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			WASHINGTON UPDATE

		    U.S. Office of Public Policy 
		  of the Association for Computing

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			April 24, 1997
			   Volume 1.1 

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CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION

USACM ACTIVITIES
	USACM Criticizes Interim Rule on Cryptography
	USACM Supports Internet Friendly Legal Citations Proposal

POLICY BRIEFS
	Cryptography Legislation Introduced in House and Senate
	Consumer Risks Associated With Year 2000 Problem Cited
	FCC Releases Staff Working Paper on Internet Policy
	Social Security Number Protection On-Line
	NSF Announces New Computer Partnerships
	Bill Would Require ISPs to Offer Blocking Software
	Legislation Introduced on Internet Tax and On-Line Gambling
	The Science Budget
	Supreme Court Hears Reno v. ACLU
	Clinton Forms Advisory Committees
	AAAS Releases Annual R&D Budget Analysis
	Hale-Bopp Discoverer Urges More Funding For Science Research
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INTRODUCTION
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This is the first issue of a bi-weekly electronic publication of the U.S. 
Public Policy Office of the Association for Computing (USACM).  The
Association for Computing is an international professional society whose
75,000 members (60,000 in the U.S.) represent a critical mass of computer
scientists in education, industry, and government.  The USACM provides a
means for promoting dialogue on technology policy issues with United
States policy makers and the general public. The WASHINGTON UPDATE will
report on activities in Washington which may be of interest to those in
the computing and information policy communities and will highlight
USACM's involvement in many of these issues. 

To subscribe to the ACM WASHINGTON UPDATE send an e-mail to
listserv@acm.org with "subscribe WASHINGTON-UPDATE" (no quotes) in the
body of the message.

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USACM ACTIVITIES
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USACM CRITICIZES INTERIM RULE ON CRYPTOGRAPHY
The USACM submitted comments on the Interim Rule issued by the Department
of Commerce with regard to "Encryption Items Transferred From the United
States Munitions List to the Commerce Control List." The USACM believes it
is in the best interest of the U.S. government to promote the widespread
use of strong encryption. From our perspective the Interim Rule fails to
recognize the legitimate needs and interests of academic, professional,
scientific, and ordinary users of telecommunications technology. Thus, the
Interim Rule must be modified before it can resolve the many problems with
the current export controls on encryption technologies. 
http://www.acm.org/usacm/crypto/usacm_crypto_comments.html

USACM SUPPORTS INTERNET FRIENDLY LEGAL CITATIONS PROPOSAL
The USACM wrote a letter supporting the American Bar Association's
proposal for new standard for legal citations on March 14, 1997.  The
USACM believes that the government should enable citizens access to
legislative, judicial and executive branch information through the
Internet and that such information should be available in standard formats
to promote broad and effective access. 
http://info.acm.org/usacm/access/usacm_aba_cites.html

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POLICY BRIEFS
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CRYPTOGRAPHY LEGISLATION INTRODUCED IN HOUSE AND SENATE: 
A hearing was held on March 21, 1997 on the "Pro-CODE" legislation (S.377)
reintroduced by Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) this session. The bill would
relax export controls on cryptography to promote commerce and privacy on
the Internet.  One new provision in the bill would create a secret
Information Security Board that would give law enforcement agencies
special access to the development of new plans for privacy enhancing
technologies.  Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the "Encrypted
Communications Privacy Act"  (S.376). The bill would protect the right to
use encryption, but would criminalize the use of encryption in furtherance
of a crime and also sets up a legal framework to promote key escrow. Rep.
Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)  re-introduced the "Security and Freedom Through
Encryption (SAFE) Act"  (H.R. 695) and a hearing was held on the bill on
March 22, 1997. The bill, which has over 50 cosponsors, relaxes
cryptography export controls and prohibits mandatory key escrow. It also
creates new criminal penalties for using encryption to further a criminal
act.

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CONSUMER RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH YEAR 2000 PROBLEM CITED
Rep. Constance A. Morella, chair of the Committee on Science's
Subcommittee on Technology, along with several of her colleagues sent a
letter to the Clinton Administration requesting information on the Year
2000 problem. The Year 2000 problem involves embedded microchips which
have internal timers which are programmed with the "19" prefix.  When the
year 2000 is ushered in, computers which are programmed with the "19" 
prefix will interpret the year to be 1900 not year 2000. The letter was
drafted after a hearing in which several witnesses reiterated their
concerns about potential serious safety consequences associated with the
Year 2000 problem. 

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FCC RELEASES STAFF WORKING PAPER ON INTERNET POLICY
On March 27, 1997 The FCC's Office of Plans and Policy (OPP) released a
staff working paper analyzing the implications of the Internet for the FCC
and telecommunications policy. "Digital Tornado: The Internet and
Telecommunications Policy," was written by Kevin Werbach, Counsel for New
Technology Policy.  The working paper is not an official statement by the
FCC. The paper suggests that the FCC, and other government agencies,
should seek to limit regulation of Internet services. Werbach states: 
"Because it is not tied to traditional models or regulatory environments,
the Internet holds the potential to dramatically change the communications
landscape.  The Internet creates new forms of competition, valuable
services for end users, and benefits to the economy.  Government policy
approaches toward the Internet should therefore start from two premises:
avoid unnecessary regulation, and question the applicability of
traditional rules."  http://www.fcc.gov/

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SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER PROTECTION ON-LINE
The House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security will
hold a hearing on the Social Security Internet site on May 6, 12997. The
hearing was prompted by the recent on-line availability of the PEBES
(Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement) database system, a
Website developed and maintained by the Social Security Administration. 
The website was designed to make an individual's PEBES more accessible. 
However PEBES was removed from the Internet because of widespread
complaints about the privacy implications of using social security numbers
as passwords. http://www.ssa.gov

