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Labor
Tech Officials Once Again Seek H-1B Visa Reform
by Heather Greenfield
Technology industry representatives say foreign students graduating from U.S. universities with advanced mathematics and science degrees this spring "need not apply" for jobs here because of what the industry calls "broken visa policies."
Visas for highly skilled foreign workers have run out in May in past years, but this year, an industry coalition is predicting the cap will be met just after Easter. The Compete America coalition, which lobbies for competitive workforce issues, announced at a press conference Thursday that the 65,000 H-1B visas available for fiscal 2008 will be gone in early April, shortly after the application process opens.
The coalition used the milestone to highlight the need to pass legislation this year overhauling the visa system. The group favors a comprehensive immigration bill, H.R. 1645, that would raise the H-1B visa cap and make other changes to visa policies sought by industry.
"Hitting the cap this early is unprecedented and creates a situation in which foreign students graduating from U.S. universities this spring are virtually shut out of the U.S. job market," said Robert Hoffman, a lobbyist for Oracle and co-chairman of Compete America. He added that it is counterproductive to attract the world's top talent to U.S. universities, train them, "and then send them abroad to compete against us after they are educated."
Technically, members of the new graduating class can apply for what is known as "optional practical training" after graduation, which would allow them to remain in the country for up to 12 months. But those arguing for more H-1B visas say that option will just postpone the problem without an increase in the visas.
"Our immigration system for highly educated workers is falling apart just at the time when talented knowledge workers have more choices than ever with competing companies in Europe or Asia," Qualcomm Chairman Irwin Mark Jacobs said.
Lowell Sachs, a lobbyist for Sun Microsystems, said the uncertainty about being able to hire students with advanced math, science and engineering degrees in the United States plays a role in the decision of companies like his to send jobs overseas. "Access to talent is one of the critical considerations," Sachs said.
Opponents argue that H-1B visas drive down wages for tech workers and say the nation should train its own workers for these jobs. Compete America members countered that the wages for H-1B workers are competitive. "If we're not willing to pay a competitive wage, we're going to lose them to Oracle or Microsoft," Sachs said.
As for training U.S. workers, tech industry representatives said they are lobbying equally hard for legislation to improve math and science education. They have a whole separate coalition, Tapping America's Potential, that pushes initiatives to attract and retain U.S. math and science students. They say both steps are part of the long-term solution to the scarcity of highly skilled workers.
The Bush administration also wants to see more visas for highly skilled workers and has been pushing lawmakers to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
But no one is ruling out separate legislation if comprehensive immigration reform, which failed in the 109th Congress, once again becomes too controversial this year.
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Broadband
Inquiring Minds Are Skeptical Of Neutrality Inquiry
by David Hatch
An FCC inquiry into the heated debate over whether the government should regulate telecommunications and cable giants that control high-speed Internet lines has sparked accusations from critics that the proceeding is designed to fail.
That's because at the behest of Republican Chairman Kevin Martin, the agency's involvement is a "notice of inquiry" and not a rulemaking. The difference is substantial: Inquiries gather data, whereas rulemakings consider policy changes.
"An [inquiry] just doesn't indicate any will on behalf of the commission to do anything," complained Art Brodsky, the spokesman for the watchdog Public Knowledge, which favors network neutrality rules that prevent broadband companies from potentially acting as content gatekeepers. While encouraged that the commission is tackling the matter, he is concerned that proposed rules might not surface for months or years, if ever.
But Randolph May, president of the Free State Foundation, a market-oriented think tank, warned that the inquiry could open the door to unnecessary restrictions. "Because it's an intermediary step, it means any ultimate rules take longer than they otherwise might," he acknowledged.
At a March 22 FCC meeting, the agency's two Democratic members harshly criticized the inquiry approach. "Let's be frank. Putting out a notice of inquiry is not the way to sail boldly forth," Michael Copps complained. "History shows that notices of inquiry like this have a way of disappearing into the regulatory dustbin, putting off decisions that need to be made now."
"Of particular concern is the decision to cast this item as a notice of inquiry," Jonathan Adelstein concurred, emphasizing that it indicates how low it ranks among priorities.
