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FCC
Requests Comments on Whether § 271 InterLATA Services Includes
Information Services. The FCC issued a request for comments
on whether the term "interLATA services" as used in
Section 271 of the Communications Act includes "information
services". Regional Bells want to provide information services
across LATA boundaries without first satisfying the FCC that they
have complied with the Section 271 checklist. The issue also goes to
the FCC's power to regulate Internet services.
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| New Documents |
NTIA:
Interim
Report on finding spectrum for 3G wireless in the 1755-1850 MHz
Band, 11/15 (HTML, NTIA; also in 800 KB PDF
file).
FCC:
Interim Report on on finding spectrum for 3G wireless in the
2500-2690 MHz Band, 11/15 (report
and appendices in MS Word,
and report
and appendices
in PDF, FCC).
FCC:
request
for comments re whether §271 "interLATA services"
includes "information services", 11/15 (MS Word, FCC).
Mineta: speech
re trade, e-commerce, and electronic signatures, 11/15 (HTML, DOC).
Kalicki:
speech
re the New Economy and the Middle East, 11/15 (HTML, DOC).
ITA:
final
results of DRAMs anti dumping review, 11/15 (TXT, FedReg).
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| New and Updated Sections |
Calendar.
News
from Around the Web.
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| Quotes of the Day |
The following are excerpts from the speeches in opposition to the
Foreign Sales Corporation bill during floor debate on Nov. 14. (The
bill passed on a vote of 316 to 72, and Bill Clinton will sign it.)
"What are some of the other top FSC corporate welfare queens?
Motorola, Caterpillar, Allied-Signal, Cisco Systems ... Cisco
Systems is not suffering. Raytheon is not suffering. Microsoft is
not struggling mightily to keep its head above water."
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
"Now, software was mentioned. Those poor folks in Seattle.
Software? ... And this poor overtaxed Bill Gates is walking
around, so we subsidize his sales overseas."
Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA)
"We are now witnessing trade war protectionism being
administered by the World (Government) Trade Organization--the WTO.
For two years now we have been involved in an ongoing trade war with
Europe and this is just one more step in that fight. With this
legislation the U.S. Congress capitulates to the demands of the WTO.
... The Europeans have already complained and have threatened to
file suit in the WTO against the Americans for selling software
products over the Internet. Europeans tax their Internet sales and
are able to get their products much cheaper when bought from the
United States thus penalizing European countries. Since the goal is
to manage things in a so-called equitable manner the WTO very likely
could rule against the United States and force a tax on our
international Internet sales."
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) |
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| News Briefs |
11/15. The NTIA
released a 47 page "Interim Report" as a part of its
ongoing process of identifying spectrum for use for 3G wireless.
Third generation wireless systems will provide high-speed
Internet access and other broadband services from portable
devices. The report is titled "Federal Operations in the 1755-1850 MHz
Band: The Potential for Accommodating Third Generation Mobile
Systems" [available in multiple HTML
documents, or a single 800 KB PDF
file]. The FCC released
its 62 page "Interim Report" titled "Spectrum Study
of the 2500-2690 MHz Band: The Potential for Accommodating
Third Generation Mobile Systems" [report
and appendices in MS Word
| report
and appendices
in PDF]. Greg Rohde
(NTIA), Tom
Sugrue (FCC/WTB), and Linton Wells (Defense Dept.)
explained the reports at an event in Washington DC. See also, 1 page
NTIA
release.
1/15. AT&T announced
it will spin off Liberty Media Group, which it acquired through
its acquisition of TCI, contingent upon a
favorable tax ruling. AT&T stated that it "expects to
convert the Liberty Media tracking stock into an asset-based
security and launch Liberty Media Group as an independent, publicly
traded company in the second quarter of 2001." AT&T further
stated that "This step also gives AT&T the option of
deciding to use the spin off of Liberty Media to comply in large
part with one of the three conditions set forth by the Federal Communications Commission in
its June
order approving AT&T’s merger with MediaOne." See, AT&T
release. See also, FCC's web section on the
AT&T MediaOne merger, CS Docket No. 99-251.
