Controversy Delays Net Song-Swap Bill in Senate
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A measure that would make it easier to sue online file-trading networks like Kazaa and Morpheus failed to advance in the Senate on Thursday because lawmakers said there was too much opposition.
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Two senators on Wednesday threatened  to introduce bipartisan legislation that would block the U.S.  Federal Communication Commission from acting quickly to ease  rules governing media ownership.
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A distributor of Internet file-swapping software abruptly postponed the launch of its free online music service until it can finalize music licensing deals Â a detail the company omitted when it threw a star-studded coming-out party over the weekend.
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A White House-backed bill to revamp immigration laws stalled in the Senate on Thursday, handing President George W. Bush a major legislative setback.
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The controversial Induce Act, supported by Orrin Hatch as a measure to fight copyright infringement, hits an impasse
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The Senate late Sunday resolved a dispute delaying passage of a sweeping corporate tax bill and two spending bills for disaster relief and homeland security, clearing the way for senators to adjourn Monday to hit the campaign trail.
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The U.S. Senate has passed legislation that would extend a moratorium on Internet access taxes for seven years, giving supporters hope that an extension will be signed into law before the current moratorium expires Nov. 1.The Senate late Thursday passed the seven-year extension on a voice vote. The moratorium would extend the ban on Internet-only taxes, such as access and &quot;bit&quot; taxes on information as it travels through a taxing jurisdiction. The Senate passed an amended version of a House of Representatives bill, the awkwardly named Internet Tax Freedom Act Amendments Act.The House passed a four-year Internet tax moratorium&#160;earlier this month. The two chambers will have to reconcile the two versions of the moratorium before sending the legislation to U.S. President George Bush to be signed.The Senate&#39;s seven-year extension represented a compromise between a group of senators, many of whom opposed an extension in the past, who wanted a four-year ban, and a second group that wanted a permanent ban.Senators calling for a four-year ban, including Thomas Carper, a Delaware Democrat, and Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, argued that a permanent extension would hurt state and local governments&#39; long-term ability to raise money. Other critics of the ban have raised concerns that a permanent ban would give telecom providers the opportunity to press for tax-exempt status on services such as VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol).&quot;This agreement is a common sense victory both for Internet users and for state and local governments,&quot; Carper and Alexander said in a joint statement. &quot;It continues the moratorium on Internet taxation, avoids unfunded federal mandates on states and cities ... and allows Congress to revisit the issue after seven years.&quot;Supporters of a long-term ban say it encourages broadband adoption, and, by extension, helps drive the U.S. economy.Senator John Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican who pushed for a permanent moratorium, also praised the Senate&#39;s action. The amendment crafted by Sununu and Carper, in addition to extending the ban, made some changes to the House bill that were intended to protect e-mail messages and instant messaging from usage taxes, Sununu said.Some critics, including Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, had raised concerns that a Senate moratorium bill would open up e-mail and instant messaging to taxes.&quot;This bill -- a drastic improvement over what came out of the House -- makes a clear statement that taxes on Internet access are wrong for consumers and wrong for the economy,&quot; Sununu said in a statement. &quot;The Senate has made real progress in the name of Internet tax freedom, passing improved legislation that offers more certainty for this national and global communication network.&quot;Wyden, a long-time tax moratorium supporter, also applauded the Senate vote.The changes approved by the Senate will protect instant messaging and e-mail, including voice and video messaging services, Wyden said in a statement.&quot;These services have sparked revolutions in our ability to communicate, bringing distant grandparents closer to their grandchildren and giving our soldiers in the field a more direct link to home,&quot; he added.
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By Zane Wilson, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.  Feb. 16--COLUMBIA -- A Midlands Senator on Thursday blocked passage of a bill that would allow city and county council members to excuse themselves, rather than having to resign, if business with associates or relatives comes before them.
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Internet service providers and other technology firms are proposing to soften a bill in Congress that they claim will make them targets of frivolous entertainment industry copyright lawsuits.
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A bipartisan group of Senate leaders has asked the country's highest-ranking copyright official to rewrite controversial legislation targeted at companies that profit from encouraging the public to commit copyright piracy.
