E-Commerce
House OKs Internet Gambling Bill After Fiery Debate
     House lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a measure to crack down on Internet gambling. The measure would prohibit financial companies from processing payments to online gambling sites. The measure also incorporates language from a competing House bill authored by Virginia Republican Bob Goodlatte to update a 1961 law barring businesses from using wire transmissions for gambling transactions. The bill cleared the House by a 317-93 vote. Supporters of the bill have championed it partially as a measure to purge from the House the influence of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. They claim he derailed similar attempts to curtail online gambling in past years. But several lawmakers charged that the bill would include unfair carve outs for horse racing and intrastate lotteries. Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank suggested that prohibiting Internet gambling would advance a dangerous type of "cultural authoritarianism."

Antitrust
Judge Grasps For More Details On Telecom Mergers
     A federal district court judge said he was not briefed sufficiently enough to approve a Justice Department settlement concerning two landmark telecommunications mergers. Lawyers for the government and the telecom firms disagreed. Judge Emmet Sullivan of the District of Columbia complained during a lengthy telecommunications antitrust oversight hearing that he had not received any expert reports on the telecom marketplace either from the government or the telecommunications carriers involved. The hearing is the first of its kind after Congress amended antitrust law in 2004 to emphasize that judges should play an independent role in the merger approval process. The amended law details factors that judges have at their disposal to make their determination. Justice Department trial attorney Claude Scott and AT&T attorney Wilma Lewis argued that any further review and additional witnesses would amount to Sullivan exceeding his role as defined by law.

Telecom
Broadcasters Key Ally In Push For House Telecom Bill
     Broadcasters say they stand to lose if the telecommunications legislation that cleared the Senate Commerce Committee June 28 becomes law. That position puts another powerful interest group against the expansive approach taken in the Senate. But because the National Association of Broadcasters says its members would gain from the narrower House-passed telecom bill, they could become an important player in pushing for the "slimmed-down" version of communications legislation. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, accepted many amendments to his bill, but he now says a narrower bill would have a better chance of passing the Senate. "The baseline House bill is great for broadcasters because it offers the opportunity for telephone companies to get into video delivery," said NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton. In other telecom news, the FCC approved the acquisition of Adelphia Communications by Comcast and Time Warner on a 4-1 vote.

Privacy
Specter Reaches Deal With White House On Surveillance
     Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he has reached a tentative agreement with the White House on legislation that would write President Bush's warrantless domestic wiretapping program into law but impose restrictions. The deal would require the president to submit wiretapping requests to a special court that would review them to determine if they are in the interests of national security and aimed at combating terrorism, and not simply a violation of privacy rights. Specter said the president is in agreement with that sentiment. Democrats immediately expressed concerns. Meanwhile, the Markle Foundation this week issued a report criticizing the Bush administration's failure to effectively encourage its various departments and state and local law enforcement authorities to share anti-terrorism information.

On The Hill
Wireless Tracking Technology Interests Senators
     Senators are becoming interested in one of the newer kids on the technology block. It's a wireless tracking technology called Radio Frequency Identification. But like many technologies, it raises concerns. The Senate launched the Radio Frequency Identification Device caucus this week. Congress has pending legislation to require RFID devices on bottles of the 30 most counterfeited drugs. Wal-Mart and the Defense Department now require all pallets and cases to include the radio tracking devices. But the tiny chips and antennae likely will see even wider use in the future. Scientists call the technology a step above bar codes because it can identify an individual product. They say it can be used for doggy doors to only let your pet in -- not the neighborhood gang. Another company hopes to develop the "clueless closet" to help match ties with shirts. But privacy advocates worry about who will be able to see the information included in the tags and how far the tags can be tracked.

Education
Groups Call for Funding For Education Tech Program
     Education and technology groups unveiled a 7,000-signature petition calling on House appropriators to restore funding in the House fiscal 2007 education spending bill for an education technology program. House appropriators eliminated funding for the Enhancing Education Through Technology program in their fiscal 2007 spending bill for the Labor, Education and other departments. The House Appropriations Committee passed the spending bill June 13. The education and technology groups, led by the International Society for Technology in Education and the Software and Information Industry Association, have called on appropriators to restore funding for the program to the fiscal 2005 level of $496 million.

E-Government
Top Personnel Adviser Pushes For E-Processing System
     The Bush administration's top personnel adviser made a public push for Congress to reverse itself and fund an electronic processing system for federal employee pensions. It would cost of about $27 million. Linda Springer, director of the Office of Personnel Management, said the House's denial of a budget request to modernize the retirement system as part of a fiscal 2007 spending bill was a big mistake. "We're using a paper-based, vintage 1950s system, and it's just shocking," Springer said. "That's not fair, that's not right, and that's an embarrassment." Springer, who has been in her position at OPM for just more than a year, began her tenure by pointing out the delays that many federal employees experience before receiving their full retirement checks. There are 144,000 file drawers filled with federal employee paperwork used to calculate the pensions, she said. But the Bush budget request for $27 million to house those records electronically was denied in the House fiscal 2007 appropriations bill governing the Transportation and Treasury departments.

Intellectual Property
Judge Rules Firms That Clean Up Films Violate Copyright
     A federal judge in Colorado last week ruled that a group of companies selling and distributing sanitized versions of films have violated the copyrights of the studios behind them. In a 16-page order, Senior District Judge Richard Matsch said the companies, which include CleanFlicks and Family Flix USA, are "illegitimate" businesses violating copyright law. He ordered the companies to turn over their inventories to the copyright holders of the films. CleanFlix and Family Flix both have created and distributed copies of copyrighted films that they edited themselves to delete nudity, profanity and violence. According to Matsch, the public policy argument made by the accused companies that content in the films they altered is potentially harmful to children does not exempt them from copyright law. The ruling spared ClearPlay, a Utah-based firm that produces software that allows users to block certain content in films from being shown on their computers or video players.