|
|  |
|
Privacy
Language On Data Brokers Could Be A Sticking Point
by Andrew Noyes
A section of a Senate data-protection bill that would regulate information brokers has earned praise from consumer advocates and privacy experts but could face resistance from major industry players like Acxiom, ChoicePoint and Lexis-Nexis.
The legislation, S. 495, won Senate Judiciary Committee approval Thursday. The bill would require data brokers to let individuals know what information the firms have about them and, where appropriate, let consumers correct inaccuracies.
Exemptions would cover products and services already subject to access and correction rules under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, as well as those covered by privacy provisions of a 1996 healthcare law and a 1999 banking law.
The measure is "the most important of all the bills that have been introduced regarding data breaches," said Tim Sparapani, legislative counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Other proposals have required that data breaches be reported when companies "reasonably" believe that sensitive consumer information has been tapped, but S. 495 would add the additional firepower of data-broker rules, Sparapani said. Lobbyists for that "entirely unregulated" industry "will likely be out in droves to stop this bill," he said.
ChoicePoint President Douglas Curling said consumers "have a right to view and, if necessary, correct information that is available about them in public records or in reports we have created about them."
But the reports the ACLU is most concerned about are not public; they involve contracts with law enforcement and anti-terrorism programs for mining data on people. "None of those reports, due to their sensitive nature, would ever be made public, and it's those reports that are likely to lead to the most potential injury from mistakes in data," Sparapani said.
David Sohn of the Center for Democracy and Technology said he is pleased to see data brokers addressed in the bill, regardless of the potential for controversy. "Access is controversial, and there are a lot of folks in industry who are very concerned about government-mandated access," he said.
CDT is particularly interested in a section about government access to and use of commercial databases. The bill would require privacy impact assessments when agencies make arrangements to gather data held by the private sector.
Consumers Union Senior Attorney Gail Hillebrand said it remains to be seen how vigilant data brokers' lobbying will be now that the measure awaits full Senate action. The industry successfully defeated a similar state bill in California last year, she said.
Sohn and Sparapani are unsure of the bill's chances for success, given the array of competing data-protection measures that appeared in the 109th Congress. Lawmakers could not reconcile them before the session ended.
Previous bills have been slowed by turf wars, Sparapani said. The House and Senate judiciary, commerce and banking committees have jurisdiction over the issue.
The Senate Commerce Committee already has approved its own bill, S. 1178. It would require notification of consumers after some data breaches, and victims of breaches could freeze their credit reports. That bill also would restrict the use of Social Security numbers.
| |
|
Trade
U.S. Body To Clarify Global Stance On E-Gambling
by Winter Casey
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Friday announced that it has informed the World Trade Organization of its intent to clarify the nation's stance on Internet gambling.
According to the USTR, a U.S. commitment concerning "recreational services" was previously interpreted as including an allowance for Internet gambling services. The United States said on Friday that interpretation was not reasonable.
"U.S. laws banning interstate gambling have been in place for decades," Deputy United States Trade Representative John Veroneau said. "Most WTO members have similar laws. Unfortunately, in the early 1990s, when the United States was drafting its international commitments to open its market to recreational services, we did not make it clear that these commitments did not extend to gambling."
However, Veroneau said in a press call to reporters that no WTO member at the time could have reasonably believed the United States was agreeing to a commitment that would counter its own interstate laws on gambling.
When Antigua and Barbuda initiated an Internet gambling case at the WTO against the United States in 2003, the "WTO panel acknowledged that the United States did not intend to adopt commitments that were inconsistent with its own laws," Veroneau said.
USTR said that under WTO rules, dispute settlements are not based on the intent of commitments, so the United States now hopes to use established "WTO procedures for clarifying our commitments" or to establish that the original intent of the United States was to "exclude gambling from the scope of the U.S. commitments."
USTR said gambling or betting services have long been "generally prohibited or highly restricted in the United States for reasons of public morality, law enforcement, and protection of minors and other vulnerable groups."
Other WTO nations have the next 45 days to claim that they have been affected by the U.S. action and seek compensatory adjustment. However, USTR believes that because "no WTO member either bargained for or reasonably could have expected the United States to undertake a commitment on gambling, there would be very little, if any, basis for such claims."
According to a USTR representative, compensation in this case refers to the opening or closing of a service sector, not monetary compensation.
