Privacy
Pat's Answers
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, unveiled details of his E-Rights bill, crafted to protect the privacy of phone calls, book sales and library records, and information about home satellite broadcasts. Leahy called the legislation an attempt to "ensure that Americans' Fourth Amendment rights to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects are given ample protection in a networked computer environment. Leahy promoted the measure at the first Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about on-line data privacy, where other Senators expressed an interest in wading into the on-line privacy debate. Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-UT, declared privacy legislation "inevitable." Sen. Herb Kohl, D-WI, floated a proposal for a Privacy Study Commission to confront the issue before any broad-scale legislation. "The Internet is bringing this issue to a head," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY.

Net Governance
Good Things Come For Bills That Wait?
Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-VA, and Rick Boucher, D-VA, are having a more difficult time developing their broad Internet legislation than they had expected, forcing the duo to postpone introducing their bill. "There's a greater deal of complexity than we anticipated," Boucher said. "We want to get it right." The measure is expected to address issues such as online privacy, digital signatures, junk e-mail or spam, and promotion of broadband deployment, Boucher said.

Cyberporn
Law Has Appeal For Supreme Court
The Supreme Court upheld a portion of the 1996 Communications Decency Act that prohibits certain forms of obscene e-mail, deciding to let stand a federal court decision. "The American Civil Liberties Union went wrong in being so anxious to characterize the original CDA decision as a victory that they didn't look at the implications" of other portions of the law, said Clinton Fein, creator of ApolloMedia's annoy.com. He characterized his site, which permits individuals to send antagonistic e-mails and greeting cards, as a promoter of "robust free speech on politics and the media." "Then [the ACLU] stood around scratching their heads when there was no groundswell of support" to challenge the Child Online Protection Act, Fein said. COPA is a law passed last year designed to keep minors from pornographic Web sites. Although a federal district judge has enjoined COPA's enforcement, the Justice Department has appealed that decision.

E-commerce
Declaration Of Neutrality
The Clinton Administration intends to keep its e-commerce regulatory stance neutral rather than create incentives for growth, Eliot Maxwell, special adviser to Commerce Secretary William Daley, said last week at an American Association for the Advancement of Science conference. He said regulators are "wrestling" with how to remain neutral.

E-commerce
Safe Harbor Storm Dying Down?
While generally positive, U.S. high-tech industry officials withheld judgment for the most part on a set of "safe harbor" principles proposed by U.S. and European negotiators to cover self-regulatory privacy practices in e-commerce. The draft principles released by the Commerce Department are the result of negotiations between Undersecretary David Aaron and EU negotiator John Mogg, the European Commission's director general for the single market and financial services. The pair have been discussing for months how to ensure that data exchange between Europe and the United States is not disrupted by the EU's data privacy directive. The directive calls for banning the flow of personal information to third countries without adequate privacy protection.

Export
Bill In A China Shop
The top leaders of the select House committee charged with investigating technology transfers to China met with President Clinton to discuss the panel's recommendations. Committee Chairman Christopher Cox, R-CA, and Rep. Norm Dicks, WA, the panel's ranking Democrat, asked for a meeting in early February to discuss the recommendations the panel made in their investigation that found national security was harmed by sensitive technology transfers. During this week's meeting, they agreed to declassify the report by the end of the month.

Telecom
Tauzin Throws An FCC Reform Party
Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-LA, is naming a six-member Republican taskforce to study how best to reform the Federal Communications Commission. Within a week, Tauzin, who heads the House Commerce Committee's telecommunications subcommittee, plans to sit down with the new group to outline its mission. The members include Rep. Paul Gillmor, OH, who will chair the taskforce, and Reps. Nathan Deal, GA, Robert Ehrlich, MD, Vito Fossella, NY, Steve Largent, OK, and Chip Pickering, MS. All are members of the Commerce Committee.

Telecom
Calling Back On CALEA
In an attempt to loosen the logjam over implementing a law authorizing digital wiretaps, telecommunications industry officials have agreed to halt their lawsuit accusing the Justice Department of holding them responsible for what could be billions of dollars in equipment upgrades. Responding to what they regarded as sympathetic overtures in testimony last month by Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh, four major telecommunications industry associations announced that they would shelve their case for 60 days while industry and government discuss the DOJ's proposals, perhaps as early as this week.

