Lobbying
Techies Make Last-Minute Push For Visa Changes
     Technology company executives swarmed Capitol Hill this week to talk to lawmakers about the Senate immigration bill. Bill Archey, CEO of the tech group AeA, said the timing for the visit to his group's long-planned summer meeting was fortuitous because of the debate. By week's end, however, the bill was pulled from the floor when supporters failed to win enough votes to limit debate. Archey said the difficulty in getting H-1B visas for skilled immigrants disproportionately impacts smaller tech companies like those in AeA. During the visits, techies asked senators to support language to reserve 140,000 visas for employer-sponsored, merit-based green cards alongside the self-sponsored, merit-based points plan for immigrants already in the bill. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who spoke at a separate Business Software Alliance event, said he hoped to talk with key lawmakers about "how reform can at least be neutral if not positive for the [recruitment] issues" in the tech industry.

Privacy
Senators Want REAL ID Out Of Immigration Bill
     Montana's Democratic senators moved to strip references to federal driver's licensing standards from an immigration proposal being debated on the Senate floor. Max Baucus and Jon Tester offered an amendment to strike all references in the bill to the so-called REAL ID Act, a 2005 identification mandate. The bill incorporates REAL ID standards into a nationwide system for employers to verify the right of immigrants to work in the country. Tester said tying the immigration bill to REAL ID would force states to accept a national ID system that many of them oppose and effectively would impose a massive tax on businesses. Montana and 14 other states have authorized legislation rejecting REAL ID. Legislation to repeal the law also has been introduced in Congress. At a House hearing, meanwhile, witnesses and lawmakers scrutinized the plan for the worker verification system.

Security
Former Border Agents Assail Senate Immigration Proposal
     Former Border Patrol chiefs and agents ripped apart the Senate's immigration bill as being unrealistic and technologically unfeasible, and instead offered their own six-part plan for increasing border security and removing illegal immigrants. Members of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers said during a press conference that the Senate immigration bill is "a slap in the face," "disastrous," "cynical," "dangerous," "a lie," "silly," "a recipe for disaster," "a bureaucratic shell game," "misguided, "fundamentally flawed," and "so bad it'd be laughable if it wasn't so dangerous." Members of the group said some provisions are unrealistic. For example, they charged that technology is not capable of doing background checks and processing fingerprint scans in the timelines outlined in the bill. They also argued that the Homeland Security Department would not have adequate staff to vet applicants applying for new work visas.

Television
Tech Watchdogs Laud Federal Ruling On Expletives
     A federal appeals court's rejection of the FCC's policy of fining broadcasters for "fleeting expletives" was a victory for free expression and a vote of confidence for filtering, blocking and other "user empowerment" tools, high-tech policy watchers said Tuesday. In its majority opinion, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel echoed a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Progress and Freedom Foundation. The court and the watchdog groups said the foundation for the FCC's authority over broadcast is diminishing. Television viewers have far more tools to control programming access than existed when the FCC got its authority, CDT Staff Counsel John Morris said. Even so, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin cited the decision as further justification for per-channel cable pricing. The FCC could ask the full appeals court to consider the case or request that it be heard by the Supreme Court.

Intellectual Property
Patent Stakeholders Sound Off To Senate Panel
     A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on legislation to overhaul the U.S. patent system started with terse words from Chairman Patrick Leahy, who chastised the Bush administration for not complying with a request for input on controversial issues in Leahy's bill. Patent and Trademark Office Director Jon Dudas refused to comment on the proposed creation of a right to interlocutory appeal in claim construction cases, which is a request for reconsideration of a trial court ruling before the trial has ended. He also would not speak about a provision to eliminate judicial "venue-shopping" by litigants for favorable courts. Leahy, D-Vt., said the details of the bill "may seem dry" but are important to successful patent reform. The topic also was among those that a dozen software CEOs raised with lawmakers in a lobbying visit to Capitol Hill.

Crime
Indictment Issued For Jefferson In Bribery Case
     Rep. William Jefferson was indicted on 16 counts stemming from a bribery scheme that unraveled when FBI agents found $90,000 in a freezer at his home. The 94-page indictment charges Jefferson, D-La., with racketeering, soliciting bribes, money laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and other counts. According to federal sentencing guidelines, Jefferson could face more than 200 years in prison. One Jefferson associate, Louisville, Ky., telecommunications executive Vernon Jackson, previously pleaded guilty to paying between $400,000 and $1 million in bribes to Jefferson in exchange for his assistance securing business deals in Nigeria and other African nations. Jackson was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. And former congressional aide Brett Pfeffer admitted soliciting bribes on Jefferson's behalf. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Telecom
Rep. Boucher's Bill Would OK Municipal Services
     Rep. Rick Boucher soon will introduce legislation permitting local governments to offer telecommunications service, including wireless, high-speed Internet access and wireline telephone connections. The bill mostly would benefit small communities in rural areas, such as towns in the rural southwestern Virginia district represented by Boucher, a Democrat. "These barriers need to be lifted," he said at a broadband policy conference. In communities underserved by commercial telecom providers, he added, "local governments ought to be able to step in and fill the gap." Boucher noted that the municipal approach was the solution for Bland, a village of 200 in his district that had no broadband two years ago. At Boucher's urging, local officials invested $5,000 to create a wireless system for the community.

Lobbying
Rumors Of EIA's Dissolution Or Merger Recirculate
     The board of the Electronic Industries Association is likely to vote in mid-July to dissolve or merge with another organization and on whether to sell its building, according to sources. When EIA chief Dave McCurdy left early this year, there were rumors that EIA would take the opportunity to merge, and then interim CEO Charlie Robinson left in April to join McCurdy at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. Sources say EIA board members are expected to vote next month on the future of the association. "The EIA executive committee is debating what the future of EIA is," said a tech source who asked not to be identified. "There could be 100 different decisions about what to do about EIA, but there is nothing on paper yet." Matt Flanigan, who retired from the Telecommunications Industry Association in December, has been serving as the interim CEO of EIA since last month.