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Privacy
Rep. Thompson Seeks Answers On Traveler Program
by Chris Strohm
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson demanded to know this week whether the Homeland Security Department will change a traveler-screening program, saying that it appears to be operating in "legal limbo" and risks violating privacy laws.
Thompson, D-Miss., asked the department whether it will issue a new "system-of-records notice" for the Automated Targeting System, which is used to do risk assessments on travelers entering the country by land, sea and air. Such a notice would inform the public exactly how the program operates, what kind of information it collects and how that information is handled.
Controversy erupted over ATS late last year when the department published an original notice for it. Groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the corporate travel industry submitted comments to the department criticizing the program.
Because so many comments were submitted, Thompson wants to know whether changes to the program will be made and a new notice will be issued.
"Several months have passed and this very troublesome program remains in existence without any indication from either the privacy officer or [Customs and Border Protection] regarding the issuance of a new [notice] or whether changes will ultimately be made," Thompson wrote in a June 19 letter to Homeland Security officials. "Since a final decision has not been made on whether a new [notice] will be released, CBP is operating this program in legal limbo, at a risk to the privacy rights of the traveling public."
Thompson added: "The concern about this program was widespread. It is therefore incumbent upon both CBP and the privacy office to address the public's concerns and make a final determination."
A Homeland Security spokesman said the department is working on issuing a new notice but could not say when it would be published. "We continue to make progress on this effort," the spokesman said. "We received a large number of public comments, which is a very important part of the process. We are reviewing each of those comments individually and, as appropriate, that input will be part of a [new notice]."
In response to a Government Accountability Office report last month, the department also argued that it complies with all laws when it comes to ATS and other traveler-screening programs.
The department added that it has published a privacy-impact assessment for ATS. GAO disagreed, however, saying the department has never comprehensively described the entire traveler-screening process, especially for aviation passengers.
"CBP's current disclosures do not fully inform the public about all of its systems for pre-screening aviation passenger information, nor do they explain how CBP combines data in the pre-screening process, as required by law," GAO wrote. "As a result, passengers are not assured that their privacy is protected during the international passenger pre-screening process."
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Television
Mom, Dad Or 'Big Brother': Who's The TV Boss?
by David Hatch
Rep. Edward Markey touched off congressional debate over television's impact on children with a Friday hearing that emphasized parental controls instead of content regulation, the approach championed by Sen. John (Jay) Rockefeller.
"I believe 'Big Mother' and 'Big Father' are better able to decide what is appropriate for their kids to watch, rather than 'Big Brother,'" said Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee.
Nevertheless, he expressed concern that the so-called v-chip technology that lets parents filter content cannot block advertisements, including spots for candy, fast food, sugary cereals and unhealthy snacks that youngsters routinely see. In 1996, Markey spearheaded efforts to include v-chips in television sets, but the technology has drawn scrutiny from critics who complain it is too complicated and not widely known.
"I urge the industry to look at ways to make the technological tools parents already possess more useful and to better advertise their availability," he added. Markey may ask the FCC to initiate a rulemaking on children's advertising.
Friday's hearing was announced after the Senate Commerce Committee scheduled a June 26 hearing on curbing television violence. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., originally planned to offer legislation shortly that would permit the FCC to regulate excessively graphic TV scenes. But a recent court decision overturning agency policy governing "fleeting" on-air profanity during live programming has prompted Rockefeller to rethink his bill.
Spokesman Steven Broderick said the West Virginia lawmaker may add language clarifying the FCC's authority to curb indecency if the agency doesn't appeal the ruling. The senator, who has delayed his measure by a few weeks, also plans to request additional hearings examining media programming and commercials.
During Friday's hearing, some witnesses and lawmakers blamed diabetes, obesity and cigarette use among youngsters partly on extensive TV viewing and regular exposure to junk-food ads and depictions of smoking. But Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, the subcommittee's ranking Republican, emphasized that parental involvement is paramount.
"We have drifted away from personal responsibility, he said, adding, "The master of the clicker must be the adult, not the child in the household."
Dan Glickman, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, testified that film and television ratings already give parents considerable control over what they let their children watch. He noted that MPAA has added "stern" warnings to R-rated films and recently factored smoking scenes into ratings.
