Executive Branch
Commerce Issues Plan For Consolidating Tech Branches
     The Commerce Department sent to congressional leaders a plan to reorganize the department's technology and telecommunications policy functions. The proposal would consolidate the Technology Administration, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the e-commerce policy functions of the International Trade Administration. The plan seeks slightly more than $8 million for the agency, which would be called the Technology and Telecommunications Administration. The agency, to be headed by an undersecretary, would push technology and telecom policy at all government levels as a way to promote economic growth, job creation, national security and safety.

On The Hill
Panel OKs Trio Of Tech Bills, Including E911 Measure
     The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved a trio of technology-related bills, including a measure designed to accelerate the availability of "enhanced 911" services that let emergency dispatchers locate wireless callers. The E911 bill would create an emergency communications task force, authorize $500 million in grants and withhold grants from states that divert to other purposes funds that wireless customers pay for creating E911 systems. The committee also approved a bill that would reauthorize funding for the Technology Administration. It includes an amendment to continue funding for the Advanced Technology Program, which involves public-private partnerships for advanced research. The Bush administration did not request money for the program. The third measure would develop a nationwide observation system for U.S. coastlines that, among other things, would include large-scale computing resources and research to improve ocean-process modeling.

Privacy
House Panel Toughens Banking Bill's Language On ID Theft
     A House Financial Services subcommittee approved legislation that would pre-empt states from regulating credit reporting but also that would impose new rules on banks and credit bureaus designed to stem identity theft. The vote was 41-0, with one member voting present. The Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit subcommittee accepted four Democratic-sponsored amendments to the bill, H.R. 2622. Three of the new provisions initially were opposed by the financial industry. Subcommittee members repeatedly stressed what they called the bipartisan nature of the bill, which would extend the federal pre-emption of state laws on credit reporting imposed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Broadband
Telecom Fund Cannot Be Used For Broadband, FCC Rules
     The FCC decided not to include high-speed Internet services in the core services supported through the program that seeks to grant all Americans access to affordable telecommunications. Following the recommendation of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, the FCC voted to retain the existing list of services eligible for funding via the universal service fund. While acknowledging that broadband services are increasingly important, the order notes that only 16 percent of U.S. households have chosen to subscribe, calling into question why the fund should be used to support a service with a low adoption rate. The agency postponed a final decision on what requirements companies receiving universal service support should have in providing access to long-distance telephone carriers.

Trade
Committees OK Bills On Trade With Chile And Singapore
     Four different House and Senate Committees approved legislation to implement trade deals with Chile and Singapore. The deals would ease financial and other barriers to trade between the United States and the two countries. The House Judiciary Committee took the first votes, approving two separate measures by voice vote and without debate. Three other panels -- House Ways and Means and Senate Finance and Judiciary -- acted on the legislation the next day. Ways and Means approved the Chile bill by a vote of 33-5 and the Singapore bill by a tally of 32-5. The Senate Judiciary panel approved both bills in a single 11-4 vote, while the Finance Committee approved both by voice vote.

Broadband
Study Lauds Michigan's Broadband Progress, Ranks States
     Michigan tops the list for progress among states that have enacted high-speed Internet policies, according to a new technology study. Michigan earned the top spot by developing policies that cleared roadblocks to deploying such broadband services, promoted supply and spurred demand, according to the State Broadband Index released by the technology industry lobbying group TechNet. The group's chairman, Rick White, said that every year his organization picks policy issues to focus on and several years ago settled on broadband as one of them. "Last year, we focused on the macro issues, getting people to think futuristically," White added, and the release of the study can be viewed as the second phase of TechNet's broadband initiative.

E-Commerce
Top Official Outlines European Battle Plan Against Spam
     BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A top European Union official outlined the regional body's battle plan for fighting junk e-mail and unwanted text messages on cellular phones. Combating such marketing, which is commonly known as spam, "has become a matter for us all and has become one of the most significant issues facing the Internet today," EU Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen said. Under the EU guidelines, spam will be fought on legal, technical, educational and international fronts. It will be illegal to send unsolicited e-mail without prior consent, and offenders will be prosecuted. Internet service providers can take the lead on the technical front by employing software to block spam. The plan also calls for educating EU residents about such options. And on the international front, Liikanen said he is pleased to see the United States introducing similar measures to those in the European Union.

Intellectual Property
Validity Of Data On Intellectual Property Crime Questioned
     The chairman of a House Judiciary subcommittee said that next week he will unveil an index on intellectual property crime designed to help policymakers with detailed statistics about violations of copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and patents. Texas Republican Lamar Smith, chairman of the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee, said the Justice Department's reports of intellectual property prosecutions are flawed because there is currently no separate reporting code to track such cases. "When U.S. attorneys report conspiracies to counterfeit trademarks, they report these crimes only as conspiracy crimes rather than as conspiracy to commit trademark counterfeiting, an intellectual property crime," he said in a luncheon speech. "Our analysis will break down the numbers so we know precisely what type of intellectual property crimes are occurring."