Clips January 3, 200

[Lillie Coney <lillie.coney@xxxxxxx>]

Clips January 3, 2003

ARTICLES

Homeland Office Is Told to Answer Queries on Its Role
Libraries Defend File Sharing
Tech industry to take on Hollywood over digital rules
Companies in U.S. Sing Blues as Europe Reprises 50's Hits
FCC Preparing to Overhaul Telecom, Media Rules
FCC bombarded with ownership rules remarks
Federal agency pulls Web documents
L.A. Official Calls for Probe of Internet Cafes
Energy changes top management at Los Alamos
States, D.C. vie to host homeland department
IT systems key to success of homeland department
PC Spies at the Gate
*****************************
Washington Post
Homeland Office Is Told to Answer Queries on Its Role
Associated Press
Friday, January 3, 2003; Page A02
Ruling http://www.epic.org/open_gov/homeland/ohs_decision.pdf

The Office of Homeland Security lost the first round in a legal fight to 
keep its activities secret, as a federal judge in Washington ruled it will 
have to answer questions about its power over other federal agencies.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the office must prove it 
has no authority other than helping and advising President Bush if it wants 
to have a lawsuit seeking access to its records dismissed.

The ruling last week favored the Washington-based Electronic Privacy 
Information Center, which is trying to get Homeland Security records on 
proposals for a national driver's license and for a "trusted flier" program 
that relies on biometric information to identify airline passengers.

Kollar-Kotelly said the center "may inquire into the nature of the 
authority delegated to [the Office of Homeland Security] to determine 
whether or not it possesses independent authority."

David Sobel, attorney for the privacy group, called the ruling an 
intermediate victory over Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge. "This is 
about opening a window into the activities of what has been, until now, a 
very secretive entity," he said.

Homeland Security tried to get the lawsuit dismissed, contending it doesn't 
have to release records because it is not an agency.

The privacy group said it did not have enough information to prove 
otherwise and asked for permission to find out how the office exercises its 
authority. The privacy group has until Feb. 24 to find out whether other 
agencies receive instructions or directions from Homeland Security. The 
office will become a federal department on Jan. 24.

Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the office is reviewing 
the opinion and working with the Justice Department to decide what to do next.
******************************
Los Angeles Times
Libraries Defend File Sharing
By Edmund Sanders

January 3 2003

A group of university libraries is urging college presidents to stand up to 
increasing pressure from entertainment companies and think carefully before 
cracking down on peer-to-peer file sharing, which often is used by students 
to swap copyrighted music.

The letter from the Assn. of College and Research Libraries came in 
response to efforts by the Recording Industry Assn. of America and other 
entertainment groups to warn college administrators that they may face 
legal liability for illegal file sharing on their networks.

The library group, which increasingly is at odds with entertainment 
companies over copyright issues, urged its members to remind college 
presidents that file-sharing networks have legal uses for research, 
teaching and document transfer.

"While piracy is wrong and infringers should be held accountable, we must 
ensure that decisions made today do not adversely affect education and 
research for years to come," the library group said.

An RIAA spokesman said the group welcomed librarians to the copyright 
debate on college campuses.
*********************************
Mercury News
Tech industry to take on Hollywood over digital rules
By Heather Fleming Phillips
Mercury News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - The high-tech industry plans to launch a sophisticated new 
lobbying campaign later this month to strike back against Hollywood in a 
battle to shape rules of the road for new digital technologies.

The Business Software Alliance and Computer Systems Policy Project -- two 
prominent high-tech trade groups representing Intel, Hewlett-Packard, 
Microsoft and other industry heavyweights -- are forming a new coalition 
and working to enlist support from consumer and business groups.

They hope to convince Congress that strict copy-protection legislation that 
sets technological mandates would stifle innovation, harm consumers and 
threaten an already suffering tech industry.

``These things have a very big impact on our industry and on Intel,'' said 
Intel lobbyist Doug Comer. ``It's not just about, `Are we driving up the 
price of the chip?' It's about what kind of future is being created for 
digital consumers.''

The entertainment industry had the upper hand in the battle last year, with 
a carefully orchestrated lobbying campaign and bills introduced by powerful 
lawmakers. Hollywood-backed legislation filed by Sen. Ernest Hollings, 
D-S.C., and Rep. Howard L. Berman, D-Los Angeles, would embed copy 
protection into PCs and an array of consumer devices.

But the legislation had consequences that Walt Disney and other backers 
hadn't bargained for. It served as a rallying cry for consumer groups and 
tech companies to fight for consumers' rights to make copies of CDs, DVDs 
and other digital works for personal use, as they do with TV shows and 
audio tapes.

Changing support

The political winds have shifted in Washington over the past year, and a 
Hollings-style bill isn't expected to get far in the new Congress.

``Nothing is going to go through without a great deal of public scrutiny,'' 
said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a public-interest advocacy 
group that promotes consumers' digital rights.

As Republicans take control of the Senate, Hollings will lose his 
chairmanship of the Commerce Committee to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. McCain 
has been a frequent critic of Hollywood.

``Sen. McCain is extraordinarily tech-savvy,'' said Consumer Electronics 
Association lobbyist Michael Petricone. ``He is much less inclined toward a 
government-mandated solution.''

On the House side, Hollywood has lost an important ally with the retirement 
of House Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Howard 
Coble, R-N.C. That panel has jurisdiction over copyright issues, and the 
chairman carries significant weight. His replacement has not been named.

Still, the tech lobby is taking nothing for granted, said Ken Kay, 
executive director of the Computer Systems Policy Project. The 
entertainment industry has been lobbying Washington longer than many tech 
companies have existed, and ``it would be a terrible mistake to 
underestimate them,'' he said.

High tech has its own supporters in Congress. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, 
and Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., have introduced pro-consumer and -tech bills 
that would allow consumers to bypass technological protections to make 
copies of copyrighted works for personal use.