"Government edicts alone won't solve the problem," he said.
Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, said his industry has done more than any other to offer family-friendly options. While cable's parental controls are not perfect, he considers them "pretty good" and pledged to work with lawmakers to make improvements.
Testifying on behalf of the National Association of Broadcasters, Jon Rand, general manager of a Fox television station in Spokane, Wash., warned that regulating TV advertising might have the chilling effect of diminishing the availability and quality of children's programming.
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Trade
Panel Won't Reconsider Ruling On Qualcomm Chips
by Winter Casey
The U.S. International Trade Commission has denied a request by Qualcomm to stop the implementation of the commission's recent import ban against certain Qualcomm chips made abroad and the cellular telephones containing those chips.
The chips in question are part of a power-saving feature in some wireless devices.
The commission said in its opinion released Thursday that it applied a four-prong test in denying Qualcomm's request to stay the ban announced earlier this month. The ITC considered whether Qualcomm could demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits of the appeal and whether the ITC decision would cause irreparable harm to Qualcomm without a stay. The commission also weighed whether the issuance of a stay would substantially harm other parties.
The commission said it does not need to "conclude that its own determination is likely to be overturned on appeal, but may find the first prong satisfied if the commission has ruled on 'an admittedly difficult legal question.'" The ITC decided it was sticking with its ruling.
Qualcomm said it now will try to gain relief in federal court.
"We're disappointed with the ITC's denial of the stay despite some commissioners agreeing that a stay should be granted," Christine Trimble, senior director of corporate communications for Qualcomm, said in a statement. "However, we can now proceed with our motion to stay that has been filed with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals."
Charles Schill, a partner at the Steptoe & Johnson law firm, said Qualcomm has asked the appeals court to decide whether to delay the ITC's order until the court rules on the patent-infringement matter. The court would consider the infringement issue through an appeal by Qualcomm on the merits of the case. Theoretically, if the court granted Qualcomm a stay, the chips could continue being imported for more than a year, Schill said.
The case has received attention from companies such as Electronics MobileComm USA, Kyocera Wireless, Motorola, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless. Schill said Verizon supplies the service for phones that contain the infringing chip and Motorola makes products that have the infringing chips.
Steve Largent, president of the wireless industry group CTIA cellular, sent a letter to President Bush on Wednesday, asking him to overturn the ITC's decision.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is currently reviewing the ITC's decision and theoretically could protest the order. Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., have voiced concerns about the effect of the decision on consumers and innovation. Schiff said this could be "one of those extraordinary cases when USTR intervention is warranted."
Schill said the Bush administration should not overturn the ITC's decision.
"The protection of intellectual property is essential to American competitiveness and innovation in global markets," said David Dull, the general counsel to Broadcom, which accused Qualcomm of infringement. "In its proceeding, the ITC constructed a balanced compromise remedy following months of exhaustive study, mountains of evidence and two days of hearings."
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Campaigns
'Netroots' Get Behind Rematch Candidates For 2008
by Heather Greenfield
Three candidates with Internet grassroots backing who narrowly lost congressional races last year already are planning rematches, and liberal bloggers and other online activists are eager to help.
Outside and inside conference rooms at the "Take Back America" conference in Washington this week, there were indications that the 2006 election was just a battle in a longer war against conservative candidates and ideas.
Democrats Darcy Burner, Donna Edwards and Victoria Wulsin all have declared intentions to run for the House again in 2008. "We're saying we're right there for you," said Jane Hamsher, a blogger at the liberal site Firedoglake. "They're part of a process that has tremendous potential."
Burner, a former Microsoft executive, ran against freshman Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash. It took nearly a week before the results indicated Reichert won with less than 51.5 percent of the vote.
In a posting at her Web site, Burner told supporters, "I'm running again to complete the job we began in 2006 -- because you deserve no less."
Wulsin, a medical doctor who has worked against the spread of AIDS in Kenya, lost the race for Ohio's 2nd District by less than 3,000 votes. She has announced she will run again against Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio.
Edwards, executive director of the Arca Foundation, ran against another Democrat in the Maryland primary last fall. She criticized Rep. Albert Wynn for his support of the Iraq war, his vote to repeal the estate tax, and his stance against network neutrality rules that would prevent high-speed Internet carriers from charging some content providers more for faster service.
