| News Briefs |
1/12. Gary Lytle, the acting CEO of the U.S. Telecom Association,
advocated legislation to regulate Internet access. He stated
that "Americans -- and providers of high-speed Internet
services -- now face a crazy patchwork of broadband
regulation. ... This patchwork of regulation will stifle the
future development of Internet applications, products and
services. ... The time is ripe for Congress to adopt a uniform
policy that allows all broadband competitors and technologies
to compete on equal deregulated footing ..." See, release.
The USTA represents incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs,
i.e., phone companies). These companies are required, as
telecommunications carriers, to provide access to their
facilities to competing ISPs. Other technologies for providing
Internet access are not subject to the same blanket
requirement.
1/12. The Xinhua News Agency published a release
on Internet copyright infringement in the People's Republic of
China. |
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| TLJ Stories |
FCC
Approves AOL Time Warner Merger. The FCC approved the
merger of AOL and Time Warner with conditions regarding open
access to broadband cable Internet access and interoperability
of advanced instant messaging services.
Appeals
Court Overturns FCC Separate Affiliate Order. The
Court of Appeals ruled in ASCENT v. FCC that the FCC's order
in its SBC Ameritech merger proceeding permitting SBC to offer
advanced services, such as DSL, through a separate affiliate
violates the Communications Act. The Court vacated the Order. See,
Opinion. |
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| 107th Congress |
| 1/16. Members of the House have begun to introduce bills for
the 107th Congress. Many bills introduced at this stage are
re-introductions of bills that were pending at the close of
the last Congress. Among the new bills are: HR
41, a bill to permanently extend the R&D tax credit,
by Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and Rep. Robert Matsui (D-CA).
Johnson and Matsui have sought to pass this bill for a long
time. The 106th Congress passed a temporary extension; HR
89, the Online Privacy Protection Act, a bill to
require the FTC to promulgate regulations affecting web site
operators, by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ); HR
90, the Know Your Caller Act, a bill to prohibit
telemarketers from interfering with the caller ID
service in telephone solicitations, by Rep. Rodney
Frelinghuysen (R-NJ); HR
91, the Social Security On-line Privacy Protection Act, by
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ); HR
100, a bill to establish and expand education
programs relating to science, mathematics, engineering, and
technology, by Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI); HR
101, the National Science Education Enhancement Act, by
Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI); HR
102, the National Science Education Incentive Act, a bill
to provide certain tax incentives, including tuition tax
credits for undergraduate teaching education in science,
math, science, engineering, and technology (SMET), and for
certain contributions benefiting SMET education, by Rep.
Vernon Ehlers (R-MI); HR
112, a bill to require notices on information collection
devices, by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ); HR
113, the Wireless Telephone Spam Protection Act, by
Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ); HR
220, the Identity Theft Protection Act, and bill to
protect the confidentiality of Social Security numbers,
and to prohibit a national identification number, by
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX); HR
225, a bill to require the FCC to eliminate from its
regulations the restrictions on the cross-ownership of
broadcasting stations and newspapers, by Rep. Mike Oxley
(R-OH); and HR
236, a bill to repeal the excise tax on telephone
and other communication services, by Rep. Bob Portman (R-OH). |
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| Today |
10:30 AM. The Senate
Foreign Relations Committee will hold the first of two
days of hearings on the nomination of Colin Powell to
be Secretary of State. Location: Room 216, Hart Senate Office
Building.
11:30 AM. Secretary of Commerce Norman Mineta and executives
from 19 information technology companies will hold an event to
announce the formation of the Information Technology
Information Sharing and Analysis Center. Other government
officials scheduled to attend include Richard Clarke (National
Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and
Counter-Terrorism, National Security Council) and Greg. Rohde
(head of the NTIA).
Location: Room 5851, Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution
Avenue, NW, Washington DC, 20230. |
| Wednesday |
| 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM. The NTIA
will host a government - industry meeting on Third
Generation (3G) wireless services. The meeting will be
held in conjunction with the FCC and Department of Defense.
Location: Polaris Room of the Ronald Reagan Building
(Concourse Level), 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. |
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| About Tech Law Journal |
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