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Gov. Locke Enters Tauzin-Dingell Fray
by Liza Porteus
Washington Gov. Gary Locke has asked federal lawmakers to reject the so-called Tauzin-Dingell bill because he said it would hinder competition in the telecommunications industry.
The measure, H.R. 1542, would provide regulatory relief to the Bell regional telephone companies in an effort to spur their rollout of high-speed Internet services. In a letter to fellow Washington Democrat Norman Dicks, a member of the House, Locke said the bill "would seriously undermine important provisions in the Telecommunications Act of 1996."
Locke noted that current law prevents the Baby Bells from providing broadband Internet connections and other data services across long-distance boundaries until they open their local telecom markets to competition. "H.R. 1542 would remove this obligation and with it a strong stimulus to provide consumers with better services at lower costs," Locke wrote.
"Advances in communication technology have blurred distinctions in industry services," he said, adding that removing "pro-competition obligations" in the data arena could "dampen" marketplace rivalry in voice telephony as well. Washington is working with its largest local telecom carrier, Qwest, to open its markets.
"If this process were discontinued, other companies would have little incentive to follow their lead," Locke wrote.
A spokesman for the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, however, said Qwest has "by no means met the [14-point] checklist" required for it to receive FCC permission to enter a state's long-distance telephone market. But he said Qwest hopes early next year to file with the FCC an application to offer long-distance services.
In other Washington state news, Locke addressed the first graduates of a pilot technology-training program at Edmonds Community College. The program trains participants in WorkFirst -- Washington's welfare-to-work system -- for well-paying jobs in computer-related occupations.
A Ruling For Political Parody
Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers recently ruled that proposed state legislation to prevent citizens from registering politicians' names as domain names for the purpose of parody, criticism or political leverage would be unconstitutional
The state legislature considered such measures this year but did not pass any. The legislation would have made it illegal for any person to knowingly use a famous person's or public official's name as a Web site for the purpose of selling access to the site, or for profit. Violation of the law would have been considered identity theft.
State Rep. Frank Buck had asked Summers to rule on the constitutional merits of the measure, and Summers said the lack of a definition of "public figure" made the proposal constitutionally vague. "Due process requires that criminal statutes be set out in terms that an ordinary person, exercising ordinary common sense, can sufficiently understand and comply with," he wrote.
Iomega Deals Utah A Blow
Roy, Utah-based Iomega soon will move its corporate headquarters to a West Coast locale, the tech company announced last week, reports The Deseret News. Company CEO Werner Heid cited a need to cut costs and have Iomega closer to other tech firms and to a larger tech labor pool.
The company, which has about 1,200 workers in Utah, announced the move as part of a restructuring. It also plans to cut 800 to 1,100 jobs by the end of the year. More restructuring details will be announced in early August. Iomega's research and development and related activities will remain in Utah, although sales and marketing duties probably will be moved, too.
People familiar with the high-tech sector were surprised by the announcement. "Personally, it's very disappointing to me," said Rod Linton, executive director of Gov. Michael Leavitt's Utah Silicon Valley Alliance program and one of the three Iomega founders.
Linton said he was surprised at Heid's comments about the state's high-tech work force. "There is a very capable group of technical people in Utah."
L.A. Votes To Boost Cable Competition
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted 12-2 to approve plans by Western Integrated Networks to build a fiber-optic network for delivering cable television, high-speed Internet access and telephone service to the city's 3.4 million residents. Mayor James Hahn is expected to sign the initiative.
The development would put Los Angeles in an exclusive league of cities whose residents have more than one cable operator. In the last five years, companies known as "overbuilders" have duplicated cable networks to capitalize on new digital technologies that improve the economics of constructing the expensive networks. City council members said the plan is great for consumer choice and will help improve service quality.
Ridge To Talk Tech At Science Institute
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge will deliver the keynote address at the State Science and Technology Institute's (SSTI) fifth annual conference Sept. 19-21 in Pittsburgh.
Topics for this year's conference include: organizing angel-investor networks, extending economic benefits of the new economy to all regions of the state, developing and implementing a tech-based economic development strategy, creating successful business-university partnerships, and discussing emerging ideas in tech-based economic development.
States To Pay For .Us
States and localities will bear the brunt of costs associated with the Commerce Department's proposal to grant oversight of the .us domain-name suffix to a private contractor who will charge a yearly fee for the currently free service, reports Nation's Cities Weekly.
At present, .us serves primarily state and municipal entities, libraries, and K-12 schools and is used in cities like Chicago and New York. Some argue that the idea of charging fees to use the .us domain infringes on states' rights by subjecting state and local governments to the jurisdiction of a federal vendor.
Rest Easy On The Net In North Dakota
Travelers in North Dakota now can log on to the Internet at rest areas along highways. The Bismarck Tribune reports that in an effort to better promote itself, the state has installed eight information kiosks at some of the most-used rest areas and plans to install five more.
The computers provide information on road conditions, links to information on lodging, dining and recreation, and connections to state Web sites. Any suitable Web site -- the machines do not allow access to pornographic sites, for example -- can be viewed for 20 cents a minute. The machines accept credit cards and cash.
If You Can't Take The Net Heat ...
The New York City Board of Education is taking some heat for a stringent policy that would require each student, teacher and district Web page to be hosted and reviewed by the board beginning in September, reports eSchool News.
Board members want to control what gets published online under the auspices of the city's schools, thereby limiting their legal liability. But teachers say the policy goes overboard and would undermine the Web's immediacy as a communications tool.
AeA's Austin Confab
The electronics trade group AeA began its two-day biannual meeting in Austin, Texas, on Thursday to focus on tech issues in the states.
Thursday's agenda includes a discussion on the top three policy issues at the state level, on the political dynamics in Washington and the implications on the high-tech industry. On Friday, Lucent Technologies' Ash Padwal will provide an update on broadband activity. Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, Georgia Chief Information Officer Larry Singer and a representative from the Bush administration are scheduled to debate privacy. State legislators from Colorado and Texas also will discuss how states can advance the high-tech agenda.
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