.
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) began his questioning of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor (see video above) by raising questions about Internet service providers' ability to speed up and slow down Web traffic. He asked whether there is a "compelling First Amendment interest in ensuring this can't happen and the Internet stays open and accessible." Sotomayor responded that the Internet is "revolutionary" and it affects all areas of the economy and society. But the role of the court is never to make the policy. It's to wait until Congress acts," she added.
The two remaining FCC nominees -- South Carolina regulator Mignon Clyburn and former Commerce official Meredith Baker testified before the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday afternoon. The Democrat and Republican, respectively, would round out the five-member agency, which now has three regulators, including its new chairman, Julius Genachowski. Read more in CongressDaily later.
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor fielded questions from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., during the continuation of her confirmation hearing Wednesday about her perspectives on U.S. v. Falso, a recently decided case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit involving the legality of evidence obtained in a home search -- specifically the search of a defendant's computer. Sotomayor, who was on the panel, held that police did not have probable cause because there were no allegations that the defendant, Jon David Falso, actually possessed child pornography or subscribed to any such Web site. Concerning Falso's past crimes, the court held that the correlation was not strong enough.
Sotomayor said the case "presented a very complicated question" because there had been two cases addressing how much information a warrant had to contain in order for the police to search a defendant's computer. "I was looking at it in the backdrop of the conflict that it appeared to contain in our case law, and what our case law said was important for a police officer to share with a judge," she said. "I held that the acts violated the Constitution, but that the evidence could still be used, because the officers had -- there was in law a good-faith exception to the error in the warrant."
Read a longer summary about U.S. v. Falso written by the Electronic Privacy Information Center here and view the actual opinion here.
The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday will hear perspectives on a proposal by ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison to ban inmates in some prisons from using smuggled cellular phones. Her legislation and a companion bill introduced by Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, would allow the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a governor or a governor's designee to petition the FCC for a wireless jamming device in a particular correctional facility. Under the measures, which were introduced in January, the FCC would have to consider whether the jammer would interfere with emergency or public safety communications outside the prison's walls. Current law prevents interference with wireless services.
According to news reports in Texas, death row inmate Richard Tabler used a smuggled phone to make threatening calls to a state senator. Tabler's phone was found in the ceiling above a shower and officers found 11 additional phones belonging to other death row inmates while looking for it. "This legislation will fight criminal enterprises behind bars and protect innocent victims and public officials from harassment and threats from criminals," Hutchison said in press release. Corrections officials have reported a surge in phones infiltrating prisons and in some states, the number confiscated phones has doubled in two years.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., appears to have come along way with his technology literacy since the 2008 presidential campaign. On Monday, his account on the micro-blogging Web site Twitter topped one million followers. "I'm both honored and humbled that over one million people follow me on Twitter. It has been one of the most enjoyable experiences in my long political career - not too bad for an old guy," McCain said in a statement. Flashback to July 2008: McCain told the New York Times in an interview that he was learning how to use a computer but isn't an e-mail enthusiast.
"I don't e-mail, I've never felt the particular need to e-mail," he said. "I don't expect to be a great communicator. I don't expect to set up my own blog." At the time, McCain said he was "becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need including going to my daughter's blog." Meghan McCain wrote McCainBlogette.com during the campaign. He also told the newspaper that his staff surfs the Web on his behalf.
A few recent McCain tweets:
# Live interview with Russ Clark, KBLU-AM 560 in Yuma, AZ @ 10:45 am ET to chat about my upcoming trip to Yuma on Friday.about 1 hour ago
# Wow, I just went over 1 million followers - thanks everyone!!about 19 hours ago
# Interview with Voice of America on upcoming Afghanistan elections.
# Fighting the good fight on Senate floor 2 strike F-22 funding from DoD bill -saving the taxpayer $1.75 b - Need Joint Strike Fighter insteadabout 23 hours ago
And here are a few folks McCain is following on Twitter: CNN's Larry King; comedian Rainn Wilson ("The Office"); House Minority Whip Eric Cantor; Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La.; Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.; basketball star Shaquille O'Neal; Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; ABC's George Stephanopoulos; NBC's David Gregory; and McCain's daughter, Meghan. (Psst, President Obama has 1.7 million Twitter followers -- and McCain isn't one of them).
The Senate late Monday unanimously passed legislation to reauthorize two federal programs intended to increase research and development funding for small businesses, which are slated to expire July 31 absent congressional action. The House passed its version of the bill to prolong the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs last Wednesday. Recipients of SBIR and STTR awards have produced more than 85,000 patents and have generated millions of well-paying jobs across all 50 states, Senate Small Business Chairwoman Mary Landrieu said in a press release that commended her colleagues for moving forward with the measure. She pledged to work with the House to get a bill to President Obama before the end of the month.
"Reauthorizing the SBIR and STTR programs will unleash the ground-breaking innovation potential of our nation's small businesses, particularly given that these critical initiatives direct more than $2 billion in federal research and development funding annually to small-tech firms across the nation," ranking member Olympia Snowe said. "At a time when the nation is struggling to dig out of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, we must ensure that our country once again brings to bear the kind of ingenuity, creativity, and innovation that made America and our free-market economy the greatest and most powerful on earth."
The Senate bill, which differs from the House version, provides for an increase to the SBIR program allocation, raising it to 3.5 percent, spread out over 11 years. The SBIR allocation increase includes all agencies, including the National Institutes of Health. The bill also increases the STTR program allocation from 0.3 percent to 0.6 percent over six years. Additionally, the Senate bill would amend eligibility requirements to allow businesses owned and controlled by multiple venture capital firms to compete for a percentage of SBIR projects. To improve the diversity of the programs, the measure also reauthorizes the Federal and State Technology program and Rural Outreach Program.
Read CongressDaily's coverage of House action here (subscription required).
*Updated* The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Friday refused to rule on the constitutionality of a federal panel that sets copyright royalties. Licensing firm Royalty Logic claimed the Copyright Royalty Board is unconstitutional because the Librarian of Congress, who is not technically the head of a government department, appoints its judges. As such, the complaint argued the CRB should be forced to vacate its decision in a proceeding that set the fee structure for webcasters.
National Music Publishers' Association President David Israelite wrote to House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and ranking member Lamar Smith recently urging them to consider introducing legislation that would make moot any constitutional challenges to the CRB. Israelite argued that Royalty Logic's lawsuit could have meant the unraveling of all the panel's decisions since its judges (pictured) were appointed in 2006. He said Friday's ruling was a "sigh of relief" for the music industry. David Oxenford, an attorney who represents small webcasters in CRB proceedings, said the decision "really just delays the consideration of the issue of the constitutionality of the CRB. Now that this issue is on the table, it is bound to be raised by other parties in other CRB proceedings."
As the CRB embarks on its consideration of webcasting rates for 2011-2015, "there is a cloud hanging over its existence -- one that may take another Court decision, or some corrective action by Congress, to remedy," he wrote on his blog. Royalty Logic's attorney Kenneth Freundlich said he was surprised at the court's failure to address what he called a "fundamental issue." At the hearing, the judges pondered whether there should be further briefings on the matter but never followed up. Instead they cited "'inadequate briefing' as a basis for ducking the issue," he said, noting the ruling cites two cases that support his arguments. "Let this decision be a warning to all concerned and a message to Congress to fix this mess," Freundlich said.
Sens. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., secured $30 million in federal funding for the State Department's efforts to promote Internet freedom as part of the agency's fiscal year 2010 spending bill. The program must be approved by the full Senate and the House before it makes its way to President Obama's desk. The money would promote widespread, secure Internet use by individuals residing in countries practicing repressive Internet monitoring, censorship and control. The outlay is "a low-cost method of allowing people, especially those living under repressive regimes, to access all-source, uncensored, unfiltered information," the senators said in a Friday press release.
"Tearing down these Internet cyberwalls can match the effect of what happened when the Berlin Wall was torn down," Specter said. "This funding seeks to enable freedom of thought, expression and the unimpeded flow of ideas and information, and I am pleased my colleagues have recognized the program's importance." Brownback added the battle being waged in the streets of Iran and China is also being fought on micro-blogging site Twitter, social network Facebook and other platforms. "This is a pivotal moment for people living in oppressive regimes. The best way to ensure their ability to communicate and share their story with each other and the world is to keep the Internet open," he said.
The House passed a State spending bill Thursday that did not include Web freedom funding but Energy and Commerce Committee member Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., earlier this week urged lawmakers to hold a hearing on the role of the Internet in giving a voice to those in repressive countries. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who in the 109th Congress chaired a high-profile Internet freedom hearing of the House subcommittee that oversees global human rights, has repeatedly introduced legislation that would prevent U.S. tech firms from working with nations that capture and convict citizens for engaging in democracy promotion and human rights advocacy online.
House Judiciary Courts and Competition Policy Subcommittee Chairman Hank Johnson, D-Ga., was among the most vocal lawmakers at Thursday's hearing on issues confronting minority-owned media. While Judiciary Chairman John Conyers was critical of Radio One founder Cathy Hughes and her son, CEO Alfred Liggins, for refusing to appear before his panel, Johnson took his criticism of their absence a step further.
While humorously pondering what might have taken precedence over the hearing, the former DeKalb County Commissioner suggested that Hughes -- who has been critical of legislation Conyers introduced that would end a royalty exemption afforded to AM and FM radio -- was "out spending some of that 700 percent increase in salary" that she was reportedly gifted as matriarch of the largest minority-owned media company in the United States. And Liggins? "I guess he's out spending the $10 million bonus that he received last year in the midst of these difficult economic times," Johnson riffed.
But during a hearing recess, Tech Daily Dose reached Liggins by phone and he was definitely not on a shopping spree. The Radio One executive explained that he did not want to testify at a hearing that would further bash broadcasters for opposing the Conyers performance rights legislation. Had the session focused solely on slipping advertising revenue and other challenges facing his industry, he might have been on board. Liggins also clarified that the purported bonus was, in fact, not as steep as Johnson indicated and "compensation at our company should be irrelevant."
Read more coverage of the hearing in CongressDaily's PM Edition here and in Friday's AM Edition (subscription required).
Radio One, the largest U.S. minority-owned media company, came under fire from the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday for refusing to testify at a hearing billed as a forum to examine plummeting advertising revenues, increased media consolidation and pending legislation that would end a long-standing copyright royalty exemption for over-the-air radio, which broadcasters oppose. Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and others scolded Radio One founder Cathy Hughes and her son, CEO Alfred Liggins, for being no-shows. Other critics of the bill who Conyers said snubbed him include National Action Network President Rev. Al Sharpton; Rainbow Push Coalition President Rev. Jesse Jackson; syndicated radio host Tom Joyner; and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council's David Honig.
Judiciary Courts and Competition Policy Subcommittee Chairman Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said broadcasters were invited to weigh in on the bill before it passed the committee in May, but their unwillingness to offer performers any compensation is unreasonable since Internet, cable and satellite services all pay. Liggins called the hearing "misguided and disingenuous." He said he backed out as a witness after learning Conyers would focus on the royalty bill and had invited a supporter of the measure, R&B Foundation Chairman Kendall Minter, to testify. "I'm not going to sit there and get beat up," Liggins said in a phone interview. Read the full story in CongressDaily's PM Edition here (subscription required).
The Intellectual Property Owners Association on Wednesday urged Senate Judiciary Committee leaders to schedule a hearing soon on the confirmation of President Obama's pick for Patent and Trademark Office director, David Kappos. IPO said it is "critical for new management to be put in place as soon as possible" to address the many challenges currently "hindering effective processing of patent applications." The letter said Kappos meets all of the qualifications IPO has recommended for the PTO position in letters to the administration. The PTO, which is funded through user fees and is faced with a lengthy patent application backlog, recently suspended overtime pay for patent examiners and earlier instituted a hiring freeze.
The group told Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Jeff Sessions that Kappos, an IBM executive, has an exceptional record in IP law and significant experience in industry as a manager. He has worked within IPO and other associations to improve IP practice and communications with the PTO. Kappos is in line behind Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor whose Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing begins next week. While the agency awaits its new leader, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has appointed Nicholas Godici, a high-ranking Clinton administration patent official, to serve as an expert appointee and liaison between the PTO and Commerce.
House Energy and Commerce Committee member Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., urged the panel's leadership Wednesday to hold a hearing on the role of the Internet and communications technologies in giving a voice to those silenced by repressive governments. Calling attention to recent events in Iran and China, where mobile phones and applications like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube delivered uncensored, citizen-fueled reports from the streets, Bono Mack said it is time that Congress examines the threat that Web censorship poses to free expression. "We cannot stand idly by while the voices of the oppressed are silenced," Bono Mack said in a press release and in a letter to Chairman Henry Waxman and ranking member Joe Barton.
Web sites developed in the United States provide opportunities for people whose words would otherwise never be heard and can foster respect for human rights and freedom across the world, she said. Following last month's disputed election in Iran, a "Twitter Revolution" allowed citizens there to broadcast firsthand accounts and on-the-scene footage of protests and violence in Tehran. At the same time, the government was doing everything in its power to control messages and images leaving Iran. Meanwhile, China has continued to use its "Great Firewall" to block content on a regular basis and researchers estimate that 30,000 or more Internet police monitor online traffic, Web sites and blogs for political and other offensive content.
In the 110th Congress, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin chaired a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee that examined U.S. companies' business dealings in Internet restrictive countries. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and others were on the hot seat. In 2006, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., chaired a similar high-profile hearing of the House subcommittee that oversees global human rights. Smith has introduced legislation on multiple occasions that would prevent U.S. tech firms from working with foreign governments that seek to conduct Internet surveillance to find, capture, convict and often torture citizens for engaging in democracy promotion and human rights advocacy online.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Financial Management Subcommittee Chairman Thomas Carper, D-Del., said sweeping computer attacks that impaired the Web sites of several agencies including the Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and the Transportation Department around July 4 demonstrate that the U.S. government needs to be better armed to fight 21st century security threats. News reports late Tuesday and early Wednesday said the attacks were targeted at varying points over recent days, and sites of 11 South Korean organizations were targeted as well. The activity was a possible coordinated assault by North Korea, officials with knowledge of the incidents told various media outlets.
In April, Carper introduced legislation that would bring big changes to the way agencies protect sensitive information. His bill would modernize the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002, and empower agency chief information security officers to focus their efforts on monitoring, detecting and preventing cyber intrusions. It would also augment the power of the Homeland Security Department's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team to be proactive before a cyber attack penetrates government networks. "We need to pass this legislation so our federal agencies can stop spending billions of taxpayers' dollars on wasteful paper compliance and instead invest in real security - the kind of security that prevents these types of attacks," Carper said.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., will soon introduce legislation that would create a competitive grant program for state and local education agencies and non-profit organizations to provide Internet safety education to teachers, schools and parents. The measure, which would authorize up to $175 million over five years, would be administered by the Justice Department in collaboration with the departments of Health and Human Services and Education. Wasserman Schultz's bill will be a companion to one introduced earlier this year by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.
"There's no silver bullet, no one technology," Wasserman Schultz said at a Wednesday briefing on Capitol Hill sponsored by Point Smart, Click Safe -- a coalition of non-profits and companies like Comcast, Google, Verizon, and Yahoo. "Our bill recognizes that knowledge must be our children's first line of defense," she said. Wasserman Schultz, who has 10-year-old twins and a five-year-old daughter, said she hoped her legislation could provide the strong federal leadership called for in a new Point Smart, Click Safe report. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who also spoke at the event, said it is imperative that non-profits and high-tech firms "help us help parents understand."
The Point Smart, Click Safe paper asks policymakers to consider expanding online safety efforts to emphasize digital media literacy programs. It also calls for the president or Congress to lead a federal agency that would work collaboratively with all major stakeholders in marshaling resources for improved online safety. Additionally, the group urged policymakers to consider adopting a set of national goals for online safety, including minimum standards for a curriculum on digital literacy. Click here to review Point Smart, Click Safe's recommendations and here to read a new paper by Web safety expert Adam Thierer of the Progress and Freedom Foundation.
The House late Tuesday passed legislation under suspension of the rules that would authorize the Patent and Trademark Office to use money statutorily cordoned off for its trademark portfolio to pay for patent-related work. The PTO, which is funded through user fees and is faced with a lengthy patent application backlog, recently suspended overtime pay for patent examiners and earlier instituted a hiring freeze. PTO officials have said the loan is justified because the trademark budget has a massive surplus. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers's bill and a companion measure sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy are intended to stave off potential furloughs and reductions-in-force. Under the Conyers bill the PTO could use trademark funds made available for fiscal year 2009 of up to $70 million to support the processing of patents and related activities. The measure would also establish a surcharge to repay those funds. The PTO would have until June 30, 2010 to use the authority and the surcharge would take effect no later than Sept. 30, 2011 with all funds being repaid by Sept. 30, 2014. Worth noting: The Leahy bill doesn't assign a specific dollar amount.
From Tuesday's CongressDaily PM Edition (subscription required).
After more than two years of private negotiations, music and Internet industry stakeholders have arrived at a formula for commercial webcasters to pay copyright owners and artists for their songs. The deal came a week after President Obama signed legislation sponsored by Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that kept deliberations on track while delaying implementation of a controversial 2007 rate-setting by a federal panel that determines royalty fees for various distribution platforms.
Under the agreement announced today, "pureplay" services, whose main business is streaming music under a government license, would pay a percentage of their U.S. revenue up to 25 percent as well as a $25,000 per year minimum royalty as an alternative to the Copyright Royalty Board's calculation, which webcasters argued could put them out of business. Wyden said he was happy to help reach a deal and ensure that the "unjust decision of the CRB wasn't applied to this dynamic new medium." Inslee said webcasters and copyright holders "needed this freedom to negotiate and craft a royalty rate structure that's fair for all impacted parties."
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has named a high-ranking Clinton administration patent official to serve as an expert appointee whose job will be to assist the new Patent and Trademark Office director and act as a liaison between the office and the Commerce Department, which houses the PTO. Nicholas Godici served for five years as commissioner for patents, acting under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the PTO and got his start as at the agency as an examiner 30 years earlier. His term in the Obama administration is limited to 180 days. IBM executive David Kappos was tapped to become head of the PTO last month but must be confirmed by the Senate. He is in line behind Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor whose Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing begins Monday.
Godici, who has been a top advisor to Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP since 2005, could be a valuable asset at PTO as the agency struggles to avoid budget cuts and furloughs. The office, which is funded through fees collected from its users, recently suspended overtime pay for patent examiners and earlier this year instituted a hiring freeze. Lawmakers have introduced legislation that would let the PTO's patent division borrow money from its trademark portfolio, which has a multi-million dollar surplus. A House bill sponsored by Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is scheduled for a floor vote under suspension of the rules late Tuesday. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy has introduced a companion measure in his chamber.
Godici was on Capitol Hill in December where he spoke at a Computing Technology Industry Association event that focused on the future of the PTO. Watch a video of that briefing here. Other panelists included Gerald Mossinghoff, Bruce Lehman, and Q. Todd Dickinson, all former leaders at the PTO.
The Library of Congress, which preserves and makes available to the public more than 138 million books, photographs, maps, sound recordings, films, and other material in 470 languages, is undergoing a massive transformation thanks to the digital revolution -- and that point is not lost on lawmakers. The Senate on Monday approved a FY 2010 spending bill that would provide the institution with $8.5 million to update its information technology infrastructure. The library's overall budget under the legislative branch appropriations package would be $638.5 million, which is $31.5 million higher than 2009 and $19.8 million below President Obama's request. The House passed its own version of the bill last month, which provided $7.3 million for "digital collections and educational curricula."
"While less than the full request, the amount recommended is sufficient for LOC to embark on upgrades to its content delivery, content management and core technology," a Senate Appropriations Committee report from last month stated. The panel said it expects the library to update its digital strategy to ensure IT investments are targeted appropriately. The report pointed out that while a preliminary digital strategy has been developed, it does not represent an integrated, library-wide plan for digitization. Appropriators called on the institution to "incorporate key stakeholder views on the extent to which the library should make its collections available digitally."
The Veterans Affairs Department would get $3.3 billion for IT projects to develop electronic health care records, paperless claims systems, and seamless integration of medical and service records with the Department of Defense under the agency's FY 2010 spending bill that passed a key Senate Appropriations subcommittee Monday. Subcommittee passage clears the way for the bill to be considered by the full panel later this week. The broader $133.9 billion bill, which also covers military construction, includes more than $76.7 billion in discretionary funding -- $439 million over President Obama's budget request in discretionary funding. Under the measure, military construction would get $23.2 billion and $53 billion in discretionary funding would go to the VA. A companion bill that passed the House Appropriations Committee last month asks for the same amount for high-tech investments, mirroring Obama's request. "We have done our best to address both the needs of the military and our veterans in this legislation. I remain committed to keeping our promises to our veterans and honoring them by ensuring they receive the care they deserve and require," said Sen. Tim Johnson, D, S.D., who chairs the Senate Appropriations Military Construction, Veterans Affairs Subcommittee.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., on Monday successfully pushed through an amendment to the $3.1 billion FY 2010 legislative branch appropriations bill that he argued would make it easier for the public to examine Senate expenses, such as salaries for staff, travel and office operations. Those records are already computerized but his plan would make the files available online for public review. Senate Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee Chairman Bill Nelson, D-Neb., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid supported the proposal and agreed to a limited debate on the issue. He said his amendment would help the Senate "lead by example" and rein in spending within individual offices while providing much needed public accountability for taxpayer dollars. "I'm just as frugal with their money in my office as I am on the floor," said Coburn, who routinely objects to congressional spending sprees and has earned the nickname "Dr. No."
Meanwhile, a similar effort in the House has been delayed due to "security and support issues" that the House Administration Committee says must resolved before so-called "statement of disbursements" are made available in an electronic format. Although the chamber's servers were upgraded to handle massive, sudden influxes of e-mail and Web hits, the new technology needs to be tested in preparation for what is expected to be an enormous online interest in records, the committee said in a Thursday statement. Additionally, the committee and the Chief Administrative Officer want to ensure staffers are fully trained to explain the SODs to constituents who may call or e-mail. Online support materials like a frequently asked questions page and a glossary of terms are in the works. The first SOD to be posted on the Internet will cover the quarter beginning July 1, 2009 and will be posted as soon as possible following the end of that quarter.
High-tech advocacy groups this week filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing efforts by music licensing organization ASCAP to impose additional licensing payments on providers of musical ringtones for mobile phones. The Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Public Knowledge urged a New York federal court to reject ASCAP's claim that ringtones are "public performances" under copyright law simply because a phone may ring when the user is in a public place. ASCAP's position implies that mobile phone users are copyright infringers and would expand liability in ways that could chill innovation in products far beyond the relatively narrow context of ringtones, the groups argued.
ASCAP, which has about 360,000 members, recently released a memo in support of its legal battle against AT&T and Verizon that argues wireless carriers make billions of dollars from ringtones including per tone charges and multiple additional charges surrounding the transmission of ringtones. The revenue generated is "more than sufficient to cover a reasonable payment to ASCAP members," the organization said. Additionally, ASCAP stressed that it seeks to license carriers' transmissions of music and is not trying to charge consumers. EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann called ASCAP's an "outlandish argument," noting that under its reasoning, someone playing a car radio with the window down would be violating copyright law.
A related debate could play out on Capitol Hill. In a recent recent letter, songwriter and music publisher representatives requested legislation to expand the scope of the public performance right so that it will apply to digital downloads of audiovisual works. Trade groups representing Internet music providers, e-commerce firms and electronics manufacturers claim the effort would "impose a licensing obligation and potentially significant royalties on activities that are unequivocally unrelated to public performance." House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is planning a hearing on the issue while Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy has begun talking with stakeholders.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman praised the Office of Management and Budget's announcement Tuesday of a new Web site that allows the public to track and comment on federal information technology spending. "When I won enactment of the E-Government Act almost a decade ago, the federal government was a newcomer to the online world and had only just begun to think seriously about how to provide American taxpayers with valuable electronic services and information. All that has changed," Lieberman said in a statement.
The IT dashboard on USASpending.gov "marks another leap forward for open government, public accountability, and management efficiency and serves as a model to open up more information on federal spending." With a click of the mouse, anyone can see and have their say about the decisions, successes, and setbacks of how tax dollars are spent on IT projects, he said. Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Financial Management Subcommittee Chairman Thomas Carper, D-Del., concurred, saying he wants to work with the Obama administration to expand the effort to bring greater transparency for other large investments, including weapons acquisitions.
Read CongressDaily's Tuesday coverage of the issue here (subscription required).
Senate Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions has requested that Case Western Reserve University innovation expert Scott Shane analyze the potential impact of a pending bill's approach to administratively challenging a patent's validity after it is granted. The proposed changes to the Patent and Trademark Office's post-grant review process are included in a bill sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, which passed his committee 15-4 in April. Staffers for Leahy and Sessions have been meeting with stakeholders about the issue in recent weeks even as the panel focuses on the forthcoming confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
As amended, the measure would adopt House-passed text from 2007 that lengthens the timeline for challenging a granted patent and strips out a "public use or sale" provision that Leahy added as a basis for challenging a patent. Shane's research earlier this Congress on apportionment of damages concluded that adopting House language could lead to job loss and decreased R&D investment. Leahy's panel ultimately watered down the damages text so the bill could advance. Shane's report was commissioned by the Manufacturing Alliance on Patent Policy, a group backed by Corning, Monsanto, DuPont and others. His latest research will be ready for Sessions within two weeks, Tech Daily Dose has learned.
Click here to read recent CongressDaily coverage of the emerging conflict over post-grant review language (subscription required).
President Obama on Tuesday signed legislation that would allow months of royalty negotiations between the music and Internet industries continue while delaying full implementation of a controversial rate-setting for webcasters imposed by the Copyright Royalty Board. The measure replaces a Feb. 15, 2009 deadline that was part of legislation that passed the 110th Congress, with a 30-day window from the date of enactment for a deal to be reached between digital royalty collector SoundExchange, which is negotiating on behalf of copyright owners and performers, and Internet services represented by the Digital Media Association and others.
The bill's sponsor was Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., who had support from Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and others. Its Senate sponsors were Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan. A source told Tech Daily Dose that so-called "pureplay" negotiations have been completed and a deal could be signed as soon as stakeholders return from Independence Day vacation. As soon as that happens, the proposal will be announced and submitted to the Register of Copyrights for publication. "Pureplay" webcasters refers to those whose sole business activity is to stream sound recordings over the Internet.
The House Armed Services Committee last week offered its support to the Army's controversial high-tech effort to increase awareness and knowledge of the military among recruitment-age youth. In a report accompanying the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill, which passed the House last Thursday, the panel commended the Army Experience Center in Philadelphia and its transportable counterpart, the Virtual Army Experience. The initiatives are examples of projects "that hold great potential to reshape recruiting techniques and conduct recruiting operations on a more cost effective basis," the report said. Critics argue the 14,500 square-foot center encourages youth to play violent videogames and in May, several groups including Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace held a protest outside the facility.
"The committee believes this type of investment is essential if the Army intends to keep pace with societal changes regarding the subjects that capture the attention of young people and methods young people use to gather information and socially interact," the House Armed Services report stated. "The committee understands that during periods when recruiting is relatively easy, investment in experimental programs draws increased scrutiny." The document urged the Army to invest in the projects to maximize their immediate value and learn more about how the military can further adapt technology to harness the power of the information age to support its recruiting mission. At the May protest, Iraq veteran Jesse Hamilton called the center "an abomination" that targets impressionable minors and glorifies war.
National Music Publishers' Association President David Israelite urged House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and ranking member Lamar Smith late Friday to consider introducing legislation that would clear up any confusion surrounding the constitutionality of a federal panel that sets copyright royalties. The request comes on the heels of a May complaint from licensing firm Royalty Logic asking that the Copyright Royalty Board be forced to vacate its decision in a controversial proceeding that set the fee structure for webcasters. The filing claims the CRB is unconstitutional because the Librarian of Congress, who is not technically the head of a government department, appoints its three judges.
If successful, the protest could mean the unraveling of all of the CRB's decisions since its judges were appointed in 2006. "This could cause complete chaos in the marketplace," Israelite wrote in a letter. In it, he notes that in the proceeding in question, songwriters, music publishers, digital media firms and record labels negotiated a landmark deal on the rate and terms for musical works delivered by interactive streams and limited downloads. The board's decisions "should not be thrown away because of a technicality," he said. NMPA wants Conyers and Smith to sponsor a bill that would make moot any challenge to the CRB based on the appointments clause of the Constitution as well as uphold its determinations.
When Rod Beckstrom accepted the top job at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers last week, a former Homeland Security Department colleague warned him that his tenure as director of the National Cybersecurity Center was a walk in the park compared to being CEO of the nonprofit group that oversees the Internet address system. "I hope you enjoy jumping out of frying pan and into the fire," the colleague said in an e-mail. But the Silicon Valley entrepreneur, author and computer security expert says he is ready for the challenge. ICANN, which is based in California but has ramped up its Washington presence in recent years, has faced intense scrutiny on Capitol Hill as it prepares to end its formal relationship with the Commerce Department in September.
Lawmakers and industry stakeholders have raised concerns about the international entity's transparency, accountability, budget processes and stakeholder affairs. Most recently, a chorus of lawmakers called for an extension of the U.S. government's formal role and closer scrutiny over how the 11-year-old organization has evolved. At a House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee hearing earlier this month, ICANN's departing CEO Paul Twomey came under intense questions, while Internet executives voiced an array of concerns. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said ICANN was "far from a model of effective and sustainable self-governance", and Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said ICANN seemed "better at furthering its own interests than those of the millions of Internet users it's supposed to look out for."
Read the full "Issue of The Week" at CongressDaily's TechCentral page here.
Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., will soon introduce legislation to sanction any company that sells sensitive technology aiding the Iranian regime in monitoring or blocking the Internet connections or cellular phone conversations of protesters. The bill, which will be filed in the coming days, would require the Obama administration to identify foreign firms that export certain equipment to Iran and those companies would be barred from applying for contracts with the U.S. government, or renewing expiring ones, unless they first terminated those exports.
That requirement could be waived if the president determines such a waiver would be in the national interest of the United State but he would have to report to Congress on the reasons for the waiver. "It is utterly outrageous that Western companies sell equipment that allows the Iranian government to spy on their citizens, prevent communications between citizens and thwart any type of uprising against the regime," Schumer said in a press release. "This legislation is going to crack down on these companies so that we can do our part in preventing this regime from controlling the Iranian people."
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the systems used by Iran to spy on its citizens and stifle communications were installed by Nokia and Siemens. According to a federal spending Web site, Siemens has almost 2,000 contracts with the U.S. government, including 300 contracts with the Pentagon as well as other deals with the Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department, and the Department of Energy. The deals total over $250 million in 2009 alone. The joint venture, Nokia Siemens Networks, has at least six contracts with the U.S. government, totaling $5 million.
The Obama administration could ask Congress for regulatory changes to create "far-reaching incentives" for prioritizing cybersecurity in the private sector, which controls much of the nation's critical IT infrastructure, a high-ranking Department of Homeland Security official said Thursday. Acting Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications Michael Brown said a range of proposals are being considered by the White House and the department as their cybersecurity plan unfolds. The department is moving quickly to ramp up its cyber processes, Brown told an Armed Forces Communication & Electronics Association conference. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's selection of under secretary Philip Reitinger to head the National Cybersecurity Center this month, was another step forward, he said. Read the full story in CongressDaily's AM Edition here (subscription required).
In related news, Reitinger spoke about cybersecurity to a standing-room-only crowd at Google's Washington office on Friday. He was joined by Senate Commerce Committee Chief of Staff Ellen Doneski; TechAmerica Vice President Liesyl Franz; Defense Information Systems Agency Chief Information Assurance Executive Richard Hale; and Christopher Painter, director of cybersecurity for the National Security Council.
A Chinese government rule slated to take effect next week that would require all computers produced and sold there to install controversial Internet filtering software has piqued the interest of lawmakers, according to Thursday's CongressDaily AM Edition. In the story, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force chairman; Helsinki Commission co-chair Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., each weigh in on the proposal. Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., also chimed in late Wednesday, telling Tech Daily Dose that China's purported plan "is just the latest example of China's obsession with controlling the free flow of information." "They have been unrelenting in making sure the government's position is the only position on every issue," he said.
The initiative also drew ire from Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. The high-ranking Obama administration officials sent a joint letter to the Chinese government warning the plan could run afoul of World Trade Organization obligations Their joint letter also laid out for Industry and Information Technology Minister Li Yizhong and Commerce Minister Chen Deming the fears raised by high-tech firms, Chinese citizens and media about the software's stability, the scope and extent of filtering, and potential security weaknesses. U.S. business and tech groups wrote to China last week saying the effort "seems to run contrary to China's own goal of becoming a leading IT and information-based society."
For the full CongressDaily story, click here (subscription required).
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Jeff Sessions came to the rescue of the Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday night when they introduced a bill that will allow the agency to use funds designated for its trademark portfolio to be used to address its growing backlog of patent applications. The trademark budget, which is statutorily untouchable, has a $60 million-$70 million surplus. CongressDaily reported this week that Commerce Department and PTO officials had been making the rounds on Capitol Hill to let key lawmakers know how the office was struggling in the recession and offering up legislative ideas like the loan plan.
The PTO, which is funded through fees collected from its users, suspended overtime pay for patent examiners effective Sunday and earlier this year instituted a hiring freeze amid a slump in the number of patent applications filed. Under the bill, the PTO can make use of the money "to support the processing of patents and other activities, services, and materials relating to patents" if the office's director certifies to Congress the use of funds "is reasonably necessary to avoid furloughs or a reduction-in-force." The borrowed money would have to be put back in the trademark basket no later than Sept. 30, 2011.
If the agency and lawmakers deem the situation urgent enough, the bill could advance without a new PTO director in place. IBM executive David Kappos, President Obama's pick for the job, was only named last week and has to trudge through the confirmation process presumably after Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is considered. John Doll is acting director. Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee on Wednesday approved its FY10 spending bill, giving the PTO full funding at $1.9 billion. Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said the allotment could help attack the backlog in patent applications.
Update: A Leahy aide on Thursday said the bill did not get introduced Wednesday night but could move soon.
On the eve of a major White House immigration summit, technology industry stakeholders are urging participants to make high-skilled immigration part of the discussion. President Obama and a bipartisan group of congressional leaders will take part in the Thursday event and Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Charles Schumer, D-N.Y, earlier today highlighted the need for high-skilled immigration to be one of seven key principles for reform. His first priority in crafting legislation is making a serious stand against illegal immigration, and suggested that a biometric-based employer verification system would be a key element as well. Schumer added he remains optimistic that immigration legislation, which he intends to introduce, can become law as soon as this year.
"Many of our nation's finest entrepreneurs, business leaders, doctors, scientists and Nobel laureates are foreign-born and contribute to the success of America's economy," Information Technology Industry Council President Dean Garfield said in a press release. "Any reform to our immigration policy should ensure that America's doors remain open to these individuals and business leaders." While the guest list for the summit has not been officially released, ITI understands that a number of high-skilled immigration proponents have been invited. Garfield said he hoped congressional consensus over retaining a top notch workforce is not sacrificed by contentious items in the immigration debate.
CongressDaily's AM Edition on Wednesday reports that the Patent and Trademark Office is asking Congress to help stabilize the agency, which is facing a substantial decrease in the number of patent applications filed. Acting Director John Doll broke the news to employees in a Tuesday memo. The agency, which is funded through fees collected from its users, this week suspended overtime pay for patent examiners and this year instituted a hiring freeze. All of this has been done with an eye toward avoiding furloughs. "We're now putting forward a number of different options to bridge any possible gaps, and we'll also be soliciting ideas from members of Congress," Doll wrote, acknowledging that in the recession, fee collection could continue to decline. With the support of Commerce Secretary Locke, the PTO is seeking additional cost reduction measures that would save an additional $20 million in FY09, he said. Click here to read the story (subscription required), which details some of the options floated to aides for key lawmakers. The Senate Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled to consider the FY10 appropriations bill, which funds the PTO, later today.
As staffers for Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy resume negotiations with stakeholders who are divided over sections of his bill to overhaul the U.S. patent system, (see CongressDaily's AM Edition for coverage), aides for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, are trying to build support for a proposal that would essentially let the Patent and Trademark Office examine information that was not considered during an earlier patent review. Officials from the generic and brand pharmaceuticals industries as well as biotechnology interests met with Hatch's team on Monday. Under the longtime intellectual property crusader's plan, if a patent is issued, the information in question may not be used to hold the patent unenforceable.
Language that Hatch prepared to introduce when Leahy's panel marked up the broader bill in April also clarifies that requesting the reissue (or the decision not to) cannot alone be the basis of an "inequitable conduct" challenge. The proposal would leave untouched the underlying doctrine, which generic drug makers believe is vital to ensure timely market entry of medicines. Hatch, an original cosponsor of Leahy's bill, announced during the mark up that he could no longer support the final product and was one of four members who voted against the measure. "[The bill] has the very real potential to undermine the stimulatory effects of not only our patent system but those abroad," he said at the time.
Generics manufacturers previously argued Hatch's proposal would incentivize deception before the PTO. It's a back door "but for" test that would do away with the inequitable conduct defense, they said. But the senator's office is trying to engage in good faith negotiations with key players and hopes to reconvene the group for further talks after the Independence Day recess, sources said. One individual who attended the Monday meeting said there was "a great deal of positive interaction," with all parties trying to understand each others concerns. If the patent reissue problem can be solved, Hatch is more likely to rally his GOP colleagues in support of Leahy's bill as it heads toward the Senate floor.
Former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., said Tuesday that he does not want the job of President Obama's cybersecurity coordinator despite recent rumblings that he was one of the top contenders for the position. "If I'd wanted to stay in government, I would have stayed in Congress," he said at a National Press Club briefing. "I don't have any real interest in going back." Davis joined the federal services team of consulting firm Deloitte last year after serving as chairman and ranking member of the House Government Reform Committee where he took the lead on legislation aimed at improving e-government, information security and critical infrastructure. When pressed further by reporters, Davis said he was "not a candidate for anything... [but] you never say never." He has maintained his departure from public service is only a sabbatical.
His main concern with the cyber czar position, which Obama described on the campaign trail and formally announced last month in conjunction with a wide-sweeping report that examined the federal cybersecurity posture, is the job description remains vague. Davis said it is unclear what the position would entail and how much authority the individual, who would report jointly to the National Security Council and National Economic Council, would have. "For this job to work you'd better get some understandings up front," he said. Davis lauded Obama for recognizing the need for a strong cybersecurity leader but said he thinks the administration has brought on too many czars. Melissa Hathaway, a senior adviser to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, is potential candidate. Former Microsoft security chief Howard Schmidt's name has also come up.
Four congressional leaders on competitiveness Monday asked the National Academies to form a panel to examine the standing of the nation's research universities amid growing concerns that U.S. schools could be outpaced by foreign institutions. The group would answer the following question: "What are the top 10 actions that Congress, state governments, research universities, and others could take to assure the ability of the American research university to maintain the excellence in research and doctoral education needed to help the United States compete, prosper, and achieve national goals for health, energy, the environment, and security in the global community of the 21st century?" The request is similar to one in 2005 that led to an Academies report that became the basis for competitiveness legislation that passed the 110th Congress.
