Telecom
Tech Insiders Disagree On Scope Of Telecom Rewrite
     Tech industry insiders are undecided on how far Congress should go in revamping the 1996 Telecommunications Act, with some calling for a cautious approach to the rewrite, while others insisted that a complete overhaul was necessary. "As we move forward, it's not time to rewrite [the law], it's time to update the act," Ed Merlis, senior vice president for law and policy at the U.S. Telecom Association, said at a Capitol Hill event sponsored by the Congressional Internet Caucus. Technology companies are dealing with a regulatory framework that is "encumbered by high-bound regulatory structures that have long outlived their usefulness," he said. "Greater choice means that consumers ultimately drive the marketplace - not regulators, and not centralized state planning." Rick Cimerman, senior director of state policy for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, agreed, saying "a wholesale rewrite is not what is necessary."

Broadband
U.S. Drops Again In Global Internet Race
     The United States has dropped even further in the high-speed Internet race. Statistics released this month by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) show that U.S. global broadband penetration dropped last year from 13th place to 16th. The ITU news log shows the United States at 11.4 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants as of Dec. 31, 2004. The percentage of subscribers is less than half of what South Korea boasts -- the global leader with 24.9 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants. The following top four nations are Hong Kong at 20.9 percent, the Netherlands with 19.4, Denmark reporting in at 19.3 and Canada at 17.6. Canada dropped two slots, from third place in 2003 to fifth place in 2004. South Korea and Hong Kong ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in both 2002 and 2003. Norway, Israel and Finland each surpassed the United States in broadband penetration for the first time. An aggressive rollout in France almost pushed the U.S. even lower.

Labor
Bill Gates Complains About H-1B Visa Cap
     A wide-ranging discussion on the need to shore up federal funding for basic science and research resources turned into a mini-debate about the merits of placing limits on visas for skilled foreign workers. During a panel session hosted at the Library of Congress, talk turned to the visa issue when Microsoft founder Bill Gates repeatedly questioned the wisdom of a system that limits the number of talented foreign workers allowed to come to work for companies like his. Gates also briefed the Senate Commerce Committee on broadband and other issues. Gates criticized placing a numerical cap on the number of temporary work visas the United States grants skilled foreigners every year. Gates characterized the policy as one of: "Don't let too many smart people to come into the country." The discussion was part of a panoply of activities that Microsoft has planned this week in D.C.

Lobbying
New Coalition Pushes For TV Spectrum Transition
     A new coalition of high-tech companies has announced its intention to push Congress to enact a definite date for freeing up a large chunk of prime radio spectrum. The High Tech Digital Television Coalition (HTDC), made up of Dell, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Texas Instruments and others, said it wants broadcasters to speed up their transition to full digital programming in order to make available about 85 megahertz of prime "beachfront" spectrum for new wireless services. "If we want to grab leadership positions [in new wireless services], we've got to have this spectrum," said HTDC Executive Director Janice Obuchowski during a news conference. Under federal law, broadcasters are required to vacate the spectrum in those markets where 85 percent of viewers can receive digital signals. The coalition says the shift is taking too long, and Congress should act to set a hard end date for use of the spectrum.

Telecom
FCC Chief Pushes Firms To Act On 'Indecency' Issue
     FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has told a congressional subcommittee that he would press both cable and broadcast television to take voluntary steps so that viewers could more readily avoid programs they find offensive or "indecent." Pressed in opposite directions on the issue by the chairman and a leading Democrat on the House Appropriations Science, State, Justice and Commerce Subcommittee, Martin said he would seek sacrifices from both broadcasters and cable television. In other news, President Bush has signed into law an intellectual property bill that would explicitly make legal the activities of companies, such as ClearPlay, that resell unauthorized versions of movies that have been edited for content. Other provisions of the bill concern libraries' archival activities. The bill, S. 167, also criminalizes the use of camcorders in movie theaters, as well as unauthorized Internet distribution of pre-released commercial works.

Security
Chertoff Floats Idea To Have Group Collect Data On Citizens
     Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff this week floated an idea to have a nonprofit group collect information on private citizens that would flag suspicious activity and send names of suspicious people to his department. The idea, which Chertoff tossed out at a meeting with security industry officials, is reminiscent of the now-dead Total Information Awareness program proposed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The program sought to sift though heaps of foreign intelligence information to root out potential terrorist activity. According to one techie who attended the meeting, Chertoff said the department could create a nonprofit to track people's activities and use "an algorithm" to red flag individuals. The group would than forward the names to the department, National Journal magazine reports in its Friday edition. Chertoff also suggested that private industry form a group that could collect proprietary information about cyber and other infrastructure security breaches from companies, scrub it of identifying information, aggregate it, and pass it along to the department.

Intellectual Property
Small And Large Companies Split Over Patent Reform Plan
     Witnesses testifying about patent reform before a House Judiciary subcommittee responded to the panel's chairman with a wall of silence when asked for suggestions on improving the most controversial section of a draft patent reform bill. The proposed measure seeks to reverse the federal judiciary's current practice of automatically granting injunctions against companies that are found to have committed infringement. Small businesses and inventors see the practice as their only effective tool to stop larger companies from infringing on, or stealing, their innovative ideas. But large firms say it is being abused by patent licensing firms, which use the threat of injunctions to extort licensing fees for patents of questionable validity. The subcommittee's draft bill would change current legal procedures by requiring courts not to "grant an injunction under this section unless it finds that the patentee is likely to suffer irreparable harm that cannot be remedied by the payment of money damages."