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AOL's Lesser Changing Roles
by Bara Vaida
After five years at America Online, Senior Vice President Jill Lesser is changing her role at the media giant. Lesser, currently head of the company's domestic public policy office, plans to work part time to spend more time with her family. She will remain a senior adviser but no longer will run the 12-person office. AOL Time Warner has yet to name a replacement.
"I hope to have the best of both worlds -- getting the company to the next level and spending more time with my family," said Lesser, who had been considering reducing her role at the company since the birth of her child a year ago.
In her new position, Lesser said she hopes to ensure that the company's policy agenda remains aligned with its business agenda. Issues of interest to the firm include free trade, privacy, the Postal Service, copyright law and e-commerce. Overall, Lesser said the company's policy agenda remains unchanged by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, though short-term expectations of what Congress will pass have changed.
AOL Time Warner may expand its lobbying office in the coming year, depending on the policy positions the firm decides to pursue. "Since the merger [with Time Warner], we, as a percentage, haven't grown, and so we will be adding resources," Lesser said. She said her replacement ultimately will decide how to expand.
John Podesta's Encryption Musings
John Podesta, a former White House chief of staff to President Clinton, caused a stir last week among high-tech lobbyists who spent years lobbying the White House to loosen export controls on encryption software. Podesta, a champion within the administration for looser encryption regulations, wrote an opinion column for The Washington Post on Sept. 19 that some high-tech lobbyists saw as a reversal of some his previous views.
"A constitutional framework needs to be established in law to govern the disclosure to and use by law enforcement of encryption keys held by third-party custodians," Podesta wrote. Yet during the Clinton years, he supported the industry line that mandated encryption keys for law enforcement would make technology inherently vulnerable to attack.
Now a professor at Georgetown University's law school, Podesta said the tech lobbyists' concern about his column is a "hysterical overreaction." He said much of what he proposed reflected policies he had promoted while at the White House and added that his reference to encryption keys was not about mandated surveillance access for law enforcement.
"As the Internet migrates into a world in which security tools are provided by third parties ... there is no clear law that provides the right constitutional balance on how law enforcement will act ... and I think there is a hole in that area, and it makes sense to provide new laws," Podesta said. "There is nothing remotely suggested in that language about [surveillance keys]."
Podesta called for updating wiretapping laws to the Internet era to ensure that legal standards apply to law enforcement's access to e-mails, phone calls and cable services. The laws also should be updated to enable police to track identities more easily and to give the Justice Department more flexibility for "roving wiretaps" that track a person's calls on multiple phones, he said.
Fundraising On The Fly
Holly Pitt-Young, the director of Corning's political action committee, said she had been so depressed about the recent terrorism that she wanted to do something to help. So she and a friend, Tara Bradshaw, a tax policy spokeswoman at the Treasury Department, put their fundraising skills to work and in three days organized a charity fundraiser.
The event, held last Thursday, netted $11,500 for the American Red Cross and Heroes Inc. Every dollar goes to the two charitable organizations.
Everything for the event, including the restaurant space, food and champagne, was donated. About 200 Corning employees and fellow D.C. lobbyists attended. "It was wonderful to see so many people there who wanted to contribute. Even the waiters asked if they could contribute," Pitt-Young said.
Home, Home On The Hill
Greg Garcia, the manager of corporate government affairs for 3Com until the company closed its Washington office in June, has joined the staff of the House Science Research Subcommittee.
Before working at 3Com, Garcia was a coalition manager with Americans for Computer Privacy, which focused on loosening export restrictions on encryption products. And before that, Garcia spent six years lobbying on international issues for the AeA.
High-Tech Lawmaker on Terrorists' Trail
Reps. Jane Harman, D-Calif., and Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., have been named co-chairmen of the new House Intelligence Terrorism and Homeland Defense Subcommittee. The subcommittee was born out of the committee's Working Group on Terrorism and Homeland Defense created at the beginning of the year, which Harman and Chambliss led.
"We for too long have only had analog tools to deal with digital threats," Harman said at a news conference announcing the new subcommittee, which will have the power to hold public hearings and issue subpoenas. Harman, a high-tech champion whose district is home to firms like Raytheon, Boeing and TRW, expects the first meeting of the subcommittee to be Wednesday.
Panelists To Study Taxes In New Economy
California Gov. Gray Davis named members to a commission on tax policy and the new economy last week. The commission will examine the impact of the Internet and technology on tax policy.
The members include: William Rosendahl, Adelphi Communications' regional vice president of operations, who will lead the commission; Sean Burton, vice president of business development and strategic planning for AOL Time Warner, Warner Brothers Online; Larry Carr, a city council member in Morgan Hill, Calif.; William Dombrowski, president of the California Retailers Association; and Scott Peters, a San Diego City Council member.
Tech Talk Outside The Beltway
Several tech-related events are scheduled outside Washington in the next few weeks. Texas GOP Rep. Lamar Smith, for example, is scheduled to meet with TechNet Texas member companies for a question-and-answer session on congressional and high-tech issues on Sept. 28.
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe, meanwhile, is scheduled to give an update on the DNC's technology project on Oct. 2 in Silicon Valley. And former Vice President Al Gore is scheduled to attend a DNC fundraiser in Silicon Valley in mid-October, The Washington Post reported.
Reed Hastings, the cofounder and CEO of Netflix and president of the California State Board of Education, will be in Orange County, Calif., on Oct. 3 to discuss charter schools. TechNet has played a role in improving education in the state.
Finally, TechNet and Mayer Brown and Platt are hosting an Oct. 14 fundraiser for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. Baucus is expected to face a tough re-election race next year.
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