Privacy
Lawmakers Seek Deal On Protecting Phone Records
     The chairmen of two powerful Senate committees have been seeking a consensus on a bill to curtail "pretexting," a practice whereby online brokers fraudulently obtain and sell telephone records for a fee. Alaska Republican Ted Stevens, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., reportedly are "very close" to a compromise, Republican sources said this week. Attention to those negotiations intensified after news that Hewlett-Packard used a contractor to secure phone records of its board members, employees and journalists. The measure would make it illegal to acquire, use or sell confidential phone records without written consent. Senate Judiciary staffers have negotiated changes to their bill to mesh with the House language "so if that goes through it can be signed right into law," a source said. But Stevens reportedly is insisting on his language to pre-empt existing state laws against pretexting.

Privacy
Lawmakers Scold Hewlett-Packard Over Spying
     Lawmakers this week scolded Hewlett-Packard executives for spying on board members, employees and reporters in an effort to find an internal media leak. Members of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee were full of questions for those implicated in the scandal. But most of the witnesses would not talk, citing their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The former HP general counsel, who resigned ahead of the hearing, former ethics director and former global security manager were mum, as were several third-party investigators who worked with HP. Texas Republican Joe Barton, chairman of the full committee, was outraged. "I've never had a hearing where no witness gave an opening statement and where every witness took the Fifth," Barton said. Former HP Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, who resigned amid the scandal, and an outside attorney described how the internal investigation played out and answered questions.

Telecom
'Enhanced 911' Proposal Is In Jeopardy In Conference
     Consumers who want the ability to call 911 during emergencies before they make the switch to Internet telephone service may have to wait a bit longer if Rep. Joe Barton has his way. The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to seek the removal of "enhanced 911" language from pending port security legislation, congressional and industry sources said. He wants the issue addressed as part of a broader telecommunications bill, which is stalled in the Senate. Some Internet phone providers have had difficulty obtaining permission from Bell companies to interconnect with their 911 systems or have faced other impediments in routing 911 calls to local public-safety answering points. The provisions in the ports bill would build on FCC regulations detailing the responsibilities of those providers. Stripping the E911 language "could be a big blow to public safety," a Senate Commerce Committee aide said.

Intellectual Property
House Panel Pulls Copyright Modernization Bill
     Sponsors of a bill aimed at streamlining the licensing of online music abruptly pulled it from consideration by the House Judiciary Committee, acknowledging that it had little or no prospect of gaining approval in the current Congress. Texas Republican Lamar Smith, the chief bill sponsor, said he believed he had the support to push it through the House but saw no reason to do so in view of the fact that the measure has become bogged down in the Senate. "Why put the members through a difficult process for a one-house bill?" added California Democrat Howard Berman, the lead co-sponsor of the legislation. Among other things, the bill would replace the current song-by-song, download-by-download process for licensing music to online servers with a blanket system for all musical compositions. Consumer groups and satellite radio companies oppose a provision requiring temporary copies of songs made on computers to be licensed.

Antitrust
Consumers Groups Want Rules For Telecom Merger
     Consumer advocates and state utility groups on Monday urged the FCC to impose substantial conditions on the proposed $67 billion merger of AT&T and BellSouth or block the deal entirely. The groups raised their concerns after Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin late last week circulated a draft proposal recommending no conditions. Jeannine Kenney, a senior policy analyst at Consumers Union, said it is premature for the FCC to proceed on this deal while a required judicial review of two recent telecommunications transactions, including one involving AT&T, is pending. AT&T spokesman Mike Balmoris countered that 18 states already have determined the merger to have "significant public interest and consumer benefits." Two influential senators also urged the FCC and Justice Department to consider imposing conditions on the merger, and two House members urged Justice to refrain from ruling on the merger until a court review of two previous telecom deals is complete.

Television
FCC Democrats Urge Public-Interest Rules For DTV
     The two Democrats on the FCC urged their Republican colleagues to adopt new public-interest requirements for digital television broadcasters. "Our signals are crossed when it comes to what broadcasters must do to discharge their public-interest duties in this new digital age," Commissioner Michael Copps said at the agency's monthly public meeting. He complained that the FCC has yet to provide clear guidance to television stations and viewers. Copps urged his colleagues to tackle how the digital transition can enhance political discourse, aid citizens with disabilities, generate more locally originated content, and foster diverse viewpoints and ownership. The commissioner lamented that it has been nearly seven years since a proceeding on the subject was launched. Democrat Jonathan Adelstein echoed Copps' views, emphasizing that the FCC must "rapidly" complete the pending proceeding, which also would establish new requirements for digital radio.

Campaigns
California Plan For Sex Offenders Among Ballot Ideas
     California already has a new law aimed at tracking sex offenders, but come November, voters there will get to decide whether they want an even tougher statute. The California proposal is based on a Florida statute known as "Jessica's Law," after 9-year-old kidnapping and murder victim Jessica Lunsford. It would require registered sex offenders to wear global positioning devices for life so they can be tracked electronically. It also would expand penalties for child rape and possession of child pornography, among other things. The new law, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week, has softer language. The issue is one of several that voters will decide in ballot initiatives this fall. One initiative in South Dakota would repeal gross-receipts taxes collected on wireless telecommunications services. Techies also will be eyeing a county-level ballot initiative in Florida that would require paper receipts for electronic votes.

Porn
Lawmakers Grill Web Companies On Child Porn
     Lawmakers grilled executives from a major Internet-addressing registry and a small Web-hosting company on their efforts to strip from their networks content involving sexual exploitation of children. The hearing was the seventh in a series by a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, which is examining the problem of online child pornography. Internet service providers legally must report child porn in their pipelines to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which coordinates with law enforcement. Registries and Web hosts have no such requirements, said panel ranking Democrat Bart Stupak of Michigan. "In the months ahead, it is critical that this subcommittee hold all segments of the industry accountable through oversight and legislation," said Stupak, a former police officer.