Taxes
Clinton Pushes Extension Of E-commerce Tariff Ban
     President Clinton said the United States should pledge to eliminate worldwide tariffs on "the tools" of high technology at the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle next month, and thus eliminate barriers of growth to electronic commerce. "Last year, the world's nations joined the U.S. in placing a moratorium on tariffs on e-commerce. In Seattle, we should pledge to extend that ban and reach agreement to eliminate remaining tariffs on the tools of the high-tech revolution," Clinton said in a speech to the Democratic Leadership Council, which is holding a meeting this week on global trade policy. The DLC is the moderate policy making arm of the Democratic party. Also on the tax front this week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, with members on both sides of the Internet tax issue, is using the congressionally mandated three-year moratorium on new online taxes to buy some time to see if a consensus can be crafted before it takes a formal stance.

E-commerce
House Republicans Picking Up On Internet Gambling
     House Republicans plan to take another stab at halting online gambling, when Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-VA, plans to introduce new legislation barring the practice. The bill would be similar to one in the Senate offered by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ, a spokeswoman for Goodlatte said. The Senate Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly supported S. 692 in June, but it still awaits full Senate approval. The Kyl bill would ban most online gambling, with the exception of closed networks for horse and dog racing and fantasy sports leagues. Goodlatte's bill would allow brick-and-mortar casinos to continue advertising online without penalty. Casinos were concerned about a provision in Kyl's S. 692 which would have banned all online advertising of gambling. With that bill, a casino could advertise its hotels or restaurants, but not its main business.

Privacy
New Privacy Coalition Pushes For Stronger Protections
     Ralph Nader, Phyllis Schlafly, and Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, are teaming up with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL, Sen. Richard Bryan, D-NV, and Rep. Ed Markey, D-MA, in an effort to push for stronger privacy protections for financial data. The unique group, dubbed the Coalition for Financial Privacy, is united by its opposition to privacy provisions of the Financial Services Modernization Act, H.R. 10, which they regard as insufficiently weak. Debate over the extent to which financial services firms need to seek consent before sharing customer data has been a key sticking point between the House bill and the Senate version, S. 900, an issue that flared even as the Senate Banking, House Banking, and House Commerce Committee conferees met to consider amendments to the three committee chairmen's mark.

Privacy
No Sale on the Cell
     The House cleared a bill that would guarantee the privacy of cellular telephone location information in non-emergency situations, unless individuals specifically consented to its release. The measure, the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act, S. 800, introduced by Sen. Conrad Burns, R-MT, would designate "911" as a universal emergency telephone number within the United States and require wireless carriers to adopt that number for emergency calls. Rep. Ed Markey, D-MA, was exultant about the privacy victory, which he characterized as evidence that Congress could pass "opt-in" privacy protections.

Business
Pick A Number, Any Number
     After initially telling lawmakers that it may have given out as many as 20,000 more H-1B visas than was legal, the Immigration and Naturalization Services now says it is not sure how many it granted in fiscal year 1999. The INS proposed to solve this problem with the visas, which are reserved for skilled foreigners and have been heavily utilized by high-tech companies, by reducing the number available for this year by an equal amount. After coming under fire for this suggestion and its inability to get a firm count, the INS has backed off its original claim that it doled out up to 20,000 visas above the 115,000 available for FY 1999. INS spokeswoman Eyleen Schmidt says the agency is unsure how many visas above the cap it may have processed, and it is hiring an outside auditing firm to try to determine the correct number.

Business
Dig Sig Bill Raises Eyebrows Of High-Tech
     A Democrat substitute version of an electronic signatures bill that prevailed in the House Judiciary Committee this week raised concerns within the high-tech industry. With a vote of 15 to 14, a surprise outcome in one of the most partisan committees in Congress, the Democrats bill passed that would create a federal legal framework for accepting electronic signatures in transactions but allow states to opt-out of the national plan if they pass the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, a state-led effort to address digital signatures. Under the bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman, D-CA, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-CA, Rep. John Conyers, D-MI, and Rep. William Delahunt, D-MA, a state could pass its own exemptions to UETA and still not have to comply with the national framework. Berman's bill gives states more leeway to stray from a uniform national framework, which upsets some high-tech companies that seek legislation that establishes a single law for conducting business transactions online. Berman insisted the bill was both a boost for e-commerce firms and offered protection for consumers.

Domains
House Passes Anti-Cybersquat Bill
     After telling compelling stories of people registering trade names as Internet addresses and then posting pornography on those sites or trying to sell the names for sizable sums, members of the House Judiciary Committee unanimously passed H.R. 3028 to deter the practice of "cybersquatting." The bill, called the "Trademark Cyberpiracy Prevention Act," prohibits the practice of obtaining Internet domain names such as those associated with famous trademarks for the purpose of selling them in the future at a substantial profit.

On The Hill
Senate Dems Urge Clinton To Hold Firm On Tech Funding
     Senate Democrats urged President Clinton to hold out for strong technology funding in pending appropriations legislation, saying technology funding now is "critical' to ensuring continued economic growth. Nearly two-dozen Democrats signed on to the letter spearheaded by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-CT. Laments about National Science Foundation and NASA funding, however, were premature. House and Senate conferees agreed last week to fund technology and science research programs closer to levels approved by the Senate, rather than supporting cuts that passed in the House version of the appropriations bill funding veterans affairs, housing and other agencies, including NSF. The letter was drafted before the conferees finished their work, but a Lieberman spokesman said that the senator was pleased with the stronger funding levels approved by the conferees.

