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Crime
House Panel Backs Second Bill Aimed At Spyware
by Andrew Noyes
A House Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday approved a bill aimed at fighting secretly installed computer spyware. The legislation aims to target bad behavior without restricting technological innovation, said California Democrat Zoe Lofgren, who sponsored the legislation.
The measure, H.R. 1525, would combat both spyware and "phishing" scams that use fake e-mails and Internet sites to trick consumers into revealing personal information. The House passed similar legislation 395-1 in the 109th Congress, but the Senate never acted, Lofgren told the panel at a hearing that preceded a swift debate.
The measure, which could see full committee action as early as next week, would impose criminal penalties on spyware purveyors, punishing offenders with up to five years behind bars. The legislation also would authorize $10 million from fiscal 2008 through fiscal 2011 for the Justice Department to prosecute spyware and related computer crimes.
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection approved a competing bill, H.R. 964, in April. Full committee approval is expected this month.
That bill would bar Internet companies from deceptively installing programs and create an "opt in" regime that would require firms to provide notice and get consent from users before installing software on their computers. Violators would face as much as $3 million in fines for each unfair or deceptive act or practice.
High-tech policy watchers, like the Information Technology Association of America, lauded the Judiciary Committee's bill. ITAA said it supports that measure because it "appropriately focuses on harmful spyware practices without establishing a new prescriptive regulatory regime."
Center for Democracy and Technology Deputy Director Ari Schwartz said enforcement of spyware cases already is increasing under current law, and H.R. 1525 would "ensure that new spyware techniques continue to be adequately covered under criminal statutes."
Mike Zaneis, vice president for public policy at the Interactive Advertising Bureau, said his group backs H.R. 1525 but believes H.R. 964 would take the wrong approach. "[It] begins with a blanket regulation on technology and then attempts to carve out certain 'benign' technologies," Zaneis said.
"Congress is not equipped to pick winners and losers when it comes to technology," he said, adding that "with the Internet evolving so quickly, any legislation of this type will quickly be outdated and inadvertently cover new, progressive technologies."
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Telecom
Wireless Group Preps To Fight Universal Service Plan
by David Hatch
The wireless association CTIA plans to sharply criticize a proposal that an FCC board will make to the full commission on ways to overhaul the universal service fund.
USF, which lowers telecom and Internet connection costs in rural and impoverished areas, is considered essential to many states but is widely viewed as bloated and in need of an update. The association is concerned that the board wants to impose a temporary cap on the amount of money being funneled to so-called "competitive" carriers -- mostly wireless companies -- that have strained the fund in recent years.
Sources said the cap would give the agency and lawmakers room to explore permanent fixes.
In some rural areas, multiple wireless companies have secured USF subsidies alongside dominant, wireline phone providers, which already are subject to a cap under a portion of the fund. But CTIA argues that the proposal would unfairly discriminate against its members and that the bulk of USF money still would go to dominant firms.
The Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, established by the 1996 Telecommunications Act, is now headed by Republican FCC member Deborah Taylor Tate. It will weigh in as lawmakers craft legislation on the topic, considered central to telecommunications update efforts in Washington.
Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Lee Terry, R-Neb., members of the House Energy and Commerce panel, introduced USF legislation last week. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, is working on a related bill with ranking Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska.
Under the joint board's approach, the total amount of money being awarded to competitive carriers in each state would be frozen for two years, sources said. But the pot of money might be divided differently depending on how many carriers qualify for it.
The board also will recommend that the FCC seek comment on so-called reverse auctions that could reduce costs by awarding funds to carriers agreeing to receive the lowest subsidies. The board further wants feedback on ways to structure USF so distributions are targeted more efficiently to areas that need them.
The panel, whose members include state regulators, has been under increasing pressure from lawmakers and industry groups. "Failure of the board to make the difficult decisions necessary at this critical juncture will reduce political support and sustainability of the program," four Senate Commerce Republicans warned in an April 13 missive.
Presidential contender John McCain of Arizona, along with Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, John Ensign of Nevada and John Sununu of New Hampshire, want the board to recommend capping the entire fund.
"We believe a cap would ensure that the administrators of the USF program spend the money more effectively and efficiently, and would work to reduce this limitless and reoccurring tax on consumers," they emphasized in a recent letter.
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Campaigns
In Race To Buy Ad Words, Clinton Emerges On Top
by Heather Greenfield
On the campaign trail, presidential candidates often refrain from mentioning competitors by name. But online, they are buying competitors' names in an effort to spread messages to supporters of the candidates they consider to be their biggest threats.