Much is at stake for both industries. Tech companies see a potential 
bonanza as rich new content drives demand for high-speed Internet services 
and cutting-edge technologies.

But music companies have already felt the pain, as peer-to-peer 
music-sharing sites let millions of users swap songs for free without ever 
paying the recording company or artist. Berman responded last year with a 
bill that would allow copyright holders to use aggressive tactics to thwart 
consumers from sharing illegally obtained material.

Slow Internet connections are a measure of protection for the movie 
industry for now, but growth in broadband service -- which allows quick 
transmission of video -- worries Hollywood.

Motion Picture Association of America President Jack Valenti says part of 
the problem is a perception that his industry is anti-consumer.

``We've been unable to clearly, briefly and understandably present our 
case,'' said Valenti. ``We're not trying to hurt anybody. The more movies 
available on the Internet, the better it is for everyone.''

And even as the lobbying battle continues, both sides will be negotiating 
behind the scenes in hopes of settling their differences without 
involvement from Congress.

Complicated issue

``All sides were frightened, energized and activated by the way things 
played out on Capitol Hill in the latter part of 2002,'' said Bruce 
Mehlman, assistant secretary for technology policy in the Bush 
administration. ``That's going to complicate things for those who believe 
the best solutions lie in the marketplace. They'll spend time playing 
defense in Congress instead of offense in the industry.''

``If we can solve some of these content issues, it will generate a boost of 
growth for all of us,'' said Michael Boland, senior vice president of 
federal government relations for Verizon. ``We all need this.''
************************************
New York Times
January 3, 2003
Companies in U.S. Sing Blues as Europe Reprises 50's Hits
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

European copyright protection is expiring on a collector's trove of 1950's 
jazz, opera and early rock 'n' roll albums, forcing major American record 
companies to consider deals with bootleg labels and demand new customs 
barriers.

Already reeling from a stagnant economy and the illegal but widespread 
downloading of copyrighted music from the Internet, the recording companies 
will now face a perfectly legal influx of European recordings of popular works.

Copyright protection lasts only 50 years in European Union countries, 
compared with 95 years in the United States, even if the recordings were 
originally made and released in America. So recordings made in the early- 
to mid-1950's  by figures like Maria Callas, Elvis Presley and Ella 
Fitzgerald  are entering the public domain in Europe, opening the way for 
any European recording company to release albums that had been owned 
exclusively by particular labels.

Although the distribution of such albums would be limited to Europe in 
theory, record-store chains and specialty outlets in the United States 
routinely stock foreign imports.

Expiring copyrights could mean much cheaper recordings for music lovers, 
but they do not bode well for major record companies. (These copyrights 
apply to only the recordings, not the music recorded.) The expected crush 
of material entering the public domain has already sent one giant company, 
EMI Classics, into a shotgun marriage with a renegade label that it had 
long tried to shut down to protect its lucrative Callas discography. The 
influx also has the American record industry talking about erecting a 
customs barrier.

"The import of those products would be an act of piracy," said Neil 
Turkewitz, the executive vice president international of the Recording 
Industry Association of America, which has strongly advocated for copyright 
protections. "The industry is regretful that these absolutely piratical 
products are being released."

The industry association is trying to persuade European Union countries to 
extend copyright terms. Meanwhile, Mr. Turkewitz said, "we will try to get 
these products blocked," arguing that customs agents "have the authority to 
seize these European recordings even in the absence of an injunction 
brought by the copyright owners."

Expiring copyrights have already led to voluminous European reissues of 
such historically important artists as the violinist Jascha Heifetz and the 
jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. But the recordings of the 50's are viewed 
as being of another order.

That was the era when recording techniques took a quantum leap and when the 
long-playing record came into its own and was embraced by the public. Even 
monaural records from the period, before stereophonic sound, are prized 
today by classical and jazz audiophiles. Artistically, the decade coincided 
with the golden years of opera legends like Renata Tebaldi; the birth of 
rock heralded by recordings of Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Presley; and 
enormous outbursts of creativity from seminal jazz figures like Thelonious 
Monk and Miles Davis. "That decade of recording transformed music and how 
the public consumes music," Mr. Turkewitz said.

That was also the great decade of Callas, who was under exclusive contract 
to EMI. The looming expiration of copyright on EMI's extensive Callas 
selections compelled that London-based company to form an alliance with a 
former enemy.

EMI Classics (formerly Angel Records) has been the official keeper of the 
Callas discography since 1953, when Callas, the Greek soprano, was 29 and 
made her first recordings for the company. Over the years, EMI has 
contended with independent labels that released unauthorized Callas 
recordings, mostly taken from pirated live performances. In the late 
1990's, the bane of EMI's existence was a Milan-based independent called 
Diva, the largest producer of the unofficial recordings. (A lawyer for 
Diva, Kriton Metaxopoulos, said that Diva never released Callas recordings 
without the approval of her heirs.)

But last year, with the support of the Callas estate in Athens, EMI made a 
deal with Diva, which two years ago reconstituted itself as Marcal Records 
(for Maria Callas) and moved its offices to the Virgin Islands for tax 
purposes. In November EMI released a new batch of Callas recordings, 
including four complete live operas and five CD's of live concerts and 
rehearsals. The source for these was Marcal.

The strategy would seem to be, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Richard 
Lyttelton, president of classics and jazz for EMI Recorded Music, concedes 
as much.

"For many years EMI was in opposition to Diva," Mr. Lyttelton said in a 
recent interview from London. "But there has been an irresistible pull for 
us to work together." With this deal, as Mr. Lyttelton explained, EMI 
"wanted to try to legitimize the market" for these live Callas recordings 
"rather than try to suppress it."