Budget
House Bill Could Boost IT Funding
     The House passed a final version of legislation that would provide a significant boost in funding for information technology activities at the National Science Foundation in fiscal year 2000. On a 406-18 vote, House lawmakers passed the conference report for the fiscal 2000 spending bill, H.R. 2684, funding the Veterans Administration, housing and several independent agencies, including NSF. The final version of the $99.5 billion legislation, which must be cleared by the Senate before it can be sent to the president, included $7.5 billion more than was in the House-passed version of the bill.

On The Hill
House Lawmakers Launch New Spam Attack
     Two House lawmakers are launching a bipartisan attack on spam to give individuals and Internet service providers tools to fight unsolicited e-mail. The Unsolicited Electronic Mail Act, to be introduced by Reps. Heather Wilson, R-NM, and Gene Green, D-TX, next week would allow ISPs to take spammers to court and collect up to $500 per unwanted e-mail, or $25,000 a day for violating the provider's policy on unwanted e-mail. It also would allow individuals to opt out of receiving unwanted e-mail.

Export
Senate GOP: Speed Export Changes
     Leaders of the Senate Republican high-tech task force are urging Senate leaders to help speed up the congressional review of some of the computer export control changes announced in July by the White House. The GOP task force said in a letter that the delay in implementing the looser rules is already hurting some computer companies. The letter, signed by GOP Sens. Robert Bennett of Utah, Spencer Abraham of Michigan and Bill Frist of Tennessee, was dispatched to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-MS, and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-SD.

Campaigns
Proposal Would Exempt Political Speech From FEC Regs
     In an effort to better define the application of election laws to the Internet, Sen. Conrad Burns, R-MT, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-UT, and Sen. Slade Gorton, R-WA, planned on Thursday to introduce an amendment to campaign-finance reform legislation that would exempt individual political speech on the Web. The amendment would apply to individuals who independently put political statements or Web sites on the Internet, and are not affiliated with nor paid by a campaign to do so. Any such statements or Web sites would not be considered campaign contributions under Federal Elections Commission rules.

Antitrust
Bill Might Make Antitrust Depositions Secret
     The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would repeal a 1913 law that permitted depositions in the government's antitrust case against Microsoft to be made public — including the Department of Justice's 20-hour grilling of Bill Gates. Although depositions are normally closed to the public, except when excerpts from such testimony are introduced in open court, the 1913 law mandated that all depositions in government-initiated antitrust cases be open. Opposition to the 1913 was a rare issue that united the legal teams of the Department of Justice antitrust division and Microsoft, who had both argued that the law was antiquated. Legislation repealing the law, the Antitrust Technical Corrections Act of 1999, H.R. 1801, was introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-IL.

Internet Access
FCC Stresses Hands-Off Broadband Stance
     The broadband market is still in its infancy and needs to grow regulation-free, the Federal Communications Commission's Cable Services Bureau concluded in a report it forwarded to agency Chairman William Kennard. The study, which is not an official commission statement, is the culmination of two meetings the bureau held with industry representatives, interest groups and telecommunications analysts. Also this week on the broadband front, a new player entered the fray. The United States Internet Service Providers Alliance, spearheaded by the Commercial Internet eXchange — whose members include AT&T, MCI WorldCom and Sprint — and 10 state ISP associations, will focus solely on ISP interests in the ongoing battle over what networks will deliver high-speed Internet services and how.

Trade
Industry To WTO: Don't Fence Me In
     A top U.S. trade official and industry representative sent a clear message to governments seeking to regulate e-commerce — hands off. High-tech business will take this sentiment to the upcoming World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, advocating unimpeded e-commerce trade. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Susan Esserman told a Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee that the United States will seek an extension of the current moratorium on e-commerce duties in the hope of eventually making it permanent. This position is further buoyed by a proposal from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-OR, and Rep. Christopher Cox, R-CA, that pushes for a permanent ban on Internet tariffs at the WTO ministerial meeting.

Domains
ICANN Board Elects Two New Members
     Members of the Domain Name Supporting Organization chose a computer academic from Mexico for the first seat up for grabs on ICANN's board following the first round of voting. The DNSO's Name Council picked Alejandro Pisanty, director of computing academic services at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, to serve a three-year term on the ICANN board. Former Rep. Rick White, R-WA, came in second. The DNSO, the ICANN-supporting organization charged with providing advice on domain name issues, this week chose a European for the second seat. Amadeu Abril i Abril, a law professor at Spain's Ramon Llull University, was elected to a two-year term. Coming in second was Peter Dengate Thrush, an intellectual property lawyer from New Zealand, who received eight votes. The Names Council is scheduled to vote on a third seat this week.

Piracy
BSA Outlines Guidelines To Streamline Piracy Policies
     Railing against the evils of software piracy in Europe, an industry group called on the European Union to adopt policies aimed at wiping out the crime. In a letter to the European Commission, European Parliament and heads of EU member states, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) urged a five-point attack, which includes a call for the European Union to harmonize criminal penalties for piracy and establish an agency to deal with copyright-related crimes.

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