|
|  |
|
Net Governance
ICANN Rejects Pitch For Domain Dedicated To Porn
by Andrew Noyes
A divided board for the group that oversees Internet addresses voted against a proposed .xxx ending for domain names that publish pornography. The Friday vote capped the week-long public meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in Lisbon, Portugal.
ICANN has been wrangling with the issue of a virtual red-light district for several years. The domain's chief proponent, Florida-based ICM Registry, first proposed the idea in 2000 and has petitioned ICANN repeatedly.
Nine members of ICANN's board, including Chairman Vint Cerf, voted to reject ICM's latest offer, and five members voted for it. ICANN President Paul Twomey abstained from the roll-call vote, which was webcast.
Cerf, a vice president for the Internet firm Google, said ICANN will not accept appeals pertaining to the domain suffix during the current cycle of sponsored-domain consideration, as it has after previous board votes. "I'm glad that we can put the matter to rest for awhile anyway," he said.
During the board's deliberation, "several credible scenarios" arose in which ICANN would be forced to examine the content of .xxx applicants to determine whether they met criteria for inclusion, Cerf said.
"We have to guard very carefully against ICANN ever becoming a regulator in that sense," said board member Steve Goldstein. His colleague Demi Getschko said Web site owners who did not want to participate in a voluntary .xxx regime "might be labeled as irresponsible."
Roberto Gaetano, who also voted against ICM, said adult webmasters may be reluctant to accept .xxx because a special area of the Web could make it easier for people who disagree with pornographers to identify them.
Supporters of the .xxx contract were equally vocal. Joi Ito and David Wodelet said the proposal needs to be evaluated on the technological merits alone. Board member Susan Crawford called the resolution to refuse ICM's bid "weak" and "unprincipled." "ICANN only creates problems for itself when it acts in an ad hoc manner in response to political pressures," she said.
ICM President Stuart Lawley told Technology Daily after the vote that he was "extremely disappointed" and will continue to "pursue this matter energetically." The board's decision "makes a mockery of ICANN's bylaws" that ban unjustifiable discriminatory treatment, he said.
The Free Speech Coalition, a trade group that represents adult content producers and distributors, cheered ICANN's ruling.
Sen. Mark Pryor, who co-sponsored a bill in the 109th Congress backing .xxx, said ICANN "missed a golden opportunity to clean up the mainstream Internet for kids."
The Arkansas Democrat said he is "working on a multifaceted approach" to give parents greater control over their children's access to Internet content. Web watchers believe that part of that effort is and a forthcoming bill that could require a ratings scheme for online material and place content deemed "harmful to minors" behind a warning page.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, meanwhile, ruled Thursday that the Commerce and State departments failed to justify withholding documents that critics believe may speak to inappropriate government involvement with ICANN's consideration of the .xxx domain.
The court ordered the departments to provide the files or fully explain its failure to do so. It observed that the ICANN board repeatedly postponed its vote on .xxx "apparently in response to pressure from the U.S. government and other concerned parties."
For more on ICANN's meeting, visit our blog, Tech Daily Dose.
| |
|
Labor
Companies Rush To Beat The H-1B Visa Clock
by Heather Greenfield
Friday is kind of like tax day for companies hoping to score one of the 65,000 H-1B visas available for highly skilled workers in fiscal 2008, which begins Oct. 1.
Customs and Immigration Services begins accepting applications for the visas six months before they are available. But this year, April 1 falls on a Sunday, so companies with workers already on temporary work permits or graduating in May are scrambling to get their applications delivered on the first day they are being accepted -- Monday.
Peter Roberts, co-head of the immigration practice at McCarter & English in Stamford, Conn., said the H-1B deadline is actually worse than this year's April 17 date for filing income-tax returns because at least the Internal Revenue Service will give extensions. He has hundreds of visa applications waiting for the FedEx truck on Friday.
"We're in great shape, better than in years past, because we haven't been sleeping the last few weeks," Roberts said.
Roberts said if companies didn't panic, it probably would take CIS a few weeks to exhaust the supply of the H-1Bs. But this year everyone is worried the visas will be gone in a day or two.
"It's only the past couple years that it's gotten this strange this early," Roberts said. "The demand is so much higher and the awareness, that it's come to this."
That means lots of business for courier services like FedEx and UPS. Attorneys say they can't use certified mail because the delivery date, rather than the mailing date, is critical.
But immigration attorneys worry that even a Monday delivery may not result in an H-1B visa. "There's no guarantee even if you're very proactive, getting the application in the first day or two, that you'll get one," Roberts said.
