Privacy
House Panel Backs Bill To Crack Down On 'Spyware'
     After making changes aimed at gaining support in the Senate, a House subcommittee this week approved legislation that would target "spyware," software secretly installed on computers to track users' activities. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection approved the bill, H.R. 29, by voice vote. The legislation would require those people or companies that deploy spyware to provide notice to consumers and obtain their consent before spyware could be loaded onto computers. The measure also would bar such activities as tracking computer keystrokes and displaying advertisements that cannot be closed.

Cyber Security
Report Gives Federal Entities Low Grades For IT Security
     Federal departments and agencies received an overall grade of D-plus for computer security in the latest report card. The 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act requires federal entities to establish risk assessments and risk-management plans and to undergo periodic reviews. It also sets the framework for annual information-technology security reviews and requires an independent study of information security practices. Overall, scores for the 24 departments and agencies rose 2.5 points from fiscal 2003, said Republican Tom Davis, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee. But only the Agency for International Development and the Transportation Department received A's, while half of the agencies received D's or F's. Those that received failing grades included the Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security departments.

Digital Television
Subsidy For Digital Transition Could Cost Up To $2 Billion
     The cost to subsidize television viewers so their screens would not go dark in the switch to digital television could range from $400 million to $2 billion, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated. Mark Goldstein, GAO's director of physical infrastructure issues, said at a congressional hearing that the main variables in the study were whether to assume that converter boxes would cost $50 or $100, and whether the subsidy would go to all households that rely on over-the-air television or only to those below the poverty level. The GAO estimate assumes no further restrictions on cable companies' ability to turn broadcasters' digital signals into analog signals so they can be seen on any television set. If such limitations were imposed, GAO said the range of the subsidy would rise to between $1.8 billion and $11 billion.

Telecom
Lawmakers Wary Of Verizon Plan To Merge With MCI
     A key House Democrat criticized Verizon Communications' proposed $5.3 billion acquisition of MCI, and three senators also raised questions about the plan. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, said the Verizon, MCI merger, as well as SBC Communications' proposed $16 billion acquisition of AT&T, "would have been unnecessary until the FCC issued a series of decisions which closed the door on the long-distance industry's ability to compete in the local residential telecommunications marketplace." Markey said those decisions are "predictably causing companies to merge" and will reduce competition. Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, and subcommittee ranking Democrat Herb Kohl of Wisconsin said their panel will scrutinize the proposed Verizon, MCI merger. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., also voiced concern with the pace and scale of telecom mergers.

Telecom
Attorney Defends SBC's Denial Of Access To Competitors
     SBC Communications is under no obligation to give competitors access to its networks for certain local telephone traffic, despite the terms of a 1999 merger agreement with the FCC, an attorney representing SBC argued in court. "This case is not about how we implemented the terms of the merger agreement," said Michael Kellogg, a lawyer representing SBC before the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. SBC's competitors waived any conditions relating to the 1999 merger agreement when the competitors signed voluntary business contracts and agreements with SBC, Kellogg argued. But Richard Welch, an associate general counsel at the FCC, said that CoreComm and Z-Tel, the companies now challenging SBC, are in the same position as other SBC competitors whose complaints were upheld earlier. "SBC is asking you to endorse conduct that was ruled unlawful in a previous case," he told the judges.

Telecom
Officials Critique Program To Restore Service In Emergencies
     Public faith in the 911 emergency telecommunications system has slowed the development of a related system designed to provide priority telecom service to people most in need during disasters, a panel of emergency management officials said. Telecommunications Service Priority is a federal program that allows states and localities to arrange deals with telecom providers to have services restored quickly in the event of a national crisis or attack. Service providers can charge fees for the service. The 911 system operates "well enough so the public truly has come to believe that 911 will always work," said William Cade, director of 911 services at the Association of Public-Safety Communications. But a backup plan is needed in the event of a large-scale disaster. "The challenges on this system are growing dramatically every day," he said.

Budget
Science Committee Leaders Blast R&D Budget Plan
     The cut in non-defense science research and development funding proposed by President Bush for fiscal 2006 continues a trend that could lead to a corresponding decrease in America's competitiveness, top members of the House Science Committee said at a hearing. "I think we have to think long and hard about whether it is in the long-term interest of the United States to have a multi-year period of real-dollar cuts in spending on R&D," said committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y. "The budget proposal before us raises serious questions about our nation's direction in the coming years." In other news, Democrats on the House Small Business Committee criticized Bush's proposed cuts to small-business technology programs.

Budget
Plan To Raise Passenger Fees Draws Bipartisan Criticism
     Senators from both parties panned a proposal by President Bush to ask airline passengers to pay $3 more per flight for security. The administration is proposing to raise the fee passengers pay for security by $3 per flight, from $2.50 to $5.50. During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Bush's fiscal 2006 budget request for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), senators, particularly those from rural areas, attacked the proposal. They said it would hurt rural areas because many passengers must make connecting flights instead of flying directly, thereby paying the fee twice. Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said it sounds like a tax hike to him, although it is described as a fee. Stevens noted that the airline industry lost $10 billion last year. David Stone, the assistant secretary of homeland security for TSA, defended the proposal.

Budget
Technology Can Help Transform Government, Official Says
     The Government Accountability Office called for a comprehensive re-evaluation of federal spending, including fresh approaches to utilizing technology and boosting the nation's return on its research investments. The report urges the government to examine ways to improve scientific and technological innovation by such measures as increasing the return on investments in federally funded research, adding incentives to encourage private-sector collaboration, and developing a more technically proficient workforce. In addition, it urges the government to explore using advanced technologies, such as cyber security, to better protect the nation.