The company hopes that its unconventional deal with Diva may prove to be an 
indirect way to maintain dominance in the Callas market, which has been 
crucial to EMI's artistic legacy and its bottom line. Callas recordings, 
most of them made between 1953 and 1960, account for about 5 percent of 
sales for EMI's classical division in a typical year, more than for any 
artist on that division's current roster, said Mark Forlow, vice president 
of EMI Classics. "It's amazing," Mr. Forlow said. "Those records just keep 
selling."

In 1997, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Callas's death at 53, EMI 
issued the first of three installments of its complete Callas Collection, 
which included 59 releases, including 31 complete operas, all impressively 
remastered, intelligently packaged and rich with program notes.

With its new releases, EMI has issued live Callas performances that it was 
trying to suppress not so long ago, banking that its quality presentation 
will draw Callas fans and keep them away from cheaper choices. As a further 
inducement, the new EMI releases are being sold at mid-price.

This strategy has been tried for years by specialty labels like Mosaic 
Records, a reissue company that releases critically praised boxed sets of 
classic jazz recordings. Mosaic recently released a seven-CD set of 
recordings by Beiderbecke, who died in 1931. But cheap competition from 
European labels has hurt the profitability of such projects, said Michael 
Cuscuna, Mosaic's president.

"With the Beiderbecke set, we went to the original metal discs and did the 
best possible sound transfers," he said. "But a handful of European 
companies have put out this stuff just dumped off the original 78's. That 
the recording exists in such an inferior state hurts the music." Mr. 
Cuscuna said that some European labels simply wait for a reissue to come 
out in the United States, then copy it and appropriate the photographs. 
"Yet, consumers still go for the cheaper product," he said. "It's 
discouraging. We've got to get the major labels to take a stand."

Consumer advocates and champions of access to creative products see many 
copyright protections as too lengthy, unfair to the public and ultimately 
stifling to creativity. "When works enter the public domain, the 
consequence is extraordinary variety and lower costs," said Lawrence 
Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law School. Professor Lessig appeared 
before the United States Supreme Court to challenge a 1998 law that 
extended copyright protection by 20 years, and a decision could come from 
the court as early as this month.

The Callas recordings, for example, "will be taken and put into a million 
different content spheres," he said. "They will be encouraged and sold in 
ways not done now."

This is all the more true because of the Internet, Professor Lessig added. 
Once copyrighted works enter the public domain, he said, "a wide range of 
copies  high quality and low  will quickly be available, always and for 
free." Unlike many record companies, he considers this beneficial. "People 
ask, `How could you ever compete with free?' " he said. "Think Perrier or 
Poland Spring."

According to Mr. Turkewitz, it is illegal under American copyright law to 
download material protected in the United States regardless of the legal 
status of that material in another country. Still, the computer 
file-sharing programs that are cropping up everywhere make this law 
difficult to enforce.

Defenders of extended copyright terms, like Mr. Turkewitz, argue that, if 
anything, American laws are still too lax and that the European laws are 
woefully inadequate.

"The public sees icons like Mickey Mouse and thinks that the companies must 
by now have made their money," he said. But, he added, 9 out of 10 sound 
recordings lose money. "Very few materials wind up generating the revenues 
that sustain an entire system," he said. "The amount of money put back into 
production by the record companies is enormous. It's extremely 
risk-intensive."

One example of what EMI faces by the end of this year is that any European 
label will be able to release a staple of the company's catalog: the 
incomparable 1953 Callas recording of Puccini's "Tosca" with Giuseppe di 
Stefano as Cavaradossi and Tito Gobbi as Scarpia, both at their peaks, with 
the Italian maestro Victor de Sabata conducting.

Callas fans, no doubt, will heatedly debate the artistic merits and the 
sound restoration on the four new releases of live performances from La 
Scala on EMI, the most familiar being a 1955 performance of Bellini's 
"Sonnambula," with Callas in top form and Leonard Bernstein, then 36, 
conducting. This recording, available over the years on various independent 
labels, has long been an underground hit.

The stakes for EMI are considerable.

"Some in the company say we should be throwing roses on the Aegean Sea 
every year," Mr. Forlow said. "Callas keeps the lights on here."
********************************
Washington Post
FCC Preparing to Overhaul Telecom, Media Rules
If All Proposals Are Enacted, Major Firms in Field Will Be Less Regulated 
and More Free to Expand
By Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 3, 2003; Page E01


Over the next few months, a single federal agency will begin to 
fundamentally alter the nation's communications and mass-media landscape, 
rewriting a broad swath of rules that affect the choices consumers have for 
getting online and the variety of television and radio programming they 
watch and hear.

If all of the changes being reviewed by the Federal Communications 
Commission are enacted as proposed, major telecommunications and media 
corporations will be less regulated, and more free to grow, than at any 
time in decades.

The rules in question govern how much telephone companies need to open 
their lines to competitors for local phone and high-speed Internet service, 
set restrictions on how many TV and radio stations can be owned by one 
company, and determine whether a company can own both newspapers and TV 
stations that serve the same community.

FCC officials say they expect to begin making decisions as early as 
February, after more than a year of intense debate and lobbying over 
sharply different visions of the best way to spur growth and competition in 
the country's information economy.

Opponents of the proposed rules fear that, taken together, they ultimately 
could lead to a few powerful conglomerates controlling the flow of 
electronic information, from programming of television and radio news and 
entertainment to owning the pipes that connect people to the Internet.

Those pushing for the changes argue that the old rules fail to account for 
emerging technologies that can provide a wealth of diverse information and 
means of communication. Burdensome regulation has stunted their deployment 
-- particularly of high-speed Internet access -- these people say, and this 
in turn has hampered recovery of the battered technology sector.

"We've teed up a lot," said Michael J. Copps, one of two commission 
Democrats. "It's high noon at the FCC."

