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Intellectual Property
High Court's Patent Ruling Encourages Vonage
The Internet telephone company Vonage Holdings said Tuesday that it will file a motion for a retrial of a patent-infringement case brought against the company by Verizon Communications following a patent ruling this week by the Supreme Court. Reuters and News.com report that the high court decided on Monday to make it easier to invalidate some patents for being "obvious" inventions. Vonage said the lower court should review the case against the company based on the Supreme Court's call for "a more expansive and flexible approach that allows for consideration of common sense when assessing whether an invention is ordinary or obvious, and thus ineligible for patent protection." In other news, Reuters reports that the New Zealand-based company Michael S Sutton has sued Nokia in the United States for alleged patent infringement.
Broadband
FCC Approves WiMAX Wireless Device For Laptops
The FCC has approved the first WiMAX wireless card for high-speed Internet access that will fit into a laptop computer card slot and that can be used with Microsoft's Windows Vista and XP computer-operating systems, PC World reports. The card will be offered by Clearwire and should be available to users later this year, according to the company. The FCC's approval could spur the use of WiMAX, a standards-based technology. WiMAX base stations can send broadband Internet signals farther than Wi-Fi technology.
Security
Panel Backs Ban On Aiming Lasers At Aircraft
A bill making it a crime to aim a laser beam at aircraft was approved by a House Judiciary subcommittee Tuesday. CongressDaily reports that the measure, approved by voice vote by the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee, now moves to the full committee. The bill came close to clearing the 109th Congress. Both the House and Senate passed a measure, but differences between them were not resolved. At issue in the bill are pen-sized devices typically used to highlight items during business presentations. They emit either red or green streams of light. However, the danger comes when the light is pointed into the cockpit of passing airliners, potentially blinding pilots.
Cyber Security
House Panel Wants Details On Information Security
Members of the House Homeland Security Committee want Scott Charbo, the chief information officer at the Homeland Security Department, to provide detailed information on the agency's information security practices. Computerworld and Federal Computer Week report that committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and other members sent a letter to Charbo recently seeking the number of cyber attacks the department suffered between 2004 and 2007. At a subcommittee hearing last month, government officials testified about State and Commerce department security breaches. The lawmakers are concerned that Homeland Security networks may be vulnerable to similar attacks. They asked Charbo to respond by May 21.
Security
U.S. To Use Interpol's Data On Stolen Passports
The Homeland Security Department plans to start using a database of stolen passports maintained by Interpol, an international police organization. The Wall Street Journal reports that stolen passports have posed significant concern to the U.S. government and recently have been used by Iraqis attempting to gain illegal entry to the southwestern U.S. border. "Lost and stolen passports represent a huge vulnerability to this country," said Clark Ervin, Homeland Security's former inspector general.
Intelligence
Official Bemoans Impact Of Surveillance Oversight
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell told senators on Tuesday that recent court orders have limited the amount of information agencies can collect under the Bush administration's anti-terrorism surveillance program. The Washington Post reports that McConnell, testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the program has been brought under the oversight of a special court. But he said the move has made it harder for intelligence to be collected. "We are actually missing a significant portion of what we should be getting," he said. Missouri Republican Christopher (Kit) Bond also said the intelligence community is missing out on vital information. Some Democrats on the committee said they want to revise surveillance laws to prevent future presidents from initiating similar secret surveillance programs.
E-Government
Task Force To Vote On Probe Of Florida Election
A House task force will decide Wednesday whether it will move forward in its investigation of Florida's 13th District election last fall that was allegedly fraught with e-voting machine malfunctions. The Hill reports that Chairman Charles Gonzalez, D-Texas, and panel members Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will make their decision after weeks of meeting with lawyers to hear each side of the issue. Democrat Christine Jennings contested the victory of Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan after he won by a slim margin of 369 votes. Jennings said there were voting-machine errors and is requesting the software codes to test the machines.
E-Government
Congress Weighs Gun Checks Over Mental Health
Momentum is building in Congress for federal legislation that would require states to report their mental health records to the federal database for conducting background checks on gun buyers, The New York Times reports. But state privacy and mental health laws could complicate efforts. While federal law prohibits anyone who has been decreed a "mental defective" or anyone involuntarily committed to a mental institution from purchasing a firearm, only 22 states currently submit mental health records to the background check system. Federal Computer Week reports on proposed legislation to improve the national database. Meanwhile, AP reports on obstacles to the sharing of gun traces. And The Washington Post said a Virginia panel examining the Virginia Tech massacre last month will look at how people obtain guns.
