Security
Congress Clears Tech-Oriented Intelligence Measure
     Congress returned for a brief session this week and cleared to President Bush a bill that would replace the nation's Cold War intelligence structure with new technology aimed at thwarting another terrorist attack. The measure would create a counter-terrorism center and an independent civil-liberties board, and it seeks to ensure that the nation's 15 intelligence agencies better share information. The legislation includes nonbinding language that says lawmakers should address the lack of airwaves for firefighters and police officers to communicate across jurisdictional lines. The conference report to the bill calls for addressing the funding formula for emergency responders to ensure that high-risk areas receive more money than less vulnerable areas. The bill would create a science and technology section within the new intelligence director's office, and the FBI's information technology structure would be overhauled to lead the fight against digital and cyber attacks by terrorists. The measure also would instruct the Homeland Security Department to buy advanced technology and training for border, immigration and consular officials to better detect fraudulent documents.

Budget
President Bush Signs Omnibus Spending Bill
     President Bush signed a $388 billion spending bill that includes funding for departments and agencies in nine of the 13 spending bills for fiscal 2005. The act includes numerous technology-related provisions, including e-mail privacy and funding for information technology modernization projects. The law appropriates funds for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs. It also provides funds for such agencies and offices as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; National Institute of Standards and Technology; and National Science Foundation.

Telecom
McCain Drops Bid To Add Boxing To Telecom Package
     The Senate's passage of three telecommunications bills was secured when Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain of Arizona abandoned his opposition to a nearly identical package passed by the House. The measure, which will go to President Bush for his expected signature, will nix a potential increase in long-distance telephone fees and alleviate the possibility that schools and libraries could be denied some funding for Internet access. The Senate also cleared a bill that would amend anti-counterfeiting law to include provisions regarding trafficking in counterfeit labels, packaging and other documentation for computer programs, movies and other works. And the chamber cleared a bill that would ban video voyeurism. The legislation would impose fines or imprisonment for taking indecent images of people in places where they would expect privacy.

E-Commerce
High Court Hears Arguments Over State Bans On Wine Sales
     Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of the arguments made by solicitor generals in two states that prohibit out-of-state wineries from making direct shipments to residents of those states. The justices are reviewing consolidated cases that pit the federal government's authority to regulate interstate commerce as guaranteed in the Constitution against the Constitution's 21st Amendment, which gives states the right to regulate in-state alcohol sales. The outcome will affect companies that wish to freely sell wine directly to customers, either through the Internet or other channels. Twenty-four states currently bar interstate wine shipments. Several justices grilled the solicitors general of New York and Michigan, especially over a 1984 Supreme Court decision that overturned Hawaii's protectionist measure for its fruit wine. "There's a lot of language in there that cuts against your [case,]" Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said.

Intellectual Property
Court Is Skeptical Of Claims About E-Commerce Patent
     The attorney for a Florida inventor who claims that his patent covers an e-commerce standard used in billions of Internet transactions argued before a federal appeals court that VeriSign and its RSA Security division infringed upon his patent. The attorney for inventor Leon Stambler urged a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington to overturn a district-court decision and grant a new trial. The patent at issue in the case, a "method for securing information relevant to a transaction," includes language governing the use of digital credentials that combine the application of a "public key" and a "non-secret key." A jury for the district court in Delaware previously held that the patent is valid but that VeriSign had not infringed upon it.

Privacy
Appeals Court Considers Landmark Privacy Case
     A panel of seven appeals-court judges heard again arguments in a case on the rules that govern the privacy of electronic communications. Some privacy advocates said the outcome of the case could determine the level of privacy protection for e-mail and spur new efforts in Congress to more fully address the question. In the June opinion on the case, United States v. Bradford C. Councilman, two of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges affirmed a lower-court finding that an Internet service provider did not violate the Wiretap Act by snooping on a customer's e-mail because the e-mail was in temporary storage while in transmission. A brief from Justice Department attorneys said the opinion conflicts with another 1st Circuit ruling in a case involving an Internet company called Pharmatrak. That opinion held that the Wiretap Act prohibited any interception of electronic communications, regardless of whether they are temporarily stored.

Antitrust
FTC Attorney Argues For Tough Punishment For Rambus
     An FTC attorney argued that a major computer-memory design company's anti-competitive behavior has inflated the market price of computer memories by billions of dollars and should be punished by losing its ability to enforce related intellectual property rights. But during oral arguments before the FTC, two lawyers representing the Rambus firm argued that the company's behavior was lawful and did not violate antitrust law. The FTC's enforcement division is appealing a February administrative law judge's dismissal of an antitrust action the division brought against Rambus.

Courts
Defense Department, EPIC Spar Over Group's Data Request
     Lawyers for a public-interest group and the Defense Department clashed over the group's demands that the agency release information about a data-mining project. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in May requested information through the Freedom of Information Act from the Defense Intelligence on a program that allegedly mines for data via intelligence information and Internet searches in order to identify terrorists. The Pentagon rejected EPIC's request and EPIC subsequently filed suit in July. The two sides met in U.S. district court to hash out a schedule for the release of the material EPIC is seeking. The judge refused to leave the issue "open ended" and demanded that the two sides decide on a framework to either submit a release schedule or a formal request for a delay.

Telecom
Bells, Rivals Jockeying For Changes To Draft Order
     Regional Bell telecommunications companies and their competitors are seeking changes in the draft telecom rules currently circulating among FCC commissioners, which are scheduled for a Dec. 15 vote by the agency. The key item in play is when the Bells must share access to their high-capacity telecom lines, particularly within urban areas, agency officials said. The draft essentially would end the right of long-distance competitors of the Bells to use other "network elements" owned by the Bells, such as the equipment used to switch calls from the systems to competitors' lines, observers said.