Last week the Senate Commerce Committee passed its approach to bolstering U.S. competitiveness by authorizing more funding for research programs at the National Science Foundation, among other things. This is one of the many bills floating around to address this issue.

Peter Harsha at the Computing Research Association has good coverage of the markup including an analysis of a fight over two amendments. The first would have given certain disciplines priority when NSF granted funding for proposals. The second was over authorizing the High-Performance Computing initiative, which USACM commented on when it passed the Science Committee last year.

Update:: The Department of Commerce has released the formal Federal Register notice of its proposal to form an advisory committee.

Original Post 5/22/06: Last year, the Department of Commerce (followed by the Department of Defense) proposed broad new restrictions on foreign students access to potentially sensitive technology. USACM filed comments on both the proposals (Commerce, Defense) arguing that the new restrictions were overly burdensome, unclear and further exacerbated an already hostile atmosphere for foreign researchers working the United States. Bloomberg.com Canada is reporting that the Department is backing off their proposal in favor of a 12-member commission to review the issue.

Here is a quote from U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, David MacCormick:

Considering the Department’s proposal muddied the waters so badly that it could be interpreted that labs would have to restrict foreign researchers access to widely-published information (such as publicly available technical manuals), this is a wise course to take. However, commissions, if not properly balanced can do more harm than good by giving outside appropoval to an otherwise controversial idea. Given that there were over 300 comments (from industry, academia, and associations) filed against these proposed rules, I have some hope that the commission will, in fact, be balanced.

Sorry about the delay in posting this week’s “happenings.” This is one of those busy weeks where I didn’t get to this until Tuesday morning.

May 23

Hearing:

The Liabilities Driving Better Data Protection Practices
House Small Business Committee, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform and Oversight
10 a.m., 2360 Rayburn Bldg.

May 25

Hearing:

Second hearing on Senate’s Telecommunications Act of 1996 reform proposal (The Communications, Consumer’s Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006, S. 2686)
10:00 AM, Senate Dirksen 106

Markups:

House Judiciary Committee markup of six technology-related measures:

• Data Accountability and Trust Act (DATA) (H.R. 4127)
• Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2005 (H.R. 4411)
• Internet Gambling Prohibition Act (H.R. 4777)
• School Safety Acquiring Faculty Excellence Act (H.R. 4894)
• Cyber-Security Enhancement and Consumer Data protection Act of 2006 (H.R. 5318)
• Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006 (H.R. 5417)

10 a.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg.

House Science Committee markup of three innovation-related measures (among others):

10:00 a.m., 2318 Rayburn Bldg. This was moved to June 7.

For an “about” these posts please see my original post.

Many privacy advocates dubbed 2005, “The Year of Data Breach.” Perhaps the term should be amended to “the years” or even “decade” with yet another announcement of a massive loss of data. This time a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employee took a laptop home, which was then stolen, that had personal information (including social security numbers) on 26.5 million veterans. It doesn’t look like the data was encrypted.

From the VA website:

I’m not sure why the Department takes comfort in noting that the data didn’t include any financial information or health records, considering it appears that the thieves have all the information they need to steal someone’s identity and wreak havoc with his or her finances.

May 16

Hearings:

Markup of the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act of 2006 (S. 2802)
Senate Commerce Committee
2:30 PM, Senate Dirksen 562 This was moved to Thursday.

Proposed Legislation on Music Licensing Reform in the Digital Age
House Judiciary – Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property
4 p.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg.

Events:

Tracking Wireless Location Privacy: Who Knows Where You Are?
Panel Luncheon by the Internet Caucus Advisory Committee
12 p.m., 2168 Rayburn Bldg.

May 18

Proposed Legislation on Communications Reform
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
10 a.m., Senate Dirksen 106

Markup of the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act of 2006 (S. 2802)
Senate Commerce Committee
2:30 PM, Senate Dirksen 562

For an “about” these posts please see my original post.

With so much happening in the technology and technology policy fields, it is a rare day that computer experts focus on one particular issue. So it seems pretty significant that several blogs and news reports with quotes from well-respected computer scientists are focusing on a new report by Harri Hursti for blackboxvoting.org outlining several new serious security flaws. While many of the details of the report have been redacted, apparently the most significant flaw is a well-known exploit that can be used to completely compromise the machine including vote counting, using widely available tools. The ease with which this security hole can be used and the relatively trivial knowledge it requires has shocked computer scientists.

I’ve just started reading the short report, but let me put up pointers to the stories and blog posts which outline the issue very well:

• Inside Bay Area.com report
• New York Times’report
• Post by Ed Felten and Avi Rubin on Freedom-to-tinker
• Post by Bruce Schneier on Schneier on Security Blog

ACM issued a statement in 2004 calling for voting systems to have a physical (e.g., paper) record to verify that individual’s vote has been accurately cast. That statement also called for all voting systems to “embody careful engineering, strong safeguards, and rigorous testing in both their design and operation.”

In the wake of today’s USA Today story shedding new light on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Terrorist Surveillance Program, CQ.com (sub. required) is reporting that the Senate Judiciary Committee will call representatives of three major telephone companies to testify before the panel.