Members who signed the letter to the Academies were Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.; Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former education secretary and chairman of the Senate Republican Conference; House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon and ranking member Ralph Hall. "America's research universities are powerhouses of innovation, incubators for the ideas and breakthroughs that have made America an economic superpower," Mikulski said in a press release. "We need the best minds working on what steps we can take today to keep our nation innovating tomorrow and every day after that." Alexander called U.S. research universities "our secret weapon for creating jobs" but warned that other nations are catching up.
President Obama on Thursday nominated IBM Assistant General Counsel David Kappos to become director of the Patent and Trademark Office. As reported in CongressDaily's AM Edition, the news was uniformly welcomed by lawmakers, industry leaders and members of the legal community. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy said Kappos is "exceptionally qualified" to lead the PTO, which faces serious challenges in the recession and a spokesman for Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions said his boss believes Kappos' credentials and experience are impressive and looks forward to evaluating him. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke issued a statement saying Kappos "will be a strong voice for patent reform" and will be charged with making a big dent in the growing application backlog, which now exceeds 750,000.
Foley & Lardner attorney Jon Dudas, who served as PTO director in the Bush administration, said Kappos is an excellent choice. "He is deeply respected in the intellectual property community, the U.S. government and internationally," Dudas said. "Dave also has the leadership and management skills to inspire the thousands of incredibly professional colleagues he will soon lead." American Intellectual Property Law Association Executive Director Todd Dickinson, who served as head of the PTO under former President Bill Clinton, said Kappos "has a genuine appreciation for the tough issues facing intellectual property policy and administration today." His nomination offers an opportunity for a fresh start, Dickinson said.
Groups involved in the ongoing congressional battle over patent reform also hailed Obama's pick. The Coalition for Patent Fairness and Innovation Alliance, which have been at odds over pending legislation, both backed Kappos. CPF said he has the experience needed to lead the PTO "at a time when it faces significant operational challenges in an ever-evolving competitive global marketplace." The Alliance said its members "look forward to working with him in what will be a very difficult, but important effort to revitalize the PTO, which all agree is under funded and overburdened." Congress should provide PTO the funds it needs to upgrade its technology, improve the patent application process, and attract and retain professional talent, the group said.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and a handful of other senators urged President Obama on Thursday to protect intellectual property as talks begin on a global climate change treaty. Proposals have surfaced by representatives of some countries to allow foreign producers to copy or infringe patented technologies. "The United States government cannot afford to sit idle while others seek to weaken IP protections," they wrote. "America must continue to set the standard for IP protection, and be willing to confront those countries and organizations that attempt to weaken IP rights." Hatch collected signatures from Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; Robert Bennett, R-Utah; Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Charles Grassley, R-Iowa; Arlen Specter, D-Pa.; George Voinovich, R-Ohio; John Thune, R-S.D.; Judd Gregg, R-N.H.; and David Vitter, R-La.
The senators explain that some governments mischaracterize IP rights as an obstacle to progress and require compulsory licenses of IP or forced technology transfers. China and India claim they cannot meet future global emission requirements without free or significantly discounted access to climate change mitigation technologies. "These short-sighted approaches to IP rights will curtail growth and development, and stagnate the very industries that these countries depend on," they wrote. A coalition backed by the Chamber, General Electric, Microsoft, Siemens and other multinationals has been putting similar pressure on the Obama administration. A series of meetings will culminate at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, where parties will seek agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly shows a House Energy and Commerce Committee staffer how to adjust privacy settings for her profile on the popular social networking Web site. Kelly, who is also a Democratic candidate for California attorney general, was in Washington testifying before a joint hearing on Internet privacy held by the House Energy and Commerce Communications and Consumer Protection subcommittees. Read more in CongressDaily's PM Edition.
Trade groups representing high-tech, manufacturing, retail, and financial services firms wrote to House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders Wednesday urging them to "use extreme caution" when crafting Internet privacy legislation and refrain from imposing duplicative, inconsistent and ineffective regulations that could hurt consumers and businesses. The letter, sent to leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Communications and Consumer Protection subcommittees on the eve of a high-profile hearing on the topic, acknowledges there are "important issues around online privacy that Congress is looking into, issues that industry takes seriously as well." But during deliberations, lawmakers should take into account the range of industries, companies, and jobs that could be impacted by potential legislative or regulatory action, they said.
"The vast majority of companies of all shapes and sizes are online in some capacity and use the Internet to communicate with consumers, employees, existing customers, potential customers, and business partners around the world," added the letter signed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Financial Services Roundtable, National Association of Manufacturers, National Retail Federation and others. The FTC also weighed in, sending lawmakers its recent staff report on behavioral advertising. An accompanying letter states the Commission "has actively encouraged industry to embrace new measures relating to behavioral advertising to inform and empower consumers and is monitoring developments" so privacy is protected.
The Senate late Wednesday passed legislation intended to promote more openness regarding statutory exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act by tacking the measure onto another bill that would prevent the release of photos of detainees in U.S. custody. The FOIA bill, sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, "will make certain that when Congress provides for a statutory exemption to FOIA in new legislation, Congress states its intention to do so explicitly and clearly," the senator said in a statement. He said new statutory exemptions to FOIA should always be carefully considered before they are enacted and his bill will help to stop that practice and "shine more light on the process of creating legislative exemptions to FOIA." The Sunshine in Government Initiative's Rick Blum lauded the FOIA bill's passage, saying it "lets the public cry foul when secrecy ideas are overbroad or unjustified." He said he hoped the House would act on companion legislation soon. The detainee photo measure was sponsored by Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Following on swift action in the House, the Senate on Wednesday passed legislation by unanimous consent that would allow months of royalty negotiations between the music and Internet industries continue while delaying full implementation of a controversial rate-setting for webcasters imposed by the Copyright Royalty Board. The legislation was sponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., would replace a Feb. 15, 2009 deadline that was part of legislation that passed the 110th Congress, with a 30-day window from the date of enactment for a deal to be reached between digital royalty collector SoundExchange, which is negotiating on behalf of copyright owners and performers, and Internet services represented by the Digital Media Association and others.
A companion bill sponsored by Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., passed the House earlier this month with support from Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and California Democrats Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo. DiMA Executive Director Jonathan Potter lauded the action and used it as a platform to press his members' agenda pertaining to a bill that would end a longstanding royalty exemption afforded to AM and FM radio. "Hopefully, as Congress continues to focus more broadly on sound recording performance rights legislation, more comprehensive legislation will soon level the regulatory playing field for all forms of digital radio."
The online marketing practice known as behavioral advertising, which is being employed increasingly by Internet companies that want to tailor Web surfers' content, will come under scrutiny on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Executives from Google, Facebook, and Yahoo will take the hot seat alongside some of their most prominent critics at a joint hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Communications and Consumer Protection subcommittees. House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., is preparing legislation that he hopes would give Internet users greater confidence in how information collected about them is used and would offer consumer control over that use. "That will encourage people to engage in electronic commerce more readily," he said earlier this year. At the time, Boucher had not decided what rules could be in the measure.
The rare joint session "is but one hearing along a continuum of legislative activity examining the domains of the online and offline consumer privacy and how companies handle and treat consumers' personal information," Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said in an excerpt from his opening statement. He will point out there are no federal laws specifically aimed at behavioral advertising nor is there a comprehensive general privacy law on the books. Google Deputy General Counsel Nicole Wong, Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly and Yahoo Vice President of Policy Anne Toth plan to defend their business practices and tell lawmakers that high-tech advances in advertising lead to more enjoyable Internet experiences for users. Read the full preview story in CongressDaily's AM Edition here and look for more coverage in the PM Edition.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., on Wednesday stepped down as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, following his announcement Tuesday that he had an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer. Ensign, whose exit sets up a vacancy for the fourth-ranking job in GOP leadership, served two consecutive terms as chair of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force. "His voice for tech interests at the leadership table will be missed," one industry insider told Tech Daily Dose. "Hopefully, a tech savvy Senator like John Thune will come in to replace him." GOP leadership aides told CongressDaily that Thune of South Dakota is considered the front-runner at this point but Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina has expressed interest in the past. Thune is a member of the high-tech task force, which is being chaired this Congress by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Thune also recently joined Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va.; Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.; and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., as co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus. Read more in CongressDaily's PM Edition here (subscription required).
From CongressDaily's AM Edition:
Nominee For FCC Chairman Urged To 'Fix' The Agency
Julius Genachowski, President Obama's pick for FCC chairman, played it safe during his confirmation hearing Tuesday as senators delivered marching orders on fostering more transparency at the agency, bolstering broadcast indecency enforcement and extending broadband to homes lacking access. Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller stole the show with a stern request for Genachowski to repair the damaged reputation of the commission, known for its bitter negotiating environment, by operating more openly and not kowtowing to powerful corporate interests. "Fix this agency, or we will fix it for you. Prove to us that the FCC is not battered beyond repair," Rockefeller warned.
Read the full story here (subscription required).
Kohl Pushes For More Competition In Cell Phone Industry
Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., urged the FCC Tuesday to "take all necessary action" to remove barriers to competition in the cell phone marketplace and prevent giants like AT&T and Verizon from gaining a stranglehold on the industry. He also pressed the Justice Department to closely scrutinize mergers and allegations of anti-competitive practices in the wireless sector. Nowhere is the changed market for cell phones more noticeable than in the text messaging space, Kohl argued at a hearing. From 2006 to 2008, the price of sending and receiving messages among the four largest carriers increased from 10 to 20 cents per message within weeks or months of each other. The price increases occurred despite the fact that the cost to cell phone providers for texting -- less than a penny per message -- has not increased.
Read the full story here. (subscription required).
Telecommunications analyst Scott Cleland, whose work is bankrolled by companies like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon, also signed on as a hired gun for Microsoft earlier this year, according to a summary of testimony he plans to deliver Thursday at a joint hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee and Consumer Protection Subcommittee. The focus of the session is Internet privacy and behavioral advertising. Cleland, a frequent critic of Google, runs Precursor, an industry research and consulting firm, and chairs NetCompetition.org, which he describes as a "a pro-competition e-forum funded by broadband companies."
While Cleland asserts that his testimony reflects his personal views and not the views of his clients, Google sympathizers wonder if his new affiliation with Microsoft might further fuel what they believe is an already staunchly anti-Google agenda. Last December, Precursor issued a report alleging that Google "is by far the largest user of Internet bandwidth," the company's share of bandwidth usage is rising rapidly, and it's bandwidth use "is orders of magnitude greater than its payment for its cost." Google's telecom counsel Richard Whitt responded to the attack, calling the report "payola punditry." Google Associate General Counsel Nicole Wong will testify Thursday, presumably in defense of her firm's practices.
Regardless of who signs Cleland's checks, his testimony concludes that if Congress decides to legislate on Internet privacy, a competition/technology-neutral framework is the way to go. According to Cleland, such a proposal would: emphasize protecting people not technologies; empower consumers with the control/freedom to choose to either protect or exploit their own privacy; prevent competitive arbitrage of asymmetric technology-driven privacy policies with a level playing field; stay current with ever-evolving technological innovation; and accommodate both privacy and public interests by empowering real consumer privacy choice.
Update: Cleland told Tech Daily Dose his work with Microsoft has been focused on Internet security and safety.
"Technology is the future of education," House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman George Miller said Tuesday while playing with a computer simulation of a dissected frog during a showcase of up-and-coming education technologies. "Now the frogs don't have to die," he joked. Earlier in the day, Miller presided over a hearing on how technology is transforming the public school system. President Obama's recently confirmed Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra testified. "We need to harness the power and potential of technology and innovation to revamp our educational system," Chopra said.
At the post-hearing demonstration sponsored by the State Educational Technology Directors Association and the Software & Information Industry Association, Miller was joined by educators and other lawmakers, including Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., who is also a member of the Education and Labor Committee. The gadgets ran the gamut from data management software to interactive whiteboards that have touch-screen capabilities. "The goal is to show, not just tell, what's possible using technology in education," said Mary Ann Wolf, a former teacher who now serves as SETDA's executive director. SETDA, the principle association representing state directors for education technology, organizes several meetings a year including a leadership summit and an educational forum. -- Eliza Krigman
As CongressDaily's AM Edition reports, House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., on Monday released a narrow discussion draft of a bill to reauthorize for five years provisions of the Satellite Home Viewer Act set to expire Dec. 31. As written, the proposal leaves out language opposed by broadcasters that would allow satellite and cable providers to import signals of stations in adjacent markets. CBS, NBC and FOX have argued the change could be disadvantageous in retransmission consent programming negotiations.
Another key section attempts to level the playing field between local stations and those deemed by the FCC to be "significantly viewed." The draft would update the statute to account for last week's nationwide shift to digital television and directs the FCC to update its predictive modeling methods for gauging how well certain locations receive satellite signals in an all-digital environment. At a hearing on the topic Tuesday, Boucher's panel will hear from Walt Disney Executive Vice President Preston Padden, DirecTV Executive Vice President Derek Chang, Dish Network General Counsel R. Stanton Dodge and others.
Padden will urge the subcommittee to "avoid interference with workable marketplace relationships" that exist in great abundance today in the multi-channel video programming market, according to written testimony. He will also argue those who invest billions of dollars to produce content should have the ability to determine where and on what terms that content is licensed and distributed. In his testimony, Chang will urge members to modify the current regime "to give consumers the stations that truly serve their communities." He will also ask lawmakers to modify how consumers can qualify for distant signals, "to ease their burden when local signals are not available to them."
Look for more coverage in CongressDaily's PM Edition.
Here's a sneak peek at the expected witness line-up for Thursday's eagerly anticipated Internet advertising and privacy hearing to be held jointly by House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill. The event is a follow up to a session Boucher held in April that featured broadband providers. He is working on privacy legislation that he hopes will ensure Internet users a secure Web surfing experience. Rush has already introduced a separate data breach notification bill.
• Jeffrey Chester, Executive Director, Center for Digital Democracy
• Scott Cleland, President, Precursor LLC
• Charles Curran, Executive Director, Network Advertising Initiative
• Christopher Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer, Facebook
• Edward Felten, Director, Center for IT Policy, Princeton University
• Anne Toth, Vice President of Policy, Yahoo
• Nicole Wong, Deputy General Counsel, Google
Some Internet policy watchers fear the hearing might strike a decidedly anti-Google tone with Chester and Cleland on deck. Both are prominent critics of the Web giant's growing presence in Washington and in the Web marketplace. Chester's group is funded by philanthropic foundations and individual donors but does not take corporate funding. Cleland runs NetCompetition.org, whose members include AT&T, Comcast, Qwest, Sprint, Time Warner Cable and Verizon. Facebook and Yahoo have also taken heat in recent years for privacy-related practices.
Arrive early and brace for a crowd if you'll be attending Tuesday's highly anticipated FCC nomination hearing, when Julius Genachowski, President Obama's choice to run the agency, appears before the Senate Commerce Committee. Also appearing at the session, which kicks off at 2:30 p.m. in Room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building, will be FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, a Republican who has been nominated for a second term. Genachowski -- a close friend and law school classmate of the president, and Obama's chief technology adviser during the campaign -- is expected to oversee an ambitious agenda if confirmed, with new broadband policies as the centerpiece.
Speaking of which...The Internet Innovation Alliance, a coalition of businesses and non-profits, hosts a Wednesday event at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. on the development of the FCC's national broadband strategy. Guest speakers at the gathering, which runs from 8:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., include West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin. And that's followed Thursday and Friday by the annual Broadband Policy Summit sponsored by Pike and Fischer, to be held at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, 1800 Jefferson Davis Highway in Arlington, Va. Keynote speakers Thursday are House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and the head honcho at the FCC pending Genachowski's confirmation: acting Chairman Michael Copps.
For more tech-related happenings this week, check CongressDaily's TechCentral page.
Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., has been working on legislation that would let states impose the local tax on Internet sales where the seller is out of state. That's going to hurt e-business, says Patrick Byrne, chairman and CEO of Utah-based Internet retailer Overstock.com. National Journal's Winter Casey sat down with Byrne on Friday, when he was in Washington to discuss education reform. Edited excerpts follow.
NJ: What are your thoughts on Internet taxes?
Byrne: We have been supporting a permanent moratorium on Internet taxes. It doesn't make sense for the states to be taxing the Internet for a number of reasons. First of all there's the Supreme Court decision from 15, 16 years ago, where the Supreme Court said, "Look, it's just unreasonable to expect somebody in the catalog business to know the different taxes in 7,000 jurisdictions."...
Now the argument is being made that it would be possible to overcome that inexpensively -- a couple hundred million dollars, say -- with technology to keep track of the tax rates on every product in 7,000 jurisdictions. They haven't done that, and even if they did I'd say it's not fair because we and other catalogers and Internet companies, we don't put the same load on the local infrastructure that it does to have a retail store there. We don't have employees, we don't have kids in school there and so on and so forth, we are just based in Utah and use UPS and FedEx. We don't put the load on states' budgets that a local brick-and-mortar retailer does. Therefore it is not fair.
CongressDaily's Chris Strohm writes in TechCentral's latest Issue Of The Week that House appropriators have approved most of what the Obama administration requested for Homeland Security technology programs and even gave it credit for "some hard decisions" not to seek money for certain efforts. By the time they voted Friday to send to the House an FY10 Homeland Security spending bill with $42.6 billion in discretionary spending, it was clear the Democratic-led Appropriations Committee is far more closely aligned with the Obama administration than it was with the Bush administration in the previous Congress. Floor action on the bill is expected this week.
In a report accompanying the bill, the committee commended the department for such budget decisions as not seeking funding for advanced cargo scanning technology and an electronic system to verify when foreigners leave the country. But no budget request goes through Congress unscathed. When appropriators disagreed with administration decisions, they didn't hesitate to say so. "The committee understands the demanding nature of the department's mission, as well as resources and technology limitations that make it difficult to consistently satisfy the wide range of expectations from Congress, state and local governments, industries, citizens, other federal departments and foreign governments," appropriators wrote.
Read the full story here (subscription required).
Rep. Gary Peters, R-Mich., helped launch MakeItInMichigan.org on Monday -- a Web campaign aimed at pressuring General Motors to build its newest car in the Great Lake State. The American automobile giant, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month, has announced that it will choose between three plants -- one in Tennessee, another in Wisconsin and one in Michigan -- to manufacture its latest subcompact model. "It makes good business sense to build in Michigan," Peters said in a videotaped welcome message. "Our state is home to GM's key auto suppliers, GM headquarters and the tech center -- and the most talented engineers, skilled trade, and line workers in the world." The former states senator and lottery commissioner notes that Michigan has been GM's home for 100 years and the state has invested in the company in good times and in bad. Not surprisingly, the Orion, Mich., assembly plant being considered is in Oakland County, which is part of Peters's district.
NextGov.com's Jill Aitoro writes that the Homeland Security Department's science and technology office plans to triple spending on cybersecurity research and development. The acting undersecretary told Congress Tuesday that most of the additional funds in President Obama's fiscal 2010 budget request are focused on new ways to protect the nation's critical infrastructure, including transportation and the electric grid. The Directorate for Science and Technology, which is the primary research and development arm of DHS, requested $968 million for fiscal 2010, a 3.8 percent increase over the previous year's enacted budget. Of the $35 million in additional funds requested, DHS would earmark $5.4 million for cybersecurity, Brad Buswell, the directorate's acting undersecretary, told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism.
Buswell said cybersecurity would gain a 300 percent funding increase, compared with fiscal 2009, for the development of "leap-ahead technologies" that secure the nation's computer networks and information infrastructure -- including energy, transportation, telecommunications, and banking and finance. Pointing to the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate as the office's primary customer for cybersecurity technologies, Buswell emphasized the need for coordination with the private sector to ensure the department's research and development doesn't overlap with work in industry. "The work we're doing [in cybersecurity] is work that the private sector is not doing for a number of reasons," he said. "But we're very mindful of the fact that we don't deploy the technology -- we develop the technology. Much of this is deployed by private sector, so we need to keep them closely involved in all development to make sure we're not duplicating efforts."
Read the full story here.
The House voted overwhelmingly late Wednesday to establish new U.S. policy in opposition to any global climate change treaty that weakens the intellectual property rights of American green technology as part of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act. The vote comes as diplomats prepare for December negotiations as part of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. "American innovations in clean energy technology create good-paying jobs today and will fuel our country's economic growth in the future," said Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who offered the amendment with Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. Kirk, a member of the U.S. delegation to Kyoto in 1997, emphasized that jobs will not be created if foreign competitors are allowed to seize U.S. inventions.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman's core bill included language to increase resources and training for enforcement of intellectual property rights. Berman is a longtime leader on IP issues and chaired the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property in the 110th Congress. Under the bill, the Secretary of State would appoint 10 new IP attachés to serve in embassies or other diplomatic missions with priority placement given to countries with particularly egregious IP regimes. "This legislation will play a vital role in efforts to protect job-creating intellectual property abroad," said Mark Esper, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global IP Center.
Key business groups offered support Tuesday for a legislative amendment that would reaffirm intellectual property rights for U.S. technologies developed to deal with climate change, CongressDaily's AM Edition reported. The National Association of Manufacturers, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the United States Council for International Business said that as talks proceed on a climate change treaty, proposals have surfaced to allow foreign producers to copy or infringe patented technologies. On a parallel track, a coalition backed by the Chamber, General Electric, Microsoft, Siemens and other multinational firms is putting pressure on the Obama administration and key lawmakers as trade negotiators prepare for U.N. climate change talks this summer.
"While progress on these environmental negotiations is vitally important, such compulsory licensing is not the answer," the groups said in a letter Tuesday backing a proposal by Reps. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., offered as an amendment to the foreign relations authorization bill expected on the House floor soon. The House Rules Committee approved a slightly modified version of the amendment Tuesday that will be considered with the bill on the House floor. Business groups worry that countries like Brazil, China and India will push for mandatory carve-outs for alternative energy innovations. A series of meetings begin this month and will lead up to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, where parties will seek agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Read CongressDaily's recent coverage of this issue here and here (subscription required).
A group backed by the Recording Industry Association of America, digital royalty rights collector SoundExchange and other music interests filed a complaint with the FCC late Tuesday claiming that AM and FM radio stations belonging to the National Association of Broadcasters have threatened performers, refused to run their advertisements, and made misleading statements to the public. The filing by the MusicFirst Coalition comes as Congress contemplates whether to end a long-standing royalty exemption afforded to terrestrial radio. "For more than 80 years radio stations have been using the work of artists and musicians without compensating them, now they're using the public airwaves unfairly for their own self interest," said MusicFirst Executive Director Jennifer Bendall. "We respect the First Amendment rights of broadcasters to air their views in this and any debate, but they've crossed the line."
NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton issued a statement calling the allegation "an act of desperation by a record label lobby losing on Capitol Hill and in the court of public opinion." He added that Will.i.am, a vocal proponent of the performance fee legislation, and his group The Black Eyed Peas currently hold the No. 1 slot on Billboard's Pop 100 Airplay Chart with the song "Boom Boom Pow." "If there's an FCC probe involving the music business, it ought to focus on claims from numerous artists -- from The Beatles to Prince to Cher -- that they were cheated out of royalties by their record labels," Wharton said. The House Judiciary Committee recently approved the bill backed by MusicFirst and a companion measure awaits action in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Congressional Intellectual Property Promotion and Piracy Prevention Caucus Co-Chair Robert Wexler warned an international crowd of copyright executives Wednesday that the intellectual property policy push outside of Washington and Brussels has not gained enough steam. Most average citizens would be unable to describe what IP piracy is and others don't see it as a threat, the Florida Democrat said during a luncheon keynote at the World Copyright Summit. He cautioned that momentum for international IP infringers is building and offered as proof the fact that Sweden's Pirate Party won a seat in the European Parliament early Sunday. The group, buoyed by young people and first-time voters, became known earlier this year for its support of the controversial file-sharing Web site Pirate Bay.
Government and private sector efforts to make IP theft taboo have fallen short, he said. "Those of us who understand the importance of IP law fail to do the job of educating others toward our point of view," Wexler said, urging creators, governments and industry to spread a cohesive message. "We have a great story to tell but we must tell it better." Traditional advocacy is not enough because it gets lost in a sea of detractors who "don't necessarily play by the rules," Wexler said. Groups like Sweden's Pirate Party, which wants more free Internet content, woo supporters with attractive prose that is not based in fact, he said. "We end up with the difficult task of explaining the finer points of copyright law to a public that has little or no interest in an explanation," Wexler said.
The House on Tuesday passed legislation under suspension of the rules that would allow many months of royalty negotiations between the music and Internet industries continue while delaying full implementation of a controversial rate-setting for webcasters imposed by the Copyright Royalty Board. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., with support from Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and California Democrats Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo. It would replace a Feb. 15, 2009 deadline that was part of legislation that passed the 110th Congress, with a 30-day window from the date of enactment for a deal to be reached between digital royalty collector SoundExchange, which is negotiating on behalf of copyright owners and performers, and Internet radio services represented by the Digital Media Association and others.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced a companion measure with Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., last month and the bill has been referred to the Judiciary Committee. SoundExchange and the National Association of Broadcasters already reached agreement on Internet radio royalties earlier this year that provides discounts on previously set rates for 2009 and 2010 and establishes rates for 2011-2015. Under the arrangement, which involves AM and FM radio stations that simulcast programming over the Internet or that create new stand-alone Internet stations, simulcasts or Web channels operated by local stations are reduced for the first two years by about 16 percent then gradually increase through 2015 -- from $0.0015 per streamed sound recording in 2009 to $0.0025 per stream by 2015. Read more on the topic here.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Tuesday he is hopeful the Senate Judiciary Committee will move forward on its intellectual property agenda as early as this summer despite a packed schedule of judicial appointments, most prominently that of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Among the issues awaiting the panel's attention include a proposal to end an AM/FM radio royalty exemption; overhauling a portion of U.S. copyright law that deals with musical tracks, images, videos or other content whose owners cannot be easily located; and a bill to reauthorize expiring provisions of a statute that lets satellite systems retransmit local and distant TV signals into markets across the country. His comments at the World Copyright Summit echoed Thursday remarks by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy.
"There's no question that radio play promotes artists and their sound recordings," Hatch, himself a songwriter. "There's also no question that radio stations profit directly from playing artists' recordings." Despite an oppositional lobbying blitz by the National Association of Broadcasters, a bill that would require payments to performers passed the House Judiciary Committee last month. Representatives from both camps faced off at the conference with NAB and Recording Industry Association of America executives predicting a lengthy, potentially multi-year fight. "The question is not will this pass, but when will it pass," RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol said. Digital Media Association Executive Director Jonathan Potter and Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn urged for a broadening of the effort to ensure parity across music platforms, including Internet radio.
A California appeals court's reinstatement of an antitrust lawsuit against a firm that administers the .com and .net domain name registration systems could add a new wrinkle to the ongoing debate in Washington over the future of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and its relationships with various entities that have a stake in the security and stability of the World Wide Web. The unanimous 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last Friday will allow an Internet industry trade group to proceed to trial on claims that Mountain View-based VeriSign inflated the cost of domain names by engaging in predatory and monopolistic behavior. The court reversed an earlier ruling by U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte, who dismissed the suit brought by the Coalition for ICANN Transparency (CFIT) four years ago.
The lawsuit alleged VeriSign secured the ICANN contract through 2012 without a competitive bidding process. After solidifying its control of Internet addresses ending in .com, VeriSign has incrementally increased registration fees. At a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee last week, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., asked VeriSign Chief Technology Officer Ken Silva whether his firm planned to raise rates again in 2009. Silva could not answer. At the same hearing, an executive at Web hosting firm GoDaddy argued the manner in which the VeriSign-ICANN deal was negotiated lacked transparency and an official from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration pledged to conduct "a fulsome review" involving the Justice Department and others when the contract's expiration nears.
Proponents of proposed changes to the U.S. patent system are getting antsy as the increasingly packed House and Senate calendars dash their hopes for swift action on legislation this year. At its recent meeting, the Intellectual Property Owners Association board of directors adopted a resolution urging the Senate to bring a bill sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy to a vote soon. The bill passed his committee in April and staffers for Leahy and Majority Leader Harry Reid have begun discussing how and when to move the measure to the floor. "We are still taking a look at this complicated issue and how it fits into the broader floor schedule," a spokeswoman for Reid said Friday. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and other judicial appointments will consume much of Leahy's time in the weeks ahead.
IPO's board approved a number of other resolutions for 2009, including:
• Support for legislation to repeal the qui tam cause of action of Section 292(b) of the patent statute for false marking of products.
• Support for U.S. Customs and Border Protection statutory and regulatory authority over design patents by creating a registry similar to what currently exists for goods protected by trademarks or copyrights.
• Opposition to legislation that does not respect the essentially territorial nature of patent rights by providing that it shall not be an act of infringement in the United States to use, offer to sell, or sell within the United States, or import any patented invention based on first sale abroad of the patented invention by or under authority of the owner or licensee of an applicable U.S. patent or corresponding foreign patent.
Read more IPO resolutions here.
Senate Rules Chairman Charles Schumer and ranking member Robert Bennett offered colleagues some tips this week on how to use Internet-based new media since September 2008 changes allowing senators to move beyond their official Senate.gov sites to take advantage of innovations like the micro-blogging service Twitter and video sharing site YouTube. At that time, offices were instructed that "care needs to be taken not to violate Senate rules, regulations, standing orders and statutes governing Senate operations, including the prohibition on using Senate Internet resources for personal, promotional, commercial, or partisan political/campaign purposes."
Their Wednesday letter points out:
• Senate business must be separate from political/commercial/promotional activities.
• No official resources (office funds, staff time, equipment, space) may be used for the creation or maintenance of political, commercial, or promotional material on these sites.
• Members maintaining sites outside Senate.gov domain should ensure that public commentary, if permitted, is clearly distinguished from official content.
• Certain Web sites may collect data from users and members are cautioned against having an official presence on sites that may use such data for political or commercial activities.
• Sites with official Senate content may not require a fee or service charge for viewing.
• Certain sites, especially those that are not official sanctioned by the Senate Rules Committee, may place advertising on pages containing official member content. This can pose risks to members who may have no control over the content.
• At this time the only third-party Web site that has formally entered into an agreement to keep all promotional, commercial, or partisan advertising and commentary from member sponsored pages is YouTube.
• The Rules Committee is actively working with other sites to include them on the list of sites that agree to the Senate Internet regulation requirements.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy on Thursday reaffirmed his commitment to moving forward on several technology-related measures this summer. In opening remarks at his panel's first business meeting since Memorial Day recess, he stressed the importance of voting on a number of key judicial nominees, which have stalled in his committee, so members could begin to advance their legislative priorities on the intellectual property front. "Both the list of nominees and our legislative agenda continue to grow with new and important matters. We really need to make progress," Leahy said. While Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will consume much of the committee's time in the weeks ahead, the Performance Rights Act is still among his top priorities. That bill would end a long-standing copyright royalty exemption afforded to AM and FM radio stations that has been backed by the music business but panned by broadcasters.
Leahy also said he wants the Judiciary Committee to consider provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that are slated to sunset on Dec. 31. The expiring sections include a "roving wiretap" provision that allowed government bugs on a phone used by a person being tapped as well as language broadening law enforcement access to library and bookstore patrons' records. Also set to sunset is a "lone wolf" amendment to a related intelligence law that covers a noncitizen who engages in or prepares for international terrorism. Another bill awaiting action would extend the Satellite Home Viewer Act, "so that those of our constituents who watch television through satellite reception do not see their service interrupted," Leahy said. The statute permits satellite systems to retransmit local and distant TV signals into markets across the country.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, plan to reintroduce legislation Thursday that would grant a five-year moratorium on new telecommunications taxes. Currently, telecom services are taxed at a rate that rivals - and in some places exceeds - taxes on tobacco and alcohol. Their Mobile Wireless Tax Fairness Act will also be cosponsored by Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. The measure stalled in the Senate Finance Committee last year. Related bills were introduced in the 110th Congress by McCain and Reps. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. Lofgren also reintroduced her legislation in March.
Upon introduction of his identical bill last session, Wyden stressed that it would not impact a single current tax that has been levied by a state or locality nor would it remove a dollar from their communal coffers. "What it will do is guarantee our wireless network providers protection from even greater taxation at a time when we are asking them to implement the largest technology upgrade in history -- an upgrade that will bring economically important, true broadband speeds to wireless customers for the first time," he said. "There are lots of problems with the way federal, state and local taxes are levied on telecommunications services. This legislation addresses only one of those problems, but it is a big one," he said.
Wyden's prior bill won support from CTIA-The Wireless Association and other groups like FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group led by ex-House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas. At the time, CTIA CEO Steve Largent called the current taxation regime "unfair and discriminatory" and said that Wyden and Snowe's states are examples of places that have reasonable taxes. He pointed out that the average U.S. wireless customer pays more than 15 percent of his or her monthly bill in taxes and fees -- more than twice the rate imposed on other goods subject to sales tax. "This is an indefensible level of taxation for most any product, let alone one that allows millions of Americans to constantly stay connected with the world around them," Largent said.
A chorus of House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee members today called for an extension of the U.S. government's formal oversight agreement with the nonprofit that administers the Internet domain name system, citing concerns about the 11-year-old organization's transparency, accountability, budget processes, and stakeholder affairs. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers remains "far from a model of effective and sustainable self-governance" and it would be unwise to shrink the federal government's role amid increased cyber attacks and rapid Internet innovation, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said at a hearing. Subcommittee ranking member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., Mike Doyle, D-Pa., John Shimkus, R-Ill., and Lee Terry, R-Neb., each backed the extension of a joint project agreement between ICANN and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
"ICANN seems better at furthering its own interests than those of the millions of Internet users it's supposed to look out for," Doyle said. Terry and others emphasized the issue is a matter of national security and must be examined carefully." Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said ICANN does not have the independent, authoritative governance structure to keep other governments from abusing their power to interfere with Internet governance and citizens' use of the platform. Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., is reportedly drafting a letter to NTIA with the backing of Stearns and Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton that recommends a one-year extension of the agreement. Boucher told Tech Daily Dose after the hearing that he had not made a firm decision on how to proceed but would be doing so in the near future.
Google's recruitment of Seth Webb, the House Financial Services Committee's second-most senior Republican aide, is the latest in a string of recent GOP hires by major high-tech companies in Washington. The trend, some policy watchers believe, demonstrates the tech lobby hasn't shied away from wooing Republicans even as much of K Street has augmented its Democratic workforce since President Obama took office. Webb, who is Financial Services ranking member Spencer Bachus' deputy staff director, served as chief of staff for Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., and before that was a senior aide to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. He will join the ranks of recently hired Republicans at IBM and SAP. Also this spring, IBM brought on Chris Padilla, former Commerce Department undersecretary for international trade under former President George W. Bush to run its government affairs office. Padilla, who replaced veteran IBM executive Christopher Caine, spent three years at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and lobbied for AT&T. Caine opened a consulting firm, Mercator XXI. Read the full story in CongressDaily's AM Edition here (subscription required).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has asked the chamber's Chief Administration Officer Dan Beard to enforce a new level of disclosure for official expenditures from the offices of House members and to post the documents online as soon as possible. She announced the expansion of House rules, which is part of her larger effort to increase transparency and accountability on Capitol Hill, on her blog Wednesday. Member's expenses are currently collected and published as bound paper volumes called the "Statements of Expenditures" but Congress has not made this public information available in an online format, the Sunlight Foundation's John Wonderlich said on his group's blog. The watchdog group called for online disclosure of the expense records in December 2008 and again last Wednesday, he pointed out.
Transparency watchdogs have argued that failing to make disbursement reports available online gives them an air of secrecy that is largely unwarranted given the uncontroversial content of the reports. As Sunlight advocates in its model Transparency in Government Act, a transparent 111th Congress will open up its books for review by the public, "and will find that this painless endeavor helps to begin to restore the public's trust in the accountability of the institution," Wonderlich said. By instructing the CAO to place the expenditures on the Internet, Pelosi is opening lawmakers' expenditures to unprecedented public scrutiny, he added. The move follows a recent scandal in the United Kingdom where Members of Parliament faced scrutiny for expensing personal items on the public dime. Read more here.
On the eve of a congressional hearing to examine the future of the government's relationship with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the California-based entity that administers the Web addressing system is getting some celebrity support. Former Vice President Al Gore has joined with Vint Cerf, known to many as one of the fathers of the Internet, in acknowledging the success of the group's multi-stakeholder, bottom up governance. Gore led an interagency panel 12 years ago that was charged with coordinating the U.S. government's electronic commerce strategy, which led to the creation of ICANN.
"What we have all those years later is an organization that works," Gore said. "[ICANN] has security as its core mission, is responsive to all global stakeholders and is independent and democratic. We should make permanent those foundations for success," he said. Cerf, who long-served as ICANN's chairman and is now Google's chief Internet evangelist, argued the past decade has shown the ICANN model has worked. "The ICANN of today is larger, more capable, more international, and better positioned to fulfill its mandate." ICANN has benefited from a joint project agreement with the U.S. government, which is slated to expire in September, but "the time has now come to conclude it," Cerf said.
Cerf's comments are contained in written testimony, which ICANN will ask the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee to accept for the record on Thursday. Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., has been be urged by Internet industry stakeholders to hold the hearing amid continued concerns about ICANN's accountability and transparency. Invited witnesses include: National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Fiona Alexander; ICANN President Paul Twomey; Verisign Senior Vice President Kenneth Silva; GoDaddy General Counsel Christine Jones; Verizon Vice President Sarah Deutsch; and Thomas Lenard, president of the Technology Policy Institute.
A non-binding resolution opposing legislation that would end a long-standing royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio has gained majority support in the House. The measure, which was sponsored by Texas Reps. Gene Green, a Democrat, and Republican Mike Conaway, had 219 cosponsors as of Tuesday, aides said. The latest additions that put it over the 50 percent mark were Reps. Ron Kind, D-Wis.; Bob Inglis, R-S.C.; Dale Kildee, D-Mich.; Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.; Leonard Lance, R-N.J.; Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.; Harry Teague, D-N.M.; Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M.; Ed Royce, R-Calif.; and Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa. In the 110th Congress, Green's resolution gathered more than 220 backers.
"This is our base whip list," Green said in a recent interview. "This is nonbinding but if someone signs on and votes another way, they'd have to explain that to a lot of constituents." If the House royalty bill, which is sponsored by Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and has already cleared his committee, makes it onto the floor, Green said he hopes he will have enough supporters to vote it down. News of the mounting opposition came as Conyers hosted a town hall meeting in Detroit aimed at drumming up support for his bill, which would give a boost to performers and record labels. Minority owned Radio One, which has several stations in the Motor City has panned the measure, arguing it could put some broadcasters out of business.
Meanwhile, the MusicFirst Coalition, which supports the Conyers bill, circulated an annotated side-by-side comparison [PDF] of the legislation and Green's resolution on Monday in an attempt to debunk critics' claims. A number of changes were made during House Judiciary Committee deliberations that proponents believe would lessen the burden on small and medium-sized stations as well as minority broadcasters.
Washington will be crawling with high-tech executives Tuesday and Wednesday as the Business Software Alliance hosts a major fly-in for members to meet with movers and shakers on Capitol Hill and in the Obama administration. The timing and purpose of the gathering is critical given that a range of top policy debates have implications for the future of software and IT networks. Economic recovery and jobs, healthcare reform, tax reform, infrastructure investment, energy independence, workforce skills, openness in government, global cooperation and other topics have the potential to create new opportunities -- as well as risks and challenges -- for the software sector.
