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Watts Up With Net Security?
The leader of the new House Republican Cyber-Security Team went to Seattle to chat with Microsoft on Monday. House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts, OK, met with officials to discuss cyber security issues and how the digital economy fits into the Republican agenda. Watts met with Howard Schmidt, Microsoft's network security official who is a former cybercrime investigator, and a few people from its government affairs office. Meanwhile, Watts intends to take a group of lawmakers on a tour of high-tech companies in Northern Virginia within the next month. In an interview, Watts said that his efforts are part of a larger plan to encourage his colleagues to use the Internet and their Web sites as communications tools. Watts added that the government should work with the private sector, rather than override it when making decisions on information technology issues. "Let's allow technology to drive the arena," Watts said "We can get there, but it will come from what the industry is doing, more than what the government is doing."
It's a risky business but someone's got to do it. After Bruce McConnell wraps up as the head of the Y2K International Cooperation Center, he officially will launch his new company, McConnell International. McConnell paired with Y2K Center colleague Roslyn Docktor to found the consultancy designed to help people "manage technology induced risks when doing business overseas." The company also will examine the workforce climate and infrastructure of its clients. Where did McConnell find the time to hatch a business amidst all of the Y2K preparations? "Well, we didn't start to think about it too seriously until we finished the last of the leap year thing," he chuckled. Although the Y2K center is disbanding, McConnell will continue to maintain the United Nations Working Group on Informatics on a pro bono basis, which he says created the electronic network of all of the "John Koskinens of the world," as it "tries to become a discussion forum for a broader set of government IT officials." McConnell's last day at the White House will be March 31, and he is expected to open his business in early April.
While the amount of consumer goods sold online is still small compared to big-ticket business-to-business purchases, Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk wanted to illustrate the potential for growth in the consumer market at an Internet tax forum earlier this month. When he asked a group of congressional staffers who had bought anything online, nearly every hand in the crowded room was raised. But when he asked if anyone had bought an airplane online, he was surprised to see one hand thrust into the air; it was that of one laughing Sen. John Rockefeller, D-WV.
California Sen. Barbara Boxer's, son, Doug Boxer, got some business from the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee recently. While the DCCC declined to say who designed its new Web site, TakeBackTheHouse.com, a quick search in Network Solutions Inc.'s "Who Is" index, revealed that Boxer's firm Digital Democracy Group registered the domain name "takebackthe house.com" and the company's main Web site links to the DCCC's newly launched site. The communications strategy company also lists the DCCC as one of its clients. Other clients Digital Democracy listed include his mom, who launched a new political action committee site called "ChangetheCongress.com," Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle's, D-SD, PAC.
Politics.com on Friday dismissed its COO Marc Jacobson who had been with the political Web site for only six months, according to news reports. Jacobson previously worked for pioneer online service Prodigy. Politics.com also is redesigning its Web site to broaden its appeal beyond those who are interested specifically in political issues. The company is seeking an executive from the media or entertainment industry to replace Jacobson, the news reports said.
Members of the high-tech community will be listening to hear where the House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-MO, stands on Internet privacy issues and permanent trade relations with China when he gives a major address next Tuesday morning. On March 28, Gephardt will speak at a breakfast hosted by the Northern Virginia Technology Council, CapNet and the Information Technology Association of America. Gephardt's speech is billed as "'HouseDemocraticMajority.Gov.': Fueling the High-Tech Engine of Economic Growth and National Prosperity." He is expected to provide his vision of high-tech policy, giving the business community an idea of how he would lead if Democrats regain control of the House. It is anticipated that he will outline a privacy policy for the tech community, and take a stand on Internet taxes and H-1B visas. He isn't expected to address permanent normal trade relations with China in his speech, but likely will take questions on the issue if they come up during the breakfast.
President Bill Clinton will host a fundraiser on April 2 in Silicon Valley that is expected to take in $700,000 for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The DCCC declined to say which tech companies are expected to attend, though they expect members of the high-tech community will be invited. House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-MO, DCCC Chairman Patrick Kennedy, D-RI, and House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-NY, are all scheduled to attend. Silicon Valley's 15th district seat is an open contest in November, and Democrats and Republicans are expected to wage a tough battle for the seat. State assembly representatives Jim Cunneen, R, and Mike Honda, D, are the candidates angling for the seat.
The congressional Web-Based Education Commission is beefing up its staff as it prepares for a hearing in Silicon Valley next month. The commission has hired Kathleen Fulton as its project director, Irene Spero has been named the director of external relations, and Russell Trujillo has been pegged as the commission's manager of operations. The hearing on Web-based education will be held at Sun Microsystem's headquarters in Palo Alto on April 7. John Gage, director of science for Sun, is a member of the 16-person commission.
MicroStrategy founder and CEO Mike Saylor has used a number of recent meetings with Clinton administration and congressional members, such as Rep. Tom Davis, R-VA, to discuss the topic of privacy. Saylor's software company doesn't collect people's personal information, but some of its clients do, and Saylor can see a point where legislators might want to pass a bill that establishes a minimum rules on consumer privacy protection, according to a company spokesman during an interview with National Journal's Technology Daily last week. Saylor took the opportunity to discuss privacy with Commerce Secretary William Daley at the New Year's Eve party at the White House last year and has been asked by Daley to discuss the issue again, the spokesman said. Saylor, in an editorial published in The Washington Post last week said, "Of course there may be important issues such as privacy protection or tax incentive policy, and probably we will need new laws and regulatory bodies just as we needed the FDA or FCC for previous revolutions. That's as it should be." Whether Saylor will have time now to discuss the issue, however, remains unclear. On Monday, the company's stock took a beating, falling more than 60 percent after announcing that MicroStrategy would be restating its revenue and earnings.
Bette Dillehay's work in preparing Virginia for the Y2K date rollover made it easy for the state's Gov. Jim Gilmore, R-VA, to peg her as deputy secretary of technology. Gilmore credits Virginia's "smooth transition into the 21st century" partly to Dillehay's role as the director of the Century Date Change Initiative. In addition to leading the state's Y2K efforts and ensuring that key state services would withstand the date change, Dillehay traveled nationwide conducting discussions and tutorials on the millennium computer glitch.
The Commerce Department is extending an exclusive offer to information technology companies interested in participating in an IT trade mission to Hong Kong in June. John McPhee, director of the Office of Computers and Business Equipment in the International Trade Administration, will lead a delegation of about 15 companies specializing in e-commerce and Internet and wireless technology. The delegation will stop by Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea from June 8-17. The trip coincides with the meeting in Taiwan of the World Congress for Information Technology, which brings together global high-tech leaders.
 | - by Jessica Smith |
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