Taxes
Watts Sign-On Electrifies R&D Effort
After signing up the highest-ranking Democrat in the House, supporters of legislation to permanently extend the research and development tax credit are now making inroads in the leadership ranks on the other side of the aisle. House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts Jr., R-OK, the fourth ranking member of the House leadership has endorsed H.R. 835, sponsored by Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-CT, which would make the credit permanent. Watts is the highest-ranking member of the House GOP leadership team to sign on as a cosponsor of the legislation; Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-MO, came out in support of the legislation in March. "I intend to work with Republican leaders to ensure that government does everything it can to encourage new technologies without trying to control their development," Watts said in a statement. "This tax credit encourages investment but leaves targeting decisions to the pros."

Y2K
NATO: Not A Talking Opportunity
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization anniversary meeting sparked a few policy-making moves this week. White House Y2K czar John Koskinen said he had hoped that this week's summit in Washington, DC, would have been a good opportunity for world leaders to discuss Y2K readiness issues. But he said that it's unlikely Y2K will receive much attention this week, despite some pressure from lawmakers, because of the conflict in Kosovo. Sens. Robert Bennett, R-UT, and Christopher Dodd, D-CT, sent a letter to top NATO officials urging them to address the 2000 date change and the impact it could have on international peacekeeping missions.

Y2K
Letter Opener
Although the 2000 date change might not bring on major computer breakdowns, Democrats need to support Y2K liability legislation aimed at fending off a potential flood of litigation next year, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-OR, and Christopher Dodd, D-CT, urged in a letter to their colleagues sent late Wednesday.

Y2K
Cognizance And Conversation
Now that 93 percent of federal systems are Y2K-ready, the nation must begin to focus locally and internationally to prevent major breakdowns caused by the date change, White House Y2K coordinator John Koskinen said. "Smaller entities are less likely to pay attention than bigger ones," he said at a news conference held to release his council's second report on Y2K readiness in the industry sector. "We're also concerned about the low level of awareness and activity at the international level." The President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion plans to initiate local "community conversations" to force cities to deal with Y2K issues. Koskinen said the federal government won't run the meetings, but will arm local officials with tools to assess readiness by showing how other communities have successfully prepared.

Markets
Taking Stock Of The Situation
Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-MI, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-AZ, and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-MS are expected to introduce the Electronic Securities Transactions Act. It would enable broker/dealers and others in the securities industry to accept electronic signatures from customers.

Domains
High Five For ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers opted for bigger, more established organizations in choosing five companies that will participate in a test aimed at opening the domain name registration business to competition. Participants in a two-month test include America Online; FranceTelecom's Internet service provider subsidiary Oléane; Melbourne IT, the largest country code domain name administrator in the Asia Pacific region; domain name reseller Register.com; and the Internet Council of Registrars (CORE), an international association of registrars. ICANN said an additional 29 organizations are expected to be accredited to become registrars after the test is completed.

Domains
GIP Grabs Big Bucks For ICANN
A coalition of senior high-tech executives has raised more than $400,000 to help provide startup funding for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organization charged with taking over administration of the Internet. The Global Internet Project, which is comprised of more than a dozen software and telecommunications companies, has been raising money since last year to help fund ICANN, which is responsible for opening up the domain name registration business to competition. The group had set a goal of raising $500,000 by June. John Patrick, vice president of IBM's Internet Division, is GIP's chairman.

Education
E-rate Wants A Raise
The Schools and Libraries Division of the Universal Service Administration Company is requesting $2.4 billion from the FCC to fund more than 32,000 applications submitted for the program's second year beginning in July. The FCC has until the July 1 start date of the program to determine the overall e-rate funding level. Last year, USAC requested more than $2 billion for the program, but ended up with $1.7 billion. Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-LA, and Sen. Conrad Burns, R-MT, are still interested in reviving a plan they introduced last year that would have funded the e-rate program through a current telephone tax, rather than a fund used to subsidize telephone services in rural areas. Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-ME, Jay Rockefeller, D-WV, and Robert Kerrey, D-NE, sent FCC Chairman William Kennard a letter Tuesday stressing their support for the e-rate program, and they "urge that it be fully funded at $2.25 billion during the upcoming year."