Security
Product Would Track Students In Emergencies
A mobile telephone system is being developed to track students' locations in the event of an emergency, BBC reports. The Rave Guardian -- created in response to the Virginia Tech shootings last month -- would allow students to set a timer on their cellular phones when leaving one location on campus and heading to another. Once they arrive safely, they can deactivate the alarm. But if something happened in transit and the alarm were not disengaged, their profiles and locations on a Google map would be transmitted to campus safety every three minutes. Rave Guardian is part of a toolkit of safety applications being marketed to universities. In other news, AP reports that survivors of a National Guard shooting that killed four Kent State University students in Ohio during an anti-war rally in 1970 have released an audiotape of the event.
Crime
States May Require Techies To Report Child Crimes
Two states are considering legislation that would require computer technicians to notify law enforcers about any type of child abuse and neglect they notice on the job. AP reports that California and Connecticut are weighing bills that would go beyond existing laws in other states that require technicians to report child pornography. The two bills would add computer technicians to their states' lists of "mandated reporters" of child abuse, which already include doctors and teachers. In other news, AP reports that Miss America Lauren Nelson will testify in court against a man she helped arrest during an online sex sting in New York. The beauty queen worked with police last month in the operation, which was taped for an episode of the program "America's Most Wanted."
Civil Liberties
N.Y. Asks Google, Yahoo To Resist Censorship
New York City officials are asking the Google and Yahoo Internet firms to adopt company policies aimed at protecting free access to information on the Internet around the world, Bloomberg news reports. New York City's Office of the Comptroller, which controls about $124 million of Yahoo shares and $338 million in shares of Google, issued a statement urging the firms to use legal means to resist censorship demands by countries with authoritarian governments. Google was widely criticized last year for launching a Chinese search engine that filtered results. The comptroller also requested that the companies not store user information in certain countries. Computerworld reports that Google board members are recommending that shareholders vote against the proposals. In other news, Computerworld, The Mercury News and Reuters report that Google officially filed its response to Viacom's accusations of copyright infringement by Google.
Privacy
Bank Will Probe A Data Breach Shown On YouTube
J.P. Morgan Chase will investigate claims that it dumped sensitive customer account data in trash bins around New York after a nationwide union posted a video on YouTube, supposedly outing the breach. Computerworld reports that the Service Employees International Union posted a video that allegedly shows the discovery of the documents in bins near branches of the financial services firm around New York City. Tom Kelly of J.P. Morgan Chase said the the company "had a conference call with all of our branch managers and reiterated what our policies and procedures are" for document disposal. Separately, the company is notifying tens of thousands of customers and some employees in the Chicago area that their personal data may have been comprimised after a tape was reported missing.
On The Hill
Sen. Durbin: Immigration Debate Won't Be Delayed
Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin said Tuesday that Majority Leader Harry Reid will not delay floor debate on an immigration bill past Memorial Day if Republicans and Democrats do not reach consensus, CongressDaily reports. "If we can't produce a bill through the regular process, Sen. Reid is going to Rule 14 the bill," Durbin said, referring to the Senate rule that allows the majority leader to bring a bill directly to the floor without committee consideration. Reid has reserved the last two weeks of May for debate on an immigration bill, but negotiators indicated Tuesday that they are far from agreement on a bipartisan measure. There are several possibilities for a Senate vehicle on immigration if negotiators do not reconcile their differences, including a House bill to boost the number of visas for highly skilled foreign workers.
Intellectual Property
Mexico, Europe Ask To Join WTO Talks On China
Mexico and the European Union have asked to join the World Trade Organization talks over China's copyright policy, AP reports. The United States filed two cases against China in April for alleged failure to remove import and distribution restrictions on copyrighted goods. "This is a case of great importance," said Peter Power, a spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. "We have asked to be third parties. We are very interested in this case. We will watch developments in these consultations with great interest."
