Encryption
Senators Say Don't Shy Away From Crypto Regs
     Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Don Nickles, R-OK, say encryption legislation is still necessary even though the administration appears to have provided what the encryption export relief industry was seeking by releasing new regulations implementing its policy shift on the issue.

White House
High Tech Executives Press Clinton On Export Controls
     A group of computer industry executives met with White House officials to press their case for further liberalization of computer export controls. The executives met with White House Chief of Staff John Podesta to discuss their push to see computer controls keep up with rapid advancement of computer chip technology. The industry wants to ensure that the government's export rules do not cover computers that are widely available and sold in large volumes around the world. The computer executives are in town for a three-day meeting of the Computer Systems Policy Project, an industry coalition.

Budget
Clinton To Outline Science Funding Increase
     President Clinton on Friday will unveil his science and technology priorities for the coming year, which include a request for a major increase in funding for research at the National Science Foundation. Clinton will outline his science and technology agenda during a speech at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Courts
HUD Handles Online Hate With Suit
     In a case that could signal the use of new civil rights tools against on-line hate speech, the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs filed a housing discrimination lawsuit against a white supremacist whose Web site contained threats against a fair housing advocate. Even though the Web site — alpha.org — was taken off the Internet last year in response to a separate lawsuit by Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher, HUD officials said their suit was necessary to send a message against racism.

Business
Laboring Over The Point
     In another string of criticisms over the Department of Labor's policies, a top House lawmaker blasted the agency for its recent letters regarding regulation of home offices and employee stock options. House Majority Leader Richard Armey, R-TX, sent a letter to Labor Secretary Alexis Herman seeking answers on the administration's positions. The Labor Department this month withdrew an advisory requiring companies to ensure a safe environment for employees who work at home. More recently, the department irked the high-tech industry and some GOP lawmakers over an advisory opinion that would require employers to include profits from stock options in a worker's pay.

Privacy
Privacy Groups Go For The Block Against FBI
     Internet privacy groups called for a federal appeals court to block what they say is a move by the FBI to control the design of the nation's communication infrastructure. Under a Federal Communications Commission decision last August, privacy groups worried that the FBI would be able to track the location of cell phone users allowing them to monitor Internet traffic. In a brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation cautioned that the FCC decision would spark government monitoring of digital communications. The challenge involves the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.

Privacy
Europeans: We'll Be The Judge Of That
     Key European Commission representatives visited with U.S. officials to address the differences between the trading zones' privacy policy directives. The meetings are the latest in a nearly two-year effort by U.S. and EU negotiators to reach an agreement aimed at avoiding a cutoff in the flow of personal data from Europe to the United States as a result the EU's data privacy directive.

Internet Access
Kennard Maintains Hands-Off Net Policy
     Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard said that he's "optimistic and encouraged" that America Online's proposed acquisition of media giant Time Warner is a sign that the market will force broadband deployment faster than the government could. "I think it's encouraging," he said at a news conference he held to outline his agenda for the year. "The marketplace should work this out, but the devil's in the details." Kennard added that there are no plans for formal action on the open access issue.

Internet Access
Will Reform Spur Broadband Growth?
     The current system of telephone subsidies overseen by the Federal Communications Commission could stifle the growth of high-speed Internet services and other new communications technology, according to a new study by the Progressive Policy Institute, the think tank arm of the Democratic Leadership Council.

Telecom
Internet Video Not A Player Yet
     Internet-delivered video amounted to a blip on the Federal Communications Commission's radar screen as the agency issued its most recent analysis of competition in the video market. The agency, in its sixth study of the video market, concluded that Internet video's "less than broadcast quality" doesn't make it a player now, but growth in high-speed Internet services could make it viable in the future.

Domains
Domain Name Tax Reigns Supreme
     The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to overturn a decision upholding a fee on Internet domain names that the challengers argued was an illegal tax. The high court rejected the challenge to an appeals court ruling without comment. The case involved a lawsuit against a fee, which was discontinued in 1998, added to the cost of registering a top-level domain name that the National Science Foundation authorized and Network Solutions Inc. collected.

Campaigns
Bush Tech Advisers Attack McCain Tax Provision
     High-tech executives backing Texas Gov. George W. Bush's bid for the presidency bashed a provision buried in Sen. John McCain's tax plan that would eliminate tax breaks for advertising, a move they say could hamper the growth of online businesses.

Campaign
McCain Challenges Bush To Sign Pledge
     Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, has taken the lead on the campaign trail by pledging to ban Internet taxes, and he is working to use it as a wedge issue against rival Texas Gov. George W. Bush. McCain issued a challenge to Bush to sign a pledge to keep the Internet permanently tax-free. The Bush campaign called McCain's valuation on tax savings "inflated" and said the governor will not sign the pledge. Rivals Gary Bauer and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UT, signed the pledge.

Taxes
States Could Join In Net Tax Talks
     Lawmakers in a handful of states have said they will introduce legislation that would allow interstate discussion on how to develop a system to collect sales taxes on Internet transactions. They hail from states such as Ohio, Michigan, Utah, Idaho, Maryland, New Jersey and Tennessee, and have thrown their support behind model legislation developed by the National Conference of State Legislatures. It would authorize states to enter into discussions on how to implement a plan that would streamline sales taxes and allow their collection online.

Education
Kentucky Opens School Without Walls
     Kentucky's Virtual High School this week began registering students for a first-of-its-kind program designed to enable high-school students to participate in distance learning on-line. The statewide initiative allows students, many living in rural areas, to take classes taught by Kentucky educators via the Internet.