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On The Hill
Digital TV, FCC Overhaul Bills On Panel's Agenda
by David Hatch
Bills that would overhaul the FCC and take additional steps to ease the nation's transition to digital television signals could emerge this year from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The measures would emanate from the Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee headed by Edward Markey, D-Mass.
Staffers with both panels did not return calls to discuss the possible legislation, which is mentioned in a five-page draft agenda prepared by the committee and obtained by Technology Daily. The document provides only sketchy details, stating, for example, that a DTV measure would be pursued "if necessary," without specifying the criteria for action.
Noting that Congress is concerned that some Americans won't learn about the February 2009 switchover from analog signals, Paul Gallant, a communications analyst with the Stanford Washington Research Group, speculated that lawmakers might require industry stakeholders to increase their publicity efforts.
While the committee also could seek to boost funding for a government coupon program designed to help Americans purchase converters to keep older sets functioning, Gallant said lawmakers view that goal as "less important than simply ensuring people know this is happening."
The draft indicates that an FCC overhaul bill would stem from "pending oversight activity," a reference to the panel's ongoing investigation of agency regulatory practices. Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak, chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, is playing a key role in conducting the bipartisan review.
In December, Sen. John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., recommended that the Senate Commerce Committee pursue similar legislation.
The House committee document lists nearly a dozen communications-related subjects to be the focus of hearings.
The agenda of the telecom subcommittee includes:
-- Oversight of the DTV transition;
-- Overhaul of the universal service fund that subsidizes telecom connections in rural and impoverished areas;
-- Network neutrality safeguards to prevent high-speed Internet providers from potentially acting as content gatekeepers;
-- Access to communications services by the disabled;
-- Competition among subscription video services;
-- Preventing cyber-security attacks on the Internet infrastructure;
-- Examining Second Life and other virtual worlds;
-- And gauging the state of the wireless industry.
The Oversight Subcommittee will investigate the FCC's procedures. And the Commerce, Consumer Protection and Trade Subcommittee will examine disclosure requirements for prepaid calling cards and online behavioral advertising, with the pending Google, DoubleClick merger serving as a "case study."
The agenda also states that enactment of legislation designed to improve the "do not call" registry against unwanted telemarketing solicitations is another priority. The House has passed two bills, H.R. 2601 and H.R. 3541, addressing that issue.
Markey plans to offer a net neutrality bill in February and may pursue legislation revamping regulation of wireless carriers.
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Intelligence
Republicans Soften Demands In Surveillance Debate
by Chris Strohm
House and Senate Republicans on Monday softened their demand for immediate passage of a permanent overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They said they are willing to back a short extension of the law to give lawmakers more time to craft lasting changes.
House and Senate Democratic leaders have been trying to get Republicans in both chambers to agree to extend a temporary FISA law for another 30 days. It expires Friday.
Republicans have refused to accept a time extension, putting Democrats in the position of either voting for legislation they do not fully support or voting against the legislation and being labeled as soft on terrorism.
"Republicans will oppose the 30-day extension because it unnecessarily delays the serious work that is so critical right now," a House GOP leadership aide said. For the first time, though, House Republicans would support a shorter, one-week extension of the temporary law. "We would support a seven-day extension," the aide said.
Across the Hill, an aide to Senate Intelligence Committee ranking Republican Christopher (Kit) Bond of Missouri said he "is open to a shorter-term extension if it meant a couple days to finalize Congress' work on the legislation."
It was not immediately clear if a one-week extension would be acceptable to Democrats. "We are looking at different options," said an aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
The development comes as the Senate and House prepare to vote on FISA legislation Monday. The Senate is expected to vote on limiting debate on a bill from the Intelligence Committee. Republicans have refused to allow any Democratic amendments, prompting Democrats to say they are obstructing the legislative process.
Intelligence Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said he will not vote to limit debate if Republicans do not allow Democrats to offer amendments. Rockefeller's defection could be significant, as his vote last week gave Republicans the 60 votes they needed to kill a competing FISA bill crafted by Democrats on the Judiciary Committee.
