Lawmakers focus on security-related technology issues

The big news in Congress this week was the approval of a resolution authorizing unilateral military action in Iraq, but lawmakers also introduced several technology-related bills focusing on security and issues like identity theft, privacy and Internet safety.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., introduced his long-awaited legislation, S. 3107, designed to improve the databases involving state-issued driver's licenses. A similar measure, H.R. 4633, has sparked privacy concerns and been characterized as an initiative that would create a national identification card. But an aide to Durbin said the new Senate bill "is pretty narrowly crafted to improve the process at which licenses are issued."

On another front, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., filed legislation that would exempt government contractors from liability involving technologies and services sold to the government for homeland security purposes. The measure, S. 3076, is identical to language in the Senate's version of broader homeland security legislation, H.R. 5005.

It would add homeland security technologies and services to an existing executive order that allows the president to indemnify contractors for national security reasons. The measure would cover contracts with federal, state and local governments.

The issue of the deadline for installing explosive-detection devices at airports also resurfaced. The latest measure, S. 3071, would require all airports unable to meet the Dec. 31 deadline to issue reports to Congress detailing their progress.

In the House, a new measure, H.R. 5588, aims to curtail identity theft by making "aggravated identity theft" a separate crime, increasing the sentence for anyone who uses the identity of another to commit a crime. And a related Senate measure, S. 3100, seeks to limit the misuse of Social Security numbers.

Two lawmakers with oversight of telecommunications issues, meanwhile, filed legislation on reallocating airwaves occupied by government agencies. The bill, H.R. 5638, would establish a fund to reimburse those agencies when they relinquish the spectrum for commercial use and move to another band of airwaves.

The following technology-related measures also were introduced this week:

• S. 3103 and H.R. 5631, which would close a loophole that allows federal regulators to overrule local officials on where to locate cellular and broadcast towers.
• H.R. 5602, which would establish a board to advise the FCC on the impact its decisions may have in rural America.
• S. 3067, which would make permanent a 2001 law on securing government information systems.
• S. 3093, which seeks to stop Internet "jamming," or censorship, of politically sensitive Web sites in countries like China.
• H.R. 5585 and H.R. 5598, which seek to improve the system for collecting, evaluating and disseminating statistics on the educational system.
• S. 3064, which would make it illegal for healthcare entities to use patient data for sending marketing materials about drugs used to treat their patients' ailments.
• S. 3089, which would grant normal trade relations to products from Ukraine.
• H.J. Res. 116, which would recognize that people who obtain copyrighted and non-copyrighted materials should be able to use them in non-commercial ways.
• S. Res. 338, which would designate October as "Children's Internet Safety Month."