Roberts said some of the companies he represents already have recent college graduates working on a one-year, "optional practical training" document, which allows foreign students to work in the United States for up to a year after graduation.
He said if some of those young workers do not get H-1B visas, they will be sent home, making it tough for companies to then hire and retrain someone. The problem with the timing of the various deadlines is that even if a worker scores an H-1B, there is a gap of several months before the next H-1B visas are available Oct. 1.
For example, if a student began working for a company in June 2006, he or she could face a forced vacation home from this June until October.
A new House immigration bill, H.R. 1645, would nearly triple the number of H-1B visas available and make it easier for foreign students with advanced degrees from U.S. universities to stay and work.
While attorneys who help highly skilled workers get work permits hope that legislation passes, they are not taking any chances. Most will be racing their applications to couriers this weekend.
| |
|
Antitrust
Judge Endorses Justice's Approval Of Telecom Deals
by Andrew Noyes
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Thursday released a decision approving the Justice Department's conditional approval of two mergers between the telecommunications giants AT&T and SBC Communications, and MCI and Verizon Communications. Analysts said any appeal would be an uphill battle.
In his opinion, Sullivan said his task was limited under antitrust law, and he found the proposed settlements, which incorporated divestitures of a few hundred high-capacity business lines in each case, to be in the public interest, Stifel Nicolaus analysts said. They said the decision is "clearly a relief for the Bells."
"We were always confident that after the court's review of the record, it would conclude that the consent decree is in the public interest," AT&T spokesman Michael Balmoris said. An official with Verizon would not comment on the decision.
Justice's analysis in both cases dealt with the question of whether to stop the mergers on the grounds that they would substantially lessen competition for local lines that connect hundreds of commercial buildings in the firms' franchised territories. Some people argued that the consolidation would result in higher prices for retail and wholesale customers.
Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett said Friday that he was pleased the court found the settlements to be in the public interest. The ruling confirms that the deals struck by the agency with the companies remedied any harms that antitrust officials had concluded otherwise would have resulted from the mergers.
As the court weighed the mega-mergers over many months, Justice approved AT&T's later pairing with BellSouth without conditions. The FCC also approved that deal with several stipulations.
Scott Cleland, president of the telecom analysis firm Precursor, called Sullivan's ruling a "non-event." It became evident that the court "would not try and unscramble the eggs of the executive branch's decision," he said. In the future, this review will only be important "in instances where the executive branch is obviously way out of bounds," he said.
But American Antitrust Institute President Albert Foer said the ruling was important because it was the first interpretation of 2004 amendments intended to keep the so-called Tunney Act review from being a "rubber stamp" for Justice's reviews.
Foer praised Sullivan for "seeking much more substantial additional evidence and argument from [Justice] than would have previously been likely to occur." The court reviewed the evidence carefully but could not look beyond the complaint to determine whether government antitrust officials tackled all the potential problems raised, he said.
The merger opponents Comptel, whose members include Covad Communications, XO Communications, RCN and 300 others, along with the Alliance for Competition in Telecommunications, filed friend-of-the-court briefs urging the court to reject the deals.
Although the decision did not go Comptel's way, Sullivan "made clear in his opinion that he was very troubled by the limited efforts put forth by the government in allowing the Bell companies to swallow two of our nation's largest competitors," the group's general counsel Jonathan Lee said.
| |
|
Trade
WTO Panel Scolds U.S. Over E-Gambling Decision
by Winter Casey
The World Trade Organization said Friday that the United States has failed to sufficiently comply with an earlier decision that found some U.S. Internet gambling restrictions to be illegal.
"The United States has failed to comply with the recommendations and rulings of the [dispute-settlement body] in this dispute," a WTO panel concluded in a 41-page report. The U.S. Office of the Trade Representative said Friday it is reviewing its options.
USTR spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel acknowledged that the "compliance panel did not agree with the United States that we had taken the necessary steps to comply with the WTO recommendations issued in April 2005."
The compliance panel found that the United States failed to show that there was no discrimination related to remote gambling on horse-racing. "The United States needed to clarify one narrow aspect of U.S. gambling laws, involving remote gambling on horse-racing, and the panel was not persuaded that we had done so," Hamel said.
According to the USTR, the United States has argued that such gambling is unlawful both internationally and within the United States. However, due to what the panel considered to be ambiguity in U.S. statutes governing domestic gambling on horse-racing, the United States was not able to prove that it had adequately complied.
As a result of today's report, the United States could face commercial sanctions by Antigua and Barbuda, which filed the WTO case over U.S. e-gambling restrictions. Unless the United States or Antigua and Barbuda appeals the report to the appellate body, the WTO will adopt the decision within the next 60 days.