11/15. The FCC issued a request
for comments [MS Word] on whether the term "interLATA
services" as used in § 271
of the Communications Act includes "information services".
This section, which was a key part of the Telecom Act of 1996,
prevents RBOCs from
providing interLATA
(long distance) telephone service until the FCC has determined that
they have opened up their facilities to competitors. The FCC has
only just begun to grant such permissions. The RBOCs do not want
§ 271 to prevent them from providing interLATA data services.
The FCC determined in its Non-Accounting
Safeguards Order that "interLATA services"
includes information services. Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) and USWest (now Qwest) filed a petition for
review [PDF] in the U.S.
Court of Appeals (DCCir) seeking to overturn this part of the
Order. On Oct 27 the Court remanded the matter to the FCC for the
purpose of conducting this inquiry. Comments are due by Nov. 29,
and reply comments are due by Dec. 11. The RBOCs have also been
heavily lobbying the Congress to pass legislation to provide them
this interLATA data relief; and, many Members of Congress support
them, and have introduced legislation to provide this result. See,
for example, HR
2420, the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 1999.
11/15. MP3.com sold to Universal
Music Group warrants to purchase up to 3,000,000 shares of MP3.com
common stock. The warrants are exercisable at prices ranging from
$3.75 to $5.00 per share and range in term of one to three years.
See, MP3.com release.
11/15. Microsoft filed a complaint
in U.S. District Court (DAz) against Coast 2
Coast Office Supply for distributing counterfeit copies of MS Office
Professional 2000 and Project 98 in violation of Microsoft
copyrights and trademarks. See, MSFT
release.
11/15. Sec. of Commerce Norman Mineta is on a 10 trip to Singapore,
Brunei, and Viet Nam. He gave a speech
and answered questions from the press in Singapore on Nov. 15. He
was asked about electronic signatures. He stated: "We
have just only passed it in the United States not too long ago and,
I think, everyone is just going to have to get comfortable with the
mechanism on how this works. I think the important thing is to make
sure that there's both confidence in the business community, as well
as in the consumer community, about the legality and the full
standing of electronic signatures, electronic contracts as they are
with normal paper contracts. And, I think, even in the United States
we're just starting to feel our way through that whole effort. ...
I'm not really familiar with what Singapore has in law ... I would
hope that they will see the value of it and move along in making it
for the full scope of electronic commerce." Sec. Mineta also
gave a speech
to a Chamber of Commerce group.
11/15. ICANN
published a report
prepared by its staff which makes recommendations regarding election
of at large members. It recommends that ICANN should solicit
comments, and then establish a study committee.
11/15. The Commerce Dept.'s NTIA
and Defense Dept. have agreed to jointly perform a vulnerability
assessment of critical infrastructures in the Rocky Mountain
Corridor, comprising facilities located in Colorado and Wyoming.
NTIA's role is to coordinate the vulnerability assessments with
companies that have critical communications and information nodes in
the region. Presidential
Decision Directive 63 [PDF] establishes the Commerce Dept. as
the lead agency for physical and cyber protection of the information
and communications sector. See, NTIA
release. Background: NTIA's Critical Infrastructure
Assurance page.
11/15. The Import Administration, of the International Trade Administration,
of the Department of Commerce, published in the Federal Register the
final
results of is anti-dumping administrative review regarding DRAM
semiconductors of 1 Megabit or above from Korea. The review
covers two manufacturers, Hyundai
and LG Semicon,
and four
exporters. [Fed. Reg., Nov. 15, 2000, Vol. 65, No. 221,
at pages 68976-68978.]
11/15. Jan Kalicki, Counselor to the Dept. of Commerce, gave a speech in
NYC titled "From Old Economy to New Economy in the Middle
East". Quote: "the United States government has sought to
include cooperation on electronic commerce as a substantial element
of our bilateral economic relationships in the region."
11/14. Scour.com published a release
which stated that "it will voluntarily shut down the Scour
Exchange community within 48 hours to facilitate a resolution of
pending litigation and a sales of its assets in the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court."
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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