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Congressional action on legislation  to pressure China into raising the value of its currency could  be delayed until October because of other pending issues,  congressional aides said on Tuesday.
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The drive to pass a &#36;136 billion corporate tax bill hit a roadblock in the Senate on Friday when lawmakers upset about tobacco regulation, new overtime rules and combat pay employed delaying tactics to prevent a vote.
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A White House-backed bill to revamp immigration laws stalled in the Senate on Thursday, handing President George W. Bush a major legislative setback
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The Senate late Monday delayed its consideration of a vote on a new government eavesdropping bill until January.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Congress adjourned Friday without passing a much-debated broadband bill or strengthening network neutrality rules. The wide-ranging broadband bill would have streamlined the franchising process that telecom companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. need to go through to offer Internet Protocol-based television service in competition with cable TV. But advocates of net neutrality rules pressed Congress to hold on to the broadband bill unless it included a provision prohibiting broadband providers from blocking or slowing competing Internet content. Congress' failure to pass the broadband bill "shows the power of the issue with net neutrality," said Jim McGann, spokesman for the It's Our Net Coalition, a group calling for a net neutrality law. "Some lawmakers ignored net neutrality at their peril." Democrats take control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives when Congress reconvenes in January, and the prospects for a wide-ranging broadband bill may be diminished. Republicans have generally pushed for the bill, while many Democrats raised objections based on concerns about the lack of net neutrality rules and about provisions that they said would allow the telecom providers to skip poor areas with their new television services. The House version of the broadband bill would have required VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) providers to offer customers enhanced 911 emergency dialing service, and it would have allowed municipal governments to offer broadband data and video services. The Senate version would have permanently extended a tax moratorium on Internet-only taxes such as access taxes. Net neutrality advocates will continue to press Congress to pass a law protecting open access on the Internet, McGann said, although he declined to speculate on its chances in the new Congress. "We're going to, as much as we can, educate members about the issue," he said. The broadband bill will also lose a major champion in Congress next year. Verizon, one of the large broadband providers pushing for streamlined video franchising rules, will refocus its efforts on state legislation next year, a company spokesman said. Verizon is also watching the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which may also act on broadband regulations, said David Fish, a Verizon spokesman. "The federal campaign raised the issue to a higher visibility," Fish said. "We've made big strides toward video choice this year, and expect continued progress in 2007." Beyond the broadband bill, some tech groups said Congress' post-election lame-duck session produced mixed results. In its final days, Congress approved an extension of a R&D (research and development) tax credit, which allows U.S. companies to get a tax break of up to 10 percent of R&D spending. The credit expired in 2005, and many tech groups called on Congress to reinstate it so that the U.S. could stay competitive with other countries offering R&D tax breaks. Congress approved an extension through the end of 2007, even though some tech groups want the tax credit to be made permanent. Congress also approved an expansion that could add US$1 billion to $2 billion to the program, which has cost about $7 billion a year. Tech groups applauded the extension of the R&D tax credit, as well as Congress' decision to extend permanent normal trade relations to Vietnam. The R&D tax credit action was "long overdue," said William Archey, president and chief executive officer of AeA, a tech trade group. But groups representing large tech vendors complained that Congress failed to increase the 65,000-person limit for H-1B visas, the program used to hire highly skilled foreign workers. Congress also failed to make changes to the U.S. patent system, although many large tech companies want improvements in the quality of patents and a weaker patent enforcement system. By failing to act on H-1Bs, patents and a fiscal year 2007 budget, Congress "ultimately failed to make the grade,â Phil Bond, president and chief executive officer of the Information Technology Association of America, said in a statement. Tech worker groups have opposed expansion of the H-1B cap above the current 65,000 visas a year, saying many U.S. tech workers remain out of work. Small inventors have opposed many changes to the patent system, including a tech-backed proposal to make it tougher for investors to get court injunctions against accused patent infringers.
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The U.S. Senate has voted to outlaw  several favorite techniques of people who illegally copy and  distribute movies, but has dropped other measures that could  have led to jail time for Internet song-swappers.
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After cobbling together a string of copyright bills in the hopes of gaining enough support for final passage, lawmakers are ripping the package asunder in