The appellate body hears appeals of panel reports in disputes brought by WTO nations and "can uphold, modify or reverse the legal findings and conclusions of a panel," but a report from the appellate body "must be accepted by the parties to the dispute."
The compliance panel that reviewed the decision was created in 2006 to investigate U.S. restrictions on Internet gambling. Antigua and Barbuda had requested that the WTO investigate whether the United States was complying with trade rules.
The Caribbean country claimed that the U.S. ban on cross-border gambling services violates international trade law. Antigua and Barbuda then argued that the United States had failed to comply with a previous WTO ruling.
The organization has consistently found that "WTO members are entitled to maintain restrictions on Internet gambling, so long as the restrictions are not discriminatory," Hamel added.
| |
|
Spectrum
Groups Want Airwaves Tied To Net Neutrality Rules
by David Hatch
A coalition of consumer and public-interest groups next week will ask the FCC to impose restrictions on wireless spectrum that will be auctioned as part of the shift to digital television.
Multiple sources on Friday told Technology Daily that the organizations want to mandate network neutrality and open access on the frequencies, which primarily will be used to provide wireless, high-speed Internet service.
The groups will request that dominant telephone and cable firms, which are expected to secure large chunks of the airwaves, be required to lease access to competitors and maintain "neutral" networks that do not impede or degrade unaffiliated services. The coalition also wants the FCC to modify its auction rules to make it easier for large and small third parties to secure spectrum.
DirecTV, eBay, EchoStar Communications, Google, Intel and Yahoo reportedly are eyeing the frequencies.
"It's important that these auction rules provide opportunities for new entrants and small competitors to successfully bid," said Jeannine Kenney, a senior policy analyst with Consumers Union, one of the participants.
The Consumer Federation of America, Free Press and Public Knowledge, along with the public-interest telecom law firm Media Access Project and the think tank New America Foundation, are in the coalition, sources said. On Thursday, they tentatively plan to hold a press briefing and submit written requests to the agency.
The wireless association CTIA has argued that neutrality mandates in the wireless sector are misguided because they would dissuade investment, stifle innovation and undermine the competitive marketplace. That could result in higher prices, which would harm consumers, the association has warned.
At issue is 60 megahertz in the so-called 700-MHz band, where broadcasters now operate, that will be auctioned by Jan. 28. It will become available as stations return their analog airwaves to the government for the Feb. 17, 2009, switch to digital signals. An additional 24 MHz to be relinquished by stations has been reserved for public-safety purposes to improve communications among emergency responders.
"It's really valuable spectrum. If deployed correctly, it could provide high-speed broadband to a lot of people," Free Press spokesman Craig Aaron said. The spectrum is considered "beachfront property" because it has exceptional propagation characteristics, meaning that it can travel further than signals using Wi-Fi technology and more easily penetrate walls, foliage and other obstacles.
Network neutrality, one of the most contentious issues in telecom circles, originated as a concern about wired broadband providers but increasingly is becoming a flashpoint in the wireless arena. In a February paper, Columbia University law professor Tim Wu brought attention to the subject when he raised concerns about the ability of consumers to use devices of their choosing on cellular networks now limited to proprietary equipment.
The FCC recently initiated an inquiry into whether neutrality safeguards are warranted, though critics complain that the proceeding has no teeth because it would require an additional rulemaking to prompt policy changes.
| |
|
E-Government
Bid To Put Congressional Reports Online Has GOP Foes
by Aliya Sternstein
Taxpayer-funded research produced by the Congressional Research Service should not be made directly available to the public because CRS' main mission is to provide analysis to Congress, Republicans on the House Administration Committee say.
The Republicans delivered the remark in response to a letter this week from an open-government coalition to key lawmakers. The group wants to broaden access to the reports beyond the lobbyists who have the money to buy online subscriptions to them from private firms.
As a division of the Library of Congress, CRS' function is to give lawmakers bipartisan summaries and analysis of all matter of policy issues. Past attempts to encourage the broader distribution of CRS' work have endured years of setbacks.
Salley Collins, a spokeswoman for the House committee's Republicans, said on Thursday that the current system is appropriate. "It would be straying from this mission if CRS were required to provide such services directly to the public," she said.
Lawmakers and committees can release the reports at their own discretion, she noted.
"There is nothing stopping an interested citizen from requesting and ultimately receiving a copy of these reports," Collins said. "Simply posting them online ignores a large segment of the population without Internet access. They would have to be available online, by hardcopy in the mail, by phone."
