Telecom
House Panel OKs Controversial Telecom Measure
     Controversial legislation that would prohibit major telecommunications and cable companies from blocking or degrading competing services on the Internet cleared the House Judiciary Committee this week. The measure was altered before the final vote with an amendment. The change clarified that the bill is not intended to block the use of parental controls. Panel Chairman James Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin Republican who co-sponsored the bill, is expected to ask the Rules Committee to permit him to offer the measure as a floor amendment. He wants to attach it to broader telecom legislation authored by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton of Texas. Members of both parties raised concerns about Judiciary's approach. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, endorsed provisions that would assure Internet regulation falls within the judicial system. But Smith called it a "regulator's dream but an entrepreneur's nightmare." The Senate Commerce Committee this week held a hearing on a similar measure and appeared far from consensus.

E-Commerce
Panel Approves Bill To Crack Down On Internet Gambling
     House Judiciary this week also approved a measure designed to curb Internet gambling. Law enforcement would be given more authority to prosecute most forms of interstate wagering through the Internet under legislation approved on a 25-11 vote. The action was taken despite Democratic complaints that it would provide special exemptions to the horse racing industry and would be difficult to enforce because most operators reside offshore. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., would amend the 1961 anti-racketeering Wire Act to ban interstate gambling operations carried out through new technologies. It also would prohibit gambling businesses from accepting payment through credit cards and electronic cash transfers. The Justice Department contends that the Wire Act prohibits interstate bets or wagers. But Congress in 2000 modified the horse racing act with changes that some contend legalized horse-race wagering over the phone and Internet, so long as the bets are legal in states. Goodlatte's bill also was expanded to prohibit gambling via new forms of technology such as fiber optic lines.

Crime
Bills Targeting ID Theft, Caller-ID Fraud Approved
     The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved two bills aimed at frauds who cheat consumers -- either through identity theft by stealing their personal information or by impersonating officials in telephone calls. The committee took the language of a data-protection bill approved by the Financial Services Committee and replaced it with the language of a competing measure, sponsored by Florida Republican Cliff Stearns. Stearns chairs the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce. The vote occurred as Financial Services took the same action with Stearns' bill. Financial Services Chairman Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, said that unlike Stearns' measure, the one approved by his panel would cover government agencies. That is a major concern for many lawmakers after this week's revelation that the names, Social Security numbers and birthdates of 26.5 million veterans recently were stolen from the home of a Veterans Affairs Department analyst.

Intellectual Property
House Panel Approves Guidelines On 'Orphan Works'
     A House subcommittee approved legislation that would allow greater public access to works whose authors cannot be located. That is an issue generally referred to as "orphan works." A Judiciary subcommittee that oversees intellectual property issues reported the bill to full committee by voice vote. Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas, said his measure would create guidelines for the use of copyrighted material when the original owners cannot be located. The measure would mandate that people wanting to use such material conduct "reasonably diligent" searches to locate the owners. The bill would allow for the payment of attorney fees and costs when a user refuses to pay a reasonable royalty. It also would limit monetary damages for those that use it for charitable, religious, scholarly or educational purposes.

Lobbying
Tech Groups Challenge Visa Proposal In Senate
     The tech industry is making its voice heard in the Senate immigration bill debate. They want to make sure that the visas they need to hire high-skilled foreign workers do not get lost amid the louder debate over low-skilled workers. The Information Technology Industry Council has asked Senate leadership to reject a possible amendment to cap H-1B visas for advanced degree holders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The letter applauds the Senate for including provisions in the bill to increase H-1B visas. But it warns that a bipartisan amendment could weaken that section of the bill. The Information Technology Association of America also called on the Senate to reject the amendment. TechNet, a bipartisan group of 150 technology CEOs, sent a letter to all senators Monday, also urging rejection of the measure. TechNet said the country ran out of H-1B visas before October last year. They predict the annual cap will be reached by July. The Senate passed the immigration bill late this week and did not cap the visas.

Civil Liberties
ACLU Plans Multistate Fight Against Spying Activity
     The American Civil Liberties Union announced plans to mobilize its affiliate organizations throughout the country. It intends to prod state and federal authorities about terrorism-related spying on Americans by the National Security Agency. ACLU affiliates in 20 states filed complaints this week with public-utility commissions, or demanded investigations into the NSA program from their state attorneys general. The ACLU also urged the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its denial of a request by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., to investigate the NSA program.

Telecom
Top Communications Official Decries Agency Inaction
     Michael Copps, a commissioner with the Federal Communications Commission, had some choice words for his employer's agenda. He complained that the agency is dragging its feet on a court-ordered review of media-ownership regulations and the proposed acquisition of bankrupt Adelphia Communications by Comcast and Time Warner. Copps, a Democrat, said the politically divided agency should move quickly on both items. He noted that the FCC's schedule is out of his hands because he does not control the agenda. He was careful not to blame FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican, who does. Immediate action on both matters would be to the Democrats' advantage because the agency is split 2-2 along party lines, pending the confirmation of Republican lobbyist Robert McDowell to fill a fifth vacancy. The nomination of McDowell has been approved by the Senate Commerce Committee but has been in limbo for weeks, the result of it being blocked anonymously by a member.

Antitrust
EBay In Midst Of Antitrust Suit
     The file-sharing software firm Streamcast Networks named the eBay online auction site in a $4 billion antitrust lawsuit over eBay's Internet telephone subsidiary. EBay recently bought the Skype phone firm, which is the subject of the court filing. Streamcast charged that eBay executives should have known that Skype's founders lied about its business dealings with Streamcast over the rights to Skype technology. Streamcast is fighting over a clause in a 2001 business contract with Skype. The clause required Skype's founders to give Streamcast the right of first refusal to buy Skype software. In a 50-page complaint, the lawsuit charges that Skype founders created a feature in a version of their FastTrack software that they provided to Streamcast. The feature blocked users from accessing Streamcast's Morpheus file-sharing service, which is based on the FastTrack software. Skype founders subsequently sold their business and software to eBay.