• PC World
• » Tech Industry

WASHINGTON--Technology industry advocates always look for a "tech-friendly" Congress to push their agenda. This year, leaders say they got it.

Almost one-third of the members of Congress support the technology sector's agenda, according to the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) in its high-tech voting guide released Monday.

While less technology legislation has gone to a vote this session, the bills that were signed into law were favorable to the technology industry, says Ralph Hellmann, senior vice president for government affairs for ITI, a trade association that represents the U.S. high-tech community.

"We didn't lose a vote," Hellman says. But he adds that "lobbying is making sure bad things don't come up."

Backing at the Top

It helps that Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) is supportive of technology, according to the ITI's ratings. On a 100-point scale, Daschle scored an 83 in the group's voting guide.

The group judged House members on nine key votes, which included a cybersecurity law that establishes tougher punishment for cybercriminals. The 385 members who voted "yes" received positive marks from ITI, whose members include AOL Time Warner, Apple, Dell, IBM, Panasonic, and Sony.

ITI also supported the House Judiciary Committee's defeat of an amendment that would have cut the length of the moratorium extension on Internet access taxes from five years to eight months. ITI says technology groups favor the five-year extension.

A privacy bill was one the seven Senate votes ITI used for grading. The measure, proposed by Senator Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina), is intended to protect online privacy of Internet users. ITI says the bill goes against the technology industry's interest because it would impose rigid security mandates.

This privacy bill favors consumers because it allows Internet users to access the information a Web site collects, says Chris Hoofnagle, legislative counsel for Electronic Privacy Information Center.

The Commerce Committee approved the Hollings bill, but it has yet to move to the Senate floor for a vote.

Hellman called Hollings the technology industry's "number one legislative nemesis." Hollings received a score of 26 for the last session.

Biggest Supporters

Of the 435 House members, 133 received a perfect score. House Republicans voted most often in favor of the technology industry.

Some of the top pro-technology senators are Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-California), Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut), and Sam Brownback (R-Kansas).

The lowest scorers in the House included Representatives Bobby Scott (D-Virginia) at 22, and Representative Maxine Waters (D-California) at 20.

The ITI rated Senator Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina) at a low 25; Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) came in at the very bottom with a score of 0. Helms recently stalled a measure designed to preserve online radio stations. The bill overturned a ruling imposing royalty fees on Webcasters in favor of a compromise reached between the online stations and the music industry.

The Consumers Electronics Union will release its own score card later this month, says Doug Johnson, director of technology policy.

• See more like this:
• congress,
• voters guide,
• voting guide,
• senate,
• representatives,
• information technology industry council,
• itic