The fly-in also comes on the heels of President Obama's Friday remarks about his sweeping cybersecurity agenda and his view that the issue be treated as a top national priority. In March, BSA co-hosted a meeting of IT industry executives with Melissa Hathaway -- a top adviser to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair who conducted a 60-day review of the federal cybersecurity posture -- and submitted detailed recommendations. BSA members who will be making the rounds include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen, and Symantec Chairman John Thompson, who at one time was a rumored contender for Commerce secretary under Obama.
TechCentral's latest Issue Of The Week reports...
Now that the results of President Obama's cybersecurity review are out, the focus has shifted to the yet-unnamed White House cyber czar who will carry out five broad goals: developing a comprehensive strategy to secure networks; coordinating with states and cities to respond to any future attacks; strengthening coordination between the government and the private sector; ramping up government investments in research and development; and launching a national campaign to promote cybersecurity awareness while building a digital workforce for the 21st century. It is a tall order, but experts on Capitol Hill, at think tanks and within industry are willing to assist.
Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, introduced a bill before the administration's 60-day review was completed, and more are expected since multiple committees share jurisdiction over the issue. The Rockefeller-Snowe bill and the administration report both call for the cyber czar post, increased federal research and development, and enhanced public-private partnerships. The senators issued a statement Friday urging Obama to give his cyber chief "the heft and authority the position requires."
Not everyone was as keen on the position. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ranking member Susan Collins said the appointment of another White House czar will hinder congressional oversight and do little to resolve bureaucratic conflicts, turf battles, and confusing lines of authority. High-level coordination is not enough, she said in a statement: "Securing critical systems will require effective day-to-day management, including the authority to recommend best practices, modify information technology procurement standards, coordinate action to prevent and mitigate vulnerabilities, encourage innovation, and, when necessary, enforce compliance."
Read the full Issue Of The Week feature here. Read additional perspectives about Obama's cyber czar in Monday's CongressDaily PM Edition here (subscription required).
The FCC has cleared the decks for a Wednesday public meeting slated to focus solely on the final phase of the nationwide shift to digital television signals on Friday, June 12 -- nine days after the FCC session -- when more than 900 stations will cut their analog transmissions. In a replay of previous agency meetings addressing the same topic, federal officials, broadcasters, advocacy groups and other stakeholders will provide status reports about the switchover. The meeting kicks off at 9:30 a.m. at FCC headquarters.
Meanwhile, the buzz over the Obama administration's Friday release of its comprehensive cybersecurity review continues this week -- initially with a noon briefing today sponsored by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee. Panelists will discuss the report, the role of the forthcoming White House "cyber czar" and the potential challenges in implementing the recommendations coming out of the White House review. Included on the panel are former Homeland Security Department Assistant Secretary for Policy Stewart Baker; James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Business Software Alliance President Robert Holleyman; Greg Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology; and Marcus Sachs of Verizon.
The White House cybersecurity report will also be the subject of discussion and debate at the 19th annual Computers Freedom and Privacy conference this week. Attendees will hear from Susan Crawford, special assistant to the president for science, technology and innovation policy and a member of the National Economic Council -- who appears Tuesday. Other panels at the conference -- which runs through Thursday at George Washington University's Marvin Center -- will address issues including privacy, health IT, cloud computing, and Web safety. The conference also features a keynote by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark as well as officials from the FTC and FBI.
June is widely known as National Internet Safety Month but Congress has yet to pass a resolution recognizing that fact. In 2008, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced a measure in May and it passed the chamber within days. The year before, her resolution was approved by unanimous consent on the same day it was introduced. Reps. Gene Green, D-Texas, and Melissa Bean, D-Ill., introduced similar resolutions in the House in 2007 and Bean's bill passed under suspension of the rules 12 days into the month aimed at protecting kids online. Last Congress, the House approved a measure giving a nod to Internet Safety Month and the FTC's OnGuard Online program -- in July.
This year, Green was early to act by introducing a resolution in January that points out, among other things, that 77 million children have Internet access; one in five youth who use the Internet regularly have reported receiving a sexual approach or solicitation in the past year; and one in 17 youth reported being threatened or harassed online in the past year. Only a fraction of all unwanted Web encounters were reported to authorities such as the police, an Internet service provider, or a hotline, the resolution stated. Green's bill has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Off of Capitol Hill, Internet advocacy groups offered statements Monday in support of Web awareness. Family Online Safety Institute CEO Stephen Balkam and FOSI Chairman Brent Olson, assistant vice president for regulatory policy at AT&T, urged government, law enforcement, industry, teachers, parents and children themselves to build a culture of Internet responsibility. "With the Internet playing a vital role in the lives of many teens and tweens these days, it has become especially important to teach them to make wise choices online," Balkam said. Olson said he looked forward to using Internet Safety Month to reach a broader audience to encourage online awareness and education. June is also Adopt-A-Shelter Cat Month, Dairy Month, Great Outdoors Month, and Turkey Lovers Month.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers hopes some star power will help drive support in Detroit for legislation he has championed that would end a long-standing royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio. Conyers and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, will host a town hall meeting on Tuesday at Wayne State University where a chorus of prominent music industry representatives will lend their voices to the cause. Conyers has invited Dionne Warwick, Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas, Duke Fakir of The Four Tops, Sam Moore of Sam & Dave. Also scheduled to appear are musician Ralph Armstrong, Rhythm & Blues Foundation Executive Director Kendall Minter, Industry Ears co-founder Paul Porter, American Federation of Musicians Local #5 President Gordon Stump, Metro Detroit AFL-CIO's Saundra Williams and Tony Gray, president of Gray Communications.
The Performance Rights Act, which passed the House Judiciary Committee recently, has been panned by the National Association of Broadcasters and was the focus of protests by black radio stations in Conyers' congressional district. On Capitol Hill, he has stressed important carve-outs in his bill aimed at minority owned and small radio stations. The changes earned Conyers the support of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the NAACP and a number of unions. Now his aim is to "set the record straight" about his legislation outside of the Washington echo chamber. Earlier this month, the Michigan Broadcasters Association vowed to defeat the legislation, claiming it could cost stations in the state more than $63 million annually. Radio One founder Cathy Hughes wrote an open letter arguing the bill would "murder black owned radio."
House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., will hold a June 4 hearing to examine the future of the U.S. government's relationship with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a nonprofit California-based entity that administers the Internet addressing system. Subcommittee staffers will be briefed on the topic a day earlier, sources told Tech Daily Dose on Thursday. A witness list has not yet been finalized. Boucher has previously expressed interest in holding an ICANN hearing, particularly since a joint project agreement that has allowed Commerce Department oversight of ICANN is slated to sunset on Sept. 30 amid accountability and transparency concerns.
Earlier this month, Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., wrote to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, urging him to be a prominent player in finding a permanent accountability mechanism as the Commerce-based National Telecommunications and Information Administration seeks public comment on ICANN. Separately, Snowe and Sen. David Vitter, R-La., pressed Assistant Secretary-Designate Larry Strickling to pay close attention to the issue. "Regardless of whether the JPA is terminated, modified or extended, it is my belief that NTIA will continue to be an active participant in ICANN," said Strickling, who awaits Senate confirmation. Read more recent coverage on this topic in CongressDaily here, here, and here (subscription required).
In anticipation of the release of a White House cybersecurity report later this week, Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, urged the Obama administration on Wednesday to create an Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor within the Executive Office of the President. The proposal is part of legislation they introduced earlier this year intended to improve the nation's safeguards against high-tech attacks. The advisor "must serve as the lead official on all cyber matters -- reporting directly to the President and coordinating with the intelligence community, government agencies, Congress, and the private sector," they said in a press release.
Rockefeller and Snowe also pressed Obama to create state and regional cybersecurity centers for small and medium sized businesses; increase federal cybersecurity R&D programs at the National Science Foundation; and require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish measureable cybersecurity standards and best practices that are applicable both to government and the private sector. Additionally, they called for the creation of an information sharing clearinghouse where government and industry work together in real time to identify cyber threats; and the creation of a cybersecurity advisory panel of experts from industry, academia, non-profits and civil liberty organizations to advise the president.
"The Obama administration has been hard at work on a comprehensive review of the cyber threat and we applaud their effort," Rockefeller and Snowe wrote. "We have learned the hard way in recent years that 'stovepiped' national security systems and failures in coordination can leave us vulnerable to attack, and that bureaucratic confusion can cripple our response to a disaster. We must apply these lessons to the threat of cyber attack. There is no room for error." White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that the report, which caps off an expansive 60-day probe, will be released Friday.
Business Forward, a new trade group backed by AT&T, Facebook, Hilton, IBM, Microsoft, Pfizer, Time Warner and others, is hitting the ground running with the launch of its Web site and radio advertisements this week in Indiana and Arkansas promoting health care reform. The ads encourage industry leaders in those states to work with the Senate to help shape the debate and underscore the need "to bring down skyrocketing health care costs, and protect a patient's right to choose his or her own coverage plan and physician," according to the organization whose goal is to promote President Obama's economic competitiveness agenda. Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., "are leading the fight for health care reform, and Business Forward is encouraging business leaders in their states to learn more and get involved," said Jim Doyle, the group's executive director.
The ad buy marks the start of Business Forward's small business recruiting effort outside of Washington as it seeks to build business support toward major changes in health care, education, energy and the environment. The group plans to brief business leaders on key issues, hold conferences and press events, issue policy briefings and engage in other public advocacy initiatives, according to a press release. In addition to Doyle, Business Forward is led by former Viacom lobbyist David Sutphen, whose sister is Obama's deputy chief of staff and former Obama media consultant Erik Smith. Others involved include former Obama campaign staffer Julie Andreeff Jensen; and Hilary Rosen, former head of the Recording Industry Association of America.
The Senate late Thursday confirmed President Obama's choice to become the nation's first chief technology officer. Aneesh Chopra sailed through the Senate Commerce Committee a day earlier. National Telecommunications and Information Administration administrator-designate Larry Strickling did not advance on the Senate floor. At his hearing, Chopra said he would help "harness the power and potential of technology and innovation to advance our nation's goals" in the 21st century. Read more about the Tuesday confirmation hearing here (subscription required).
House Judiciary Committee members Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., introduced legislation Thursday to restrict filing patents to protect tax strategies. Last Congress, a more expansive patent bill approved by the House included the language but a companion Senate bill that did not include the provision stalled. This time around, neither patent bill includes the text, which Boucher and Goodlatte believe is critical. "When one individual or business is given the exclusive right to a particular method of complying with the tax code, it increases the costs and complexity for every other citizen or tax preparer to comply," Goodlatte said. A situation could arise where taxpayers are forced to choose between paying a royalty in order to reap the best tax treatment, and complying with the tax code in another, less favorable way, he said.
In recent years, many individuals have been granted patents that protect tax planning methods, or strategies used by taxpayers and tax advisors to develop plans to reduce, minimize or defer tax liability, the pair said in a press release. Despite abiding by the letter and spirit of tax laws enacted by Congress, unknowing taxpayers and certified public accountants who advise clients on tax plans may be infringing on these patented tax strategies. The infringement could result in payment of damages, attorneys' fees, and other remedies. As of April 1, there were 77 patents for tax planning methods, with 125 tax planning method patent applications pending, officials said. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the larger patent bill in April.
Larry Strickling, President Obama's pick to head the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said his agency should develop metrics "to accurately and demonstrably" show whether the $7.2 billion in broadband funds contained in the economic stimulus package are being used appropriately and whether the program is achieving the goals established under the statute. His comments on the program were part of written responses to questions asked by Senate Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison after his confirmation hearing Tuesday. The committee approved his nomination and that of Aneesh Chopra, Obama's choice to become the government's first chief technology officer, on Wednesday afternoon.
"There are a number of outcomes that could be used to show that unserved communities benefit from this program, including households passed with broadband service, speed of Internet service, jobs created, affordability of broadband offerings, and adoption of broadband service," Strickling wrote, noting NTIA will require grant recipients to regularly report their progress. In addition to transferring $10 million to the inspector general for oversight, NTIA has pursued transparency through public meetings and by soliciting public comment, he said. If confirmed, Strickling said he would ensure a "robust program of inspection and audits" is implemented and as the program expands, will provide information about applicants and recipients as well as quarterly reports.
Strickling also pledged to work with the committee to "find the most appropriate way to prevent copyright piracy and other illegal activities" in connection with the stimulus mandate that funded networks adhere to yet-to-be-determined "openness" requirements. "Although the Internet has, of course, fundamentally altered our lives for the better, as you know, every year billions of dollars in stolen copyrighted works are exchanged over the Internet," Hutchison warned.
Internet auction giant eBay has emerged on the front lines of a congressional movement to restore a century-old ban on vertical price-fixing that was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2007. The company's vice president, Tod Cohen, testified before a Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee hearing Tuesday in favor of legislation that its chairman, Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., has advanced to reinstate a regime that was overturned by the high court's split decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. "Retail price-fixing, as allowed for in the Supreme Court's Leegin decision, is anti-competitive, and hurts small businesses and consumers," Cohen said, noting that citizen benefit from of an open Internet and open competition. He testified at a similar House Judiciary Courts and Competition Policy Subcommittee hearing last month.
"Because of the Leegin decision, large manufacturers and their biggest retail partners are able to use price-fixing to curtail Internet and small business based competition. These established players are threatened by innovative online businesses, such as eBay sellers, that offer consumers better prices, more options and new services," he said in a statement. "During difficult economic times, consumers should not be denied the choice and value that robust small business competition provides." Cohen said that his Web site has experienced a surge in takedown requests since the court's ruling, with one firm called Net Enforcers making more than 1.2 million complaints about low-price listings. FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour and an executive from Burlington Coat Factory also testified in support of Kohl's bill, which the American Bar Association and the National Association of Manufacturers oppose.
Read CongressDaily's hearing coverage here.
Amid protests by black radio stations back home in Detroit and growing opposition on Capitol Hill, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is stressing important carve-outs in a bill he introduced that would end a long-standing royalty exemption for AM and FM broadcasters. Conyers, whose committee approved his bill last week, released a statement Tuesday touting modifications he made to the bill with the help of Congressional Black Caucus members. The amended measure creates a sliding scale where small stations would pay as little as $500 a year. Three-quarters of America's radio stations will be eligible for the scale and 90 percent of black-owned stations would be protected, he said. Additionally, all music stations that gross less than $1.25 million annually will be eligible for a flat fee.
Due to the current economic conditions that have hit both musicians and broadcasters particularly hard, he and his colleagues changed the bill so stations that gross more than $5 million per year will be on the hook for payment one year after enactment. For stations that gross less than $5 million per year, no royalties will be due for three years. "I know times are tough, and it is not the intention or goal of this legislation to drive broadcasters into bankruptcy or to bring about a widespread consolidation of the industry. That is why I have been, and remain, committed to finding a middle ground on this issue," Conyers said.
To further sweeten the pot, Conyers, Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith and others requested that the Government Accountability Office conduct a study on the impact of the legislation on diversity in media, including minority and minority-owned, female and female-owned, and religious broadcasters and artists. The bill would direct the Copyright Royalty Board to factor in the study's results when determining the rate, so that the impact on minority, female, and religious broadcasters and artists will be taken into account. The compromises earned Conyers the support of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the NAACP and a number of unions.
The Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday heard from two of President Obama's key tech-related nominees: Larry Strickling, who would head the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and Aneesh Chopra, who would serve as the nation's first chief technology officer. If confirmed, Strickling said NTIA would perform its duties with "clarity, commonsense and creativity." Chopra said he would help "harness the power and potential of technology and innovation to advance our nation's goals." Read more in CongressDaily.
As Congress and the Justice Department continue to examine Ticketmaster's planned $2.5 billion all-stock merger with Live Nation, the ticket-selling giant has found itself in hot water again. TicketsNow.com, a secondary ticket resale site owned by Ticketmaster oversold thousands of tickets to a Monday night Bruce Springsteen concert in Washington and then contacted customers who bought passes at inflated prices to tell them they didn't have the premium seats they thought they had. As a result, D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles has issued subpoenas in an investigation into Ticketmaster's resale practices. Nickles told FOX 5 News it will take about 10 days for his office to receive documents pertaining to those transactions. Ticketmaster apologized and promised never to link concertgoers to their own resale Web site in a manner that would create any future confusion.
Meanwhile, Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., who first brought congressional attention to the Ticketmaster/TicketsNow relationship, has proposed banning the use of automated ticketing programs and reign in the secondary ticket market. Pascrell testified before a House Judiciary Courts and Competition Policy Subcommittee hearing earlier this year and a similar examination was held by the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee. Pascrell also asked the FTC to launch an investigation. "Time and time again Ticketmaster has claimed that these repeated incidents of price gouging and consumer fraud represent exceptions and not the rule," Pascrell said in a statement. "This most recent incident makes it clear as day that we need more transparency and accountability in the secondary ticket market." Read CongressDaily's Ticketmaster coverage here, here, and here.
The Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus on Wednesday will unveil its 2009 watch list of countries that maintain inferior intellectual property protection regimes. The annual release comes on the heels of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's own analysis known as the "Special 301" report, which was made public in late April. Traditionally, the two documents are closely aligned in the nations they put in the spotlight. Rampant illicit copying of compact discs, online sharing of movies and music, and other violations in China, Russia, Spain and Thailand were emphasized by the USTR and Canada was added to the agency's "priority watch list" at the behest of U.S. music, movie, software and video-game industries.
At the time, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Canada's spot on the list next to China and Russia "underscores how widespread Internet piracy has become" and that legislative steps are needed. Hatch co-chairs the Caucus with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. and Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. The USTR report, now in its 20th year, moved Algeria and Indonesia to priority status and removed South Korea from a lower-level list in recognition of improvements its government has made since 2008. Caucus members will be joined at the briefing by Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Dan Glickman; Entertainment Software Alliance President Mike Gallagher; Business Software Alliance President Robert Holleyman and others.
CongressDaily's Chris Strohm writes in TechCentral's latest Issue Of The Week that after four years of effort, federal and state officials believe they are finally closing in on new legislation to replace a controversial 2005 law that set national standards for driver's licenses and identification cards. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, is expected to introduce the bill -- called the PASS ID Act -- that would repeal card requirements set forth under the so-called REAL ID law. State governments -- several of which rejected the REAL ID law outright through acts of their legislatures - are expected to back the new bill because many of its key provisions originated with the National Governors Association.
The Obama administration, while silent about the emerging bill, has been engaged in talks with the NGA over legislative changes to REAL ID. The bill would require the Homeland Security Department to conduct a nine-month rulemaking process to establish security standards for state identification cards. One year after the regulations are issued, state motor vehicle departments would have to begin issuing cards that are in compliance, according to the most recent draft of the bill, obtained by CongressDaily. All states must be in compliance within five years or their citizens could not use those cards for federal purposes, such as entering federal buildings. Read the full story here.
As Congress gets ready to take off for a week-long recess following Memorial Day, the Senate Commerce Committee holds a Tuesday hearing on two key tech-related nominations: Larry Strickling to head the National Telecommunications and Information Administration -- which is part of the Commerce Department -- and Aneesh Chopra, now Virginia's secretary of technology, to serve as the nation's first chief technology officer. Confirming Strickling -- a former telecom executive, FCC official and adviser to President Obama's 2008 campaign -- is a priority, given the forthcoming June 12 switch to digital television broadcasts and the NTIA playing a major role in the distribution of $7.2 billion in broadband funds contained in the Obama economic stimulus program. The hearing gets underway at 11 a.m. in Room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will address the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee Thursday, as the committee plans to discuss vulnerabilities in the federal government's information networks. The session comes as the Obama administration is expected soon to announce the findings and recommendations of a major national cybersecurity review. The Telecommunications Advisory panel is also expected to discuss satellite security issues. Portions of the meeting -- which starts at 2:30 p.m. at U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters, 1615 H Street, N.W. -- will be closed to the public. On a related front, FBI Assistant Director for the Cyber Division Shawn Henry and Cyber Division Section Chief Jeffrey Troy Tuesday will speak at an Anti-Spyware Coalition conference about how their agency is combating high-tech threats. The day-long session gets underway at 9 a.m. at the Grand Hyatt Washington, 1000 H Street, N.W.
An article in CongressDaily's AM Edition on Friday notes that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., is an opponent of legislation intended to rework how patents are granted and litigated in the United States. Rohrabacher said at a House Science Committee hearing that the measures currently moving through the House and Senate have been driven by major high-tech firms that are "trying to destroy the patent system." The story points out that Rohrabacher's top 2008 campaign donor was Intellectual Ventures, a firm founded by Nathan Myhrvold, a former Microsoft executive who has been highly critical of changing the patent system. He also accepted money from manufacturers -- another sector that has panned portions of the legislation.
On the flip side, it is worth noting that backers of the bills -- House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy -- have each benefited from the generosity of companies that have been lobbying for the legislation's passage. Conyers has accepted money from News Corp.; Berman has received funds from News Corp., Time Warner, Warner Music Group and others; and Leahy has benefited from TechNet, Time Warner, Microsoft, Google, and Cisco Systems. The Senate bill passed Leahy's committee last month and is awaiting floor time. Conyers held a hearing on his bill in April.
Tucked inside House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman's wide-ranging 320-page Foreign Relations Authorization Act for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 is a section intended to boost resources and training for intellectual property enforcement, especially in countries identified by the U.S. government as failing to live up to international obligations. Berman is a longtime leader on IP issues and chaired the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property in the 110th Congress. Under the bill, the Secretary of State would appoint 10 new IP attachés to serve in embassies or other diplomatic missions with priority placement given to countries with particularly egregious IP regimes. The White House IP Enforcement Coordinator, a position created by Congress last year that has not been filled, would coordinate the attachés' activities abroad. Berman's bill also requires the State Department to submit an annual year-end report to Congress on the appointment, designation for assignment, and activities of all IP attachés.
The effort complements one by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus who will soon introduce a broad trade enforcement bill that would include IP provisions. Baucus and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, co-sponsored stand-alone legislation last Congress to beef up the USTR's "Special 301" report, but it stalled in the Finance Committee. Stakeholders have argued the report, the latest installment of which was released last month, needs more muscle. The prior Baucus-Hatch bill required trade officials to create an action plan for the worst offenders and establish harsh consequences for countries that do not comply. The bill would have given additional enforcement powers to the president, including banning federal procurement from and stopping international financing to nations that violate American IP rights. It would have also authorized a funding boost for new USTR attachés.
Read CongressDaily's recent story here (subscription required).
After nearly four hours of debate, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill, 21-9, that would end a long-standing copyright royalty exemption for AM and FM radio stations, with significant concessions aimed at protecting small and minority-owned broadcasters. The action was a big win for the Recording Industry Association of America, American Federation of Musicians, the Recording Academy and others who have been pressing lawmakers to force terrestrial radio to pay performers for songs carried on their airwaves. It was a blow to the National Association of Broadcasters, which has lobbied fiercely against the bill they believe to be a "tax" on local radio.
Moments after the committee's vote, NAB issued a press release giving a nod to those who voted against the bill: Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith; Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; Howard Coble, R-N.C.; Dan Lungren, D-Calif.; Louie Gohmert, R-Texas; Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; Ted Poe, R-Texas; Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah; and Gregg Harper, R-Miss. "We were pleasantly surprised by the considerable bipartisan opposition to a performance tax, even in a committee where support for the record labels is strongest," NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said, noting that outside of the committee, a group of 192 House lawmakers have signed onto a resolution sponsored by Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, opposing the bill.
The MusicFirst Coaltion, which has championed the royalty bill, cheered its committee passage. "Our continued momentum in Congress is proof that it's well past time to recognize the importance of fairly compensating the artists and musicians whose talent and hard work allows radio to generate billions of dollars in ad revenue each year," the group said. "Corporate radio's days of hiding behind a loophole in the copyright law are over," MusicFirst continued. "All other music platforms... pay artists, musicians and rights holders for the use of their music. It's only fair that AM and FM radio be held to the same standards." Read CongressDaily's PM Edition story here and the lengthier mark up report here (subscription required).
AT&T Chief Privacy Officer Dorothy Attwood responded Wednesday to a recent letter from Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., to the telecom giant's CEO asking for clarification on whether the company is engaged in any activity that involves tracking its broadband Internet subscribers' online activities to target advertising. The lawmaker was confused by Attwood's testimony at an April hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee that focused on "deep packet inspection," a controversial type of network filtering that could be used to build customer profiles and offer specialized content and advertising without consent.
In her letter, Attwood assured Eshoo that AT&T does not engage in behavioral advertising that was the focus of her inquiry and said the company "has articulated at every turn what it does and does not do in the context of any behavioral advertising model that has been the subject of congressional interest." Attwood also addressed AT&T relationship with Audience Science, "one of a number of online marketing firms that assist AT&T in reaching potential customers and placing AT&T's advertisements on other Web sites." She said Audience Science does not use DPI but does use cookie-based methods to offer the most relevant ads to Internet users.
Attwood added that AT&T has not only asked its advertising partners to improve transparency and control for consumers, "we have called on the entire online advertising ecosystem... to adopt a unified, consumer-centric policy framework built on a foundation of transparency, consumer control, privacy protection, and consumer value." That includes ad networks, search engines, Internet service providers, advertisers and publishers, she said. "We are more than willing to work wit hall entities in that ecosystem to create standards that can advance consumer interests," she wrote.
Cynthia Logan, whose 18-year-old daughter took her own life after a nude picture of her was passed around by e-mail, will join Miss Utah: Kayla Barclay; Internet safety expert Parry Aftab; and Mary Heston, director of Teenangels & Wired Moms on Wednesday for a Capitol Hill conversation about "sexting" (sending sexually charged messages or images via text message), cyber-bullying, and youth behavior on the online marketplace Craigslist.org and Internet gaming sites. Among other topics in the news, the panel will address whether charging teens as felony sex offenders for sharing nude pictures online is the right approach. Attendees will also preview the Stop Cyber-Bullying Toolkit for schools, a free resource with videos, animations, games, presentations and risk management guides for educators, parents and students of all ages.
The event coincides with the introduction of legislation by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., that would authorize $175 million in funding over five years to programs educating children on how to safely, securely and ethically use the Internet and mobile technologies. The bill would create a competitive grant program for state and local education agencies and non-profit organizations that would be administered by the Justice Department in collaboration with the departments of Health and Human Services and Education. "The way to meet the challenges and opportunities the Internet presents isn't to deny our children access to this great resource but to make sure they know how to use it wisely," Menendez said in a press release.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, was tapped by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday, to lead the Senate Republican High Tech Task Force, a group aimed at ensuring the nation's technology firms remain at the forefront of the world economy. The news came on the heels of Virginia Republican Bob Goodlatte's appointment to lead a similar organization in the House. Hatch said in an interview with Tech Daily Dose that he will work closely with Goodlatte as both chambers examine issues critical to U.S. competitiveness. Some of Hatch's priorities include promoting private sector innovation; creating a business environment that attracts the leading tech firms; spurring investment through incentives and tax reforms; encouraging fair industry standard development processes; enhancing the nation's workforce; improving antitrust review; and eliminating barriers to trade.
"Even in the midst of the worst recession in decades, the nation's tech industry as a whole was able to add 77,000 jobs last year," Hatch said. "Given the current economic climate, it is critically important for lawmakers to enact legislation that will spur innovation, create jobs and maintain our nation's technological edge. I am confident this task force can do that and will do everything in my power to ensure that it does." He added that Utah is fast emerging as a major player in the IT industry. Inc. magazine reported there are more than 5,200 IT and life-science firms in the Beehive State that create nearly 66,000 high-paying jobs. The growth of IT firms in Utah in 2004 and 2005 outpaced the growth rates in Arizona, California, Colorado and Washington.
Joining Hatch on the GOP task force are: Jim Bunning of Kentucky; Richard Burr of North Carolina; John Cornyn of Texas; Mike Crapo of Idaho; John Ensign of Nevada; Mike Enzi of Wyoming; Judd Gregg of New Hampshire; Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas; Pat Roberts of Kansas; John Thune of South Dakota; and David Vitter of Louisiana. The group's Democratic counterpart, led by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., last Congress, has not been officially formed this year but sources said an ad hoc group of members have held briefings on a range of issues.
Mom-and-pop Internet radio services from across the United States wrote to House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and ranking member Lamar Smith urging them to extend small broadcaster protections, which could be included in a bill before their committee on Wednesday, to Web sites that offer music as well. "Small webcasters are the smallest of small, but our programming is the most innovative and our playlists the most diverse," they argued in a Tuesday letter. "Small webcasters play more independent music, more local artists, and more unusual genres than broadcast radio, satellite radio and cable radio combined!" they said.
To ensure that small AM and FM stations are not bankrupted by a proposed new fee, Conyers' legislation lets let those making less than $1.25 million annually pay only $5,000 in royalties. Additionally, he is expected to offer an amendment so that radio stations earning less than $500,000 will pay only $1,250 and stations earning less than $100,000 will pay only $500. By contrast, webcasters pointed out that their sector pays far higher rates. Those earning $1.25 million pay $150,000 in royalties; webcasters earning $500,000 pay $50,000 in royalties; and webcasters earning $100,000 pay $10,000 in royalties. Read more about Conyers' legislation here, here, and here.
As CongressDaily and Tech Daily Dose reported earlier, aides for House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers have been hard at work on a manager's amendment intended to calm broadcasters' fears that legislation his committee will mark up Wednesday could harm local radio and diversity on the airwaves.
Some details have emerged about what Conyers plans to offer:
Affordable payment for small, rural, nonprofit, minority, religious and educational broadcasters: Any station that makes less than $100,000 annually will pay only $500 annually for unlimited use of music. Any station that makes less than $500,000 but more than $100,000 annually will pay only $2500 (half of the amount in introduced bill) annually for unlimited use of music. Any station that makes less than $1.25 million but more than $500,000 annually will pay only $5,000 (the amount in introduced bill) annually for unlimited use of music.
Some relief from the current economic situation: No payment for two years by any station that makes less than $5 million annually; No payment for one year by any station that makes more than $5 million annually.
Parity for all radio services: Establishes a "placeholder" standard to determine a fair rate for all radio services that will encourage negotiations between the stakeholders.
Cannot hurt local communities: Assures that this legislation cannot affect broadcasters public interest obligations to serve the local community.
Assures consideration of relevant evidence: Evidence relevant to small, noncommercial, minority, and religious broadcasters and religious and minority royalty recipients must be considered by the Copyright Royalty Judges.
President Obama's pick to run the Office of Management and Budget's administrator for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Tuesday that Regulations.gov, the government's e-rulemaking hub, requires a major redesign. "It just isn't as accessible as it ought to be to citizens. That's where I would start," Harvard Law School professor Cass Sunstein said at his confirmation hearing. Obama's CIO Vivek Kundra told an audience recently that his team is working with OIRA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to retool the Web site after a high-level American Bar Association task force slammed the site. In soliciting public comment on potential regulations, Sunstein said, "simplicity, clarity, and publicity should be watchwords." He also told the committee that OIRA is looking to hire a person whose full-time responsibility at the agency would be ensuring privacy protections. -- Carrie Dann
CongressDaily's AM Edition reports that House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers on Wednesday will try to calm broadcasters' fears that legislation he co-sponsored with Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa could harm local radio and diminish diversity on AM and FM airwaves. When Conyers' panel marks up the bill, which would end a long-standing copyright royalty exemption for over-the-air radio, he plans to propose slashing the fee small commercial stations would have to pay performers and record labels. Rather than paying the flat $5,000 annual royalty proposed in the current version, Conyers' potential amendment would require the smallest stations to offer as little as $500 per year while others that generate less than $1.25 million in annual revenue would pay based on a sliding scale.
Another possible amendment would create a two-year payment delay for a number of small stations with the hope that the economy will rebound, Hill sources said Monday. A third potential proposal would require AM and FM radio to be held to the same rate standard as cable, Internet and satellite radio, which currently pay performers under dissimilar fee structures. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., pushed the "platform parity" idea last Congress as a similar bill sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy was being debated in his committee. Leahy reintroduced his measure in February but has been focused on patent legislation. Under Feinstein's January 2007 proposal, various platforms would pay a fair market value for the performance of digital music and would require the use of anti-piracy technologies that are technologically and economically feasible.
Meanwhile, broadcasters are complaining that the Conyers bill could harm local radio and diminish diversity on AM and FM airwaves. Radio One CEO Alfred Liggins argues his sector is in dire straits and they cannot afford to pay performers. Liggins, whose enterprise is the largest minority-owned U.S. media company, owns several stations in Conyers' congressional district and over the last 18 months has laid off 21 employees. As the legislation moves forward, Liggins said he would direct his on-air talent in Detroit to take to the airwaves in opposition. Read more in CongressDaily here.
Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., will reintroduce a bill Tuesday that will allow many months of royalty negotiations between the music and Internet industries continue while delaying full implementation of a controversial rate-setting for webcasters imposed by the Copyright Royalty Board. The legislation, which will be cosponsored by Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and California Democrats Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo, is simple but effective, sources said. It would replace a Feb. 15, 2009 deadline that was part of legislation that passed the 110th Congress, with a 30-day window from the date of enactment for a deal to be reached between digital royalty collector SoundExchange, which is negotiating on behalf of copyright owners and performers, and Internet radio services represented by the Digital Media Association and others.
The bill is on a fast-track and is scheduled to be marked up by Conyers' committee the following day. Sen. Ron Wyden , D-Ore., sponsored a companion measure last session but it was unclear whether he planned to follow Inslee's lead. SoundExchange and the National Association of Broadcasters already reached agreement on Internet radio royalties earlier this year that provides discounts on previously set rates for 2009 and 2010 and establishes rates for 2011-2015. Under the arrangement, which involves AM and FM radio stations that simulcast programming over the Internet or that create new stand-alone Internet stations, simulcasts or Web channels operated by local stations are reduced for the first two years by about 16 percent then gradually increase through 2015 -- from $0.0015 per streamed sound recording in 2009 to $0.0025 per stream by 2015. Read more on the topic here.
Update: A spokeswoman for Wyden confirmed late Monday that her boss would be introducing the Senate version of the bill, potentially this week.
The season of springtime communications policy summits continues this week when the advocacy group Free Press -- a relentless critic of the Bush administration that starting getting its calls returned after Jan. 20 -- hosts a Thursday event featuring acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps and White House technology adviser Susan Crawford. The conference also will include a roundtable discussion with two former FCC chairmen, Reed Hundt and Michael Powell; Senate Commerce Committee staff member Jessica Rosenworcel; high-tech venture capitalist and Google investor Ram Shriram and Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott. It kicks off at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the Newseum.
The Free Press summit takes place as the telecommunications community eagerly awaits a new chairman and two new commissioners for the FCC. The Senate Commerce Committee last Thursday abruptly postponed this week's scheduled confirmation hearing of Julius Genachowski to be the next FCC chairman -- amid indications that Republicans are coalescing around Meredith Baker, a former Commerce Department official, to fill a GOP vacancy on the commission. Pending that, the FCC Wednesday holds its monthly public meeting with a noticeably modest agenda -- as it stays focused on the June 12 completion of the nation's switchover to digital television.
Meanwhile, key Senate and House committees will summon Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to Capitol Hill for a series of hearings on the department's FY10 budget request, unveiled late last week. Napolitano is slated to testify Tuesday before the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee as well as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. On Wednesday, Napolitano is scheduled to go before the House Homeland Security Committee and the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. On Thursday, the DHS' Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee will meet to hear presentations on the US VISIT and E-Verify programs.
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law this week urged the House Judiciary Committee to delay any action on legislation that would end a longstanding royalty exemption for AM and FM radio until the panel holds a hearing to weigh the bill's impact on minority-owned broadcast radio stations. Noting "two significant voting rights cases" before the Supreme Court, the groups explained that "the chief remaining resource to ensure that African Americans can participate fully in the democratic process will be the continued engagement of minority radio broadcasters to drive turnout."
Passage of the Performance Rights Act, which was sponsored by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, "would eviscerate this remaining, powerful resource," the letter from Rainbow PUSH and the Lawyers' Committee said. LCCR sent a separate letter to Conyers expressing similar concerns. The letters raise "important questions regarding the negative impact of the performance tax on minority broadcasters, niche programming formats and media diversity," said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, which is leading the lobbying effort against the legislation. He added that "minority broadcasters often serve as the only voice for African-American and immigrant communities."
Trade groups representing Internet music providers, e-commerce firms and electronics manufacturers fired back this week at an attempt by composers, songwriters and performance rights organizations (PROs) to persuade House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders to amend copyright law to extend the "public performance right" so that it will apply to digital downloads of audiovisual works. The Digital Media Association, the Consumer Electronics Association, TechAmerica and others claim the request by ASACP, BMI, the Harry Fox Agency and the Songwriters Guild of America, would "impose a licensing obligation and potentially significant royalties on activities that are unequivocally unrelated to public performance."
This debate could complicate an ongoing examination by both committees of bills sponsored by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy that would bring AM and FM radio in line with Internet, cable and satellite music platforms that pay performers for their works. Groups like the Recording Industry Association of America, SoundExchange and the American Federation of Musicians are carrying the torch for that effort while over-the-air broadcasters who have long been exempt from the fee argue it should remain that way. The National Association of Broadcasters claims the bills could bankrupt local radio.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., has become increasingly concerned about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which has been in the works, largely behind closed doors, for more than a year. Amid fears from watchdog groups who argued the process between the U.S. government and a handful of key trading partners was too secretive, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in April released a six-page summary of ACTA talks. Lofgren told a crowd of high-tech executives Wednesday the outline may not be sufficient in quelling fears about requirements that could be imposed on Internet service providers and others. She said the document "makes me very nervous," particularly as European proposals have surfaced to regulate ISPs as part of efforts to crack down on copyright infringement.
In her remarks to the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Lofgren also spoke about the congressional movement to overhaul the U.S. patent system. Silicon Valley executives told her in recent meetings that a compromise bill, which last month passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, could be worse than no bill at all due to what they believe is watered down damages language. "Last year we had a strong bill," Lofgren said of the version that passed the House. The Senate measure stalled last spring after Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and then-ranking member Arlen Specter could not see eye to eye on damages text. "Now we have a bill that opponents of patent reform are rallying around," she said of Leahy's legislation as amended.
Lofgren also said the so-called "orphan works" issue is still on her radar. Legislation aimed at reworking a portion of U.S. copyright law that deals with musical tracks, writings, images, videos or other content whose owners cannot be easily gained some traction in the 110th Congress but did not make it to the House floor. Later in her speech, Lofgren said a bill she sponsored to provide for a five year moratorium on any new discriminatory wireless tax or fees should collect "a lot of cosponsors on both sides of the aisle." "I think we have an opportunity to move that," she said.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., reintroduced his Global Online Freedom Act on Wednesday with the bipartisan backing of Reps. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., Frank Wolf, R-Va., and others. The measure would prevent U.S. technology companies from working with repressive foreign governments that seek to conduct Internet surveillance to find, capture, convict and often torture citizens for engaging in democracy promotion and human rights advocacy online. Smith's bill passed several House committees last Congress but he could not secure a floor vote before the session ended.
The latest version of Smith's bill would require American IT companies that do business with countries known for clamping down on free speech to keep records on and notify the Justice Department of demands for personal information about Internet users. The legislation also would give the attorney general authority to order tech firms not to comply with those demands if there is a reasonable likelihood that the request is not made for legitimate law enforcement purposes. Additionally, the bill would require the U.S. firms to disclose data they block when asked by foreign governments and disclose how they filter search engine results.
