Roy Mark

The Republican leadership has selected Virginian Tom Davis, who sponsored the E-Government Act of 2002 recently signed by President Bush, to chair the House Government Reform Committee that oversees federal IT issues. Davis, moves up from being chairman of the committee’s IT and Procurement Policy subcommittee. He replaces Rep. Dan Burton (R.-Ind.), whose Republican-mandated six-year […]

Rep. Jim Leach (R.-Iowa) is betting he can double his past legislative successes in banning Internet gambling. In the 107th Congress, Leach managed to squeeze out a House voice vote approval for a measure prohibiting U.S.-based banks, credit card companies and other Internet payment systems from making payments to gambling sites. The bill failed to […]

Legislation to create a federal nanotechnology advisory board and a nanotechnology research program was introduced in Congress Wednesday by Silicon Valley Rep. Mike Honda (D.-Calif.). The panel would the advise the president and Congress on research investment strategy, policy, objectives, and oversight related to the federal government’s National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). Nanotechnology refers to the […]

Federal government spending on IT outsourcing services will more than double from 2002’s $6.6 billion to nearly $15 billion by 2007, according to a new study by Input, a Chantilly, Va.-based sales and marketing firm for government technology vendors. The report says a combination of administrative pressures to compete with non-governmental activities and difficulty in […]

Digital home recording rights became the first technology-related legislation introduced in the 108th Congress Tuesday afternoon with the filing of a bill intended to protect the fair use rights of consumers purchasing copyrighted material. Sponsored by Representatives Rick Boucher (D.-Va.) and John Doolittle (R.-Calif.), the bill would amend two key provisions of the Digital Millennium […]

Bills to extend the moratorium on Internet taxes were among some of the first to hit the legislative hopper Tuesday as the 108th Congress opened for business. The current moratorium expires in November. The original three-year moratorium, established by the Internet Tax Freedom Act introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.) and Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.) […]

The White House is leaking again. As has been its habit since announcing early last year it was drafting a National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, the Bush Administration is again floating its proposals though the media before actually making a public announcement. In its latest trial balloon, the Associated Press is reporting an internal draft […]

The U.S. House of Representatives plans to create a new committee to oversee the activities of the new Homeland Security Department. Speaker of the House Dennis J. Hastert (R.-Ill.) laid out the plan Monday night to fellow Republicans as part of a package of House rule changes, and the chamber is expected to approve the […]

When the final gavel fell on the 107th Congress in November, literally dozens of technology-related bills were left unresolved with the House of Representatives and the Senate rarely in agreement over issues ranging from spam to spectrum. As a result, when the Republican-led 108th Congress convenes Tuesday, old issues will be facing the new leadership. […]

The U.S. Supreme Court backed away from a controversial DVD encryption case Friday when Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor withdrew the temporary stay she issued during the week of Christmas halting a California Supreme Court decision that limited the jurisdiction of a lawsuit filed against a Texas programmer who posted to the Web computer code […]

VeriSign is re-launching the Network Solutions brand name to conduct its domain name, Web site and e-mail service business. The Mountain View, Calif.-based VeriSign acquired Network Solutions almost three years ago in an all-stock deal then valued at $21 billion and renamed the Reston, Va.-based registrar as VeriSign Global Registry Services. VeriSign’s research showed that […]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) plan to migrate from paper to electronic public search systems has stalled due to a lawsuit filed by the National Intellectual Property Researchers Association (NIPRA). The legal action seeks to enjoin the USPTO from its plan to begin dismantling its paper collection of patents and trademarks. In response […]