Civil Liberties
Journalism Moves Online In Restricted China
Internet-based muckrakers in China are becoming more defiant in response to their government's increased censorship of newspapers and traditional media outlets. The Washington Post reports that some online journalists such as Xu Xiang, who recently wrote about government officials forcing residents of the Sichuan province off their farmland, have been able to pursue stories that would have been off limits to traditional reporters. But they also are responsible for sustaining their own incomes. Xu and Li Xinde, another independent online reporter, have charged fees to investigate certain stories. "It's not strange for the self-supported Web-site reporters to ask someone to cover transportation expenses, and usually the reporters clearly state that on their Web sites or in e-mails," Li said.
Campaigns
GOP Launches Conservative Alternative To YouTube
Republican strategists have launched a conservative alternative to the popular video-sharing site YouTube. The Washington Times reports that former Reagan administration aides Charlie Gerow and Jeff Lord decided to create QubeTV because they believe YouTube and its parent company, Google, are biased against Republicans. "We saw a need for a social-networking site for the center-right," Gerow said. "They want something that isn't controlled by our good friends at Google." A YouTube spokesman said the site provides equal opportunities for all voices within the political spectrum. In a separate online venture, Republicans Mike Brady and Mike Giuliani have started the Majority Accountability Project. They advertised the project as an "online clearinghouse of information" on House Democrats.
Labor
IBM Lays Off 1,300 In Service Operations Unit
IBM is letting go close to 1,300 workers in services operations, The Wall Street Journal reports. A spokesman for IBM said when the company reported earnings in April that it was "putting in place a series of actions to address our U.S. cost base." IBM had 354,000 employees in the world at the end of this year's first quarter. The Alliance at IBM, a union organization affiliated with the Communication Workers of America, said it had received information about the planned job actions in the company's services operations from IBM employees. IBM workers normally have a set period of time at IBM to find other jobs within IBM before they are officially dismissed.
Culture
Oracle's Ellison Has His Eyes On Sailing Prize
Oracle founder Larry Ellison is on a quest for the world's "most elusive piece of metal" -- and his mission has nothing to do with computers. The Washington Post reports that Ellison will sail in the America's Cup competition as part of the only American boat in the field. It will be his second attempt to win the prize. Ellison, whom Forbes magazine recently measured to be worth $21.5 billion, said he is in the competition to win it and will take his orders from Chris Dickson, the skipper of the BMW Oracle. "I won't get on the wheel if the race is in jeopardy," he said. "But I really enjoy it. I go if he asks me to, and as a rule, we do okay when I drive. But if it's a hotly contested race, I'm off."
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Piece Of Mind
Project Eyes Capitol Press Passes For Bloggers
The Open House Project, an effort designed to increase transparency in government, is proposing the creation of an Online Media Gallery that would give press passes to Internet-based journalists, including some bloggers.
Robert Bluey, director of the Center for Media and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation and a participant in the project, advocated the creation of the gallery in a column in The Hill.
"This gallery would serve as a sister organization to existing congressional press galleries, adapting the rules of those galleries for individuals who operate exclusively on the Internet," he wrote. "The formation of the gallery would allow a committee of peers to establish new rules applicable for Web sites."
Such a gallery would "alleviate the problem that exists with access to lawmakers," Bluey added. "Currently, bloggers seeking to gain access to events in the U.S. Capitol must secure approval from a congressional office, letting staffers control the credentialing process and creating the potential to discriminate against certain bloggers whom members would like to exclude."
Here are summaries of other recent opinion pieces:
-- A column in USA Today holds that the United States must modernize its laws to protect children in the 21st century but added that communication between parents and children is key.
-- An International Herald Tribune column critiques Google's new privacy policy, arguing that it apparently is not designed as much to protect privacy on the Web as it is to provide information "about how Google maintains your personal data."
-- A Wall Street Journal column blamed "lack of active oversight and transparency in part for problems at Al-Hurra, the taxpayer-financed Arab television network.
-- An International Herald Tribune column commented on the advancement of cellular telephone and Internet technology. And another column in the paper examined Internet jargon.
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Check Out Technology Daily's Features
Every day, the staff of National Journal's Technology Daily provides readers with a special feature of timely interest. In today's State Roundup, Staff Writer Michael Martinez looks at the most important tech policy news from state legislatures and governors' mansions across America.
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