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ACM
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USACM Prepares FY2003 Report of Activities and Achievements
UCITA Effort Losing Momentum
Funding for IT Advances in Congress
Call for Nominations for Annual National Medal of Technology
USACM Participates in Public Policy Activities at SIGGRAPH
2003
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USACM Prepares FY2003 Report of Activities and Achievements
USACM recently
prepared a report
covering activities and achievements for the fiscal year beginning on
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UCITA Effort Losing Momentum
The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) is a proposed
uniform state law creating new rules to cover online transactions involving
computer software, multimedia products, data, and other similar products. The
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) said
this month that it will no longer push for UCITA's adoption by state
legislatures. NCCUSL's change in
policy follows similar statements by the American Bar Association (ABA) and the American Law Institute. Without backing by the influential NCCUSL or ABA, UCITA is unlikely to gain
further consideration from the states.
To date,
Over the last five years, USACM
has worked to educate state policymakers,
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The California Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and
Communications’ Subcommittee on New Technology, Chaired by State Senator Debra
Bowen, recently held a hearing on the expanded use of radio frequency
identification (RFID)
technology. RFID
is an automatic identification system that utilizes portable tags to transmit
location and other data. The increased popularity of RFID technology has come
as a direct result of technical advancements in miniaturization and lower cost accrued
through economies of scale.
RFID
technology is extremely attractive to manufactures, wholesalers and retailers
as a cost effect means of monitoring small
and large items at each step in the supply chain--from factory floor to the
wholesale or retail sale of a product.
The attractiveness of this technology rests on the hope that it would greatly
reduce, if not eliminate, the tens of millions in losses incurred each year due
to theft and inventory errors.
However, privacy
and consumer groups have concerns about the threat posed to privacy by the
widespread use of RFID
technology in consumer products. Some of
these groups are aggressively working to encourage government regulation of RFID
technology prior to its broad adoption.
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Funding for IT Advances in Congress
The House and Senate have finished their work on appropriations’ legislation for Defense, Homeland Security, Legislative, and Military Construction. The Defense and Homeland Security Appropriations held large increases for information technology initiatives. Most of the new funding for IT has gone to new programs to enhance domestic security and military capability. Overall, the federal research and development funding for fiscal year 2004 (FY 2004) has increased primarily due to additional support for IT areas funded by Defense and Homeland Security appropriations.
According to an American Association for the Advancement of
Science’s analysis of the
FY 2004 federal R&D budget, the House Appropriations for the National
Science Foundation would see a 6.2 percent increase or $329 million over FY 2003. The FY 2004 Department of Commerce’s (DOC) R&D
programs face a budget cut of $268 million and the elimination of the Advanced
Technology Program (ATP).
Certain members of Congress have expressed concerns over the
elimination of ATP and related funding.
They suggest that without additional funding going to the National Institute
of Science and Technology (NIST), undue
stress may be placed on the agency’s ability to meet
congressionally mandated program responsibilities in conducting intramural
research for the development of standards and criteria. NIST receives its funding under DOC
appropriations.
When the Congress returns from their annual August break,
they will work to complete the remaining nine appropriations bills by
the end of the current federal fiscal year on
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Call for Nominations for Annual National Medal of Technology
Secretary of Commerce Don Evans announced the
start of the nominations process to select candidates for the 2004 National Medal of Technology, a
prestigious acknowledgement of scientific achievement conferred by the President
of the
Since 1985 the award has gone to individuals, teams, or
companies for accomplishments in the innovation, development,
commercialization, and management of technology, that lead to new or
significantly improved products, processes, or services.
Questions regarding the 2004 Medal application should be
addressed to Mildred Porter, Director, National Medal of Technology, U.S.
Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room 4226, Washington,
D.C. 20230, Tel: 202-482-5572, or by e-mail: nmt2004@ta.doc.gov. Nominations for the award may
be submitted by e-mail.
Nomination forms and guidelines are available on the National Medal of
Technology web site.
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This month
To review a list of current Federal SPAM bills, see:
http://www.acm.org/usacm/Issues/SPAM.htm
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The Supreme Court of California has ruled that the First
Amendment right to free speech of a computer programmer did not mean trade
secrets could be published on the Internet with
impunity. In the case,
a corporate consortium known as the DVD Copy Control Association contended that
a programmer named Andrew Bunner violated its trade
secrets rights by posting software (DeCSS) that
decrypts DVDs on the Internet despite the fact that the software was widely
available and had been posted online by hundreds of
other individuals. As part of the
ruling, the Court ordered the case back to the appeals court for careful
scrutiny of the trade secrets issues.
In July of 2002, USACM joined the Computer
and Communications Industry Association and a group of intellectual property
professors in submitting a brief in the case that contended the reverse
engineering of mass-marketed products is a lawful way to acquire a trade secret
and that repudiated the notion that an anti-reverse engineering clause in a
mass-market license can override the right to reverse engineer. In its
interest statement attached to the brief, USACM
argued that reverse engineering is critical for systems interoperability and
facilitates the research and testing of information processing systems, and the
development of programs that impede the spread of viruses and other kinds of
malicious software. Finally, the USACM interest statement concludes that
restrictions on reverse engineering would have serious stifling consequences
for software engineers, the computing community, and the overall security of
the information infrastructure and electronic commerce.
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USACM Participates in Public Policy Activities at SIGGRAPH
2003
The SIGGRAPH
Public Policy Program held two successful events at the recent 2003
conference in
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For earlier editions of the ACM Washington Update, see:
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