Exports
WH Review May Bring Changes In Export Policy
     The White House may announce changes to its encryption export policy within the next week, abiding by a promise Vice President Al Gore made last year when he announced the last round of export control changes, according to William Reinsch, the Commerce Department's undersecretary for export administration. He said that the administration's review of its export policies is "bubbling along nicely…We expect an announcement between now and the 16th." It was last year on that date that Gore announced that the administration was loosening its controls to allow for the export of any strength of encryption to a few selected industry and provided limited export relief to mass market products. Gore promised the administration would review the controls again within a year. However, the administration has come under continued pressure to move even further, particularly given the movement of legislation, H.R. 850, in the House that would lift most controls on the export of generally available encryption. Reinsch also confirmed that the President's Export Council Subcommittee on Encryption, a group that provides private sector advice on encryption export policies, recently recommended that the White House loosen its restrictions to allow for the export of mass market encryption products with a strength level up to 128 bits.

Business
Research Gets Multi-billion Boost
     The House Science committee approved legislation that would authorize a significant boost in funding for information technology research over the next five years. The panel approved a substitute version of the bill, H.R. 2086, on a 41-0 vote. It would authorize a total $4.8 billion for information technology research over the next five years, with more than half of the funding being directed to the National Science Foundation. H.R. 2086 would authorize funding for a new grant program within the National Science Foundation that would be used for research on high-end computing, software and network stability. In addition, $95 million would go toward grants to colleges and universities to help pay for internships at high-tech companies, which would be required to pay for half the cost of the internships in order to participate. The bill also authorizes $110 million in funding to complete work on the Next Generation Internet. The bill also includes a provision that would make the research and development tax credit permanent. But that provision will likely be dropped when the bill goes to the House floor to avoid problems with the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax issues.

E-commerce
Dig Sig Bill Might Get Back On Course
     A Senate digital signature bill that hit a temporary obstacle to swift passage just prior to the August recess appears to be back on track for bipartisan passage this month. Senate Commerce Manufacturing and Competitiveness Subcommittee Chairman Spencer Abraham, R-MI, the primary sponsor of the electronic signature legislation S. 761, hosted a meeting with consumer groups who raised concerns about the bill, including the Consumers Union and the National Consumers Law Center. Also hosting the meeting were staff from the offices of the bill's co-sponsors' Sen. Ron Wyden, D-OR, and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-MS, as well as from the offices of Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-AZ. In addition, staffers to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, and Sen. Paul Sarbanes D-MD, who placed the bill on hold last month, attended. Rounding out the meeting's attendance was the Department of Commerce. According to Abraham and Leahy staff, the meeting was "productive" and a general consensus was reached that some wording would be changed to ensure that consumer protection laws are not undermined by the legislation.

E-commerce
Commission Set For Another Round
     A congressionally appointed commission charged with studying how taxes should be applied to goods and services sold on the Internet plans to mostly draw on its 19 members for recommendations rather than relying on a vast outside network. The panel, set to meet Sept. 14-15 in New York, could have a rough draft of policy options to forward to Congress by the time it meets in San Francisco in December with the intention of having a final report ready for the group's last meeting in Dallas next spring.

Internet Access
Rural Sens Vs. CEOs: Who's To Blame
     Universal service funding and deregulation are critical issues Congress and the Federal Communications Commission must address to ensure that companies have incentives to launch high-speed Internet services into hard to serve rural areas, telecommunications executives told Democratic senators. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-SD, along with 10 Democratic senators representing rural states, called the CEO forum to discuss how to bridge the gap in telecommunications services between urban and rural areas. Daschle said the 1996 Telecommunications Act compels Congress and the FCC to support broadband deployment. "When we passed the 1996 Telecommunications Act we clearly meant to expand universal service to high-speed services," he said. FCC Chairman William Kennard, who attended the forum along with commissioners Susan Ness and Gloria Tristani, urged the CEOs to move beyond their well-rehearsed arguments to find solutions to the problem. Despite the request, it was hard for the business leaders to oblige. Additionally, some Republicans complained about the forum, charging that Democrats are trying to politicize the issue through their meeting with business leaders.

Privacy
Putting The Pressure On Privacy In Paris
     Commerce Department Undersecretary David Aaron is scheduled to meet with EU negotiators in Paris next week to discuss the final sticking points of the EU's data privacy directive, which bans the flow of personal information to third countries without adequate privacy protections. "We basically have reached agreement, where we differ at this point is how to implement it," Aaron said. During his visit, Aaron will meet with EU negotiator John Mogg, the European Commission's director general for single market and financial services. Aaron has been in negotiations with Mogg since last year on how U.S. companies can comply with the EU's strict data privacy directive. U.S. companies that abide by the safe harbor privacy principles would be seen as having "adequate" privacy protection. The U.S. favors a self-regulatory approach to privacy, a sentiment backed by business interests that say collecting some personal information necessary. The European Commission had hoped to reach agreement with the United States by October and Aaron said the issue could be wrapping up quickly.