With the stakes high, the corporate owners of three of the nation's major 
TV networks came together yesterday to call on the FCC to abolish its 
ownership rules. Viacom Inc., which owns CBS and the Paramount movie 
studio, joined with News Corp., owner of the Fox TV network and the 20th 
Century Fox studio, and NBC/Telemundo in arguing that the regulations are 
no longer needed given the "wealth of media available to virtually all 
Americans."

Proposed rules often are modified through negotiations among the 
commission's five members, and FCC officials insist that final decisions 
have not been made. But analysts are increasingly convinced that, for the 
most part, the deregulatory agenda of Chairman Michael K. Powell will 
prevail, marking a definitive turn from the policies of the FCC during the 
Clinton administration.

Powell and Republican commissioners Kevin J. Martin and Kathleen Q. 
Abernathy have a 3 to 2 majority, and while they don't always vote in lock 
step, they are in general philosophical agreement that less regulation is 
beneficial.

Meanwhile, Powell's most powerful and ardent critic, Sen. Ernest F. 
Hollings (D-S.C.), lost control of the Senate Commerce Committee when the 
Republicans won a Senate majority last month.

At one hearing last summer, Hollings all but called Powell a shill for big 
business in general and the large regional telephone companies in 
particular. Although the FCC is an independent agency, Congress controls 
its purse strings. Taking over the Commerce Committee is Sen. John McCain 
(R-Ariz.), who championed Powell's nomination to the commission in 1997 and 
who shares his deregulatory instinct. McCain has promised hearings on 
several of the issues the FCC is grappling with.

"The political environment has shifted significantly," said Nancy Kaplan, a 
Bethesda-based telecommunications consultant. "We'll see just how strong 
Powell really is."

The commission's existing regulatory regime also has been under attack by 
the courts, which have issued key rulings challenging the commission's 
requirements on the sharing of telephone networks and its limits on media 
concentration.

Powell Explains View
In an interview, Powell rejected the notion that he seeks mindless 
deregulation, or that the contemplated changes would necessarily shift the 
media and telecommunications balance in dramatic fashion.

"No industry is so fraught with impassioned histrionics as this one," he 
said. Congress requires the commission to review many of its rules every 
two years, Powell said, and to toss out those that cannot be justified as 
providing benefit.

But Powell said he is determined to keep the Internet relatively free from 
the decades-old, tightly regulated framework of local telephone service. He 
also disparages claims that changing FCC rules will mean open season for 
consolidation that will stifle competition.

"That assumes that the antitrust division takes a pill and goes to sleep," 
said Powell, who once worked in that Justice Department division. He added 
that the FCC will continue to evaluate mergers to determine whether they 
are in the public interest. He cited the agency's recent rejection of the 
proposed buyout of Hughes Electronics Corp.'s DirecTV by satellite 
competitor EchoStar Communications Corp. as one example.

But industry experts, consumer groups and several major technology 
companies aren't convinced.

"The most important thing the Powell commission will do is eliminate all 
the rules that proactively prevent telecommunications and media companies 
from entering new lines of business," said Blair Levin, an FCC official in 
the Clinton administration who now analyzes regulatory policy for the 
investment firm Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc.

"We are clearly going to have a lot of consolidation. The question is, is 
the nature of technology such that we can still get the vibrant competition 
that you would want?"

Paul Misener, vice president of global public policy for Amazon.com Inc., 
who also worked at the FCC, said it is "an operating assumption" in his 
industry that there will be fewer Internet access providers in the future.

Misener said the direction the FCC is headed creates the likelihood that 
while consumers will have a choice between high-speed Internet technologies 
-- via cable or souped-up telephone service known as DSL -- there will be 
only one or two Internet providers within each technology.

That prospect has Amazon, Microsoft Corp. and a coalition of other 
technology companies worried that those gatekeepers could prevent users 
from looking at certain content.

For example, a company that owns a movie studio and provides Internet 
connections might restrict the downloading of movies produced by rival 
studios.

Amazon wants the FCC to add a rule that would require high-speed Internet 
providers to agree to refrain from content discrimination or to be required 
to give at least three competing Internet providers the ability to offer 
service on their systems.

Consumer groups have called on the FCC to require the cable and phone 
companies that provide broadband connections to be required to allow other 
Internet service providers -- such as EarthLink Inc. or United Online Inc. 
-- onto those systems under any circumstance.

The pipe owners want no such requirements, although America Online Inc. and 
Time Warner Inc. had to accept them as a condition of merger approval in 2000.

Powell said that providing choice for Internet service is vital for 
consumers and that the commission is still mulling the issue. But the 
question, he said, is whether the pipe owners should be required to allow 
other providers on their systems, or whether they will have enough market 
incentive to negotiate deals with other providers on their own, as some have.

Nurturing Competition
That question is at the heart of the broader argument over how best to 
nurture and encourage competition in the digital world.

Proponents of deregulation say that owners of existing infrastructure, such 
as cable and telephone networks, cannot be expected to invest in new 
technologies and ultra-fast fiber-optic lines if they are forced to share 
their facilities with or lease them to potential competitors.

The other side argues that only by requiring owners of monopoly networks to 
compete will they have incentive to invest in new services and expand their 
revenue opportunities. To do otherwise would force many competitors out of 
business, these people say.

In passing the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress forged a 
patchwork filled with compromise. But it required the regional phone 
companies to open their networks to competitors to provide local service 
and high-speed DSL Internet access.

On the local-service side, the results have been mixed.

Under the Telecommunications Act states have the power -- based on FCC 
rules -- to set the lease rates that the phone companies can charge 
competitors to use the equipment needed to provide local service.

But states were slow to act, faced in part with heavy lobbying from phone 
companies arguing that they would fail to recoup their costs if rates were 
lowered. Meanwhile, many start-up companies were swept away in the collapse 
of the telecom sector.

