Crime
Scandal May Spur Move Against Online 'Grooming'
     Was former Rep. Mark Foley "grooming" underage congressional pages online in order to eventually pursue sexual activities with them? That's the question some people on Capitol Hill are asking in the wake of the explicit electronic communications that drove the Florida Republican from office a week ago. Cyber-law expert Parry Aftab said she has been deluged with telephone calls from congressional staffers who asked about the limitations of current federal law in punishing such grooming and hinted at possible new proposals. Grooming already is unlawful in some states, including Foley's, where "use of a computer to seduce a child" is a felony. But Aftab said federal laws require proof of the intent to perform criminally liable sexual acts. She has not decided whether stronger laws are needed. "Every time you get into criminally penalizing speech alone, without showing intent to do more, it gets very sticky," she said.

Campaigns
Political Fallout Grows In Foley E-Mail Scandal
     Nothing animates politicians like a sex scandal, and that is especially true in the heat of a campaign for control of Congress. That explains why candidates in this year's close races have been reacting quickly to the resignation of Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., over salacious electronic messages he sent to House pages. New York Republican Thomas Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, is in the eye of the political storm over his prior knowledge of Foley's contact with pages and over the $100,000 contribution from Foley's political action committee to the NRCC. The group said it will use the money to elect Republicans. But some candidates in close races -- including Sen. George Allen, R-Va., and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M. -- are returning contributions they received from Foley.

Security
Bid To Shield Phone Firms From Spying Liability Fails
     Sen. Ted Stevens late last week tried unsuccessfully to shelter major telecommunications companies from legal liabilities associated with terrorism-related wiretapping for the U.S. government, sources said. The Alaska Republican tried to amend a port security bill with language to give the firms legal protection. The language never made it into the bill because some Democrats objected that it was not germane to the legislation. The top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee also said his panel should get to review the idea first. "We were aware of it, thought it was a good idea, but we were not actively lobbying it," BellSouth spokesman Bill McCloskey said of the push for immunity. BellSouth has denied involvement in a National Security Agency surveillance program. AT&T and Verizon Communications have not said whether they participated but insist that they have acted within the law.

Taxes
Prospects For Internet Tax Ban This Year Look Bleak
     Efforts this year to make permanent a ban on state and local taxes on Internet access appear to be dead, according to advocates of the idea. Despite two separate Senate panels taking action on the issue in late June, little hope is being placed in either bill moving forward. The Finance Committee added moratorium language to a bill that would repeal a $7 billion excise tax on local telephone service. That same day, the Commerce Committee tacked a similar amendment onto its telecommunications bill. The bills to which the amendments "are attached appear dead in the water at this point for reasons unrelated" to the Internet tax language, said Mark Nebergall, president of the Software Finance and Tax Executives Council. Opponents of the moratorium, including two senators who once were governors, have vowed to offer amendments on the floor to strip the permanent tax ban if either bill moves, Nebergall said.

Antitrust
Rep. Watson To Make Case Against Media Mergers
     The message that Rep. Diane Watson delivered to the FCC at a field hearing in Los Angeles this week was simple and blunt: Further relaxation of the nation's media-ownership rules serves corporate interests but not consumer interests. "The airwaves belong to all of us, and they should not be under control of just a few of us," the California Democrat told Technology Daily during an interview before the meeting. All five FCC members, representatives of Hollywood's entertainment community, media executives, watchdogs and citizens participated in the hearing. "We simply don't have an informed citizenry" if one company can own the major newspaper and broadcast outlets in the same city, said Watson, who chairs the Congressional Entertainment Industries Caucus. The hearing was the first of six that the FCC will hold as part of a court-ordered review of the rules.

Intellectual Property
AT&T, Microsoft Patent Dispute May Set Precedent
     The nation's highest court likely will agree to hear a transnational patent-infringement case involving Microsoft and AT&T. Supreme Court watchers say the outcome could be a precedent-setter for the court's October term, which began this week. At issue is a provision of U.S. patent law that permits an American patentee to collect damages for global sales of a patented product based on the export of its individual components. In the case before the court, Microsoft software code was created domestically and then shipped overseas, where copies were "burned" and distributed. AT&T alleges that the code violates a company patent and wants to collect damages for Microsoft's foreign sales. The U.S. solicitor general filed a friend-of-the-court brief last week, joining the Patent and Trademark Office in support of Microsoft's petition for a Supreme Court review. That may increase the case's chances of the case being added to the courts' calendar.

Intellectual Property
Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Biotech Case
     The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could throw a wrench in U.S. patent law. The spat between two biotechnology companies comes as complaints mount of an already broken patent system. The face-off is between MedImmune and Genentech. At issue is whether MedImmune, which is licensed to use a Genentech patent, should be able to dispute the standing of the patent absent "actual controversy" -- in this case an infringement lawsuit. Computer and Communications Industry Association President Ed Black said an earlier ruling in the case was a "prescription for high-stakes litigation, risk and uncertainty." More "junk patents" will go unchallenged as a result, he said. But another lawyer said a ruling for MedImmune would spur more lawsuits by licensees.

Cyber Security
Industry Experts Sketch Priorities For Cyber Czar
     Greg Garcia, the long-awaited cyber-security czar, starts his job at the Homeland Security Department next week, and industry and technology organizations already are encouraging him to take on "a smaller set of priorities" so he does not get overwhelmed by the vast to-do list. Those priorities, according to Kevin Richards, government relations manager for Symantec, should be "mitigating or preventing a major cyber disaster and articulating a clear chain of command between government and the private sector." Paul Kurtz, executive director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, sees four priorities for Garcia: adopting a more aggressive research and development program to build secure information systems; creating an early-warning system for cyber attacks; ensuring sufficient computer bandwidth for communications in an emergency; and drafting a recovery plan for the Internet after a disaster.