ACM Washington Update Vol. 8.12 (December 31, 2004)
CONTENTS
[1] ACM Job Migration Task Force Meets in D.C.
[2] U.S. Supreme Court to Consider P2P Case
[3] Intelligence Reform Legislation Becomes Law
[4] European Union Policy Developments
[5] Upcoming Events
[6] About USACM
[1] ACM JOB MIGRATION TASK FORCE MEETS IN D.C.
ACM's Job Migration Task Force held a meeting earlier this month in Washington, D.C. The task force heard presentations from, among others, representatives of the Institute for International Economics, the Cato Institute, the Economic Policy Institute, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The group was assembled to assess the major forces shaping the movement of IT jobs globally, with a focus on software and systems research, development, and services. Its primary mission is to provide a more informed context for making professional career decisions, setting future educational requirements, and understanding future employment trends.
The group is co-chaired by Moshe Vardi (Rice University) and Frank Mayadas (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation) and includes representatives from North America, Europe, India, China, Japan, and Israel. The task force expects to release the results of its study during the second half of 2005.
For more information, see the ACM Membernet article announcing the task force's launch at http://campus.acm.org/public/membernet/storypage_2.cfm?ci=September_2004&story=2.
[2] U.S. SUPREME COURT TO CONSIDER P2P CASE
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to consider a case that centers on whether or not the makers of file-sharing software and networks are liable for the copyright infringement of their users. The court will review a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that cleared peer-to-peer (P2P) companies Grokster and StreamCast from liability for the copyright infringement of some of their users. The case may affect the two-decade-old Sony-Betamax decision, which provides protection for technologies that have "substantial non-infringing" uses. More information about the case is available from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) at http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/MGM_v_Grokster/, while the Sony-Betamax decision is available at http://laws.findlaw.com/us/464/417.html.
Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held a workshop this month entitled "Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing Technology: Consumer Protection and Competition Issues." The workshop featured panels on such things as the basics of P2P, potential risks to consumers, the impact of P2P on copyright holders, and file-sharing and music distribution. More information, including copies of most of the presentations (in PDF format), is available at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/filesharing/.
Also this month, Australia's Senate passed a bill--as part of the effort to implement the Australia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA)--which will, among other things, enable parties other than copyright owners to force ISPs to remove materials that are allegedly infringing copyright. The new measures followed a round of last-minute talks between the two nations. The FTA is set to take effect on January 1, 2005. More information about the FTA is available at http://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/negotiations/us.html and http://www.ustr.gov/Trade_Agreements/Bilateral/Australia_FTA/Section_Index.html.
[3] Intelligence Reform Legislation Becomes Law
On December 17th, President Bush signed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 into law, a move that will result in sweeping changes for the nation's intelligence operations. The new law creates the position of director of national intelligence and brings the nation's numerous intelligence agencies under that director's command. It also provides funding for an ambitious government network aimed at improving information-sharing among intelligence agencies, as well as providing for a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to ensure that concerns regarding privacy and civil liberties are addressed in future policymaking. Board members will be appointed by the President, but will not require Senate confirmation.
Also included in the legislation were provisions regarding national standards for drivers' licenses and birth certificates. More information about the legislation can be found in the Wired News article at http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,65955,00.html, while the legislation itself can be found in THOMAS at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:s.02845:.
[4] European Union Policy Developments
A European Union court this month turned down an appeal by Microsoft and ruled that the company must share some previously secret information with competitors, as well as put forth a version of the Windows operating system in the EU that does not include Windows Media Player. The ruling comes after Microsoft appealed a March decision that found that the company had abused the "virtual monopoly" it has with its Windows operating system. For more information, see the recent Associated Press article available at http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=56200124.
Meanwhile, EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers discussed a plan to require ISPs and other electronic communications providers (e.g., VoIP and SMS providers) to retain data on the source, routing, destination, time, date, and length of communications, as well as the location of the devices used in a particular transmission. Aimed at countering terrorism, the original data retention plan (first offered in draft legislation in April) would oblige electronic communications providers to retain the data mentioned above for at least 12 months. However, at the ministers' meeting earlier this month, there was some indication that ministers were willing to rethink the plan and employ a different approach to collecting this data. More information about EU Justice and Home Affairs is available at http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/index_en.htm.
[5] UPCOMING EVENTS
January 4: The 109th Congress convenes in Washington, D.C.
January 12-14: EDUCAUSE holds its Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference 2005 in Baltimore, Maryland, where one of the tracks will be "Charting a Course in Complex Times: Planning, Policy, Leadership, and Delivery." More information is available at http://www.educause.edu/MARC05.
January 19: Public meeting put on by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to discuss privacy and policy issues regarding a national identification standard for federal employees and contractors. The meeting will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Auditorium of the Potomac Center Plaza, 550 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20202. All attendees must pre-register with Sara Caswell (sara@nist.gov or 301-975-4634) by 5 p.m. EST, January 11, 2005. More information about the meeting is available (PDF) at http://www.csrc.nist.gov/piv-project/meeting-info.pdf.
[6] ABOUT USACM
USACM is the U.S. Public Policy Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). ACM is the premier organization for computing professionals, delivering resources that advance the computing and IT disciplines, enable professional development, and promote policies and research that benefit society. USACM serves as the focal point for ACM's interactions with U.S. government organizations and the science and technology policy community. For more information about USACM, see http://www.acm.org/usacm/about.html.
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