"Democrats are committed to passing responsible legislation to help improve our nation's ability to fight terrorism while protecting Americans' civil liberties," a leadership aide said. "What happens following today's cloture vote will depend on Republicans' willingness to work with us to do so."
House Democrats have scheduled a vote on a bill offered by Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, and Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., that would extend the temporary law for 30 days. Reyes said the extension is necessary to give lawmakers time to review documents about U.S. spying activities from the White House and Justice Department.
"Thousands of pages of material were provided, and it will take some time to carefully review these detailed documents and to make a reasoned judgment on what they contain," Reyes said.
The White House has threatened to veto legislation that would provide a 30-day extension.
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Intellectual Property
Copyright Office Hears Debate About Digital Music
by Andrew Noyes
Lawyers for music publishers, songwriters, recording labels and online entertainment companies appeared Monday before a federal panel that sets music-licensing fees to revisit a century-old provision of U.S. copyright law that has not been updated for the digital age.
The "Section 115" statute, which allows music licensing without permission from rights holders as long as licensees pay royalties and abide by certain terms and conditions, is the latest in a string of recent deliberations by the three-judge Copyright Royalty Board.
The Copyright Office sponsored a related roundtable event in June that built on several years of exhaustive negotiations among stakeholders. The 109th Congress considered legislation on the topic, but the bill died after becoming part of a larger copyright package.
An attorney for the Digital Media Association, which represents America Online, Napster, Yahoo and others, began the full-day hearing by explaining a Jan. 7 request for the board to decide whether fees that have historically applied to compact discs and downloads should apply to digital streams.
The trade group believes digital streams are like radio and should only require a performance license. Music publishers have argued that "on demand" or "interactive" offerings are subject to both performance and "mechanical" rights.
Judge William Roberts asked Fernando Laguarda why DiMA waited so long to broach a subject that was "certainly an issue ... going back to at least 2001." Laguarda said the parties unsuccessfully wrangled with the problem until late last year and the filing was "by no means an attempt to cause confusion in the [Section 115] proceeding."
"This is a question of fact and not fit for referral," said Jay Cohen, an attorney for the National Music Publishers' Association. DiMA's claim "will not advance the ball very far" and will only delay what already promises to be a lengthy examination.
He told the judges that his legal team could demonstrate, if needed, that the interactive streaming services provided by some DiMA members "actually leave copies on the computer that are accessible," thus making them eligible to pay up.
Cohen, who represented publishers and songwriters in the overarching proceeding, argued that copyright owners "have been standing in place with respect to the statutory rate for 27 years." The underpinnings of Section 115 have not been litigated since 1980.
The per-song fee was increased to 9.1 cents for physical recordings in 1997, but there has never been a rulemaking to set a royalty for digital music, he said.
Now publishers want a higher rate, music labels want a lower one, and digital media services want to be left out of the equation. A "reasonable royalty" must be established to compel music-makers, who get a small cut of an album's profits, to continue creating content in the 21st-century economy, Cohen said.
The NMPA and songwriters' arguments are expected to end in two weeks, around the same time as the annual Grammy awards. RIAA and DiMA will make their cases for an additional two weeks. The rebuttal stage of the trial is slated to start May 6.
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Campaigns
Web Site Threatens Suit Over Election Law Deadlock
by Heather Greenfield
A free-speech advocacy group is likely to sue because the Federal Election Commission was unable to make a decision in a case about the group.
SpeechNow.org would have been willing to follow filing disclosure rules recommended by FEC Chairman David Mason in exchange for being able to say what it wants to solicit money from donors and to voters in advertisements. But the FEC's split decision, outlined in a draft statement late last week by Mason and Vice Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub, is considered nonbinding because the FEC has only two commissioners, not enough for a quorum.
"It was obviously impossible to get four votes. There were only two people there," said David Keating, president of SpeechNow and also executive director of The Club for Growth. "We're thinking about our next steps."
SpeechNow was created to support candidates who advocate free speech. It doesn't accept contributions from corporations or unions, and no one works directly with candidates. Because of that, Keating said individuals should not be subject to $5,000 limits on donations to SpeechNow.
