CONTENTS
[1] Newsletter Highlights
[2] USACM Member Appointed to Elections Assistance Commission Board
[3] Senate Introduces New Electronic Voting Legislation
[4] FCC Finds Comcast Violated Net Neutrality
[5] House Hears Testimony on IT R&D, Executive Branch Seeks Input on Program
[6] Universities Face Peer-to-Peer Monitoring in Reauthorized Higher Education Act
[7] House Votes to Extend E-verify Program
[8] About USACM
[An archive of all previous editions of Washington Update is available at
http://www.acm.org/usacm/update/]
[1] NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHTS
While the calendar says August, with the November elections the legislative calendar is entering the home stretch. Congress finished a busy month in July trying to set the table for its end game. There is more detail on each item below, as well as on our weblog at http://www.acm.org/usacm/weblog:
* Barbara Simons, a senior member of USACM, was appointed to serve on the Election Assistance Commission’s Board of Advisors, filling a spot reserved for technical experts. USACM nominated her along with three other members to fill positions on the board.
* The Senate Rules Committee introduced new electronic voting legislation, which takes some divergent and similar paths from House and Senate legislation we’ve followed since last year.
* The Federal Communications Commission has found Comcast in violation of its internet access policy, in a move some consider supporting net neutrality.
* The House Science and Technology Committee held a hearing on the National IT R&D program, and it’s coordinating office wants input on the program.
* The reauthorized Higher Education Act contains language that would allow and encourage universities to use ‘technology-based deterrents’ to control file sharing at their institutions.
* Just before the August recess the House voted to extend the e-verify program, which allows employers to check work eligibility against several Federal databases, for five more years, but not expand it.
[2] USACM MEMBER APPOINTED TO ELECTIONS ASSISTANCE COMMISSION BOARD
USACM member, and former ACM President, Barbara Simons was recently appointed to the Board of Advisors to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The board, one of two advisory boards to the EAC, consists of 37 members representing a number of different constituencies. Dr. Simons’ spot is one of four assigned to science and technology professionals. The Board will advise the EAC on matters including the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines.
Dr. Simons is highly qualified to serve on the board, and we welcome her appointment. She brings valuable technical expertise to the Board of Advisors to help inform the Commission’s focus on the intersection between voting issues and computing technologies. Her extensive experience with USACM as well as her advisory roles in high-profile national voting groups qualifies her as an expert on voting systems, election technology, and election processes. Dr. Simons has served on the National Workshop on Internet Voting, the Security Peer Review Group for the Department of Defense’s Internet voting project, and the ACM study of statewide voter registration databases. Retired from IBM research, Dr. Simons is a Fellow of ACM, founded USACM and served as Chair or Co-Chair of the committee for several years.
USACM nominated Dr. Simons for the position along with three other members of USACM for the four science and technology slots on the board. Our nomination letter can be found at:
http://www.acm.org/usacm/weblog/wp-content/EAC_Nominiations_Final.pdf
We congratulate her on the appointment.
[3] USACM COMMENTS ON NEW ELECTRONIC VOTING LEGISLATION
Senator Feinstein (D-CA) recently introduced a new voting bill, S. 3212, the Bipartisan Electronic Voting Reform Act of 2008. This latest effort to reform electronic voting processes and equipment is similar and different from the House legislation that has commanded most of the legislative attention on this issue during the 110th Congress. Perhaps the largest difference is the lack of emphasis on paper audit trails for voting machines. In its place the legislation describes a new concept of device independence, where the election results would be verified by a device independent of the device used to cast the vote. This standard would allow verification by physical records like paper trails, but could also include other systems that use multiple electronic devices.
USACM commented in testimony filed for the record that this approach has some significant drawbacks, particularly when trying to write tests to determine reliably whether an device independent system that may be using software for verification and ballot casting has truly independent components. USACM recommendation was that Congress support the Software Independence standard that the recent draft VVSG advanced as preferred verification standard.