In March, the WTO said in a compliance panel report that the United States had failed to sufficiently comply with an earlier decision that found some U.S. Internet gambling restrictions to be illegal. The panel concluded that the United States failed to show that there was no discrimination related to remote gambling on horse-racing.
The United States has no plans to appeal the findings of the report, according to a USTR representative speaking on background. As a result, the document is scheduled to be adopted by the WTO dispute-settlement body May 22. After that, the United States could face commercial sanctions by Antigua and Barbuda.
However, if the United States resolves its commitment dispute -- its new goal -- all forms of gambling would be removed from the country's WTO commitments. In other words, any past WTO gambling-related rulings concerning the United States would have no effect.
| |
|
Courts
Calif. Election Officials Face Sanctions Over E-Voting
by Michael Martinez
A California court is considering sanctions against election officials from one of the state's most heavily populated counties. They have been accused of withholding e-voting data from Americans for Safe Access when it sought a recount of a 2004 contest.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith last month ruled that county officials broke the law by refusing to provide the relevant data to the group, which challenged the results of a failed ballot initiative to ease restrictions on medical marijuana. The county also returned the Diebold Elections Systems devices used during the election without preserving information.
A hearing on potential sanctions against the county took place Friday morning in Oakland, Calif. The plaintiffs have asked the court to order Alameda County to repay the $22,000 they had to spend for the recount. They also have asked the court to put the initiative back on the ballot, if electronic copies of votes from 2004 are not relocated.
After the initiative failed by fewer than 200 votes, Americans for Safe Access sought a recount. The group filed a lawsuit after county officials refused to provide copies of votes that were redundantly stored in the Diebold touch-screen machines.
Smith ruled that by doing so, those officials violated the state elections code and the state constitution. She said the county registrar's denial of the records constituted "a violation of equal protection, due process and individuals' rights to have their vote counted."
"The recount mechanisms implemented do not satisfy the minimum requirement for non-arbitrary treatment of voters necessary to secure the fundamental right to vote," Smith said. "Essentially, votes on paper ballots were treated differently, and that differential treatment violated voters' rights to equal protection."
Gregory Luke, an attorney representing the plantiffs, said he expects Smith to issue a final sanctioning ruling in the next several weeks.
"Broadly speaking this drama is about the sometimes uncomfortable relationship between business and government," he said.
The use of touch-screen e-voting machines has become a hot issue in California. Secretary of State Debra Bowen will begin a review this month of all machines that have been certified for use in the Golden State.
There will not be much time to address any problems she may find, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this year signed a measure to move up the state's 2008 presidential primary from June to February.
Bowen told AP last month that the pinched timeframe may put the jurisdictions with questionable equipment in an awkward position. But she said officials in charge of elections in those places would have "to find a way to make it work."
| |
|
E-Commerce
Senate Set For Clash Over Bill To Allow Drug Imports
by Aliya Sternstein
Supporters and critics of a Senate bill that would let U.S. consumers order foreign drugs online are accusing each other of jeopardizing Americans' health.
On Monday, the Senate is expected to debate language that would allow individuals and pharmacies to import foreign versions of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration from FDA-registered foreign manufacturers. The proposal, introduced by Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., also includes rules for the sale of medicines through Internet sites.
Michael Enzi of Wyoming, the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and a vocal opponent of the legislation, said in a statement on Friday that the Dorgan language "is built on the premise that 'close to FDA standards' is close enough for American consumers and their families," but Enzi said drugs manufactured outside the U.S. for sale in foreign countries do not meet the standard of safety and quality Americans deserve.
Dorgan spokesman Barry Piatt argued that the medicines in question "are all FDA-approved drugs, all manufactured in FDA facilities." Overseas facilities and drugs would be held to the same, if not stronger, U.S. standards, he said.
The term "FDA-approved facilities" means the facilities are inspected regularly and go through a chain of custody," Piatt said. "By the time you get through the process, it is a system that is almost identical to what we have in this country."
HELP Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., backed the Dorgan amendment.
The bill, S. 242, would establish a Web site that lists the contact information of registered exporters whom the FDA has determined to be reputable and safe.
