Digital Television
Senate Panel Chooses 2009 As Transition Date
     The Senate Commerce Committee this week rejected an amendment by Sen. John McCain to move the date for the end of the digital television transition to 2007 from 2009. Joining the Arizona Republican in voting to accelerate the date were Republicans John Sununu of New Hampshire and John Ensign of Nevada, and Democrats John Kerry of Massachusetts and John (Jay) Rockefeller of West Virginia. The committee sank the amendment, 5-17, during consideration of a bill set to be attached to a broader budget reconciliation package. Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and ranking Democrat Daniel Inouye of Hawaii selected April 7, 2009, as the cut-off date. Stevens' DTV bill passed 19-3, with Rockefeller, Kerry and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., voting no. Stevens urged committee members to reject the McCain amendment, citing lower revenues from spectrum auctions that would occur after the transition is complete and higher costs for set-top boxes to convert analog signals to digital.

Labor
Senate Committee Approves H-1B Language
     The Senate Judiciary Committee approved budget language that would provide a short-term reprieve for highly skilled, foreign-born workers seeking temporary employment visas. Under the amended language, the proposal would recapture as many as 30,000 unused H-1B visas from previous years. It also would recapture as many as 90,000 unused green cards for immigrant workers. The language would meet the Judiciary Committee's obligation of saving $300 million over the next five years as part of the budget reconciliation process by imposing a $500 increase for H-1B application fees. The 65,000 cap for such visas was reached Aug. 12, before the start of fiscal 2006 on Oct. 1.The full Senate must vote on the proposal before going to conference with the House on the broader budget legislation.

Intellectual Property
New Plan To Fight Digital Audio Piracy Is Circulated
     Public Knowledge circulated language that it said the recording industry wants lawmakers to include in upcoming legislation on the transition to digital television. The language, purportedly crafted by the Recording Industry Association of America, would authorize the FCC to implement rules specifying that digital audio broadcasters must encrypt their signals and that digital audio manufacturers must make devices capable of decrypting the broadcasts. The language also would let the FCC prohibit the use of software programs to snag segments of programming from broadcasts, among other things. It appears to address the concerns that the RIAA, songwriters and others have about software programs that enable consumers to record specific songs from digital radio without having to pay fees, as they would for digital downloads over the Internet.

Intellectual Property
Publishers Sue Google Over Book-Scanning Project
     A publishing association sued the Google Internet firm over what kinds of unauthorized uses of intellectual property are legally acceptable online. The Association of American Publishers filed a lawsuit in federal district court in New York to stop the company from embarking on its Google Print for Libraries program. Scheduled to launch Nov. 1, the program calls for Google to scan books from several major libraries onto their computer servers in order to make them searchable to the public. More than 300 publishers are members of the group, and its 20-member board voted to approve the lawsuit. The association sued on behalf of several large publishers, including The McGraw-Hill Companies, Pearson Education, Penguin Group USA, Simon & Schuster and John Wiley & Sons. Google executives have said the program abides by copyright law because the "fair use" doctrine permits such library-related activities without the permission of publishers.

Telecom
Congressional Report Calls Internet Fund A 'Disgrace'
     Republican Reps. Joe Barton and Fred Upton will craft legislation designed to reform the troubled, $2.25 billion e-rate subsidy in response to a new congressional report concluding that the program is rife with abuse. Barton of Texas heads the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Upton, a Michigander, is chairman of the panel's Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee. The e-rate, which reduces Internet connection costs for schools and libraries, is part of the larger, $6.5 billion universal service fund for subsidizing telecom service in rural and low-income areas. It has the strong backing of rural lawmakers but has been plagued by fraud for years. House Energy and Commerce spokesman Kevin Schweers clarified in an e-mail that the legislation also aims to reform the broader fund.

Culture
U.N. Group OKs Diversity Treaty Over U.S. Objections
     The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization gave all but final approval to a treaty on the protection of cultural diversity over the full-out efforts by the United States to further negotiate many provisions. The draft Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions is a legal instrument intended to give another tool to sovereign governments to protect their cultures where they see fit. The draft, up for a vote at the October 3-21 UNESCO annual general conference in Paris, was approved by a UNESCO commission. The United States sees the treaty as specifically about trade in cultural goods, such as movies, and was reacting to statements by Canadian, French and other governments that it would help them protect their audiovisual and publishing industries, a U.S. official said. "This is not about culture; it's about trade," he said. "This is trade policy by cultural ministers."

Telecom
Multiple Firms Vie For San Francisco's Wi-Fi Project
     Nearly 30 companies have submitted proposals to provide San Francisco with wireless Internet access. Major players like Google and SBC Communications and smaller cooperatives like the community-based wireless effort SFLan all are vying for the lucrative contract. After Philadelphia officials launched a similar effort, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in August announced plans for a wireless network. Private companies were invited to submit proposals. The contenders include EarthLink, which recently bested Hewlett-Packard for the Philadelphia Wi-Fi contract. EarthLink has pledged to build a San Francisco system that would not require any "upfront or ongoing funds" from the city. EarthLink again will compete against HP, which pledged in its proposal to "recapture" its investment within 19 months. The Google online search-engine company, meanwhile, is continuing its growth spurt with a Wi-Fi proposal of its own.

Telecom
Communications Barriers Hamper Humanitarian Aid
     Geographical, political and communication barriers often stymie international humanitarian recovery efforts, according to disaster relief experts. Information sharing is a critical element in relief efforts, said Paul Currion, a consultant who has worked on recovery efforts in Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia and Tanzania since the mid-1990s. But relief agencies arriving in war-torn regions or after natural disasters often find their efforts hampered by weak communications and coordination. To complicate matters, information sharing and data collection among organizations, the military and government lack common technical standards, he said at a Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network conference. Even if technology is available in abundance, establishing communications lines can be delayed due to political regimes that do not want the technology distributed. The aid efforts also are hobbled by a lack of skilled personnel to deploy equipment or regulatory regimes that prohibit external telecom carriers.