Recently, however, several states have moved aggressively to lower the 
lease rates, and long-distance companies have made significant inroads into 
local-service markets, winning customers from the former regional Bell 
companies. Nationwide, the regional competitors provide about 8 million 
customers with local phone service, up about 40 percent from a year ago. As 
a result, costs to consumers have dropped as the Bells have been forced to 
compete.

In states where those rates are low, such as Michigan and Wisconsin, AT&T 
Corp., WorldCom and Sprint Corp. have been particularly successful in 
offering package rates to consumers for long-distance and local phone service.

The FCC is considering changes in the rules specifying which parts of the 
network the Bells must make available. The changes also might preempt the 
states' rate-setting authority, in light of court decisions that have 
questioned the fairness of, among other things, rates varying from area to 
area.

Similarly, the FCC is examining how much telephone networks should be 
opened to competition for high-speed Internet access, or broadband, which 
the phone companies also provide.

Some competitors successfully offer service, but they have accused the 
phone companies of stalling in making needed equipment available. Other 
competitors have gone out of business or don't serve residential customers.

The phone companies want to be treated in the same fashion as the cable 
operators, which are not required to offer competing services on their 
broadband networks. Only then, the phone companies say, will they have the 
incentive to extend the "last mile" of fiber-optic lines to homes.

Commissioner Martin agrees. He said he fears that the current 2-to-1 
subscription advantage that cable broadband enjoys over DSL will widen, 
threatening competition between the two platforms.

But David Baker, head of public policy at EarthLink, sees a possible 
windfall for the Bell phone companies if they are not at least required to 
allow other Internet service providers onto the networks.

The FCC commissioners "are considering a lot of potentially very good 
things for the Bells and very bad things for everybody else," Baker said. 
"Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail."

The newest commissioner, Democrat Jonathan S. Adelstein, said that 
"competition is key to deployment" of high-speed lines and revitalizing the 
telecommunications industry, but he declined to state a position on how 
best to achieve it.

Powell called much of the Telecom Act "an experiment" from which the FCC is 
learning what works and what doesn't.

It is clear, though, that Powell wants companies to compete by building 
their own facilities and networks, rather than relying on piggybacking. 
Moreover, he sees emerging technologies, such as voice-over-Internet, cable 
telephony and expanded wireless, as providing new avenues of competition.

That is the argument the large phone companies have been making 
aggressively, lobbying hard both in Congress and at the FCC.

Hearings Threatened
Commissioner Copps worries about changing the broadband rules, but he is so 
incensed about the proposals that would ease limits on media ownership that 
he has threatened to hold public hearings, on his own, around the country. 
Powell agreed to one hearing in Richmond in February, but a senior FCC 
official said that it is unlikely to change any minds.

Under the proposals, a newspaper and a radio or TV station in the same 
market could be owned by the same company. The commission also is 
considering lifting rules that bar one company from owning more than one of 
the top four TV stations in a market, raising the cap from 30 percent to as 
much as 45 percent on the number of total viewers nationwide that one cable 
system can serve, raising or abolishing the cap that prevents one company 
from owning or controlling TV stations that reach more than 35 percent of 
households nationwide, and ending the ban on the major networks being merged.

A limit that bars one company from owning more than eight radio stations in 
the largest metropolitan areas also is under review.

"This is public property we're talking about," said Copps, speaking about 
the airwaves. The changes have "the potential to change media choices, for 
better or for worse, for years to come. And what I keep asking is, what if 
we make a mistake? How do you put the genie back in the bottle?"

A wide range of consumer groups have objected to the proposals, noting that 
a handful of major media companies, most prominently Walt Disney Co., 
Viacom, AOL Time Warner Inc., News Corp. and Clear Channel Communications 
Inc., already own the country's biggest online service; hundreds of 
television stations; more than 1,000 radio stations; three of the country's 
four national TV networks; and most of the largest U.S. movie and TV 
production studios, cable networks and magazines. These include CBS, ABC, 
Fox; Time, Fortune and People magazines; and MTV, HBO, CNN and ESPN.

The FCC recently released 12 pieces of research that its officials say 
shows that diversity is growing in radio and TV programming and ownership. 
But several organizations, including the National Association of 
Broadcasters, the Future of Music Coalition and the Caucus for Television 
Producers, Writers & Directors, have attacked some or all of the studies as 
flawed.

Like most large media companies, The Washington Post Co., which owns this 
newspaper along with six TV stations and the Cable One cable system, would 
be affected by the rule changes. Officials of many major radio, cable and 
broadcast networks argue that the ownership limits, designed to ensure some 
measure of programming diversity and local control of media outlets, fail 
to account for today's technological advances. Satellite TV, satellite 
radio, cable TV and the Internet all provide alternatives, they say.

For opponents of Powell's agenda, time is growing short. They are hoping 
that the chairman's cautious nature will lead him to move slowly and to 
compromise on key issues.

Indeed, Powell has been so deliberate that many conservatives have accused 
him of indecision and timidity, openly wondering whether he will ever pull 
the trigger.

This is the year, Powell says.
*****************************
USA Today
FCC bombarded with ownership rules remarks
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY

Writers, producers, advertisers and consumer groups urged federal 
regulators Thursday to keep media ownership caps aimed at promoting a 
diversity of on-air programs and viewpoints.

But broadcasters and other media owners called the limits an anachronism in 
an era of 200-channel cable TV and the Internet.

Ahead of Thursday's midnight deadline, the two sides weighed in with a 
blizzard of written comments on the Federal Communications Commission's 
review of its media rules.

The FCC is reviewing rules that prevent a broadcaster from owning TV 
stations that reach more than 35% of U.S. households and from owning two TV 
stations in smaller cities. It's also reviewing limits on ownership in the 
same market of TV and radio stations, as well as a newspaper and TV station.

