Executive Branch
Ashcroft Critics Want Successor Who Will Provide Balance
     President Bush this week announced his choice of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales to replace Attorney General John Ashcroft, and critics of Ashcroft said they want Ashcroft's successor to restore some balance between civil liberties and security in the fight against terrorism. Bush said Gonzalez has "served with skill and integrity" in the counsel's job, but his role in shaping anti-terrorism policies has sparked concerns. "We'd like to see an attorney general that's prepared to protect constitutional law in the United States," Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said before Bush chose Gonzalez. Ashcroft will officially step down after the Senate confirms his replacement.

E-Commerce
U.S. Outraged At 'Ludicrous' WTO E-Gambling Decision
     The United States is so appalled by a World Trade Organization decision that the U.S. government is unfairly restricting Internet gambling from Antigua and Barbuda that it may try to change its market-opening commitments at the WTO, a senior trade official said. A WTO panel ruled against the United States in a case brought by the tiny Caribbean country in part because of the U.S. commitment under the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) to allow other "recreational" activities. The WTO dispute-settlement panel found that the phrase should include cross-border gambling. "It is ludicrous that they would have thought that," the U.S. trade official said. The official said U.S. negotiators would not have agreed to something banned in most states and at the federal level, as gambling was when GATS was finalized in 1995 -- and still is. The official said WTO nations may change commitments made under GATS but declined to comment on how the U.S. commitment might be changed.

Telecom
FCC Says Internet Telephony Is Not Subject To State Rules
     The FCC ruled that the leading Internet telephone company Vonage is not subject to state utility regulations but is instead bound by federal rules because voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) services are interstate in nature. Faced with regulation by the Minnesota and New York public utilities commissions, Vonage sought federal intervention. Vonage and other VoIP providers praised the ruling. "This forward-thinking decision from the FCC assures that competition from VoIP is here to stay," Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron said. The decision extends such pre-emption of state laws to all VoIP companies and to cable and telephone companies when they offer comparable VoIP services.

Telecom
FCC's Martin Touts Deregulation As Key To Industry Advances
     The most important reason to free communications companies from state and federal regulation is to encourage them to invest in upgrading networks and providing advanced services, FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin said. States likely will have a more limited role in the future of communications than the FCC, he said at a telecom panel discussion at a Federalist Society conference. States will continue to enforce consumer protection and anti-fraud statutes, he added. In other news this week, the FCC ordered telecommunications and cable companies to collect more data about the availability of nationwide, high-speed Internet services and also revised the technical specifications for spectrum in the 4.9 gigahertz band used by public-safety officials.

Civil Liberties
Privacy Advocates: E-Mail Standard Could Deter Free Speech
     A standard for authenticating the origins of e-mail messages could infringe upon Americans' rights to anonymous speech, privacy advocates said. "When we talk about free speech, we tend to forget that the Supreme Court has countless times said that forcing people to ID themselves when engaging in speech actually has a chilling effect on speech," Annalee Newitz, policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said at an e-authentication summit hosted by the FTC. If people must identify themselves, that might intimidate them into not engaging in important political acts. Also this week, the FTC announced a national law enforcement and education campaign dubbed "Operation Big Fat Lie" against purveyors of bogus weight-loss products. The campaign involves lawsuits against six companies and an educational campaign that features an FTC-designed satirical Web site mocking outlandish weight-loss claims.

Civil Liberties
Nonprofits Resist Rule To Check Names Against Watch-Lists
     The American Civil Liberties Union and 12 nonprofit organizations have sued the federal government's human-resources office. They charge that a new rule that requires charities to check their employees and expenditures against terrorist watch-lists is unconstitutional, unworkable, vague and misleading. The lawsuit asks the federal district court for the District of Columbia to prevent the Office of Personnel Management from enforcing the rule, which requires the charities to certify that none of its employees are on the watch-lists and that their funds do not go toward any organizations on the lists or similar lists of foreign governments. The Treasury and State departments maintain the primary lists, but the rule also applies to "other terrorist-related lists promulgated by the U.S. government, the United Nations or the European Union."

Education
Educational Technology Experts Fear Impact Of E-Rate Delay
     The decision in the summer to temporarily suspend funding of a program that provides telephone and Internet service to public schools and libraries may have a trickling, long-term effect on the education community, according to educational technology experts. In early August, the FCC halted e-rate funding over reports of rampant fraud and abuse in the program but eventually succumbed to pressure by legislators and school officials. The agency reinstated funding Oct. 6. However, the funding has not yet resumed. Some 579 schools still are awaiting letters about e-rate funding commitments, and more than $459 million remains in a holding pattern. Don Knezek, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education, said the delay will delay purchases of computers, software and other technologies in some schools. He also said there is still widespread concern about the e-rate program.

Science
Supercomputing Bill Set For House Action Next Week
     The House next week is expected to pass a bill to boost funding for supercomputing efforts at the Energy Department by $165 million, sending it to the president for signature. The legislation is slated for floor action Tuesday. But House Science Committee aides said the measure, H.R. 4516, is only a piece of a larger effort needed by the U.S. government to keep the nation globally competitive. The supercomputing bill would authorize $50 million in fiscal 2005, $55 million in fiscal 2006 and $60 million in fiscal 2007. The National Academies' National Research Council, meanwhile, released a report that said the government must boost its support for supercomputing programs in order for the United States to remain globally competitive and secure. The report recommends that Congress and government agencies that depend on supercomputing "take primary responsibility for ensuring that there are adequate advances in supercomputing and adequate domestic suppliers of both hardware and software."