A spokesman for Enzi countered, "The big lie is that these are FDA-approved drugs." While U.S. manufacturers must submit new drug applications for FDA approval, under Dorgan's bill, foreign manufacturers would not have to submit the documentation, which details production controls, chemical characteristics, validation of manufacturing processes, animal studies, and clinical data.
"I think [drug importation is] even worse over the Internet" because firms can "hide behind the maple leaf," posing as Canadian Internet pharmacies with fake .ca Internet addresses, the spokesman added. "They can be anywhere in the world and you'd never be the wiser."
But Piatt maintains that "people are buying drugs over the Internet right now. There's no question that this legislation would make things safer than they are now."
Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has proposed adding a safety net to the Dorgan bill. His language would require the Health and Human Services Department secretary to certify the safety of imported drugs.
Cochran said in a statement that his proposal "would not allow importation to begin unless these safety concerns are resolved and the government can assure the American public that imported drugs will not endanger their health."
Piatt called the Cochran amendment a poison pill. The HHS secretary does not have the capacity to guarantee that all drugs are safe "anymore than the Transportation secretary can guarantee that every time you get on an airplane it's going to be safe," he said.
| |
|
Competitiveness
Backers Of Patent Reform See It As Innovation Issue
by Heather Greenfield
As the innovation agenda gets congressional attention, everyone from legislators to lobbyists is hoping to expand the action items beyond the four typical ones -- basic research, mathematics and science education, immigration reform, and a permanent research and development tax credit.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for instance, has updated her innovation agenda with two ideas. The California Democrat has included calls for energy independence and for affordable, high-speed Internet service for all Americans to ensure that the country can compete globally.
There also is a growing push to add patent reform to the agenda, as seen in a conference on patent reform and innovation hosted by Microsoft on Friday at George Mason University law school. Doug Lichtman of the University of Chicago law school said his main goal is to change the presumption of patent validity.
Howard Shelanski of the University of California at Berkeley law school, cited the argument that too-easy enforcement of patents would be anti-competitive. "It would lead firms to sue rather than invent," Shelanski said.
But if you could never enforce patents, it would create innovation problems for companies now trying to negotiate deals because it would close the market for innovative updates, and companies wanting to buy those assets could not get them.
Industry lobbyists like Kara Calvert at the Information Technology Industry Council and Robert Hoffman at Oracle, who also heads a coalition of companies pushing for competitiveness, see patent reform as a top priority but a controversial one among tech companies.
"Given the interests aligned against us in the tech community, some would think patent reform is about as achievable as peace in the Middle East," Hoffman said. "I am hoping the odds are just slightly better."
With the introduction of companion patent bills, H.R. 1908 and S. 1145, the lobbying on both sides has heightened. Members of the Innovation Alliance said they met with unnamed lawmakers this week to argue that the bills could harm innovation more than help if the new rules end financial incentives for creativity.
Apple Inc., Cisco Systems and Microsoft are among the big-name firms that have joined the Coalition for Patent Fairness, which supports the legislation. Members of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, along with smaller inventors and a few big tech companies like Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, are lining up against it.
Bruce Bernstein, a patent counsel for InterDigital, said the clash is between business models of tech companies, and those with a patent deficit are trying to weaken the system under the guise of patent quality improvements. He and other Innovation Alliance members argue that such an approach would hurt U.S. competitiveness long term if inventors see greater protections and profits by going to other countries.
Lichtman said any reform steps will hurt some companies and help others. He said the solution needs input from more stakeholders. "When the main people framing the patent reform debate are the patent holders, we're not going to get the right answers," he said.
| |
|
Security
Report Targets Relations Between Agency Chiefs
by Chris Strohm
Two Homeland Security Department agencies responsible for enforcing customs and immigration laws have improved coordination but still face significant problems with sharing information and limited resources, which sometimes leads to sloppy investigations, government inspectors concluded.
In a report released Friday, the Homeland Security Department's inspector general assessed ongoing relations between Customs and Border Protection, which enforces laws along the border, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which enforces laws inside the country. Ongoing problems cited in the report could give fresh ammunition to lawmakers who previously have called for the agencies to be merged.
"At times, CBP and ICE would find that both were investigating the same targets, but neither would know of this beforehand," the inspector wrote. "For example, CBP officials in Miami, Fla., said they occasionally interdict boats used to smuggle aliens or narcotics and discover the boat was being tracked as part of an ICE investigation."
