Civil Liberties
Senate Committee Approves Passenger-Screening Amendment
     As defense and privacy experts prepared to debate the government's increased use of technologies to mine data for terrorist activity, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced a Senate committee's approval of his call for congressional oversight of an airline-passenger screening system. The Senate Commerce Committee approved the idea as an amendment to an air-cargo security bill, S. 165. Wyden's language would require congressional oversight of the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System being developed by the Transportation Security Administration. The Homeland Security Department would have 90 to issue a report on the project, addressing issues such as how long collected data will be maintained and who will have access to it.

E-Commerce
House Panel Approves Bill Aimed At Online Gambling
     A controversial bill designed to curtail unlawful Internet gambling won approval from the House Financial Services Committee. Approved by voice vote, the legislation would make it illegal to finance online gambling transactions with credit cards, electronic fund transfers or any other "bank instruments" issued by U.S. companies. The bill, H.R. 21, also calls for U.S. officials to work with foreign governments to determine whether offshore Internet gambling sites are being used for money laundering or other crimes.

Porn
Politics Blamed For Delay In Vote Against 'Virtual' Porn
     The House is taking a different approach than the Senate to combating "virtual" child pornography, and a key Senate Democrat has accused House Republicans of politicizing the issue. The House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee postponed a vote on the House bill, H.R. 1161. Both it and the Senate measure, S. 151, were prompted by an April 2002 Supreme Court decision that overturned a similar law. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, authored the Senate bill, and Leahy said the House should pass that measure. "It is time for the House Republican leadership to stop playing politics with this issue and let go of a counterproductive bill that many scholars have said is more vulnerable to constitutional attack," Leahy said in a statement. In related news, a government agency announced that it is heightening its investigation of Internet file-sharing services to see whether they are being used to distribute child pornography.

Exports
Senate Letter On Exports Could Forestall Legislation
     Five senators reiterated their defense-oriented stance on reforming export controls in a letter to the White House, and that letter could prompt the Bush administration to rethink any plans for pushing legislation on the issue that the Senate passed in 2001, technology industry sources said. "This [letter] is more of a tactical step to fire a shot across the bow of the White House that there will be a competitive proposal to anything the White House or [Wyoming Republican Sen. Michael] Enzi propose," one source said. "Virtually every idea in this has been raised before." The senators sent the letter to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, stating that "national security" bodies "should have the lead decision-making role in the licensing process" of controlled exports. The letter could form the basis for future legislation, an aide said.

E-Commerce
U.S.-Singapore Trade Pact Would Break Cyber Ground
     The trade agreement between the United States and Singapore that is heading for a congressional vote is the first such deal that would provide distinct trade treatment to digital products. "This is really the first of its kind in a [trade agreement]," said Linda Schmid, vice president of the Coalition of Service Industries. "It creates a model for trade treatment which hasn't been done before" and reflects the evolution of the Internet as a force in trade. The deal would set terms for addressing the electronic supply of services and digital products. It ducks the issue of whether Internet sales should be classified as services or goods, thereby avoiding the fight delaying e-commerce discussions at the World Trade Organization.

Lobbying
Entertainment Groups Join Forces In Free-Trade Coalition
     The movie and recording industries on Thursday jointly launched a coalition that aims to build bipartisan and grassroots support for passage of trade agreements in Congress. The Entertainment Industry Coalition for Free Trade joins the formidable lobbying resources of the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in an effort to reduce global tariffs on American products. Other members of the coalition include trade groups for theater owners, digital software companies, and film and television interests. "We want to voice our support and maybe create a little bit of a higher profile" for trade deals, RIAA Chairwoman and CEO Hilary Rosen said. The coalition plans to focus on the U.S. trade pacts recently negotiated with Singapore and Chile that still must be approved by Congress.

Business
U.S. Board Seeks 'Maximum Convergence' On Accounting
     The body that sets U.S. accounting standards voted to examine how companies should account for stock-based employee compensation. The proposal urges cooperation with the group's international counterpart "to achieve maximum convergence" of accounting rules. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) voted unanimously to further study stock-options accounting but rejected a competing proposal to immediately require that companies count stock options as expenses on their balance sheets. The "board is seeking to improve the accounting for stock-based compensation," FASB spokeswoman Sherry Thompson said. "Exactly what form it will take is hard to say." She added that by the end of this year, the board expects to release a draft detailing any proposed changes to U.S. accounting rules.

Privacy
Official Stresses 'Two-Track' Approach To Financial Privacy
     Treasury Secretary John Snow advocated a two-track approach on financial privacy legislation this year. Responding to a question about a 1974 law imposing requirements on credit bureaus, Snow acknowledged the importance of extending provisions in the act that allow financial firms to share customers' information with their affiliates and without the customers' permission. "We have a national standard, and if we're to continue to make the sort of progress of making credit [available] ... that requires information exchange," he said. But he also said the issue should be joined with the debate about preventing identity theft, adding that "putting it all together" is necessary if a bill is going to pass. Also on the privacy front, President Bush signed legislation to create a national "do not call" list for telemarketing. And a new government report found that federal agencies are lacking systems that adequately protect citizens' Social Security numbers.

Intellectual Property
CBS Executive: FCC Will Regulate Copy-Control Technology
     A top executive with a television network this week said that he is confident the FCC will implement regulations for technology designed to prevent Internet distribution of broadcast content. Martin Franks, executive vice president at the CBS television network, also said Viacom, the parent company of CBS, would follow through with a threat made in December to stop offering high-definition broadcasts unless the agency or Congress agree to the "broadcast flag" technology in 2003. "But I don't think we'll have to follow through with our threat," Franks said. "I think the FCC will go ahead and enact the broadcast flag."