Wynn won by 2,725 votes, but the final results were delayed by almost two weeks because of problems with voting machines.
Burner attended a Take Back America panel discussion about bloggers this week, and afterward she had an informal brainstorming session with Hamsher and former MyDD bloggers Chris Bowers and Matt Stoller. Bowers told Technology Daily that he and Stoller soon will create an Internet site that will be "more overtly progressive, longer posts, more campaign-focused."
In the 2006 campaign, Bowers helped turn blogger outrage and ideas into action by playing a leadership role in BlogPac, a group started by leading Democratic bloggers, and also by directing readers to donate money to candidates through the online fundraising site ActBlue.
Daily Kos, MyDD and Swing State Project teamed with a page on ActBlue that identified "netroots" candidates like Burner, Edwards and Wulsin. More than $1.5 million was raised there.
The blogs Crooks & Liars, Down With Tyranny, and Firedoglake created a separate "Blue America" page on ActBlue identifying their favored candidates. Blue America raised $545,198 from more than 6,000 donors for 37 candidates.
Those blogs already have started a Blue America page for the 2008 election, with 14 candidates, including Edwards and Wulsin. They also are helping blogger and now-Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., who narrowly won his 2006 race.
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E-Government
Calif. Election Chief Demands To See E-Voting Code
by Michael Martinez
The top election official in California has ordered the nation's largest e-voting manufacturer to give her the source code to its machines.
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen on Thursday demanded that Election Systems & Software relinquish the code to its InkaVote Plus Voting System, which was certified by the state last year. Under California law, Bowen has the power to access the escrowed ballot-tally source code of the machines.
The InkaVote system, which was custom-built for Los Angeles County, is comprised of optical-scan devices and operates on large mainframe computers. Bowen notified ES&S more than a month ago of her intent to access the devices to review the state's voting system.
According to Bowen, E&S must provide the data under conditions of its statewide certification. In a release, she accused ES&S of trying to undermine the review and said it is the only company that has refused to provide all of the information she has requested.
"I'm not going to stand by and watch ES&S ignore the state of California and, in particular, the voters of Los Angeles County by refusing to abide by the certification conditions that were imposed when the [system] was certified last year," she said.
In a statement on Friday, ES&S said it has notified Bowen that it intends to fully comply with her request for the source-code information.
"At this point, we have decided to provide the information requested by [Bowen] in order to ensure our customers have the ability to use the InkaVote Plus voting system in their upcoming elections," ES&S said.
ES&S prevailed in a separate case over source code earlier this week.
Florida's 1st Court of Appeals refused to rule on a challenge by Christine Jennings, a Democrat who lost a U.S. House race last year by just 369 votes, from accessing the source code of the company's iVotronic touch-screen machines. Florida Circuit Judge William Gary previously ruled that Jennings failed to provide compelling evidence to force the company into disclosing the source code and potentially exposing trade secrets.
The California case is different in that Bowen is asserting what she believes is her lawful authority to compel the disclosure of the code under a certification agreement.
Electionline.org Director Doug Chapin said the California dispute demonstrates a shift in the relationship between election officials and vendors. He said officials have made more of an effort to impose conditions on vendors when they buy their voting systems.
"Voting technology has become very much more a buyers' market," he said. "And more districts are asserting their right to get vendors to do what believe they've promised to do.
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Intellectual Property
How Much Is Too Much For Web Radio Royalties?
by Andrew Noyes
SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Key stakeholders in the debate over a pending rate hike for Internet radio sat shoulder-to-shoulder at the Digital Media Conference on Friday for the first time since the issue hit its crescendo in recent weeks.
The face-off was tempered, with representatives for large and small webcasters, musicians, and digital royalty collector SoundExchange sharing the stage at the fourth annual summit here.
Everyone said recording labels and artists should be compensated for their work, but no one could agree on the right calculation. The fee increase that the Copyright Royalty Board arrived at in March could hurt webcasters, some have warned.
DiMA, National Public Radio and a group of small Web radio providers asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for an emergency halt to the hike, which takes effect July 15. They also plan to appeal the board's ruling in court.