Smith's measure would prevent U.S. IT firms from blocking U.S. government Web sites and would create an Office of Global Internet Freedom within the State Department to promote freedom of expression online. "The reality is that dictatorships need two pillars to survive -- propaganda and secret police," Smith said in a press release. "The Internet -- when misused by authorities --gives them both in spades." He added that it is "unconscionable that American businesses... would even consider enabling repressive governments that seek to stifle basic freedoms."
House Science Committee Chairman Bart Gordon is ready to launch his panel's examination of the Obama administration's recently completed 60-day review of the U.S. government's cybersecurity posture as soon as the highly anticipated document is made public. Gordon told the Computer and Communications Industry Association's annual meeting Wednesday that he expects the report, written by Melissa Hathaway -- a top adviser to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair -- to surface in a matter of days. A spokeswoman for Hathaway could not confirm when the document would be released. Gordon said his committee has already scheduled a hearing later this month that will focus on recommendations of the report. Witnesses could include representatives from the Homeland Security Department, National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology, he said. Follow up hearings will ask industry representatives, watchdog groups and other stakeholders for their thoughts on the matter. Gordon hopes the hearings will serve as a basis for legislation that would improve network security. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, were the first to introduce a cybersecurity bill this Congress. Other committees are expected to offer their own measures in the coming weeks and months. Read more about CCIA's summit in CongressDaily.
Supporters of legislation that would create an exemption to a U.S. ban on Internet gambling for licensed and regulated businesses like their odds in the 111th Congress as House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank prepares to unveil the latest version of his bill Wednesday. The measure is expected to include safeguards against compulsive and underage gambling, money laundering, fraud and identity theft in an attempt to pacify critics who blasted the societal ills of Web wagering last session. Frank's previous legislation, which would have prohibited implementation of the 2006 gambling ban and replaced it with a formal rulemaking process, passed the Financial Services Committee in September. The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve issued a final rule shortly before former President George W. Bush left office despite Frank's call for a delay due to problems he said it would cause for banks. Read the full story in CongressDaily's AM Edition (subscription required).
A handful of major high-tech companies wrote to House Transportation Chairman James Oberstar and ranking member John Mica on Wednesday to voice their opposition to a proposed ban on the usage of wireless telecommunications on U.S. commercial flights. The Consumer Electronics Association, CTIA-The Wireless Association, the Satellite Industry Association, Technology Association of America, and the Telecommunications Industry Association joined passenger rights and business groups that recently complained about a legislative rush to prohibit the activity as part of a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill without meaningful public input. Rather than eliminating the option of using devices on airplanes, CTIA Vice President Jot Carpenter called for a study to determine whether there is consumer demand.
Their letter was also sent to House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and ranking member Joe Barton. "Legislation prohibiting the use of technology is as problematic as legislation mandating the use of technology," CEA lobbyist Michael Petricone said. "An outright ban slipped into an authorization bill is not warranted for a technology that is as safe and widely accepted as voice communications." "An outright ban leaves too many benefits for society on the table without a serious weighing of the facts," TechAmerica lobbyist Joshua Lamel added. The groups point out that airplanes have been equipped with mobile phones for decades and for 18 months, 16 commercial carriers have offered in-flight wireless services on three continents. Those systems have been launched successfully in Europe, Asia and the Middle East and have not posed safety concerns, they wrote.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., have claimed the title of "High-Tech Defenders" for their voting records and leadership roles on technology issues in the 110th Congress. The distinction bestowed by the Computer and Communications Industry Association is part of the trade group's congressional scorecard, which was released on the eve of its annual member meeting in Washington. CCIA represents Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other tech firms. Wyden and Lofgren, who are both slated to speak at CCIA's Wednesday summit, were given scores of 100 percent and 95 percent, respectively. Wyden was joined at the top by Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. while Lofgren outdistanced her closest scoring House colleagues by 6 percent.
"It comes as no surprise that Senator Wyden and Representative Lofgren finished on top of our high-tech scorecard," CCIA President Ed Black said in a statement. "They are proposing forward-looking legislation, raising the prominence of technology issues in the press and pushing hard to get high-tech issues included in the often cramped legislative agendas of their respective chambers." Twenty-two senators scored above 80 percent on tech and innovation votes during the second session of the 110th Congress. In the House, 32 members scored in the top tier with a score of over 84 percent. The top tier scorecard included four presidential candidates - Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and John McCain, R-Ariz., as well as former Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Senate Rules Committee Chairman Charles Schumer and ranking member Bob Bennett took a large but simple step this week toward modernizing the way the chamber provides information about roll call votes by instructing the Secretary of the Senate to embrace XML format. The change will allow the public to use computers to search, sort, and visualize Senate voting records in new ways and the costs associated with the transition are minor, said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who has championed the effort. By moving forward on XML, Schumer and Bennett are helping to increase Senate transparency and accountability, DeMint said in a statement. In a letter last week to the Rules Committee leaders, DeMint pointed out the existing policy was implemented because "senators want to provide their voting records to their constituents themselves." "The idea that the Senate would intentionally hamstring the distribution of roll call votes so Senators could put a better spin on them is concerning," he wrote. "The public is capable of interpreting our votes on its own." For a number of years, the House has provided roll call votes to the public in a format that allows them to be easily read, processed, and shared.
Fans and foes of legislation that would end a longstanding copyright royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio are each hoping to win the support of Hispanic members of the House and Senate. The Free Radio Alliance and the National Association of Broadcasters, which believe the proposal would slap a "tax" on local radio, held a Tuesday briefing on Capitol Hill with Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo, host of a popular morning show on Univision Radio and radio executives from Salem Communications, Entravision Communications, Top Line Broadcasting and others. Panelists discussed how the legislation would impact diversity in voice and thought in the Spanish-language radio market and broader problems they have with the bills, which were sponsored by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy.
In a same-day press release, the MusicFirst Coalition pointed out that the National Hispanic Conference of State Legislators recently approved a resolution that calls on Congress to pass the Performance Rights Act. In its resolution, the organization that represents Hispanic state legislators noted that broadcasters enjoy a "unique government-created exemption from having to compensate creators" and that AM and FM radio stations are the only "radio platform that does not compensate creators." MusicFirst Executive Director Jennifer Bendall, whose group is backed by record labels, unions and other industry stakeholders, said grassroots Hispanic policymakers are "strong supporters" of the legislation and their voice is an essential part of the debate. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has not formally weighed in but the Spanish Broadcasting Association has urged opposition.
Google Vice President Marissa Mayer and HuffingtonPost.com co-founder Arianna Huffington are among seven witnesses scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, which is holding a hearing to examine the future of newspapers during turbulent economic times. Hearing details were announced Monday as news surfaced that the New York Times Co. had reached a tentative deal with unions at the Boston Globe, and would hold off on its threat to shut the Globe down. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., will chair the hearing. Other witnesses include Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.; Knight Foundation President Albert Ibarguen; former Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon; former Washington Post managing editor Steve Coll; and Dallas Morning News CEO James Moroney. The hearing follows one held last month by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy called "A New Age for Newspapers: Diversity of Voices, Competition and the Internet."
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., will become the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking member after reaching a deal with Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, aides familiar with the talks said on Monday. The official announcement could come as early as this evening after the panel's GOP members meet, CongressDaily reports. The appointment requires endorsement of the full Republican Conference, which aides said should not be a problem. So what do we know about the former Alabama attorney general's track record on tech policy? The Information Technology Industry Council's congressional scorecard, which has been rating members since 1998, says Sessions had an 80 percent voting record in the 110th Congress.
Sessions voted in lockstep with ITI in favor of the America Competes Act; the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement; comprehensive energy legislation; and a Senate Finance Committee tax extender package, which included a provision to expand the research and development tax credit for two years. But Sessions voted against the financial bailout package. At the time, Sessions issued a statement saying government "can and should be part of the solution, but we should tailor its role to have maximum benefit with minimal market interference." He called the Obama administration's plan well-intentioned but said it represented "unprecedented governmental intervention in the economy." "Its enactment will be a signal to the world that America has turned its back on the free market," Sessions said.
On Wednesday, a parade of lawmakers will meet with high-tech executives at the Computer and Communications Industry Association's 36th annual Washington Caucus. Among those slated to speak are House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va.; House Science Chairman Bart Gordon; and Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.; Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Kevin Brady, R-Texas, are also scheduled to make appearances, along with FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz and several other Obama administration officials. The day-long session kicks off at 8 a.m. at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Meanwhile, the Wireless Communications Association holds a "policy summit" on Tuesday and Wednesday keynoted by Sean Maloney, an executive vice president at Intel. Congressional staffers, industry executives and advocacy group representatives are slated to speak, including AT&T lobbyist Jim Cicconi and Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott. The event is headquartered at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, 1000 H Street, N.W. Sessions will address the broadband stimulus program, network neutrality and spectrum policy, among other topics. The WCA holds the event as federal regulators shape a $7.2 billion loan and grant program that seeks to expand broadband connectivity to rural regions and other areas with limited or no service. For more details, read "This Week's Highlights" at CongressDaily's TechCentral Web site.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman on Wednesday night introduced what has become a perennial non-binding resolution to put non-confidential Congressional Research Service reports online. Homeland Security and Government Affairs ranking member Susan Collins, Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others signed on. Rather than creating a new tool for public access, the resolution would let members and committees share reports using the same online services that are available on Congress' internal CRS Web site. The resolution also requires an index of CRS issue briefs and reports be made public.
CRS, which is housed in the Library of Congress, uses taxpayer dollars to produce reports on public policy issues and represent some of the best research conducted by the federal government, the Center for Democracy and Technology said in a blog post. Under the current regime, citizens can ask for copies of reports through their member of Congress but only if they already know the report exists. Projects like Open CRS, which is run by CDT, receives updates on reports as they are published from an anonymous lawmaker, but a public index of reports would simplify this process, the group stated.
In March, Lieberman wrote to Senate Rules Committee Chairman Charles Schumer calling for a sanctioned, automatically updated clearinghouse for the documents so "those with power and those without have equal access to this important resource." Under the chairmanship of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., last Congress, the Rules Committee authorized CRS to create software to let senators place individual reports on their Web sites. That did not go far enough, Lieberman wrote. Read more in CongressDaily here (subscription required).
Attorneys general from 39 states wrote a letter to House and Senate Appropriations Committee members this week urging them to fully implement and fund legislation passed by Congress and signed into law last October, which would enhance domestic intellectual property protections. The statute seeks to bolster the ability of state and local law enforcement to protect IP by authorizing funding for related programs. The state AGs pressed lawmakers to provide $25 million in fiscal year 2010 for IP enforcement grants administered by the Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs." The funds would be used to "pay for law enforcement training programs, public education programs, the establishment of federal-state-local task forces, and certain special expenses incurred through efforts to combat counterfeiting and piracy," they wrote.
Signatories included attorneys general from Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global IP Center lauded the letter. "State and local law enforcement play a pivotal role in protecting jobs and consumers from intellectual property crimes," Center Executive Vice President Mark Esper said. "We look forward to working with Congress to make sure these needed funds are invested."
The House Judiciary Committee begins its work to overhaul the U.S. patent system on Thursday. Some recent coverage from CongressDaily...
House Judiciary Ranking Member Pushes Patent Reform Plan
House Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith will urge colleagues at a hearing on patent legislation today to move forward with a proposal to enhance patent quality, discourage frivolous litigation and harmonize international patent principles. Smith joined Judiciary Chairman John Conyers to co-sponsor a bill he believes promotes those goals better than a version that passed the Senate Judiciary Committee this month. "Members of this committee are not passive participants who will accept whatever the other body hands us," Smith said in a statement. The Texas Republican is concerned with changes Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy made to language that impacts how damages are awarded in patent infringement lawsuits. (Thursday, April 30, 2009)
Boehner Leads New Republican Push For Patent Reform
House Minority Leader John Boehner and some other top Republicans are among more than 20 members sending a letter today to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stressing the need for major changes to the U.S. patent system. The communique comes one day before the House Judiciary Committee is set to examine the issue. Supporters of a patent bill introduced in March by Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and ranking member Lamar Smith were heartened by Boehner's involvement because he worked against a similar measure that passed the House in 2007. But companies like Google, Microsoft and Time Warner, which have lobbied Congress to overhaul how damages are awarded in patent lawsuits, might want to hold their applause. A Boehner spokesman pointed out the letter did not mention Conyers' bill by name. (Wednesday, April 29, 2009)
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., is circulating a draft letter that asks Senate Rules Chairman Charles Schumer and ranking member Bob Bennett to modernize the way the chamber provides information about roll call votes, thus increasing Senate transparency. For a number of years, the House has provided roll call votes to the public in a format that allows them to be easily read, processed, and shared but the Senate continues to make available its votes in what government watchdogs have complained is an antiquated fashion that prevents easy analysis and dissemination.
Utilizing an XML format would allow the public to use computers to search, sort, and visualize voting records in new ways, the letter states, noting that the costs associated with the transition would be negligible but the impact would be profound. "As Americans increasingly turn to Internet to stay informed, the Senate as a body has a duty to promote timely and accurate reporting of our actions through the most current and effective technologies," DeMint wrote. He noted that the Secretary of the Senate and Sergeant at Arms have already made high-tech strides with the development of the Senate Web site and the lobbying disclosure database but it's time to go a step further.
In the letter, DeMint states the policy was initially implemented because "senators want to provide their voting records to their constituents themselves." "The idea that the Senate would intentionally hamstring the distribution of roll call votes so Senators could put a better spin on them is concerning," he wrote. "The public is capable of interpreting our votes on its own." Across Capitol Hill, Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill., introduced a resolution last month directing the Clerk of the House to create an online record -- organized by member name -- of recorded votes taken in the House and to direct each member to link to the registry on their Web sites.
The Library of Congress has made "tremendous progress" with its information technology infrastructure but in order to remain current and competitive, the facility needs to take several significant steps to evolve, Library Inspector General Karl Schornagel told the House Administration Committee on Wednesday. He recently published a 60-page report that concluded strategic IT planning is not a "unifying force" at the Library nor is it linked to the investment process. The disconnect results in duplicated efforts and acquisitions. In addition to costs incurred for unfunded mandates, he found numerous areas where there were overlaps in support services and systems.
Schornagel also found that the Library's organizational structure of the Library's IT office does not foster strategic planning and good governance; the Library is missing an enterprise architecture program; and its customer service needs improvement. At the hearing, he suggested that the Library migrate to a more cohesive IT strategy, like comparable federal agencies, and recommended that the facility's IT security group be given the ability to implement higher security standards. Chairman Robert Brady cited the increasingly vital role technology plays in Library operations and ranking member Dan Lungren emphasized the criticality of cybersecurity.
The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday evening formally announced the witness list for its first hearing of the 111th Congress to discuss potential changes to the U.S. patent system. The hearing takes place Thursday morning and the line up includes:
Intel Chief Patent Counsel David Simon
Georgetown University Law School Professor John Thomas
Segway inventor Dean Kamen
Tessera General Counsel Bernard Cassidy
Johnson & Johnson Chief Intellectual Property Counsel Phillip Johnson
Vertical Group Partner Jack Lasersohn
Cisco Systems Senior Vice President Mark Chandler
House Minority Leader John Boehner and some other top Republicans weighed in on the patent debate on the eve of the hearing with a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The communique from the House Republican High-Tech Working Group, which was signed by more than 20 members, pressed for patent reform but did not mention Conyers' bill by name. A Boehner spokesman said his boss "has never been opposed to all patent reform, just to legislation that picks winners and losers in the private sector." For more details, CongressDaily's Wednesday AM Edition story here (subscription required).
The National Association of Broadcasters is ratcheting up its lobbying blitz against legislation currently moving through the House and Senate that the trade group believes would cost jobs and kill off local radio stations' offerings. The bill, which would end AM and FM stations' exemption from paying copyright royalty fees to performers of the songs that grace their airwaves, is being targeted in a series of new advertisements in the Washington Metrorail system. Their 45 banners are plastered across the Capitol South metro station, which is located two blocks from the U.S. Capitol. The NAB also recently launched NoPerformanceTax.org to beef up its campaign to defeat the bill, which is championed by music industry interests like the Recording Industry Association of America, the American Federation of Musicians, and the Recording Academy.
"Every week, radio airplay reaches 235 million Americans, promoting both new and legacy artists and generating more than a billion dollars in CD and download sales for record labels annually. By contrast, artists routinely sue their record labels for cheating them out of royalty money," an NAB spokesman said in a press release. "We welcome an honest debate over which side has been a better friend to recording artists: America's hometown radio stations or foreign-owned record labels." An official with the MusicFirst Coalition, which supports the bill, said: "No amount of advertising can right a wrong. Corporate radio earns billions without compensating the artists and musicians who bring music to life and listeners ears to the radio dial. Satellite radio, Internet radio and cable music stations pay a fair performance royalty, as so radio stations throughout the world."
Legendary jazz singer Tony Bennett visited Capitol Hill Tuesday evening to lobby for legislation that would end a longstanding copyright royalty exemption afforded to AM and FM radio stations. He attended a reception organized by the MusicFirst Coalition, which drew a handful of House and Senate members and their aides. Read more about the hot topic in National Journal magazine's April 18 issue here (subscription required). Music industry stakeholders who support the legislation expect a mark up in the House Judiciary Committee soon. Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is pictured above with Bennett and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas.
More photos after the jump...
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will wade into the congressional cybersecurity debate on Tuesday with a pair of hearings -- one in the full committee that will focus on developing a national strategy to fight high-tech threats and another in the Federal Financial Management Subcommittee that will cover the Obama administration's tech priorities and how agencies can use technology to become more efficient and secure.
Hearing #1:
Stewart Baker, former Homeland Security Department assistant secretary
James Lewis, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Alan Paller, research director for the SANS Institute
Tom Kellermann, vice president at Core Security Technologies
Hearing #2:
Vivek Kundra, OMB e-government and IT administrator
David Powner, director of IT management issues at GAO
Karen Evans, former OMB e-government administrator
Philip Bond, president of the Technology Association of America
Read a related story in CongressDaily's AM Edition here (subscription required).
Are you a member of Congress on Facebook and don't like being called a politician? Then maybe you should look into converting your current "politician" page to the new "government official" one. That's the suggestion coming out of the office of House Minority Leader John Boehner. In guidelines his staff is sending to the Republican Conference, Boehner and Facebook are introducing a new category, "government official," that draws a "clear line between" political pages -- such as PACs and campaigns -- with official member sites, explained Nick Schaper, Boehner's new media director. Outside advertising, such as those paid for by lobbying or advocacy groups, will be removed from government official pages but in-house advertising by Facebook will continue.
Adam Conner, an associate for public policy at Facebook, said the new designation will help members of Congress "represent their official duties separately from their political activities" and came out of discussions with both parties. Schaper emphasized that the guidelines would not be mandatory and members can choose to switch to the new category. "There are a number of different ways Facebook can be utilized, and we're not necessarily saying that there is one right way to do it," Schaper said. Facebook, Boehner's office, and the House Administration Committee have been working on the new category for several months. Even though Boehner's guidelines will only be sent to the GOP, all members are able to use the "government official" designation. -- Amy Harder
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., wrote to members of the Canadian Parliament last week urging them to address inadequacies in the country's intellectual property rights enforcement regime. His letter came on the heels of an April 6 House Foreign Affairs Committee field hearing in California that heard from music and movie industry representatives who named the United States' northern neighbor -- along with China and Russia -- as havens for major piracy operations. Specifically, Sherman pressed Canada to provide its customs officials with ex officio seizure power. Currently, they lack the statutory authority to seize counterfeit products unless they have previously obtained a court order.
"Canada has not acceded to nor implemented World Intellectual Property Organization Internet treaties," he wrote. "Canada has continued to resist a 'notice and takedown' regime that would require Internet service providers to terminate the accounts of repeat or serious IPR infringers." Additionally, Sherman said Canada has not enacted rules clarifying that rights holders can get damages awards against entities that intentionally facilitate massive infringement. "Pirated goods are not just an economic concern but often times represent a serious threat to public health safety," the lawmaker noted. "Canada must assist its partner countries in making sure that dangerous goods do not cross its borders," he concluded.
Last May, the Congressional Anti-Piracy Caucus slammed Canada for failing to update its IP enforcement regime despite promises to the contrary and the passage of a 2007 law that banned movie-theater videotaping of films. Earlier this year, the International Intellectual Property Alliance urged the U.S. Trade Representative to place Canada on its list of countries that warrant enhanced attention due to IP problems. The USTR's annual "Special 301" report, which highlights IP deficiencies and advancements of trading partners, is due out later this week.
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., wants to know for sure whether AT&T is engaged in any activity that involves tracking its broadband Internet subscribers' online activities to target advertising and on Friday asked the telecom giant's top executive to clarify. In a letter to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, Eshoo asked whether AT&T has used AudienceScience.com or any other behavioral advertiser to place ads on the Web, and if so, whether those firms notify consumers when data is collected. She also asked whether consumers are allowed to control what data is collected by advertising vendors and how it is used. Eshoo asked Stephenson when AT&T began advertising to consumers using behavioral targeting and whether it continues to engage in that activity. If AT&T has stopped, she wants to know when.
Her letter came on the heels of what she believed to be contradictory testimony from AT&T Chief Privacy Officer Dorothy Attwood on Thursday. During a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee, Attwood said AT&T does not use "deep packet inspection," a controversial type of network filtering that could be used to build extensive customer profiles and offer specialized content and advertising without consent. Attwood said AT&T would not use consumer information for that purpose "without an affirmative, advance action by the consumer." In August 2008, Attwood told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that AT&T does not engage in behavioral advertising but the company is listed as a client of AudienceScience, which offers that service.
"As an ISP, we do not track our customer's data across unrelated Web sites to create a profile for behavioral advertising, or hire other firms to do so on our behalf," an AT&T spokesman told Tech Daily Dose. He said his company's relationship with AudienceScience is as an advertiser of AT&T products and services. Suggestions that AT&T is engaging in behavioral advertising by selling customer information are "flat wrong," he said. The spokesman added that AT&T has consistently told Congress it uses ad networks. In related news, a testimonial listed on AudienceScience's Web site from MEC Interaction, which had AT&T as a client, has been removed. The message read: "AudienceScience rocks and I recommend using them for all of your BT campaigns."
Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller introduced legislation Thursday that he hopes will facilitate nationwide adoption of electronic health records, particularly among small, rural providers. The bill will build upon the use of so-called "open source" e-health records by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Open source software refers to a computer program with unrestricted source code that does not limit the use or distribution by any organization or user. An open source exchange model was recently expanded among federal agencies through the Nationwide Health Information Network-Connect initiative, according to a Friday press release. The economic stimulus package signed by President Obama earlier this year allotted about $19 billion for health IT.
Rockefeller's measure would create a new panel within the Department of Health and Human Service's Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to direct and oversee formation of this public utility model, its implementation, and operation. It would also implement and administer a new grant program for safety-net providers to cover the full cost of open source software implementation and maintenance for up to five years, with the possibility of renewal for up to five years if required benchmarks are met. Additionally, the bill would ensure interoperability between programs and create a child-specific e-health record to be used in Medicaid, CHIP, and other federal health programs.
"We need advancements in health information technology across the board to improve the quality of care Americans receive," Rockefeller said in a statement. "To make this happen, we need universal access to affordable and interoperable health information technology - from small, rural health clinics to large, urban hospitals." He added that open source software is a cost-effective, proven way to advance health IT. He noted that his bill does not replace commercial software but rather complements private sector investments by making health IT "a realistic option for all providers."
Microsoft funded campaigns continue to be a thorn in the side of Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., who could face his third ex-Microsoft employee in a consecutive election in 2010. Media reports have indicated that former Microsoft vice president Susan DelBene, a Democrat, is expected to give Reichert a run for his money. In 2006 and 2008, ex-Microsoft employee Darcy Burner, who was endorsed by EMILY's List, ran against Reichert but she narrowly lost both races. It has been reported that Burner does not plan to run in 2010. On Friday the American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation announced that she will serve as the group's executive director.
During her 2008 race, Burner collected more than twice as much money from Internet activists and officials at Microsoft than Reichert in their race for the 8th District seat, a report from CongressDaily found. According to FEC filings, Burner received $93,894 from Microsoft and its employees while Reichert received a total of $35,750. In 2008, Burner also received $104,076 in donations through ActBlue, an online PAC that raises money for Democrats. While DelBene's resume sounds similar to Burner's, the Politico reports DelBene "served in a top management position" while Burner was a mid-level manager. DelBene also helped create Drugstore.com and served as CEO of software firm Nimble Technology. -- Winter Casey
It's been a bleak April for the nation's cybersecurity. With hacks reported in the U.S. electrical grid and the Pentagon's Joint Strike Fighter program -- not to mention the continuing specter of debilitating worms and viruses -- officials are facing a battery of new questions about a persistent problem. Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., co-founded and co-chairs the House Cybersecurity Caucus, and he recently co-chaired a cybersecurity report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies for the 44th presidency. In a recent interview with National Journal, Langevin discussed the importance of a national cyberspace office in the White House and a comprehensive security effort throughout not just the government, but the private sector as well. To read the edited excerpts of the interview or listen to the audio presentation, go here. Also check out the National Journal magazine story on how the administration and lawmakers are responding to cyber concerns here. -- Winter Casey
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, fine-tuned his comedy act at a Motion Picture Association of America luncheon this week by telling a roomful of studio execs what he learned from the big screen:
• During all police investigations, it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.
• If being chased through town, you can usually take cover in a passing St. Patrick's Day parade any time of the year.
• It's easy for anyone to land a plane, provided there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.
• The ventilation system of any building is a perfect hiding place. No one will come looking for you, and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without being noticed, and there's never any dust or lint.
• If you need to reload your gun, you will always have more ammunition, even if you haven't been carrying any before.
• You are very likely to survive any battle of any war unless you show someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
• A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating, but will wince when a woman cleans his wounds.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government has sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates requesting a briefing as soon as possible on a recent news report that computer spies may have infiltrated the Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project, which is reportedly the most expensive weapons program that has been managed by the Department of Defense. "If true, these allegations are serious and potentially far-reaching. Given the potential national security implications of this matter, we hereby request that the department provide committee staff with a briefing regarding the events alleged," wrote Chairman Edolphus Towns and ranking member Darrell Issa.
Earlier this month the Wall Street Journal reported that foreign cyber spies may have penetrated the country's electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt infrastructure. It has also been reported that the Obama administration may have plans to create a new military command that would focus on defensive and offensive cyber security efforts within the Pentagon. Meanwhile, the administration is still trying to work out what its overall approach to cyber security will be and lawmakers are paying increasing attention to the issue. -- Winter Casey
House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson is slated to introduce the Community College Technology Access Act on Thursday, which will provide free computer training through the nation's community colleges so that workers can improve their IT skills and become more competitive during tough economic times. The Connecticut lawmaker's bill would give the Secretary of Education the authority to distribute grants to eligible community colleges that have computer labs and commit to opening their labs for 30 hours each week on weeknights and weekends, according to a summary of the legislation. It would also require that an instructor is present to provide training during those hours and that lab instruction is free and open to the public.
About $125 million would be authorized annually with grant amounts to be determined by the secretary. Each recipient school would have to report on the costs, hours of operation and number of individuals utilizing the service. Larson's legislation is based on a proposal developed by Dr. Rob Shapiro, chair of the New Democrat Network's Globalization Initiative, to use community colleges as technology hubs and efficient, cost-effective training grounds for the U.S. workforce. In July 2007, NDN and Shapiro released a major report, "Tapping the Resources of Community Colleges: A Modest Proposal to Provide Universal Computer Training." Larson and Shapiro will host a briefing on the bill at 3 p.m. on the terrace of the Cannon House Office Building at the corner of Independence Avenue and New Jersey Avenue.
House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns and ranking member Darrell Issa are reopening their committee's investigation of inadvertent file sharing on peer-to-peer networks, including LimeWire. The pair wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting a briefing on the agency's role in protecting Americans from the dangers associated with P2P networks. They want to know which federal law enforcement actions may be taken to protect individuals, commercial entities and agencies from security risks associated with programs such as LimeWire. They also wrote to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz requesting an update on his commission's work on the P2P front. A third letter went to LimeWire Chairman Mark Gorton, who testified before the committee in 2007.
At that hearing, witnesses said they were able to easily obtain bank records, health records, military files, tax returns, corporate documents, and other highly sensitive private files via the LimeWire network. Two years later, it appears that LimeWire and other P2P providers have not taken adequate steps to address the problem, the lawmakers said, citing a recent string of news reports indicating the continued availability of such information on LimeWire. Towns and Issa asked Gorton to provide information about LimeWire's services and software involved in any of the incidents that have been documented. They also asked what measures the firm has taken to fix security loopholes and identify and eliminate illegal activities associated with the software. Gorton's answers are due May 4.
"The emerging P2P industry takes the safety of consumers very seriously," said Marty Lafferty, executive director of the Distributed Computing Industry Association, which represents file-sharing services. "Our best advice now - to parents and children alike - is similar to that given by other Internet software distributors: please upgrade to the latest version for the best performance and the safest experience." LimeWire spokeswoman Linda Lipman told the AP that LimeWire's newest version does not share any file or directory without explicit permission from the user. Lafferty also pointed to principles released recently by the Inadvertent Sharing Protection Working Group, which can be found here.
Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Mike McCaul, R-Texas, will host a briefing for members and staff on Wednesday afternoon that will focus on smart grid technology -- just in time for Earth Day. "Development of a new, intelligent smart grid could drastically increase the efficiency of our nation's electricity infrastructure," the Congressional High Tech Caucus co-chairs wrote in a recent "Dear Colleague" letter. "An upgraded electrical grid is essential to take full advantage of the vast renewable resources in this country -- to take the wind from the Midwest and the sun from the Southwest and power areas across the country," they wrote. The Department of Energy recently got the R&D ball rolling by announcing plans to distribute $3.4 billion in smart grid technology grants and $615 million for smart grid demonstration projects.
An expert panel will discuss what Congress can do to encourage innovative applications of technology to energy distribution. Guest speakers include GridPoint Vice President Steve Hauser; Pacific Gas & Electric's Darren Deffner; PJM Interconnection Vice President Craig Glazier; Accenture's Michael Donohue; and Hewlett-Packard security architect Robert Shein. In related Earth Day news, President Obama will travel to Iowa for a tour of Trinity Structural Towers, which manufactures towers for wind energy production. Also on Wednesday, as part of the procurement process of a new White House fleet of vehicles, the administration has invited Chrysler, GM, and Ford to participate in a green vehicle market research day.
When Andrew Noyes and I worked on this week's National Journal story about the lobbying battle between the music industry and radio broadcasters over royalty fees, first quarter 2009 lobbying figures weren't available yet. Under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, neither side was required to make their lobbying numbers public until the April 20 filing deadline. Now we have those numbers so we can shed some light on one of the arguments in the battle: Both sides accuse the other of trying to win by outspending their opponent.
SoundExchange, the non-profit group that is funding the music industry's lobbying battle, reported that it spent $540,000, double the $200,000 it reported spending in the first quarter of 2008. The Recording Industry Association of America, which is a member of SoundExchange, reported spending $1.8 million in the first three months of 2009, up from the $1.54 million the organization spent during the same period a year ago. The National Association of Broadcasters, which is battling the music industry on behalf of radio broadcasters, reported spending $2.6 million, up from $2.49 million they spent in the first quarter of 2008.
Both sides are racking up big lobbying fees in roughly equal measure. -- Bara Vaida
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., will join Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va.; Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.; and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., as the newest co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus. Thune's ascension to the leadership of one of the most active and prestigious caucuses on Capitol Hill reinforces the bipartisanship that has been the hallmark of the group during more than a dozen years since its inception, a press release stated. Thune has shown leadership on the Senate Commerce Committee and in the past has sponsored legislation to promote e-government, health information technology and youth online safety. Thune will make his first speech as a caucus co-chair at the inaugural State of the Mobile Net Conference on Thursday. Other highlights of the summit include remarks by Goodlatte and Internet expert Susan Crawford, who serves on President Obama's National Economic Council. For a full agenda, click here.
When it comes to congressional passage of a patent reform bill, the devil will be in the details, the chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit told the Intellectual Property Owners Association international judges conference Monday. If a bill passes the House and Senate, Judge Paul Michel said he would expect it to include language that would change the United States from a "first to invent" to a "first to file" patent system. That modification is one of many proposed in legislation sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers. "On the other details stay tuned and stay involved," Michel said. Leahy's panel passed its patent bill before Easter recess and the senator's staff will soon start looking to secure floor time for a vote. But leadership aides have warned that this work period is a busy one and the legislation may have to wait. The House has not yet begun work on its bill. Michel said he believes there is a "substantial likelihood" some version of a patent bill will clear this year, potentially by the end of the summer.
During his talk, Michel pointed out several key intellectual property positions that are vacant. The Patent and Trademark Office, which he called a "highly stressed institution," still lacks a director and the newly created job of IP enforcement coordinator within the White House has not been filled. Both will be extremely important posts going forward, Michel said. On the international front, The World Intellectual Property Organization is in search of a deputy director. "It is conceivable that job could be filled by an American," the judge said. "Even in my own court, there is the prospect of a considerable changeover of membership," Michel added. Of the 12 active fulltime judges, four are already eligible to retire or assume senior status and within two years an additional four will fall into that category. Meanwhile, his court and others are struggling to keep pace with IP lawsuits and the PTO and its counterparts around the world are dealing with huge application backlogs and long pendency times. "It's ironic that in a world where the pace of commerce and news and innovation keep getting faster, the patent offices are getting slower," Michel said.
Declining advertising and classified sales, waning subscription numbers, the 24-hour news cycle and new competition brought by Internet innovators are among the myriad challenges facing newspapers in the recession-plagued 21st century - and now Congress wants to get involved. On Tuesday afternoon, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy will hold a hearing titled "A New Age for Newspapers: Diversity of Voices, Competition and the Internet." Witnesses include Carl Shapiro, deputy assistant attorney general for economics at the Justice Department; Philadelphia Media Holdings CEO Brian Tierney; journalist John Nichols; Newspaper Guild President Bernie Lunzer; Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott; University of Pennsylvania professor C. Edwin Baker; and Dan Gainor, director of the Business and Media Institute.
Next month, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who chairs the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet will hold a similar hearing to address the issues threatening the news media. The May 6 hearing will be Kerry's first since Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller tapped him to head up the panel. "An independent news media is vital to our democracy," Kerry said in a statement. "It holds power accountable while giving voice to the people and interests who might otherwise never be heard." United States history "is inextricably linked to the narrative of our free and independent press," Kerry said, yet America's newspapers are struggling to stay afloat. "I called this hearing to directly address a problem that for too long has had us turning the other way. Whatever the model for the future, we must do all we can to ensure a diverse and independent news media endures," he said.
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen spoke to the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet's Politics Online conference on Monday about how she has embraced new technologies to make government more accessible and accountable to the public. She and Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner emphasized the promise of cloud computing, the storage of large amounts of data by external hosting providers with the goal of saving money and increasing efficiency. The California government will soon move to a cloud computing structure on election night, Bowen said. She also articulated the promise and perils of social networking site Facebook and microblogging tool Twitter. Neither is good for having a complex discussion about complicated issues, said Bowen, who personally handles both of her accounts and as such can communicate directly with citizens. "You drive your communications department to drink," she laughed. "You hate to be the worst leak in your office." Watch the video of Bowen's speech above to learn more.
From the latest issue of National Journal magazine...
For decades, singers and record labels have tried to convince Congress that a gap in the country's copyright law has been allowing AM and FM radio stations to rip off artists. Radio broadcasters must pay a fee to songwriters and publishers for each song they play, but because of a long-standing exemption in the copyright law the performers themselves get nothing. "My recordings have been played worldwide with no amount of compensation coming to Dionne Warwick," the singer said at a Capitol Hill press briefing in February. "I think it's about time that I do get paid." Until recently, however, the sound of famous singers pleading poverty has fallen on deaf ears in Congress. Broadcasters, who paid out $550 million in royalty fees to writers and publishers in 2008, have successfully argued that singers get free radio airtime and promotion, resulting in millions of dollars in concert, merchandise, and record sales. Performers also get paid through contracts with labels.
But the music industry hopes that changing business models driven by new technology and an aggressive lobbying effort could force the broadcasters to change their tune. As consumers have shifted their music listening habits to the Internet, iPods, and satellite radio, and large corporations have bought up stations, the free airplay argument may no longer hold. More key lawmakers are expressing support for the music industry's position, and a nasty lobbying fight has erupted between the industry and broadcasters. The colorful comments of two prominent industry leaders demonstrate the passions at play. "This isn't a question of if they will lose, it's when they will lose," Mitch Bainwol, the Recording Industry Association of America's chairman and CEO, predicted while discussing the fight with National Journal. David Rehr, the National Association of Broadcasters' president and CEO, calls the fight "a long, drawn-out, brutal conflict between the foreign record labels and America's radio broadcasters." (The foreign-record comment is a reference to three of the country's four largest recording industry labels, which are owned by non-U.S. companies.) Read the full story and watch companion video here.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman and ranking member Susan Collins will hold a hearing in late April to examine the 60-day cybersecurity review ordered by President Obama. The audit, which is slated to conclude Friday, is being led by Melissa Hathaway, a top adviser to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair. After the hearing, Lieberman "will consider his legislative options," a spokeswoman said Wednesday. A number of bills intended to help secure U.S. computer networks, the power grid and other critical infrastructure are expected from committees that share jurisdiction over the issue. House and Senate committees covering commerce, homeland security, intelligence, judiciary and government reform have all introduced legislation in the past.
"The cyber threat to our nation's computer systems is real, and action to secure our cyber infrastructure is long overdue," Collins said in a statement. She is concerned that more than a year has gone by since the Bush administration announced its multi-billion dollar cybersecurity initiative and the Homeland Security Department still lacks the authority to set and enforce policies across the federal government. In last year's authorization bill, Lieberman and Collins outlined their vision for cybersecurity that would establish a National Cyber Security Center to coordinate efforts to protect government networks, strengthen DHS's ability to hire experts, and establish a private sector board to advise the agency on cybersecurity policy.
On the other side of Capitol Hill, House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson is focused on high-tech threats to the electrical system. "Our electric system is critical to our way of life, and we cannot afford to leave it vulnerable to attack," he said in a statement. "Our oversight indicates there is a significant gap in current regulation to effectively secure this infrastructure. I intend to introduce legislation that will address these limitations." Experts at the Center for Democracy and Technology briefed reporters on the path forward for cybersecurity policy at a Wednesday briefing. Read this story CongressDaily's PM Edition for more details.
Senate Commerce Committee member John Thune, R-S.D.; Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.; Virginia Technology Secretary Aneesh Chopra; and Internet visionary Susan Crawford, who is now working for the White House's National Economic Council, will headline the inaugural State of the Mobile Net policy conference on Capitol Hill later this month. The April 23 conference, hosted by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee, will bring together mobile and wireless policy pros and tech industry leaders to discuss policy and marketplace issues facing the dynamically evolving mobile Internet.
Panelists will probe key public policy issues on panels such as "Spectrum: Is the Lifeblood of the Mobile Net Running Dry?," "Privacy on the Go," and "What Policy Framework Will Further Enable Innovation on the Mobile Net?" The conference will also feature educational panels on such topics as "What is the Mobile Net: Understanding the Mobile Net Ecosystem", "Cloud Computing and Emerging Business Models in the Mobile Space," and "Mobile Network Infrastructure Trends." More information about the conference and the full agenda can be found here.
