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Technology Stocks : Command Systems, Inc. (CMND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (1511)	10/19/1998 12:00:00 PM
From: Robert Floyd	Respond to of 1956

Friday October 16 3:26 AM EDT New High-Tech Laws Please Industry By TED BRIDIS Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) _ The nation's technology industry won significant victories in the new budget agreement: fewer limits on hiring computer-savvy foreigners, a temporary ban on Internet taxes, new copyright protections, even $100 million for the next generation of the Internet. Much of the high-tech industry's remarkable success in Congress this year was due to Technology Network, a political action committee formed last summer that includes executives from some of the nation's most influential companies. ''No other industry cleaned up as much as the computer industry,'' said Jennifer Shecter, a researcher for the Center for Responsive Politics. ''Let's just say it's Christmas in October for the computer industry.'' ''The industry generally has a platinum calling card,'' agreed Bill Hogan of the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity. ''Few members (of Congress) are going to want to say anything that might damage what they perceive as a high-growth, jobs-producing industry. There's an aura of glamor attached to it.'' A cluster of tech-friendly legislation was part of the $500 billion spending package negotiated between the White House and Congress for fiscal 1999. A final vote was set for late today. Among Thursday's agreements was a provision to raise dramatically the number of high-tech foreigners who can be hired by American companies. Critics argued the industry is overlooking qualified domestic workers in its search for cheaper labor. It provides for 142,500 more visas between 1999 and 2001. The budget deal also imposed a three-year moratorium on new Internet taxes. New copyright protections strengthen protections for works transmitted online. The copyright bill passed separately in the House this week. The White House also agreed Thursday to high-tech legislation for which the industry had not lobbied: new privacy protections for children on the Internet. In addition, it consented to a bill aimed at keeping Internet pornography away from children. The bill requires commercial Web sites to verify an adult's age before showing photographs or other material ''harmful to minors.'' Violators would face up to six months in prison and up to $50,000 in fines. Critics called the bill unconstitutional and vowed to challenge it in the courts. The White House unsuccessfully had urged Congress to remove criminal penalties and exempt most Web sites from the anti-porn requirements. The privacy bill is the first such online protection afforded to Americans. While it does not affect information collected from adults, it requires companies to obtain parental consent before collecting personal details online from children under age 13. ''They're certainly not a proper target to turn over information about themselves and have that information used for marketing purposes,'' said Robert Pitofsky, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, which pushed for the bill. In the past few weeks, the White House also has agreed to relax limits on the export of powerful data-scrambling technology _ although still not as lax as the industry had wanted _ and promised to crack down on software piracy at federal agencies.