"We're happy to pay royalties," DiMA Executive Director Jonathan Potter said. "We're not happy to pay exponentially more than our competitors." Over-the-air radio does not pay royalties; cable radio pays a little more than 7 percent of revenue; and satellite radio pays somewhere between 2.8 percent and 7 percent of revenue, he said.
If the new webcasting fees stand, large firms like America Online and Yahoo would pay about 60 percent of revenue to SoundExchange. They currently pay 25 percent to 30 percent. Small outfits would pay some 300 percent of revenue, up from 10 percent to 12 percent now. Under the scheme, "there's not a business to be had," Potter said.
The popular webcaster AccuRadio earned $400,000 in revenue last year and paid 12 percent to SoundExchange, founder Kurt Hanson said. Under the changed rate structure, which covers 2006-2010, he would be retroactively responsible for $600,000 in royalties for last year alone.
But SoundExchange's Michael Huppe countered that "it's all about fairness" for content creators. Despite its support of the rate hike, the group is supportive of webcasters, he said. "It's not in our interest to have Internet radio go out of business."
The three-judge royalty panel took two years, held more than 50 hearings, called dozens of witnesses and reviewed millions of pages of documents before making its decision, Huppe noted. "The judges saw everything. They had very good questions and came up with a very reasoned opinion."
Although the board considered various proposals about how to proceed, Potter complained that it never said "why one proposal was better than the others." They did not explain the potential impacts -- positive or negative -- of any of the routes they could have taken, he said.
Matador Records representative Dick Huey; NPR Vice President Michael Riksen; and the Recording Artists' Coalition legal counsel Jay Rosenthal also spoke. Attorney David Oxenford, who represents small webcasters in the case, moderated the discussion.
For more on the conference, visit our blog, Tech Daily Dose.
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Privacy
Digital Moves May Worsen Medical Identity Theft
by Aliya Sternstein
The enforcement of medical records security rules must be strengthened to thwart medical identity theft, privacy and technology researchers say, noting that the problem is expected to grow more intense as the healthcare system goes digital.
Medical ID thieves use patient names or other personal information to obtain medical services or make false reimbursement claims. Medical ID theft can be more troublesome than financial ID theft because there are fewer methods of recourse for victims.
For example, medical victims do not have the right to correct health information that was not entered by their current providers or insurers. Victims of financial ID theft can demand that falsities be removed from their credit reports.
Medical identity theft "typically leaves a trail of falsified information in medical records that can plague victims' medical and financial lives for years," stated a May 2006 report by the World Privacy Forum. Victims may receive the wrong medical treatment, discover their health insurance exhausted, or become uninsurable for life and health coverage, the report noted. They also may fail physical examinations due to diseases in their health records that do not belong to them.
The forum estimated that about a quarter-million to a half-million individuals have been victims of the crime.
At present, federal health privacy and security compliance is enforced primarily in reaction to complaints, the Health and Human Services Department said Thursday. The department does not conduct audits to determine if hospitals and clinics are following security rules.
However, the HHS inspector general's office recently began a pilot audit at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta to measure Medicare and Medicaid's compliance with federal health information security requirements. The department may conduct more reviews to determine the adequacy of enforcement at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Paul Proctor, a vice president with Gartner Research's security and risk group, said, federal health information security requirements "have resulted in many covered entities improving protections for protected health information, but the lack of enforcement has resulted in a relaxed attitude with respect to compliance. Proactive security audits would be a wake-up call for many organizations."
Kurt Long, founder and CEO of the healthcare information security company EpicTide, said: "This all drives into electronic health records. If we stick with a paper-based system, people will have more trouble cleaning up their records."
At the same time, in rolling out electronic healthcare systems, it is imperative that privacy and security be built in at the forefront, he said. In terms of medical ID theft, "many incidents fly under the radar today."
Long said the CMS audits are "a good, nascent beginning," but HHS must audit healthcare providers, too. "Even if they did one audit per month of a hospital, that would have an amazingly positive impact at the working level around privacy and security -- because the healthcare industry would take [security and privacy rules] seriously."
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Broadband
Industry Credits Broadband, Job Growth To Video
by Gene J. Koprowski, for Technology Daily
CHICAGO -- Content creation by consumers -- like the saucy online site and video produced by the young lady with a "crush" on presidential candidate Barack Obama and other idiosyncratic Internet fare -- is helping drive high-speed Internet deployment.
