Lobbying
Electronic Industries Alliance To Close, Sell Assets
     The Electronic Industries Alliance, which has operated in some form since 1924, is closing and selling its assets. The group's governing board voted this week on a plan that EIA said will help its four member associations better serve the technology industry. EIA's assets, which include a $21 million investment portfolio and a building in Arlington, Va., valued at $25 million to $40 million, will be divided among the four current EIA member groups and the Consumer Electronics Association, which split from EIA about six years ago. The Internet Security Alliance will provide complimentary services to the four associations for two years. "Everyone recognizes there were too many tech trade associations," said Ralph Hellman, a lobbyist for the Information Technology Industry Council. "With one less, that's probably a good thing for lawmakers, and it's an opportunity for the tech companies to increase their effectiveness."

Intellectual Property
Court Refuses To Block Rate Hike For Internet Radio
     The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a request to block a forthcoming rate hike for Internet radio services, days before the first payments are due to the royalty collector SoundExchange. In its brief order, the court said the Digital Media Association, National Public Radio and several small commercial webcasters failed to meet the qualifications necessary for a stay. Their hopes to forestall the rate hike now hinge on congressional action and potential private negotiations. The Copyright Royalty Board's March ruling would impose "a radical and arbitrary increase" in the fees paid by online radio services through 2010, DiMA said in its filing. The new rates take effect Sunday. The decision does not preclude the same court from ruling in favor of webcasters in a separate appeal.

E-Commerce
Spam, 'Spim' And 'Spit': The Ugly Side Of The Web
     Serious challenges remain in the fight against unsolicited commercial e-mail, FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras said at an agency summit. She said the reported volume of junk e-mail is on the rise, creating significant costs for consumers and companies alike. Majoras further noted that spam's sinister and worrisome brethren include "spim," which infiltrates instant-messaging programs; "spit," which infects Internet telephony; and spam via social-networking sites. Software robots known as "botnets" that control computers remotely also send consumers messages they do not want. And spam is being used to launch "phishing" attacks, which can hijack users' computers and steal personal or financial information. "Spam goes beyond mere annoyance," Majoras said. "It undermines the stability of the Internet." The second day of the summit explored the ever-evolving tactics of Web criminals to spread spam and malicious computer code.

Spectrum
House Bloc Favors Light FCC Touch For Auction
     Thirty-seven House Republicans and one Democrat urged the FCC not to impose onerous public-interest conditions on licensees that secure airwaves at a major upcoming auction, siding with dominant wireless providers such as AT&T and Verizon Communications. The correspondence emerged as FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican, began circulating proposed auction rules to set the stage for a late July vote. Past auctions "were successful due to an FCC-governed process that did not saddle licensees with burdensome regulations," the letter argued. Greg Louer, the legislative director to Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn, who signed Monday's letter, said via e-mail that "to essentially rig the game with open-access rules or other heavy-handed regulations will jeopardize the potential success of the auction and not likely yield additional innovation in the wireless industry." The House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee also held a hearing on the matter.

Campaigns
Democratic Site Raises $3.4 Million For Candidates
     An online site that lets anyone create a Web page to raise money for Democratic candidates reported a new fundraising record for the second quarter of 2007. ActBlue said it raised $3.4 million for 460 Democratic candidates. While this is an off year before an upcoming presidential election, ActBlue said its fundraising for April through June was 25 times more than the $132,000 raised during the same quarter of the 2005-2006 election cycle. The site collected the money from 29,000 donors in the last quarter, and 89 percent gave less than $200. The biggest recipient was presidential candidate John Edwards, at $883,656. The next highest amount was $103,264 for Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who is recovering from brain surgery. Four Senate colleagues created the page. Presidential campaigns also raised millions of dollars by offering online tools to supporters to conduct their own fundraising efforts.

E-Government
Backers Of E-Voting Changes Eye House Action Soon
     Proponents of e-voting legislation approved by the House Administration Committee in May hope Democratic leaders will bring the measure to the floor for a vote before the August congressional recess. The bill, H.R. 811, would mandate the use of voting machines that produce verifiable, paper audit trails. About half the members of the House are co-sponsors. Matthew Dennis, a spokesman for bill sponsor Rush Holt, D-N.J., said Holt is still optimistic that the measure will win passage before the break. Dennis said Holt is committed to giving states ample time to implement the proposal before next year's presidential election. But some people want to ban touch-screen machines altogether. Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a presidential candidate, has pulled his sponsorship of Holt's bill because he said it would not go far enough to address his concerns about e-voting.

Privacy
Fired Workers Urge The FTC To Help Protect Privacy
     A technology group and representatives from several labor groups petitioned the FTC to enforce rules that protect workers' privacy under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The petition focuses on the case of 100 railway workers who lost their jobs after background checks revealed that they had criminal records. Some of the workers claim they were not notified prior to the background checks or their terminations, and were not given the opportunity to review their records to ensure their accuracy, as required under FCRA. "We have the FCRA in place to make sure that when we do background checks, we do them in the right way," said Ari Schwartz of the Center for Democracy and Technology. Privacy rights also arose in a discussion about the use of radio-frequency identification tags.

Competitiveness
Index Ranks U.S. As World's Top Tech Innovator
     The United States, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom provide the best environments for the information technology industry to flourish, according to a new study. The Economist Intelligence Unit's Index evaluated 64 countries. The research found that successful IT industry growth is based on a number of conditions, including "the quality of the IT and communications infrastructure, the supply of local talent, the research and development environment, and the local regime," as well as the overall business environment. Denis McCauley, director of global technology research for the unit, said the United States risks being complacent with its advantages. He said the United States has not promoted the widespread use of high-speed Internet services as successfully as some other countries, and its role as a magnet for talent could be weakened by a poor immigration policy.