October 27

Hearing:
The Technology and Innovation Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on Department of Homeland Security science and technology research priorities.
2 p.m., 2318 Rayburn Building

October 29

Hearing:
The Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on federal cyber defense.
2:30 p.m., 342 Dirksen Building

Computer science education reform is going to come in fits and starts working on issues from the top down (national media, federal policy, etc.) and the bottom up (in schools, districts, states, etc.). This week the “top down” piece got a nice boost from Congress by passing a resolution designating the week of December 7 (in honor of Grace Hopper’s birthday) as Computer Science Education Week. This gives the community a wonderful platform to highlight the importance of computing to society and why we need to strengthen CS education – particularly at the K-12 level.
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October 21

Hearing:
The Elections Subcommittee of the Committee on House Administration will hold a hearing on modernization of election registration.
10 a.m., 1310 Longworth Building

October 22

Meeting:
The President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) will meet (continues on October 23)
10 a.m.-6 p.m., National Academy of Sciences Building, 2100 C Street, N.W., Washington.

Hearing:
The Technology and Innovation Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on cybersecurity activities at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
2 p.m., 2318 Rayburn Building

October 23

Meeting:
PCAST meeting continues
10 a.m.-4 p.m., National Academy of Sciences Building, 2100 C Street, N.W., Washington.

The Computers, Freedom and Privacy (CFP) Conference has just released its call for proposals for the 20th edition of the conference. It will take place June 15-18, 2010 in San Jose. The theme this year is Computers, Freedom, and Privacy in the Networked Society. The early bird deadline for proposals is December 1, and final deadline is January 31. One of the conference organizers offers this starting list for possible topics.
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October 13

Meeting:
The Election Assistance Commission is holding a roundtable discussion on research on assistive voting technologies.
9 a.m.-4 p.m., Kellogg Conference Center, Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Avenue N.E., Washington.

October 14

Meeting:
The Health IT Standards Committee has a public meeting scheduled.
9 a.m.-3 p.m., Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert Street N.W., Washington.

Below is a list of items with policy relevance from the October issue of Communications of the ACM. As always, much of the material in CACM is premium content, and free content one month may slip behind a pay wall the next. You need to be a member of ACM or a subscriber to CACM to access premium content online.

News

Debating Net Neutrality, Alan Joch

A review of the different concerns and interests engaged in the debate over network neutrality - the idea that Internet users should be able to access any Web content or use any applications without restrictions or other constraints from their service provider.

CONTENTS

[1] Newsletter Highlights
[2] ACM Argues for Computer Science Education in Kansas
[3] FCC Chairman Plans to Create Net Neutrality Rules
[4] House Committee Approves Two Technology Bills
[5] Cybersecurity Research Legislation Approved by Subcommittee
[6] Article Explores the Long Road to Computer Science Education Reform
[7] USACM Releases FY2009 Annual Report
[8] USACM Member Presents on Human-Computer Interaction Research and Policy
[9] About USACM

[An archive of all previous editions of Washington Update is available at
http://www.acm.org/usacm/update/]
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October 7

Meeting:
The Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board will meet. The focus of the meeting will be on the NIST Information Technology Laboratory.
9 a.m., NTSB Conference Center, 429 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Washington.

October 8

Meeting:
The Election Assistance Commission will hold a public meeting. Part of the agenda includes a panel on voting accessibility.
1 p.m., 1225 New York Avenue NW, Suite 150, Washington.