CONTENTS
[1] Newsletter Highlights
[2] USACM Members Meet with Government Officials
[3] ACM Policy Director Addresses Computer Science Education Roundtable
[4] EAC Outlines Possible Next Steps for VVSG
[5] Congress Introduces Online Accessibility Bill
[6] Supplemental Appropriations Boost Science and Technology Funding
[7] About USACM
[An archive of all previous editions of Washington Update is available at
http://www.acm.org/usacm/update/]
[1] NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHTS
As was the case with the previous edition of Washington Update, this
newsletter covers activities for the last six weeks. There is more detail
on each item below, as well as on our weblog at
http://www.acm.org/usacm/weblog:
* Leaders of the USACM voting subcommittee met with Election Assistance
Commission and Congressional staff to discuss the concepts behind USACM’s
comments on the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG).
* ACM’s Director of Public Policy addressed a roundtable of business and
government officials on STEM education and computer science.
* The Election Assistance Commission outlined some possible next steps
for the VVSG in a recent meeting of its Board of Advisors.
* Representative Markey (D-MA) introduced a bill that would require
internet-enabled video and audio services would be accessible and usable by
those with disabilities.
* The president signed a supplemental appropriations bill that included
some of the funding for federal science and technology agencies that was cut
from the initial appropriations bills.
[2] USACM MEMBERS MEET WITH GOVERNMEMT OFFICIALS
Following the release of the USACM comments on the Voluntary Voting System
Guidelines (VVSG), members of the USACM voting subcommittee visited
policymakers in Washington, D.C. to explain the nature of USACM’s comments
and the important concepts of the VVSG. Over two days Alec Yasinsac
(University of Southern Alabama), Barbara Simons (retired, IBM Research) and
Harry Hochheiser (Towson University), along with ACM Policy Office staff,
met with congressional staff from the two committees responsible for voting
legislation, as well as one of the Commissioners of the Election Assistance
Commission. During these meetings USACM members discussed software
independence, independent voter-verifiable records, innovation class, and
open-ended vulnerability testing. You can see our full comments on the VVSG
at:
http://usacm.acm.org/PDF/USACM_VVSG_Comments_Final.pdf
[3] ACM POLICY DIRECTOR ADDRESSES COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION ROUNDTABLE
Cameron Wilson joined his counterparts at the National Center for Women and
Information Technology (Lucy Sanders) and the Computing Research Association
(Peter Harsha) at a Roundtable Discussion with DC-based government affairs
personnel in the IT sector. The Roundtable was hosted by the Wilson Center,
and they will post a meeting summary and webcast recording at:
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.event_summary&event_id=448494
Representatives from Microsoft, IBM, Sematech, Cisco, Google and HP
attended, as well as representatives from the military and the U.S. Postal
Service. The goal of the event was to give a computer science perspective on
workforce issues. The participants were very interested how computer science
education fit into debates to improve Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM) education and asked questions about what computer science
curriculum to rally around.
[4] EAC OUTLINES POSSIBLE NEXT STEPS FOR VVSG
In June the Board of Advisors of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC)
met to discuss pending and new business. There are two items of interest
concerning the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG).
The staff at the National Institute of Standards and Technology was asked to
investigate several technical questions related to the VVSG. They are:
– Alternatives to Software Independence (SI)
– Standards for Ballot-on-Demand systems
– Impact of VVSG on vote-by-phone
– Consequences of separately testing and certifying election system
components
– Impact of VVSG on early voting and vote centers
– Alternatives to goal level requirements in the VVSG (requirements
that state a goal but are not easily testable - if testable at all)
The alternatives to SI studied by NIST included end-to-end encryption,
independent dual verification, and a secure audit port. Removing SI from the
Innovation Class was also mentioned (it could be replaced by a focus on
auditability and trustworthiness). The preliminary results described by the
NIST staff indicated that each of these alternatives has their own issues in
terms of complying with the VVSG, and more research is necessary to see if
they would be viable. The NIST staff will submit their final research on
these areas in September.
EAC staff reported on the progress in the VVSG and steps that remain in the
review process. Approximately 2600 comments were received in the first
comment period. After the Commission’s initial review, they noted three
major areas needing further research and/or revision: SI, the Innovation
Class, and open-ended vulnerability testing. Another area that needs work is
a risk assessment for voting systems, which is EAC staff outlined some
possible scenarios for the process going forward:
– Prepare a second round of comments, without incorporating the
further research currently underway at NIST.
– Wait until after September, and the NIST research is completed,
before preparing for a second round of comments.
– Approve in stages, with material not needing further research
incorporated into the VVSG.
At the moment, none of the presentations are currently online. They should
be added as part of the minutes once those have been approved. Check this
page for updates:
http://www.eac.gov/about/committees/board-of-advisors-meeting-june-17-18-2008
[5] CONGRESSMAN INTRODUCES ONLINE ACCESSIBILITY BILL
Representative Markey recently introduced the 21st Century Communications
and Accessibility Act, HR 6320. This bill focuses on amending the
Communications Act to ensure that new Internet-enabled telephone and video
services and equipment are accessible to and usable by people with
disabilities and closes existing gaps in telecommunications laws. These
services would include captioning or video description service for streaming
video, text support for emergency services and ensuring hearing aid
compatibility for internet services. Congressman Markey provides a summary
of the bill, in addition to the text of the legislation.
http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/summary_of_bill.pdf (summary)
http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/final_accessibility_bill.pdf (full text)
This bill is an interesting complement to the recent ACM Policy Statement on
Internet Accessibility, which we released earlier this year. In that
statement, we recommended the extension of accessibility standards while
minimizing regulation, which appears to be a major goal of this bill. The
full statement is available at:
http://www.acm.org/public-policy/accessibility
[6] SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS BOOST SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SPENDING
President Bush signed into law a bipartisan agreement providing supplemental
funding for 2008. Most of the funding went toward operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan, but Congress and the President agreed to include over $330
million to fund basic research at several Federal agencies:
* $62.5 million for Department of Energy’s Office of Science
* $62.5 million for NASA
* $62.5 million for National Science Foundation
* $150 million for National Institutes of Health
The final figures are still well below what the President originally
proposed for 2008.
Funding for the National Science Foundation is split 70/30 between education
and research programs, with $40 million going toward the Robert Noyce
Teacher Scholarship Program, which “seeks to encourage talented science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics majors and professionals to become
K-12 mathematics and science teachers” and the balance presumably split
among the research directorates.
Notably the National Institute of Standards and Technology did not receive
any supplemental funding, which is disappointing.
While this funding helped mitigate the original FY08 budget, there is no
indication that the budget troubles of the last few years will disappear for
FY 2009.
[7] ABOUT USACM
USACM is the U.S. Public Policy Committee of the Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM). With over 88,000 members, ACM is the world’s largest
educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers
and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the
field’s challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession’s collective
voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and
recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of
its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career
development, and professional networking.
USACM acts as the focal point for ACM’s interaction with the U.S. Congress
and government organizations. It seeks to educate and assist policy-makers
on legislative and regulatory matters of concern to the computing community.
For more information about USACM and ACM, see:
http://www.acm.org/usacm/about.html
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