Sept. 13, 2000
9:00 AM ET.
Alert No. 19. |
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| News Briefs |
9/12. House Majority Leader
Dick Armey (R-TX) and Rep. Billy
Tauzin (R-LA) released a GAO
report [PDF] that found that of a sample of 65 federal
government web sites, only 3% satisfy the privacy standards which
the FTC
applies to commercial web sites.
9/12. MP3.com CEO Michael
Robertson released a lengthy statement
on the pending copyright infringement litigation against
MP3.com. On Sept. 6, U.S. District Court Judge Rakoff ruled that
MP3.com willfully infringed Universal
Music Group's copyrights, and set damages at $25,000 for each
compact disk. Quote: "Regardless of the aggregate judgement, we
intend to pursue an appeal of all appropriate issues related to this
lawsuit, including the court's decision regarding the 'willfulness'
issue and level of statutory damages, as well as the court's ruling
on the issue of 'fair use.' " He added: "We are working
with several legislators in Washington DC to review current
copyright laws and possibly revise those laws ..."
9/12. The House Government
Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Government Management,
Information, and Technology held a hearing on establishing a Federal
Chief Information Officer. Rep. Jim Turner (D-TX), the
ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee, is the sponsor of HR 4670, the
Chief Information Officer of the United States Act of 2000.
9/12. Attorney General Janet Reno gave the keynote speech at
the Intellectual Property Symposium of the Americas. She devoted her
address to intellectual property crime and the need for
cooperation among governments and industry.
9/12. The House Judiciary
Committee held a hearing on HR
4321, the "Antitrust Enforcement Improvement Act of
2000."
9/12. Harris
Interactive (HI), an Internet market research firm, announced
that is has dismissed its complaint against MAPS and several
ISPs. "We sued to open communication with our respondents and
that goal was accomplished," said CEO Gordon Black. HI filed
suit in U.S. District Court (WDNY)
on July 31 against Microsoft (as the operator of hotmail), AOL,
Qwest, other e-mail service providers, and MAPS, alleging
violation of antitrust law, defamation, negligence, and other causes
of action. The e-mail service defendants were blocking HI e-mail as
part of their anti-spam efforts. Both AOL and Microsoft previously
reached settlements with HI, in which both agreed not to block HI
e-mail. See, release.
9/12. FCC Chairman Wm. Kennard
gave a speech
in Atlanta about Internet telephony and the nature of FCC
regulation. He stated that "now my top priority at the FCC is
to get high-speed broadband access into every home and hamlet
in this country." He commented that "I also think that
regulation is too often used as a shield, to protect the status quo
from new competition - often in the form of smaller, hungrier
competitors -- and too infrequently as a sword -- to cut a pathway
for new competitors to compete by creating new networks and
services."
9/11. FCC Chairman Wm. Kennard
announced his intention to name Sherille Ismail Deputy Chief
of the Cable Services Bureau.
He is currently Dep. Dir. of the Office of Legislative and
Intergovernmental Affairs. He has also worked in the Common Carrier
Bureau and International Bureau. Prior to working for the FCC, he
worked for Rep. John Conyers
(D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
See, release
[MS Word].
9/12. Telecommunications
Industry Association (TIA) President Matthew Flanigan advocated
passage of S 2698 and HR 4728, the Broadband Internet Access of
2000, at a press conference in Washington DC. See, TIA
release.
9/12. NCTA EVP Peggy
Binzel gave a speech
in Baltimore in which she stated that "much of our competition
is continuing to run to Washington with arguments about
'consolidation' and 'bottlenecks' -- conveniently forgetting that
cable operators face intense competition in each of our new
businesses while facing growing competition in our core business --
from satellites, overbuilders and ultimately, from the Internet
itself."
9/12. Microsoft announced that it filed five complaints in U.S.
District Courts in California alleging that the five defendants
distributed counterfeit and/or infringing copies of Microsoft
software or software components. See, MSFT
release.
9/11. The Senate resumed consideration of HR 4444, a bill to provide
permanent normal trade relations status for China, and proposed
amendments thereto.
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 TLJ Stories |
97%
of Government Web Sites Fail the FTC's Online Privacy Test.
(9/13) The GAO released a report on the privacy practices of federal
government web sites. It conducted a survey of 65 web sites, and
found that only 3% complied with all four of the "fair
information practices" that the FTC applies to commercial web
sites.
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| New Documents |
GAO: Internet
Privacy: Comparison of Federal Agency Practices with FTC's Fair
Information Principles, 9/12 [3.4 MB PDF, GAO].
Transcript
of press conference of Reps. Armey and Tauzin regarding the
release of the GAO privacy report, 9/12 [HTML, TLJ].
Kennard: speech
regarding Internet telephony and FCC regulation, 9/12 [HTML, TLJ].
|
| New and Updated Sections |
Calendar
(updated).
News
from Around the Web (updated daily).
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| Quote of the Day |
"I've learned that when most people ask me to level the playing
field, they want less regulation for themselves and more for their
competitors. And today, people are telling me that voice
communications, whether delivered by the Internet or the traditional
phone companies, should be treated the same: licensed the same,
regulated the same and taxed the same. In other words, more
regulation for IP telephony." William Kennard, Chairman
of the FCC. |
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