Trade Tech Community Hails Breakthrough On Trade Policy by Winter Casey      Representatives from the technology industry are embracing Thursday's news that congressional Democrats and Bush administration officials have reached an agreement in trade policy.      "These agreements build on a record of making real progress on a series of key issues, including respect for intellectual property rights, transparency in regulatory procedures, and ensuring non-discriminatory treatment and duty-free treatment for digital products," said Jack Krumholtz of Microsoft. He added that Microsoft will work with Congress to implement the policy.      "This is an important breakthrough," said Matt Flanigan, the Electronic Industries Alliance's interim president. "Lowering barriers to international commerce helps U.S. technology companies compete and create high-paying jobs for workers here at home."      The policy -- the culmination of months of negotiations between lawmakers and government officials -- would incorporate international labor standards and environmental considerations into future trade deals. It also would clarify that the United States can prevent foreign companies from operating U.S. ports and has a clause on foreign investors in the United States.      Finally, the policy calls for the United States to develop a worker assistance initiative that would support "entire communities hurt by the effects of trade and technology."      Jim McCrery, the ranking Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement that the deal would enable Congress to immediately move trade agreements with Panama and Peru, as well as the "Colombia agreement after we make progress on specific steps to address anti-labor violence in that country."      The agreement also would apply to issues in the new U.S.-South Korea pact and could serve as a template to extend trade-negotiating authority, McCrery said. The authority lets the president negotiate deals and limits lawmakers to only up-or-down votes, without changes. The current authority is set to expire June 30.      McCrery said the agreement will "improve our trading partners' standards on labor, environmental regulation, intellectual property, port security, and investment."      Many industry groups -- including the Computing Technology Industry Association, Information Technology Association of America, Information Technology Industry Council, National Association of Manufacturers and U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- said they were pleased by the news of trade progress.      Krumholtz noted that the pending trade agreements would "forge stronger links between America and South America and Asia" -- regions that he called critical to U.S. economic growth.      Despite Thursday's announcement, a letter signed by six lawmakers to Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel indicates that some Democrats have unresolved concerns about future trade deals. Some industry sources said that opposition means the new policy is not a done deal.      Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue also would like to see changes from the business perspective. He said intellectual property provisions should be revisited as part of the debate about renewing the president's trade-negotiating authority.      "In light of changes to certain provisions under this agreement," Donohue said, "we will continue to make the case in the Congress that America's innovative industries should receive the highest level of promotion and protection in our trade agreements."

Budget Despite GOP Assault, House Passes Intelligence Bill by Chris Strohm      House Democrats early Friday passed a bill to authorize intelligence programs and spending, after withstanding a GOP assault to strip controversial provisions.      The vote for the fiscal 2008 bill was 225-197, despite Republican objections that it contains wasteful provisions and short shrifts the nation's human intelligence capabilities. Republicans especially objected to an earmark from House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa. The earmark would add $23 million in funding for the National Drug Intelligence Center, a Justice Department operation in Johnstown, Pa., in Murtha's district.      Republicans charged that Murtha failed to timely submit his earmark and certify that he or his spouse would not benefit financially from it. But the GOP lost by a 181-241 vote to have the bill returned to the House Intelligence Committee, where they hoped the earmark would be stripped.      Democrats also defeated an amendment from House Intelligence Committee ranking Republican Peter Hoekstra of Michigan to strike a provision requiring the intelligence community to analyze the impact of global climate change on U.S. national security interests. Hoekstra's amendment was defeated 185-230.      Republicans tore into Democrats with thick criticism after the bill passed.      "This bill is a throwback to the '90s, when intelligence operations were cut and intelligence resources were diverted to non-national security issues such as the environment," Hoekstra said in a statement. "The committee has not had one hearing, one briefing, one meeting or even a conversation in which global climate change was raised as an issue."      Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., issued a statement with a "Help Wanted" advertisement that said: "U.S. intelligence community hiring weathermen. No military or spy experience necessary. Knowledge of polar bears a plus. Training videos include: "Happy Feet," "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown," and "FernGully: The Last Rainforest."      Democrats hailed the legislation's passage as a landmark achievement, saying that it is the largest intelligence authorization bill ever written by the committee. The total amount of authorized funding is classified, but it is estimated to be about $44 billion.      "This bill contains very robust funding for critical intelligence programs to penetrate the hard targets, such as terrorist networks and countries developing weapons-of-mass-destruction capabilities," said Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.      He asserted that the assessment of global climate change would not divert resources from critical programs. He also said proper House rules were followed for adding earmarks to the bill. Overall, the bill contains 26 earmarks totaling about $100 million.