Civil Liberties
Web Advocates Are Preparing To Battle Against Filters
     A global group of Web civil liberties advocates are warning that Internet content filtering - which sprang into existence as a way to avoid government censorship — is being primed for its introduction as a government-sponsored form of content control, and are preparing to campaign against filters. In a preemptive strike against a Bertelsmann Foundation conference this week in Munich, Germany , a group of 17 organization calling themselves the Global Internet Liberty Campaign is preparing to argue that the dangers of filtering outweigh any benefits. "In light of the many potential negative effects of rating and filtering systems, the movement toward their development and acceptance must be slowed," read a statement circulated on the Internet by David Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, one of the signatories of the statement.

Y2K
Securities Industry Proclaims Y2K Readiness
     Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt joined White House Y2K czar John Koskinen to assure investors that the nation's stock markets are ready for the 2000 date change. Levitt said the SEC has closely monitored the progress of brokerage houses to ensure they are fixing their computer systems and drafting contingency plans. Firms that aren't completely ready by Nov. 15 cannot open new accounts, and must wrap up business by Dec. 1 before the SEC takes court action against them. Despite heavy regulatory intervention and corporate efforts to ensure securities companies will be Y2K ready.

Crime
Weldon Pegs Information Warfare As Major Problem
     Information warfare poses a greater danger to the United States than either conventional missiles or weapons of mass destruction, Rep. Curt Weldon, R-PA, said to a group of military and civilian network security specialists. Weldon, who heads the Military Research and Development Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee and oversees the Pentagon's $47 billion information technology budget, said "the advantage we have in defending our security and liberties by being the best equipped and best trained military is changing" just as surely as society is in the midst of a information revolution. Also at the conference, it was revealed in a survey that corporations are so frustrated with the inability of law enforcement to tackle the problem of hackers breaking into their networks that they would step beyond simply securing their systems by counter-hacking attackers. Echoing those concerns over cyberterrorism, Sen. Robert Bennett, R-UT, the Senate's chief Y2K czar warned this week that the threat of cyberattacks poses one of the next biggest computer vulnerabilities beyond the Y2K computer glitch.

Cyberporn
Porn Ruling Seen As Threat To Some
     The conviction handed down Monday by a U.K. judge ruling that pornographic images downloaded in the United Kingdom are subject to British law might rekindle debate over international legal jurisdiction on the Internet. Judge Christopher Hardy, who ruled in July that the content of U.S.-based Web sites could come under British jurisdiction, gave Surrey businessman Graham Waddon, 29, an 18-month suspended sentence for running porn sites from servers in the United States. Police and anti-pornography groups in the United Kingdom heralded the decision, saying it gives them increased powers to monitor the Internet. But some watchdog groups and legal analysts say the move, while not surprising, could pose serious policy questions for the Internet.

Lobbying
TechNet Launches Node In Lone Star State
     The Lone Star State's high-tech industry has saddled up with Silicon Valley's technology lobbying firm Technology Network, with the launch of TechNet Texas on Tuesday. The overall goal of the Austin-based "node" of TechNet will be no different from its California counterpart, setting out to establish a solid dialogue between policy makers and high-tech and biotech companies. New member companies include Compaq, Dell Computer, Powershift Group, and Texas Instruments. TechNet Texas will operate on both the federal and state levels, according to President and CEO Roberta Katz.

Campaigns
Dems Pick A Next Crop Of Candidates
     Signaling it plans to take an aggressive role in helping to shape the 2000 campaign, the New Democrat Network pledged Thursday to raise $250,000 for eleven candidates in the next three months. The NDN, a moderate Democrat political action committee (PAC), has actively embraced many of the policies sought by the high-tech industry. Part of the monetary muscle will be generated through its network of business donors, such as John Doerr, partner at high-tech venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, and America Online's chief technology officer, Marc Andreessen.

Telecom
Blame It On The FCC
     A Colorado think tank is blaming Federal Communications Commission policies for exacerbating the divide between technology haves and have-nots in a new study. The U S West-supported Center for the New West is calling for the FCC to completely deregulate the data and long distance markets and revamp the current universal service fund, which subsidizes communications services in high-cost rural and urban areas, with a heavily federally funded voucher system.

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