ACM WASHINGTON UPDATE
USACM Executive Committee Discusses Policy Activities
House Passes Broadband Deregulation Bill
Problems Plague Hague Conference on Private International Law
USACM Leaders Visit U.S. Policy-Makers
USACM Member Dr. Susan Landau Appointed to Key Advisory Panel
USACM Co-Chair Dr. Barbara Simons Receives ACM Award
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February, 2002 Volume 6.2
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INTRODUCTION
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USACM Executive Committee Discusses Policy Activities
On February 9, members of the USACM Executive Committee met in Washington, D.C.,
USACM achievements for 2001 included receiving multiple invitations to testify before
USACM is expected to be active in a variety of policy matters as the 107th Congress
The ACM Public Policy Office is actively working with USACM to formulate a comprehensive
To review a summary of 2001 USACM Policy Activities, see the web site:
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House Passes Broadband Deregulation Bill
The U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 1542, the Internet Freedom and
The legislation would remove current requirements that require regional Bell telecommunications
Washington Post Article on the Pros and Cons of H.R. 1542 see:
Tauzin-Dingell article from
Background: Telecommunications Act of 1996 by Consumers Union Telecom Act of 1996
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Problems Plague Hague Conference on Private International Law
More controversy is emerging as the Hague Conference on Private International Law attempts to
Other challenges to a uniform global policy that would regulate online communications are presented
The next meeting of negotiators is scheduled for April, while the target date for completion of the
For more information on the activities of the Hague Conference on Private International Law:
List of the members of the Hague Delegation:
US Delegation
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USACM Leaders Visit U.S. Policy-Makers
USACM continues to play an important role in Washington by assisting policy-makers to understand
In February a delegation of USACM members and staff visited with U.S. House and Senate offices
The USACM delegation met with key staff for Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Hollings
To review testimony from a Senate Commerce Committee on February 28 regarding efforts to protect
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USACM Member Dr. Susan Landau Appointed to Key Advisory Panel
Dr. Susan Landau, Senior Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems Laboratories, has been appointed to
Dr. Landau offers the CSSPAB a unique combination of communications security experience from her
In 1994, Dr. Landau served as the first author of a landmark study produced by USACM of the public
In addition to authoring numerous scholarly articles on relevant security topics including
For more information see: CSSPAB
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USACM Co-Chair Dr. Barbara Simons Receives ACM Award
Dr. Barbara Simons, who founded ACM's public policy committee (USACM), has been awarded the
Dr. Simons has chaired ACM's Committee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights (1987), served as
Dr. Simons served on the President's Export Council's Subcommittee on Encryption, and on the
Dr. Simons is currently a consulting professor at Stanford University and Co-chair of the USACM.
ACM will present the Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award to Dr. Simons at the annual ACM Awards
To read the ACM media release announcing the award, see the web site:
News Release.
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Contacting the ACM Public Policy Office
Should you have questions, comments, suggestions or recommendations regarding
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with ACM leadership, staff and other participants to review 2001 activities and discuss
policy objectives for 2002 and beyond.
Congress, working with ACM Council to submit an ACM declaration in support of
computing researchers challenging provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA),providing assistance to policy-makers on over one dozen information
technology policy matters, and creating a new ACM Advisory Committee on Security
and Privacy.
considers legislation to: create new intellectual property protections for databases;
mandate technology standards to manage digital rights as a means of safeguarding copyrights;
and to enhance security by using a variety of identification technologies such as smart cards
and biometrics.
public policy agenda to address these and other emerging policy issues.
USACM Policy Activities
Broadband Deployment Act of 2001, on February 27. The bill was popularly referred to
as Tauzin-Dingell, the names of the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee.
companies to share access to their high-speed data connections with competitors. However,
despite the 273 to 157 margin of approval by the House, the legislation is not expected to
receive consideration in the Senate due to the strong opposition by of two key Senators,
Commerce Committee
Chairman Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) and Ranking Minority Member John McCain (R-AZ).
the Washington Post.
negotiate regulation of online transactions. For example, the U.S. Internet related industry, including
Internet service providers, has expressed an interest in limiting the treaty to business-to-business
contracts while leaving the more complicated business-to-consumer issues to be settled later.
by civil liberty and free speech issues. The difficulty that the participating nation’s negotiators
are facing has a great deal to do with the diverse views on what constitutes civil liberties and free
speech.
conference is planned for 2003.
Hague Conference
the technical implications of complex technology policy issues.
to discuss concerns regarding the "chilling effect" of the DMCA on research and education, as well as
the damaging effects of legislation which seeks to mandate technology standards to manage digital
rights as a means of safeguarding copyrights.
(D-SC), Senator Feinstein (D-CA), Senator Boxer (D-CA), Representative Boucher (D-VA), and
Representative Eshoo (D-CA). In addition, USACM also met with a representative of the U.S.
Department of Commerce's Technology Administration to raise similar concerns.
content in the digital age, see the web site: Hearing Testimony
the Computer System Security and Privacy Advisory Board (CSSPAB) of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST). Dr. Landau has been a valued contributing member of ACM for many
years and serves on USACM and the ACM Committee on Law and Computing Technology.
long and distinguished career in industry and academia, coupled with exceptional academic credentials.
policy issues related to communications security entitled: "Codes, Keys, and Conflicts: Issues in U.S.
Crypto Policy."
cryptography, encryption and computational mathematics, she co-wrote the book "Privacy on the Line:
The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption" in 1998 with distinguished cryptographer Whitfield Diffie.
2001 Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award. In leading the effort to create ACM's public policy
committee in 1993, Dr. Simons recruited scientists and technologists as well as lawyers, law
professors and others in the academic world who sought to make a contribution to technology policy.
president of ACM (1998-2000), and is a Fellow of ACM and the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Information Technology-Sector of the President's Council on the Year 2000 Conversion.
Banquet on April 27, 2002, at the University of Toronto.
public policy issues or USACM activities, please contact the ACM Public
Policy
Office located in Washington, DC, by e-mailing usacm_dc@acm.org or calling
(202)659-9711. The ACM Public Policy Office would also be pleased to assist
ACM members in contacting or meeting with their elected officials in
Washington, DC.