The Republican-controlled commission led by Chairman Michael Powell is 
expected this spring to relax limits on media giants growing larger. 
Public-interest advocates fear local news voices will shrink.

Six conglomerates  AOL Time Warner, Viacom, NBC, Disney, News Corp. and 
Vivendi  now pay nearly 70% of writers' salaries, the FCC was told by the 
Center for the Creative Community. It represents about 100,000 writers, 
directors and performers.

And 24% of TV networks' primetime schedule comes from independent 
producers, down from 68% a decade, ago, says the Coalition for Program 
Diversity, which includes the Screen Actors Guild of America, ad giant 
MediaCom and Sony Pictures Television.

But Sinclair Broadcast Group, among the larger owners of TV stations, 
called the rules "completely irrational." It said a struggling TV station 
is more likely to ditch its newscast while a company that can "achieve cost 
efficiencies" by running two stations in one market "is more likely to add 
local news."
**********************************
News.com
Federal agency pulls Web documents
By Lisa M. Bowman
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 2, 2003, 3:34 PM PT


The Transportation Security Administration has quietly removed four 
password-protected documents about airport security from its Web site after 
reporters raised questions about locking up government data.

In a column last week, CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh speculated on 
whether he would be violating the contentious Digital Millennium Copyright 
Act (DMCA) if he viewed downloaded documents from the TSA's Web site after 
obtaining the password in an unauthorized manner. At the time, anyone could 
download the encrypted documents, but a password was required to open and 
read them.

The DMCA contains a provision that prohibits cracking protections on 
copyrighted works, or publishing information about how to do so, without 
permission from the owner--a ban that could include accessing data with an 
improperly obtained password. Violation of the statute could carry criminal 
penalties including fines and jail time. Government documents are not 
necessarily protected under the DMCA, but these particular reports were 
apparently prepared by an outside consultant and may have been subject to 
the law.


Other news reports questioned the effectiveness of the TSA's security 
method--particularly because it would be impossible to determine whether 
someone opened the documents without permission after downloading them onto 
a personal computer.

CNET News.com had obtained a password to unlock the documents--which at the 
time were "restricted to airport management and local law 
enforcement"--from a confidential source.

The incident raises questions about the scope of the DMCA and whether 
governments and corporations may increasingly remove data from the Web 
rather than maintain password-protected files that may spark murky legal 
situations.

The TSA, which is dealing with the fallout of a Dec. 31 baggage-screening 
deadline, did not return calls seeking comment.
***********************************
Associated Press
L.A. Official Calls for Probe of Internet Cafes
By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles city councilman has called for an 
investigation of violence at so-called Internet cafes, a step that could 
prompt a crackdown on the popular and controversial sites for PC-based games.


The investigation of the cybercafes, also known as "PC bangs" or 
"cybercafes," came after a brawl erupted between rival groups playing in a 
tournament involving the online combat game "Counter Strike."


Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine said on Thursday he plans to 
introduce a motion at a hearing next week asking for a report from the Los 
Angeles Police Department on recent outbreaks of violence at cybercafes.


One unidentified teenager was shot in the leg on Monday outside an Internet 
cafe in Northridge, a suburb that is part of Los Angeles. A second youth 
was struck in the head, reportedly with a chair.


About 100 people had gathered at the NetStreet Internet Cafe at the time of 
the melee, with witnesses reporting that fighters had wielded metal chairs 
and pipes. In July a 19-year-old man was shot and killed outside his home 
as he returned from a gaming session at NetStreet.


In the Orange County city of Garden Grove, south of Los Angeles, police 
have reportedly been called to the city's cybercafes more than 300 times 
since June. A city ordinance requires the facilities to post security 
guards at night.


ASIAN GANG DISPUTES


Much of the violence at Orange County cybercafes has been blamed on Asian 
gang disputes. The Northridge brawl is also being investigated by a Los 
Angeles police unit that investigates Asian gang-related crimes.


"Gang violence can occur anywhere but what gang members do is they identify 
locations where people congregate and then they want to put a stranglehold 
on and take over," Zine, a former LAPD (news - web sites) officer, told 
Reuters.


Zine has said he was concerned that Internet cafes featuring violent games 
had become unsafe for the minors who frequent them and raised the prospect 
of imposing an age restriction on the businesses.
Los Angeles already regulates traditional gaming arcades, requiring them to 
get annual police permits to operate and charging them a fee when they move.


Zine said his proposals would depend on the findings in that police report 
but could include age restrictions on patrons of the cafes, increased 
lighting or mandatory posting of security guards at certain times of day.


"Counter-Strike," marketed by a unit of Vivendi Universal (NYSE:V - news), 
is a popular game often featured in competitive gaming events, including 
tournaments run by the Cyberathlete Professional League that features 
hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money.


It carries a "Mature" rating as assigned by the Entertainment Software 
Rating Board, which means that it is not intended for those under the age 
of 17.


In late 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) let stand a 
lower-court ruling blocking a law enacted by the city of Indianapolis that 
would have required parental consent for minors to play violent video games 
in commercial establishments like arcades.
************************************
Government Computer News
01/03/03
Energy changes top management at Los Alamos
By Patricia Daukantas

Two top managers at Los Alamos National Laboratory are stepping down from 
posts at the famed, but troubled, Energy Department weapons-research facility.

Lab director John C. Browne and principal deputy director Joseph Salgado 
submitted their resignations to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham Dec. 23 
and will step down on Jan. 6.

The office of University of California president Richard C. Atkinson 
announced the shakeup only yesterday because Los Alamos had been closed for 
the holidays, said Michael Reese, a spokesman for the president's office. 
The University of California manages Los Alamos and two other laboratories 
for the Energy Department.

Officials also wanted to wait until they found an interim director, 
physicist and retired Navy Vice Adm. George P. "Pete" Nanos, to announce 
the transition, Reese said.