Given the importance of the subject, "the time is ripe" for a rulemaking, he argued. "Fairly or not, [inquiries] are often perceived as the commission's way of delaying and downgrading an issue."
Speaking to reporters that day, Martin responded, "I think that we'll take a look closely at the record, but at this point we are not seeing widespread complaints about consumers having their access to information on the Internet cut off." Without such evidence "it's premature for us to adopt rules, but obviously we'll take a look at what comes in."
The FCC has issued voluntary network neutrality guidelines and imposed temporary restrictions on the AT&T and BellSouth merger.
Given that Martin and his GOP colleagues are skeptical about net neutrality, it is not surprising to some observers that the chairman settled on an inquiry. Sources said it lets the FCC move slowly while appeasing congressional critics.
Observers noted that while inquires sometimes languish, so do other items. "Chairmen have the ability to relegate many things to the dustbin," said Blair Levin, managing director at the investment firm Stifel Nicolaus and previously a chief of staff to Democratic FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. Neither rulemakings nor inquiries are subject to deadlines.
While it is easier to sideline an inquiry, Levin said, pressure from Congress and other parties can suddenly revive the most buried proceeding.
Sources said they do not expect substantive action on net neutrality during Martin's tenure but noted that the data to be gathered could set the stage for action by a future chairman.
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E-Government
Congressional Reports Should Be Online, Group Says
by Aliya Sternstein
Appeals to make taxpayer-funded congressional research freely available online are increasing as an open-government coalition urges changes to a policy that they say lets lobbyists with money obtain the reports but leaves most everyone else out of the loop.
On Wednesday, an alliance headed by OpenTheGovernment.org and the Center for Democracy and Technology sent letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and leaders of the Senate Rules Committee and the House Administration Committee, asking them to mandate public access to Congressional Research Service reports via the Internet.
With a budget approaching $100 million, CRS provides research for members of Congress and their staffs on a diverse array of topics. An advocacy campaign to show them to the public has been going on for years. The uptick in advocacy follows the issuance of a March 20 memorandum by the CRS director to staffers that strengthened controls regarding distribution beyond Congress.
"The continued refusal on the part of CRS management, newly reiterated by Director Daniel Mulhollan, to give taxpayers free access to this important source of government information sends the clearest signal yet that Congress must act in order to fix this unfair and untenable policy," the advocates' letter states.
The work of CRS, which is part of the Library of Congress, has never been easily obtainable outside congressional offices. Lawmakers have permission to release copies of reports to their constituents upon request and often do so.
Yet the open-government coalition argues that "this is a slow, unreliable process, made slower and less reliable by the fact that there's no real way for an individual taxpayer to know what reports have been published."
Several private companies now sell copies of the reports. "This means that for lobbyists, executives and others who can afford to pay," the letter to congressional leaders said, "CRS reports are readily available. ... The CRS's recent internal crackdown against releasing reports will likely only serve to raise the price of the private services, making the inequity even greater."
On Thursday, CRS spokeswoman Janine D'Addario said Mulhollan sent the memo "to improve consistency and clarify criteria for sharing CRS products outside of the Congress."
Mulhollan said in a statement, "The authority to make CRS materials available to the public is reserved to members and committees of Congress. Once a report is produced for the Congress, it becomes the property of the Congress. CRS itself has no public role and is prohibited by law from publishing its work."
In response to the groups' letter, Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said, "We are reviewing the letter and our staff will be meeting with representatives of the organizations to discuss the issue in more detail next week."
CDT Deputy Director Ari Schwartz said on Thursday that the coalition has heard from staff that Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein and House Administration Chairwoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, both California Democrats, have not yet taken a position on the issue.
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Intellectual Property
Bill Would Aid Colleges In Cracking Down On Piracy
by Aliya Sternstein
The recording industry's ongoing battle against piracy on college campuses may get some reinforcement from Congress in the form of a bill to make funding available for installing anti-piracy technology on college networks.
The legislation, which Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla. introduced Tuesday, would grant money allocated under an Education Department fund for improving postsecondary education to offset the cost of school initiatives that "stop illegal downloading while still maintaining student privacy and academic freedom."