While businesses have been buying advertising words on Internet search engines for years, candidates did not start doing so until the 2006 election. Ad words are paid advertising that appear on sites like Google or Yahoo when users search for those words.
Unscientific studies conducted on various days over during April by Technology Daily and bloggers show that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., was among the most active candidates buying ad words -- as well as one of the most targeted candidates.
Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine and PrezVid said in an interview that his searches found that Clinton had bought Google AdWords so her name would appear on searches for fellow Democratic candidates and Sens. Joseph Biden of Delaware, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Barack Obama of Illinois.
Jarvis said the ad purchases are a new way to which candidates are considered threats to their opponents and also what issues candidates plan to trumpet the loudest. He said Clinton was the only candidate to buy an issue keyword, "Iraq."
Obama bought Google AdWords on Clinton and also former vice-presidential candidate John Edwards. Edwards' name did not pop up amid ads on Google searches of other candidates.
The top three Republicans were all equally active in targeting each other, with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani running the most aggressive campaign on Google and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney being the most targeted on Yahoo in April.
Giuliani bought Google AdWords for Romney and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. McCain bought an ad to appear on Romney and Giuliani searches, and Romney snagged ads on Giuliani, McCain and Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., was the most active on Yahoo, buying ad words for Romney and Democrats Edwards, Obama and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.
The word purchases on Google or Yahoo are like real-time auctions, with candidates bidding anywhere from pennies to dollars on words and ads ceasing when the budgeted amount is reached. So they do change week to week.
William Beutler, a former reporter at National Journal's The Hotline, wrote at Blog P.I. that because Google ads reach 80 percent of Web users, "any political campaign should think strongly about using them."
As the month progressed, however, searches showed candidates were spending more to buy their own names, blocking competitors from advertising in their searches.
Democratic online political strategist Kari Chisholm said it is "entirely stupid to pay for a Google ad for your own name." He said a candidate should instead buy words to drive traffic to their Web sites from people who are not looking for the candidates.
As an example, Chisholm said Edwards, the only candidate with a detailed healthcare plan, should buy a Google ad for the search term "universal health care."
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Civil Liberties
It's A Dangerous World For Journalists, Experts Say
by Winter Casey
Journalists are at a greater threat than ever for being killed around the world, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes said Tuesday.
The trend should trigger alarm bells and cultivate greater international attention than it has so far, she said during a conference sponsored by the Broadcasting Board of Governors and Freedom House. According to Hughes, more than 500 journalists have been killed in the last decade.
"In every region of the world journalists are under siege" and worldwide threats to press freedoms threaten civil society itself, Hughes said, also noting that the U.S. government is committed to fostering transparency and combating Internet censorship.
Earlier in the morning, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif., spoke of recent threats to media freedom.
"[Thomas] Jefferson would be appalled to learn how many repressive governments now place immense pressure on independent voices in print, on the air and online," he said. "Sometimes, these regimes even take lives to keep the truth from coming to light."
Independent indigenous broadcasters are being repressed as well, Lantos said. "Congress helps to push back against such pressure tactics," he added, noting hearings last year on the "despicable practice by U.S.-based Internet companies of cooperating with Beijing in its effort to stifle free expression on the Web."
Lantos said he is displeased that the United States has "no shield law to bar federal courts from compelling journalists to reveal their sources." On Wednesday, Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Mike Pence, R-Ind., will hold a press conference to announce their plan for such a shield law.
Tuesday's discussion about press freedoms also included a panel focused on speech repression in China, Egypt and Iran. Perry Link, a professor at Princeton University, said radio in China influences people more than the Internet because radio penetration is higher.
Link said the Internet is a hopeful medium in China because it is almost impossible to block -- not that the challenge has prevented the Chinese government from trying.
Jon Alterman from the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Egypt has punished people randomly and disproportionately to get them to self-censor. Earlier this year, an Egyptian blogger was ordered to serve three years in prison for insulting Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak online.
Afshin Molavi, a fellow with the New America Foundation, said the American media have done a poor job of covering human rights in Iran, and he wishes more Americans were listening to Voice of America and Radio Free Europe.
Also on Tuesday, Freedom House released a report warning of a growing effort to restrict access to information online. The report found a global decline of press freedoms in 2006 but noted improvements in Cambodia, the Central African Republic, Colombia, Haiti, Italy and Nepal.