He said individuals can spend as much of their own money as they want on candidates or causes and it's a free speech issue to block two or more people from gathering online to do the same.
Mason seemed to agree with that argument but still said the group should file reports to disclose expenditures and donations. "That's not worth making a federal case over," Keating said.
He is frustrated that SpeechNow cannot go forward with that plan and will have to take time to go to court, though he said he is confident of winning.
Election attorney Bob Bauer agreed on his blog, More Soft Money Hard Law. He described the FEC statement as "robotic."
"In effect, the FEC, responding to SpeechNow's fully argued request, gave something like its name, rank and serial number," Bauer said. "Having this draft can't but help SpeechNow at the next stage in this fight."
Mike Krempasky, a director and co-founder of RedState, is frustrated that FEC business is on hold because senators haven't voted on four nominees.
Democratic Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Russell Feingold of Wisconsin are procedurally blocking debate on the re-nomination of Hans von Spakovsky because he advocates the use of photo identification at polls, which has angered liberal groups. To pressure Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., has refused to let the other three FEC nominees get Senate confirmation votes until the "hold" on Von Spakovsky's nomination.
The FEC recently lost three commissioners whose presidential appointments had expired.
While liberal bloggers have written about the lack of a quorum at the FEC before, over recent days that issue has taken a backseat to their ongoing campaign to block a Senate bill to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act with immunity for telecommunications companies that may have illegally shared customer records with the government.
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Telecom
Industry Experts, FCC Chief Ponder Telecom Future
by Andrew Noyes
The U.S. regulatory regime for mobile telecommunications has stymied the development of specialized content for the platform, NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker said Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Zucker joined FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and a handful of other technology and telecom executives in a panel discussion of how handheld devices are impacting the business and policy arenas.
Mobile entertainment is "not a big part of our world today for a variety of reasons," Zucker said at a session that ended a week of wide-ranging talks by business and political leaders. The theme was the power of collaborative innovation.
"In the U.S., we're far behind Europe and Asia in terms of technology and we're a generation behind in terms of users," he said, noting that a lack of standards across carriers is a big part of the problem.
"Frankly, there hasn't been as much incentive from carriers in the U.S. to incentivize content companies to program the devices," Zucker said. Unlike in Europe and Asia, carriers award just "10 percent of the economics to the content companies."
That equation will change in time, he said, but "the business model is not there today and usage is not there today in significant ways to change our bottom line," he said. Thus, NBC has put most of its mobile energy into short-form content -- text-messaging and games tied to programming.
But NBC is taking a leap of faith in August with its exclusive broadcast of this summer's Olympic Games. "We're going to provide 2,200 hours of live wireless coverage from Beijing," Zucker said. The occasion will be "a real, telling moment for us."
Martin seemed hopeful that the mobile industry will find its footing in the years to come "as we move away from the voice world to data." "Business models will develop, and I'm not sure we care as much how as we care about how they can go freely," he said.
To that end, the FCC's ongoing auction of spectrum in the 700-megahertz band includes retooled rules to ensure that the winning companies build networks that are "open to more applications and more devices," he said.
Schmidt, whose company will bid on some spectrum, said success in that endeavor depends on a commitment by government and industry to "an open Internet." That will lead to "more content, more users, more revenue, more competition, more choices and more growth," he said.
The push for openness has and will have a "spillover effect" within the telecom sector, Martin said. One example he gave was the Open Handset Alliance's recently announced "Android" mobile platform, which is based on the Linux computer-operating system.
Crafting sound wireless policy is "absolutely critical" for economic growth, Martin said. "But that doesn't mean we have to pick technologies. I think we've had some healthy developments by refraining from that."
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E-Government
Task Force Takes Global View Of Digital Archiving
by Aliya Sternstein
A new international task force will convene for the first time Tuesday to address the problem of maintaining data for future generations.
The National Science Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation are funding the Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access panel's two-year mission, with support from institutions like the Council on Library and Information Resources, Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, and the United Kingdom's Joint Information Systems Committee.