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NSF ANNOUNCES NEW COMPUTER PARTNERSHIPS
The National Science Board chose two recipients for the National Science
Foundation's new Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure
program.  The National Computational Science Alliance (NCSA) led by the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the National Partnership
for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI) led by the University of
California, San Diego have been chosen for awards. The NCSA proposal lays
out a vision for a distributed environment whose goal is to prototype a
national information infrastructure that enables the best computational
research in the country.  The NPACI proposal includes a national-scale
metacomputing environment with diverse hardware and several high-end
sites. http://www.nsf.gov:80/od/lpa/start.html

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BILL WOULD REQUIRE ISPS TO OFFER BLOCKING SOFTWARE
On March 20, the "Family-Friendly Internet Access Act of 1997" (HR 1180) 
was introduced by Rep. Joseph McDade (R-Pa) which mandates that Internet
access providers provide their customers with software that enables them
to block their children's access to unsuitable Internet material.  The
proposed legislation would require that the screening software be made
available at the time a customer contracts for the provision of Internet
access services. The software would have to be free of charge or priced at
cost. The bill is similar to one introduced Feb. 13 in the Texas House of
Representatives (2 EPLR 254).Excluded under HR 1180's definition of an
Internet access provider are common carriers providing only transmission
and routing services.

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LEGISLATION INTRODUCED ON INTERNET TAX AND INTERNET GAMBLING
Congressman Rick White (R- WA), Congressman Chris Cox (R-CA) and Senator
Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the "Internet Tax Freedom Act" which would 1) 
place a moratorium on taxes on the Internet or interactive services 2) 
establish a task force to determine how the federal government should deal
with the tax issue and 3) prohibit the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) from setting rates for Internet services. Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) 
has introduced the "Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1997" which would
make illegal the transmission of any information related to gambling,
including bets wagers, or the chance to win a prize or lottery. An ISP
would be required to cut off Internet access only following a written note
from a law enforcement agency and would not be held liable for any
damages. 

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THE SCIENCE BUDGET
On April 16, the House Science Committee, passed ten authorization bills
under the direction of the new Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner
(R-WI).The bills authorized a total increase of just less than 3 percent
over FY 1997 funding levels for the R&D programs the Committee controls. 
The NSF funding for FY98 represents a 3 percent increase over FY97, and
would authorize a total of $3.505 billion for FY98 -- a 7.2 percent
increase. The bills also authorized funding for all of NIST's programs,
including the Advanced Technology Program (ATP).  Sensenbrenner noted
that, "unlike the previous chair, who was philosophically opposed to the
ATP, I am not."  However Congressman Harold Rogers (R-KY), Chairman of the
House Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Subcommittee stated that he
wants to shut down ATP at an appropriations hearing on the Commerce
Department's science and technology programs.  The entire process was
notably bi-partisan as compared to last years House Science Committee
mark- up which was ostensibly contentious. In the Senate, a new bill, "The
National Research Investment Act of 1997" (S. 124) is being introduced by
Senator Gramm (R-TX).  It would authorize the doubling over a decade of
most of the non-R&D budgets of the federal government. 

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SUPREME COURT HEARS RENO V. ACLU
The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Reno v. ACLU, the
legal challenge to the Communications Decency Act on March 19.  The law,
which prohibits the electronic transmission or display of indecent
materials to minors, was ruled unconstitutional by a three judge panel in
Philadelphia.  A ruling from the Court is expected by June. 

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CLINTON FORMS ADVISORY COMMITTEES
On February 11, President Clinton issued an executive order forming the
"Advisory Committee on High Performance Computing and Communications,
Information Technology, and the Next Generation Internet."  The Committee
will provide assistance to the National Technology and Science Council
(NTSC) on "all areas of high performance computing, communications and
information Technologies."  Bill Joy and Ken Kennedy will Co-chair the
Committee. The Clinton Administration is requesting nominations for
representatives to serve on the Advisory Committee on Public Interest
Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. The President will appoint
up to 15 members who represent diverse views from the commercial and
noncommercial broadcasting industry, computer industries, producers,
academic institutions, public interest organizations, and the advertising
community.  Members will be asked to provide advice to the Administration
on the public interest obligations that digital television broadcasters
should assume.  http://www.ntia.doc.gov/. 

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AAAS RELEASES ANNUAL R&D BUDGET ANALYSIS
The American Association for the Advancement of Science released its
latest analysis of R&D funding trends to the Presidents Committee of
Advisors on Science and Technology on March 6.  The presentation
materials, preceded by a short text narrative, are available on AAAS WWW
site in PDF format at http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/rdwwwpg.htm. 

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HALE-BOPP DISCOVERER URGES MORE FUNDING FOR SCIENCE RESEARCH Alan Hale,
the co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp has written a letter to the science
community in which he argues that "Based upon my own experiences, and
those of you with whom I have discussed this issue, my personal feeling is
that, unless there are some pretty drastic changes in the way that our
society approaches science and treats those of us who have devoted our
lives to making some of our own contributions, there is no way that I can,
with a clear conscience, encourage present-day students to pursue a career
in science."  He requests that other scientists e-mail any negative career
stories about him at ahale@nmsu.edu and let him know if you would prefer
to remain anonymous when he shares these stories with the press and the
government. 
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The ACM Washington Update is a biweekly publication of the U.S. Public
Policy Office of the Association for Computing HTTP://www.acm.org/usacm/
The USACM office is at 666 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 301, Washington,
DC 20003. 202/298-0842 (tel), 202/547-5482 (fax). To subscribe to the ACM
Washington Update send an e-mail to listserv@acm.org with "subscribe
WASHINGTON-UPDATE" (no quotes) in the body of the message.
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