That seems to be the consensus emerging among leading telecommunications executives. "With social networks, content distribution is going from broadcasting to 'persona-casting,'" Motorola Chairman and CEO Ed Zander said at the industry's NXTComm conference here this week.
Zander noted that the YouTube video-sharing site generates as much traffic as the entire Web did in 2000. He also suspects that many consumers are watching more video every day from their online social networks than they are from television. "We need to enable that with high-bandwidth, broadband networks," Zander said.
Also at the conference, Verizon Communications Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg said the emergence of this "digital lifestyle" is actually creating jobs in the United States. The sites are creating a "surge in visual interface content," Seidenberg said. "That's creating a lot of growth. Video requires 1,000 times the bandwidth of audio."
The major technology companies are responding by working to create a "seamless" video environment for consumers, where they can watch video on their home computers, personal digital assistants, mobile telephones or flat-screen televisions, Zander said.
That is generating a lot of new technology employment across the board. "Every job in broadband creates four jobs in the rest of the economy," Seidenberg said. "That's incredible."
The benefits of the technology are not just being felt in the United States. Executives said social-networking sites are spreading in Asia, particularly Japan and South Korea, and in Europe and even in Africa. Wireless broadband deployments facilitate that trend.
Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said new policies at the federal level are needed to help American telecom companies "compete with India" in the broadband arena.
Innovation in advertising content is expected to help finance the wave of social networks around the globe, as consumers expect to use the sites for free.
"Our research shows that consumers will not accept 30-second spots, like on TV," said Bob Wright, vice chairman and executive officer of General Electric, which owns NBC Universal. "We're talking about targeted, personalized marketing messages. But we also need to protect consumers' privacy rights."
The rise of the social networks also is going to change the way traditional broadcasters produce content, Wright said.
Because people are getting used to watching video online, NBC is planning to produce 2,400 hours of "streaming video, optimized for the mobile platform," for next summer's Olympics in Beijing, he said. Only a small percentage of the content will be broadcast over the traditional NBC network, Wright said.
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On The Hill
Senators Make Bid To Boost Low-Power FM Radio
by Sandra Gonzalez and Theresa Poulson
Two senators this week introduced legislation that would implement FCC recommendations to grant licenses for low-power FM radio stations. The bill was among the new technology-related measures, with others covering topics like homeland security and e-government.
Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and John McCain, R-Ariz., authored the LPFM bill, S. 1675, which focuses on groups wishing to establish such stations. They typically are community-based, noncommercial radio stations that broadcast to neighborhoods and small towns.
Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said the legislation would help foster growth of LPFM stations that thus far has been inhibited. "Localism and diversity have always been at the heart of radio," he said. "Many low-power FM stations across America reflect the best of these traditions and have flourished despite existing interference standards."
Another new measure, S. 1650, aims to help spread digital and wireless technology to minority-serving institutions. The bill would enlist help from the National Science Foundation to establish a program that would fund infrastructure-improving projects so the institutions could support advancing digital and wireless network technologies.
Other tech-related measures introduced this week included:
-- S. 1644, which would fund the Homeland Security Department in fiscal 2008; (see separate story)
-- S. 1654, which would make it illegal to "spoof" caller-identification functions on telephones; (see separate story)
-- S. 1639, which calls for immigration reform;
-- H. Res. 499, which would urge the Bush administration to rigorously enforce laws to substantially reduce illegal immigration and improve border security;
-- H.R. 2768, H.R. 2769 and S. 1655, which would shorten the deadline for installing underground communication systems for mine operators and establish a national call center to respond to emergencies;
-- H.R. 504, which require that House legislation and conference reports be available on the Internet for 72 hours before consideration;
-- H.R. 2775, which would authorize $1.35 billion from fiscal 2009 through fiscal 2011 for an emergency-management grant program for state and local governments;
-- H.R. 2787, which would require mobile homes to have built-in weather radios;
-- H.R. 2791, which calls for a tracking system for medical devices;
-- S. 1670, which would establish a single database for military and medical records to track the status of people within the system, making the data available to the Veterans Affairs Department through a joint patient-tracking application;
-- S. 1662 and S. 1663, which would reauthorize venture-capital programs for small businesses;
-- And S. 1671, which would reauthorize and improve entrepreneurial development programs in the Small Business Administration.
