Lobbying
Republicans Give Tech Lobbyists Poor Grade On Trade Bill
     Several Bush administration staffers are grumbling that the tech sector's lobbying on passage of a leading trade bill was not top-notch. There is lingering frustration within Republican ranks that high-tech lobbyists did not deliver key swing votes on trade, namely Democrats in Silicon Valley. California Reps. Anna Eshoo, Zoe Lofgren and Mike Honda opposed granting the president greater authority in negotiating trade deals, though Eshoo and Lofgren previously have supported trade legislation. "Did they get the Silicon Valley members to vote for [trade negotiating authority]? No," said one administration official. But many in the tech industry defended their work on the trade bill. Tim Bennett of AeA noted that his group and other tech concerns were on Capitol Hill at 4 a.m. the night of the August House vote. "Let's face it, it's been an extremely political year, and you have to view how that legislation played out in that broader context," Bennett said. "Anyone who ignores that broader context is being unfair to our industry."

Security
Experts Push For Greater Accountability In Computer Security
     Software companies will not rectify weak computer-security practices until legal changes force them to accept greater accountability for programming bugs, an information security consultant said during a panel discussion about safeguarding computer networks. "No one wants to subject software companies to the trial lawyers, but having an industry that is wholly protected from liability issues creates something of a market anomaly that doesn't let the market work effectively," said French Caldwell, research director of Gartner Group's advisory services. Others on the panel, including top cyber-security officials from the White House, FBI, Secret Service and Commerce Department, concurred that greater accountability is necessary to improve computer security but could not reach consensus about exactly what that means.

Security
DARPA Unit Makes Progress On Homeland Technologies
     Seven months after its launch in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's counter-terrorism division has made significant progress on a wide range of unconventional homeland security technologies, a top DARPA official said. Those tools include bio-surveillance programs that could help spot unusual outbreaks by tracking over-the-counter medication sales, and multi-modal biometric tools that could identify terrorist suspects from a distance by focusing on facial features and movement. Robert Popp, deputy director of DARPA's Information Awareness Office, said the office, headed by retired Navy Adm. John Poindexter, is developing ways to track a wide range of other "signatures" left by potential terrorists, such as credit-card purchases, pilot's license applications and scientific degrees that could indicate expertise with weapons of mass destruction.

Business
Amazon Chief Details Reasoning For Expensing Stock Options
     At an Aspen, Colo., conference, Amazon.com Chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos outlined his decision to record as expenses the stock options his firm offers to employees -- a move anathema to much of the tech industry. He credits his experience participating in a hedge fund for teaching him that markets are infinitely smart and make adjustments for the shares issued -- whether options are expensed or not. Stock options are "a real expense anyway, and the market knows it," Bezos said. Firms traditionally have reserved "restricted stock" solely for executives because the options must be counted as expenses, while employee stock-option plans can be disclosed in the footnotes of a regulatory filing. Restricted stock is more valuable, but companies avoid offering it because of the expensing rule, Bezos said. Expensing all options would free a firm to find "a more rational compensation structure with true ownership structure," he said.

Campaigns
FEC Waives Rules For Wireless Broadcast of Political Ads
     The Federal Election Commission voted 4-1 to waive disclosure rules for political ads that are broadcast via wireless networks to devices including cell phones, pagers and personal digital assistants, a spokeswoman said. Target Wireless, the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers and the Republican National Senatorial Committee had petitioned the commission to waive rules that require political ads to contain the names of ad sponsors. The groups argued that wireless text messages could not support the space needed to display such disclosures. Commissioner Danny Lee McDonald, who charged that cell phones and pagers are far more personal devices, cast the dissenting vote. The commissioners agreed that if the medium is abused, they could revisit the issue at a later date. The ruling is effective immediately.

E-Commerce
Pacific Nations Craft Guidelines To Protect Online Consumers
     The 21 nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), including the United States, neared approval of voluntary commitments to protect consumers online and made progress on privacy initiatives. The participants in the APEC E-Commerce Steering Group meeting in Acapulco, Mexico, backed the recommendations, which head to senior officials at the meeting this week. The recommendations ultimately will go to the APEC ministers and heads of state at the October summit in Mexico, which is the outgoing APEC chair.

Export
President Extends National Export-Control System
     President Bush issued an executive order continuing for one year a national export-control system for commercial technologies with potential military uses, including high-performance computers. The emergency export system Bush renewed for the second year in a row was developed by President Clinton under three executive orders in 1995 and 1996. It gives the president authority to control exports under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which imposes maximum penalties for violators of export controls that are significantly lower than the expired 1979 Export Administration Act (EAA), and far lower still than either the Senate or House versions of EAA legislation currently under consideration. "Those executive orders really form the basis for the modern export-control system," one industry expert said.

Security
White House Announces Plan For Information-Sharing Portal
     The White House plans to launch a Web site that would enable government and private-sector technology experts to exchange ideas for better information-sharing practices, the Office of Homeland Security's chief information officer announced. "I need your help," Steven Cooper told more than 900 high-tech professionals from 32 states during a keynote address at a three-day homeland security conference. "We can't get a view of America from inside the Beltway. ... We don't know it all. We've got to hear from everybody." Cooper said the Web site would enable high-tech firms and agencies at all levels of government to share their "best practices" for data fusion and integration with the Office of Homeland Security.