Funded at about $100 million, she added, CRS "is not equipped with the appropriate resources and staff to cater to 300 million citizens, but Congress is."
Public access proponents disagree. "There is currently no way for the public to know of the existence of any particular CRS report, so there is no way the public can know to ask their member for a report," said Patrice McDermott, executive director of OpenTheGovernment.org.
On Wednesday, an alliance headed by OpenTheGovernment.org and the Center for Democracy and Technology sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and leaders of the Senate Rules and House Administration committees, requesting that lawmakers mandate public access to CRS reports via the Internet.
Librarians have "repeatedly told the government that providing access to such information is a key part of the mission of the nation's libraries," McDermott said. The American Association of Law Libraries, ALA and Association of Research Libraries are members of the coalition. Ari Schwartz, the deputy director of CDT, said that if citizens need access to hard copies of the reports, the library community would be happy to bear the burden.
The coalition's letter noted that several private companies now sell copies of the reports, giving lobbyists, executives and others with money greater access to them.
"With the recent congressional scandals involving [lobbyist] Jack Abramoff, transparency into congressional decision-making is now more important to the public than ever," Schwartz said Thursday. "It is simply an unsustainable system that allows lobbyists paid online access to all CRS reports while the public at large has to guess what reports exist."
| |
|
Education
Report: Georgia Moves Fastest To Digital Classrooms
by Michael Martinez
Georgia is moving faster than any other state to bring its classrooms into the digital age, according to a new report.
The Peach State was at the head of its class in a survey released Thursday by Education Week and the Editorial Projects In Education Research Center. The report graded the states based on their capabilities to effectively use educational technologies and the access they have provided students to such applications, among other things.
The report found that most states have implemented technology standards for students and teachers. But it also noted that most states have not offered incentives, such as course credits, grants or salary increases, for teachers to integrate digital technologies into their classrooms.
"Billions of dollars are being spent each year in an effort to prepare schools and students for tomorrow's technological demands and challenges," the report said. "And the fast-changing landscape of educational technology only complicates the task for policymakers and administrators who seek to make 'smart' decisions about how to proceed."
Georgia received perfect overall marks for technological capacity and usage. According to the report, 85 percent of students in Georgia have access to computer laboratories or media centers -- 8 percent higher than the national average. There is one computer with a high-speed Internet connection for every 3.7 students in Georgia, the survey noted.
South Dakota and Virginia ranked second and third overall. Both of those states are hubs for the U.S. technology industry. South Dakota topped the charts for its ratio of broadband-connected computers to students.
The District of Columbia ranked last overall and received failing grades for its technological capability and use. Nevada, Oregon and Rhode Island rounded out the bottom of the list. Thirty states fell into the "C" range for overall technology scores.
Despite those low numbers, the report found that public schools are closing the "digital divide" in low-income and rural areas faster than homes, where many demographic disparities in broadband connectivity and technological capability are prevalent.
"Student access to computers has become the norm at school, regardless of students' race, ethnicity or economic background," the report noted. "The same cannot be said for the home, though, where wide disparities in computer access remain."
| |
|
On The Hill
Lawmakers File Many Tech Bills Before Annual Break
by Theresa Poulson
While lawmakers this week grilled government officials over their mishandling of anti-terrorism subpoenas, a measure was introduced Wednesday to allow more oversight of that subpoena process for gathering telephone, e-mail and financial records.
The bill, H.R. 1739, would require the approval of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge or a U.S. magistrate judge. Government agencies currently can issue subpoenas without a judge's approval. The legislation also would require that the FISA court set up an e-filing system for subpoenas applications.
Lawmakers also filed several other technology-related measures this week in advance of their annual spring recess. The bills were:
-- H.R. 1758, which would authorize H-1B visas for highly skilled workers at workplaces contributing to college financial aid (see separate story);
-- S. 1035, which aims to reduce fraud and abuse in certain visa programs for temporary workers;
-- H.R. 1689, which aims to combat illegal downloading on college and university campuses (see separate story);
-- S. 1074, which would provide for direct access to tax return e-filing (see separate story);
-- H.R. 1684, which would authorize Homeland Security Department programs in fiscal 2008;
-- H.R. 1715, which would create grants for local governments to bolster security preparedness;
-- H.R. 1788, which would redirect unused spectrum to promote the deployment of commercial, high-speed Internet technologies for public-safety communications;
-- H.R. 1690, which aims to improve airport screening and security;
-- H.R. 1694, which would give state, local and tribal governments more flexibility in using federal funds for information- and intelligence-sharing activities;
-- H.R. 1756, which would prohibit Mexican motor carriers from going beyond municipalities and commercial zones on the border until safety is improved; and H.R. 1773, which would limit the Transportation secretary's authority to grant permissions for such trucks;
-- S. 1032, which would establish a rural broadband office in the Agriculture Department;
-- H.R. 1818, which would authorize funds for increasing broadband Internet access;
-- S. 1065, which would review and expand telecommunications programs for health and mental health in the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments;
-- H.R. 1685, which seeks to protect consumers from identity theft and require notice of security breaches that could lead to ID theft;
-- H.R. 1775, which would amend the Freedom of Information Act to require the disclosure of certain information related to federal contractors;
-- S. 1000, which calls for enhancing federal telework options;
-- H.R. 1675, which would suspend certain e-filing requirements at the Housing and Urban Development;
-- H.R. 1776, which would require employees at customer-service call centers to disclose their physical locations;
-- H.R. 1778, which would allow the director of the Patent and Trademark Office to accept late filings in certain cases;
-- And H. Res. 281, which would express support for National Internet Safety Month.
