Overnight Tech: Tech groups push reforms as Librarian of Congress retires

LEDE: Wednesday marks the final day of Librarian of Congress James Billington’s 28-year career in the office — bringing to close a tenure that many said saw the library fall behind technologically.

A top scholar on the Soviet Union, Billington took the job in 1987 and, over the course of his tenure, raised half-a-billion-dollars for the library. However, his leadership in recent years has drawn criticism for what many say were major failures to update the library’s technological infrastructure.

{mosads}Watchdog agencies questioned the management of the library, and most recently said that the library was poorly managing its online assets. Other librarians also complained that he appeared uninterested in digitizing the organization’s formidable collection.

“In this digital age, we agree there is a clear need to upgrade and modernize the Copyright Office and view the upcoming appointment of a new Librarian of Congress for the first time in three decades as an opportunity for just such potentially transformative change,” said a coalition of tech groups in a letter released Wednesday. “We believe that reforms both to improve the process of registering copyrights and to improve the transparency and accessibility of this information to the public are crucial.” They also said that they had not heard a convincing case for making the copyright office its own agency, rather than a subsidiary of the Library.

In announcing his retirement in June, Billington said that over “the years I have been asked if I have been thinking about retiring; and the answer has always been ‘not really,’ because this Library has always been not just my job, but my life.” But he said that he was confident in the Library’s leadership team — and felt comfortable retiring on January 1, 2016.

Then came a shift: Last week, he said that he would retire on Sept. 30.

In addition to Billington’s retirement, this week also brought a bill from Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that would set the term for the librarian at 10 years. Currently, the librarians can serve for life.

HOUSE E&C TO EXAMINE FEDERAL SPECTRUM: The Communications and Technology Subcommittee of House Energy and Commerce will hold a hearing on the federal government’s spectrum holdings on October 7, it said Wednesday. It will particularly focus on a bill from Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) aimed at giving the government incentives to give up its spectrum. “State-of-the-art technologies can improve the effectiveness of government systems and make more spectrum available to meet our national broadband needs,” subcommittee Chair Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said in a statement.

The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on spectrum in July where the topic of a government spectrum incentive auction was raised. Committee staffers are currently working on a spectrum reform bill.

ROMNEY INVOKES TECH IN IMMIGRATION REMARKS: Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney invoked the tech sector when explaining why his party is in favor of legal immigration. He cited the oft-quoted statistic that more than half of the top-25 high tech companies in the United States were founded or cofounded by first or second generation immigrants.

“Now we want immigration to work so we bring in the best and the brightest. We don’t want illegal immigration to swamp our legal immigration system,” Romney said at the Washington Ideas Forum. “But the rhetoric has been terribly unfortunate in many respects.”

OUTSOURCING FIRMS TAKE PORTION OF H1-B VISAS: The New York Times reported this week that most of the companies that have received the biggest share of high-tech work visas in the last five years are global outsourcing firms — including companies like TCS, Infosys, Cognizant and Accenture. The story detailed some Toys “R” Us employees who were shadowed by high-tech visa holders who eventually reported back to their contractor and moved the jobs overseas. While the tech community has pushed to increase the cap on the visa program to increase their pool of talent, some lawmakers like Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) have pushed these stories to counter the calls for an increase, and have pressed for reforms to the underlying program.

YELP ON LIST OF 100 BEST PLACES TO WORK FOR WOMEN: Yelp was one of the few public technology companies that ranked on Fortune’s “100 best workplaces for women.” The online review hub was 93 on the ranking list, which factored in employee surveys and representation of women in the company.

TELECOMS NEXT BATTLEGROUND IN AD BLOCK BATTLE?: The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Digicel, a Jamaica-based wireless operator, will now make platforms like Google and Facebook pay to deliver their ads over the network. If they don’t, their ads get blocked. Companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook talk a great game and take a lot of credit when it comes to pushing the idea of broadband for all – but they put no money in,” said Dennis O’Brien, the chairman of the Digicell Group, in a statement. “That’s unacceptable, and we as a network operator, are taking a stand against them to force them to put their hands in their pockets and play a real role in improving the opportunities for economic empowerment for the global population.” The company’s network covers the Caribbean and the South Pacific.

ON TAP:

At 12:30, former PTO Director David Kappos will give the keynote at George Mason’s Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property conference on “supporting invention and inspiration.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote next month on a plan to cap the price prison and jail inmates can be charged to a make a phone call, which far exceeds the standard rate of a regular call.

One of the most vocal advocates for reforming social safety net programs for on-demand companies like Uber called Wednesday for a “regulatory time-out” to allow the companies a chance to experiment with giving more benefits to their workforces.

The European Union’s highest court will decide early next week whether a critical data protection agreement with the U.S. is valid.

A coalition of technology groups is cautioning Congress against spinning off the Copyright Office into an independent agency, saying a strong case hasn’t been made.

The trial of two Uber executives in France charged in connection with their operation of the service began Wednesday with the ride-hailing company trying to stall the case.

Please send tips and comments to David McCabe, dmccabe@digital-stage.thehill.com and Mario Trujillo, mtrujillo@digital-stage.thehill.com

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