As Congress launches into three months of floor speeches, hearings, gavel-pounding, and schmoozing, here's a look at some of the Net-centric and technology issues the people's representatives plan to take up this fall.
Encryption: Under lock and key
As one Netscape lobbyist said last month, when it comes to lobbying this fall, it's "encryption, encryption, encryption." The future of not only the export of data security technologies but also the privacy of transactions and communications over public networks in the United States rests with this Congress as members consider two vastly different approaches to data security.
Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia) and his allies continue to sound the steady drumbeat of the Security and Freedom through Encryption Act. Liberalizing the government's strict controls on crypto exports while banning a universal key recovery system in the United States, the bill has the support of most of the high-tech industry and privacy advocates. It also holds a full House majority with 251 co-sponsors. The bill still faces several huge hurdles, though: tough scrutiny from the Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees and competition against a proposal from FBI Director Louis Freeh that would ban export of strong cryptography and require that encrypted data in the United States be open to instantaneous deciphering.
In the Senate, John McCain (R-Arizona) and Bob Kerrey (D-Nebraska) continue to push their Secure Public Networks Act, which would do the opposite of Goodlatte's bill: uphold current export restrictions on encryption and offer incentives to software makers whose products support key recovery.
And what about the disparity between the House and Senate approaches? "It's a train wreck waiting to happen," says Voter Telecommunication Watch's Shabbir J. Safdar.
Backing off on content - for now
Clinton/Gore's "virtual toolbox" for filtering Internet content lacks an implement that pessimists see as the blunt instrument behind all the post-Communications Decency Act talk about parental empowerment and market regulation of content: a hammer, one heavy enough to smash the Supreme Court's decision overturning the CDA and render it only a footnote to legal and Internet history. After the June decision, there was lots of murmuring about a CDA II. An initial plan from Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington) to endorse online content filters and criminalize the mislabeling of Web sites is now being reworked. Murray plans to convene a Senate task force to discuss her proposal, the pros and cons of filtering, and how to keep X-rated material out of classrooms and libraries.
Copyrighting the copyright bill
Remember when all those nations gathered in Geneva last December to sign the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright treaties, updating intellectual property rights for the digital age? Well, Congress is finally getting around to ratifying them. After almost nine months, not everyone is happy with the accords and plenty of tinkering is afoot. Internet service providers say they are not protected from the unknowing transfer of pirated materials over their networks. And computer hardware companies say the treaties are too broad - and could ban replicating technologies like VCRs and computers. Several measures in both the House and Senate aim to implement the treaties. A central issue addressed in separate bills - one by Representative Howard Coble (R-North Carolina) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and another by Senator John Ashcroft (R-Missouri) is making clear that Internet service providers will not be held liable for pirated material transmitted or stored on their facilities without their knowledge.
Privacy of medical records
Senator Patrick Leahy plans to introduce this fall a revamped version of a bill protecting the privacy of medical records. While this year's bill is still in the works, Jonathan Lemy, a Leahy spokesman, said the Vermont Democrat may seek to set up an office within the Justice Department to ensure that medical records are not seen without the proper authorization. Last year's version of the bill didn't get very far because of vehement opposition by pharmaceutical companies, which said the legislation would hinder their medical research efforts.
Internet gambling
Two members of Congress - one from Atlantic City and one who has become the champion of unfettered use of encryption - plan to propose a bill that would shut down Net gambling sites. Saying that they "undermine the traditional authority of states' in gambling," Representative Frank LoBiondo, along with Goodlatte, will follow the lead of Senator Jon Kyl's Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. Under Kyl's bill, a virtual bettor could bet on US$2,500 in fines and up to six months in prison. Online operators could get $20,000 in fines and up to five years in prison. Already, online gambling establishments are moving offshore.
No new Net taxes
The no-new-taxation-of-the-Net rallying cry is gaining momentum on Capitol Hill under the aegis of the Internet Tax Freedom Act, introduced in the House by Representative Chris Cox (R-California) and in the Senate by Ron Wyden (D-Oregon). Local and state officials have launched a campaign against the bills, saying they are too broad and could cut off an important future source of revenue as commerce shifts to public networks. The bills are undergoing adjustment to address some of these concerns, said Wyden spokesman David Seldon. For example, some clarifications will ensure that ISPs will still have to pay property taxes.