The weapons lab has been under fire for several years for numerous 
problems, including missing computer tapes and other data-security issues. 
Reese acknowledged that last November's firing of two waste-and-fraud 
investigators from the lab prompted the discussions that led to the 
resignations.

"We wanted answers to some fundamental questions, and we weren't getting 
them," Reese said.

Atkinson will appoint an oversight board to guide Nanos in reviewing the 
laboratory's administrative procedures, Reese said.

In addition, the University of California has retained former U.S. attorney 
Charles La Bella to interact with investigators from the FBI, the office of 
Energy's inspector general and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, 
Reese said.

Rep. Billy Tauzin, R.-La., chairman of the House committee, and Rep. James 
Greenwood, R-Pa., who heads the oversight and investigations subcommittee 
under Tauzin, praised the management shakeup.

"We applaud Secretary Abraham for sending a strong signal that he will not 
tolerate business as usual at the labs and for taking these aggressive 
steps that hopefully will improve accountability," they said in a statement.
*********************************
Government Computer News
01/02/03
States, D.C. vie to host homeland department
By Wilson P. Dizard III

Congressional representatives in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. 
are lobbying hard to become the site of the Homeland Security Department's 
headquarters, each touting the advantages of their locales.

Homeland Security Office director Tom Ridge has received letters from Sen. 
Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Sen. George Allen (R.-Va.) and D.C. Delegate 
Eleanor Holmes Norton pressing the advantages of putting the homeland 
security headquarters in their jurisdictions.

Norton held a press conference last month with D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams 
at which she cited two executive orders and a federal law requiring the 
department to be located in the District. Norton contends that placing the 
headquarters outside the city would deal "crippling economic domino 
effects" to the Washington economy.

In a Dec. 26 statement, Norton said, "Much of the District's economy hangs 
on a decision the Bush administration is about to make. The Mayor and I 
hope that the administration will figure the loss of more than $171 million 
in city revenues into the equation before selecting a location for DHS." 
She said the city might lose as many as 15,000 to 18,000 jobs if the 
administration chooses a Maryland or Virginia location for the new department.

Norton cited executive orders 12072 of 1978 and 13006 of 1998 which require 
federal agencies to give "first consideration to locating in central 
business districts, including the nation's capital," according to a 
statement from her office. She also cited 4 USC Sec. 72 of 1947, which 
requires that "all offices attached to the seat of government be exercised 
in the District of Columbia and not elsewhere, except as otherwise provided 
by statute," and said the Homeland Security Act did not override that 
provision.

Allen sent letters to President Bush and to Ridge saying that his state 
stands ready to provide a home for the new department. Its advantages 
include a large number of IT, defense and technology companies as well as 
the headquarters of the Pentagon, CIA and other agencies, Allen wrote.

An aide to Allen said that the senator has been conducting meetings with 
various members of the administration in an effort to attract the 
headquarters to Virginia.

Mikulski wrote to Ridge touting the advantages of her state, including 
"established, secure federal facilities; continuity of operations in the 
event of an attack; and a large pool of federal workers."

Mikulski cited Maryland's appeal as the home of the National Security 
Agency, other law enforcement agencies and Fort Detrick as well as its 
workforce.

The General Services Administration is reviewing proposals to provide space 
for the department's headquarters. Ridge could announce the new 
department's location as early as Jan. 24, congressional sources said.
***********************************
Government Executive
January 2, 2003
IT systems key to success of homeland department
By Molly M. Peterson, National Journal's Technology Daily

Strong information technology systems will be crucial to the success of the 
new Homeland Security Department, according to a recent report by the 
General Accounting Office.


The GAO report (03-260), released Dec. 24, also found that federal agencies 
have made progress in addressing their homeland security missions since the 
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and that information sharing between 
federal agencies has increased. But GAO said federal agencies still face 
many challenges, such as improving their collaboration with state and local 
officials and the private sector.


"Our work indicated that the federal government, state and local 
governments, and certain parts of the private sector are engaging in 
important projects to improve homeland security, but that a greater 
emphasis on coordination and collaboration is necessary among some sectors 
in order to meet long-term goals," GAO said in a Dec. 20 letter to Senate 
Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., who 
requested the study.

Twenty-two existing federal agencies and offices will move into the new 
Homeland Security Department, which also will include an Office of State 
and Local Coordination and a liaison official for the private sector.


GAO estimated that the full transition to the new department could take 
five to 10 years, and recommended that the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) work with the department to implement the appropriate management 
systems. "Strong financial and information technology systems will also be 
critical to the success of [the Homeland Security Department] and other 
organizations with homeland security missions," the GAO report said.


GAO also said the White House Office of Homeland Security should lead the 
federal government's efforts to clarify the responsibilities ofand foster 
collaboration betweenthe new department, OMB and all other federal agencies 
with a homeland security role.


"The federal government will need to effectively respond to significant 
management and coordination challenges if it is to provide this leadership 
and be successful in preventing and responding to any future acts of 
terrorism," the report said.
*********************************
News Factor
PC Spies at the Gate
By Lisa Gill
NewsFactor Network
January 2, 2003

ZoneLab's ZoneAlarm is a free, consumer-level personal firewall that, among 
other things, notifies a user when a program is trying to send data over 
the Internet, then asks for the user's permission. [Full Story 
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20361.html]
******************************


Lillie Coney
Public Policy Coordinator
U.S. Association for Computing Machinery
Suite 510
2120 L Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20037
202-478-6124
lillie.coney@xxxxxxx


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Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber:

Welcome to the January 3, 2003 edition of ACM TechNews,
providing timely information for IT professionals three times a
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ACM TechNews
Volume 5, Number 441
Date: January 3, 2003

