Provisions to let the Justice Department seize computers used for P2P infringement (WID July 25 p3) were weakened in the amended Enforcement of Intellectual Property Act (S- 3325), passed 14-4 by the Senate Judiciary Committee in an unusually brief markup Thursday. The bill still lets the agency sue file-sharers, though. A manager’s amendment directs a court that’s hearing an infringement case to “enter an appropriate protective order” to impound records to ensure that sensitive information isn’t disclosed. Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the committee “very recently” heard concerns about the “privacy interests of innocent third parties” when the government seizes servers. The amendment requires formation of an “advisory committee” for the intellectual property enforcement coordinator created in the original bill. Its Senate-confirmed members would include representatives of the Office of Management and Budget, DoJ, the Patent and Trademark Office, the Office of U.S. Trade Representative, the Copyright Office, the departments of State and Homeland Security, the Food and Drug Administration and some component agencies. The words “piracy” and its variants were replaced with “infringement.” The amendment would ensure that at least two assistant U.S. attorneys are assigned to each office with a computer hacking and intellectual property crime unit. An approved amendment by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, would repeal the section of the law creating the National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council but let the new coordinator called for by the bill use the phased-out council’s services and personnel to ensure an “orderly transition.”

The House IP Subcommittee wasted little time scrapping a controversial provision in the PRO-IP Act (HR-4279), intended to enhance penalties, forfeitures and government coordination against piracy, in a brief Thursday markup. Section 104 of the bill would have killed the $30,000 cap on infringements of “compilations,” letting courts apply multiple awards of statutory damages, a provision some lawmakers and a public interest group attacked at a hearing (WID Dec 14 p2). The bill was approved and sent to the full Judiciary Committee with a manager’s amendment.

Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) beat Rep. DeGette (D-Colo.) to introducing a data retention bill, although his approach is drastically more limited than hers. The Stop Online Exploitation of Our Children Act, which doesn’t have a bill number yet, would limit retention to data associated with child porn reports and expand the types of Internet companies required to report. The bill got an early thumbs-up from an Internet trade group. McCain also announced plans with Sen. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to introduce legislation requiring all sex offenders to give their “active” e-mail addresses to law enforcement.

FBI Dir. Robert Mueller called for a data retention mandate on ISPs, echoing the DoJ party line Tues. at the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police conference. The group approved a resolution to that effect the same day, but efforts to reach it for the resolution’s text were unsuccessful. The FBI endorsement irked an Internet trade group, whose head told us agency rhetoric means nothing without standards that industry -- and law enforcement -- must follow.

Sen. Bennett (R-Utah) wants to bring back Morning in America -- or at least a Reagan Administration commission at the time derided for diverting DoJ resources. Bennett grilled Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales at a hearing Tues. on why “very little has been done” for 20 years to study mainstream porn consumption and its possible link to child porn. The Senate Banking Committee hearing, on financial institutions’ role in fighting commercial child pornography, featured many members saying “mainstream” and “child porn” in the same breath.

With the Hill schedule packed with higher priority items, a copyright bill by House Judiciary Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) probably won’t see action this year, U.S. Chamber of Commerce officials said in a briefing with reporters Mon. But “you'll see next year this bill will be taken up in earnest,” Senior Coordinator-Intellectual Property Enforcement Brad Huther said. Sensenbrenner’s Intellectual Property Enhanced Criminal Enforcement Act (HR- 5921), written by DoJ, circulated in draft as the Intellectual Property Protection Act until late July (WID July 27 p4). The Chamber’s other priority, anti- counterfeiting bill HR-32, was signed earlier this year by President Bush.

The U.S. Senate ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime late Thurs., ending years of pressure from U.S. business and the DoJ after the U.S. signed in Nov. 2001. The treaty, negotiated in the Clinton Administration, requires global enforcement cooperation to investigate computer network crimes and extradition for certain crimes. Lauded by trade groups, the treaty was savaged by civil liberties activists, who said it would require U.S. law enforcement to go after legal Internet activities stateside at the request of foreign govts., chill free speech and require ISPs to spy on customers.

The Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP) program won’t work long-term without coordinated assistance, GAO Dir. International Affairs & Trade Loren Yager said Wed. in a Senate Homeland Security Oversight Subcommittee hearing. STOP lacks the “permanence or the accountability mechanisms that would facilitate oversight by Congress,” GAO said in a report. Pilferage at U.S. borders needs “sustained attention,” Yager said.

The House Thurs. passed an appropriations bill that funds several agencies in communications and technology policy. The Science-State-Justice-Commerce bill (HR-5672), which passed 393-23, contains: $294 million in funding for the FCC; $213 million for the Federal Trade Commission; $18 million for NTIA; $1.77 billion for the Patent & Trademark Office -- should offsetting fee collections not be sufficient; $467 million for scientific and technical research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology; $4.7 billion for research at the National Science Foundation; and $651 million to the State Dept.’s Bcstg. Board of Governors. Also, Rep. DeGette (D-Colo.) secured $3 million through an amendment to the bill for local investigators nationwide to track Internet crimes against children. Funding for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces, operated by the FBI Innocent Images Unit, more than doubled to $14 million in fiscal 2006, according to DoJ. In fiscal year 2005, the Task Forces received 198,883 crime reports, up from 3,741 reports in fiscal year 2003.

An industry-wide standard is needed for ISPs that sets terms for govt. data retention requests, Rep. DeGette (D- Colo.) said Tues. A much-discussed surge in online exploitation of children was the subject of a lengthy House Commerce Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee hearing. DeGette is working on a draft measure under which companies would have to keep data on users for a year. In meetings with ISPs, DoJ and the FBI floated a 2-year retention mandate (WID June 2 p3).