Rep. Eric Massa, D-N.Y., last week announced he is drafting legislation designed to prevent what he called "job killing broadband Internet downloading caps." The proposal would prohibit unfair tiered pricing structures and would address the importance of helping broadband providers create jobs and increase their bandwidth while increasing competition in areas currently served by only one provider, according to a press release. "I am taking a leadership position on this issue because of all the phone calls, emails and faxes I've received from my district and all over the country," Massa said, citing a plan by Time Warner to charge residential and business broadband fees based on the amount of data they download. [Read more coverage on this issue here].
The freshman lawmaker, who serves on the House Agriculture, Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, called Time Warner's announcement to test market the initiative in several regions "ill conceived" and said it had the potential to more than triple customers' current rates. Time Warner said it wanted to roll out the project in Rochester N.Y., Greensboro, N.C., Austin, Texas, and San Antonio, Texas. "It's almost certainly just a matter of time before they attempt to overcharge all of their customers," Massa said. "While I favor a business's right to maximize their profit potential, I believe safeguards must be put in place when a business has a monopoly on a specific region."
Read Massa's press release here and a recent memo from Landel Hobbs, Time Warner's chief operating officer here.
House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa, a cosponsor of legislation that would end a long-standing royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio, believes the National Association of Broadcasters is engaging in "overt intimidation" and has forced talk radio hosts around the country to attack the bill and urge listeners to call specific members of Congress. Issa said in an interview last week that he has been barraged by angry phone calls from listeners and said other bill supporters have had a similar experience. The NAB opposes the proposal that many believe would bring over-the-air radio in line with Internet, cable and satellite music services that pay performers for use of their work. Broadcasters argue the promotional value of airplay and album and concert sales make up for the disparity.
"This is really 527 activity and it is a violation of FEC rules," Issa said of the NAB's alleged efforts. "I suspect if they continue, one or more members will complain the NAB is using airwaves to affect the outcome of an election." NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton offered a different take on what is going on. "Broadcasters have a responsibility to 235 million weekly listeners of free, local radio to encourage a national dialogue on the devastating impact of a performance tax," he said. The legislation in question would endanger local radio's already unsteady financial position by diverting hundreds of millions of dollars into coffers of record labels, he argued. "Citizens have a right to know that a performance tax imperils the future of free, local radio."
House Republican High-Tech Working Group Chairman Bob Goodlatte just completed three days of meetings in Silicon Valley, which involved discussions with high-tech industry leaders about the challenges they currently face. Legislative attempts to overhaul the U.S. patent system as well as concerns about "card check" legislation and tax policy were big issues for the executives, officials said. The Virginia Republican met with CEOs and other top level officials from M2Z Networks, Covad Communications, Infinera Company, Yahoo and Cisco Systems as well as with executives from Amyris Biotech and Solazyme who are working to develop biofuels. The political network TechNet facilitated the meetings.
On the topic of patent reform, Goodlatte said "it is becoming increasingly clear that current patent laws do not sufficiently contemplate all the complex products in today's economy." "Without patent reform we will see more and more inventors registering their ideas under the laws of countries with more predictable intellectual property protections. This will only serve to further damage our fragile economy," he said in a statement. Goodlatte is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, which is expected to consider patent legislation in the near term. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed its patent bill before Easter recess.
Goodlatte also stressed the GOP working group's opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, which he believes would strike a huge blow to the privacy rights of workers throughout the country. The impact of that bill would be devastating to small businesses, and to the economy, he said. On tax reform, Goodlatte said the Democratic leadership's fiscal 2010 budget "expands the wayward philosophy of big government by increasing taxes on individuals and small businesses and burdening future generations with compounding debt." The proposal "will lessen the prospect for economic revitalization and job creation," he said.
The Consumer Electronics Association later this month will honor Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., as the trade group's 2009 Digital Patriots. The awards will be handed out April 22 at a banquet that is part of the annual CEA Washington Forum. Blunt, who is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is the second highest ranking Republican in the House, is being recognized for his leadership on the digital television transition. Meeks is an outspoken advocate for international trade and its benefits for the U.S. economy and chairs the House Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology. This year's Washington Forum will focus on technology policy priorities in the new administration. Event highlights include keynote addresses by David Plouffe, campaign manager, Obama for America; Paul Begala of CNN; and Tucker Carlson of MSNBC. Visits to Congressional offices will take place Tuesday, April 21 followed by dinner at the Newseum. For more information about the event, click here.
The National Association of Broadcasters broadened its sphere of Internet influence Tuesday by launching NoPerformanceTax.org, an online hub for the organization's campaign to fight legislation that would end a longstanding royalty exemption for AM and FM stations. The Web site gives radio stations the ability to download, air, and share radio spots opposing what NAB has deemed a "performance tax" as well as online banner ads for use on station Web sites and sample letters to members of Congress. The site also provides users with background information on the issue, video clips from congressional hearings and Capitol Hill events, and NAB news releases.
The front page of NoPerformanceTax.org boasts an interactive graphic made up of hundreds of gold and platinum albums on display in local radio stations across America. The albums are customarily presented by record labels to local radio stations as a sign of appreciation for promoting their music and propelling album sales. "Olympians aren't the only ones who bring home the gold," the Web site says. "Local radio stations provide billions of dollars in promotional value to artists and record labels. In appreciation, the record labels bestow upon radio stations 'gold' and 'platinum' albums to show their gratitude."
Marty Machowsky, a spokesman for the MusicFirst Coalition, which supports the fee, called NAB's Web attempt "so 2007." "NAB's witness at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing said a fair performance right on radio is not a tax. A new Web site can't save an old, discredited argument," he said. Companion bills were introduced by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers earlier this year. A resolution in opposition was introduced by Texas Reps. Gene Green, a Democrat, and Republican Mike Conaway a short time later. Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo., introduced a similar resolution last month.
See what you missed this week on the high-tech policy agenda by reading TechCentral's regular Friday feature, the Executive Summary.
This week's topics:
▪ Senate Panel Backs Patent Bill
▪ Hutchison Calls For Low-Cost Cable Options
▪ Lawmakers Urge Caution In Distributing Broadband Funds
▪ Senators Unveil Mobile Anti-Spam Bill
▪ Bill Would Provide Greater Access To Presidential Records
▪ Bills Aim To Improve Cybersecurity
▪ Key Lawmakers Warns Firms To Better Protect Data
▪ Homeland Security Official Urges Congress To Reconsider Cargo Mandate
▪ Bill Links ICANN Contract To Cybersecurity
Legislation that would statutorily codify the White House chief technology officer position was introduced Thursday by Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., who believes the job, proposed by President Obama on the campaign trail, is too important to isolate in a single administration. Making the CTO a permanent position in the executive branch will give the individual "greater stature and empower him/her to accomplish the goals of the president," he wrote in a "Dear Colleague" letter circulated the same day. Obama has not yet selected his CTO but did tap former District of Columbia e-government expert Vivek Kundra to become the federal government's CIO.
Obama has said the CTO will ensure that the government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century. The individual will also ensure the safety of high-tech networks and will lead an interagency effort, working with CTOs and CIOs in each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices, according to Connolly's letter. The bill would provide the official with resources that are necessary to complete his or her mission, including the ability to convene hearings, conduct studies, establish advisory panels, and award grants and fellowships.
Earlier this year, Connolly and Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., wrote to Obama praising him for signing the executive order that created the CTO post and recommended Virginia CTO Aneesh Chopra for the job. They said Chopra's public and private experience in the technology field made him the right candidate. They also noted his focus on healthcare IT "is ideal for a position that will have responsibilities dealing both with stimulus spending on healthcare and environmental programs." Moran and Del. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, have signed on as cosponsors of the CTO Act.
Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., introduced legislation Thursday to curb unsolicited text messages or mobile spam which is a growing nuisance for millions of wireless customers. The measure will provide more government attention to this growing problem and makes modifications to existing laws in order to improve efforts to restrain mobile spam, according to a press release. Specifically, the bill would strengthen powers given to the FCC and the FTC to curb unwanted text messages. It also affords additional consumer protections by banning commercial text messages to wireless numbers listed on the do-not-call registry.
Wireless subscribers that do not have an unlimited data plan are typically charged for sending and receiving messages -- sometimes as much as 20 cents per message. "Mobile spam invades both a consumer's cell phone and monthly bill," Snowe said, noting there is also increasing concern that the messages will become more than just an annoyance. Viruses and malicious spyware are often attached to traditional spam will most likely become more prevalent on wireless devices, she said. Wireless users in the United States received more than 1.1 million spam text messages in 2007, up 38 percent from 2006.
Generic pharmaceutical industry officials are angry over an amendment that Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, might introduce Thursday as the Senate Judiciary Committee continues its mark up of sweeping patent legislation. The proposal would essentially let the Patent and Trademark Office examine information that was not considered during an earlier review. Under the plan, if a patent is issued, the information in question may not be used to hold the patent unenforceable. The amendment also clarifies that requesting the reissue (or the decision not to) cannot alone be the basis of an "inequitable conduct" challenge. The proposal does not touch the underlying doctrine, which generic drug makers believe is vital to ensure timely market entry of medicines, according to CongressDaily's AM Edition.
But generics manufacturers argue the Hatch amendment would essentially incentivize intentional deceptive before the PTO. It's a back door "but for" test that would do away with the inequitable conduct defense, they argue, calling the proposal an 11th hour effort by brand pharmaceutical companies. The plan allows patentees to effectively "sanitize" their patents from all prior cheating or lying at the PTO by submitting the concealed or misrepresented information for consideration, even long after the patent issued, generics stakeholders said. If adopted, the offering could cause great delay in litigation, will not reduce costs, and burdens the PTO with a new procedure, they argue.
Legislation unveiled Wednesday by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, would require greater oversight of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. The private entity based in California is slated to sever formal ties with the Commerce Department later this year and is working on a controversial plan that would change the way top-level domains, such as .biz, .info, and .us, are assigned. Read CongressDaily's coverage for details (subscription required).
"It's a great thing the Congress is taking this issue so seriously" and better coordination of cybersecurity is a laudable goal, ICANN Vice President Paul Levins told Tech Daily Dose. But the Internet is a dispersed network "so you can't just turn it off by exerting pressure at one point," he said. The bill would "make sure that ICANN does not succumb to foreign pressure" to end its relationship with the U.S. government, according to a summary. Levins argued the analysis "misunderstands ICANN's interests" and said his organization does not want to end its link to the U.S. government.
Another section would require the head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to develop a secure Internet addressing system. According to the summary, ICANN has "failed in this regard." Levins defended his group's leadership on the issue saying a proposal on this front was sent to the Commerce Department in October and officials have been running a test bed for over 12 months. ICANN is awaiting feedback from the agency, he said.
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman was a no-show at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association's 58th annual convention on Wednesday night. He was scheduled to keynote a $350 per plate dinner at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel. The banquet was a fundraiser for the Cable Pioneers group, which was scheduled to induct 25 men and women who have served the cable industry for more than two decades and made meaningful contributions in the industry's evolution. Waxman was busy on the House floor managing a bill that passed his committee last month that would give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to ban marketing and sales of tobacco to children.
The lawmaker wasn't the only one who cancelled an appearance at the 2009 Cable Show on Wednesday. Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.DC, were expected at an earlier event but had scheduling conflicts. On Thursday and Friday, attendees are scheduled to hear from House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va.; acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps; FCC Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Robert McDowell; other representatives from the Obama administration and industry analysts. For more about the Cable Show's public policy track click here.
Congressional Web sites that offer news, information and other resources that relate to the ongoing economic turmoil are probably attracting more eyeballs than they have in the past. Perhaps that's why House Financial Services Committee ranking member Spencer Bachus unveiled a fresh, new Web presence for the panel's GOP membership on Monday. The revamped site offers quick links to member bios, subcommittee information, issue briefs, achievements, and events. Click here to learn more.
Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo., have joined more than 150 members of the House in supporting a resolution opposing the introduction of "any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge" on local radio stations. The nonbinding Senate measure introduced Monday mirrors one sponsored earlier this year by Texas Reps. Gene Green, a Democrat, and Republican Mike Conaway and comes as roughly 500 local members of the National Association of Broadcasters arrive in Washington for their annual state leadership conference.
Legislation offered by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would bring over-the-air radio in line with Internet, cable and satellite music services that pay artists for use of their work. Broadcasters have long argued that the promotional value of airplay and the resulting album and concert ticket sales make up for the disparity. NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said the "performance tax" would threaten thousands of jobs, reduce music diversity, and hamstring a new artist's ability to reach radio's 234 million weekly listeners.
Supporters of the House and Senate radio royalty bills, however, sent a press release pointing out that the legislation now enjoys the support of seven committee chairmen in the House. In addition to Conyers, the Performance Rights Act is cosponsored by Foreign Relations Chairman Howard Berman; Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman; Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter; Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson; Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns; and Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson.
Surf on over to CongressDaily's TechCentral for a new "Issue of the Week." Here's a taste:
The Department of Health and Human Services is getting ready to meet its first major deadline for setting up one of two key federal advisory committees established within the $19 billion health information technology section of the economic stimulus package. Members of a policy panel charged with making recommendations to the department's health IT coordinator on the implementation of a nationwide system of electronic medical records are due Friday. Thirteen of the committee's 20-plus members are appointed by GAO with additional members selected by HHS and House and Senate leadership.
The stimulus bill allows more time for the formation of the health IT standards committee, whose members are appointed by the HHS secretary with the national health IT coordinator taking a leading role. The time ahead of that deadline, which has not been announced, may help given that the Senate has yet to confirm Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Obama's pick for HHS secretary. The Senate Finance Committee will hold its confirmation hearing for her Thursday. Under the statute, the standards committee must consist of healthcare providers, ancillary healthcare workers, consumers, purchasers, health plans, technology vendors, researchers, relevant agency representatives, and experts in healthcare quality, privacy and security. Recommendations from the policy panel dictate the work of the standards panel, which has to develop a roadmap by May.
Read the full story here (subscription required).
The Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday resumes its markup of legislation that would overhaul the U.S. patent system. The panel began consideration of Chairman Patrick Leahy's measure Thursday but saved the tougher topics for later. Proposals to address how damages are awarded in patent infringement lawsuits have been circulated among members, including language offered by Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to provide courts with clearer requirements on handling evidence of infringement and determining damages.
Meanwhile, the House Homeland Security Emerging Threats Subcommittee Tuesday will examine whether payment card industry data standards reduce cybercrime. The security requirements, created to reduce the number and size of data breaches, apply to all businesses that store, process, or transmit cardholder data. Homeland Security Department-funded intelligence "fusion centers" will be the focus of a Wednesday hearing by the House Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee. Members will discuss the department inspector general's December report on the state-run facilities, as well as recently adopted operational baseline capabilities for fusion centers.
Washington will be the center of activity for the cable television biz this week when the industry's annual convention returns to the nation's capital and its convention center after a 38-year hiatus. The packed agenda features several marquee policymakers and executives, with Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., kicking off the event Tuesday night with a speech. Senate Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman will appear Wednesday.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., has begun using Google AdWords, a program that lets webmasters create their own ads and choose keywords, to respond to Thursday's front page New York Times article about her history of defending tobacco companies. Simply search for "Gillibrand" on Google and an ad from her campaign proclaiming that "Gillibrand Fights Tobacco" should appear to the right. The ad links to a page on her campaign Web site that highlights her anti-tobacco record. A second ad that is displayed points to an immigration reform Web site and the third points to the Times article itself. Gillibrand's campaign usage of the targeted Web advertising platform hints at the future of rapid response in the digital age.
Gillibrand holds a big lead over Republican Rep. Peter King, but would face a more difficult race if former Republican Gov. George Pataki entered it, according to a recent Siena College poll. The poll showed Gillibrand leading King 47-23 percent and she is tied at 41 percent apiece, when matched up against Pataki. Search is a natural tool for political rapid response, said Peter Greenberger, team manager for elections and issues advocacy at Google. "As news breaks, people go online to find more information. Savvy political advertisers take advantage of that spike in interest to get their message in front of voters and lawmakers at the exact moment of relevance," he said.
President Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., led the way in 2008 by using search for crisis communications, and now other political campaigns and issue groups are adopting the same strategies, Greenberger added. Google expects to see a lot more of this in 2009 and beyond. He said his team is already seeing political campaigns use Google earlier and to a greater degree than ever before. For more on politics and Web ads, read National Journal's recent article here.
The Obama administration's 60-day review of the federal cybersecurity posture will likely conclude that a comprehensive strategy for protecting the government's IT assets and critical infrastructure from high-tech attacks should be run by the White House, Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., told reporters Thursday. The review being conducted by Melissa Hathaway, a senior adviser to former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, is more than halfway complete. Recent studies have recommended that oversight authority be housed in the Executive Office of the President rather than the Homeland Security Department or the National Security Agency. "I expect that cybersecurity as we go forward will look very much like our counter-proliferation program," said Langevin, who co-chairs the House Cybersecurity Caucus.
On the campaign trail, Obama promised to create a cyber czar post in the White House and Hathaway is the heir apparent. "I'm very impressed with the due diligence she's exercising in putting together the team and reaching out to outside groups and experts," Langevin said of Hathaway, who was on Capitol Hill for an event to reconstitute the caucus for the 111th Congress. Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., who replaced Langevin as chair of the House Homeland Security Emerging Threats Subcommittee this session, emphasized the enormity of Hathaway's task. She pointed out that there are 42 different departments and agencies involved. "Every new [technological] advance we have creates new vulnerabilities and our responsibility is to have oversight over each and every area," Clarke said.
Microsoft has hired David Pryor Jr. as director of government affairs, where he will lobby the Senate. The company's newest lobbyist has family ties to the Senate. His father, is former Sen. David Pryor, D-Ark. and his younger brother is Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark. who was elected in 2002. Previously, Pryor was senior federal affairs representative for FedEx, where he worked on transportation and aviation issues. Pryor says Microsoft and FedEx share policy interests such as free trade and innovation in the workplace. Pryor says he has never lobbied his father or brother, nor will he in the future.
Before FedEx, Pryor was deputy chief of protocol at the State Department between 1997 and 2000. Pryor has also served as principal of Pryor and Associates, a boutique consulting firm, and as a senior account executive with Hill & Knowlton Public Affairs. Pryor said that having a child with special needs has made him appreciate the power of technology and helped shape his perception of Microsoft. His 13-year-old son, Hampton, attends St. Coletta of Greater Washington where Pryor is president of the board of trustees. He said he has learned about technology by watching how his son, who cannot walk or talk, reacts to assistive technologies and interactive computer software. -- Winter Casey
The European Union said Thursday that the United States is breaking the rules of the World Trade Organization and creating a barrier to trade in its enforcement of laws pertaining to Internet gambling. The Obama administration should consider the issue and the possibility of negotiating a solution, the EU wrote in a draft report. The paper, which is currently being sent to EU member states for comments on the findings, holds that European online gambling companies are still being subject to legal proceedings by U.S. authorities based on their business activities before the U.S. changed its gambling law in 2006.
The EU also said that while U.S. companies may have online gambling operations for horse racing sites in the U.S., EU companies are not permitted to do so. The EU holds that the problem stems for EU companies understanding that it was legal to supply Internet gambling services in the U.S. prior to 2006. U.S. government agencies, including the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Justice Department, are studying the report and will discuss it with the European Commission, a USTR spokeswoman said.
House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank plans to reintroduce legislation to effectively unhinge the Internet gambling ban, which passed as part of a larger port security bill in 2006 but was not implemented until recently. A bill introduced by Frank last Congress would have created an exemption to the gambling ban for properly licensed operators and set up a regulatory and enforcement framework for those online firms to accept bets and wagers. It would also have ensured protections aimed at underage users, compulsive gamblers, and potential victims of money laundering and fraud. Read more in CongressDaily here (subscription required). -- Winter Casey
The most controversial components of a bill that would overhaul the U.S. patent system, which is teed up for Senate Judiciary Committee consideration Thursday morning, will likely be pushed back until next week. Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy's mark up is expected to be a short one (for now) with the panel potentially considering a manager's amendment that will be largely technical in nature, CongressDaily's AM Edition reported. Eight of his committee's 19 members are also likely to be embroiled in the Senate Budget Committee's simultaneous markup of the fiscal year 2010 budget resolution and will have to choose between proceedings.
The biggest hurdle for Leahy continues to be a provision that would change how courts award damages in patent infringement lawsuits -- but sources say a compromise is in the works. A modified version of a "gatekeeper" proposal pitched by Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., last Congress may be the winning approach, Leahy's cosponsor, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told CongressDaily. That concept would provide courts with clearer requirements on handling evidence of infringement and determining compensation. Talks are underway for a deal on what a Republican aide called "gatekeeper plus." The staffer said the compromise should appease high-tech firms that have insisted on bold changes to the damages regime.
Read CongressDaily's full story here (subscription required).
Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and the panel's top Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, on Wednesday unveiled their agenda for the 111th Congress. Among their ambitious list of issues are some high-tech gems.
• Kohl intends to continue his inquiry into the cause of sharp price increases for text messaging. From 2006 to 2008, the four leading cell phone providers doubled the per message cost of text messaging, from 10 to 20 cents per message.
• The subcommittee will continue to examine competition in the consolidating Internet and related online advertising industry with particular attention to deals like Google's purchase of DoubleClick and the now-abandoned Google-Yahoo ad partnership.
• Members want to examine competition in the broadband industry and the issue of "network neutrality" while monitoring whether consumers continue to have the freedom to access the Internet content they wish.
• The panel will examine media consolidation; rising cable television rates; and increased competition in the cable and satellite TV market as well as playing a role in the renewal of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act.
The office of Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., believes their boss is the first member of Congress to show how federal recovery funds will be spent in her congressional district to stimulate the economy. Matsui will post an interactive Google Map on her Web site today to show where the funding received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which President Obama signed into law on Feb. 17, is going in Sacramento. The office said Matsui plans to update the Web site as new funds become available to her district in the future.
"Transparency and accountability have been key components of the economic recovery bill, as such; I have posted a running list of programs and projects that have received funding from the stimulus package on my website, and a Google Map showing where the federal money is going throughout the Sacramento area," said Matsui in a statement. These funds are being dolled out in significant sums to recipients working on efforts that include public safety programs, the evaluation of direct geothermal feasibility and solar photovoltaic systems to reduce energy costs, public housing programs, electric cars to transport disabled visitors, and transportation and sidewalk improvements. -- Winter Casey
From CongressDaily's AM Edition...
House and Senate Republicans are preparing to christen their chambers' high-tech membership organizations after a prolonged lull. Once launched, they will have a host of hot topics on their plates including President Barack Obama's tax and trade policy proposals and the union-backed Employee Free Choice Act. Even without a formal agenda in place, House Republican High Tech Working Group Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia joined Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith and Education and Labor ranking member Howard (Buck) McKeon this month to denounce the EFCA. They contend that card-check legislation would harm workers' privacy rights.
Goodlatte has assembled about 45 members for his working group, which had a prominent role in the Republican-controlled 109th Congress but, like the Senate High Tech Task Force, was largely muffled when Democrats came to power. The Senate Republican High Tech Task Force is also gearing up. It was created by former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and before former Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon's tenure last session, was led by Sens. John Ensign of Nevada, Robert Bennett of Utah, and former Sen. George Allen of Virginia. The Senate Democratic High Tech Task Force, which was co-chaired last Congress by Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, has also been slow to start. Read the full story here (subscription required).
House Science Chairman Bart Gordon said Tuesday that conversations about federal R&D funding as part of a fiscal year 2010 appropriations package will be "difficult" given a range of competing priorities and the ongoing recession but are critical to continued U.S. competitiveness. Government bankrolled research got a "big bump" in the economic stimulus package and the fiscal year 2009 omnibus but sustained growth in the years to come is key, he told Tech Daily Dose.
"At the same time we're asking for more money, we're trying to leverage that by spending what we have better and coordinating that with the private sector," Gordon said. One such example is the House's recent passage of legislation to strengthen and provide transparency in federal R&D to understand the potential environmental, health, and safety risks of nanotechnology. Under the bill, agencies that are part of the National Nanotechnology Initiative would be required to develop a plan for environmental and safety research; near-term and long-term goals and other requirements.
Universities and businesses must do their part to be good partners with government "in determining the best areas for research that can be commercialized, taking it from the labs and universities to the private sector," Gordon said. Representatives from those communities visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers to thank them for their support. "They want to [be able to] come back and say thank you next year and the year after and the year after," Gordon said.
As Eliza Newlin Carney reported in National Journal's State of Lobbying issue this week, the advocacy industry is increasingly using social networking tools to promote their issue of the day. The Sunlight Foundation is using Twitter to directly lobby senators to co-sponsor the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act that NationalJournal.com's Under The Influence blog mentioned Monday. Sunlight courted bill supporters to lobby senators' BlackBerrys directly via a 'Tweet Lobby'.
"[We] believe this will be the first organized direct lobbying of members of Congress over Twitter," Sunlight Communication's Director Gabriela Schneider told National Journal. Two senators, Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., tweeted about their support of the bill. Both of these lawmakers supported the bill in previous sessions of Congress so their position is not necessarily a reflection of the Twitter lobby. It will be interesting and telling if the Twitter lobby generates a response from a greater portion of the 17 senators on Twitter, especially those who haven't voiced support of the bill in the past. We'll be paying attention -- Eliza Krigman
More than 100 Golden State companies who have serious concerns about legislation intended to overhaul the U.S. patent system are putting pressure on Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., days before the Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to consider the bill. An array of companies including Amgen, Corning, Monsanto and Qualcomm signed the letter sent late last week by the California Healthcare Institute, which represents medical device, biotechnology, diagnostics and pharmaceutical firms. The measure, co-sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, contains controversial language that would change how courts calculate damages in patent lawsuits. The signatories argue that the legislation "fails to account for a number of significant court decisions that have both transformed the patent aw landscape and addressed the supposed failings of the current system."
The companies say they support "balanced and reasonable efforts" to improve patent quality up front by modernizing operations and providing new resources to the Patent and Trademark Office. Major high-tech and media companies, however, believe more aggressive, litigation related changes are needed to keep the United States competitive. The bill is scheduled to be marked up Thursday and Feinstein serves on the committee. During a recent hearing, witnesses expressed interest in revisiting a "gatekeeper" damages provision, which was explored in the 110th Congress by Feinstein and Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter. The proposal, which would provide courts with clearer requirements on handling evidence of infringement and determining damages, was not included in the current version or in the bill that passed Leahy's panel in July 2007.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., unceremoniously reintroduced a bill last week that would make changes to the U.S. patent system -- an alternative to legislation sponsored in the 110th Congress and again this session by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Under Kyl's plan, which has been tweaked slightly since it was last introduced, litigants in patent infringement lawsuits would be encouraged to use precise economic analyses to determine damages rather than less exact calculations. Supporters of Leahy's bill, which is scheduled for a Thursday mark-up, want a solution that includes specific rules for apportionment of damages in patent lawsuits.
In drafting Kyl's bill last year, staff consulted extensively with critics of Leahy's proposal, including the pharmaceutical and life-sciences industries and members of the Innovation Alliance, a group of small tech firms and companies whose business models depend on patent licenses. A number of others like the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform, the Biotechnology Industry Association, Intellectual Property Owners Association, and American Intellectual Property Law Association also weighed in. At the time, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Senior Vice President Ken Johnson told CongressDaily that Kyl's proposal "pushed the ball forward and helped set the table for responsible reform."
Noticeably absent from the dialogue with Kyl's staff was the Coalition for Patent Fairness, which represents Cisco Systems, Google, Microsoft, Time Warner, and others. That group, which backs Leahy's approach, said in a statement last fall that Kyl's bill "will not fix the nation's patent system, which is broken and draining critical resources from healthy sectors of our economy." At the time, Hatch issued a statement calling Kyl's measure "a worthy attempt" but not a "silver bullet." Read CongressDaily's earlier coverage of the Kyl bill here, here, and here (subscription required).
Longtime intellectual property rights crusader Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., might have moved on to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the 111th Congress but he has not abandoned his passion for the hot-button policy topic. Berman, whose congressional district includes parts of Hollywood, is planning an April 6 field hearing in Van Nuys on the international impact of counterfeiting and piracy. Berman chaired the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property last Congress and after being tapped for the Foreign Affairs top spot, Judiciary Chairman John Conyers decided to eliminate the panel and handle IP at the full committee level.
The forthcoming hearing titled "Sinking the Copyright Pirates: Global Protection of Intellectual Property" will feature representatives from various sectors of the entertainment industry who will discuss the devastating economic impact of illegal reproduction of copyrighted material overseas, a Monday e-mail from Berman's office said. Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee will take part but a witness list has not yet been released. According to the International Intellectual Property Alliance, U.S. creative industries account for $110 billion annually in revenue from foreign trade but they are losing billions from IP theft. IIPA recently told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in a filing that in 48 countries, the software and recording sectors alone lost more than $18.4 billion to bootleggers.
As President Barack Obama's first 100 days whiz by, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, ranking member Arlen Specter, and Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, are pressuring the White House to make intellectual property protection a priority. The foursome who was the driving force behind last year's PRO IP Act, which former President George W. Bush signed in October, wrote to Obama last week urging him to nominate an IP enforcement coordinator. The position within the Executive Office of the President was created in their legislation and "can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the administration's efforts to protect American intellectual property," they wrote in a letter obtained by Tech Daily Dose.
Such an official can make a major impact in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy "but only if placed in an appropriate position of authority" inside the White House with adequate funding, the senators said. "Intellectual property rights promote innovation and creativity, long recognized as major drivers of the United States economy. Protecting intellectual property is therefore both a law enforcement objective and an important component of our economy recovery efforts," they wrote. CongressDaily reported shortly after Election Day that Victoria Espinel, a Democrat who served as the first assistant trade representative for IP, was a likely contender. Entertainment industry officials' names were also floated including Shira Perlmutter, a former associate general counsel for Time Warner.
High-tech intruders thought to be in China recently hacked into computers in Sen. Bill Nelson's Washington, D.C. office. Two attacks on the same day this month and another last month targeted work stations used by three of the Florida Democrat's staffers -- a key foreign-policy aide, the deputy legislative director and a former Nelson NASA adviser. The hackers didn't make off with any classified information, which isn't kept on office computers, a Nelson spokesman said in a press release. Similar incursions on Capitol Hill IT networks are up significantly in the past few months, according to various congressional information systems offices.
Nelson, a member of the Senate Intelligence, Armed Services and Finance committees, has joined Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, in cosponsoring legislation aimed at bolstering U.S. defenses against such attacks. "The threat to our national security, to be sure, is real; and, it will require significant investment and inter-agency coordination at an unprecedented level to gain an upper hand against would-be cyber criminals and spies," Nelson said last week. "These are anxious days, when you consider the threat from such espionage facing our country and recent developments on this front."
President Barack Obama on Friday nominated FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein to become administrator for the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service. He has been at the Commission since December 2002. Before joining the FCC, Adelstein served for 15 years as a staff member in the Senate, for the last seven as a senior aide to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. RUS issues loans and grants for telecom, energy and water treatment projects and is set to receive $2.5 billion in loans from the economic stimulus package to promote broadband deployment.
CongressDaily reported earlier this month that the White House was quietly assembling a list several candidates for the FCC after Obama announced that he wants his chief technology adviser and close confidante Julius Genachowski as chairman. Mignon Clyburn, a state regulator and daughter of House Majority Whip James Clyburn, is a leading contender to replace Adelstein. Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, along with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are playing an active role in the decision-making to fill a GOP FCC slot. Read CongressDaily's story here (subscription required).
Other key appointments made Friday:
• Steven Koonin, the nominee for under secretary for science at the Energy Department, who is currently chief scientist for BP where he guides the company's technology strategy.
• Priscilla Guthrie, the nominee for chief information officer at the Office of Director of National Intelligence, who is currently IT director at the Institute for Defense Analyses, a nonprofit that administers three federally funded R&D centers.
• David Blumenthal, a former Harvard Medical School professor, to become national coordinator for health IT at the Health and Human Services Department.
Rep. Michael Honda, D-Calif, vice-chair of the House Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee, is giving his constituents the opportunity to redesign his congressional Web site -- and he is using Web surveys and micro-blogging application Twitter to collect ideas. Despite the plans for a new look, Honda's current site has been recognized for its solid design by the Congressional Management Foundation. His office said the purpose of the redesign "is to move America closer to Government 2.0, where the public's ability to access and provide advice to members of Congress is enhanced by new technology and new online participation." Honda has promoted legislation to make data from Congress, the Library of Congress and the Government Printing Office available to the public. See related Tech Daily Dose posts here and here.
Also in the congressional new media arena, a number of lawmakers will be answering questions regarding their own user experiences with new technology such as Facebook and Twitter on April 21 as part of the annual Politics Online conference put on by George Washington University. Lawmakers scheduled to attend include include Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Reps. John Culberson, R-Texas, Steve Israel, D-N.Y., Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Tim Ryan, D-Ohio. -- Winter Casey
Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, are crafting legislation that they hope will improve the country's cybersecurity posture in the face of increasingly sophisticated global attacks against U.S. government networks as well as the nation's broader critical infrastructure. Rockefeller indicated he was working on the bill at a Thursday hearing where he also pledged to make cybersecurity a committee priority this year. He called cybersecurity "a profoundly and deeply troubling problem to which we are not paying much attention." CongressDaily's AM Edition has more coverage of the hearing (subscription required).
"We presently have systems to protect our nation's secrets and our government networks against cyber espionage, and it is imperative that those cyber defenses keep up with our enemies' cyber capabilities," a draft summary of the Rockefeller-Snowe proposal obtained by CongressDaily stated. "However, the threat of cyber attack on our private sector's critical infrastructure - banking, utilities, air/rail/auto traffic control, and telecommunications is equally alarming and protections must be put in place." The document goes on to say the proposal would "bring new high-level governmental attention to develop a fully integrated, thoroughly coordinated, public-private partnership."
Follow the jump for a detailed rundown of what the bill could include...
Fans and foes of legislation that would end a longstanding copyright royalty granted to AM and FM radio made their cases on Capitol Hill on Thursday. The National Association of Broadcasters, which opposes the measure, hosted a panel discussion featuring radio personality Tom Joyner and minority broadcasting executives including Radio One founder Cathy Hughes; ICBC Broadcast Holdings President Charles Warfield; Glory Communications President Alex Snipe and others. They argued the legislation will destroy diversity in the urban radio community and put many radio jobs at risk.
Meanwhile, representatives from the MusicFirst Coalition, which supports the bill, visited members with Duke Fakir of the Four Tops. Fakir joined Motown legends Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas and Mary Wilson of the Supremes in sending a same-day letter to lawmakers asking them to support the bill. "This bill will have a real and positive economic impact in the lives of working musicians and recording artists and help ensure the continued vitality of American music and culture," the letter said.
The Senate on Thursday confirmed John Holdren, a Harvard physicist, as President Barack Obama's science adviser and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Holdren was a professor of environmental policy at the university and served as director of the Kennedy School's program on science, technology, and public policy. His research has focused on causes and consequences of global environmental change; energy technologies; and ways to reduce the dangers from nuclear weapons and materials, according to his official bio.
Oregon State University marine biologist Jane Lubchenco was also confirmed as head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller said he was pleased to see both nominees win confirmation. "It is time to take science out of the laboratory and into our communities in order to help people understand how science impacts their everyday lives - from clean air and water to fixing our rapidly declining economy," Rockefeller said. "Both individuals will serve this country and the taxpayers honorably; there is much work to be done and no time to waste."
As expected, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday delayed consideration of controversial patent legislation introduced earlier this month by Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. The bill has been criticized by a number of industry stakeholders -- mainly because of its controversial provision to change how damage are awarded in patent infringement lawsuits -- but was put on the agenda for the panel's mark up anyway. Under committee rules, any member can request a hold-over on legislation that appears on the agenda for the first time. In this case it was ranking member Arlen Specter who asked that the bill be held (see CongressDaily's PM Edition for more).
Leahy indicated that productive meetings had been held on the legislation with a number of offices. "The hearing last week demonstrated that there is wide consensus among participants in the patent system, academics, and senators on this committee that patent reform is necessary," he said. "It should also be apparent, at least in my view, that the time for posturing has ended, and the time for reaching agreement has arrived." At the patent hearing, Specter asked witnesses for language to describe what the test for damages should be and many of them were close to using the same words, Leahy said. "We are looking for a way to get this right, to legislate responsibly." The committee is expected to revisit the bill in executive session next Thursday.
My colleague Winter Casey reports at NationalJournal.com...
Speaking at a Center for Democracy and Technology gala last week, Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., predicted that federal shield legislation he introduced in February would pass the House and Senate this session. The bill, H.R. 985, would protect reporters from being compelled to reveal confidential sources even under subpoena. It currently has 40 cosponsors, including Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., John Conyers, D-Mich., and Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. An identical bill passed the House during the 110th Congress, but the Senate never considered it.
In order to protect journalists, however, someone first has to decide who qualifies -- no easy task in the fast-evolving new media marketplace. Boucher's office noted that 36 states and the District of Columbia already have statutes protecting reporters, but the laws use varying standards and some require journalists to work for a newspaper or a radio or television station. "We have to be very careful of enshrining in legislation today a view of technology that doesn't take into account that technology changes," said David Ardia, director of the Citizen Media Law Project at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard. "We are also faced with the situation today when journalism and journalism institutions are undergoing tremendous change, and the way we have defined who is a journalist" is changing as well, he added.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, for example, this week stopped printing a paper edition and is available only via the Web. President Barack Obama, in his first news conference from the White House, took a question from a reporter for the Huffington Post, an online-only source of liberal-leaning news that also routinely publishes stories written by celebrities and notable politicos. Under some laws, reporters from neither publication would qualify for protection. Read the full story here.
Commerce Secretary-designate Gary Locke on Wednesday assured the Senate Commerce Committee there will be timely implementation of the transition to digital television and told Republicans that statistical sampling will not be used for apportionment purposes in the 2010 census. His confirmation hearing brought up a range of issues from the monitoring of commercial fishing to cybersecurity. Read more in CongressDaily's PM Edition (subscription required).
Other interesting tidbits:
If confirmed, Locke should pay close attention to challenges currently faced by the Patent and Trademark Office as well as to related bills moving through the House and Senate that could drastically change the patent system, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said. "This is such a key issue for further growth of our intellectual property," Brownback said, noting that it is crucial that legislation does not favor one industry over another. "I don't think that's a wise way for us to grow," he said.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., raised the impending expiration of the Commerce Department's formal oversight role with respect to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the group that Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration has been reviewing ICANN's progress as part of a three-year agreement to extend a contract between them, which expired in September 2006. Nelson said Locke will have to help decide how the U.S. government's relationship with ICANN will evolve.
On the anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting front, Locke said he has long been focused on intellectual property protections. In response to a statement by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., he said bootlegging takes money away from U.S. companies and the nation has to work aggressively to stop the flow of illicit products -- from automobile parts to consumer goods to software.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on Wednesday laid out his argument for why legislation he cosponsored with Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy should include an "inequitable conduct" provision that would rule patents invalid if owners are not forthcoming to the Patent and Trademark Office. The language was part of a bill that passed Leahy's panel last Congress but was axed from the version they reintroduced this year. "Inequitable conduct reform is core to patent reform, as it dictates how patents are prosecuted years before litigation," Hatch told a symposium on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The inequitable conduct defense is frequently pled, rarely proven, and always drives up the cost of litigation, he said. If an inequitable conduct claim wins, a valid patent will be held entirely void, and the infringer walks away without any liability, he added. There is "virtually no downside for the infringer to raise this type of attack." Yet Hatch acknowledged the generic drug industry deems the inequitable conduct defense sacrosanct and any attempt to change it will be met with opposition. Once compromise is reached on that issue and on how to calculate damages in a patent lawsuit, "the rest of the bill will fall into place," he said.