Civil Liberties Spying Change In Intelligence Bill Wins Praise by Andrew Noyes      The House-passed intelligence authorization bill includes an amendment to reiterate that the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act is the exclusive means for approving electronic eavesdropping to gather foreign intelligence information.      Privacy watchdogs lauded the House's 245-178 vote for the amendment, which was sponsored by Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif. The pair has introduced several bills aimed at modernizing government surveillance. The House passed the bill Thursday (see separate story).      Caroline Fredrickson, who heads the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington legislative office, said approval of the amendment was akin to lawmakers "drawing a line in the sand." ACLU legislative consultant Michelle Richardson called the fiscal 2008 bill's passage a "first move toward Congress growing a backbone."      Proposed Bush administration changes to FISA would not modernize the law, the ACLU said in a press release. They would gut the judicial oversight mechanisms crafted to prevent abuse while expanding the scope of communications that can be intercepted, the group said.      In addition to reiterating the importance of the 1978 statute, the Flake-Schiff amendment states that FISA would continue to be the exclusive means for electronic surveillance until another law specifically authorized electronic surveillance.      Lisa Graves, deputy director at the Center for National Security Studies, said Congress "rightly reiterated that warrants must be sought from a court ... when Americans' daily phone calls and e-mails are read -- to ensure that resources are properly focused on al Qaeda and not squandered peering into the private lives of innocent Americans."      If President Bush vetoes the intelligence authorization bill over his objection to the principle, "he will again be playing politics with our security and our Constitution," she said. The White House's "willingness to let partisan policies drive intelligence" already has harmed the nation at home and abroad, she added.      Meanwhile, the House Rules Committee on Wednesday rejected a FISA amendment proposed by New Mexico Republican Heather Wilson. In floor remarks, she said the current system is broken, adding that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that authorizes surveillance is "stretching the law like a twin-sized sheet to cover a king-sized bed."      "We're tying the hands of our intelligence agencies while our enemies are using the communications systems we built to plot to kill us," said Wilson, who voted against the Flake-Schiff language. "The Democrat leadership will insist that we turn our backs on 21st-century terrorists using 21st-century communications and pretend we can be frozen in a 1978 world."      House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said: "The amendment reiterates the requirement that the president must follow FISA procedures when conducting surveillance of Americans. Whether FISA needs to be altered is a topic our committee will explore through hearings and oversight. We have modified FISA a dozen times since 9/11 and would be prepared to do so again if there is a compelling reason."      A bill authored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has language similar to the Schiff-Flake amendment. The Senate Intelligence Committee is scheduled to consider its intelligence authorization bill in a closed session May 17, but the measure is expected to face major obstacles. Previous years' bills have been blocked by partisan fighting.

