Microsoft Meets Tunney Act Guidelines

Microsoft Corp. does not have to disclose its lobbying contacts with Congress connected with its antitrust case, a federal judge decided Tuesday.

The 1974 Tunney Act, which makes sure that a company settling federal charges doesn’t get improper favors from government employees, calls for a company to disclose its lobbying contacts with “any officer or employee of the United States.”

Microsoft listed only a handful of meetings with Justice Department officials, drawing the ire of critics who said the company should disclose its considerable contacts with members of Congress and their aides. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly disagreed.

In its twice-a-year reports to Congress on lobbying activities, Microsoft reported spending $300,000 on lobbying related to the antitrust case in the first half of 2001.

Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling came as part of a procedural order in which she certified that Microsoft and the Justice Department have fulfilled the steps required by the Tunney Act.

She will now decide whether the federal settlement is in the public interest, the last requirement before the settlement goes into effect.

A decision on the settlement, as well as the suit brought by nine states that want harsher penalties against the company, is expected in late summer.

Also Tuesday, European Union regulators said they were not yet satisfied that online authentication services like Microsoft’s .NET Passport are complying with data protection laws in Europe, but stopped short of launching a formal investigation.

“Although Microsoft has put in place some measures to address data protection, a number of elements of the .NET Passport system raise legal issues and therefore require further consideration,” the heads of data protection agencies from the 15 EU countries said.