With respect to damages, Hatch said specific language like "apportionment, contribution over prior art, or essential features" has been dismissed by many but at last week's Judiciary hearing, Hatch said he heard agreement on a gatekeeper approach where a judge instructs juries on what factors to consider in determining damages and agreement that damages should be based on the economic value of the invention to the infringed product or process. The bill has been listed for a Thursday mark up but will likely be held over. At the event, Hatch also told a joke with the punch line: "But you're a patent attorney, you don't know enough law to hurt anybody." Follow the jump to read it...
Former Washington Democratic Gov. Gary Locke told the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday that he plans to shepherd the Commerce Department through turbulent economic times in the same way that he led Washington state when the high-tech bubble hit. "We pressed forward with a series of smart policy initiatives that set us up for future growth and created incentives to drive economic expansion. And we set a laser focus on attracting and developing the next generation of innovative and emerging industries," he said in prepared remarks. "We came out of that period stronger, healthier, and better prepared to embrace economic change."
Locke said setting a foundation for long-term economic growth and job creation is important and reducing the backlog of patent applications at the Patent and Trademark Office is also a key goal. "We must look over the horizon and prepare for the new economy that will emerge when this recession passes," he told senators. "Simply put, we must re-build, re-tool and re-invent our national strategies for sustained economic success." The Commerce Department, as President Barack Obama has noted, must be able to do multiple things at once, Locke said. "I believe we can."
The U.S. Sentencing Commission Tuesday heard perspectives from the Justice Department, high-tech experts and others on how to implement cybercrime legislation that passed Congress last year. The ID theft bill, authored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and signed by former President George W. Bush in September, allows the prosecution of those who steal personal data from a computer even when the victim's computer is located in the same state as the thief's. Under prior law, federal courts only had jurisdiction if the crime was committed across state lines. The measure made it a felony to employ malicious software to damage 10 or more computers and criminalized threats to steal or release information from a computer.
In his testimony, the head of DOJ's Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section, urged the Commission to ensure that its execution reflects key differences between economic crimes such as fraud and those involving information theft. Some of the information theft incidents include high-tech hacking cases that involve large-scale data breaches like a 2003 incident involving information broker Acxiom, where more than 1.6 billion customer records were stolen, Michael DuBose said. He testified that guidelines being contemplated restrict consideration of fair market value for calculating loss in situations where "property [is] taken or destroyed."
Read CongressDaily's story here (subscription only) and the testimony here.
After several ill fated attempts at selecting the next Commerce secretary, President Barack Obama has found a candidate who understands what is happening on Main Street and has his "finger on the pulse of what direction America must head toward in generations to come," according to Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller. In prepared remarks for Wednesday's confirmation hearing for former Washington Democratic Gov. Gary Locke, Rockefeller said the administration has made "the perfect choice" for the job after previous selections -- Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. -- withdrew their names from consideration.
"The people deserve to know that the person working with Congress and this committee every day, to determine the best way to reboot this economy, is a person who -- simply put -- gets it," Rockefeller said, noting that Commerce secretary is "one very big job." If confirmed by the Senate, Locke will immediately begin to tackle the national transition to digital television; management of the 2010 Census, the allocation of $4.7 billion in broadband funds; engagement on climate change; and amplification of science and technology to increase U.S. competitiveness and innovation, Rockefeller said.
The expansive influence the Commerce Department -- much like the vast jurisdiction of the Senate Commerce Committee -- is surprising, he noted. "The department is charged with promoting job creation, improving living standards by promoting economic growth, increasing competitiveness, issuing patents and trademarks, and helping to set industrial standards," Rockefeller said. "This is no small job. And there will be challenges." But the chairman feels confident that Locke will ensure U.S. workers can prosper, businesses can thrive, and the economy can grow. "We need to move quickly on this nomination because there is important work to be done and not a moment to waste," he said.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, reintroduced a bill Tuesday requiring Congress to explicitly state its intention when writing statutory Freedom of Information Act exemptions into new legislation. FOIA "is the power cord that connects the American people to their government," Leahy told a Washington College of Law "Sunshine Week" conference a day earlier. "The growing use of legislation to carve out new exemptions to FOIA poses a danger to the ideals of open government." See CongressDaily's coverage here. The Senate first passed similar legislation unanimously in 2006 but a bill they introduced last Congress did not clear Leahy's committee.
"Too often, legislative exemptions to FOIA are buried within a few lines of very complex and lengthy bills, and these new exemptions are never debated openly before becoming law," Leahy said in a statement. Cornyn added the measure "will ensure that Congress can't slip anti-transparency measures into legislation without someone noticing." The two partnered to author a 2007 bill -- which was signed by former President George W. Bush -- to make the first major reforms to FOIA in more than a decade. The bill restored deadlines for agency action under FOIA and created a FOIA ombudsman at the National Archives and Records Administration, which the fiscal year 2009 omnibus spending bill funded at $1 million.
When President Barack Obama approved a $410 billion omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2009 last week, he made the first two appropriations related to legislation passed by the 110th Congress that is aimed at fighting counterfeiting and piracy. The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act, which former President George W. Bush signed in October, increased both civil and criminal penalties for trademark and copyright infringement and created the yet-to-be-named post of an IP enforcement coordinator at the White House. Specifically, the omnibus included $9.4 million for hiring new FBI agents dedicated to work solely on IP issues, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which pressed lawmakers to pass the IP measure.
The funding will allow the addition of two agents in each of the field offices containing Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property units, which the Justice Department has determined most merit assistance in IP rights investigations, with no less than 26 agents assigned for this purpose. The money also provides for the creation of an additional and distinct operational unit at FBI headquarters with at least five full-time, permanent agents dedicated to working with DOJ's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section on complex, multi-district and international criminal IP cases. Additionally, the omnibus allocates $18 million for state and local grants for "economic, high-tech and cybercrime prevention." While not IP specific, grant requests for IP enforcement would be eligible.
A recent proposal by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman to make Congressional Research Service reports more easily accessible to the public could pose constitutional challenges, according to Harold Relyea, a well-respected CRS analyst who retired in January after more than 30 years of government service. "While you could get 400 members of Congress to agree to let them out to the public, all it takes is a few others to argue constitutional privilege," he told a Washington College of Law "Sunshine Week" conference on Monday. Lieberman wrote to Senate Rules Committee Chairman Charles Schumer this month calling for a sanctioned, automatically updated clearinghouse for CRS documents so "those with power and those without have equal access to this important resource."
A more workable approach could stem from the Rules Committee's authorization last Congress for CRS to create software to let senators place individual reports on their Web sites, Relyea said. The next step could be building an overarching IT framework that would allow the public to search for CRS reports across senators' sites, he said. Other than a "passing generic reference" in its enacting legislation, CRS is not statutorily obligated to publicly distribute reports, Relyea pointed out. By contrast, the Government Accountability Office and Congressional Budget Office do have that requirement. In the past, CRS experimented with publishing summaries of its work but appropriators ended that practice. "Clearly appropriators have not been sympathetic to making CRS reports available to the public," he said.
During his luncheon keynote, Relyea also touched on the Bush administration's narrow definition of materials that apply to the Presidential Records Act. He said that law is in need of review, particularly with respect to the Office of the Vice President. After controversies over former Vice President Dick Cheney's withholding of information, "we need to look at that whole darned office," he said, noting the office lacks a charter to spell out what recordkeeping and disclosure rules apply. Relyea said the 1978 statute will continue to cause problems as electronic filing usurps paper-based records. "There's always room for improvement," he said.
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, on Friday received the International Association of Privacy Professionals' 2009 leadership award for her ongoing efforts on the behalf of U.S. citizens in the area of privacy and data protection. She accepted the award earlier this week in advance of the group's annual summit in Washington where privacy experts from around the globe convened for three days of education and networking. "Senator Snowe is at the forefront of protecting citizens' privacy and raising data protection awareness," IAPP Executive Director Trevor Hughes said. "She clearly prioritizes privacy through her legislative efforts to address and prevent the misuse of information."
During her three terms on Capitol Hill, Snowe has advanced privacy legislation to protect citizens' rights, including a bill to prohibit spyware and privacy-invasive practices such as keylogging and skimming and co-authoring privacy provisions in major healthcare legislation. She also voted for the Consumer Phone Records Act to keep unwelcome hands out of citizens' phone logs and to give the FTC and FCC greater enforcement authority in that area. Snowe also sponsored a recently passed bill that lets people take advantage of genetic testing without fearing negative repercussions from the abuse of such information. "I am proud to be an advocate for patient privacy rights and will continue to work to ensure the safety and protection of all Americans," she said.
House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa thumped the Obama administration's transparency efforts Thursday in a letter to Earl Devaney, chair of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board. In the letter, he questions OMB guidelines that he believes contradict the president's promise of an "unprecedented oversight effort" of the nearly $800 billion included in the economic stimulus package. On Wednesday, Issa questioned Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Neel Kashkari about the feasibility of adopting a common reporting format for Troubled Asset Relief Program filings.
"Full transparency requires attention to not just what is posted online, but also how the information is posted. Information about how the taxpayers' money is distributed must be disclosed in a structured, open, and searchable format," Issa wrote in his letter to Devaney. He asked several questions about how Recovery.gov will work. He wondered how data will be disclosed and whether agencies will publish reports there or on their own Web sites. He also asked whether reports from recipients will be sent in a standard format and asked whether there will be disclosure of every transaction between every recipient, contractor, and subcontractor. Read the letter here.
Giants of the $120 billion U.S. microchip business are united in their message to Congress on topics from the need for industry-friendly tax policies to greater federal investment in research and development, but they are divided over legislation that would bring sweeping changes to the patent system. Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and Qualcomm CDMA President Steve Mollenkopf acknowledged the friction Wednesday during a roundtable that was bookended by visits with lawmakers. The split is over language in a bill sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that would dictate how damages are calculated in patent infringement lawsuits.
Qualcomm believes altering the damages regime could disadvantage entities that rely on patents, particularly small high-tech companies, Mollenkopf said. Barrett argued the opposite, pointing to what he believes is a patent system that has not kept pace with innovation. "We are a big industry that has a lot of different business models and perspectives and we cannot agree on everything," said Mollenkopf, whose company is part of a lobbying group that launched in 2007 to represent the interests of small tech and patent-licensing firms as similar bills moved through the House and Senate. The House passed its version, but the Senate measure stalled in the spring when Leahy and Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter could not reach agreement on damages language.
Read the full story in CongressDaily's AM Edition here (subscription required).
More of this week's coverage of the patent debate:
Businesses Lead Charge Against Patent Challenge Language
Senators Ask Leahy, Hatch For Caution On Patent Reform
Specter's 'Gatekeeper' Language Gets Backing
President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a $410 billion omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2009 that includes $1 million to fund for the first time an ombudsman to mediate disputes arising under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Sunshine in Government Initiative director Rick Blum called the inclusion of the provision a milestone for open government. The money will go to the Office of Government Information Services, which Congress established within the National Archives and Records Administration. "For too many years, government transparency has been in crisis," Blum said. OGIS should help end stalemates over disclosure decisions and will help agencies strengthen their responses to FOIA requests, he said.
The omnibus also included a provision to provide free access to Congress' legislative databases. Rep. Michael Honda, D-Calif., first placed a measure in the House bill directing Congress, the Library of Congress and the Government Printing Office to make its data available to the public in raw form. "This language is groundbreaking in that it supports the provision of unfiltered legislative information to the public. Instead of silo'ing the information... access to the raw data will make it easier for people to learn what their government is doing," he said. The language calls for a report to appropriators within 120 days of the release of Legislative Information System 2.0.
Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Neel Kashkari, who testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee on Wednesday, said a common reporting format for filings related to the Troubled Asset Relief Program such as XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) would greatly improve transparency. He previously remarked that the Treasury could not track TARP fund use, according to Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa.
XBRL is in place as a reporting standard in about 40 countries and banks in the United States are currently required to disclose information to the FDIC in XBRL format. The SEC recently approved a final rule mandating the use of XBRL for all public company reporting, with some firms required to comply starting in June. "XBRL is about independent and understandable transparency," Issa said. The technology could show the taxpayers how their money is being used while providing measurable results, he said.
"After two administrations and roughly six months of the blind leading the blind, we are still meeting resistance from the administration on implementing a common platform that would allow us to track TARP dollars and value toxic assets," Issa said. "These are taxpayer dollars and the technology exists to track TARP dollars, but Treasury continues to obstruct transparency." Subcommittee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, gave the Treasury's grade for transparency an "F." "The American people who are footing the bill deserve far better than what they're getting in terms of transparency," he said.
Recently appointed FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz wants to work with Congress on reauthorization legislation this year that he believes will make his agency more effective. He told a Center for Democracy and Technology gala Tuesday night that the quality of the FTC's work is being strained as the quantity increases. The agency currently has 1,100 employees -- several hundred less than it needs, he said. Former Senate Commerce Chairman Daniel Inouye and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., introduced a bill in the 110th Congress that would have given the FTC a budget boost over seven years as well as independent regulatory authority and the ability to start civil actions in district courts. The bill would have also repealed an exemption that precludes FTC action against common carriers for anticompetitive practices.
Leibowitz, who shared CDT's stage with House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., said one of his top priorities for the agency in the coming months is curbing predatory financial practices, which he believes will only worsen during the recession. He also wants to stop brand pharmaceutical companies from paying off generic drugmakers to delay the availability of their low-cost versions to consumers. Another concern, which he shares with Boucher, is making sure Internet advertising firms respect consumer privacy. Thus far, self-regulatory efforts by industry in this arena are not working, Leibowitz said. Boucher noted that consumer confidence will benefit electronic commerce. He plans to introduce a Web privacy bill with Communications Subcommittee ranking member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla.
On broadband, Boucher said the United States does "not have an enviable position in the world today" and the $7.2 billion in the economic stimulus package helped move the ball forward. However, the stimulus bill "is not our national broadband policy," he said, noting that the legislation directs the FCC to develop such a roadmap. During his remarks, Boucher also predicted that legislation he introduced last month with Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., to create a federal reporter's privilege would pass the House and Senate this Congress. An identical bill passed the House by a wide margin in the 110th Congress.
House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns on Tuesday met in his Capitol Hill office with Vivek Kundra, who was recruited by President Barack Obama to serve as the federal government's chief information officer. The meeting came less than a week after it was announced that the former District of Columbia chief technology officer would take the top e-government spot at OMB. In this role, Kundra will direct the policy and strategic planning of federal IT investments and is responsible for oversight of federal technology spending. He will also establish and oversee enterprise architecture to ensure system interoperability and ensure information security.
"I was pleased to meet with Mr. Kundra and learn of his great enthusiasm for using technology to transform the way our government operates," Towns said. "I am committed to improving the efficiency of government operations and using safe and secure technological innovations to help meet this objective. Mr. Kundra clearly shares this goal and I believe this his past experiences have prepared him for this challenging new role." Kundra is scheduled to make one of his first public speeches since being tapped for the job at FOSE 2009, a convention for government IT professionals happening this week at the Washington Convention Center. Kundra will keynote at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus said at Monday's confirmation hearing for U.S. Trade Representative-designate Ron Kirk that he intends to introduce "comprehensive customs reauthorization legislation," which some see as a potential vehicle for increasing intellectual property protections for goods imported and exported by the United States. Stakeholders like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce believe such a package could include language to better address trafficking in illicit goods.
On a related note, Baucus and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, introduced legislation last Congress that would make improvements to the USTR's "Special 301" process to help deal with other countries that fail to live up to their international IP obligations. Under the existing USTR structure, the list puts nations with weak IP regimes on two tiers of watch lists, but the bill would require the creation of "action plans" for the worst offenders. If countries do not comply, the White House could ban federal procurement from and stop U.S. financing to those nations.
The Chamber's blog offered up several IP-related issues for Finance Committee members to address at Kirk's hearing. Topics included ensuring that strong and enforceable IP protections, such as those in the Korea Free Trade Agreement, are included in future FTAs; negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement; strengthening international IP laws and norms; and fighting Internet piracy while protecting copyrighted materials.
On the eve of a House Judiciary Committee hearing to examine legislation that would terminate a longstanding royalty exemption afforded to AM and FM radio, the National Association of Broadcasters slammed the music industry-led effort as being "founded on an incomplete and therefore misleading comparison of U.S. and international copyright law." Proponents of the bill have argued that in every other democratic free market country, radio stations compensate musicians when they play their music. The countries, however, do not compensate artists and musicians within the United States because the United States does not provide a performance right for their artists.
"The record labels have devised a lobbying strategy that relies on cherry-picking international examples that paint a distorted picture of copyright law," NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said in a press release. "The U.S. protects sound recordings for 45 years longer than Canada and many countries in Europe and elsewhere; if it's 'international parity' that RIAA is looking for, they ought to examine the entire landscape," he said. NAB's analysis also points out that other countries' broadcasting systems are or were government-subsidized while the U.S. business was built by private commercial entrepreneurs.
But the MusicFirst coalition, which supports the legislation, bit back by claiming the analysis is suspect and stale. According to the coalition, the NAB's Canadian counterpart submitted the same study to support its claim that radio play promotes album sales in a proceeding before the Copyright Board of Canada. In November 2008, the board threw it out because the underlying data was destroyed. The same analysis was released by NAB last June and again Monday, officials said. Wharton scoffed at the notion that NAB destroyed data and added: "MusicFirst should get its facts straight before making unfounded allegations." Read more in CongressDaily's AM Edition (subscription required).
The House and Senate Judiciary Committees on Tuesday will focus on what promise to be the two most pressing intellectual property topics of the 111th Congress. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy will hear from witnesses on legislation he introduced last week with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, aimed at overhauling the U.S. patent system. Micron Technology CEO Steven Appleton; Johnson & Johnson Chief Intellectual Property Counsel Philip Johnson; IBM Vice President David Kappos; Tessera Vice President Taraneh Maghame; Intellectual Property Owners Association Executive Director Herbert Wamsley; and Stanford Law School professor Mark Lemley will testify.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, who offered a companion patent bill, will turn his attention to addressing a long-standing royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio. His hearing will examine a bill he introduced with House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa that would close what they perceive as a loophole in federal copyright law. Leahy and Hatch sponsored a companion measure in the Senate. Witnesses include Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan; the Recording Industry Association of America's Mitch Bainwol; the AFL-CIO's Paul Almeida; W. Lawrence Patrick; University of Texas professor Stan Liebowitz; and Steve Newberry on behalf of the National Association of Broadcasters.
Also on Tuesday, the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology will provide input into the Obama administration's 60-day National Security Council cybersecurity review. The panel will offer their positions on what a strategic framework should look like while soliciting opinions from witnesses who have devoted the last year-and-a-half performing similar reviews. Witnesses include Government Accountability Office Information Technology Director Dave Powner; Jim Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Microsoft Vice President Scott Charney; Oracle Corp. Chief Security Officer Mary Ann Davidson; and Amit Yoran, former director of Homeland Security Department's National Cybersecurity Division.
Members of Congress have finally embraced the Web, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube, and they are hiring new-media experts to help extend their reach. The trend reflects many lawmakers' growing awareness of the Internet's importance to campaigns and of their constituents' increasing desire to connect and gather information on the Web. Further driving the change are an influx of Capitol Hill freshmen familiar with the new tools, and fresh rules that allow members to post on third party Web sites, National Journal magazine reported Friday (subscription required).
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and John Kerry, D-Mass., have recently hired staffers specifically to handle new media. For more on Collins' new media director, see Tech Daily Dose entry here. Brad Bauman, communications director for Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, said his office was one of the first personal offices to have a designated new media person. Ryan's online communications assistant, Eric Sanchez, has been instrumental in moving the new media operation forward, Bauman said. Sanchez also works with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's"30 Something" working group to advance new technologies. He focuses on the "broader picture of how we can modify traditional media messages to get the biggest bang for the buck we would want from new media."
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has a press secretary that is charged with, among other responsibilities, having a focus on new media, according to Beth Pellett Levine, a spokeswoman for the senator. New media use "has become more of a focus in every office" with members using Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube, Levine said. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader John Boehner directed his staff to work with ranking members to implement guidelines for their Web sites. It is part of a larger effort to "raise the bar conference-wide in terms of how we're utilizing the web and new media tools," said Nick Schaper, Boehner's new media director.
Tucked away in the FY09 omnibus appropriations bill that passed the House last week is language inserted by Rep. Michael Honda, D-Calif., that directs the Library of Congress and the Government Printing Office to make their data available to the public in raw form, which he believes will increase availability of government data in more user-friendly formats. It is unclear whether the Senate version will include such language, a spokesman for Honda said. Currently, constituents' official channel to learn about legislation is through a limited search form on www.thomas.gov while congressional staffers maintain a more advanced system, Honda said in a statement.
His proposal also requests a report on the feasibility of providing advanced search capabilities. "Representing the interests of constituents becomes easier when technology enables elected officials to tap into the knowledge and expertise of the public," he said. "The American people are our nation's greatest resource. Empowering the public with information can lead to better public policy." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats have been working to make Congress more transparent and ethical, and Honda will remain engaged in making government more accessible to the public, his office said.
Legislation intended to help educate Internet users about privacy and security risks associated with peer-to-peer programs was reintroduced Thursday by House Energy and Commerce Committee members on the heels of reports that file-sharing software was implicated in a security breach involving Marine One, the helicopter used by President Obama. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., John Barrow, D-Ga., and Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton, languished in a key subcommittee last Congress. The measure would ensure P2P programs cannot be installed without providing clear notice and obtaining consent of the computer user and would make it illegal for firms to prohibit users from blocking, disabling, or removing the software.
"Far too many people have no idea that they could be sharing all of their personal files and documents when popular peer-to-peer software is on their computer," Bono Mack said. "Computer users deserve to know - in fair and simple terms - about this potential security risk." "This bill illustrates that there are bipartisan solutions to this problem and takes strong steps to empowering P2P users with information they need to better protect themselves and their families online," Barton said. Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman has an interest in this area dating back to his chairmanship of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In July 2007, he held a hearing to examine the dangers of inadvertent file-sharing.
From CongressDaily's AM Edition (subscription required)...
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman on Wednesday resumed a perennial attempt by some lawmakers and open government advocates to make reports produced by the Congressional Research Service more easily accessible to the public. In a letter to Senate Rules Committee Chairman Charles Schumer, he called for an automatically updated clearinghouse for the documents so "those with power and those without have equal access to this important resource."
Over the past decade, a series of bills requiring public access to CRS reports has made little progress, including a 2007 measure introduced by former Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn. Under the chairmanship of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., last Congress, the Rules Committee authorized CRS to create software to let senators place individual reports on their Web sites. That did not go far enough, Lieberman wrote. Read the full story here.
Also: The FTC and members of Congress Wednesday expressed outrage over the surge in Internet con artists trying to cash in on the $787 billion economic stimulus bill President Barack Obama signed into law two weeks ago. FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Acting Director Eileen Harrington said complaints about scams "mushroomed overnight" and the agency is working with popular Web services like Facebook and Google to crack down on crooks. Read the full story here.
Former lobbyist Bruce Andrews will be starting as general counsel of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on March 9. He previously worked for the lobbying firm Quinn Gillespie & Associates, where he focused on technology policy, telecommunications, judiciary, commerce and financial services issues. Clients of his included AT&T, Sony, Microsoft and Verizon, according to OpenSecrets.org. Andrews has also worked on public policy and telecommunications matters for Arnold & Porter.
"I am excited for the opportunity to return to public service to work for Chairman Rockefeller and the Committee," wrote Andrews in an email he circulated to his contacts. Andrews has seven years of experience working on Capitol Hill including three years he spent serving as the legislative director for Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa. He last served as a vice president of government relations at Ford Motor Company. His replacement at Ford has not been been named. -- Winter Casey
House and Senate sponsors of legislation that would overhaul the U.S. patent system were optimistic Tuesday that after several rounds of serious debate and considerable controversy, the 111th Congress would send a comprehensive patent bill to the president's desk. "This is the Congress, this is the year," Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy said, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with cosponsor Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and their House partners in the endeavor, Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and ranking member Lamar Smith. Read CongressDaily's AM Edition for details.
More than 100 artists, musicians, songwriters, and independent label representatives will be roaming the halls of Congress on Tuesday urging members to support legislation that would end a long-standing royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio. The fly-in, organized by the MusicFirst Coalition, will include notable names like Suzanne Vega, The Donnas, Abdul (Duke) Fakir of the Four Tops as well as lesser known but influential musicians: Phil Soussan (the bass player for Ozzy Osborne, Billy Idol, Edgar Winter and others); Dan Workman of Sugar Hill Records; "Save the Best for Last" songwriter Phil Galdston; and Craig Krampf, the drummer on Kim Carnes' hit "Bette Davis Eyes."
The visit to House and Senate members comes on the eve of a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill, which is sponsored by Chairman John Conyers and Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, sponsored companion legislation in their chamber. Texas Reps. Gene Green a Democrat, and Republican Mike Conaway, sponsored a resolution opposing the legislation that is quickly picking up support. Meanwhile, Recording Academy President Neil Portnow sat down with yours truly last week to explain the debate on C-SPAN's "The Communicators." That video is available here.
Updated at 1:10 p.m. on March 3.
The House Committees on Science and Technology; Education and Labor; Transportation and Infrastructure; and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming have become the first four congressional committees to join the micro-blogging community Twitter, according to a Monday press release. The committees, like a growing number of individual members' offices, plan to use Twitter as a new tool to reach their audience and ensure transparency between the government and the public.
"I believe government works best when it is transparent and information is accessible to all. I want to ensure that the public can easily keep tabs on what the committee is working on," House Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon said. House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller added that like President Barack Obamaand House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he believes greater government transparency is critical and will continue to use new media to open up his panel's work.
Some useful links:
http://twitter.com/SciTechCmte
http://twitter.com/edlabordems
http://twitter.com/HouseTransInf
http://twitter.com/MarkeyMemo
Senate and House intellectual property leaders will hold a press conference Tuesday afternoon on Capitol Hill to discuss congressional action to overhaul the nation's patent system in the 111th Congress. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and ranking member Lamar Smith are expected to introduce bipartisan bicameral patent legislation the same day. The House passed a patent bill last Congress 220 to 175 and the Senate Judiciary Committee reported a similar measure. The bill stalled after Leahy and ranking member Arlen Specter collided over differences on how damages should be awarded in patent lawsuits.
Recent CongressDaily coverage on this issue (subscription required):
Patent Bills Coming Soon From Judiciary Leaders
Leahy: Senate Patent Bill Coming Soon
Senators Close To Reintroducing Patent Overhaul Measure
Eyeing Patent Overhaul, Big Manufacturers Form Coalition
CAP Urges Patent Overhaul Be Priority For Congress, Obama
Look for more in CongressDaily's Tuesday AM Edition.
The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday will hear perspectives on legislation by Judiciary Chairman John Conyers that would end a long-standing copyright royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio. The bill, backed by the Recording Industry Association of America and other music business stakeholders, has been criticized by the National Association of Broadcasters. The powerful trade group believes the airplay its members provide is an ample reward for performers who sell albums and concert tickets. A Tuesday House Judiciary Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee hearing on why bankruptcy protections failed to halt the closure of Circuit City has been cancelled.
Meanwhile, the FCC continues to prepare the nation for the transition to digital television signals -- set to culminate June 12 -- with a Thursday public meeting on the topic. The session is the second to be held under acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps, whose first meeting also focused on the switchover. Also on Thursday, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation will release a new report on the need for next-generation broadband networks in the United States. The report will document how the transformative functionalities that next-generation broadband enables will unlock a wave of innovative new Web-applications, delivering benefits to consumers, society, businesses, and the economy.
Congressional advocates for increased federal research and development funding last week hailed President Barack Obama's budget outline for FY10, which would give the National Science Foundation $7 billion -- up from the Bush administration's FY09 request of $6.8 billion. NSF pays for about 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by U.S. colleges and universities and is targeted for a doubling of its budget over 10 years as part of competitiveness legislation signed into law in August 2007.
Key investments in science, technology, and education can help reenergize the economy and prepare workers for the jobs of the future, House Science Committee Chairman Bart Gordon said. Since taking office, Obama has repeatedly stressed the importance of supporting science and his overview highlights the importance of science and technology to several big national goals like education, healthcare, and clean and renewable energy. "What I see in this budget request with regard to energy is that the administration understands we need to be pursuing many different avenues," Gordon said in a statement. "There is not a silver bullet. It's silver buckshot."
Obama's budget allocates $125 million for the Commerce Department's Manufacturing Extension Partnership and $70 million for the Technology Innovation Program, which is a modest increase from the FY09 omnibus. The House-passed version allots $110 million for MEP and $65 million for TIP. The request is a big change from Bush budgets that would have eliminated them. Appropriators annually saved the programs, which offer financing and technical assistance to small businesses and start-ups. Also under the president's plan, NASA would get $18.7 billion, up from the $17.6 billion FY09 request.
Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y, reintroduced legislation Thursday to require the electronic disclosure of Senate campaign finance reports. The bill is identical to legislation that Feingold sponsored in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses, and that was approved by the Senate Rules Committee in 2007. The measure would bring Senate rules in line with those already in place for presidential candidates, House candidates and political action committees, officials said. The Campaign Finance Institute estimates the bill could save taxpayers $250,000 per year. "This commonsense bill to make our electoral system more transparent is long overdue," Feingold said in a press release.
Under the legislation, the reports would have to be filed electronically and forwarded to the FEC within 24 hours. The FEC is required to make available on the Internet within 24 hours any filing it receives electronically. Because of the FEC's detailed coding, which allows for more sophisticated searches and analysis, paper filing is currently completed over a week later for Senate reports than for House reports. "The Senate should catch up with the House, the president, and the many senators who already voluntarily file electronically by passing this reform which has broad bipartisan support." Schumer, who chairs the Rules Committee, called the proposal a "no-brainer" and said it should be approved expeditiously.
Freshman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, has embraced YouTube to offer a series of regular "Cot-Side Chats" -- short videos of the former business executive hunkered down on a cot in his Longworth Building office talking to the camera about some of the most pressing issues of the day. Chaffetz thought the testimonials would be an effective way for constituents to understand his reasoning behind the votes he casts. Plus the platform gets his message out faster than writing letters. Why the cot? It's to reinforce that he practices the fiscal discipline he preaches -- like sleeping in his office.
Legislation that would make sweeping changes to the U.S. patent system could be unveiled as soon as Tuesday, industry sources told CongressDaily. Congressional aides would not confirm the timing, but the bills are expected to be introduced jointly by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy. The measures would modify how courts handle patent disputes and would help streamline operations at the Patent and Trademark Office.
Ahead of the bill drop, groups formed by industry stakeholders to try to influence the patent debate said they have high hopes that President Barack Obama's new pick for Commerce secretary -- former Washington Gov. Gary Locke -- will be involved in the issue. On Thursday, the Innovation Alliance, which represents high-tech firms that do not want sweeping changes to the patent regime, lauded Locke's record of "working to help create an environment in the state of Washington that has nurtured the development of many small innovative companies."
The Coalition for Patent Fairness, which has championed Leahy's legislation, said Wednesday that Locke "understands the need to encourage innovation in order to create jobs and grow the U.S. economy" and his work as governor "shows that he understands the need for a strong patent system." The Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform, which has called for more limited modifications to the system said Locke's leadership "will enhance the ability of the PTO to stimulate the innovation and manufacturing that will be instrumental to our nation¹s economic recovery."
In the recently ignited congressional debate over whether and how to streamline copyright licensing for satellite transmission of broadcast television programs, one key lawmaker wants to emphasize that "harmonization for harmonization sake has never made a whole lot of sense." House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., believes that there are key differences between cable and satellite systems and lawmakers should carefully weigh calls to unify the platforms' statutory language. "We ought to look at the differences and to the extent that different treatments are still called for on account of those differences, resist harmonization for harmonization sake," Boucher said in a Wednesday interview.
Two major questions before his subcommittee as they reauthorize the Satellite Home Viewer Act are whether satellite providers should offer local service to all 210 market areas nationwide and whether there should be a general rule for signals where market areas straddle state lines, Boucher said. About 30 markets lack local-to-local coverage entirely, many of which are rural areas like Boucher's own district. A fairly non-controversial item is moving language that pertains to significantly viewed channels from one section of copyright law (Sec. 119) to another (Sec. 122), which covers local-into-local service. "I think there's uniform agreement that we should make that change," Boucher said.
Read more about potential complications in the Satellite Home Viewer Act reauthorization efforts in Thursday's CongressDaily AM Edition (subscription required).
In her first hearing before Congress since being confirmed, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was grilled about U.S. government policies for screening laptops and other high-tech gadgets at airports and whether she would address concerns from people who have had their laptops taken away at airports and examined. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., plans to reintroduce legislation on the issue. When asked by Sanchez to describe border control agents' abilities in this arena, Napolitano said the "law here is very straightforward." The federal government has broad authority to search at the border. However, existing statutes do not specifically answer whether agents should search laptops and what elements should be included in a search, she said. Napolitano said she is still looking into the issue and noted there are "a number of issues we handle that have really key privacy concerns inherent in them." She also answered questions about a 2012 deadline for scanning all U.S.-bound cargo containers in foreign seaports and whether she believes the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be moved out of the department. -- Juliana Gruenwald
High-tech groups and companies are hot and bothered over legislation introduced Wednesday that they fear will treat Internet marketplaces in a discriminatory fashion in response to retailers claims that stolen goods are being resold through sites like eBay and others. The bills, which were introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Rep. Brad Ellsworth, Ind., Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., and are intended to address weaknesses in federal law that criminals have exploited to grow criminal enterprises. The measures were hailed by the Retail Industry Leaders Association.
Computer and Communications Industry Association President Ed Black said he is worried that the bills will undermine user privacy, and threaten to erode Internet service provider immunities that help Internet innovation thrive. "At a time of financial duress and economic contraction, the last thing we should be doing is attacking innovative e-commerce services," Black said. EBay Vice President Tod Cohen said he believed the bills "are less about fighting shoplifting and more about big box retailers wanting to crush legitimate small-business online competition." NetChoice Executive Director Steve DelBianco added he has "heard this song before, and it's getting old."
But the RILA disagrees. Organized retail crime involves sophisticated crime rings that move from store to store stealing large quantities of goods. The stolen merchandise is then sold, often to unknowing customers, through flea markets, swap meets, pawn shops and, increasingly, on Internet auction sites, the group said. RILA Senior Vice President John Emling said the bills will give law enforcers the tools they need to stop the scourge and protect consumers from unknowingly purchasing fraudulent or unsafe goods.
Tech-savvy Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., has a new post as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet in the 111th Congress -- and a new flat-screen TV in his office. Tech Daily Dose reported last summer that his giant wall-mounted Samsung was a goner. The TV was an analog set he admitted was "on the edge of obsolescence." On Wednesday, we sat down to discuss his tech and telecom agenda for 2009 and a brand new Panasonic was hanging on the wall. The TV, which is used for occasional videoconferencing, hadn't been set up yet but Boucher said he looked forward to taking it for a whirl.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Orrin Hatch R-Utah, got some star-studded support Tuesday for legislation they introduced earlier this month that would end a long-standing royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio. The rally organized by the MusicFirst Coalition featured an impressive line-up of performers including: Will.i.am; Sheryl Crow; Herbie Hancock; Emmylou Harris; Patti LaBelle; Dionne Warwick and others. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman, House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., also attended. Watch video clips of speeches by LaBelle, Crow and Harris above. For more, see CongressDaily's AM Edition on Wednesday.
The volume of e-mail being received on Capitol Hill is constantly increasing but in order for members of Congress and staff to receive these communications in real time, their technology wizards must make sure they have the appropriate mechanisms in place to deal with it. On Tuesday, for example, the technology wasn't dealing well and there were significant delays of inbound e-mail traffic for some House staffers. A House Administration Committee spokesman confirmed the glitch, but noted that overall the House has a solid system in place.
"There were delays on inbound Internet traffic yesterday but, given the fact that we receive on average more than 1 million e-mails per day, our system is extremely reliable and interruptions/slowdowns are rare. The volume is constantly increasing and we continually review technology upgrades to deal with it," Kyle Anderson said in a statement. "The House has committed a lot of resources to ensuring that our IT infrastructure is top notch. While there have been very isolated incidents in which incoming traffic has created issues, the volume is generally not an issue." -- Winter Casey
The National Association of Manufacturers released its legislative agenda for economic recovery and job creation Monday, which features a handful of high-tech priorities. "The 111th Congress is meeting in a time of tremendous economic challenges," NAM President John Engler said in a statement. "The NAM believes that Congress, the Obama administration and the private sector are in a strong position to respond in a positive and effective way." Some of the trade groups key points include:
▪ Funding Basic R&D. Policymakers must support adequate funds for the National Science Foundation, the Energy Department, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and NASA. NAM wants Congress to fully fund legislation from the 110th Congress that authorized major increases in those agencies.
▪ Universal Broadband Deployment. Future economic growth depends on the ability of businesses and individuals to easily secure broadband services without burdensome regulations. In addition, NAM says initiatives to promote broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas will help ensure service is available across America.
▪ Protecting Intellectual Property. Only through stronger enforcement practices, stiffer penalties and integrated government coordination through the implementation of IP legislation signed last fall can economic losses be stemmed at home and abroad. The United States also needs an efficient and effective patent system, NAM says.
The halls of Congress will be crawling with celebrities Tuesday as Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers make a push for legislation they introduced that would end a longstanding copyright royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio stations. The afternoon MusicFirst Coalition rally will feature an impressive line-up of stars including: Will.i.am; Sheryl Crow; Herbie Hancock; Emmylou Harris; Patti LaBelle; Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty and Dionne Warwick. The event will formally kick off the group's campaign to "close the corporate radio loophole and establish a fair performance right on radio for American artists."
The Judiciary chairmen will also be joined by House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman, House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., as well as Recording Academy President Neil Portnow. The National Association of Broadcasters and the Free Radio Alliance earlier this month launched their public outreach campaign opposing the legislation. At that briefing, Texas Reps. Gene Green, a Democrat, and Mike Conaway, a Republican, unveiled a resolution that had 110 cosponsors aimed at preserving local radio from the imposition of new royalty rates or fees. Read more about that effort here.
"NAB welcomes an honest debate over whether radio stations or the record labels have historically been a 'better friend' to musicians," spokesman Dennis Wharton said Monday. "Since the days of Count Basie, there have been two constants in music: free radio airplay has propelled the financial success of countless performers, and those same artists have been systematically abused by the labels. For RIAA to now use artists as a shield in their quest for a performance tax is utterly cynical and hypocritical."
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers will join House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman, House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., for a Tuesday briefing on legislation they introduced to end a longstanding copyright royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio stations. The rally organized by the MusicFirst Coalition will feature appearances by artists and musicians from across genres and decades.