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Today's Feature:
Executive Summary
More technology industry groups have identified energy as an issue with an impact on U.S. competitiveness that is worth following.
Every Friday, read the Executive Summary by K. Daniel Glover.
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E-briefs
E-Government: The House Science and Technology Committee on Friday approved legislation that would authorize nearly $2 billion for research and development by the Federal Aviation Administration. The bill, H.R. 2698, would establish several new research initiatives and reauthorize existing ones. It includes several provisions for the joint planning and development office, which is charged with redesigning the current air transportation system to anticipate future safety and capacity needs in the most efficient way possible. The project, called the Next-Generation Air Transportation System, includes precision satellite navigation, networked digital communications and an integrated aviation weather system. The FAA also must develop a plan for the potential incapacitation of the system. The measure "will help ensure that the FAA has the tools it needs to keep the nation's air transportation system safe, efficient and environmentally friendly," said Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairman Mark Udall, D-Colo.
E-Government: The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday approved two bills about databases focused on drug safety. One bill would authorize $10 million to establish a publicly accessible database that posts information on clinical trials conducted by the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Manufacturers would have to register and post the results of all clinical trials. Violators could be fined $15,000 for each application and up to $10,000 per day until violations are corrected. The other bill seeks to expand the Food and Drug Administration's ability to monitor drug safety. An amendment to the bill seeks to prevent identity theft by stripping patient information from a risk-identification and analysis database created to help the FDA monitor adverse reactions to drugs. Another amendment would fine companies up to $500,000 for false or misleading advertisements, including ads on television, radio or the Internet.
On The Hill: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Friday announced plans to revive a Democratic task force on high-tech issues. Reid, D-Nev., selected John Kerry of Massachusetts and Mark Pryor of Arkansas to lead the Senate Democratic High-Tech Task Force. The working group will focus on boosting the country's economic competitiveness in the global marketplace, strengthening the education system to develop more skilled workers, protecting the environment, and other issues. In a release, Pryor said he wants to ensure that the United States maintains its advantage in the global market. "America should be on the forefront of emerging technologies and high-tech industries," he said. Kerry said the tech industry faces several important issues in the 110th Congress, and he intends to support a "pro-growth, pro-innovation" agenda.
Intellectual Property: The leader of an infamous Internet software piracy group was sentenced Friday to 51 months in prison on one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. Hew Raymond Griffiths, leader of the piracy group DrinkOrDie, was extradited in February from his home in Bateau Bay, Australia -- one of the first instances of extradition for an intellectual property offense. Griffiths, who went by the moniker "Bandido," ran all of DrinkOrDie's daily operations, which involved cracking software codes and distributing pirated software over the Internet, resulting in an estimated $50 million worth of pirated software, movies, games and music. The group was dismantled by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in December 2001 in a series of raids conducted in the United States and five foreign countries. Griffiths spent nearly three years in a detention center in Australia fighting his extradition before pleading guilty before a U.S. district court April 20.
Civil Liberties: Google is asking officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to treat Internet content restrictions in other countries as international trade barriers. Google wants U.S. government officials to consider the issue an economic one for U.S. businesses and not just a political concern. "It's fair to say that censorship is the No. 1 barrier to trade that we face," said Andrew McLaughlin, Google's director of public policy and government affairs. AP quoted USTR spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel as having said, "If censorship regimes create barriers to trade in violation of international trade rules, USTR would get involved." Google posted a blog entry on the topic.
Culture: A tiny Wisconsin think tank has created a "wiki" -- a Web site that anyone can edit -- to help people file open-records requests at the state and local levels. The Lucy Burns Institute started WikiFOIA after being unable to access records for reasons ranging from lengthy delays to charges of thousands of dollars for Freedom of Information Act requests. WikiFOIA Director Sara Key said they were denied basic school district records like budgets and contracts. Sometimes, records are free if the requestor argues that releasing the information is for the greater good, but each state gets to determine the definition of "the greater good." Since launching in late March, WikiFOIA has attracted a small contingency in New Jersey that is co-authoring an entire section of the site. "It's a great format," Key said, "because there are so many differences from state to state or from county to county."
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