Privacy
Survey Finds Data Mining Widespread Among Agencies
     Despite Congress killing a controversial Pentagon program to comb through private computer records to sniff out suspicious activity, 36 other government programs are engaging in similar activities, according to a report by the General Accounting Office (GAO), an investigative arm of Congress. Some experts are concerned that these programs, like the Pentagon's former Total Information Awareness program, threaten citizens' privacy. The GAO survey found more than 120 programs, 52 of which have been systematically shifting through computer databases. At least 122 of the 199 projects made use of identifying information like names, e-mail addresses, Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, who requested the report, said, "The government collects and uses Americans' personal information and shares it with other agencies to an astonishing degree, raising serious privacy concerns." The report was scheduled to be presented to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday.

Privacy
California Senate Passes Bill Limiting Google E-mail
     The California Senate approved a measure that seeks to limit Google's new e-mail service due to potential privacy implications. Search engine Google announced recently that its upcoming free e-mail service, Gmail, would scan users' e-mail messages via computer in order to send them more targeted advertisements. Privacy advocates reacted immediately, concerned that the service would make public the personal messages of users. Others wondered how accurate or sensitive the ad targeting would be. California Sen. Liz Figueroa, a Democrat, introduced SB 1822 on Feb. 20. The bill forbids Gmail from: collecting personally identifiable information from e-mails; allowing human access to such information; giving any information to third parties; and deleting all consumer e-mails for good.

Broadband
Bush's Call For Broadband A Goal, Official Says
     President Bush was not laying out a definite plan when he called for universal broadband service by 2007 in a speech last month, said an administration official. The president was outlining a "goal and a target," John Kneuer, counselor to the acting assistant secretary for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said at a spring forum hosted by the Electronics Industry Alliance. He is calling on government and industry to do its part, Kneuer said. The goal at the Commerce Department is to create economic incentives, remove regulatory barriers and promote innovation, Kneuer said. "Tax relief is good for business," he said, pointing to recently passed legislation staving off Internet-access taxes. "We think a permanent ban is best." One of those innovative techniques includes broadband access over power lines. A challenge with this technique, however, is possible interference with other bands, Kneuer said. NTIA is "identifying mitigating techniques [and] charting a technical path" to avoid such interference, he said.

Digital Television
Echostar To Stop Using Controversial Satellite-Dish Practice
     Echostar will stop using two satellite dishes in new markets, the firm's CEO committed to in a Wednesday letter to Capitol Hill, although he cautioned that the company could not completely eliminate the practice until 2008. Executive Charlie Ergen also criticized the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) - the key opponent of the two-dish practice - for failing to meet the 2002 deadline imposed by Congress to begin broadcasting digital television signals, calling it a "double standard" and "outrageous." The letter is an attempt to stop Congress from passing draft legislation that would ban Echostar's practice of using two dishes to receive local broadcast signals retransmitted over satellite within 12 months. Religious and Spanish-language stations and the NAB object to the practice on the grounds that it discriminates against stations sent to the second dish, even though Echostar provides those dishes free of charge.

Telecom
FCC, Bell Rivals Urge For More Time On Line-Sharing Rules
     The FCC and a group of Bell competitors urged an appeals court to wait 15 more days before enforcing a controversial decision that the Bell competitors say would substantially raise telecommunications costs. In two legal filings at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the FCC and a group of 28 Bell telecommunications rivals urged the court to wait until June 30 before requiring the FCC and state regulators to change rules governing the terms and conditions under which Bell companies must share their telecommunications lines. The legal maneuverings are the latest development in the continuing high-stakes battle that is one legacy of the 1996 Telecom Act. The D.C. Circuit's March 2 decision was a landmark victory for the Bells' key trade association, and its members - including Verizon, SBC Communications, and Bell South - have urged the Bush administration not to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Spectrum
Educational Groups Opposed FCC Spectrum Plan
     A group of 16 educational associations opposed an FCC plan to permit greater flexibility in the use of spectrum in the 2.1, 2.5 and 2.6 gigahertz bands. The educators said in a Wednesday letter to Powell, "commercial entities would be permitted to obtain Instructional Television Fixed Service licenses and devote no portion or only a small portion of their allotments for educational purposes." They include the Parent Teacher Association, the National Education Association, and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). "These new rules would lead inevitable to the termination of ITFS' educational goals as education licensees eventually sell to commercial entities" engaged in functions not specific to education, they wrote. "There is an acute need for the resources delivered by ITFS, particularly those that help teachers and students in geographically isolated areas and inner cities," said Mary Kusler of the AASA.

Security
House Bill Would Add Microsatellite Funds
     The Pentagon division charged with transforming the military to address potential threats would receive additional funds to launch microsatellites, in pending legislation before Congress. The microsatellites would carry technology such as the Pentagon's top-secret Internet for commanders in the field so they can access satellite images in less than a day. It currently takes weeks or months for data from the larger satellites to reach the on-the-ground commanders' level. The Pentagon primarily utilizes its fleet of larger satellites for high-end national security needs. "[T]he committee believes research and development should begin on the use of satellites that would fit this new family of launch vehicles and address near-term warfighter requirements," the House Armed Services Committee report on the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill says. The House passed the bill on May 20 by a 391-34 vote. House lawmakers added $25 million in funding for the program over the $20 million requested by the Bush administration for research and development activities at the Pentagon's Office of Force Transformation. The Senate has asked for an extra $25 million.

Intellectual Property
Group Offers Alternative To Anti-Piracy Broadcasting Treaty
     A group of non-profit organizations objecting to the current version of a treaty designed to protect broadcasters from piracy have allied themselves with an artists' group and proposed a stripped-down alternative. Spearheaded by the Consumer Project on Technology and joined by the International Music Managers Forum, the alternative proposal also would protect broadcasters against signal piracy. But it would also narrow the scope of the intellectual property rights broadcasters could assert. Government officials leading the U.S. delegation to the June 7-9 World Intellectual Property Organization meeting in Geneva that will consider the more expansive broadcaster treaty praised the non-profits for its alternative version, which was presented this week to officials of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Copyright Office.