| 107th Congress |
1/3. The House of Representatives of the 107th
Congress convened. Members took the oath of office. Rep. Denny Hastert
(R-IL) was elected Speaker. The House Republican Conference
selected Rep. Dick Armey
(R-TX) to be Majority Leader and Rep. Tom DeLay
(R-TX) to be Majority Whip. The House Democratic Caucus
selected Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO) to be Minority Leader and
Rep. David Bonior (D-MI) to be Minority Whip. These
developments were expected.
1/3. Outgoing Vice President Al Gore swore in newly elected
members of the Senate. The Senate is now divided 50 50
between Republicans and Democrats. Until Jan. 20, when Dick
Cheney is sworn in as Vice President, Al Gore casts tie
breaking votes in the Senate. Hence, Democrats are in control
of the Senate. At the Jan. 4 confirmation hearing of Donald
Evans (to be Secretary of Commerce) Sen. Ernest Hollings
(D-SC) will preside.
1/4. House Republicans may create a new Financial Services
Committee. The move would affect technology related
legislation. The reasons for creating a new committee are
partly practical and partly political. The new committee would
combine the existing House
Banking Committee with the Finance Subcommittee of the House Commerce Committee,
which has jurisdiction over securities. The new committee
would have authority over all of the converging financial
industries of banking, securities and insurance. The political
reason for the move is that there are contests for the
Chairmanships of both the Banking and Commerce Committees. No
strong candidate has emerged for the Banking position, while
there are two strong and popular candidates for the Commerce
position -- Rep.
Mike Oxley (R-OH), who now chairs the Finance
Subcommittee, and Rep.
Billy Tauzin (R-LA), who now chairs the Telecom
Subcommittee. This reshuffling would give both men
chairmanships. If created, the new Financial Services
Committee would likely emerge with authority over financial
privacy issues, securities litigation reform, and bringing the
New Deal era prospectus based securities laws into the age of
the Internet. The Commerce Committee would retain authority
over telecommunications, electronic commerce, and most
Internet related issues, as well as oversight of the FCC and
FTC. Oxley, who would chair the new committee, is an ex FBI
agent who has been one of the leading opponents of
liberalization of encryption laws, and one of the leading
proponents of bills to ban online indecency. Putting him in
charge of the new committee would distance him from these two
issues.
1/3. The Information Technology
Association of America (ITAA) sent a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch
(R-UT) and Sen.
Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the Chairman and Ranking Member of
the Senate Judiciary Committee, urging confirmation of John
Ashcroft to be Attorney General. The letter cited
Ashcroft's bi-partisan leadership on technology issues such as
encryption, intellectual property rights and domain names
while serving in the Senate. Quote: "Ashcroft’s
nomination is a win-win because he has impeccable legal
credentials and a strong grasp of high tech policy. We urge
swift confirmation ..." Ashcroft lost his bid for
re-election last November. The Committee has not yet scheduled
its confirmation hearing. Ashcroft faces opposition on non
technology related grounds. For example, People for the American Way
released a statement
condemning his position on abortion. Other groups raise his
record on "civil rights". See also, Sen. Hatch's statement
of Dec. 22 regarding Ashcroft. Quote: "President-elect
Bush has made an excellent choice in John Ashcroft ..." |
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| News Briefs |
1/3. Cal. Gov. Gray
Davis named John Stevens to the California Public Utilities
Commission on an interim basis. See, Davis
release.
1/3. Outgoing President Bill Clinton made another recess
appointment. He appointed Dennis Devaney as a
Commissioner of the United
States International Trade Commission (ITC). The ITC is a
quasi-judicial independent federal agency. It administers U.S.
trade law remedies, including Section
337 (Investigations of Infringements of
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, or Mask Works, and Other
Unfair Practices in Import Trade). See, summary
of USITC statutes relating to import relief [21 pages in PDF].
See also, Clinton
release.