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Intellectual Property
Sen. Leahy Adds Wrinkle To Complex Patent Debate
by Andrew Noyes
The Senate sponsor of legislation to overhaul the American patent system on Tuesday added a complex ingredient to an already intricate congressional debate over how best to protect innovators' intellectual property domestically and abroad.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., called upon experts to debate obscure questions of law surrounding the unauthorized importation and sale of products made overseas by processes patented in the United States.
The issue surfaces as lawmakers drafted their patent package earlier this year, but as introduced, the companion House and Senate bills avoided offering language on what defenses should be available to parties accused of importing products made by infringing U.S. process patents.
In 1988, Congress changed the law to let patent holders faced with the quandary sue in federal court, sparking tension with the International Trade Commission. Previously, a U.S. process patent holder could only sue for domestic infringement. The other option was to ask the ITC to bar the product from the U.S. market.
Some stakeholders argue that the defenses were never intended to be limited to infringement claims, and the law should be changed to harmonize ITC and district court action, Leahy said in opening remarks. Others contend that ITC and court proceedings serve different purposes and should be left alone.
"If we permit products to enter the United States that were made abroad by a process patented here -- where creation of the product would itself be an act of infringement if it occurred here -- we are doing nothing less than outsourcing infringement and offshoring jobs," Leahy said in a statement.
The law makes clear that importing products made by patented processes is infringement, ITC Assistant General Counsel Wayne Herrington said in written testimony. But a legal loophole says the products are no longer infringing if they are "materially changed by subsequent processes" or become "a trivial and nonessential component of another product," he said.
A 2004 ruling by the U.S. Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals drew attention to the issue. In Kinik Co. v. ITC, 3M claimed that a Taiwanese firm was importing products made through a 3M-patented process. The appeals court found that 3M's claims were not properly construed by the ITC, and had they been, the commission would have ruled that infringement was not occurring.
Georgetown University law professor John Thomas said in written testimony that the inconsistency in the post-Kinik era could limit competition and make the United States look bad on the world stage. It also could impact U.S. compliance with the international IP deal known as the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, University of Richmond law professor Christopher Cotropia added.
Mike Kirk, who heads the American Intellectual Property Law Association, said his group opposes any efforts to weaken ITC's capabilities. "Such a diminishment of process patent rights would put the United States industry at a disadvantage with respect to their foreign competitors," he said in written testimony.
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Privacy
Report On RFID Includes Security, Privacy Warnings
by Heather Greenfield
Businesses and federal agencies using radio-frequency identification devices should regularly evaluate security and privacy risks, according to a new report on RFID best practices from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
RFID devices send or receive audio signals, transmitting information like serial numbers of products within warehouses.
"RFID tags, commonly referred to as smart tags, have the ability to improve logistics, profoundly change cost structures for business, and improve the current levels of safety and authenticity of the international pharmaceutical supply chain and many other industries," Technology Administration chief Robert Cresanti said.
"This important report lays the foundation for addressing important RFID security risks so a thoughtful enterprise can launch a smart-tag program with confidence." The 154-page report outlines inherent risks to data security and privacy and how to mitigate them.
For example, if a warehouse uses only RFID tags to track inventory, an attack on the technology could crash order-processing. A competitor also could hack into the information generated by RFIDs. In another scenario, someone could use an RFID reader to locate a box of expensive electronic equipment to steal it.
On the privacy side, the report discusses risks as RFIDs become more prevalent. It said that as more data is stored, organizations could combine and correlate to infer identities or locations and build profiles of people for other purposes.
The report also noted that privacy and business objectives sometimes could conflict. For example, if it is too easy for customers to disable RFID tags after sales, it also may be easy for adversaries to disable them before sales.
The report outlines existing privacy rules like the 1974 Privacy Act, which allows people to know what's being collected, get a copy, opt out of such collection and prevents data from being used for other purposes. The 2002 E-Government Act requires privacy impact assessments for devices.
"The goal of our report," according to lead author Tom Karygiannis of NIST, "is to give organizations practical ways in a structured format with checklists and specific recommendations to address potential RFID security risks."
The recommendations include: installing firewalls to separate organizations' RFID databases from other databases; encrypting the radio signals; authenticating approved RFID users; shielding tags to prevent unauthorized access; adopting audit procedures to detect security breaches; recycling or destroying tags so sensitive data is permanently destroyed; and minimizing sensitive data stored on the tags.
