Privacy
Dynamics Of Consumer Privacy Debate Altered Since Sept. 11
     The privacy of consumers' personal information returned to its key role in the legislative debate at the first congressional hearing on the subject since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "Some have suggested that in light of the ongoing war on terror, privacy needs to take a back seat to issues of safety and security," said California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Technology, Terrorism and Government Information Subcommittee. "I strongly challenge this view. Protecting basic consumer privacy is compatible with enhanced security. In fact, the goals of privacy and security are often complementary." Feinstein attempted to link privacy issues with combating identity theft by holding the hearing on her bill, S. 1055. The bill's six parts address privacy as it relates to commercial information, Social Security numbers, financial data, health records, drivers' licenses and enforcement by state attorneys general.

Privacy
Privacy Advocates Spurn National Biometrics ID System
     A recent proposal to standardize state drivers' licenses with biometrics identification would "implement a national ID scheme" and "is a backward step for individual privacy with no substantial countervailing safety or security benefits," the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said. In an 18-page report titled "Your Papers, Please," the privacy group offered a point-by-point rebuttal to last month's standardization proposal of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), a trade association representing state drivers' license employees. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., has endorsed the AAMVA proposal, which calls on Congress to mandate the cards and to fund a system that links state drivers' databases.

On The Hill
House Passes Third Stimulus Plan, But Daschle Critical
     House GOP leaders rejected the idea of quietly agreeing to a Senate-passed unemployment-benefits measure and instead added that proposal to its third economic stimulus bill. The vote was 225-199. Aides acknowledged that the Senate is not likely to consider the new House-passed measure, but they expressed hope that Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle, D.S.D., and his colleagues will at least be persuaded to see the latest action as an opportunity to begin a House-Senate conference on an economic stimulus bill. Daschle criticized Republican leaders for failing to return to the Senate a "clean" bill to extend unemployment insurance benefits.

E-Government
White House Identifies Agencies' Network Security Weaknesses
     Despite the security challenges facing the federal government after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is moving ahead to ensure that agency computer systems are secure and e-government services make transactions more effective. OMB released the first annual report on the state of information-technology security at 24 of the government's largest agencies and departments. The Government Information Security Reform Act requires agency chief information officers and inspectors general to review their systems annually and report their results to OMB. The report highlights six common security weaknesses and what agencies must do to improve their systems.

Cyber Security
Clarke Endorses FOIA Exemption For News Of Cyber Attacks
     White House cyber-security adviser Richard Clarke urged Congress to pass legislation that would exempt the private sector from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) when reporting a computer attack to the government. Clarke said such a measure would help strengthen the public-private partnership on reducing vulnerabilities in the nation's critical infrastructure. "We need to get a FOIA bill passed," Clarke said. "That is the biggest policy decision Congress can make on cyber security this year." The private sector has been pushing Congress to pass a FOIA exemption, but no progress has been made on bills like H.R. 2435 and S. 1456.

Crime
Cyber-Crime Bill Proposes More Punishment, Less ISP Liability
     Casting himself as a defender of the technology industry against those who would perpetrate cyber attacks, House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, described his new anti-cyber-crime legislation as necessary to combat hackers. "I don't think the dimensions of cyber crime are fully" understood, Smith said in an interview before a hearing on his bill, H.R. 3482. The measure would stiffen penalties against cyber crime and relieve technology companies of potential liability. Smith said his bill would achieve four additional goals: applying sentences of up to life in prison for malicious hacking, encouraging better coordination of cyber-crime cases through the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center, raising the stature of the Justice Department's Office of Science and Technology, and protecting Internet service providers from liability for alerting government officials to suspicious activity. Separately, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., introduced a bill, H.R. 3716, to exempt Internet service providers from legal liability for content offered by third-party users of the companies' services.

Business
Accounting Experts Urge Regulatory Restraint In Congress
     With investor confidence shaken after the collapse of the Enron energy firm and Congress weighing new rules on the accounting industry, accounting experts told lawmakers that keeping the politics out of the standard-setting process is paramount. But they said lawmakers could take some measures to ensure that ethical standards are set and followed. "I'm not so worried by the influence of individual companies," Paul Volcker, chairman of the trustees of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, told the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. "The pressure on me has come through the political process." Volcker stressed the need for an independent, standards-setting board that will inspire confidence in investors and said the IASB is well positioned to provide that guidance because as an international body, it is less susceptible to government pressure.

Telecom
FCC Internet Rulemaking Shakes Bell Competitors
     The FCC's tentative conclusion this week that classifies some high-speed Internet services provided by telecommunications companies as information services has the competitors of the regional Bell telephone companies worried. The rulemaking tentatively defines broadband service provided through digital subscriber lines (DSL) as an information service with a telecom component. The decision would put the Internet services in the same class as voicemail and e-mail, services that traditionally ride over telecom facilities and that are subject to Title I regulations in the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Categorizing DSL broadband as an information service would move it to a minimally regulated space. Currently, DSL is categorized as a telecom service and is subject to regulations in Title II of the act, which requires the Bells to share their networks on an unbundled basis.