This Week in Tech: House gets down to business on cybersecurity

{mosads}

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Courts will hold a hearing on televising Supreme Court proceedings. Many have called for the high court to allow television cameras inside the courtroom to capture oral arguments in the upcoming case on the healthcare reform law.

C-SPAN has pressed the court for years to allow televised proceedings, but the justices have shown resistance, prompting the Judiciary Committee to move a bill last year that would compel the court to televise its proceedings.

Also Tuesday, the House Science Committee will hold a hearing to assess the James Webb Space Telescope, which was slated to replace the Hubble Space telescope. The appropriations bill recently signed by President Obama set aside $530 million for the project, which was targeted for the chopping block by some lawmakers because it is behind schedule and over budget. The bill directs NASA to cut other programs to accommodate the rising cost of the program.

The House Homeland Security Committee’s Counterrorism subpanel will hold a hearing Tuesday on the use of social media by jihadists. The hearing will focus on how to prevent terrorism while preserving innovation. Terrorists groups have had success using the Internet for recruitment, most notably among disaffected Muslims in Western nations.

On Wednesday morning, the House Judiciary’s subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet will hold a hearing on oversight of the antitrust enforcement agencies. Some lawmakers have criticized the Justice Department’s antitrust division for suing to block AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile.

On Thursday, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will vote on President Obama’s nominees to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the FTC, a committee aide told The Hill.

The FCC nominees, Republican Ajit Pai and Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel, are considered uncontroversial, but Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has promised to block them unless the FCC releases documents related to its review of wireless firm LightSquared. His hold would take effect when the nominations reach the Senate floor. Obama has nominated Maureen Ohlhausen to the FTC and Jon Leibowitz to serve a second term as the agency’s chairman.

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) plan to expand top-level domains so almost any word can be used as the final part of a Web address. The move is expected to set off a digital land rush as companies move quickly to protect their brands by purchasing numerous domain names.

Thursday at noon, the House Homeland Security Committee Transportation Security Subcommittee will hold a hearing reviewing passenger-screening technology at U.S. airports. The technology used to screen passengers has drawn considerable scrutiny from privacy advocates who claim the scanners used can be invasive and are ripe for abuse by federal officials.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee had scheduled a vote this past week on two bills to overhaul how the FCC operates, but votes on other legislation forced the committee to postpone the markup. An aide said the committee will vote on the bill sometime this week, but it has not yet been placed on the calendar.

The Energy panel might also take up Chairman Greg Walden’s (R-Ore.) spectrum bill this week. Democrats support the broad outline of the bill, which would incentivize broadcasters to give their spectrum to wireless companies and would establish a public-safety wireless network.

But most Democrats voted against the measure in subcommittee, saying that they disagreed with several provisions and that Republicans excluded them from negotiations.

Recent articles:

Lawmakers offer alternative to Google-opposed piracy bill.

Waxman: Net-neutrality amendment is ‘poison’ that could kill spectrum bill.

AT&T blasts FCC staff report on T-Mobile deal as unfair, one-sided.

Google rips Senate’s online piracy bill.