Under the bill, H.R. 1689, funding would be authorized for technologies and policies that strengthen campus network security and preserve bandwidth for scholarly purposes. "Illegal downloading and file-sharing exposes campus networks to computer viruses and worms, and can put sensitive personal and proprietary information at risk," the bill states.
The rationale focuses on the threat to college information systems and nowhere states the impact of digital piracy on copyright holders. Keller's bill, however, was partly motivated by the piracy committed against his constituents, according to Keller spokesman Bryan Malenius.
"Our district is home not only to places like Walt Disney World and Universal, but we're home to a lot of artists and smaller production companies," Malenius said. "He has felt that illegal downloading is downright stealing."
Some universities already have deployed piracy-prevention tools, but other colleges say such technologies are not effective enough and are too expensive.
Anti-piracy software made by Red Lambda of Longwood, Fla., is based on technology originally developed at the University of Florida to combat illegal peer-to-peer activity there.
With Red Lambda's product, the university managed to postpone a $2 million upgrade for several years by bringing bandwidth consumption "back into check for legitimate purposes," company CEO Gregory Marchwinski testified at a March 8 hearing before the House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee.
"There are a number of universities that I have spoken to that have mentioned funding as a big concern," Marchwinski said Thursday, adding that "universities recognize that anti-piracy technology is far less expensive than litigation."
Jenni Engebretsen, a spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America, said, "To the extent that universities have identified cost as a potential issue with adopting technological solutions that respect privacy, legislation like this can only help and make it easer to get systems in place."
Piracy on college campuses should drop appreciably with the kind of funding authorized by the bill, said Keith Kupferschmid, the Software and Information Industry Association's vice president for intellectual property policy and enforcement. But he added that the extent of the decline will depend on the effectiveness of the technology and the college's copyright policies.
"If the college has strong anti-piracy policies in place that, for instance, sanction students caught downloading illegal files or engaging in other infringing activities, the use of anti-piracy technologies will bolster such policies and send a strong message to that college's student body that illegal downloading and other types of piracy will not be tolerated," he said.
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Intellectual Property
Pressure For Patent Overhaul Grows In Congress
by Andrew Noyes
Key players in the ongoing patent reform debate brought their perspectives to the House Small Business Committee on Thursday, demonstrating that congressional attention to the issue is mounting. A bipartisan, bicameral bill is expected from the House and Senate Judiciary committees in coming weeks.
Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., said the hearing was important because small companies play a significant role in the U.S. economy and often are more willing to take risks than larger rivals. Those "remarkable inventors" rely on the patent system, which is central to the competitiveness of tech-savvy mom-and-pop shops, she said.
Ohioan Steve Chabot, the ranking Republican on the panel, which does not have direct jurisdiction over patent proposals, added that innovation by small-time inventors is linked to scientific research twice as often as large firms. Small patenting entities also produce as many as 14 times more patents per employee as larger firms, he said.
Bryan Lord, the vice president of AmberWave Systems, a Salem, N.H., firm that develops strained silicon for semiconductors, testified that the United States has "the world's most innovative economy," in large part because of a "properly functioning patent system." His firm may not exist if it were not for patent process certainty, he said.
Lord's company is a founding member of the Innovation Alliance, which recently was formed to challenge assertions that the high-tech sector is unified on patent reform. He told lawmakers that not everyone is rallying behind the lobbying efforts of the Coalition for Patent Fairness.
That group, led by large tech players such as Cisco Systems, Dell and Intel, is pushing for what Lord called "the most ambitious reform to the nation's patent system since 1952." He said the logic behind one of the group's main arguments -- the need to curb abusive litigation tactics taken by patent holders -- is flawed.
But eBay patent policy expert Emily Ward, whose company is part of the coalition, framed the debate differently. The reform push "is about making it easier for hard-working small-business people and entrepreneurs to use technology to succeed," she said.
Patent litigation abuses impose "significant legal costs" on major technology firms, and those costs are passed along to users in the form of higher prices, she said. "Higher prices hit small businesses with narrow margins particularly hard," Ward said.
Another witness, representing the Information Technology Association of America, argued that the patent system is "broken and needs to be fixed." Mitchell Gross, the CEO of Mobius Management Systems, said the current regime leaves small business "afraid to innovate."