"Data infrastructure is not free," said the group's co-chair Francine Berman, who is director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center. The task force will deliver a report on existing economic models for preservation and recommendations to the community at large on models that should be put into action.
The outreach that officials hope to accomplish will be just as important, Berman said. She would like digital preservation to be an international priority on par with global warming and stem-cell research. Otherwise, government records, family photographs, music and research may disappear.
"Two years is not enough to cover the entire scope of the problem," she said. "One of the things that would be a great outcome is if we could really sort of change thinking."
For instance, Berman said the 2008 election is an enormously data-rich activity. "Think of all the election materials ending up in blogs, podcasts, e-mails. ... Preserving them for the foreseeable future will be absolutely critical," she said.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing next month to investigate the White House's compliance with statutes governing storage of e-mails. In inviting the president's counsel, Fred Fielding, to testify, committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., noted the "considerable confusion that exists regarding the status of White House efforts to preserve e-mails."
Executive office e-mails are "a great example of the kind of digital data that one wants to preserve," Berman said.
Amy Friedlander, programs director of the Council on Library and Information Resources and a member of the digital preservation group, said there are a number of tensions and ambiguities surrounding the retention of government information, such as the distinction between public and private digital materials.
But she said the formal processes used to designate materials for storage or deletion are integral to sustainability across the globe because it is impossible to save everything.
"So while I doubt that the task force will be positioned to look specifically at the policies governing the executive branch," Friedlander said, "it will address the very hard question of making such decisions and, I hope, begin to articulate general principles within which individual entities can make informed decisions about policies and practices."
The task force includes representatives from the Online Computer Library Center, Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences; University of Edinburgh; Microsoft; University of California's Paul Merage School of Business; and several other organizations with economic and technical expertise.
Berman said she hopes to involve a wide spectrum of groups beyond the panel. "This is a problem that everyone has," she said.
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Today's Feature:
Issue of the Week
While driving to the office, Tom hears a broadcast through his car speakers telling him to switch lanes because there is a slow-moving truck six cars in front of him.
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E-briefs
Nanotechnology: The Environmental Protection Agency has taken the first steps toward collecting safety data on nanotechnology materials. It published its plan for nanomaterials stewardship under the Toxic Substances Control Act in the Federal Register Monday. Nanotechnology refers to manipulating tiny particles one-hundredth the size of a human hair. The federal government is beginning to study the health and safety risks of current products with nano-engineered materials, from face cream to tires. The EPA announced plans to launch the stewardship program nearly three years ago. Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies Director David Rejeski said that the plan is long overdue and that the information can help the government better understand the risks of the novel materials. He is concerned that industry has no incentive to participate in the voluntary program and said "swift action is needed now to ensure public and market confidence in the safety of these materials."
Science: NASA is contemplating a partnership with South Korea to develop satellite communications and navigation systems, the U.S. agency announced Monday. NASA's Ames Research Center and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology signed a memorandum for the record over the weekend to begin discussions on possible areas of collaboration. There is potential for teamwork on lunar science, planetary exploration, rovers and small satellites. "We are looking forward to working with the [institute] to advance future space exploration," Ames Director Pete Worden said in a press release. Institute President Nam Pyo Suh stated: "I am delighted with this outcome. This potential collaboration is a historic event for KAIST, as well as for NASA Ames." Since 1992, Korea has launched 10 small satellites.
Politics: Former FCC chief Michael Powell has endorsed Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Powell said that when he chaired the FCC, he worked with McCain on Senate Commerce Committee issues and that McCain understands how the digital revolution is transforming the social and economic landscape. "More than any other candidate, he knows what is needed to calm the turbulent economic waters and to steer the new economy in a direction that will bring growth, opportunity and prosperity to all Americans," said Powell, who also once served as chief of staff of the Justice Department's antitrust division. McCain thanked his fellow veteran Powell for his support, saying Powell has a distinguished record of public service in the Army, Justice and FCC. The next Republican primary is Tuesday in Florida.
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