| |
|
Today's Feature:
Executive Summary
Technology industry representatives said this week that 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."
Every Friday, read the Executive Summary by K. Daniel Glover.
|
|
|
|
E-briefs
Civil Liberties: The International Union of Operating Engineers has violated the statutory free-speech rights of its members by requiring them to password-protect personal Web sites with information about the group's elections, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday. The advocacy group Public Citizen filed a federal lawsuit accusing the union of infringing upon the constitutional rights of its members. The suit also charges that the union has maintained an illegal provision in its constitution that imposes fines on members who sue it before exhausting their options within the union. "Punishing members who lack the technical know-how or financial ability to comply with this rule, or who want the public at large to know about their campaign, is a direct violation of their right to free speech," Public Citizen attorney Paul Levy said. "The new rule is an attempt to keep 'sensitive' information secret" when it involves disagreement with incumbent leaders' policies.
Crime: Internet gambling kingpin Gary Kaplan was arrested late Wednesday in the Dominican Republic, the Justice Department announced Friday. The BetOnSports.com founder's arrest stems from a grand jury indictment in a Missouri federal court last June that named him and 10 other individuals. The indictment alleged that the defendants engaged in racketeering, conspiracy and fraud, arising from the operation of Costa Rica-based online gaming operations, including BetonSports. Kaplan, 48, is charged with 20 felony violations, officials said. After the arrest, he was sent by Dominican authorities to Puerto Rico for an initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge. That judge will be asked to send Kaplan to St. Louis, the agency said in a press release. BetOnSports is under a federal injunction to halt its illegal gambling activities in the United States and to return its American-based depositor funds.
Crime: The United Kingdom's recording industry on Friday hailed the jail sentences delivered to the organizers of one of Britain's biggest counterfeiting rings. The perpetrators had operated a piracy network out of a legitimate video store that looked like an ordinary family-run business. Ringleader James Glen Cowan was jailed Thursday for two years on charges of conspiracy to defraud, tax evasion and benefit fraud. His wife received a nine-month sentence, suspended for 12 months because she is the mother of young children. The man who owned the store was jailed for 12 months. The undertaking may have involved dozens of people and generated about $3 million over five years. Roz Groome, general counsel for the British recording industry, said, "In the light of the current judicial guidance to avoid jailing offenders, these high prison sentences demonstrate the seriousness of the crime."
|
|
|
President -- John Fox Sullivan, 202-739-8468
Editor in Chief -- Louis Peck, 202-739-8481
Editor -- K. Daniel Glover (bio)
Assistant Editor -- Theresa Poulson
Senior Writers -- David Hatch (bio), Heather Greenfield (bio), Andrew Noyes (bio) and Aliya Sternstein (bio)
Special Correspondent -- Chris Strohm (bio)
Staff Writer -- Michael Martinez
Senior Business Affairs Manager -- Chris Hamby
Business Affairs Associate -- Anne TeBeest
Advertising Sales -- Alex Treadway
National Journal's Technology Daily is published every weekday, except holidays, by National Journal Group Inc., 600 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20037.
| | ©2006 by National Journal Group Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or transmission in any form of this product by any means—from a retrieval service or any other electronic form or from a photocopy—in whole or part without permission is strictly prohibited.
National Journal Group makes no representations or warranties with respect to and is not responsible for the content of World Wide Web sites linked to by this publication but not controlled by National Journal Group.
Please read the details of our Privacy Policy.
Editorial: 202-266-7197
Fax: 202-266-7094
Subscription
Inquiries: 202-266-7264
Customer Service: 202-266-7230 or 1-800-207-8001
|
|
|
|
