Taxes
Lawmakers Back States' Rights To Tax Online Sales
     House and Senate lawmakers worried about state budget losses and impressed with state efforts to simplify sales-tax systems are preparing to introduce legislation that would let states compel retailers to collect sales and use taxes on remote sales, such as those over the Internet. The legislation would endorse the efforts by the Streamlined Sales Tax Project to simplify and harmonize state tax codes, and it would mandate that Internet and catalog retailers collect taxes on sales made in the states that simplify their tax systems. Separately, The Washington Post reported that Amazon.com, one of the largest Internet retailers, is in negotiations to support a slightly different congressional proposal for taxing Internet sales. And the Multistate Tax Commission released a report arguing that states stand to lose up to $9 billion annually if taxes on Internet access are banned permanently.

E-Commerce
Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Anti-Spam Bill
     The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill targeting spammers who abuse computer communications. The panel voted to set stiff criminal penalties, ranging from three to five years in prison, and give the U.S. attorney general the authority to initiate civil actions against violators for certain deceptive practices. Violators also could lose any property, such as computers and software, used in committing the crimes and forfeit any money collected from aggrieved parties. The bill, S. 1293, identifies five offenses subject to penalty, including accessing a protected computer without permission in order to transmit spam through that computer.

Security
House Lawmakers Seek To Curtail Anti-Terrorism Law
     Several high-profile surveillance provisions in the anti-terrorism law known as the USA PATRIOT Act would be modified under a new bill. The measure would limit the Justice Department's power to use "sneak and peek" search warrants that let police delay their notification of suspects about the warrants. Justice's power to obtain business and library records under a foreign intelligence law also would be curtailed. Those two powers have emerged as among the most controversial elements of the law. The bill also would curtail other policies of the Bush administration, including FBI monitoring of attorney-client conversations and the withholding of information normally covered under the Freedom of Information Act.

Security
Law Enforcer Says Threat Center Could Be Permanent
     Three top federal law enforcement officials defended the evolving process the government is using to analyze and share information about terrorist activities. The officials testified before the Senate Judiciary Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee. John Brennan, director of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), said a secure TTIC Web site includes center analysis and links to other counter-terrorism reports. The FBI and the Homeland Security Department will be responsible for sharing some of that information with state and local authorities, he added. Asked whether TTIC is temporary, Brennan said: "I'm in it for the long haul. I think there's a real need for the TTIC mission. I don't see it going away."

Privacy
Groups File Complaint Over Alleged Privacy Violations
     Privacy groups filed a formal complaint against JetBlue Airways and Acxiom, claiming that the two companies violated their privacy policies by sharing personal passenger information with a Defense Department contractor. "We alleged that both companies have engaged in deception and fraud by disclosing" personal information to Torch Concepts, a company subcontracting with the lead company involved in Defense's Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) program, the Electronic Privacy Information Center said in its complaint. The European Digital Rights Initiative joined the effort, which includes a call for congressional hearings into the use of passenger data and for federal legislation on airline-passenger privacy. In related news, lawmakers agreed to eliminate TIA but left open the possibility that the national foreign-intelligence program for counter-terrorism purposes might use similar data-analysis technologies.

Intellectual Property
House Committees Expected To Clash Over Database Issue
     Two House committees held a joint hearing over a long-delayed proposal for legal protections for databases. In spite of nearly three years of negotiations on the issue between aides to the Judiciary Committee and Energy and Commerce Committee, U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas Donohue vigorously objected to the discussion draft now circulating. The Software and Information Industry Association, on the other hand, is taking the lead in pushing the legislation, which offers a style of intellectual property protection. "I do not expect the issue to be less contentious than it has been in the past, but I do expect it will take on a new civility due to the cooperative nature in which the two committees have been working," Energy and Commerce Chairman W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, R-La., said in a written statement.

Telecom
Wireless Carriers Must Meet Number-Portability Deadline
     The FCC will stick to its Nov. 24 deadline for ensuring that all wireless telecommunications carriers in the top markets will be capable of letting consumers keep their mobile numbers if they switch carriers, the agency's wireless bureau chief said. Wireless Bureau Chief John Muleta said in a press briefing that the November deadline "is firm." Muleta also is "very committed" to ensuring that all wireless users have the capability to pinpoint the locations of people who place emergency calls by cell phone. Other wireless issues topping the FCC's agenda this fall include spectrum use for public-safety purposes and full 911 service for cell-phone users, he said.

Lobbying
Tech Executives Rally For Support Of Stock Options
     Technology executives converged on Capitol Hill to seek support for legislation that would postpone implementation of rules requiring companies to record employee stock options as expenses. "The purpose of the trip is to persuade very key people to become co-sponsors" of legislation that would require a study on the issue, AeA President and CEO William Archey said at a briefing on the lobbying efforts by the 30 executives from AeA member companies. The study would probe the potential impact of rules that would mandate that companies expense the cost of stock options. Archey noted that in a second wave of lobbying, AeA will bring tech industry employees to Capitol Hill to tell their personal stories of how they have benefited from receiving stock options.