In another example, CBP officials in Chicago executed a sting operation involving fraudulent documents. But CBP did not inform ICE of the operation before its start, and an unexpected increase of seizures and cases being referred for investigation overwhelmed ICE agents, according to the report.
On the positive side, the report concludes that CBP and ICE have made progress in meeting recommendations previously made by the inspector general to improve relations. In response to the report, ICE and CBP officials agreed that better coordination is needed but also cited numerous efforts they have taken and plan to take.
The officials wrote that "CBP and ICE have initiated new information-sharing efforts, including revised protocols for terrorist-related threat and warnings, daily incident and threat information and analysis, a joint strategy for utilization of biometrics, the pursuit of joint training opportunities, coordinated intelligence-driven special operations, [joint task force] program alignment and international notification protocols."
But ICE officials said it is not unusual for agents to learn about a narcotics seizure at the border from the Drug Enforcement Administration rather than from the Border Patrol, which is part of CBP. And CBP officials cited numerous examples of ICE not informing it of operations. A CBP official told the inspector that such oversights create safety concerns, especially in remote areas.
"Border Patrol agents said that ICE does not routinely share actionable intelligence, [and] ICE then says that contraband seized by Border Patrol often is related to a pending ICE investigation," the report added. "In addition, ICE agents said that when information on pending investigations is provided to Border Patrol, Border Patrol uses it to interdict incoming contraband or smugglers, which disrupts the ICE investigation."
The Border Patrol and ICE also continue to have difficulty sharing resources, especially limited tactical aircraft. "For example, because many air assets have been temporarily assigned to Arizona ... other sectors, such as Laredo, Texas, do not have the air resources to support operations within their sector," the inspector wrote.
Sometimes, ICE operations do not receive needed tactical air support because of a bureaucratic approval process inside Border Patrol, the report added.
| |
|
Intellectual Property
Library Of Congress' Blog Caught In Copyright Fight
by Aliya Sternstein
Online outrage over a popular Web site's refusal to allow posts containing hacker code has spilled onto a new blog maintained by the Library of Congress.
Digg.com, which lets anyone post and rank Web content, initially decided to remove posts of a software-cracking code that helps bootleggers illegally copy movies. The owners of the hacked software claimed that Digg had violated intellectual property rights by allowing the posts.
But that did not stop online proponents of more open copyright law from trying to distribute the code elsewhere. They chose the library's blog, which is less than two weeks old, as a target.
"We got about six or seven commenters who attempted to post [the code] and I wasn't going to entertain that," said Matt Raymond, the library's communications director and blog author. The blog moderates reader comments. "If people are intentionally trying to violate copyright, they cannot expect that their comments will be posted," he said.
On Wednesday, Raymond issued a warning on the blog. "Not only is it absurd and inappropriate that readers would attempt to use a government blog to break a federal law, but it is doubly so, in that the Librarian of Congress is the ultimate arbiter of so-called 'exemptions' to the section of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that concerns technological measures that control access to copyrighted works."
He added, "Anyone who supports a particular anti-circumvention exemption [to the DMCA] that is not covered by the current rules should participate in the next triennial rulemaking."
Raymond said he is not interested in identifying the culprits, but the library's general counsel knows of the incident. In an interview on Thursday, he said the episode has taught the library what types of "kinks" might exist in the blog's policy and procedures.
"I guess you need to decide where you are going to draw a line," Raymond said. "Six or seven people who were getting their dander up over something that's happening in the blogosphere -- I don't know that it's worth my time to kind of sleuth" out who was responsible. "It was a minor blip in our comments, and most everyone else has been on topic."
Digg ended up being friendlier territory for the hackers. On a blog maintained by Digg staff, founder and Chief Architect Kevin Rose commented on the controversy Tuesday.
"[T]oday was a difficult day for us," he wrote. "We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease-and-desist declaration. We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code."
"But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear. You'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be."
| |
|
On The Hill
Senate Measure Aims To Improve Science Education
by Theresa Poulson
Science was on the minds of lawmakers in both the House and Senate this week. While the House passed two measures to boost research funds at science agencies, some senators introduced a bill designed to help the United States make advances in the sciences.
The bill, S. 1294, aims to strengthen science, mathematics and foreign-language education. It would establish scholarships for undergraduate students in science, technology, engineering, math and foreign languages, and for professionals in those fields to obtain teaching credentials.
