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Study Targets 'Digital Dirty Dozen'


A new study says tech issues are getting new attention from Congress.

By David M. Ewalt
InformationWeek
February 8, 2002 12:00 AM

A significant number of bills that would regulate the Internet and emerging technologies have been produced in the current session of Congress, an indication that lawmakers have become less reluctant to tackle high-tech issues, according to a new study.

"The 107th Congress as a whole marked a watershed year in the history of the Internet and Washington," says Adam Thierer, director of telecommunications studies for Washington think tank the Cato Institute, and co-author of the study. "A lot of people in Congress held this 'infant industry' outlook at first. Now they've got a 'time's up gang, you're next' attitude." And there's not just more bills, according to Cato, but more potentially damaging bills. "It's a smorgasbord of bad legislation," Thierer says. "Most of them are very regulatory in character."

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The Cato study focuses on the "Digital Dirty Dozen," 12 tech-related bills that the think tank believes could damage business in the Internet sector. The list includes The Internet Tax Moratorium and Equity Act, which would let states collect some sales taxes on interstate commerce over the Internet. Cato singles out the bill because it believes it would pose "an administrative nightmare" for any company doing business over the Internet, complicating both retail sales and business-to-business commerce. "It would be incredibly difficult for companies to comply with such a thing," Thierer says.

But not everyone feels the political winds have shifted. "I wouldn't say they're bearing down," says Connie Correll, executive VP of TechNet, a tech industry political action group. "Our industry has grown, and anything that becomes a larger presence draws attention." Correll says that there's actually a lot of goodwill directed toward high tech on Capitol Hill. "In the last few years, we've elected more pro-technology members," she says. "Most of the folks on the Senate side now have BlackBerrys."


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