Business Government Seeks Input To Create Innovation Index by Heather Greenfield      People wanting to help invent an innovative way to measure innovation have until the end of Friday to submit ideas to the Commerce Department. The ideas will be published and could end up in a document that Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez hopes will result in an "innovation index" to chart America's progress.      What metrics accurately measure innovation has stumped industry analysts for years. Gonzalez' new advisory committee on measuring innovation aims to alleviate that problem. The panel, which met for the first time in February to brainstorm, includes Medtronic CEO Art Collins, Harvard University professor Dale Jorgenson, IBM chief John Palmisano.      "Input from innovators, from entrepreneurs, from business of all sizes and academics is very important to the committee as it develops ideas for innovation metrics," Gutierrez said. "Innovation is a driver of our economy and we need to help policymakers and the business community better measure innovation" to help develop public policy.      Jorgenson has said it is easy to calculate productivity by looking at output but it is not so easy when measuring innovation.      Businesses often look at dollars spent on research and development and number of patent applications to evaluate their own paths toward innovation. But there is agreement that all ideas are not created equally. Collins said a measure of innovation should include demand for products.      There also is agreement that innovation is more than tangible measures like products and technology. Jorgenson has said productivity could be part of an innovation index as long as it is measured more holistically, including efficiency and quality factors.      The Association for Competitive Technology is among the groups filing comments Friday. "Innovation -- no matter how it is measured -- is the result of a complex ecosystem defined by intellectual property, labor, financial, immigration, education, antitrust and trade policies," ACT research and policy counsel Braden Cox said.      "Therefore it is imperative that when developing better ways to quantify innovation in the marketplace, we should also focus on ways to measure the impact that regulatory policies have on innovation."      Larry Keeley, a lecturer Northwestern University's management school and at the University of Chicago, has spent the past 20 years measuring innovation and the last seven developing metrics. "I'm really hopeful they'll get it right," Keeley said. "The reason I'm worried is they're looking in the wrong places for insights."      For example, he said measuring what businesses call the "stage gate" process is just a bad idea. That is where company executives sit in a room and brainstorm ideas, and then a highly paid consultant spends months examining them for merit.      Keeley said one idea is to measure the number of ideas generated and then chart how many are developing and where they are at. But he questions how useful counting bad ideas would be. So far, the ideas he has seen are too simplistic, with an "incomplete, partial and flawed" data pool.      "The big issue is to get more subtle signs of the health of our innovation," Keeley said.

Broadband Wideband Takes Its Place In The Internet Race by David Hatch      Step aside digital subscriber lines, Wi-Fi and Wi-Max. It's time to make room for cable's newest weapon in the war for high-speed Internet customers: channel-bonding, aka wideband.      At the cable industry's annual conclave in Las Vegas this week, Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts unveiled the new technology, which promises to revolutionize cable-modem service with substantially faster downloads.      To prove the point, he downloaded all 32 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica, along with Merriam-Webster's visual dictionary, in less than four minutes. With today's cable modems, it would have taken three hours and 12 minutes.      The technology -- spearheaded by Cable Labs, the industry's nonprofit research arm -- is intended to blunt the ambitious Internet plans of AT&T and Verizon Communications as they enter the pay television space and offer speedy Web connections through their Lightspeed and Fios services.      Several companies, including Arris, Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta, showcased wideband modems at the Cable Show. But Roberts reportedly told journalists that deployment still could be nearly two years away. And cable industry sources privately acknowledge that the new technology would intensify capacity problems for operators, even forcing some to drop a few cable channels to accommodate wideband.      That is because channel-bonding requires multiple programming slots to create a larger bandwidth pipe for data delivery. The more channels it uses, the faster the Internet connection it can offer. Sources at CableLabs, however, downplayed the capacity concern, explaining that cable's increased reliance on digitized video eases such constraints.      "Cable sees that faster broadband is inevitable, and if they don't offer it, the telcos will," said Paul Gallant, vice president and senior media analyst at the Stanford Washington Research Group. But he cautioned that quicker broadband connections could be a double-edged sword. "Down the road it's possible that video delivered through faster broadband could become a threat to cable's core video business," he said.      Another analyst said there is speculation that Roberts was signaling to Wall Street that cable can compete with the Bells' offerings. Fios is available at speeds of up to 50 megabits per second, faster than today's cable modems but slower than wideband.      During the final general session at the Cable Show on Wednesday, Cox Communications President Patrick Esser marveled at how the business has changed since he entered it in 1979, when providers offered just a dozen channels. With wideband, he said, cable systems will provide 100 megabits per second or more of high-speed Internet bandwidth into homes, compared with the three to six megabits per second available today.      "We'll be the only one able to do that," he said.      George Bodenheimer, the president of ESPN and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks, said the success of wideband lies within its ability to let customers do more things on the Internet.      "Customers don't care about 100 megabits," he said. "It's what they can do with those 100 megabits."      Michael Fries, president and CEO of Liberty Global, which operates advanced broadband networks in 16 countries, noted that download speeds of that level already are common in Japan.