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Top Stories for Friday, January 3, 2003:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Tech Industry to Take On Hollywood over Digital Rules"
"Wi-Fi Spectrum Battle Pits Antiterrorism Efforts Against
Commercial Growth"
"Could Fear of Terror Muzzle Science?"
"For the Gadget Universe, a Common Tongue"
"Breakthrough Brings Laser Light to New Regions of the Spectrum"
"Composer Harnesses Artificial Intelligence to Create Music"
"Getting Smart About Predictive Intelligence"
"IT Staffing Crisis Looms in India"
"New Strategy in the War on Spammers"
"Giving Robots the Gift of Sight"
"Happy Birthday, Dear Internet"
"Inside the World of Extreme Programming"
"Toward a More Secure 2003"
"Technology Jobs are Increasingly Going Small Tech"
"2002: The Year in Technology"
"Realer Than Real"
"Who's Winning the Cyberwars?"
"Beyond the Information Age"
"Robotic Heroes"

******************* News Stories ***********************

"Tech Industry to Take On Hollywood over Digital Rules"
A new coalition formed from the Business Software Alliance and
the Computer Systems Policy Project intends to recruit consumer
and business groups to help launch a lobbying campaign that takes
aim at copy-protection legislation supported by the entertainment ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item1

"Wi-Fi Spectrum Battle Pits Antiterrorism Efforts Against
Commercial Growth"
The U.S. Defense Department wants the use of wireless LANs
(WLANs) operating in the lower portion of the 5-GHz band to be
restricted, on the grounds that they could potentially interfere
with military radar systems' ability to identify terrorist ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item2

"Could Fear of Terror Muzzle Science?"
As a result of Sept. 11, both the U.S. government and researchers
are debating how to strike a balance between the long-held
tradition of keeping science research open, and worries that
terrorists could exploit such research for nefarious purposes.  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item3

"For the Gadget Universe, a Common Tongue"
Vanu, the four-year old company founded by Vanu Bose, son of
hi-fi inventor and MIT professor Amar Bose, develops
software-defined radio for the purpose of enabling disparate
devices--cell phones, handheld computers, laptops, etc.--to ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item4

"Breakthrough Brings Laser Light to New Regions of the Spectrum"
University of Colorado researchers report in the Jan. 2 issue of
Nature that they have developed an extreme-ultraviolet (EUV)
laser beam that generates wavelengths that are 10 to 100 times
shorter than visible light waves, an innovation that can be ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item5

"Composer Harnesses Artificial Intelligence to Create Music"
Award-winning composer Eduardo Reck Miranda is working on
computer programs that can learn to create their own music.
Miranda, an expert in artificial intelligence and researcher for
Sony Computer Science Laboratories, previously made programs ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item6

"Getting Smart About Predictive Intelligence"
Boston Globe columnist Scott Kirsner expects the major technology
debate of 2003 to revolve around the use of predictive
intelligence, which is being employed in the private sector for
marketing purposes, but, more importantly, lies at the heart of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item7

"IT Staffing Crisis Looms in India"
Many multinationals turn to India for their IT-enabled services
and business processes so that they can take advantage of cheaper
labor and low operations costs, and consulting firm McKinsey
reports that Indian outsourcing companies could earn as much as ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item8

"New Strategy in the War on Spammers"
AT&T Labs researcher Dr. John Ioannidis will present a paper in
February that details a system he has devised to combat spam by
creating "single-purpose addresses" that senders can use to
recipients they either have no continuing relationship with or ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item9

"Giving Robots the Gift of Sight"
Carnegie Mellon University professor Hans Moravec has developed a
3D robotic vision system that includes stereoscopic digital
cameras and a 3D grid composed of 32 million digital cells that a
machine can use to reliably navigate through homes and offices.  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item10

"Happy Birthday, Dear Internet"
When exactly the Internet was born is a matter of debate, but
many agree that Jan. 1, 1983, is a significant date because that
was when its Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET)
precursor transitioned from Network Control Protocol (NCP) to ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item11

"Inside the World of Extreme Programming"
Extreme Programming (XP), in which coders are paired up so that
they can constantly scrutinize and improve each other's work, is
seen by corporate IT managers as a way to make software
development more efficient.  "Extreme Programming Installed" ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item12

"Toward a More Secure 2003"
The year 2003 will hold numerous challenges for corporate
security managers, but also yield opportunities to boost computer
security through technology and software advancements.  Message
Labs reports that the growth rate of junk email, or spam, will ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item13

"Technology Jobs are Increasingly Going Small Tech"
A background in nanotechnology could be very helpful in securing
future careers for engineers, and Ardesta recruiting director
Marlo Pabst notes that nanotech and microtechnologies are based
on similar engineering theory.  However, she acknowledges that ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item14

"2002: The Year in Technology"
Notable developments in the technology sector this past year
included id Quantique's debut of the first commercial quantum
encryption device in June, while QinetiQ transmitted a
quantum-bit signal over 23 kilometers in October, and Australian ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item15

"Realer Than Real"
Head-mounted display (HMD) technologies are an example of "mixed
reality" systems that promise to seamlessly integrate
computer-generated data and imagery with the real world, and
Japan is leading the charge in this area: Japanese hospitals have ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item16

"Who's Winning the Cyberwars?"
The Sept. 11 attacks and the Nimda virus outbreak have helped
raise the profile of cybersecurity and the need to defend
cyberspace from increasingly sophisticated hackers, virus
writers, and cyberterrorists who go after specific targets such ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item17

"Beyond the Information Age"
Futurist and author Stan Davis writes that the information
economy passed its midpoint with the launch of the Internet, and
will segue to a biotech economy in the late 2020s.  He recommends
that CIOs should prepare for this transition by concentrating on ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item18

"Robotic Heroes"
Advanced robots that can function in areas or situations too
dangerous for humans are finding use in the military, law
enforcement, and even the space program.  Battlefield robots
under development or in use include iRobot's Bloodhound, a ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0103f.html#item19

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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