Congress ends with a Flurry of Legislation

CONGRESS ENDS WITH A FLURRY OF LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro]
The Republican-led 109th Congress ended on Saturday, sending President Bush a stack of bills the Senate and House of Representatives passed as Democrats, victorious in last month's elections, prepared to take control of the new 110th Congress set to convene on January 4. Below see links to some of what was done -- and wasn't done -- in the 109th's last few hours.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID...

* Huge Victory for Real People as Telco Bill Dies
[Commentary] "The gavel has fallen on the 109th Congress marking the demise of entrenched corporate efforts to legislate away our Internet freedoms — and a stunning victory for real people who want to retain control of the Internet."
http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/2006/12/08/congress-closes-telco-bil...

* Congress Approves US SAFE WEB Act
Congress approved S. 1608, the “Undertaking Spam, Spyware, And Fraud Enforcement With Enforcers Beyond Borders Act of 2006” (US SAFE WEB Act of 2006). The bill will improve the Federal Trade Commission’s ability to provide international consumer protections specifically to combat spam, spyware, and Internet fraud and deception.
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Det...

* Senate Approves Pretexting Legislation
The United States Senate today passed H.R. 4709, the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was a co-sponsor of the Senate companion to the House legislation, S. 2178. The measure will criminalize the practice of “pretexting,” which consists of obtaining confidential phone records information by making false or fraudulent statements to a telephone service provider, providing false or fraudulent documents to a telephone service provider, or accessing customer accounts through the Internet or by fraudulent computer-related activities without prior authorization. The bill will also prohibit the unauthorized sale or transfer of confidential phone records information, or the receipt of such information with the knowledge that it was fraudulently obtained.
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Det...

* Senate passes bill to criminalize pretexting
http://news.com.com/Senate+passes+bill+to+criminalize+pretexting/2100-10...

* Congress Passes Call Home Act of 2006
Congress passed the Call Home Act of 2006 (S. 2653). This legislation will direct the Federal Communications Commission, in coordination with the Department of Defense and the Department of State, to seek to reduce phone rates for Armed Forces personnel deployed overseas. The legislation authorizes the FCC to take actions necessary to reduce phone bills for troops deployed overseas, including the waiver of government fees, assessments, or other charges. In seeking to reduce such telephone rates, the legislation directs the FCC to evaluate and analyze the costs of calls to and from official duty stations; evaluate methods of reducing rates including the deployment of new technology such as Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP); encourage phone companies to adopt flexible billing for troops and their dependents; and seek agreements with foreign governments to reduce international surcharges on phone calls. The bill also includes language (added by Senator Stevens) that will help improve public safety by speeding the distribution of $1 billion dollars in funding for public safety interoperability communications made available in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The public safety community would receive the money by the end of this fiscal year.
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Det...

* Kneuer Confirmed to head NTIA
On December 9, the Senate confirmed John M. R. Kneuer, of New Jersey, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. Assist Sec Kneuer heads the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the President's principal adviser on telecommunications and information policy issues.
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/one_item_and_teasers/nom_co...