The House and Senate Judiciary committees will put executives from Live Nation and Ticketmaster on the hot seat this week as they examine the pair's $2.5 billion merger plan, now under Justice Department review. Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., will chair a Tuesday hearing and the House Judiciary Courts and Competition Policy Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., will follow up Thursday. Read a CongressDaily preview story here (subscription required).
The Property Rights Alliance will unveil its 2009 International Property Rights Index at the National Press Club on Tuesday. The event will be followed with a discussion by a panel of experts on what the rankings means for property rights in the 111th Congress and around the globe. The alliance's annual study measures the significance of physical and intellectual property rights and their protection for economic well-being. The index includes data for 115 countries, representing 96 percent of world GDP.
From National Journal magazine:
Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., has hired blogger Matt Stoller to be his senior policy adviser in Washington. He plans to focus on the lawmaker's financial services portfolio, including housing foreclosure issues. Stoller, 31, has been active in liberal Internet circles for five years, according to his Web site, MattStoller.com. He is a big fan of populist politics, or as he describes it: "Embracing the people and the public and allowing them to participate in self-governance." Stoller blogged for Jon Corzine's New Jersey gubernatorial campaign in 2005. He also did blog outreach for the Democratic National Convention in 2004 -- a first.
Stoller sees a big appetite for change. There is a "huge populist spirit," he says "and someone is going to figure out how to channel that into governance." While in college, Stoller spent one summer cleaning toilets and another working for an ad firm in Japan. He also put in a couple of years at a small software company in Boston. Stoller, who grew up in Miami, enjoys reading -- he is currently turning the pages of Come Home, America by William Greider -- and playing basketball. -- Winter Casey
High-tech and child safety advocates are giving new Internet safety legislation introduced last week by House Judiciary Committee ranking member Lamar Smith and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a chilly reception. Their bills, which were publicized at a Thursday press conference, direct Internet service providers to retain subscriber information for up to two years to help law enforcement identify users who upload and view explicit child pornography. The measure also makes it a crime to financially facilitate the sale, distribution and purchase of child pornography and would provide more resources to the FBI to fight the scourge.
"It's ironic that at a time when so many in Congress seemingly want online providers to collect and retain less data about users, this bill proposes that ISPs be required to collect and retain more data," Progress and Freedom Foundation Senior Fellow Adam Thierer said, wondering how the conflicting legislative priorities will be reconciled. "It's good that Congress is taking steps to address the scourge of child pornography... Extensive data retention mandates, however, would be unlikely to help much anyway given the ease with which bad guys will likely circumvent those requirements using alternative access points or proxies," he said.
The Center for Democracy and Technology General Counsel John Morris said a robust data preservation regime is already in place and new efforts in that arena pose privacy concerns. Meanwhile, the head of the U.S. Internet Service Provider Association said before advancing new legislation, it is crucial to see how current law will change with the implementation of another child safety measure, which former President George W. Bush signed in October. USISPA Executive Director Kate Dean, whose group represents AOL, AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and others, said the new statute made great strides to improve investigations and prosecutions and provided more resources to law enforcement.
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Lamar Smith and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced legislation late last week that directs Internet service providers to retain subscriber information for up to two years. The bill helps law enforcement officials identify users who upload and view explicit child pornography and would impose record-keeping requirements similar to those already in place for telephone companies, Smith said. ISPs routinely work with authorities and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on this front and have made strides to bolster industry efforts in recent years.
"Of the nearly 600,000 images of graphic child pornography found online and reported to law enforcement officials, only 2,100 of these children have been identified and rescued," Smith said in a Thursday press release. "Law enforcement officials have reached a digital dead end," he said, noting they need ISPs to help identify users and distributers of illegal content. "While the Internet has generated many positive changes in the way we communicate and do business, its limitless nature offers anonymity that has opened the door to criminals looking to harm innocent children," Cornyn added.
In addition to record retention, the measure also makes it a crime to financially facilitate the sale, distribution and purchase of child pornography. The bill would provide additional funds to the FBI's Innocent Images program, which is the backbone of federal law enforcement's fight to eradicate child porn. Smith and Cornyn made the announcement at a press conference in Austin where they were joined by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. "Innovative legislative responses to high tech crimes are vital to the ongoing success of our crackdown on cyber predators," Abbott said.
House Republicans resumed their call Thursday for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to post the half-trillion dollar omnibus appropriations bill online immediately since Democratic leaders plan to schedule a vote as soon as next week. Minority Leader John Boehner issued a statement saying the public deserves "adequate time to read the measure and understand what is in it." Boehner and others requested that the package be put on the Web two weeks ago and to date, their request has gone unanswered. "Time is running short, and American taxpayers deserve to know how their hard-earned tax dollars will be used under this legislation," he said.
Boehner has a lot of questions. Some include: "Will the omnibus spending bill be loaded with pork-barrel earmarks? Will it contain harmful language aimed at stopping environmentally-safe energy exploration far off our shores? Will it include other controversial policy changes akin to the 'stimulus' bill's provisions to undermine welfare reform and allow government bureaucrats to ration out health care for families and seniors?" "These are important questions that must be answered -- and will be answered, if Democratic leaders give the American people ample time to review the legislation by placing it online immediately," he said.
The Coalition for Patent Fairness, a group backed by major high-tech and media firms who want Congress to pass substantial overhauls to the U.S. patent system, is refocusing its message this year to highlight what its member companies argue would be the positive economic impact of updating the patent regime. "Deficiencies in our patent system are holding our economy back by dampening innovation and job creation. Congress needs to pass a bipartisan and comprehensive patent reform bill to modernize and reduce uncertainty in the current system," the group said in a Wednesday statement. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy plans to introduce patent legislation in the near term and the House will follow suit.
The coalition has also revamped its Web site and introduced a new blog called "The Better Mouse Trap." The blog is named as a nod to America's tradition of innovation and will be updated regularly to track legislative and regulatory developments and highlight member company activity, the group said. CPF will have plenty of challenges in the 111th Congress. Manufacturing giants recently launched the Manufacturers Alliance on Patent Policy in hopes of influencing the debate. They join the Innovation Alliance, whose small and medium-sized firms oppose many of the modifications; and the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform, a multi-industry entity that has called for limited changes that pertain primarily to patent quality.
Recommendations for changing the patent litigation venue regime put forward by the last Congress are vague and subjective, which could result in confusion and excessive litigation, according to a report released Wednesday by the Progress and Freedom Foundation. PFF visiting fellow Sidney Rosenzweig's paper proposes simplified legislative language to address so-called "forum-shopping" as leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees resume discussions about reintroducing patent legislation in the 111th Congress. The enactment of either bill from last session would "cause a tidal wave of venue-related disputes to drown the federal courts," he wrote.
Rosenzweig proposes the following revision to 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) to address the only concrete problem identified by Congress, "namely the lax standard for venue against corporate defendants" --
'Notwithstanding subsection 1391(c) of this title, any civil action for patent infringement may be brought against a corporation only in a judicial district--
'(1) where the defendant has its principal place of business or where the defendant is incorporated;
'(2) where the defendant has committed a substantial portion of the acts of infringement and has a regular and established physical facility that it controls;
'(3) where any defendant has committed a substantial portion of the acts of infringement and has a regular and established physical facility that it controls, if there is no other district in which the action may be brought under subsections (1) or (2); or
'(4) where any defendant has its principal place of business, where any defendant is incorporated, where any defendant may be found, or where any defendant has committed acts of infringement, if there is no other district in which the action may be brought under subsections (1), (2) or (3).'
The Justice Department will get $4 billion from the $787 billion economic stimulus plan signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday to enhance state, local, and tribal law enforcement efforts. Included in that pool is $50 million for the agency's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., a staunch supporter of the program, made sure the money was part of the package. The funding will help those who track down child pornographers and will preserve law enforcement jobs, the National Association to Protect Children (PROTECT) said. The $50 million was halved during Senate negotiations but was restored after child protection advocates spoke out.
Law enforcement grant funds for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) programs will also be available as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and much of it could go toward child exploitation work, PROTECT said. Grants will fund an estimated 5,500 local police officers through COPS as well as the JAG program's formula grants to state and local law enforcement. PROTECT worked in 2008 with the Surviving Parents Coalition to boost ICAC budgets in the pending FY 2009 omnibus. Senate appropriators increased the budget from $15.9 million to $30 million while the House allotted $25 million.
"This funding is vital to keeping our communities strong," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. "As governors, mayors, and local law enforcement professionals struggle with the current economic crisis, we can't afford to decrease our commitment to fighting crime and keeping our communities safe. These grants will help ensure states and localities can make the concerted efforts necessary to protect our most vulnerable communities and populations."
About a week after promotion giant Live Nation formally announced its intention to buy Ticketmaster, a company that does much of its concert ticket business on the Internet, Congress is getting involved. Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., has announced a Feb. 24 hearing that will examine the deal and what it means for consumers and the future of the concert business. He and the subcommittee's top Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, issued a statement shortly after the company's announcement saying the merger should be closely reviewed. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy has also announced a similar hearing on Feb. 26. Witnesses for the hearings have not yet been announced.
"Any merger between two companies who would otherwise compete against each other raises significant antitrust concern when those companies already have significant market power," House Subcommittee Chairman Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said, noting the proposed merger "deserves serious scrutiny for any anticompetitive impact." House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers added the hearing would be the first test of the Obama administration's antitrust policy. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., was the first to speak out about the deal as well as recent allegations that Ticketmaster sent Bruce Springsteen fans to a subsidiary Web site that sold concert seats at a premium cost.
As promised, the White House on Tuesday launched Recovery.gov -- a Web site that features information on how the $787 billion economic stimulus package is being spent along with tools to help citizens hold the government accountable. Issues surrounding the site's implementation and measures for success will likely arise as part of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing planned for March 5. OMB Director Peter Orszag is expected to testify along with GAO Acting Comptroller General Eugene Dodaro and Phyllis Fong, chair of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.
"It is critical to ensure that systems are in place -- ahead of time -- to oversee this massive level of spending and that the public is provided with as much information as possible about where their money is going," Chairman Joseph Lieberman said in a Saturday press release. Ranking member Susan Collins echoed his sentiment, noting that she opposed releasing the remaining government funding for financial institutions last month because the initial roll-out lacked what she believed was proper transparency and accountability. "We cannot afford to make the same mistake with the economic stimulus package," she said.
The issue is expected to gain traction in the House as well, according to a spokesman for House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Darrell Issa. "The promise of transparency must be met with more than rhetoric -- it must be exercised in application," Kurt Bardella said in an e-mail. "The reality is the federal bureaucracy is now being asked to absorb hundreds of billions of dollars and the potential for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement is something we will need to be diligent in preventing.
AM and FM radio stations that simulcast programming over the Internet or that create new stand-alone Internet stations reached a deal with digital royalty collector SoundExchange on Monday to provide discounts on previously set rates for 2009 and 2010 and establish rates for 2011-2015. Under the agreement, rates for simulcasts or Web channels operated by local stations are reduced for the first two years by about 16 percent then gradually increase through 2015 -- from $0.0015 per streamed sound recording in 2009 to $0.0025 per stream by 2015.
The National Association of Broadcasters has reached separate deals with individual record label groups that waive certain statutory format restrictions allowing, for example, certain artists to be played more often during a four hour period. The agreement was reached under the authority of the Webcaster Settlement Act, which passed Congress last September, and covers simulcasts over the Internet of all copyrighted commercially released musical performances. Meanwhile, the same parties involved in the agreement have just begun a battle on Capitol Hill over performance royalties that the music industry wants AM and FM radio stations to pay.
"Because of the explosive growth of music on the Internet, this is good news for everyone involved in music -- from artists to labels to broadcasters and to fans," SoundExchange Executive Director John Simson said in a press release. NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said the arrangement "provides local radio stations with the ability to enhance their local service with an online component, boosting listeners' access to music, local news and information." The Webcaster Settlement Act was sponsored by Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Still to come: settlements between SoundExchange and small commercial webcasters; religious broadcasters; and members of the Digital Media Association.
Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., praised federal research and development dollars included in the $790 billion compromise economic stimulus plan, saying in a Thursday interview that the package is "overall good news for science." The legislation provides for significant increases for innovation at the National Science Foundation, Energy Department's Office of Science and National Institutes of Health and would offer substantially more than a bill to ramp up federal R&D that passed the 110th Congress but proved difficult to fund.
Holt, who is a scientist by training and co-chairs the Congressional Research Caucus, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama have for months insisted that investing in science and technology can help turn the economy around. The America Competes Act "was the best we could do in the previous negotiating climate -- but [the stimulus] goes way beyond that," Holt said, noting that R&D provisions of the original House proposal have largely been sustained. "The science spending in this bill is a better job generator than most of the rest of the bill," he said, estimating that 20,000 research positions are created for every billion dollars spent.
Despite his enthusiasm for the stimulus, Holt is worried that come appropriations season, some may argue that R&D has received plenty. "Underlying this entire stimulus package is the pledge that it not increase the base. A few years from now we don't want to be in a boom-bust cycle," he said. "I hope we can avoid a boom-bust cycle but I also will welcome the boom for however long it lasts." Read a summary from Holt's office about the $22 billion in stimulus R&D investments here.
Adult film performer/writer Stormy Daniels, who caused a stir when she came to Washington last May to advocate for online child safety, wants to give Sen. David Vitter, R-La., a run for his money. She's contemplating entering the 2010 Louisiana Senate race and has reached out to Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt to run her campaign, according to press reports. Daniels told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that while Flynt had nothing to do with the "Draft Stormy" movement she has "reached out to him in the last couple of days."
In recognition of National Internet Safety Month, Daniels appeared at the National Press Club alongside Joan Irvine of the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection. The group was created more than a decade ago with the goal of eliminating child pornography from the Internet and to help parents prevent children from viewing "age-inappropriate" material online. Their press conference showcased a public service announcement campaign that promoted ASACP's "restricted to adults" label for applicable Web sites and encourages parents to use filtering software. Daniels was presented with ASACP's annual service award Thursday.
If elected, Daniels will join a list of porn stars turned politician, according to the Washington Examiner: "Ilona Staller, better known as Cicciolina, was elected to Italian parliament in 1987. Mimi Miyagi, a Filipina porn star, filed as a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Nevada in 2006. And many Californians are already (more than) familiar with the infamous Mary Carey, who made a very well-publicized run for Governor in 2003."
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., withdrew his nomination for Commerce secretary today, citing differing views with President Barack Obama on the economic stimulus and the Census. "Obviously, the president requires a team that is fully supportive of all of his initiatives," Gregg said. In a statement, Gregg said he and Obama discussed the differences during the nominating process but "unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy."
Shortly before Gregg was tapped, there was plenty of buzz inside the Beltway and in Silicon Valley about Symantec CEO John Thompson's candidacy for the job that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson also turned down. Thompson told Tech Daily Dose on Inauguration Day that, if chosen, he would be honored to serve in the new administration. It is unclear whether the high-tech executive is back in the running or if he would still want the position after being edged out by the senator. For more on Gregg, see Friday's CongressDaily AM Edition, which will be online later this evening.
The House Republican Conference has launched a new GOP.gov, the official Web site of House Republicans in the 111th Congress. The updates are meant to enhance citizen engagement through blogs, a legislative digest, interactive features, video, radio addresses and the option to receive automatic updates when content is published.
Scott Graves, a publisher of Republican blogs, said it looks like the GOP is taking a "play from the playbook of the Obama campaign." The site's designer clearly recognized that what Democrats did in 2008 worked, he said. "The Republicans over the last few months have finally recognized that they are going to need to focus real attention and real resources on their online communication efforts," Graves added. He said he hopes the GOP will look to emerging technologies in 2012 rather than relying on what worked in 2008.
Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, on Thursday took a swipe at legislation unveiled last week by House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders that would end a long-standing music royalty exemption granted to AM and FM stations by introducing a resolution urging Congress not to impose "any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge" on local radio. Green's resolution, which is supported by the National Association of Broadcasters, already has the backing of 110 cosponsors -- double the number he had when the measure was introduced in the 110th Congress. He eventually gathered more than 220 supporters last year.
"This is our base whip list," Green said in an interview. "This is nonbinding but if someone signs on and votes another way, they'd have to explain that to a lot of constituents." If the House royalty bill, which is sponsored by Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, makes it through his committee and onto the floor, Green said he hopes he will have enough supporters to vote it down. Last year, the legislation passed Judiciary's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, which has been abolished in the 111th Congress. Green said he expected the royalty bill to pass Conyers's panel. A companion bill was introduced by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy last year and again last week. The two bills differ slightly. Read CongressDaily's recent coverage for details (subscription required).
The MusicFirst coalition, which supports the royalty bills, issued a press release slamming Green's resolution as "a last ditch effort to save corporate radio's loophole in copyright law." "Radio is the only platform that does not pay a fair performance royalty to America's artists and musicians," the group said, noting that satellite, Internet and cable music stations pay. "It's not fair, it's not right and it will be changed." The NAB, however, calls that effort "a record label bailout," which will put thousands of radio jobs at risk and threaten the economic viability of an artist's greatest promotional asset.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer urged members of Congress in a Wednesday letter sent to Capitol Hill to vote for the economic stimulus package that House and Senate negotiators finalized. "We believe the final conference agreement will help families during this difficult economic time, create and save jobs, and begin to put our country back on the path toward long-term economic growth," he wrote, noting that the nation is experiencing "a once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis." He carried a similar message to the House Democratic Caucus Retreat in Williamsburg, Va., last Friday, where he spoke.
The final package includes significant investments in human capital, technology, and research and development, Ballmer wrote. That funding will help extend the reach of broadband access as well as create jobs in green technology, alternative energy, bioengineering, and advanced computing. The agreement also promotes the adoption of information technology, he wrote. "Government support for rapid adoption of information technology is essential and measurable outcomes are needed to help the administration and Congress achieve the goals of increased access, lower healthcare costs, and improved quality of care," he concluded.
Legislation intended to strengthen and provide transparency in federal nanotechnology research efforts passed the House on Wednesday. The bill is identical to one that was approved by the chamber in the 110th Congress. House Science and Technology Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon lauded the news, saying "there is no doubt that the potential of this technology is vast" since it is already part of cellular phones, cosmetics, paints and refrigerators and will soon help protect the lives of police officers and military servicemen.
Specifically, the bill requires that the multi-agency National Nanotechnology Initiative develop a plan for environmental and safety research components including explicit near-term and long-term goals, specifics about the funding required to attain those goals, and details about the role of each participating entity. The measure also assigns responsibility to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to oversee the planning and ensure the agencies allocate the resources necessary to carry it out.
The legislation also includes provisions aimed at capturing the economic benefits of nanotechnology by encouraging the creation of industry liaison groups to foster technology transfer and to help guide the NNI research agenda. The bill also authorizes large-scale, focused, multi-agency R&D initiatives in areas of national need. Additionally, the bill addresses the future workforce by supporting the development of undergraduate courses in nanotechnology fields. A companion bill has not been introduced in the Senate.
The Senate's $838 billion economic stimulus package contains about $17.8 billion in federal research and development while the $819 billion House bill, which passed last month, contains $13.2 billion for R&D, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The House version contains far less for the National Institutes of Health but provides more for other R&D programs, AAAS analyst Kei Koizumi said Wednesday. Senators added $6.5 billion for biomedical research during floor debate, bringing NIH's total Senate funding to $10.4 billion. The House offered $3.9 billion.
Basic competitiveness-related research, biomedical research, energy R&D, and climate change programs seem to be the highest priorities for both bills. The National Science Foundation, the Energy Department's science office and the National Institute of Standards and Technology -- three agencies highlighted in U.S. competitiveness legislation that passed the 110th Congress -- would do well in both versions, Koizumi said. But some, like the Alliance for Science & Technology Research in America, believe the Senate language is lacking, and are pushing conferees to restore some of the House-passed funding. A detailed update is available on the AAAS R&D Web site here.
Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine of Virignia didn't waste any time Tuesday launching Stimulus.Virginia.Gov, a new Web portal to gather project ideas for potential funding from the federal stimulus package, which passed the Senate 61-37 the same day. House and Senate conferees are now meeting to merge the packages, which differ considerably, with a goal of sending a final version to President Barack Obama by the end of the week.
"While we wait to learn what conditions will be placed on the federal stimulus monies received by the states, we want to start collecting ideas from all over the Commonwealth to ensure the money is spent in a timely and effective manner," Kaine said in a press release. "Every locality and citizen has a stake in our economic recovery and should have a voice in deciding how this money is spent." Citizens will be able to view proposals in a format that will be updated daily, officials said.
After the $800 billion-plus stimulus package becomes law, projects from Stimulus.Virginia.Gov will be identified that may qualify for funding. Those initiatives will be evaluated and selected through a process similar to the way the state government develops its biennial budget. In some cases, the information will be sent to localities and other appropriate governmental entities because they will be responsible for prioritizing projects, Kaine's office said. Virginia began accepting proposals the day the site went live.
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., gave an economic pep talk to a room full of technology policy experts Tuesday night at a reception celebrating the merger of two prominent trade groups -- the American Electronics Association and the Information Technology Association of America -- to form the Technology Association of America (which is being branded as TechAmerica). "We are at a crossroads for change," Eshoo said, pointing to seismic shifts in government and the marketplace. "Those who stand still are really falling behind."
Amid ample economic uncertainty, there is trepidation and doubt in the private sector, Eshoo said. But she noted that "we know as Americans that we are a can-do people -- we have always been innovators." She stressed that Silicon Valley companies that call her congressional district home should take the lead. "You are so integral to the changes that need to be made in our country. People are hungry for it, they're starving for it," Eshoo told a crowd of about 100 who gathered at the new Congressional Visitors Center.
She was joined at the reception by Reps. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., David Wu, D-Ore., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
Capitol Hill is keeping an eye on promotion giant Live Nation's planned $575 million acquisition of Ticketmaster, a company that does much of its concert ticket business on the Internet. Sens. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, believe the merger should be closely reviewed to ensure that the combined company does not gain inappropriate market power. "We are concerned about the antitrust implications of the proposed merger," the Senate Judiciary Committee members said in a statement. "We look forward to examining the details of this proposed acquisition to ensure that consumers are protected."
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., who earlier this week raised concerns about the rumored business deal, said the Tuesday announcement by Live Nation and Ticketmaster was "a major disappointment for music fans all around the country." He said the arrangement threatens to increase concert prices and limit access for middle-class Americans to entertainment events. "We saw last week the trouble that can arise when one company exercises too much control over a market," Pascrell said, pointing to allegations that Ticketmaster sent Bruce Springsteen fans to a subsidiary Web site that sells concert seats at a premium cost.
"Any merger that would consolidate so many aspects of the concert business under one roof must be carefully scrutinized for antitrust violations by the relevant federal regulators and the United States Congress," Pascrell said. "This proposed company would have unprecedented control over nearly every single step of the music industry, from the managing and promoting of artists, to running the venues, to selling the tickets." Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, however, said the combination "will drive measurable benefits to consumers and accelerate the execution of our strategy to build a better artist-to-fan direct distribution platform."
Intel CEO Paul Otellini roamed the halls of Congress on Tuesday meeting with members about the importance of investing in U.S. innovation. He held an afternoon briefing with lawmakers whose districts and states are home to the high-tech company's facilities. See a related post on Otellini's visit to Washington here. Pictured (left to right): Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., Otellini, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Rep. Ben Luján, D-N.M.
Entertainment industry attorney Tom Perrelli, who is President Barack Obama's pick for associate attorney general, told the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing Tuesday that existing U.S. intellectual property laws "don't seem to be addressing the problem" of global counterfeiting and piracy and said he hopes the department will bring a renewed focus to the issue. Perrelli was most recently managing partner of Jenner & Block's Washington, D.C., office and co-chaired the firm's entertainment and new media practice. In that capacity, he represented record labels and movie studios in a variety of copyright court battles.
"This committee was the source of a bill that created a broader IP position through the administration," Perrelli pointed out. That legislation sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Arlen Specter became law in October. The measure toughened civil and criminal IP laws and provided new prosecutorial resources. It also created an IP enforcement coordinator within the White House -- a vacant position that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., urged the administration to fill.
During the hearing, Perrelli was also grilled by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., about legislation that he sponsored in the 110th Congress to expand the requirements for electronic service providers to report online child pornography and help to root out people selling, trading, or displaying illegal pornographic images of children. "We have to do everything we can to protect children from depictions that are going to be harmful to them," Perrelli said, pledging to work with the committee on child protection issues and help ensure that those who distribute unlawful Internet content are prosecuted.
From Tuesday's CongressDaily AM Edition (subscription required):
Big Firms Wary Of Stimulus Grants For Internet Expansion
AT&T, Verizon and other major telecommunications carriers are signaling to Congress that they are ready to pass on billions of dollars in grant money the economic stimulus package would allocate to expand the Internet to rural areas without service. Read more.
Groups Fight Stimulus Limit On Workers With H-1B Visas
Business groups and immigration advocates hope to remove a controversial provision from the Senate's economic stimulus bill that would restrict companies receiving federal bailout funds from hiring highly skilled foreign workers. Read more.
IT Stakeholders, Spared Large Cuts, Will Lobby To Restore
The Senate's compromise economic stimulus package has preserved much of the original measure's investments and incentives to spur adoption of electronic health records, although some stakeholders will still fight to restore cuts. Read more.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy told Tech Daily Dose on Monday that legislation to overhaul the U.S. patent system will emerge soon and will look very similar to the version that passed his panel in the 110th Congress but did not reach the floor. Leahy, who plans to reintroduce the bill with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said his staff has made "a few changes" to the bill since last spring when he and ranking member Arlen Specter split over language to address how damages are awarded in infringement lawsuits. He declined to provide insight about whether his differences with Specter, which also pitted industry stakeholders against each other, had been worked out.
CongressDaily reported last month that Leahy and Hatch had resumed negotiations on the bill that passed their committee 13-5 in 2007. "We'll see this on a fast track," one individual close to the issue said. "The deal is there and it's ready to be made." The Senate Judiciary Committee patent debate will unfold with three new Democrats on the panel -- Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Ted Kaufman of Delaware -- and an administration that favors changes in the patent system. In addition, Leahy's key patent staffer, Susan Davies, has become associate counsel for President Barack Obama.
Read CongressDaily's recent coverage here (subscription required).
A government transparency group is urging Congress this week to post its massive economic stimulus legislation online for at least 72 hours before consideration. The House passed its version last month and the Senate is expected to approve its legislation -- worth about $820 billion -- on Tuesday. While there is currently no formal requirement to do so, the House and Senate should each ensure that lawmakers and citizens alike have time to review the measure before they vote, the Sunlight Foundation said.
"Because the scope and public import of this legislation demand a measured and transparent process we strongly urge President Obama to post the enrolled version of the bill on WhiteHouse.gov for five days before signing it, in accordance with his campaign promise," the group stated. "While access and feedback from the public after final passage is not as effective as providing online availability of legislation before final passage, it would still give the public an opportunity to make their views known to the president."
As the 111th Congress gets underway, the coming week includes several events that feature -- or are at least likely to touch upon - the intellectual property debate.
▪ Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy will discuss his committee's legislative agenda for the 111th Congress in a Monday speech at Georgetown University. While his address, entitled "Restoring Trust in the Justice System," is expected to center on oversight of the Justice Department in the new administration, Leahy -- who is currently moving to reintroduce legislation overhauling the patent system -- may also take the opportunity to discuss the U.S. patent and copyright regimes and other intellectual property issues.
▪ The chief executive of computer chip manufacturer Intel will visit Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon to discuss how investments in innovation can help drive the nation's long-term economic growth. Intel CEO Paul Otellini will share the floor of the Russell Caucus Room with senators from states where the company has facilities like Arizona, California, New Mexico and Oregon. Otellini will speak earlier in the day to the Economic Club of Washington. That evening, he will attend a reception celebrating the merger of the Information Technology Industry Association and the American Electronics Association.
▪ The FTC Wednesday and Thursday will hold the second in a series of hearings exploring the evolving market for intellectual property. The session, which will feature a keynote by U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson of Delaware, will examine remedies for patent infringement. The topic of how damages are handled in patent lawsuits -- an issue that sunk sweeping patent legislation in the 110th Congress -- also will be discussed, as will the impact of permanent injunctions in the wake of a landmark 2006 Supreme Court case involving Internet auction site eBay.
▪ The annual Future of Music Coalition summit, taking place Wednesday, will focus on issues arising in the courts, Congress, and the FCC as well as at the U.S. Copyright Office. Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps and FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein are scheduled to speak, along with representatives from Free Press, Media Access Project, Recording Industry Association of America, Songwriters Guild of America, among others.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers told a crowd of 300 in Los Angles, Calif. on Friday that passing legislation he introduced earlier this week to end a longstanding royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio "is going to be a serious struggle" due to opposition from the National Association of Broadcasters. Moving the measure through the House -- and the Senate where a companion bill is sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy -- will require the help of the labor and civil rights movements in addition to music industry interests, he said. Conyers added the problem has "gone unremedied for too damned long." The bills received hearings but stalled in the Judiciary Committees in the 110th Congress.
Conyers appeared at a town hall-style Recording Academy event that preceded the music industry's biggest night of the year -- the 51st Grammy Awards on Sunday. He was joined by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who are original cosponsors of the bill. The chairman noted the legislation is "a work in progress" and invited his audience to provide input. Blackburn pointed out the House version includes enhanced protections for songwriters but the Senate version does not. She vowed to ensure that both bills would contain that language before the legislation goes to conference. [Read CongressDaily's recent coverage here]
Continue reading Conyers: 'Serious Struggle' For Royalty Bill.
The private sector has "borrowed too much money, businesses and consumers alike, fueled by a lot of different things," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the House Democratic Caucus Retreat in Williamsburg, Va., Friday. The high-tech executive said there is a natural tendency to want to blame somebody for the economic crisis but in reality, "we've all contributed to a culture of spending and private debt." He added that the current situation is a once-in-a-lifetime economic event but it is not unique in U.S. history. In 1929, just before the stock market crash, the private debt-to-GDP ratio was 160 percent and has been steadily increasing since almost the end of World War II, Ballmer said, according to a transcript.
"What we now have will be a fundamental economic reset. The economy is going to have to re-establish itself at a level of spending that reflects the real value of underlying assets before we can all start growing again at a healthy rate," he said. "This may not be the thing that people really want to hear, but it's certainly what we're planning on, and it's the truth on which we're basing sort of our model, if you will, at Microsoft." As part of its reset, the company announced last month that it was cutting 5,000 jobs and said it would create several thousand new jobs in areas that require investment.
To reach the reset point, Ballmer said three things need to happen:
▪ "The economy must be deleveraged. Private debt as a percentage of GDP has to be reduced. Restoring health to the nation's financial system is a fundamental part of this."
▪ "Confidence must be restored. The stimulus package, in my opinion, is vital. It will provide a cushion as we reach the reset point and it will help restart our economic engine."
▪ "America really has to return to growth that's built on innovation and productivity, rather than leverage and private debt. That must happen."
The heads of several telecommunications trade associations wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday night urging them to preserve the economic stimulus package's broadband deployment incentives as Democrats and Republicans continued to spar over what should stay and what should be slashed from the increasingly expensive measure. More than $9 billion in the proposal would fund Internet grants and tax credits.
"Broadband provisions in the stimulus bill should give the president the flexibility to put funds to use in ways that will most quickly and effectively create jobs, stimulate economic growth, and bring broadband to the greatest number of Americans in the shortest possible time -- not attempt to settle broad policy arguments that need and deserve more deliberate and thoughtful consideration," wrote executives from CTIA: The Wireless Association; U.S. Telecom; the Western Telecommunications Alliance; the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance; and OPASTCO, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies.
Congress and the new administration should adopt policies that will promote "a dynamic force of third-party Internet sites and tools to enhance the usefulness of government data," the Association for Computing Machinery's public policy committee recommended Thursday. The group's statement came on the heels of President Barack Obama's "day one" memos urging government transparency and citizen participation and an announcement that the public will be able to track economic stimulus package funding at Recovery.gov after the bill wins congressional approval.
"Internet users are combining and analyzing information in innovative ways that go beyond what the data's original publishers imagined," ACM Vice Chair Edward Felten said in a press release. "Government has a treasure trove of data and it can unleash creative new analysis by giving users access to this data in a format that allows them the advantage of easy, fast integration, machine-readability, download capability, and authenticity measures." Felten is a professor at Princeton University and an oft quoted cyber expert.
ACM's recommendations for data that is already considered public include...
House Minority Leader John Boehner and other Republican members on Thursday wrote to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer urging them to put the fiscal year 2009 omnibus spending package online immediately. Posting the massive bill on the Internet would allow the American people to study the contents of the measure between now and the week after President's Day, when the legislation is scheduled to be brought to a vote and would be consistent with President Barack Obama's call for greater transparency in government, they said.
"In the face of the highest deficit in our nation's history, the Majority has asked the American taxpayers to fund nearly $1.5 trillion in new government spending in just four short weeks. And yet now the Majority plans to spend hundreds of billions more without yet sharing the content of the bill with Republican Members or the public," the GOP members wrote. "In the midst of a severe recession, taxpayers have a right to see each provision of this legislation and evaluate the merit of each dollar of government spending their children and grandchildren are being required to fund."
A spokesman for Boehner told Tech Daily Dose that GOP leaders had not even seen the omnibus package that has been prepared. Read a copy of the Republican letter here.
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J, who earlier this week requested a federal investigation of Ticketmaster's business practices and relationship with TicketsNow.com, commended musician Bruce Springsteen Thursday for speaking out against Ticketmaster. In an angry letter on his Web site, the rock 'n' roll Hall of Famer accused the company of gouging his fans when tickets went on sale Monday for his "Working on a Dream" tour. Consumers complained that Ticketmaster, which handled the original sales for many concert dates, was directing buyers to TicketsNow -- a site that sells seats at a premium cost.
"This recent flap with TicketsNow exposed how a corporation with too much influence over the entertainment industry can hurt the average American music fan," Pascrell said in a statement, citing news reports that Ticketmaster may try to merge with concert promotion giant Live Nation. "Such a transaction brings up serious antitrust issues that may only further disadvantage middle-class Americans and disenfranchise consumers," he said. He urged House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and Courts and Competition Subcommittee Chairman Hank Johnson, D-Ga., to hold hearings.
Former House Majority Leader Richard Armey, R-Texas, who represents music industry clients at DLA Piper, said he plans to lobby hard this Congress in favor of legislation that would end a longstanding music royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio stations. On Wednesday, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy simultaneously introduced bills that would make the change, which the National Association of Broadcasters has vowed to fight. Armey called upon former colleagues last year on behalf of the MusicFirst coalition, which is backed by the Recording Industry Association of America, SoundExchange, the American Federation of Musicians and others. Read CongressDaily's AM Edition story here.
"There has to be a clarification in this anomaly in the definition of property rights," Armey told Tech Daily Dose, saying he believes the legislation has "a very good chance of being passed." In the 110th Congress, the measure was approved by the now-defunct House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee and the Senate version stalled in the Judiciary Committee without a mark-up. A House resolution opposing the effort gathered more than 200 supporters. "This is a small increase in expense for the number one product radio puts out," Armey said, noting there are exemptions written in for talk radio and religious broadcasters and a lower rate for noncommercial entities.
In related news, Armey said music industry interests have largely wrapped up final negotiations this week on an agreement with broadcasters to lower the royalties that over-the-air stations pay for songs they stream on the Internet in advance of a Feb. 15 deadline. "[Broadcasters] were perfectly willing to sit down and talk about how to diminish their burden of responsibility on the Internet... but when it comes to the question of sitting down to talk about compensation for over-the-air broadcast, they won't talk at all," he said. Parties in those negotiations have agreed not to speak publicly about the discussions, which have been going on for many months.
The House voted 264-158 Wednesday to pass a Senate-approved bill that would delay the nation's transition to digital TV signals until June 12, but as the bill heads to President Barack Obama's desk for his signature, concerns are being raised about its financial impact. Read the full story in CongressDaily here (subscription required).
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., unsuccessfully offered an amendment Wednesday evening to strip from the economic stimulus package a multi-billion section that would fund programs intended to spur the nationwide adoption of electronic medical records. His proposal, which failed 32-65, would have also nixed funding for other high-tech provisions including:
▪ National Institute of Standards and Technology construction ($357 million)
▪ Defense Department hybrid vehicle purchases ($100 million)
▪ NASA climate change research ($500 million)
▪ Broadband investments and deployment ($9 billion)
"It's disappointing that the Senate ignored this opportunity to show our constituents that we are truly serious about creating jobs and stimulating our ailing economy," Vitter said. He said his proposal would have pulled more than $45 billion in "Washington spending projects." Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., spoke on the floor a short time earlier, emphasizing the importance of the health IT language. While the economic trouble is top of mind, the crisis affecting the U.S. healthcare system is close behind and could be even more detrimental, he said.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers late Tuesday introduced legislation that would overturn a recent mandate that the National Institutes of Health require federally supported scientists to submit their research manuscripts for free public access on the Internet. The requirement passed as part of the fiscal year 2008 Labor-Health and Human Services appropriations bill without allowing input by committees with expertise and oversight on copyright. The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., Trent Franks, R-Ariz., Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Robert Wexler, D-Fla.
Last September, Conyers slammed the powerful House Appropriations Committee for not consulting with his panel (see CongressDaily story). "We have tried to communicate repeatedly with the leader of that committee ... and what did we get? Nothing," Conyers said at a hearing of the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. He said he viewed the silence as a blow-off by Appropriations Chairman David Obey and said he was frustrated that appropriators ran roughshod over the "sacred jurisdiction" of his committee to act "summarily, unilaterally and probably incorrectly."
Open access and consumer advocates championed the NIH's new requirement while publishers panned it, arguing that it could put subscription-based scientific journals out of business. "The mere fact that a scientist accepts as part of her funding a federal grant should not enable the federal government to commandeer the resulting peer-reviewed research paper and treat it as a public domain work," Copyright Alliance Executive Director Patrick Ross said in a Wednesday statement. "Grants are provided to pay for the research and resulting data... But taking the scientist's copyrighted interpretation of the data is not fair to other funders, and it violates the rights of the publisher."
From Wednesday's CongressDaily AM Edition:
Big brand owners like Marriott, Nike and Verizon are gearing up for a battle in Congress and the Commerce Department over sweeping changes to the way top-level domains, such as .biz, .info, and .us, are assigned. A range of intellectual property stakeholders fear that a planned expansion of such domains by the Internet's key oversight agency will force them to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to protect their identities from fraud and infringement.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers released a draft proposal in October suggesting that any entity could apply for a domain as long as they could pay a fee of about $190,000. The application process is expected to start this year, with the first of hundreds of new domains potentially coming online late this year. ICANN Vice President Paul Levins said everyone's concerns will be considered and as a starting point, an analysis of 300 comments received by ICANN will be released in the next two weeks.
On Tuesday, the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse hosted a briefing for executives and Capitol Hill staffers to discuss how Congress can get involved, but ICANN officials were told they were not welcome, Levins said. Another forum, which will be closed to the press and public, is set for Friday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Among those taking part are the Financial Services Roundtable, National Association of Manufacturers, Motion Picture Association of America, Recording Industry Association of America and other industry groups. ICANN officials will be on hand at that event, Levins said.
Read the full story here (subscription required).
From Wednesday's CongressDaily AM Edition (subscription required):
Stimulus Conference Becoming Venue For E-Verify Battle
Immigration advocates are looking at conference negotiations over the economic recovery package as the main battleground to defeat an effort to require companies benefiting from stimulus spending to verify the legal status of their workers.