The legislation also contained provisions similar to previous House and Senate proposals, including election security, software disclosure, audits, and research. USACM commented on several of these provisions calling for greater clarity in the legislation on researchers access and responsibilities when investigating software, improved peer review of research and balanced representation on the Audit Task force. You can find USACM full comments at:
http://usacm.acm.org/usacm/PDF/USACM_BEVRA_Final.pdf
[4] FCC FINDS COMCAST VIOLATED NET NEUTRALITY
Following a dispute between Comcast and BitTorrent over blocking transmissions for some BitTorrent customers, the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 that Comcast was in violation of the FCC’s network access rules. In September 2005 the Commission adopted a statement of principles to ensure that broadband networks are widely deployed, open and accessible, barring reasonable network management that served as the basis of this decision.
As the debates over network neutrality continue, this action will likely be spun by all parties on this issue. The FCC did not issue a fine, but ordered Comcast to stop cutting off large transfers amongst customers using certain file-share software. Comcast and BitTorrent have previously settled their dispute.
[5] HOUSE HEARS TESTIMONY ON IT R&D, EXECUTIVE BRANCH SEEKS INPUT ON PROGRAM
The Federal government’s investment in information technology research and development is coordinated through the NITRD program. The House Science and Technology Committee recently held a hearing as part of its oversight function of this program, which covers 13 agencies and $3.3 billion in budget activity. More information on the hearing is available at this link:
http://www.science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=2276
The hearing may lay the foundation for amending the High Performance Computing Act, which governs NITRD, to codify some of the recommendations made by the President’s Council of Advisers for Science and Technology (PCAST) in their report, “Leadership Under Challenge: Information Technology R&D in a Competitive World.” You can access that report online here:
http://ostp.gov/pcast/NITRD%20Review.pdf
The hearing witnesses were generally supportive of the PCAST recommendations, but noted their concerns with the recent absence of DARPA support for IT R&D as well as the workforce challenges regular readers of this newsletter likely know. Members were generally supportive of both NITRD and the PCAST recommendations. You can read more about the hearing in the Computing Research Association’s blog entry, at:
http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000694.html
In a related story, the office that coordinates the NITRD program is seeking input from groups to assist it in the development of a five-year strategic plan. You can access the request for information here:
http://www.nitrd.gov/about/documents/NITRDStrategicPlanRFIv13.pdf
Deadline for comments is August 25, 2008.
[6] UNIVERSITIES FACE PEER-TO-PEER MONITORING IN REAUTHORIZED HIGHER EDUCATION ACT
In April, USACM sent a letter to education leaders in the House and Senate cautioning against legislative provisions requiring universities to use filtering software to handle copyright infringement on their networks. Late in July Congress finalized language on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Language related to copyright infringement will allow for, if not encourage, ‘technology-based deterrents’ to prevent the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material. Universities will also be required to list what technology based deterrents they use, and offer alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property. You can see our letter outlining the problems with relying on technology-based deterrents at:
http://www.acm.org/usacm/weblog/wp-content/USACM_Filtering_Final.pdf
[7] HOUSE APPROVES EXTENSION TO E-VERIFY
Part of the ongoing debates over electronic employment verification systems is that the current basic pilot, or E-Verify program, is set to expire later this year. This program is currently voluntary and it allows employers to check employment eligibility in the United States against several Federal databases. Congress has been considering legislative proposals to make it mandatory for all employers, and USACM has testified on some the safeguards that would need to be built into such a system.
The House has taken the first step in extending (not expanding) this program when it recently passed HR 6633. The extension will be for five years (through November 30, 2013). The additional provisions of the bill would establish a stronger cost sharing relationship between the Social Security Administration (which is responsible for one of the databases used by the basic pilot), and the Department of Homeland Security. The inconsistent payment to the Social Security Administration, for basic pilot expenses has been a sticking point with some members of Congress. The bill also establishes two studies, one evaluating errors in the non-confirmation of employment eligibility (and the impacts of those errors), and the other focusing on the costs and efforts for small businesses to comply with the basic pilot reporting requirements.
With the expiration of this program coming soon, this bill actually has a chance of passing prior to the election recess (Congress is currently in recess until after Labor Day). But the Senate has been shy towards immigration since their last attempt at major immigration reform, so it’s not a certainty.
[8] 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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