On The Hill Immigration, H-1B Bills Filed As Senate Nears Debate by Theresa Poulson      As Majority Leader Harry Reid prepares to open an immigration debate over border security and foreign-worker visas on the Senate floor Monday, the Nevada Democrat this week introduced a measure calling for comprehensive reform.      At a briefing Wednesday, Reid urged President Bush to work with Senate Democrats to achieve a bipartisan immigration overhaul. Co-sponsors of the bill, S. 1348, joined Reid's call to fix the "broken" immigration system.      Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said, "Democrats are committed to immigration laws that strike the right balance between protecting our security, strengthening our economy, and enacting laws that uphold the humanity and dignity of those who come here seeking a better life." View a webcast of the briefing at Reid's site.      Sen. Judd Gregg, meanwhile, introduced two measures, S. 1350 and S. 1351, that would increase the cap on H-1B visas for highly skilled workers to 150,000 per year.      "One of the main concerns I hear from businesses in New Hampshire and across the nation is a need for more highly skilled workers and that current law is stymieing their ability to hire the workers they desperately need," the New Hampshire Republican said.      The measures also would establish a visa lottery program for people with advanced degrees by reallocating two-thirds of the 50,000 visas currently issued each year for the diversity lottery program.      And in the House, Tennessee Democrat Bart Gordon introduced measure, H.R. 2272, that calls for investment in research and development to improve U.S. competitiveness globally.      Other technology-related legislation introduced this week included:      -- S. 1353, which would nullify the decision of the Copyright Royalty Board to increase royalties that webcasters pay to recording companies (see separate brief)      -- H.R. 2254, which would establish the transfer of any nuclear weapon, device, material or technology to terrorists as a crime against humanity;      -- H.R. 2211, which would require the president to issue a report to Congress on every surveillance program targeting individuals in the United States;      -- S. 1313, which would wave termination and reactivation fees in cellular telephone contracts for military service members who are transferred or called to active duty;      -- H.R. 2219, which would create a national, toll-free telephone hotline for suicide prevention targeted at and staffed by armed forces veterans;      -- H.R. 2240, which would restore the Homeland Security secretary's oversight of the office for national capital region coordination;      -- And H. Con. Res. 146, which would express Congress' opinion that the Transportation secretary should not let Mexican motor carriers operate beyond border commercial zones.

Today's Feature: Executive Summary The House Administration Committee this week approved a bill that would require paper records of votes cast on electronic machines but did so over Republican objections. Every Friday, read the Executive Summary by K. Daniel Glover.

E-briefs Education:   The Academic Competitiveness Council released a report Thursday recommending that funding for federal education programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics should not be increased unless a plan for rigorous, independent program evaluation is in place. The council created an inventory of the 105 so-called STEM programs across 13 agencies and found a significant lack of effective practices and activities in STEM education. Based on its analysis, the council called for improved coordination and assessment, and measurable results of the programs, which cost $3.12 billion in fiscal 2006. The council found overlapping initiatives among the programs, including 45 that aim to recruit and retain teachers with majors or minors in STEM fields. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said, "As Congress considers competitiveness legislation, I urge them to review the ACC report and focus investments in programs that demonstrate measurable effects on student achievement." Intellectual Property:   The social-networking site MySpace on Friday launched a feature for copyright holders that is designed to prevent users from reposting video content after it has been removed from the online community by request. The initiative, called "Take Down, Stay Down," is a first in the social-networking sector, the News Corp.-owned company said in a press release. Michael Angus, general counsel for Fox Interactive Media, said the feature solves a problem "that has long frustrated copyright holders and presented technical challenges to service providers." When a video is removed from MySpace, a digital fingerprint of the clip is created and adds it to a copyright filter. If any user tries to upload the same content that has been removed, it will be blocked. Audio-filtering, which screens audio files uploaded by users to hinder any unauthorized music uploads, also is offered to all music copyright owners.

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