The patent-issuing process is too pricey and frequently leads to questionable patents that spur court challenges, Gross said. He also complained that the legal system favors the plaintiff or patentee, which forces defendants to settle "regardless of the merits of their defense or the weakness of the patent underlying the plaintiff's claims."
Roger Cochetti, the Computing Technology Industry Association's director of U.S. public policy, said his members believe the patent process is fundamentally sound, but periodic reforms are needed. CompTIA supports improving patent quality, reducing litigation costs and harmonizing global patent practices, he said.
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Intellectual Property
Software-Licensing Plan Seen As Threat To Patent Deals
by Winter Casey
The latest draft of the most widely used free software license includes language that observers said could ban distributors from entering patent deals such as the one between Microsoft and Novell.
According to the Free Software Foundation, almost three-quarters of free software packages are distributed under the group's General Public License. Individuals and companies choose the license if they want to ensure that software code can be viewed and altered. They might do so for financial or ethical reasons.
Changes in the latest draft of the license released Wednesday include new patent requirements. The third draft provides "developers with more protection against patent-infringement suits or other forms of patent aggression," said Brett Smith, the foundation's licensing compliance engineer.
The attention the new version gives to Microsoft and Novell has attracted notice. In 2006, Microsoft signed a software and marketing agreement with Novell, a vendor of the "open source" Linux computer-operating system.
The third version of the GPL license supports what foundation President Richard Stallman deems the four freedoms that define free software.
"These freedoms allow you to run the program as you see fit, study and adapt it for your own purposes, redistribute copies to help your neighbor, and release your improvements to the public," he said. However, "the recent patent agreement between Microsoft and Novell aims to undermine these freedoms," Stallman said in a statement. "In this draft, we have worked hard to prevent such deals from making a mockery of free software."
He said the two companies have "attempted a new way of using patents against our community, which involves a narrow and discriminatory promise by a patent holder not to sue customers of one particular distributor of a GPL-covered program."
In a blog post, Smith added, "We've proposed language that would prohibit distributors from entering discriminatory patent deals like the one between Microsoft and Novell."
He acknowledged, however, that "a number of other companies who distribute free software are worried that our language will affect other kinds of patent agreements they've made that aren't harmful to the community, like patent cross-licenses."
Novell said in a blog post that the new version would not inhibit its ability to include GPL 3 technologies in Novell open-source offerings.
Novell said it is "committed to continuing the partnership with Microsoft and ... fully complying with the terms of the licenses for the software that we ship, including software licensed under GPL 3." Any concerns that arise from the standard will be addressed with Microsoft.
Microsoft did not respond by deadline. But Horacio Gutierrez, a vice president at Microsoft, said in a statement on Wednesday that the latest GPL draft "does not tear down the bridge Microsoft and Novell have built for their customers." He added that it is "unfortunate" that the foundation is attempting to bar similar future agreements.
The foundation plans to release the final GPL draft in the next three months and issue the final license this summer. The final license will be the first update since 1991.
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Today's Feature:
State Roundup
A top government official in Massachusetts this week questioned the privacy controls of an Internet site maintained by Gov. Deval Patrick, sending Patrick's staff into a scramble to address the concerns.
Every Thursday, read the State Roundup by Michael Martinez.
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E-briefs
Privacy: The Justice Department late Thursday agreed to expedite the processing of a Freedom of Information Act request from the Electronic Frontier Foundation that pertains to the FBI's misuse of a secret subpoena power included in a 2001 anti-terrorism law. David Sobel, a senior counsel for the high-tech watchdog group, previously told Technology Daily that EFF planned to file a lawsuit because the group's FOIA request had gone unanswered. Sobel said the request deals with the inclusion of data from "national security letters" -- which allow for the collection of telephone, e-mail and financial records -- in a centralized, Internet-based warehouse for the intelligence community. EFF sued the government last year for details about criteria for inclusion in the database and the privacy policy protecting its sensitive files. That case is pending.