"Our security and economic future depends on the next generation of workers and their ability not just to keep up but to innovate," said lead sponsor Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "Science and technology are the engines of economic growth. We must invest in our students and our educational system by providing the training and resources needed."
A separate House measure, H.R. 2087, would require earth science, biology, chemistry and physics teachers in middle or high schools to receive state science certifications. And a third new bill, H.R. 2153, aims to enhance the contributions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to U.S. competitiveness globally.
Other new technology-related measures are:
-- H.R. 2138, which would make the research and development tax credit permanent (see separate brief);
-- H.R. 2102 and S. 1267, which would shield journalists, including some bloggers, from disclosing sources who wish to remain confidential (see separate summary);
-- S. 1260 and H.R. 2124, which aims to protect individuals' sensitive data and require notice of security breaches. A Senate panel approved a related measure on Thursday;
-- H.R. 2140, which calls for a study to identify the proper U.S. response to Internet gambling;
-- H.R. 2174, which would establish a rural broadband office in the Agriculture Department;
-- H.R. 2082, which would authorize intelligence programs in fiscal 2008;
-- H.R. 2143, which would require the Defense secretary to study reforms of the national security interagency system;
-- S. 1269, which aims to improve border security;
-- H. Res. 351, which would encourage federal authorities to strengthen and enforce immigration laws;
-- S. 1276, which would promote the use of electronic logbook systems to track the sales of ingredients in pharmacies that could be used to make methamphetamine;
-- H.R. 2128, which calls for media coverage of federal court proceedings;
-- H. Con. Res. 137, which would encourage the United States to increase trade opportunities with Taiwan;
-- H. Res. 353, which would support the development of advanced imaging technologies for prostate-cancer detection and treatment;
-- And H. Res. 346 and H. Res. 361, which would honor the life of Jack Valenti, former president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.
| |
|
Today's Feature:
Executive Summary
The Supreme Court this week unanimously ruled that the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals erred in its view of when an invention is "obvious" and thus cannot be patented.
Every Friday, read the Executive Summary by K. Daniel Glover.
|
|
|
|
E-briefs
Labor: The limit on visas for foreign graduates with advanced degrees earned in the United States has been reached. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday that the exemption for students with advanced degrees from the H-1B visa cap was reached Monday. The United States now allots 20,000 special visas for such degrees from U.S. universities that do not count toward the 65,000 regular cap. Members of Congress including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have said they want the law changed so that a green card is essentially stapled to every foreign graduate student's diploma. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has plans to spend the last two weeks of May addressing immigration proposals, including a plan to boost H-1B visas and allow unlimited green cards for those earning advanced degrees in the United States.
Culture: The presidents of Communications Technology and EthnoMediaGroup held a press conference at the National Press Club on Friday to promote a new Internet destination created primarily for the black community. EthnoMediaGroup President Lou Phillips hailed the site as a place to showcase community voices. Phillips said the company has built relationships with different groups to support content. He said he hopes the site will become a focal point for people to find information on diseases that are common in the black community and untold stories of interest to that group, among other subjects. Phillips said he hopes the site will become "the equivalent of cyber town square."
Privacy: The Center for Democracy and Technology this week urged the State Department to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request and the 2002 E-Government Act by releasing "privacy impact assessments" on electronic passports and the proposed border PASS card program. The high-tech group submitted a FOIA request for the documents in December 2006, but after receiving initial word that the request was being processed, follow-up attempts failed. CDT pressed the department to produce the paperwork and to post all future privacy assessments on its Web site. "We hope that you will address this matter urgently because decisions on these projects are being made now without the full transparency and understanding required by law," the group said in its letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The letter also was sent to the leadership of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Business: The software firm Microsoft reportedly has begun courting the Internet search-engine operator Yahoo in an attempt to better compete with search leader Google, according to news reports on Friday. The New York Post reported that Microsoft asked Yahoo to enter formal negotiations for an acquisition that could be worth $50 billion, and The Wall Street Journal said executives are engaged in early-stage talks. AP reported that the companies explored the idea of combining last year, but the negotiations fizzled. According to Nielsen//NetRatings, Google captured 54 percent of search requests in March, Yahoo had 22 percent and MSN had 10 percent.
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
