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ISSA: DEMS GIVING WHITE HOUSE A 'FREE PASS' ON GOOGLE TIES

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee questioned the administration's ties to Google at a hearing Thursday, with Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) moving to subpoena testimony from a White House witness.

McHenry, ranking member of the Information Policy Subcommittee, called on the committee to ask for White House input about the administration's Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin.

McLaughlin is a former Google employee who was reprimanded by the White House in May for what it deemed were incidental violations of the administration’s ethics code. It had come to light that he exchanged e-mails with people who still work at Google.

McHenry motioned to collect White House testimony, a move that failed along party lines. He then motioned to adjourn the hearing, which also failed.

Subcommittee Chairman Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) questioned the relevance of the McLaughlin incident to the topic of the hearing: how the Web, including social networking sites, impacts federal record-keeping.

"There's continuing controversy about an old story: That is whether an administration official used his personal e-mail account in violation of the Presidential Records Act," Clay said. He added that McLaughlin broke only an ethics pledge and not the law. McHenry insisted a law might have been breached.

Clay said the McLaughlin issue was "examined, dealt with and closed."

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), ranking member of the full panel, issued a statement afterward praising McHenry's effort.

“Ranking Member McHenry was right to hold the majority accountable for trying to give the Obama administration a free pass on violations of record keeping laws as a result of communicating with lobbyists through personal e-mails,” Issa said.

He continued, “Just two years ago, Democrats expressed outrage about Presidential Records Act violations under the Bush administration while saying they were serious about efforts to address problems. Under the Obama administration, they now appear more than willing to offer the Obama White House a free pass on violations.”

REPUBLICANS: PRIVACY BILLS MUST NOT MAKE FTC TOO POWERFUL

Republican members of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee expressed concern Thursday that online privacy legislation under consideration in the House could harm businesses if the bills give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) too much power over how businesses use consumers' information. “We need to ensure that by expanding the authority of a government agency, that there are no unintended consequences on e-commerce,” Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) said.

A bill introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and a draft proposal from Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) would require companies to get consent from individuals before collecting their personal information ranging from names and addresses to passport numbers. Violating either measure would result in penalties from the states or the FTC. Rush's bill includes a potential $5 million fine for companies that fail to comply. The FTC would be charged with implementing key provisions. --P.K.

SCALISE, STEARNS: KEEP RECLASSIFICATION OFF SEPTEMBER FCC AGENDA

Reps. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) urged the FCC at a hearing Thursday to keep reclassification off its September meeting agenda because more time is needed to review the large volume of comments the agency has received about the proceeding.

"The FCC should definitely not rush any process that gives Congress little time to react after returning from recess. Over 8,000 pages of comments have been submitted to the FCC on this proposal, and the comment period is open to August 12. For reclassification to be on the September agenda, the other commissioners would have to receive the chairman's proposal by August 26, giving the commissioners only two weeks to review the thousands of comments. Clearly, we need to make sure that they have that ability to review those comments from the public," Scalise said.

Reclassification is a controversial plan that would boost the agency's authority over Internet service providers. The FCC says it might need more power in order to protect consumers and expand Internet access to all Americans.

TWITTER GETS VISIT FROM MEXICAN AMBASSADOR

Mexican ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhan announced Thursday in a tweet that he visited the Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. His visit was the latest in several notable visits for the company, including one in late June from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Sarukhan's tweet read, "At Twitter HQ discussing important role of Twitter as a key public diplomacy, advocacy and outreach tool for 21st century diplomacy." He is an active Twitter user, writing from handle @Arturo_Sarukhan several times daily in English and Spanish. — Elise Viebeck

CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT FCC

The FCC bid farewell to Bruce Gottlieb last night in an event at Tabaq, while welcoming Rick Kaplan into Gottlieb's former position. Gottlieb was senior legal advisor to Chairman Julius Genachowski. He is heading to Atlantic Media Company as counsel. Kaplan was formerly chief of staff to Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: FCC CONFERENCE NEXT WEEK

A panel of healthcare, technology, government and academic experts will convene for a two-day conference at the FCC next week on ways the government can ensure the reliability of wireless devices used for healthcare and how to make them more available to providers. FCC Chairman Genachowski, FDA Commissioner Hamburg and White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra will take a tour of a vendor technology showcase, which will be open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday. (Event is Monday, July 26, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Tuesday, July 27, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the FCC). --P.K.

CAN'T-MISS NEWS

Hill Notes

Long-awaited USF reform bill introduced. Rick Boucher (D- Va.), introduced a bill to alter the Universal Service Fund, a federal fund that subsidizes telecommunications costs in low-income and rural areas. The legislation has been awaited since November. The measure, written with Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.), "would expand the fund to include support for broadband service, widen the base of support for the USF and require the FCC to develop a new cost model for calculating high-cost support that includes the cost of providing both voice and broadband services. Currently, all telecommunications firms that provide voice service between states must contribute to the USF," Tech Daily Dose reports. 

Boucher cautions against giving D-block to public safety. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) said Thursday that if Congress passes legislation to allocate valuable chunk of spectrum to public safety officials, "it would count as a loss of as much as $3 billion in revenues to the federal government," Tech Daily Dose reports. His warning comes after Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) announced a bill that would do as much, allocating the D-block to public safety officials against the wishes of the FCC.

Industry Notes

AT&T Profit Rises Amid Slight Revenue Growth. AT&T reported a 26 percent increase in earnings "amid an investment gain, lower costs and fewer customer defections, but the rate of growth in new contract customers slowed despite the benefits of a new Apple iPhone," the Wall Street Journal reports.

Microsoft profits jump. Microsoft "posted its biggest sales gain in 2 1/2 years in the fourth-quarter after customers purchased more personal computers running the Windows operating system," Bloomberg reports.

HP to team with Microsoft on tablet. "Hewlett-Packard will team up with Microsoft to come out with a tablet computer for the enterprise business market this year, a senior HP executive has said," AFP reports.

NUMBER PUNCH

$100 Million. The amount Dell has agreed to pay in an SEC settlement over accounting fraud claims, reports said today. The settlement allows chief executive Michael Dell to remain at the helm after paying a $4 million fine. (Bloomberg)

WATERCOOLER

TV STAR...Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will play himself on the Simpsons. (LAT)