Another section shows how grounded metal fencing can be used as a shield to protect against eavesdropping or radiation. It said reducing transmitting power also can help prevent the interception of information and reduce electromagnetic radiation risks.
The report also weighs issues like encrypting data when it is at rest and having a remote "kill" feature to disable tags.
The report focused on security controls available on the market now while acknowledging that more security solutions are planned.
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Security
Officials Defend Implementation Of ID Mandate
by Michael Martinez
Homeland Security Department officials on Tuesday defended pending national identity regulations during a town-hall meeting that was broadcast via the Internet.
Richard Barth, the department's assistant secretary for policy development, said most Americans support the federal standards for driver's licenses that will be imposed by the REAL ID Act. At a meeting webcast from the University of California at Davis, Barth cited a recent poll that found 70 percent of Americans support the concept of federal ID standards.
Concerns about privacy and the potential costs of implementing the law have prompted some states to enact legislation rejecting REAL ID, which Homeland Security has estimated would cost more than $20 billion. Bills to repeal REAL ID also have been introduced in both chambers of Congress.
A coalition of more than 40 advocacy groups -- including the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Gun Owners of America, and the National Gay And Lesbian Task Force -- announced Tuesday the launch of a new nationwide campaign to stop the implementation of REAL ID. Draft regulations are open for comment until May 8.
Richard Holober, the executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, aired some of those concerns during the meeting. He said the law, which would require states to make data from their motor-vehicle databases available to each other electronically, would create a "dream for identity thieves."
Barth said it is a common misconception that REAL ID would create a national ID system. He said pending standards released by the department in March were designed to "set a floor" for privacy and to give states flexibility in meeting the mandate.
Standing in front of a picture of a driver's license used by one of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists, Barth made his case at the onset of the meeting that REAL ID would solve integral national security issues. "A fraudulent ID card in the hands of a terrorist is a weapon," he said.
George Valverde, director of the California Motor Vehicles Department, said his state has been particularly active preparing for REAL ID, which he expects will cost its government as much as $700 million to implement. But he said Homeland Security's pending REAL ID regulations are "prescriptive in nature" and would create a very "onerous" process.
He advocated a more strategic approach to implementing the law.
Homeland Security officials also heard comments from participants about how REAL ID could affect the transgender and transsexual communities. One speaker said the department needs to consider how gender-marker regulations on ID cards would impact those who identify themselves by different genders but have not had surgery to change sexes.
Barth said the town-hall meeting was scheduled to hear comments about issues the department may not have considered when it crafted the draft regulations.
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Environment
U.S. Experts Ponder The Future Of Electric Cars
by Aliya Sternstein
Electric cars that use the same energy storage devices found in laptop computers would reduce dependence on foreign oil, a manufacturer said Tuesday, but that energy source still could pose a national security threat because the devices are mainly manufactured in Asia.
Martin Eberhard, co-founder of the electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors, testified before a Senate Finance subcommittee about technologies and tax incentives that could best curtail oil dependence and global warming.
"I am here to inform you that rumors of the electric car's demise have been greatly exaggerated," Eberhard said. Tesla's first model, a two-seat convertible with twice the energy efficiency of a Prius and a $92,000 price tag, might be unattainable for many, but future models will offer a lower price point and family-friendly design, he said.
The batteries that power Tesla's vehicles contain the same energy storage cells that power laptops and cellular telephones. But Eberhard testified: "There is no significant production anywhere in the U.S. ... As James Woolsey noted shortly after taking a test drive in a Tesla Roadster, this will become a national security problem as we become more dependent on stored electricity."
Even American battery companies -- such as the lithium-ion battery supplier A123Systems -- turn to Asia for mass production. A123Systems is helping car makers build plug-in hybrid vehicles that use rechargeable, supplemental power modules small enough to fit into spare tire wells.
Each module, which delivers enough energy to travel the equivalent of 40 miles on electricity, is charged overnight with a standard 120-volt extension cord plugged into the bumper.
"We'd much prefer to make batteries here," A123Systems CEO David Vieau said, but the cost of production is much lower overseas. Mass production of lithium-ion cells has "an initial cost differential between the U.S. and Asia that would make our products non-competitive."
Vieau said the expansive lithium-ion manufacturing overseas is a result of "the Asian government's superior support policies for this very industry."
Eberhard, Vieau and witnesses from the automobile industry and academia recommended changes to the tax code to encourage energy conservation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said, "Is it possible to do a technology-neutral tax incentive that works?"
