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Good morning!

DEMOCRATS BLOCK ANTI-GOOGLE WITNESS:

On Thursday afternoon the House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on Information Policy, census and the National Archives will hold its hearing on federal agencies' use of Web 2.0 technologies during which Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is expected to continue his campaign to find out if White House staffers have used third-party websites and personal e-mail accounts in violation of the Presidential Records Act.

The hearing has already been canceled and rescheduled once, and now GOP lawmakers are frustrated the subcommittee will no longer allow their only witness, John Simpson of the non-profit Consumer Watchdog, to take the stand. Instead, there will be one panel of all government witnesses that will focus on the implications of the federal government's increasing use of social media for the Federal Records Act.

ADVANCE LOOK: GAO TO LAY OUT FACEBOOK, TWITTER CHALLENGES

In a copy of his prepared remarks obtained by Hillicon Valley, Gregory Wilshusen, director of information security issues at the Government Accountability Office lays out the challenges facing agencies that use sites such as Facebook or Twitter to communicate with the public: "For example, a government agency that chooses to establish a presence on a third-party provider’s service, such as Facebook, could have limited control over what is done with its information once posted on the electronic venue...Privacy could be compromised if clear limits are not set on how the government uses personal information to which it has access in social networking environments."

GOOGLE, DELL, MICROSOFT TO FCC: 'HURRY UP ON WHITE SPACES:'

Nineteen companies on Monday wrote the FCC to push it to free up "white spaces" for mobile broadband. White spaces are chunks of spectrum vacated by broadcasters. The agency states the same aspiration in the National Broadband Plan and took up a proceeding on white spaces six years ago. The FCC has promised to complete the white spaces proceeding during the third quarter of this year. It still has to complete the final rules about which devices can use the spectrum, as well as resolve challenges to rules and set up a database to manage device issues. The FCC blames the complexity of making device rules for its failure to finish the proceeding. Microsoft, Google, Dell and RIM were signatories.

ADVANCE LOOK: WANT JOBS? DITCH NET NEUTRALITY

At least that's what the Progress Policy Institute and Democratic economist Michael Mandel conclude in a paper to be released Tuesday on Capitol Hill. The paper argues burdensome FCC regulations could stifle innovation and hurt the economy, and content providers, Internet service providers and application companies will help lead a new round of job creation. "The debate over net neutrality is intense," the paper says. "But whether or not you think that such a move is a good idea, it seems unlikely that such regulations would boost investment or employment in the telecom industry."

Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) will join Mandel to release the paper. (U.S. Capitol, Room H-137, 12 p.m.).

HEALTH IT PREVIEW: WHAT IS 'MEANINGFUL?'

The House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee will take up "meaningful use" Tuesday, a federal regulatory criteria that determines whether medical providers are using electric health records in a way that actually improves care. Expect the witnesses to get into the weeds on the definition of "meaningful use," which can make or break a providers' shot at getting federal grants for medical technology. Also expect witnesses to take up broader discussions of what Congress should do to get the latest technologies into hospitals, such as authorizing the technology funds written in the health reform law.

Witnesses include David Blumenthal, national coordinator for Health IT and Tony Trenkle, director in the office of e-health standards and services for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Longworth House Office Building, 1 p.m.)

CAN'T-MISS NEWS

Hill Notes

Bill Would OK Payments to Broadcasters for Spectrum. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and senior Commerce Committee member Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine.) introduced a bill on Monday to authorize the FCC "to cut broadcasters and other spectrum licensees in for a share of the proceeds from any spectrum they relinquish," according to John Eggerton at Broadcasting & Cable. "The FCC had proposed encouraging broadcasters to give up 120 Mhz of spectrum via incentive auctions, but needs Congress' approval."

Media companies push back on proposed retransmission consent overhaul. Executives from six major media organizations wrote to Reps. Peter King (R-N.Y) and Steve Israel (D-N.Y) on Monday after the pair pushed for an overhaul of retransmission consent rules between broadcasters and satellite/cable distributors. The letter is signed by executives from News Corporation, Walt Disney, CBS, the National Association of Broadcasters, NBC Universal and Univision Communications. 

Rep. Rush unveils privacy bill. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) unveiled a consumer privacy bill on Monday that would force companies to obtain customers’ consent before sharing their personal information with third parties.The Best Practices Act of 2010 would apply to both online and offline companies that collect personally identifiable data from customers such as their names, addresses, and credit card and social security numbers. The bill would require companies to notify users on how their information is used, how it is shared internally and every time their data is disclosed to a third party.

Executive Notes

Broadband providers unhappy with pending report. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will soon release a report to Congress arguing that the nation is not up deploying broadband in a timely fashion to all Americans, a first since the report began 11 years ago. The FCC’s “706 report” is mandated by communications law. U.S. Telecom, the association for broadband providers, raised concern on Monday about the pending report after it came to light that the FCC would not give broadband deployment an A+.

Industry Notes

A new boss at Nokia? The Wall Street Journal reports that mobile phone maker Nokia has launched a search for a new chief executive. Nokia sells more cell phones internationally than any other manufacturer, but current CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has struggled to keep the company in the market for high-end smartphones with competitors such as Apple's iPhone and phones running Google's Android mobile operating system.

Changes at the top for IBM. IBM announced Monday it would be shuffling its senior management to give more responsibility to the four senior executives immediately below chief executive Samuel Palmisano. According to the New York Times, the move creates a short list for succession and could also indicate Palmisano intends to stay past the traditional company retirement age of 60. Palmisano is 59 years old. Senior vice president Steven Mills, 58, will be in charge of the hardware and software divisions. Chief financial officer Mark Loughridge, 57, will get a larger role overseeing the company’s financing unit and senior vice president Michael Daniels, 56, will be in charge of the entire services business. Senior vice president Virginia M. Rometty, 52, will oversee marketing and strategy, as well as sales, which she handles currently. Daniels and Rometty are considered the most likely to succeed Palmisano.

Pixels overtake paper at Amazon. Amazon announced Monday that for the last three months it has sold 143 books for its Kindle e-reader for every 100 hardcover books. The figures don't include free Kindle books or paperbacks, which are thought to outpace e-books in sales.

SAID.

“It’s extremely important that we tell you what’s going on.”

-Prominent Wikileaks volunteer Jacob Appelbaum, who announced the whistleblower site is once again accepting submissions after being down for a month. Appelbaum, who filled in for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at the HOPE hacker conference in New York City acknowledged the site has been less than transparent about recent changes and is launching a blog to improve communication. (Wired)

WATERCOOLER.

CLAY 2010?… "Our Congress has more vineyard owners than developers in it," writes Clay Johnson, co-founder of the web strategy firm Blue State Digital. Web developers should run for Congress because "they’re under-represented as a profession" and "government’s problems are becoming increasingly technical," among other reasons. (h/t @digiphile)