June 29, 1999

By JERI CLAUSING

For Internet Tax Panel, the Sparring Starts Early

ASHINGTON - Gov. James Gilmore of Virginia opened the first meeting of Congress's special task force on Internet taxes last week, graciously welcoming the commission to this state's historic colony of Williamsburg, then proudly detailing all the groundwork he had laid as chairman-elect.

Related Articles Internet Tax Panel Has Rocky Start (June 22, 1999) Mayors Seek Revenues From Internet Sales (June 13, 1999) Counties and Cities to Sue to Stop Internet Tax Panel (March 3, 1999)

It became immediately clear, however, that one of his colleagues was intent on challenging his carefully planned agenda at every possible turn.

Just after Gilmore was officially elected chairman, Gov. Michael Leavitt of Utah jumped in to stop the panel from proceeding with Gilmore's plans to adopt a charter, hire Gilmore's hand-picked executive director and approve a budget.

The tension between Gilmore and Leavitt might have seemed odd to some of the more than 100 people packed in the Governor's Inn conference room. Gilmore and Leavitt are, after all, both Republicans appointed to represent the interest of states in any new tax policy for the Internet.

But to Washington insiders, Leavitt's attempts to derail Gilmore's finely tuned agenda came as no surprise. Those who closely followed the Internet Tax Freedom Act as it moved through Congress last year say the House sponsors who first came up with the idea for creating the commission, as a way to win support from the National Governors' Association, had Leavitt in mind for chairman.

But as the legislation -- which imposed a three year-moratorium on new state and local Internet taxes -- moved through the Senate and conference committee negotiations, the makeup of the panel changed, and the powers-that-be tapped Gilmore, who sided with business interests over state and local government groups in supporting the moratorium.

Although Leavitt kept up the attack through the end of the two-day meeting, Gilmore finally got the housekeeping chores finished. But not before a few more members got in their jibes.

After the panel was asked to approve Gilmore's proposal for holding later meetings in New York, the Silicon Valley and Austin, Tex., Gov. Gary Locke of Washington -- who had just flown five hours and driven another three to get to Williamsburg, asked if the panel might choose cities with "minimum connecting flights."

"Do I detect some concern about Williamsburg?" Gilmore asked with a chuckle.

Locke then suggested the panel consider "someplace in the middle of the country, like Denver."

And Mayor Ron Kirk of Dallas objected to Gilmore's choice of Austin.

They finally settled on New York, San Francisco and Dallas. The next meeting is New York, Sept. 14 and 15.

WANTED: More Online Government

Two Washington advocacy groups are preparing a new 10 Most Wanted list for the Internet.

The Center for Democracy and Technology and OMB Watch on Monday asked Internet users to help them identify "the 10 most wanted government documents, reports or data sets that should be on the Web -- but are missing in action due to the failure of the government to use the Internet fully."

The groups said they would post virtual "Wanted!" signs on Internet mailing lists and on the Web sites and ask citizens to participate.

"We're deputizing the Net community, journalists and researchers," said Ari Schwartz, policy analyst at center. "If your document is chosen as one of the top 10, you will be rewarded with a full force effort to get the documents they are seeking up on the Web."

People can participate by filling out the brief form at the center's Web site, www.cdt.org/righttoknow/10mostwanted/ or via the OMB Watch Web site, www.ombwatch.org, or by sending send a message to 10mostwanted@cdt.org by August 1, 1999.

Congress Endorses Flurry of Internet Bills

Efforts to ease the Clinton Administration's controversial export controls on encryption technology got two crucial endorsements last week as House and Senate committees began moving a series of key high-technology bills.

The House Commerce Committee approved the Security and Freedom Through Encryption Act, the second of five House committees to endorse the latest version of that bill. The measure was sponsored by Representatives Bob Goodlatte and Zoe Lofgren. The Senate Commerce Committee, meanwhile, put its stamp on a similar bill by Senator John McCain.

McCain's committee also approved his bill to require that schools and libraries that get federal Internet subsidies to install filtering software on all computers used by children. A similar proposal has already passed the House.

The Senate Commerce Committee also voted to make it easier to do business online through the use of digital signatures. The committee passed the Millennium Digital Commerce Act, by Senator Spencer Abraham, which would pre-empt any state laws that deny digital contracts simply because they are in electronic form. It would allow the parties to choose the technology and business methods used for such contracts.

This Week in Washington

On Tuesday, House and Senate negotiators will try again to reach a compromise on legislation that tries to shield the technology industry from Year 2000 glitch lawsuits. The high-tech industry is pushing hard for passage of the legislation before the July Fourth recess, although the White House remains opposed to both the House and Senate versions.

The White House has said President Clinton will not sign because it would limit the liability of even those technology companies that do not try to rectify Y2K problems.

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on a package of Internet bills to recognize digital signatures, to give the Federal Trade Commission authority to write new rules to protect consumer privacy online and to force cable companies to open their broadband access lines to competition. The House Armed Services Committee will discuss the House bill for eliminating export controls on encryption technology. The Finance subcommittee of the House Commerce Committee will consider a bill to improve consumer access to electronic databases, including securities market information.

The CAPITAL DISPATCH column is published weekly, on Tuesdays. Click here for a list of links to other columns in the series.

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Related Sites
These sites are not part of The New York Times on the Web, and The Times has no control over their content or availability.

• Special task force on Internet taxes: Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce

• Internet Tax Freedom Act

• National Governors' Association

• Center For Democracy and Technology

• OMB Watch

• House Commerce Committee

• Senate Commerce Committee

• Senator John McCain

• Representative Bob Goodlatte

• Representative Zoe Lofgren

• Senator Spencer Abraham

• White House

• House Judiciary Committee

• Federal Trade Commission

• House Armed Services Committee

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Jeri Clausing at jeri@nytimes.com welcomes your comments and suggestions.

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