Mark Chernoby, vice president of advanced vehicle engineering at DaimlerChrysler, responded, "We absolutely think it can be technology neutral." Many of the witnesses said that designs fueled by coal, diesel, hydrogen, a hybrid of energy sources, and other technologies are likely to share the marketplace.
"In the end, there's probably not going to be one winner here," Chernoby said. "Batteries play across many of these technologies and are here to stay."
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Today's Feature:
People Column
It was no secret that Tim Bennett is leaving the technology group AeA to become the new president of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance.
Every Tuesday, read the People Column by Heather Greenfield.
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E-briefs
Intelligence: The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday stressed his commitment to work with the Judiciary Committee on reforming the decades-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Intelligence Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said examining FISA involves "both a judicial process and the collection of intelligence." His panel can "assess the relationship between the public realm of legislative reforms and the classified realm of intelligence collection," he said in opening remarks for a hearing. While the committee frequently works in closed-door sessions, Rockefeller said the hearing needed to be public. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein were slated to testify. The American Civil Liberties Union said FISA proposals under consideration "reward and legitimize" the government's illegal spying. "If a little boy destroys a tricycle, you don't hand him the keys to the car," ACLU lobbyist Caroline Fredrickson said in a statement.
Privacy: A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Rep. Jim McDermott had no right to disclose the contents of an illegally taped telephone call involving now-House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio. AP reports that in a 5-4 opinion, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said McDermott, D-Wash., should not have given reporters access to the taped call. His offense was particularly egregious because he was a senior member of the House Ethics Committee, the panel said. The decision upholds a judgment in favor of Boehner, who was among several Republican leaders heard on the December 1996 call. "Members of Congress have a responsibility not only to obey the laws of our country and the rules of our institution, but also to defend the integrity of those laws and rules when they are violated," Boehner said.
Education: House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif, asked the White House on Tuesday to provide e-mails and other communications related to its involvement in the federal student loan and Reading First programs. Among others, the panel wants e-mails of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who used to serve as the president's domestic policy adviser. Ongoing investigations into both programs have revealed serious oversight failures by senior officials for the past several years. Miller also requested that the Education Department release e-mails and other communications of former Education Secretary Rodney Paige; Beth Ann Bryan, a former senior adviser to Paige; former Deputy Secretary William Hansen; former Undersecretary and Deputy Secretary Eugene Hickok; and present Chief of Staff David Dunn.
E-Government: While several agencies have improved the management of their e-government initiatives, others were downgraded due to deficiencies in applying technology frameworks, according to the latest White House Office of Management and Budget scorecard. Agencies were assessed based on their performances in maximizing efficiency of cross-agency initiatives with tech frameworks, implementing Internet protocol version 6, and improving program performance. Overall, the color-coded scores in the President's Management Agenda, which were released Tuesday, indicate that agencies are largely excelling in performance. Agencies have "significantly greater ability to be effective today than they did in 2001 when they began working on the PMA," said Clay Johnson, OMB's deputy director for management. "But having the ability to be effective is not enough. Those scores must translate into real results, and agencies must demonstrate that what they are doing is making government more effective."
E-Government: Florida's top election official on Tuesday urged the Election Assistance Commission to let his state use funds allocated by a federal law to upgrade its voting system. In prepared remarks to the panel, Secretary of State Kurt Browning said federal officials should consider allowing states to use funds dispersed as part of a federal law to "continue to improve the administration of federal elections." Florida lawmakers are considering legislation that would require e-voting machines to produce paper receipts. The proposal would force some voting jurisdictions to overhaul their systems. "The right to cast a vote is the most fundamental of all American rights," Browning said. "There is no greater testament to the principles that our country was founded on than the ability for every American to take part in the democratic process by casting a vote for a candidate of their choice and being confident that their ballot will count."
Television: The Florida Legislature on Monday cleared a bill to make the video-franchising process statewide rather than local. The Florida House voted 117-2 for a bill to accomplish that goal and sent it to Gov. Charlie Crist for final approval. Under the proposal, video service providers could sidestep franchising negotiations with localities by applying for statewide deals. The measure also would empower the state attorney general's office to impose fines for violating anti-discriminatory rules. A spokesman told Technology Daily on Monday that Crist is reviewing the legislation and has not taken a position on it. Republican state Rep. Rene Garcia, one of the two lawmakers in his chamber who voted against the proposal, told AP that local governments were left out of the debate. "We're going back and excluding local governments again," he said.
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Editor in Chief -- Louis Peck, 202-739-8481
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