Antitrust: Alabama lawmakers on Thursday approved a non-binding resolution that opposes the proposed merger between the Sirius and XM satellite radio companies. The state House cleared a joint resolution, H.J.R. 144, that urges the U.S. attorney general and the FCC to reject the pending deal. According to the resolution, the merger would create a government-sanctioned monopoly that is likely to violate current FCC rules. The resolution also states that the deal would subject artists and consumers to a single company with "unlimited market power to impose anti-competitive terms, conditions and prices." The "combination of these two satellite radio companies will potentially restrict programming, reduce diversity, and diminish creativity," the resolution says.
Domains: A taxpayer protection bill approved by the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday includes language to set civil and criminal penalties for deceptive Internet addresses that lead individuals to believe their Web sites are officially authorized or affiliated with the Internal Revenue Service. Language in the measure, H.R. 1677, would stop sites like "IRS.com" from impersonating the agency, the Computer and Communications Industry Association said. CCIA commissioned a consumer survey that said before viewing any Web site, 47 percent of respondents mistakenly believed IRS.com to be the official IRS site, and one-third still thought it was official after viewing it. The legislation also would let the IRS notify taxpayers online about unclaimed tax refunds. The committee said in a press release that the bill is expected on the House floor during the week of April 17, the due date for filing income-tax returns this year.
Security: Senate Democrats claimed victory Thursday for keeping language in an emergency spending bill that would let state and local governments pass stronger laws than the federal government to secure chemical facilities. "The Senate spoke today and put national security ahead of special interests," Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said of the supplemental language he authored. "We fought the chemical industry lobbyists and won." Supporters of the language say it is needed because the Homeland Security Department is likely to issue regulations that would overrule, or pre-empt, state and local laws. But key Republicans and the chemical industry lobby said they conceded the fight because the bill is going to be vetoed by the White House. They said they are saving their strength for the next round of battle when Congress has to revisit the legislation. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said the measure would jeopardize national security because of the chemical security language.
Budget: The Business Software Alliance is praising the addition of innovation agenda provisions to the House Democrats' budget resolution, which passed the House Thursday. In a letter Thursday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., BSA praised the $2.9 trillion budget blueprint for setting goals to double basic research funding within five years, reform the patent system, crack down on cyber crime, reform visa policies, increase funding for math and science education, and make the research and development tax credit permanent. "We support the Congress's efforts to preserve America's technological leadership and establish an infrastructure which promotes financial and intellectual investment in this vital sector," said the group's CEO Robert Holleyman in the letter. "The innovation agenda provisions [the budget resolution] help address these goals and BSA supports their inclusion in the overall legislation." The budget resolution provides a roadmap for the spending priorities that should be included in legislation crafted by appropriators.
Lobbying: A coalition of cable channels and advocacy groups on Thursday unveiled the Alliance for Diversity in Programming, a new organization promoting content diversity and opposing mandatory per-channel pricing, or a la carte. Johnathan Rodgers, the alliance's co-chairman and the president and CEO of the black-focused network TV One, said during a conference call that his three-year-old channel would be worse off under a la carte. "You [would] only order into your house the networks that you're comfortable with," he said. ADP co-Chairman Michael Schwimmer, CEO of the Latino network Si TV, noted that viewers cannot demand new programming if they are unaware of it. Both said it would be costly for emerging outlets to heavily promote themselves under a la carte. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association, which strongly opposes per-channel pricing, helped form the group. Members include the League of United Latin American Citizens, National Urban League and Rainbow Push Coalition.
Privacy: The Homeland Security Department's top privacy official said Thursday that he would like to see the issue of privacy play a greater role in his department and become integrated into the bureaucracy. Homeland Security Chief Privacy Officer Hugo Teufel made the comments during a Thursday lunch hosted by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. He said he wants to embed privacy in DHS systems and policies for programs in hopes of heading off problems before they start. Teufel would not comment on pending legislation, but he did say measures currently in discussion by lawmakers could alter the structure of his office and put U.S. privacy policy more in line with European privacy rules.
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President -- John Fox Sullivan, 202-739-8468
Editor in Chief -- Louis Peck, 202-739-8481
Editor -- K. Daniel Glover (bio)
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Special Correspondent -- Chris Strohm (bio)
Staff Writer -- Michael Martinez
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National Journal's Technology Daily is published every weekday, except holidays, by National Journal Group Inc., 600 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20037.
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