1/3. A complaint was filed in U.S. District Court (DDC)
against Microsoft alleging racial discrimination in
compensation and promotion practices. Plaintiff, who is
represented by Willie
Gary, seeks class action status. Deborah Willingham, MSFT
VP for Human Resources, had this to say in a release:
"Microsoft has a zero tolerance policy toward
discrimination in the workplace. We take any allegations of
discrimination very seriously, and immediately investigate any
concern that is raised."
1/2. The USPTO put online
the Dec. 2000 issue of USPTO Today. It includes an article
titled The
Evolution of the Business Method Patent and Update on the
Business Method Action Plan (at pages 8-10, by Wynn
Coggins). It concludes that "Computers and the Internet
have created an information age that is truly revolutionizing
how we function as a society. New technologies are constantly
emerging that didn’t exist three weeks ago, and developers
in these areas don’t always recognize the need to protect
their discoveries. Thus, traditional patent search strategies
need to be enhanced to meet future needs in these growing
technology areas, and USPTO is working to bridge the gap with
industry and work together to make this happen. With the help
of the partnership organizations, concerns about the quality
of the searches being performed by patent examiners and the
examiner knowledge base on which they have to make decisions
on patentable subject matter are being aggressively addressed.
The business method patent phenomenon translates to progress.
It is an example of the evolution the patent process is
undergoing to keep pace in today’s technology and
information age." Several members of Congress would like
to pass legislation that changes the business methods patent
process. See, for example, HR
5364 IH (106th Congress).
1/3. The SEC filed a complaint
in U.S. District Court (DDC)
against a Colleen Millsap alleging insider trading. Millsap, a
former CFO of digitalNATION, a dedicated server web hosting
company, engaged in illegal insider trading in the securities
of Verio prior to Verio's
acquisition of digitalNATION on July 13, 1999. Millsap also
consented to entry of judgment against her. See, SEC
release.
12/29. The U.S. District Court (SDNY)
issued a permanent injunction against Internet stock trader In
Shig Ahn. This order merely prevents Ahn from committing
future violations of federal securities laws. Previously, Ahn
disgorged ill gotten gains, and plead guilty in a parallel
criminal action for securities fraud and wire fraud. This was
Ahn's scam: he opened an online account with Terra Nova (TN)
with $351,950 in bad checks. He also opened a second online
account with Interactive Brokers (IB), and set up an
electronic communications network. Before his bad checks could
bounce, he traded between his two online accounts,
intentionally creating losses in the TN account and
corresponding gains in the IB account. Before he could
withdraw his gains from the IB account, IB froze his account,
the checks bounced, and the SEC and U.S. Attorneys Office
filed civil and criminal proceedings against him. (SEC v. In
Shig Ahn, Case No. 00 Civ. 4416 (RCC), filed June 15, 2000.)
See, SEC
release.
12/20. The U.S. District Court (SDNY)
ordered six defendants to pay disgorgement, interest and
penalties totaling $581,117 in a major insider trading case
arising out of IBM's 1995 takeover of Lotus. (SEC v. Lorraine
K. Cassano, Case No. 99-CV-3822.) See, SEC
release. |
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| Commentary |
| The Wall Street Journal, and its Opinion Journal
web site (free access), published a scathing
criticism of regulatory policies that have slowed broadband
deployment, and obstructed the New Economy. The Jan. 4
editions comment that "the process of bringing
"digital subscriber line" to Baby Bell customers has
become a regulatory morass. Another pathway, cable modem, has
been held up as AT&T and Time Warner fight "open
access" battles in the courts and in Washington. Wireless
holds out another avenue, but depends on the FCC doling out
licenses to use the airwaves. Nor did it help that the Justice
Department shot down an attempt to merge WorldCom ... Sprint
... Indeed, at every step of the much- needed consolidation
and restructuring of the telecommunications industry, the
Clinton Administration's antitrust regulators have stood in
the way as they pursue their own fantasies of how to engineer
an ideal level of 'competition.' Accompanying these
interventions is the vague suggestion that technology is
creating new 'monopolies.' But this reflects parochial
bureaucratic interests more than economic logic." |
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