Civil Liberties
Yahoo Rebuked For Withholding Details From Congress
     Leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week blasted the Yahoo Internet firm for giving false information to Congress about its role in the arrest of a Chinese journalist. A committee investigation showed that although Yahoo General Counsel Michael Callahan said at a February 2006 hearing that the nature of the Chinese government's probe was unknown, some Yahoo employees knew data was being collected on Shi Tao in order to imprison him. When Callahan later discovered that he had provided incorrect information, he did not attempt to correct his testimony, said Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif. "This was inexcusably negligent behavior at best and deliberately deceptive behavior at worst." New Jersey Republican Christopher Smith added, "It's one thing not to know something; it's another thing altogether to choose not to know." Callahan and Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang apologized to Congress and to Shi's mother, who was sitting behind them.

Trade
House Passes Peru Agreement To Pleasure Of Techies
     The House passed on a 285-132 vote legislation that would implement a free-trade agreement with Peru. The deal is important to the technology industry, which is the United States' largest export sector -- $220 billion in goods in 2006, or 21 percent of all exports. According to the tech group AeA, U.S. consumer electronics exports to Peru increased 12 percent from 2000 to 2006. Now the industry is anticipating more growth when the Peru trade agreement passes Congress. Industry sees the as a first step for other trade deals with Colombia, Panama and ultimately South Korea, which promises the biggest market for the tech sector. "Peru is the first of several [deals] that reflect some very hard negotiation by the United States so tech companies can win the fight for global access" to markets, said Mark Bohannon, general counsel for the Software Information Industry Association.

Civil Liberties
Senate Judiciary Postpones Action On Spying Bill
     The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed consideration of a bill that would limit the Bush administration's spying powers. The panel was scheduled to consider the first section of a bill to overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced substitute language less than 24 hours before the debate, prompting Republicans to request a postponement. Leahy said the committee will meet next Thursday. "If by having a week we get further, then I'm fine with that," he said. Tension was evident on the question of whether telecommunications companies that allegedly aided spying efforts should be protected. The Intelligence Committee's version of the bill includes such retroactive liability. Leahy opposes it. Comments by two Democrats at the Judiciary session indicated that Leahy does not have the votes to prevent some kind of protection.

Telecom
FTC Plans Crackdown On 'Do Not Call' Violators
     The FTC has netted nearly $7.7 million in civil penalties for popular brands whose companies were accused of violating provisions of the federal "do not call" list against unwanted telemarketing. One settlement is with Craftmatic, a maker of adjustable beds. The FTC alleged that the company and three of its subsidiaries used sweepstakes promotions to get consumers' telephone numbers and then place tens of thousands of calls to entrants. Craftmatic agreed to pay $4.4 million, which FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras said is the second-largest ever for that type of civil violation. The alarm provider ADT and two of its authorized dealers, Alarm King and Direct Security Services, also were charged. ADT, Alarm King and DSS agreed to pay $2 million, $20,000 and $25,000, respectively. In other settlements, Ameriquest Mortgage will pay $1 million, and Guardian Communications will pay $150,000 of a $7.8 million penalty.

Telecom
FCC Poised To Temporarily Cap Universal Service
     The FCC is poised to impose a temporary cap on the universal service fund, with a vote expected this month, government and industry sources said. The threshold, recommended in May by a federal-state advisory board, is designed to curb the program's growth while substantive changes are pursued. The federal fund subsidizes telecommunications and Internet connections in rural and underprivileged areas. On Oct. 26, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin circulated three USF proposals among his colleagues. New rules would freeze funding at 2007 levels to "competitive" carriers, mostly wireless firms that receive support in markets where dominant, traditional telephone companies are subsidized. Martin also recommended that the FCC consider eliminating a rule requiring that assistance to competitors be based on subsidies to dominant firms, even if competitors' costs are lower. In addition, he suggested that the agency consider "reverse auctions" of spectrum, which award funds to carriers agreeing to the lowest subsidies.

Lobbying
ITAA Is Weighing Merger With Former EIA Group
     There is another possible shift in the technology association landscape after the closing of the Electronic Industries Alliance. One of EIA's four main trade association members, the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association, is officially in merger talks with the Information Technology Association of America. The boards for GEIA and ITAA made the announcement Wednesday after discussions on Friday. The move has not surprised others in the tech industry, as they say both groups are heavily involved in government procurement issues. GEIA is known for its annual conference based on its research on the federal procurement marketplace. Both handle procurement policy issues, though ITAA has a bigger operation focused on that area. "We think there's a synergy of common programs," said Joe Tasker, a senior vice president at ITAA.

Campaigns
Techies Hopeful Despite Power Shift In Va. Senate
     People in Virginia's technology sector are hopeful that the state's political climate will remain friendly to them even though Democrats seized control of the state Senate on Tuesday. Democrats gained four Senate seats in the election, giving them a majority in that chamber for the first time in a decade. The Republican casualties included a pair of incumbent senators from Northern Virginia, a top technology hub. State Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis of Fairfax County, was unseated by Democrat Chap Peterson. Davis, the wife of U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., has close ties to the technology industry. Democrat George Barker also defeated state Sen. J.K. (Jay) O'Brien in Fairfax. Josh Levi, vice president for policy of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, said the election has given the state's technology sector an opportunity to find new champions in both chambers of the Legislature.

Labor
Security Concerns Blamed For Downturn In Telework
     The number of teleworkers in the federal government decreased in 2006 due to security concerns and problems tracking personnel, an Office of Personnel Management official said. A House subcommittee gathered witnesses from the government and industry to explore why agencies continue to disregard telework. In 2005, there were 119,248 federal workers out of approximately 1.8 million total employees documented as regularly performing official duties at home or other work sites near their homes. In 2006, the number dropped to 111,549. According to information OPM received from agencies, the differing practices for tracking teleworkers, changes in the staff collecting the, and a lack of communication led to difficulty in tracking the number of teleworkers. OPM officials also noted that agencies justifiably have grown concerned about information security overall and may view remote access as particularly troublesome.