OVERNIGHT TECH: Rep. Berman’s donors get box seats to the Grammys

Exclusive — Democratic donors to rub elbows with nominees at Grammys: A select group of donors to Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) will get to
party like rock stars at next month’s Grammy Awards — provided they pay
$5,000.

According to an invitation obtained by Hillicon Valley, a
donation of
$5,000 each will earn attendees a welcome brunch with Berman, a private
box seat to the show and a chance to hang out with the winners at the
afterparty.

Berman has long ties with the recording industry. He’s been a longtime supporter for performance rights, which would require radio stations to pay royalties to musicians in addition to songwriters. His district covers parts of Hollywood.

According
to OpenSecrets,
the entertainment industry was Berman’s largest financial supporter
during the last election cycle, contributing almost $300,000 to his
campaign committee and ChutzPAC. Sunlight data shows
the recording industry was responsible for at least $55,000 of that
total.

Read more in The Hill: http://bit.ly/fWRLwp

Distracted-driving association launches: A coalition launched on Tuesday with the stated aim of fighting distracted driving. The Distracted Driving Safety Alliance (DDSA) include companies who would be negatively impacted by draconian rules around technology use in cars, such as major wireless companies who participate through the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The distracted-driving issue has been a particularly difficult issue for companies to lobby on, because it’s PR anathema to appear insensitive to distracted-driving tragedies. The new group raises the possibility that distracted-driving legislation is ineffective, but does not explicitly advocate against it.

“Legislation is one part of the equation to make our roads safer; but distracted driving is a behavioral problem, which cannot be solved by legislation alone. As FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has advocated numerous times — including at Congressional hearings — technology can be used to improve the safety of our roads.” More: http://bit.ly/hqh2hB.

GOP torn between homeland security, fiscal restraint in public safety fight: A Republican party that returned to power on promises of fiscal austerity is divided on how the government should pay for an expensive broadband network for police, firefighters and other emergency officials. Fiscal conservatives in the House want public safety to share the airwaves with commercial providers, but various influential members in the Senate want to allocate the valuable D Block of spectrum entirely to public safety. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, is working on spectrum legislation that is expected to support direct allocation. More in The Hill: http://bit.ly/g4sQp4.

LightSquared cleared to offer wireless broadband: The Associated Press reports, “Federal regulators have given a satellite start-up called LightSquared clearance to use its allotted airwaves to provide wireless broadband services that could compete with AT&T and Verizon Wireless. The Federal Communications Commission is granting the Reston, Va., company a waiver from federal rules limiting the use of those airwaves to providing back-up wireless connections for satellite phone service. Without the waiver, LightSquared’s network could only be used to provide ground-based broadband service if it can also connect to a satellite.” More: http://yhoo.it/f6ZBsD.

Why does Consumer Watchdog pick on Eric Schmidt?: After Consumer Watchdog released yet another video mocking Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, we asked John Simpson, who directs the organization’s “Inside Google” project, why he singles out the search behemoth. His response: “You can talk about online privacy in the abstract, but it’s better to use a specific company and its practices in educating consumers about the issue. Our Inside Google project targeted the Internet giant because they are such a dominant player affecting so many consumers. Second, if in response to our efforts, Google improves its privacy polices — and they in fact have in some areas — that could lead the entire industry in the right direction.”

Plus, Google said they ‘wouldn’t be evil,’ Simpson points out: “And of course, there is this point: Google holds itself out to be different than other corporations with its ‘Don’t Be Evil’; motto.  Once they’ve set those expectations, they don’t get a free pass,” he continued.

Facebook, Microsoft might hear from CW more in the coming year: “We’ve spoken out against Facebook and Microsoft on occasion; they’ve just not been the focus of our efforts, certainly not high-profile ones. We could well move to do more with them over the next year,” he said. 

ICYMI on Hillicon Valley: 

Obama’s wireless goal ‘realistic,’ Mobile Future chairman says http://bit.ly/hMAX49

Zuckerberg’s Facebook gets hacked http://bit.ly/h0iawW

Matsui named co-chairwoman of High Tech Caucus http://bit.ly/hbja4K

Consumers Union wants more transparency on wireless charges http://bit.ly/f1z8jV

Markey touts FCC broadband plan after Obama’s speech http://bit.ly/gRSTo9

From around the Web:

Schumer wants to amend Leahy patent bill: “Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is circulating an amendment to the comprehensive patent reform legislation introduced Tuesday. Schumer’s amendment would “authorize a pilot program for review of business method patents,” a relatively new patent concept that protects new ways of doing business.” More in Tech Daily Dose: http://bit.ly/dXiVVV.

Terry Sees Role For Congress On USF Despite FCC Action: “Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said Wednesday he plans to move ahead with legislation that would overhaul the universal service fund, which subsidizes telecommunications in rural and high-cost areas, even though the Federal Communications Commission is moving forward on its own reform effort.” More in Tech Daily Dose: http://bit.ly/dMcjhp.

Facebook to offer secure connection, better authentication: “Starting today, Facebook will be rolling out two new security features for its users, the social network announced. The first new feature allows users to use Facebook using a secure, https connection. The Web site has used the secure connection whenever dealing with user passwords in the past. Now, they’re rolling out an option on the Account Settings page that will allow you to choose secure browsing by default.” More in Post Tech: http://wapo.st/hreKgs.

— This post was updated at 5:16 p.m. on Jan. 27.