The $125 million agreement was signed in October to resolve a 2005 class action lawsuit filed by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers against the Internet giant. In the complaint, the authors and publishers said Google's plan to digitize millions of books from libraries and make them available in its Book Search service amounted to a whopper of a copyright violation. The settlement would let Google display books online and profit from them by selling access to titles and by selling subscriptions to its collection. Authors and publishers would get a chunk of the revenue. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin set a Sept. 18 deadline for the government to offer its views in writing. He has scheduled an Oct. 7 hearing on the settlement.

Read more here.

Weitzner was among the first to advocate user control technologies such as content filtering and rating to protect children and avoid government censorship of the Internet, according to his bio on W3.org, the World Wide Web Consortium. His arguments played a critical role in the 1997 Supreme Court case Reno v. ACLU, awarding strong free speech protections to the Internet. Weitzner successfully advocated for adoption of amendments to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act creating new privacy protections for online transactional information such as Web site access logs. -- Winter Casey

At DARPA in the late 1990s, Dugan won an agency award for her leadership of the "Dog's Nose Program," which led to the development of a field-portable system for detecting the explosive content of land mines. She is also the recipient of the deFleury Medal, the office of the secretary of defense award for exceptional service, and the award for outstanding achievement. She has participated in wide-ranging studies for the Defense Science Board, the Army Science Board, the National Research Council and Science Foundation, and sits on the Naval Research Advisory Committee and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Science and Technology Panel, according to a press release.

"Regina Dugan is precisely the dynamic leader DARPA needs to open new technology frontiers and transition revolutionary technologies to serve our nation's interests," said Zachary Lemnios, director of Defense Research and Engineering. "I am delighted she will be leading this agency and look forward to working closely with her." Lemnios, who was sworn in Thursday, joined the Obama administration after serving as chief technology officer of the Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He previously served as head of DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office, which is responsible for setting the agency's strategic vision and technical plans.

Amit Chatterjee, CEO of and founder of Hara Software, is among the participants. Prior to founding Hara he led SAP's fast-growing governance, risk and compliance unit and before that, worked with clients like Cisco Systems and Oracle at McKinsey & Co. Hara builds software that lets companies track their use of natural resources and carbon emissions. Applied Materials CEO Michael Splinter will also attend the meeting. Splinter is a 30-year veteran of the semiconductor industry and has led Applied Materials to record revenue and profits during his tenure.

Other attendees include Standard Renewable Energy CEO John Berger, Dow Corning CEO Stephanie Burns, Positive Edge President Alex Laskey, FPL Group President Jim Robo, Hycrete CEO David Rosenberg and Chuck Swoboda, CEO of Cree Lighting.

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.

• The Education Principle: The digital media industry intends, in a major campaign that is expected to exceed 500 million online ad impressions, to educate consumers about online behavioral advertising over the next 18 months.

• The Transparency Principle: Clearer and easily accessible disclosures to consumers about data collection and use practices associated with online behavioral advertising. It will result in enhanced notice practices.

For the nosiest amongst us, here's a quick listing of some key officials' earnings:

Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff: $172,000
David Axelrod, Senior Adviser: $172,000
Valerie Jarrett, Senior Adviser: $172,000
Carol Browner, Assistant to the President: $172,000
Anita Dunn, Director of Communications: $172,000
Robert Gibbs, Press Secretary: $172,000
Greg Craig, Counsel to the President: $172,000
Lawrence Summers, Director, National Economic Council: $172,000
James Jones, National Security Adviser: $172,000
Susan Crawford, Special Assistant, Technology: $130,500
Matthew Loveless, Director, Technology: $55,000
Timothy Ryan, Assistant Director, Technology: $50,000
David Cole, Deputy Director, Technology: $60,000
Jason Brown, Director, Cybersecurity Policy (Detailee): $91,259
Macon Phillips, New Media Director: $115,000
Jesse Lee, Director, Online Programs: $70,000

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).

In cases where the WTO's guidance is not followed, TACD asks governments to introduce measures, such as limitations and exceptions to rights, or registration requirements. The 80-member group first discussed the resolution with representatives from the EU and United States in June during TACD's annual meeting in Brussels. "For too long, legislatures have accepted uncritically the assertions of industry that longer copyright terms necessarily lead to more creation. However, as terms reach multigenerational lengths, mounting evidence has shown that long terms can chill discussion, debate, analysis and revisiting of existing works," Public Knowledge's Sherwin Siy said in a press release.

Extending what amounts to a temporary monopoly without sound economic justification, does not facilitate the search for new business models, nor address the need for the increased provision of legal content, argued Kostas Rossoglou of the European Consumers' Organisation in Brussels. "Copyright should aim to keep a balance between rights holders and society as a whole." TACD's Anne-Catherine Lorrain noted that if policymakers decide longer terms of copyright protection are needed, "they still have the option to counter-balance the harmful effects of such policies, by adopting several measures to improve public access to knowledge goods."

Read the TACD resolution here.

On Saturday, Obama posted a video asking for questions on healthcare reform and in just a few days, the Web team received hundreds of submissions. "The questions spanned the ideological spectrum, and ranged from heart-breaking and personal to almost wonkishly policy-focused," White House Online Programs Director Jesse Lee wrote in a blog post. Citizens can watch, discuss, and engage at 1:15 p.m. EDT through a Facebook live-stream chat application and viewers can send comments at WhiteHouse.gov/live or take part in a conversation on Twitter using hashtag #WHHCQ.

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).

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.

Former Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska, a charismatic former candidate in the 2008 presidential election whose bizarre YouTube "Rock" video became an Internet phenomenon, chatted with Tech Daily Dose at the Personal Democracy Forum's annual conference Tuesday about President Obama's high-tech and cybersecurity agenda. As expected, Gravel has a lot on his mind. Enjoy!

Read the full text of his remarks after the jump.