Sept. 7, 2000
6:30 AM ET.
Alert No. 15. |
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Copyright 1998 - 2000 David Carney, dba Tech Law Journal. All rights
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| News Briefs |
9/6. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff released his ruling in which
found that MP3.com willfully
infringed Universal
Music Group's copyrights, and set damages at $25,000 for each
compact disk that it digitally copied. The number of such disks
has not yet been determined. MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson promised
to appeal. RIAA SVP and General
Counsel Cary Sherman stated in a release that
"This should send a message that there are consequences when a
business recklessly disregards the copyright law. We trust this will
encourage those who want to build a business using other people's
copyrighted works to seek permission to do so in advance." See
also, MP3.com release.
9/6. Senate Judiciary
Committee held a hearing on the FBI's Carnivore e-mail
surveillance system. Sen.
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sen.
Pat Leahy (D-VT) conducted the hearing, along with a brief
appearance by Sen. Specter. These Senators did not criticize the
Carnivore system as did many members of the House Judiciary Committee
at their July 24 hearing. Vint Cerf of WorldCom testified that he is
satisfied with Carnivore. See, prepared statements: Sen. Hatch,
Sen. Leahy,
Donald
Kerr (FBI), Kevin
DiGregory (DOJ), Vint Cerf
(WorldCom), Jeffrey
Rosen (GWU),
James
Dempsey (CDT).
9/6. The House Judiciary
Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing on HR
5018, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 2000, HR
4987, the Digital Privacy Act of 2000, HR
4908, the Notice of Electronic Monitoring Act. See, prepared
statements of witnesses: Kevin DiGregory
(DOJ), James
Dempsey (CDT), Gregory Nojeim
(ACLU), Robert
Corn-Revere, (Hogan & Hartson), Marc Rotenberg,
(EPIC), Lewis Maltby,
(NWI),
Kenneth
Segarnick (United Messaging), and Michael Overly
(Foley & Lardner).
9/6. Rep. Dick Armey
(R-TX) released a statement
reaffirming his opposition to the Carnivore system.
9/6. The SEC announced 15
enforcement actions against 33 people and companies for Internet
securities fraud. All actions involve pump-and-dump stock
manipulations in which the defendants spread false information
through electronic newsletters, web sites, e-mail messages, and
posts on message boards. Previous SEC actions have targeted illegal
touting and sale of bogus securities. SEC Director of Enforcement
Richard Walker said that "What used to require a network of
professional promoters and brokers, banks of telephones and months
to accomplish can now be done in minutes by a single person using
the Internet and a home computer. Thinly traded microcap stocks are
particularly susceptible to online manipulations." See, SEC release.
9/6. The EIA sent a letter to Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO)
in support of passage of an H1B bill. The TIA sent a
letter to Members of Congress and others in support of passage of
H1B bills HR 3983 and S 2045.
9/6. RSA Security released
the RSA public key encryption algorithm patent into the
public domain two weeks before the Sept. 20 expiration of its 17
year term. U.S. Patent No. 4,405,829 is the standard for encryption
that secures the majority of the e-business conducted on the
Internet. See, RSA release.
9/6. The FTC's Bureau Consumer
Protection released a report
titled "Consumer Protection in the Global Electronic
Marketplace: Looking Ahead." The report's recommendations
include convergence of national consumer protection laws, and
development of arrangements for cross-border judgment recognition
and enforcement. The report discusses, but takes no position on,
jurisdiction or choice of law in international consumer e-commerce
disputes (i.e., country of origin v. country of destination). See,
FTC release.
9/6. The FTC approved the
publication of a Federal
Register notice describing the submission of proposed
self-regulatory guidelines by TRUSTe.
The notice addresses the safe harbor requirements of §312.10 of the
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and
requests public comments. See, TRUSTe
submission [PDF].
Editor's Note: This column includes all News Briefs added to
Tech Law Journal since the last Daily E-Mail Alert. The dates
indicate when the event occurred, not the date of posting to Tech
Law Journal. |
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| New Documents |
SEC: Complaint
in SEC v. Pridgeon alleging insider trading, 9/1/00 (HTML, TLJ).
EIA: Letter
to Rep. Gephardt re H1B bills, 9/6/00 (HTML, TLJ).
TIA: Letter
to Members of Congress re H1B bills, 9/6/00 (HTML, TLJ).
FTC: Consumer
Protection in the Global Electronic Marketplace: Looking Ahead,
9/6/00 (HTML, FTC).
Sen. Judiciary Comm.: Prepared
Statements of Senators and Witnesses at hearing on Carnivore,
9/6/00 (HTML, SJC).
Rep. Armey: Statement
opposing Carnivore, 9/6/00 (HTML, TLJ).
FTC: Federal
Register notice regarding proposed guidelines for COPPA,
9/6/00 (HTML, FTC).
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| New and Updated Sections |
Calendar.
News from
Around the Web (updated daily).
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| Quote of the Day |
"Individuals who use the Internet for personal communications,
purchases, and hobbies are justifiably reluctant to allow an
Orwellian Big Brother to monitor which web sites they visit or what
messages they send through cyberspace." Sen. Orrin Hatch
(R-UT) on Carnivore. |
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