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Last week, I started an experimental service on the blog by posting some of the upcoming hearings on Capitol Hill and events in the D.C. area. Below are this week’s happenings and here is last week’s post outlining the caveats to these posts.

May 10

Social Security Numbers in Commerce: Reconciling Beneficial Uses with Threats to Privacy
House Energy and Commerce - Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection
2 p.m., 2123 Rayburn Bldg.

Update: Building the Information Sharing Environment: Addressing the Challenges of Implementation
Homeland Security Committee – Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk
2:00 p.m., 311 Cannon House Office Building

May 11

Legislative Hearing on H.R. ___, the “Cyber-Security Enhancement and Consumer Data Protection Act of 2006″
House Judiciary - Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security
9 a.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg.

CONTENTS

[1] Newsletter Highlights
[2] Computing Community Express Concern Over Budget
[3] USACM Calls on Congress to Protect Patients Privacy Rights
[4] “Net Neutrality” Amendment Defeated
[5] Key Lawmaker Floats DMCA Expansion
[6] Conference Highlights DMCA Divisions
[7] California Voter Registration Database Rejecting Voters
[8] Upcoming Events
[9] About USACM
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I’m experimenting with a new service on the blog by posting some of the top hearings in Congress on the tech policy front. My hope is that people will be able to use it to follow issues and hearings on the some of the tech policy topics that are of interest to them. It should also serve a useful reference archive when reviewing the history of an issue. I’ll try to do these on Monday mornings of each week. You should be able to find them under the “Hill tech happenings” category on the blog.

However a couple of caveats about these posts. First, it isn’t likely to be comprehensive listing as I’ll be working off what events I know about and think are relevant. Second, it will be focused on Congress because, a) it is fairly easy to find this information, b) for people that aren’t local to D.C., most of hearings/floor debate are webcast or broadcast, and committees usually put testimony on the web. I’ll probably put some D.C.-based events on here as well, but those will likely be pretty sparse to the relative flood of events each week. Third, I don’t plan on posting any background on the hearings, just the facts, and by posting it doesn’t necessarily mean we will be covering it as we deal with a lot of tech policy issues. When Congress is out of session, there probably won’t be any posts. Lastly, I’ll try to update the Monday post if something new is scheduled or cancelled, but as fast as Washington moves, I can’t guarantee it. So onto this week’s events (this week is particularly busy):

Hearings:

May 2

National Science Foundation’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2007
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation - Subcommittee on Science and Space
2:30 p.m., 562 Dirksen Bldg.

May 3

The Role of the National Science Foundation in K-12 Science and Math Education
House Science Committee
10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn Bldg.

Building American Competitiveness: Examining the Scope and Success of Existing Federal Math and Science Programs
House Education and the Workforce Committee
10:30 a.m., 2175 Rayburn Bldg.

Digital Content and Enabling Technology: Satisfying the 21st Century Consumer
House Energy and Commerce - Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection
2 p.m., 2322 Rayburn Bldg.

Sexual Exploitation of Children Over the Internet: What Parents, Kids and Congress Need to Know About Child Predators.
House Energy and Commerce - Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
2 p.m., 2123 Rayburn Bldg.

May 4

Rumored to be the day the House of Representatives will take up telecommunications reform, but Congress hasn’t officially noticed it yet. Update: Looks like the telecommunications bill will be on the taken up by the House of Representatives next week at the earliest.

Events:

ACM’s 2006 Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference, May 2-5 at the Lowes L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC.

Update 5/1/06: Ed Felten posted a response on his blog to the claim by a DMCA proponent (below) that the ligitation he faced was a “happy ending” because he was able to present his paper.

Original Post 4/27/06: This post was supposed to cover two different stories on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), but it ran long so I broke it into two related posts. This post covers the DMCA conference and the next focuses on new legislation being proposed to tighten DMCA.

Policymakers and experts focused on the DMCA during a half-day conference held yesterday by the Cato Institute titled “Copyright Controversies Freedom, Property, Content Creation, and the DMCA.” (Hopefully they will put video or a podcast of the event on their site.) Finding little common ground, they battled over whether or not copyright policy generally and DMCA specifically have met the challenges of the digital age.

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Update 5/1/06: Sorry for the delay in posting this link as it slipped my mind, but last week’s Business Week did a news analysis good titled A Red Flag In The Brain Game piece on ACM’s ICPC. It discusses why this contest should be a wake up call to the U.S. generally (policymakers, industry and educators) as the global competition for high-tech talent continues to grow.

Original Post 4/13/06: ACM’s International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC) wrapped up this week and with only one U.S. university in the top 20 (MIT finished seventh), ACM’s President, Dave Patterson, pointed out that the U.S. must do more to attract and prepare students for the growing demand for IT jobs.

As ACM’s recent globalization report pointed out, global competition in the software industry is fierce and growing. As developing countries strive to develop and attract IT talent they are pouring resources into their education and research infrastructures, developed countries, like the United States, must recognize the challenge and adopt policies that strengthen education systems, invest in research and development, and allow the free flow of talent.

The international competitiveness debate is a top issue in Washington this year with President Bush proposing substantial new increases in funding for basic research in the physical sciences and Congress taking a close look at math and science education programs. Global talent competitions like ICPC show that the debate is more relevant than ever.

The full press release for the event is below. (.pdf is here)
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