Read more.
Senate Votes Down Repatriation, Hollywood Provisions
The Senate Tuesday voted down tax breaks for high-tech and pharmaceutical firms as well as Hollywood studios but added one for the battered auto industry to the stimulus package. Business groups and companies such as Dell Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. lost their bid for a one-year, 85 percent tax cut on foreign earnings brought back to the United States.
Read more.
Stimulus Health IT Amendments Lined Up For Consideration
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., are expected to try to amend the health information technology section of the economic stimulus package to ensure that electronic medical records collect data on race, ethnicity and gender.
Read more.
The chairman of Greater Media, which owns 23 AM and FM radio stations in Boston, Charlotte, Detroit, Philadelphia and New Jersey, is appealing to Web surfers who happen upon his "From The Corner Office" column to fight a forthcoming effort in Congress that would end an longstanding copyright royalty exemption granted to companies like his. In a open letter titled "Radio Needs your Help....Yes, You," Peter Smyth warns that the "performance tax has once again reared its ugly head" and the result could cost the radio industry between $400 million and $7 billion per year.
"There will be claims that this is a question of fairness and the money is needed to help recording artists. The fact is that the record companies - not individual artists - will be the primary beneficiaries of a performance tax on radio," Smyth writes. "The same companies who denied, resisted and ultimately blew their business in the transition to digital delivery now want to dig into the pockets of radio to save their skins." The bill's passage would force "a wholesale rethinking of our station's formats, our staffing, our ability to contribute to our communities, and how we run our business," he said.
One proponent of the legislation, which is expected to be introduced in the House soon, emailed to point out that the National Association of Broadcasters and its allies have heretofore quoted a $4-7 billion statistic. The $4 billion would be 25 percent of revenue; $7 billion would be 44 percent of revenue. Compared to what some have estimated to be the "real world" impact (around 3-7 percent since in the United States, songwriters get just under 3 percent), Smyth's message is off-kilter, the email said. "Either the new $400 million number is a bow to reality or a tacit admission that they know not of what they speak."
Senate Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg, who was officially tapped Tuesday to run the Commerce Department, has a reputation for being a fiscal conservative and some technology policy watchers wonder if that mindset will clash with some of President Barack Obama's spending priorities. While Gregg largely cast favorable votes on key technology issues during his tenure on Capitol Hill, he did not support U.S. competitiveness legislation that passed in the 110th Congress, which authorized major funding increases in federal R&D programs.
Throwing billions of dollars at "feel-good initiatives" would not help the country stay competitive, he argued in April 2007. The Senate passed the bill 88-8; the House voted for it 367-57; and former President George W. Bush signed the bill later that summer. Since the measure's enactment, appropriators have not kept pace with its doubling of the National Science Foundation budget and other funding boosts. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, issued a statement saying Gregg's fiscal restraint "will certainly be missed in the halls of Congress." For his part, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller called Gregg "a compassionate leader who understands that commerce is the keystone of any of our economic recovery plans."
If confirmed, it is unclear what ideas the New Hampshire senator will bring to the table with respect to the country's upcoming transition to digital television or efforts to increase broadband Internet availability in underserved areas. "He has been supportive of these issues but has never taken a leadership role," said Ralph Hellman, a lobbyist for the Information Technology Industry Council. The Commerce Department oversees the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is coordinating the digital TV shift, as well as the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, and the Patent and Trademark Office.
Continue reading Gregg's Tech Track Record Has Highs & Lows.
After some viewers of the Super Bowl in Tucson, Arizona, had their regularly scheduled program interrupted with full-frontal male nudity, Comcast says it has already made efforts to communicate with the FCC and Capitol Hill about the incident. "We've proactively reached out to the FCC and members of Congress and will keep them informed as our investigation into this incident progresses," the cable giant said in a statement. "We are reaching out to the proper legal authorities as well and have every intention of referring the individual or individuals found responsible for this act to proper law enforcement authorities for prosecution."
The company said it is going to give a credit to Tucson customers who viewed the inappropriate content and that it is undergoing a thorough investigation to determine what went wrong. "We are mortified by last evening's Super Bowl interruption and we apologize to our customers. Our initial investigation suggests this was an isolated malicious act," said Comcast, which boasts 24.4 million cable customers and 14.7 million high-speed Internet customers. Comcast said that its technical systems appeared to have been working properly when the incident occurred. -- Winter Casey
Senate Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg , who recently emerged as the top contender for Commerce secretary, has earned high marks for his stance on issues of importance to the tech sector including casting votes for key trade agreements and tax bills. He supported the Central America Free Trade Agreement as well as accords with Australia, Chile, Morrocco and Singapore and backed a permanent federal research and development tax credit. He has been an advocate for high skilled immigration and co-sponsored legislation last Congress that would allocate more visas to immigrants with advanced degrees.
Gregg also supported the high-tech industry on stock options legislation and Internet taxation issues and has voted for overhauls to the nation's securities and class action litigation regimes. He has an 82 percent lifetime vote rating on the Information Technology Industry Council's congressional scorecard, which was created in 1998. On the flip side, Gregg voted against U.S. competitiveness legislation that authorized major monetary increases in federal R&D programs, citing concerns about funding levels. He also voted against some larger omnibus bills that contained tech supported tax language.
While Gregg has not had to vote on controversial legislation that would overhaul the U.S. patent system, he has not indicated he would support the bill in the form that nearly reached the Senate floor last spring. Gregg has, however, been helpful from his position on the Appropriations Commerce-State-Justice Subcommittee to end fee diversion at the Patent and Trademark Office, sources said.
From Friday's CongressDaily PM Edition:
A Senate bill that would make sweeping changes in the U.S. patent system is moving closer to reintroduction, according to sources close to the talks. Staffers for Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, have resumed negotiations on legislation that passed the committee 13-5 in 2007 but died after Leahy could not win Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter's support to bring the bill to the floor last spring. The two split over language that would address how damages are awarded in infringement lawsuits -- an issue that bitterly divided industry stakeholders as the bill moved through committee.
Leahy and Specter have indicated that patent legislation is the top priority on their intellectual property agendas, and sources said a bill is expected early in the first session of this Congress, with possible hearings scheduled for March or April. "We'll see this on a fast track," one individual close to the issue said. "The deal is there and it's ready to be made." Read the full story in CongressDaily here (subscription required).
Recovery.gov, a new Web site that President Barack Obama has said will enable the public to monitor how effectively the U.S. government spends and distributes the $800-plus billion stimulus package, is ready to go live, an Obama transition team member and former director of the White House Office of Administration said Thursday. Franklin Reeder told a conference at American University's Washington College of Law that the site has been in the works for six weeks and is "ready to roll" as soon as Congress approves the funding. Obama said in a speech earlier this month that "restoring transparency is not only the surest way to achieve results, but also to earn back that trust in government." The House passed its stimulus bill Wednesday and the Senate is expected to vote next week.
Currently, visitors to Recovery.gov are instructed to: "Check back after the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to see how and where your tax dollars are spent." The placeholder page adds: "An oversight board will routinely update this site as part of an unprecedented effort to root out waste, inefficiency and unnecessary spending in our government." Recovery.com points to the forthcoming dot-gov site while Recovery.net is owned by Niche Sites LLC, a Pennsylvania-based firm that runs BuyersGuide.com, a product search portal. A message on that site notes that "traffic for this domain name is available." Recovery.org offers resources for recovering alcoholics.
The economic stimulus package expected to come before the Senate next week could include $50 million for grants to state and local law enforcement agencies to bolster efforts to fight Internet child exploitation, CongressDaily reported Thursday. The language was championed by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who chairs the Senate Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee. She was integral in an effort last Congress to pass legislation that would ratchet up funding for Justice Department-sponsored Internet Crimes Against Children task forces. Overall, the House and Senate stimulus bills contain close to $4 billion in law enforcement funding.
Republicans have questioned the size and scope of the spending plan but Mikulski said in an e-mail that her provision would create jobs while keeping kids safe from predators. "I'm hard pressed to think of twin goals more worthy than that," she said. A spokesman for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said his boss will work with House Appropriations Chairman David Obey and other appropriators on the best approach to protect children's safety. Parents' groups have asked Wasserman Schultz to push hard for the funding when the House and Senate stimulus bills go to conference.
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley has asked the National Science Foundation's inspector general to send him details relating to an internal investigation that found "numerous reports" of agency officials spending large amounts of time accessing online pornography and engaging in sexually explicit Web chat. The claims were part of the foundation's 68-page semiannual report to Congress that was dated September 2008 but posted was publicly in December.
The inspector general "recommended that NSF take immediate action to address numerous reports of employees viewing pornography on their government computers. The multiple investigations opened in the past few months, highlighted the need for systemic corrective actions in order to reduce abuse of agency IT resources.," according to the report. There were six cases of "viewing, downloading, saving, and/or sharing pornographic images and videos and one case of extensive participation in pornographic chat Web sites and the concomitant significant waste of official time."
One NSF official spent up to 20 percent of his official work time viewing sexually explicit images and chatting online, the probe showed. Based on the employee's salary the report identified a potential loss of more than $58,000 in compensation for that personal time. The investigation also determined that the employee charged more than $40,300 to his personal credit card over 24 months to participate in the online chats. To limit future abuse, the report recommended changes in NSF's IT training; limitations on employee server storage; routine screening for and deletion of personal music and image files from network drives; and procurement of necessary filtering software.
Congress needs to pass comprehensive privacy and data security legislation and make sure companies that store and share individuals' information are held accountable, Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said at a Wednesday event recognizing Data Privacy Day, which was being celebrated in Washington, around the United States and in 27 European countries. He said businesses should be required to encrypt data, employ an information security chief and retain an outside auditor to ensure compliance.
During his chairmanship of the House Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee in the Republican-controlled 109th Congress, Stearns held more than a half-dozen hearings on privacy and technology. Various data privacy bills were introduced last Congress but were overshadowed. This year, consumer privacy has arisen as a hot topic within the multibillion-dollar health information technology provisions in the House and Senate economic stimulus packages.
On Monday, the House passed a resolution Stearns co-sponsored with Rep. David Price, D-N.C., that formally recognized Data Privacy Day in the United States. The Senate approved a companion resolution on Wednesday that was introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Arlen Specter. Dorgan issued a statement saying that modern technology has connected the world and led to new developments in every aspect of citizens' lives but with those advancements come the potential for people's privacy to be compromised.
The economic stimulus package approved by the House on Wednesday included substantial investments in research and development -- provisions that Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon called "timely and targeted." The allocations, which now await Senate consideration, will create high quality jobs in the short-term while making strides to strengthen U.S. competitiveness in the long-term, he said in a press release. "We need to create jobs now, certainly, but if we do not address one of the roots of the economic collapse -- our competitiveness -- we could create jobs now, only to lose them in the future to foreign competition," he said.
Some highlights include:
▪ Funding to establish the Advanced Research Project Agency, which will support high-risk, high-reward research into energy sources and energy efficiency.
▪ National Institute of Standards and Technology funding for competitive construction grants as well as money for federal programs that provide technical assistance to small manufacturers and financial assistance for small high-tech entrepreneurs.
▪ Efficient electricity grid investments, a portion of which will promote research and development, pilot projects, and federal matching funds.
▪ Funding for energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon capture and sequestration research, development, demonstration, and deployment.
▪ NASA funding that will to put more scientists to work doing climate change research, including Earth science research.
▪ Funding for National Science Foundation grants that will put scientists to work and keep promising younger researchers in the pipeline.
Homeland Security Committee ranking member Peter King quietly introduced a bill earlier this month that would "require any mobile phone containing a digital camera to sound a tone whenever a photograph is taken." The legislation, which has not attracted cosponsors and has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also would prohibit such handsets from being manufactured with a means of disabling or silencing the sound. Enforcement would be through the Consumer Product Safety Commission. King introduced the bill in the 110th Congress as well.
The text of the proposal notes that: "Congress finds that children and adolescents have been exploited by photographs taken in dressing rooms and public places with the use of a camera phone." A spokeswoman for King said the nonprofit Parents For Megan's Law brought the issue to his boss's attention. The Long Island advocacy group fights child predators and staffs help lines that field reports about registered sex offender violations.
On Tuesday, King's office heard from a New Jersey woman who has a pending lawsuit against a major discount retailer because an employee was caught photographing women trying on clothes, the staffer said. The caller said if there had been a noise in conjunction with the picture-taking, she would have known his phone was under the dressing room door. A Consumer Electronics Association spokesman said his trade group understands King's concern but "we should be wary of any presumption that social issues can be resolved by government design mandates on innovators and entrepreneurs."
A key Senate staffer who helped navigate the rough waters of patent reform in the 110th Congress has been named associate counsel to President Barack Obama. Susan Davies most recently worked for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and spent much of the last two years trying bridge ideological gaps between the high-tech sector, pharmaceutical companies, inventors and other patent stakeholders. The controversial bill her boss introduced never made it to the floor. Negotiations with Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter hit a roadblock in the spring after the senators could not arrive at a compromise on language that would change how damages are decided in patent infringement litigation. Leahy and Specter have both said they plan on continuing to work this year on legislation that would update the U.S. patent system.
Before becoming general counsel on the committee, Davies served in the Justice Department Antitrust Division, the Office of the Solicitor General, and the Office of Policy Development. Prior to that, she worked as a litigator at Sidley and Austin in Chicago. Davies also served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer and as a special counsel to former President Bill Clinton. Davies received her bachelor's degree from Yale University and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. Davies will serve in the White House Counsel's Office, which is tasked with making sure the administration operates "under the highest standard of ethics and transparency for the American people," Obama said in a statement. A dozen other associate counsels were also named Wednesday.
A Santa Monica, Calif.-based group that has been pressuring Google to enhance the privacy and security of its various Web applications slammed the Internet giant Tuesday for allegedly lobbying to allow the sale of electronic medical records in the latest version of the House economic stimulus legislation, which could reach the floor Wednesday. Consumer Watchdog, a newcomer in Washington privacy circles, said Google is reportedly "pushing for the provisions so it may sell patient medical information to its advertising clients on the new Google Health database." A Google spokesman called the claim "100 percent completely untrue and highly irresponsible."
In a letter to Congress that was also sent to President Barack Obama, Consumer Watchdog asked for the removal of what it perceives as loopholes in the package's ban on the sale of patient data and to include other privacy protections currently absent from the legislation. "Medical privacy must be strengthened before the measure's final passage, rather than allowing corporate interests to take advantage of the larger bill's urgency," the letter stated. For its part, Google is not advocating in favor of the sale of health data and is actively supporting strong privacy protections for medical records, the company spokesman said.
Tech Daily Dose previously reported that Consumer Watchdog is entirely funded by the Rose Foundation, which believes that "environmental stewardship, community regeneration, consumer protection, robust civic participation and a healthy economy are all inextricably linked." Its benefactors laid down $100,000 in 2008 to fund a so-called "Google Privacy Rights Project." In other health IT news, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard perspectives on protecting patient privacy in the digital age. Read more in CongressDaily's PM Edition.
Congressional efforts to postpone next month's switch to digital television signals gained momentum Monday when the Senate passed legislation that would bump the transition from Feb. 17 to June 12, according to CongressDaily's AM Edition on Tuesday. A revised bill sponsored by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller passed by unanimous consent, putting pressure on the House, where Democrats back a four-month extension but Republicans remain adamantly opposed.
"Delaying the upcoming DTV switch is the right thing to do. I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition at this time," Rockefeller said in a statement after the bill passed. "The Senate acted responsibly to give the Obama administration time to attempt to bring order to a mismanaged process." Senate Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison said last week that she and Rockefeller had agreed to a revised version of the chairman's original bill. A National Association of Broadcasters spokesman said his group supports the move "while providing flexibility to local stations in adjusting to the new date."
On Monday, the New America Foundation will unveil its communications policy agenda for the new administration. Speakers include: FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein; the Consumers Union's Gene Kimmelman; and a number of academics from American University, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania State University, Rutgers School of Law, the University of San Francisco, and the University of Texas. The Information Technology and Innovation Forum will host a same-day discussion on incentives for broadband deployment in President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday will hear perspectives on privacy of personal health records in the digital age. Chairman Patrick Leahy played a key role in the evolution of health IT legislation in the 111th Congress, insisting that safeguards be included in legislation sponsored by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee leaders. The economic stimulus packages making their ways through Congress have health IT components.
Hearing witnesses include James Hester, director of the Vermont State Legislature Health Care Reform Commission; Consumers Union health policy program manager Adrienne Hahn; the Center for Democracy and Technology's Deven McGraw; Michael Stokes, program manager for Microsoft's HealthVault; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center vice president John Houston; and David Merritt of the Center for Health Transformation and the Gingrich Group, which is headed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
On Wednesday, Robert McDowell, temporarily the lone Republican regulator at the FCC, addresses the Media Institute at a luncheon event. Meanwhile, the Information Technology Association of America, which merged recently with the American Electronics Association will recognize Data Privacy Day with a discussion and reception on Capitol Hill.
The high-tech community is pretty pleased with New York Gov. David Paterson's announcement Friday that Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand would fill new Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate seat, officials tell Tech Daily Dose. The two-term Democrat had an 86 percent voting record on tech topics, with her vote against the financial rescue package last fall as the only bad mark, according to the Information Technology Industry Council's scorecard for the 110th Congress. She voted in line with ITI's interests on a range of topics including patent, Internet taxation, competitiveness and energy legislation.
Gillibrand also helped co-found the House High Tech Task Force with Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas. During Paterson's news conference with Gillibrand, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., praised her appointment, saying that she will be "a great partner, a great colleague, a great senator." He noted that they have already fought side by side to bring high-tech jobs to Saratoga County. "She has a reputation as a go-to person. Go to Kirsten Gillibrand and she will get it done," Schumer said.
The Senate Appropriations Committee late Friday released a list of highlights of its portion of an $825 billion economic stimulus package, including $140 billion for infrastructure and science programs, $125 billion for education and training initiatives and $51 billion for energy programs. About $5 billion would go toward jumpstarting efforts to computerize health records to cut costs and reduce medical errors.
Some high-tech components:
• $9 billion for federal broadband access programs
• $40 billion for Energy Department clean energy programs
• $6 billion for federal building energy efficiency; green technology
• $14 billion for National Science Foundation research and grants
• $1.5 billion for NASA, including $500 million for Earth science
• $16 billion for school upgrades, including energy and technology
Related coverage from Friday's CongressDaily PM Edition (subscription required):
Senate Finance Committee Unveils $18 Billion Health IT Title
Along with its tax title, the Senate Finance Committee today unveiled language that would provide an estimated $17.9 billion to upgrade health information technology. Read more.
Groups Cite Several Health IT Amendments As Problematic
An amendment that the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved late Thursday as it marked up its portion of the $825 billion economic stimulus package might not sit well with high-tech industry stakeholders. Read more.
The House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees approved their sections of the chamber's economic stimulus package after marathon mark up sessions on Thursday. CongressDaily has two extensive reports that can be accessed here and here (subscription required).
Energy and Commerce Highlights:
• Accepted an amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich, to set a strict timetable for FCC implementation of a formula for distributing broadband money to "unserved" and "underserved" areas.
• Rejected an amendment by Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., that called for areas with no service at all to be helped first, then "underserved" areas.
• Rejected an amendment by Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., to prevent states attorneys from filing suits under federal privacy laws.
• Rejected an amendment by Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, to allow hospitals and doctors to share IT and staff.
• Accepted an amendment from Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., to add additional security requirements to protect patients' personal health information.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and other proponents of forthcoming legislation that would end a longstanding music royalty exemption afforded to AM and FM radio stations circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter on Wednesday advising members that they will likely be presented with a resolution in the coming days that is intended to thwart the effort -- potentially before their bill in introduced. "While the resolution will be framed in terms of preventing a 'tax,' 'fee,' or 'burden' on local radio stations, in reality, the only payment broadcasters would be required to make would be for the use of someone else's property," the letter said.
Conyers -- who was joined by Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., as signatories -- said the resolution being prepared by Texas Reps. Gene Green, a Democrat, and Republican Mike Conaway "is extremely detrimental to thousands of people and businesses, to the protection of American intellectual property abroad, to the economy and the balance of trade.: They urged fellow lawmakers not to sign the resolution and welcomed their participation "in the full discussion on this issue that will be before the Judiciary Committee in the coming weeks." The Green-Conaway resolution gathered more than 200 supporters in the 110th Congress.
National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton fired back, saying it is "implausible to suggest that a government-imposed bailout of foreign record labels estimated to cost up to $7 billion would not cause serious economic harm to U.S. radio stations." He said the media business faces the worst advertising climate in decades and thousands people have lost their jobs in the last few months. "If Congress wants to ensure more job losses... passing the performance tax would be the best recipe," Wharton said.
House Minority Leader John Boehner will take part in a "Digg Dialogg" interview Friday with CNN Political Editor Mark Preston, answering the most popular questions posed by visitors to Digg.com, a platform for Internet users to submit links and stories and vote and comment on submitted items. A spokesman for Boehner's political action committee said that for the next two years, "the key weapon in the GOP arsenal will be communication" and his boss is working hard to make sure his message of freedom and reform reaches the widest audience possible.
"He has always been an early adopter of new technologies and new opportunities to reach voters in unique ways, and the Digg Dialogg is no exception," Don Seymour said in a press release. "The online community targeted by this event is inherently entrepreneurial, solutions-driven, and skeptical of one-size-fits-all approaches -- a natural constituency for the Republican Party." Boehner's Digg Dialogg page -- and the questions that have been submitted so far -- can be viewed here.
The must "dugg" topics include:
"Why is it that drugs (alcohol, tobacco) that kill thousands of people each year are legal, yet other drugs (marijuana) which are used for medical purposes and do far less harm and don't cause death, are illegal?"
"How can the Republican Party reclaim its old positions of small government, low taxes, and personal responsibility?"
"Why should I, a responsible homeowner who pays her mortgage every month, help foot the bill for those who acted irresponsibly, getting way in over their heads, borrowing money that they had no business borrowing?"
The Senate Judiciary Committee, which works on a range of high-tech, intellectual property and privacy issues, will get three new members, Chairman Patrick Leahy announced Wednesday night. The committee will be comprised of 11 Democrats and eight Republicans. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Ted Kaufman, D-Del., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., will join the panel. Leaving the committee in the 111th Congress are Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who last year announced his intention to resign from the panel to concentrate on healthcare reform; former Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who was sworn in as vice president on Tuesday; and Sam Brownback, R-Kan.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison welcomed four new GOP colleagues to the panel Wednesday: Johnny Isakson of Georgia; Sam Brownback of Kansas; Mel Martinez of Florida; and Mike Johanns of Nebraska. "Our country faces many challenges in the weeks and months ahead, including the upcoming digital television transition and the need to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration. I look forward to working with them on these and other important issues," Hutchison said.
Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., decried the Supreme Court's decision Wednesday not to revive an Internet child safety law that lower courts have struck down as unconstitutional. The Child Online Protection Act, which would have prohibited Web sites from making harmful content available to minors, passed Congress in 1998. Bachus, who sponsored and voted for the law, wrote a letter cosigned by Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., urging the Justice Department to make a final attempt to save the statute.
A challenge brought by the American Civil Liberties Union has tied COPA up in hearings for more than 10 years, preventing it from ever being enforced, he said. The law required commercial pornographers to put a filter on their teaser pages - the electronic equivalent of a "brown paper bag" - to prevent accidental access by minors. Bachus said the law statute is "a commonsense way to help parents protect their kids from the corrupting influence of graphic pornography on the Internet."
Bachus, who serves as the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, said it is "outrageous to think that pornographers have a right to force this in front of the eyes of our impressionable children and grandchildren. Families across our nation are at greater risk today because of the ACLU's determination to protect pornographers." The ACLU and Center for Democracy and Technology hailed the high court's action, saying it killed what they believe is a bad law, once and for all. Read more here.
Just before Washington's collective attention turned to inaugural festivities, House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Fortney (Pete) Stark, D-Calif., dropped legislation aimed at overhauling the U.S. healthcare system through advances in technology. Stark introduced a similar bill in the 110th Congress -- much of which was culled from a proposal that emerged from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. His bill would codify the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology within the Health and Human Services Department; create a more transparent process for the development of health IT standards by the end of 2009; and establish a voluntary certification process for health IT products.
The bill also provides immediate funding for health IT infrastructure, training, dissemination of best practices, telemedicine, inclusion of health technology in clinical education, and state grants to promote the use of electronic medical records. In addition, the legislation provides financial incentives through the Medicare and Medicaid programs to encourage doctors and hospitals to adopt and use certified e-health systems. Physicians would be eligible for as much as $65,000 for showing they are meaningfully using health IT and hospitals would be eligible for several million dollars. Incentive payments would continue for several years but would be phased out over time.
On the privacy front, Stark's bill would establish a federal breach notification requirement for health IT and would let patients request an audit trail showing all disclosures of their health information made through an electronic record. The legislation would change existing laws to include new entities that were not contemplated when federal privacy rules were written as well as entities that do work on behalf of providers and insurers. The measure also would ban the sale of an individual's health information without their authorization and would require providers to attain authorization from a patient in order to use their health IT for marketing and fundraising activities.
From CongressDaily's PM Edition on Friday...
Some high-tech watchdogs are worried about a relationship unveiled this week between popular video-sharing site YouTube.com and Congress. The Google-owned site launched two new platforms where people can watch videos uploaded by members of the House and Senate. The pairing was endorsed in a welcome message by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that has been viewed more than 230,000 times since Monday. The announcement, however, is prompting questions about the propriety of lawmakers singling out a commercial Web tool. Critics also cite privacy concerns -- namely, what happens to data collected about users who view lawmakers' videos.
The project was made possible by changes to outdated House and Senate rules last year that clarified the circumstances under which members are allowed to place content on external Web sites. Steve Grove, head of YouTube's news and political content, said in a blog post that the service has "the potential to make Congress more transparent and accessible than ever before." But the Center for Digital Democracy's Jeff Chester warned Google is "taking a lobbying tactic developed in part by C-SPAN years ago -- offer members of Congress a free service so they can be seen by the public." On his Web site, he warned that such an "electronic or digital campaign contribution helps insure that Congress will think twice about biting -- or regulating -- the video hand that feeds [it]."
Read the full story here (subscription required).
Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, one of Washington's tech-savviest lawmakers, is going to be documenting Inauguration Day in his own special way -- with a live video feed from his cellular phone camera. Culberson's raw footage from around Capitol Hill -- and even from the platform where members will be seated during President-elect Barack Obama's swearing in -- will appear on his Qik.com Web page. The Houston Chronicle, BBC and possibly the New York Times plan to link to his content, a spokeswoman said.
On Friday, he gave viewers a sneak peek at the path through the Capitol's basement rotunda that Obama will walk with President Bush on Tuesday [watch that video above]. Culberson is also an avid user of Twitter, a service that lets users post short messages on a Web site from their cellular phones or computers. Last year, he campaigned mightily to ensure that outdated House rules were revised to allow members to communicate with constituents through a variety of platforms in the Internet age.
Democratic strategist Joe Trippi and Internet law expert Lawrence Lessig have joined forces to create Change Congress, an effort to reduce the influence of special interests in government. They sat down with Atlantic Media staff on Jan. 9 to talk about their new campaign. See the video above and read a Q&A with them here.
Legislation to strengthen and provide transparency to the multi-agency National Nanotechnology Initiative, which passed the House in the 110th Congress 407-6 but stalled in the Senate, was reintroduced Thursday by House Science Committee Chairman Bart Gordon. It requires departments participating in the effort to develop a plan for understanding the potential environmental, health, and safety risks of nanotechnology -- and a roadmap for implementing it.
The bill would require near- and long-term goals and the funding required, by goal and by agency. It would also seek to leverage private sector investments in nanotechnology and facilitate technology transfer by strengthening public/private partnerships. "The range of potential applications of nanotechnology is broad -- from solar cells to sunscreen, from electronics to energy transformation and storage, to medicine and health," Gordon said, noting it is important to address the potential downsides of the technology early and in a straightforward and open way.
The House Appropriations Committee Thursday unveiled an $825 billion economic stimulus package that includes $550 billion in spending and $275 billion in tax cuts to individuals and businesses over two years. The proposal would provide $20 billion for health IT; $6 billion for broadband; $32 billion for smart energy grid investments; and $15 billion for new K-12 school, classroom and laboratory renovation and technology. High-tech and telecom stakeholders cheered the news.
Information Technology Industry Council President Dean Garfield said the package "uses technology to put Americans back to work, creating jobs and new spending at a time when the country needs it most." New investments in electronic medical records, increased spending on science and technology in our nation's classrooms, new and faster reach for broadband and energy efficiency are "sound and sensible ways to jumpstart the economy," he said. He urged the House and Senate to move quickly to pass the legislation.
Stimulus investments in broadband are a valuable first step toward a comprehensive national broadband effort, the Internet Innovation Alliance said. President-elect Barack Obama has shown "tremendous foresight" in recognizing the need for increased deployment and his belief that America should lead the world in broadband penetration, the group said. "Investing in broadband expansion is good for our economy and key to our future competitiveness."
From NationalJournal.com's Under The Influence blog...
Believe it or not, the Senate is dragging its feet into the modern era of information-sharing and is still using a hard copy system for filing campaign finance reports. With paper filing, final disclosure reports of senatorial candidates are not available to the public until after the election due to the time it takes the Federal Election Commission to process the paperwork. What's stopping senators from e-filing when campaigns have all the information available electronically? That's exactly the question Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has been asking.
He is the author of the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, which would require reports filed with the Secretary of the Senate to be filed electronically and forwarded to the FEC within 24 hours. In the past, Feingold has signed up 47 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle; his bill failed to pass in the last Congress but his office tells National Journal the senator plans to re-introduce the legislation in the 111th Congress. In testimony to the Senate Rules Committee almost two years ago, Feingold said filing on paper "involves a completely wasteful expenditure by the FEC of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to re-enter information into databases."
If a bill introduced Thursday by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, becomes law, inmates in some prisons would be banned from using smuggled cellular phones. The bill would allow the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a governor or a governor's designee to petition the FCC for a wireless jamming device in a particular correctional facility. Under the measure, the FCC would have to consider whether the jammer would interfere with emergency or public safety communications outside the prison's walls. Current law prevents interference with wireless services. According to news reports in Texas, death row inmate Richard Tabler used a smuggled phone to make threatening calls to a state senator. Tabler's phone was found in the ceiling above a shower and officers found 11 additional phones belonging to other death row inmates while looking for it. "This legislation will fight criminal enterprises behind bars and protect innocent victims and public officials from harassment and threats from criminals," Hutchison said. Corrections officials have reported a surge in phones infiltrating prisons and in some states, the number confiscated phones has doubled in two years.
House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Joe Barton unveiled his GOP subcommittee line-up on Wednesday. Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida will be the top Republican on the Communications, Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va. GOP subcommittee members include: Fred Upton and Mike Rogers of Michigan; Nathan Deal of Georgia; John Shimkus of Illinois; John Shadegg or Arizona; Roy Blunt of Missouri; Steve Buyer of Indiana; George Radanovich and Mary Bono Mack of California; Greg Walden of Oregon, Lee Terry of Nebraska; and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
Radanovich will be ranking member of the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee. Members include: Stearns, Bono Mack, Terry, and Rogers as well as Ralph Hall and Phil Gingrey of Texas; Joe Pitts and Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania; Sue Myrick of North Carolina; and John Sullivan of Oklahoma. Walden will be the top Republican on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. Members include: Deal, Radanovich, Sullivan, Blackburn, Gingrey and Michael Burgess of Texas. Republicans received one additional seat on the full committee that has not been filled.
Members of the House or Representatives are under no obligation to keep records of their actions online. This would include the e-mail correspondences and comments that could take place on social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace. "There is no member archiving requirement. The committee passed a resolution encouraging member offices to explore archiving opportunities last session," Kyle Anderson, spokesman for the House Administration Committee, said in a statement.
Anderson did note, however, that "many member offices do maintain archives" anyway. New rules adopted by the committee in October allow members to maintain Web sites in addition to their official House.gov site and post material on third-party Web sites so long as it complies with federal law and House rules and regulations applicable to official communications. He said the initial discussion to update the rules focused on posting video within House domains but regulations that passed do not specifically indicate video. "The new rules can be interpreted as allowing for Members to have Facebook and MySpace presence," he said.
Members of Congress have started to use their own YouTube channels and post videos directly from their Washington offices. Google announced Monday that it was launching a Senate Hub and House Hub. -- Winter Casey
Popular video-sharing site YouTube.com in conjunction with the House and Senate on Monday launched two new platforms aimed at helping increase citizens' access to members' YouTube channels: The Senate Hub and the House Hub. Steve Grove, head of YouTube's news and politics offerings, said in a blog post that the new services "have the potential to make Congress more transparent and accessible than ever before -- but only if citizens continue to connect and engage with their government." Watch a special message from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell above.
The Senate Rules Committee and House Administration Committee each adopted changes to their chambers' Internet usage regulations last year to clarify the circumstances under which members are allowed to place content on external Web sites. The process was a somewhat benign one in the Senate but was hotly debated in the House. In July, Boehner and Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., who chairs the Commission on Mailing Standards, traded blows over proposals that were under consideration. Read CongressDaily's coverage of that debate and here.
The Sunlight Foundation's open source development team is offering $15,000 to the best "mash up" applications based on data from the government transparency watchdog and its partners that makes Congress more accountable, interactive and transparent. The Apps for America contest is also offering one second place award of $5,000, four third place awards of $1,000 each and 10 honorable mentions at $100 each, the organization said Monday. Submissions are due March 31 and winners should be announced on April 7.
Entries must be applications that use a host of government information APIs or datasets, including the Sunlight Labs API, OpenSecrets.org API, the FollowtheMoney.org API, the Capitol Words API and other Sunlight APIs and datasets. Apps for America entries will be judged by iStrategyLabs CEO Peter Corbett; EveryBlock founder Adrian Holovaty; technology journalist Xeni Jardin; Aaron Swartz, director of Watchdog.net; and Clay Johnson, director of Sunlight Labs. The group received more than a dozen entries to its first mash-up contest in 2007.
A key Senate proponent for U.S. intellectual property protection confirmed Monday his plans to not seek re-election in 2010. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, issued a statement in advance of an already scheduled afternoon news conference saying that "after prayerful consideration and much thought, my wife Janet and I have decided that I will not seek a third term." "These next two years in office, for me, will be the most important years that I have served in my entire political career," Voinovich said. "I must devote my full time, energy and focus to the job I was elected to do, the job in front of me."
Early in the 110th Congress, Voinovich partnered with Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., to introduce an IP enforcement bill -- portions of which were combined with a multifaceted proposal by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Arlen Specter. In October, President Bush signed the Leahy measure, which toughened civil and criminal laws against counterfeiting and piracy, provided enhanced IP enforcement and prosecutorial resources, and improved IP coordination within the executive branch. Voinovich becomes the fourth Republican Senate incumbent to decide to step down in 2010. More details on Voinovich's decision and the field of likely candidates to replace him will be available in CongressDaily's PM edition.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., will chair a hearing of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Thursday that will focus on the development of a nationwide system of electronic medical records. HELP Chairman Edward Kennedy and ranking member Michael Enzi sponsored health IT legislation in the 110th Congress but cost and privacy concerns stalled the bill and it never reached the floor. Key Senate staffers have been discussing how such language might be incorporated into a forthcoming economic stimulus package. This is the first in a series of hearings planned by Mikulski who was tapped by Kennedy to lead a Senate work group on improving health care quality.
Witnesses include Jack Cochran, executive director of the Permanente Federation; National Quality Forum President Janet Corrigan; Government Accounting Office IT Director Valerie Melvin; Microsoft Health Solutions Vice President Peter Neupert; and the Health Leadership Council's Mary Grealey. In related news, Booz Allen Hamilton will hold a health IT briefing Monday on a study that calls for "a consumer-centered, quality healthcare system." Speakers include Booz Allen officials and representatives from the Federation of American Hospitals, American Medical Informatics Association and Vanderbilt University.
Delaying the nation's Feb. 17 switchover from analog to digital television would lead to considerable consumer confusion and additional costs for the U.S. government and the private sector, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin warned during an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Saturday. Earlier this week President-elect Barack Obama proposed pushing back the deadline and it was announced that the federal program to help subsidize the cost of converter boxes for analog TV sets had run out of money. "Ultimately this is up to Congress to decide," Martin told Tech Daily Dose. "But something needs to be done to make sure coupons [for converter boxes] are issued again." he said.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller issued a statement Thursday saying Obama's team "deserves time to bring to order what has been an appallingly mismanaged process by the Bush administration" and he would support delaying the date "unit we can do it right." Ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, however, said it was too early to call for a delay and members should focus on the coupon shortage. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a senior member of the House Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, said moving the date would involve significant logistical challenges but Congress should immediately consider the feasibility of Obama's proposal.
The Republican Steering Committee on Friday approved adding Reps. Ted Poe of Texas, Jason Chaffetz of Utah, Tom Rooney of Florida and Gregg Harper of Mississippi to the House Judiciary Committee. The panel lost three GOP members in November when Reps. Tom Feeneyand Ric Keller of Florida and Steve Chabot of Ohio were defeated by Democratic challengers.
Ranking member Lamar Smith issued a statement saying there is "much work to be done in the year ahead," including strengthening national security by reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act, protecting children from sexual predators by funding the Adam Walsh Act and continuing to battle illegal immigration through increased enforcement. He said the new members' expertise will "help promote a strong agenda" in the Judiciary Committee.
The tech and telecom policy community was abuzz Thursday (in D.C. and at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas) over the news that Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., will take over the Energy and Commerce Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee and Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., will head the panel's Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee. The lawmakers (both known for their tech prowess) basically swapped seats.
Some reactions from my email inbox:
National Cable and Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow said his group looks forward to working with Boucher "as he pursues the important goals of expanding broadband deployment and adoption and completing a successful DTV transition."
U.S. Telecom Association President Walter McCormick said Boucher's "vast experience with communication issues, in particular those affecting rural America, will serve him well in his new role." "Broadband investment can make an essential contribution to our nation--from job creation to economic development to advancing health care, education, the environment and other key priorities," he said.
The trade group that represents the adult entertainment industry is expanding its mission in 2009. The Free Speech Coalition said it will remain the first line of legal defense against what it believes is "burdensome anti-adult legislation and litigation" but will also move forward with projects to address issues that affect members, including content piracy, workplace safety and better business practices. The changes will better position the industry "in a challenging and ever-changing business environment," FSC Executive Director Diane Duke said in a press release. Her group is in Las Vegas this week -- but not for the Consumer Electronics Show. The AVN Adult Entertainment Expo takes place at the same time, in some of the same venues around Sin City.
"The industry is evolving so that creates an opportunity for the FSC to expand its focus," FSC Membership Director Joanne Cachapero said. "The time is right to update the image and focus so that people in the industry have a better understanding of what the FSC is all about, as well as the importance of having an industry trade association." The coalition is overhauling its Web site and a page on popular social networking site Facebook. Both are scheduled to go live at the end of January. Meanwhile, CNN reported Wednesday that Hustler magazine's Larry Flynt and Joe Francis (the brains behind Girls Gone Wild videos) will lobby for a $5 billion economic bailout for the adult industry.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on Tuesday introduced a pair of data security bills -- one th
