Good morning tech

Good morning!

Wondering what's on tap today? Our schedule section is back now that lawmakers are, after the jump.

Ten tech lawmakers to follow

Check out the slideshow of tech lawmakers to follow, ten individuals who are influential on technology policy and legislation.These are people to with a hand in everything from cybersecurity to space policy and who have worked to confront issues facing the technology community. Choosing just ten wasn't easy; among the most tech-savvy lawmakers not on the list are Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn). http://bit.ly/cuHN3O

Google-bashing expected at House hearing

Industry sources anticipate that a hearing of the House Judiciary Courts and Competition Subcommittee on Thursday will air strong criticism for Google on whether it wields its market power in the search space to suppress competition. They expect ardent Google critic Scott Cleland to testify and to lay it on. Some of the other witnesses expected to testify include Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America, Ed Black of CCIA, and Richard Feinstein of the competition bureau at the FTC.

Search concerns were raised at a House Oversight Committee hearing last month by Rep. Charles Gonzales (D-Tex.) who has previously held that net-neutrality legislation should extend to content companies and search engines. Texas recently opened a probe into whether the search company manipulates its search rankings to harm the competition.

When asked about Google-antipathy in the Lone Star State, two sources cited a Texan loyalty to Dallas-based AT&T.  For its part, Google blames Microsoft for spreading concerns about search competition.

Administration to announce plans for financial systems overhauls

Federal chief performance officer Jeffrey Zients and OMB Controller Danny Werfel will hold a briefing Wednesday to outline the administration's reforms for the systems federal agencies use to manage their finances and process payments. Financial systems overhauls are notoriously complex and difficult to implement, due mostly to the sprawling and diverse nature of the accounting systems used by federal agencies. Earlier this summer the Obama administration halted all pending modernization projects as part of its efforts to reform the way the government purchases and implements computer systems On Wednesday the officials will lay out how the administration plans to do better on these and other major IT projects moving forward.

Qualcomm chief gives Obama mixed review

Chief executive Paul Jacobs said in an interview that dealing with the Obama administration has been a mixed bag. "We have had lots of opportunities to talk to the administration about issues of concern," he said. "Some things have gone faster than others."

On the too-slow end: High-skilled immigration. Getting Visas for overseas talent can be tough, he said, sometimes requiring companies to keep offices where they wouldn't. "In some instances it your forces to [keep doors open abroad] just because you can't hire the person in the U.S.," he said.  "That's unfortunate."

Speaking of visas:

NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton spent Tuesday in Washington lobbying on behalf of two bills that would allow immigrants with technology skills or a start-up idea to receive a green card. "Just imagine, if you would, the [Los Angeles] Lakers not having [All-Star power forward] Pau Gasol because he couldn’t get a visa," he said. http://bit.ly/cJ7oOa

Hill notes

Groups reiterate Craigslist disapproval. Human-rights groups who have spoken up in the last week with disapproval for Craigslist's "erotic services" section on international versions of its ad boards reiterated their disapproval on Tuesday, a day before the House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee questions a Craigslist witness about sex trafficking issues. http://bit.ly/cHHqha

Legislation to lift cell-phone reg advances. It passed a cloture vote on Tuesday as part of the Small Business Jobs Act. http://bit.ly/c6W9LQ

Warner: Unresolved Issues Stall Spectrum Bill. "Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., shed light Tuesday on some of the issues holding up his public safety communication and spectrum legislation, saying there is widespread conceptual agreement but no signs yet that the details will be resolved soon," Tech Daily Dose reports. "Warner said he thought his bill would be 'low-hanging fruit' given that no one disagreed with the premise of improving public safety communications or finding out how much spectrum is unused. "http://bit.ly/9ZDt2a

Executive notes

South Korean ambassador touts net-neutrality policies. Han Duk-soo, the ambassador from South Korea, said in a speech on Tuesday that net-neutrality protections constitute a critical policy for the wireless and wireline broadband landscape. http://bit.ly/bZe1om

White House to reform federal IT procurement. The Obama administration is developing new guidelines for how federal agencies should purchase and install computers and other technology, according to a memo released Tuesday. Federal Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients sent an update on the president's management agenda to senior government managers on Tuesday. Zients said the administration will develop a new framework of policies over the next two months that agencies will use to purchase, install and oversee major information technology systems. http://bit.ly/bF4bjZ

Google wants the FCC to compel more ISP data. Google filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday recommending that it gather and verify more information from Internet service providers, using existing rules to force broadband providers to be more transparent about their network management practices. http://bit.ly/bGNk9R

Industry notes

Qualcomm chief: Wireless industry 'caught by surprise' about data traffic. Qualcomm chief executive Paul Jacobs said the wireless industry did not anticipate the explosion in data traffic on their networks as people began accessing the Internet on their mobile phones. AT&T is talking about 5,000 percent increases in their traffic in a span of three years," he said. "But guess what, it's not stopping at all." http://bit.ly/99C6Mr

Trade groups spar over proposed mandate for FM radio on cell phones. In the latest phase of a battle of unusual bedfellows, wireless providers are panning survey result released by broadcasters on Tuesday that suggest American consumers would welcome access to FM radio on their cell phones. http://bit.ly/a5EEKe

Study says broadband prices haven't dropped. A new report from Kellogg School of Management professor Shane Greenstein found the price of broadband Internet access has falled less than ten percent over the past five years, despite the rising ubiquity of the service. Greenstein blamed a 2003 decision to leave broadband regulation up to the companies themselves, noting that most urban areas have at most two wireline providers that compete for home users. http://bit.ly/bN7ond'

Twitter is revamped and simplified. "Twitter unveiled a new Web site on Tuesday that it hopes will be user friendly," the New York Times reports. "The redesigned site, which will be available to all users in the next few weeks, makes it simpler to see information about the authors of Twitter posts, conversations among Twitter users, and the photos and videos that posts link to." http://nyti.ms/a6AZzl

24 percent. The share of American adults who use the applications on the cell phones, according to a new report from Pew. "The apps market seems somewhat ahead of a majority of adult cell phone users," said a Pew researcher. http://bit.ly/d0m5rN

SCHEDULE

10 a.m. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing: "Prohibiting obscene animal crush videos." Preview here. Dirksen Senate Office Building 226.

1 p.m. House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee looks at domestic minor sex trafficking, including the Internet dimension of the problem.  Craigslist witness to testify; preview here. 2141 Rayburn House Office Building.

3:30 - 5 p.m. The New America Foundation hosts "Internet and Innovation: Why network architecture matters." Speakers include former FCC senior advisor Colin Crowell, Stanford Law professor Barbara van Schewick, Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn, Free Press research director Derek Turner, and New America Foundation technology director Sascha Meinrath.

SAID

"We should not confuse success with market power, and we should recognize the limited circumstances in which regulation is appropriate."

-Center for American Progress senior fellow David Balto, arguing that calls to regulate Google are unfounded and that we should not conflate "big with bad."

WATERCOOLER

EVANESCO—The Internet may be changing our private lives (or encroaching on them, depending how you feel about it), but one man has figured out how to use the Web to effect the ultimate in privacy: disappearance. Frank Ahearn is a professional skip-tracer, which means he locates people for investigators and lawyers. He has penned a book on how to "erase your digital footprint, leave false trails, and vanish without a trace."

His advice for escaping the digital footprint left by your social media profiles: "Ahearn suggests to start deviating your information, slowly changing it over to bogus information which will be picked up by other sites, until you can fake your online death. Even if a private eye looks for you, false remnants of your data will be the only trail," Network World says. http://bit.ly/cW4fIg