AITP Legislative Committee 2004 Annual Report

2004 Annual Report

E-Voting The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was passed partially due to the concerns about obsolete or unreliable voting machines as demonstrated in Florida in 2000. As a result, many parts of the United States are moving this year to more advanced electronic voting machines. Significant concerns have been raised by both the major political parties, and citizen activists, over the lack of auditability of voting records in 2004, n part due to the absence of paper trails for use in audits and recounts. It was noted in a NY Times article earlier this year that Nevada's protective regulations of the gaming industry, in particular slot machines, are stricter than federal and state regulations under which we elect our leaders. AITP's legislative committee, supported by the Board of Directors, drafted a proposal based primarily on the Nevada gaming industry regulations as a starting point for ensuring that future American elections are demonstrably untainted by concerns over electoral fraud. The resolution we passed is as follows: Whereas, citizen reliance on fair elections with accurate, verifiable results are an essential part of our democratic process, and whereas, many states are currently moving to electronic voting to speed and ease the process, and whereas, there are not currently federal standards in place to ensure the accuracy of the results from electronic voting, therefor, AITP calls on the federal government to adopt national standards with the following provisions: 1. Public access to the related software to permit independent inspection and confidence in its accuracy. 2. Independent testing, including random spot checks similar to existing Nevada provisions for slot machine testing. 3. meticulous, constantly updated standards for machines. 4. Scrutiny of manufacturers to ensure their independence from parties and candidates. 5. An independent testing lab with an arms-length relationship with the manufacturers it polices, and open to inquiries from the public 6. A mechanism for immediate election day inspection of suspected defective machines 7. A mechanism for voter review of paper copies of ballots prior to casting a vote, and preservation of those ballots for any required recounts 8. An alternative voting mechanism such as early postal balloting for those who refuse to trust the machines 9. Provide for random but thorough election day parallel testing of voting machines. Spam We oppose the spam fax bill as it passed the Senate. This bill will make it easier for spam faxers to innundate our office and home fax machines in unwanted junk faxes at our expense. The bill's language provide's exemptions for pre-existing business relationships which unfortunately define those relationships so broadly as to be meaningless. The bill regrettably is headed for final passage as this report is being drafted. As expected, the Can-SPAM act, which purported to regulate and control spam, had little or no impact on the ongoing increase in the amount of unsolicited bulk email clogging our inboxes. There have been a few high profile cases filed under the act, as well as under state laws. The "You Can Spam" act only prohibits deceptive practices. And even that effort has been wasted, as the vast majority of spam remains in violation of even the limited provisions of the act. AITP in the past has taken the position that technology, rather than legislation, will remain as our most effective safe guard against unsolicited bulk email. Nothing in the past year has served to suggest that we should change our position. Litigation has been pursued by Microsoft, the State of NY, and others, but the majority of all email now being transmitted is spam. Information Executive ran a six part series on the issues related to spam in late 2003. Most of the information in that series remains valid. AFFECT AITP was part of the AFFECT coalition which effectively defeated UCITA last year. This amendment to the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) was opposed by many businesses because of its one sided protection of vendors in enforcing "shrink wrap" licenses. AFFECT remains active in watching state legislation amending the UCC in the area of "choice of law" provisions of contracts and changes in the definitions of goods vs services. AITP remains a part of AFFECT and active on those issues. Additional information is available at http://www.ucita.com/ INDUCE Senators Hatch and Leahy have sponsored legislation (S2560) which would hold liable companies a bill that would hold tech companies responsible for creating devices that could be used to pirate digital content. This is akin to laws holding Ford or GM liable for accidents caused by drunk drivers. Enactment of this legislation could have significant negative impacts on technological innovation. The AITP legislative committee opposes the Induce Act as written, and endorse an alternative proposed by technology industry groups which would actually go after those who engage in the illegal activity, rather than penalizing innovation. E Waste States are beginning to look at legislation related to the disposal of old electronics, recognizing its impact on our landfills. Although AITP has not yet formulated a position, we believe there is a need for industry to participate in developing appropriate solutions to this problem, and will participate in the coming year as proposals are brought to the table in the various states. AITP members interested in this issue should determine the status of legislation in their local areas.