Internet bills get second look in Congress

By Patrick Ross

Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 20, 2001, 7:40 a.m. PT
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-4873228.html?tag=prntfr

WASHINGTON--When it comes to Internet bills in Congress this year, you could
say it's deja vu all over again.

In a recent flurry of activity, members of the House and Senate have
introduced bills targeting Internet taxation, online
gambling, spam and Internet privacy. The catch is that they are for the most
part virtually identical to bills that fell short of
passage last year.

What has changed? Well, the bills' sponsors believe the ubiquity of the
Internet in our daily lives. Last year most of these bills
cleared the House only to fall short in the Senate, a more deliberative body
where with filibuster rules one needs 60 out of 100
votes to move most legislation.

With new tech-savvy senators such as former RealNetworks executive Maria
Cantwell of Washington and former tech investor
Jon Corzine of New Jersey, along with a more active Senate Internet Caucus
led by Sens. Conrad Burns and Patrick Leahy,
the hope is that this year the Senate won't see Internet bills face the same
fate as so many dot-coms in 2000.

The greatest time pressure is on proponents of extending the current
moratorium on taxes targeting the Internet. The current
moratorium expires in October, and its sponsors have renewed last year's
failed effort to get an extension.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., have together
introduced bills in their respective houses that
would extend the moratorium for five years, permanently ban Internet access
taxes, and encourage states and localities to
streamline their sales taxes so that online merchants could more easily
collect them.

"Chris and I want to continue the e-commerce boom we've gotten from our ban
on discriminatory taxes and make sure Internet
access is never subject to an arbitrary tax scheme. We also want to extend
an olive branch to the states" that fear the loss of
sales tax receipts, Wyden said.

Sen. Robert Smith, R-N.H., has introduced two bills on Internet taxes, one
calling for another five-year moratorium, the other
calling for a permanent ban. The latter approach has been favored in the
past by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John
McCain, R-Ariz., but is vigorously opposed by states.

A bill that would have banned most forms of online gambling sponsored by
Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., and Rep. Robert Goodlatte,
R-Va., last year fell just short of becoming law. With online gambling sites
growing at an explosive rate, however, many in
Congress still would like to pass legislation on the subject.

Already introduced is a bill by Jim Leach, R-Iowa, the vice chairman of the
House Financial Services Technology
subcommittee and former chairman of the full committee. The bill, similar to
one he introduced last year, would target financial
institutions to prevent credit from being used in online gambling.

The bill by Kyl and Goodlatte took a legal approach and went after the
online sites themselves, via the Internet servers that
hosted their offerings.

"We're going to give it another try," Goodlatte said last week, promising a
reintroduction soon.

Spam, or unsolicited e-mail, continues to drive Internet users crazy, and it
drives politicians crazy as well because it's hard to
craft effective legislation that doesn't run afoul of First Amendment
concerns.

Still, Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., fresh off a tough re-election fight for
a second term, has reintroduced her anti-spam bill.
That bill passed the House overwhelmingly but died in the Senate. In its
final form it was combined with a bill by Rep. Gene
Green, D-Texas, who has already reintroduced his bill.

Of course, one issue is already drawing a flurry of attention, as well as
legislation.

"Privacy is going to be a huge issue" this Congress, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va.,
predicted last week.

So far, House and Senate leaders have not lined up behind any particular
legislation, but that isn't stopping bills from being
introduced. Perhaps the most prominent one so far comes from Rep. Anna
Eshoo, D-Calif., whose district includes Silicon
Valley. Her bill lays out a formula that's growing in popularity among those
seeking a compromise approach on privacy
legislation.

In her bill, a Web site operator could not use any personal information
about a visitor unless a privacy policy was posted and
the visitor was given a chance to opt out of having the information
divulged.

Congress is in recess this week, but upon its return the leadership of the
key committees as well as the House and Senate
leadership offices are expected to begin identifying which Internet-related
bills will be placed on the fast track for passage.

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