| Michael Powell |
1/22. President George Bush nominated Michael
Powell to be Chairman of the FCC.
He is currently a Commissioner of the FCC. Powell released a statement
[MS Word]: "I am deeply honored and privileged to have
received President Bush's designation to be Chairman of the
Federal Communication Commission. I look forward to working
with the new administration, Congress, my fellow Commissioners
and the very talented FCC staff on the important and
challenging communications issues facing our nation." See
also, praise for the nominee from from the NAB, NCTA, and USTA.
1/22. House Commerce
Committee Chairman Billy
Tauzin (R-LA) praised the nomination of Powell. "In
my opinion, this is one of President Bush's best -- and most
exciting -- selections for his new administration. Michael
Powell ranks among America's brightest, young leaders. He
understands the benefits to consumers of aggressive
competition in the marketplace, and I believe he will work
with Congress to complete the task of deregulating the
telecommunications industry. For years, watching the FCC work
has been like watching an old black-and-white movie. But now,
with Michael Powell in charge, get ready for an FCC broadcast
in HDTV. He's the one person best suited to bring the agency
into the 21st century." Rep. Tauzin and former FCC
Chairman Kennard clashed repeatedly. |
|
|
| New TLJ Stories |
Rep.
Dreier Addresses Fast Track and Other Tech Issues. House
Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier gave an address on
technology issues in the 107th Congress on Friday, January 19.
He advocated giving the President fast track trade negotiating
authority, opening markets to free trade, reducing export
restraints on commercially available products, and reducing
the top rate on capital gains taxes.
Sen.
Wyden Predicts Congress Will Pass a Privacy Bill This Year.
Sen. Wyden predicted that Congress will send an online privacy
bill to the President this year. He spoke at a policy luncheon
in Washington DC on January 19. Rep. Tauzin described the role
of Congress as "helping to making sure the private sector
does as good a job as possible in this area with as little
federal intervention as possible".
Tech
Panel Criticizes FASB Rules on Pooling Method of Accounting.
Sen. Bennett, Rep. Dooley, and other members of a Washington
DC luncheon panel, criticized the FASB's proposal to eliminate
the pooling method of accounting. It does not reflect the
realities of the New Economy, and it would hinder investment,
they said. |
|
|
| New Documents |
FCC: Order
in AOL Time Warner merger proceeding, 1/22 (TXT, FCC).
FTC:
letter
to DoubleClick re privacy practices investigation, 1/22 (PDF,
FTC).
USCA:
opinion
in Virtual Works v. Volkswagen re cybersquatting, 1/22 (HTML,
USCA).
USCA:
opinion
in Bradford v. Rockwell Semiconductor re age discrimination
claims, 1/22 (HTML, USCA).
OMB:
report
re privacy in bankruptcy proceedings, 1/19 (PDF, Treas).
Mineta:
speech
re telecom and Internet competition in Japan, 1/11 (HTML,
DOC). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| News Briefs |
1/22. The FCC released
its Memorandum
Opinion and Order in its AOL Time Warner merger
review proceeding. The FCC announced its approval, with
conditions, last week.
1/22. The Supreme
Court of the United States granted certiorari in NCTA v.
Gulf Power Co. and FCC V. Gulf Power Co. (Nos. 00-832 and
00-843) The Court limited the issues to "1) Whether
those provisions of the Pole Attachments Act apply to
attachments by cable television systems that are
simultaneously used to provide high-speed Internet access and
conventional cable television programming. 2) Whether
those provisions of the Pole Attachments Act apply to
attachments by providers of wireless telecommunications
services no less than to attachments by providers of wireline
telecommunications services." The Court also granted
AT&T Wireless Services' motion to file an amicus curiae
brief. See, Order
List for Jan. 22, at pages 4-5.
1/22. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (4thCir) issued its opinion
in Bradford
v. Rockwell Semiconductor, a case involving a
discharge based on alleged age discrimination. Bradford
was discharged. He had an employment contract that provided
for mandatory arbitration, with the fees of arbitration split
equally. He pursued, and lost, an arbitration proceeding. He
also filed a complaint in U.S. District Court. The Court
granted Rockwell's motion for summary judgment, concluding
that Bradford had failed to meet his burden of demonstrating
that the arbitration agreement was unenforceable. The Appeals
Court affirmed.
1/22. The FCC approved SBC's Section
271 request to provide long distance service in Oklahoma
and Kansas. See, SBC
release.
1/11. Transportation Secretary nominee Norman Mineta gave a speech
in Tokyo, Japan, in which he advocated less regulation and
more competition in telecommunications and Internet services.
He stated: "We all know that lack of competition weakens
the competitive fiber of every industry. Just take a look at
the Internet. While I recognize that Japanese cell phone and
mobile Internet access exceed that in America, the dearth of
true telecom competition makes Internet access less affordable
here than in the U.S. That's a major reason why ... Internet
penetration is only 23% in Japan, less than half the U.S.
rate. In effect, the de facto monopoly of Japan's local
telecom market -- combined with a weak and ineffective
regulatory system -- significantly dampens incentives for
Japanese entrepreneurs to develop a web-based economy, and
also deprives consumers of the savings from increased
web-based information and competition." |
|
|
| Intellectual Property News |
1/22. The U.S. Court
of Appeals (4th Cir) issued its opinion
in Virtual
Works v. Volkswagen, a cybersquatting case.
Virtual Works registered the domain name vw.net with Network
Solutions (NSI) in 1996. Virtual Works then used the vw.net
domain name for about two years as a part of its small ISP
business. It then told Volkswagen that it would sell the
domain name to the highest bidder. Volkswagen invoked the NSI
dispute resolution process. NSI told Virtual Works to either
transfer the name to Volkswagen, or file a complaint for
declaratory relief in U.S. District Court, which it did.
Volkswagen counterclaimed for trademark dilution, infringement,
and cybersquatting under the ACPA.
The District Court granted Volkswagen's motion for summary
judgment on its cybersquatting, dilution, and infringement
counterclaims, and ordered Virtual Works to relinquish to
Volkswagen the rights to the vw.net domain name. Virtual Works
appealed. The Appeals Court affirmed. It found that
"Virtual Works attempted to profit in bad faith from
Volkswagen's famous mark."
1/22. The National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement
Coordination Council (NIPLECC) submitted its Annual
Report 2000.
1/19. The USTR released
a statement
regarding the outcome of Special 301 out-of-cycle
reviews of Ukraine, Macau, Korea, United Arab Emirates,
Hungary, Slovenia and the West Bank/Gaza Strip. Special 301
reviews examine the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual
property protection in certain countries. The USTR stated
that "A decision on whether to identify Ukraine as a
Priority Foreign Country was deferred until March 1,
2001." It also stated that "Korea remains on the
Priority Watch List ... we look to Korea to significantly
expand its enforcement of intellectual property rights,
particularly against software piracy."
1/19. USPTO
chief Todd Dickinson resigned. The USPTO published a report
listing his achievements. |
|
|
|
| Today |
| 9:30 AM PT. Oral argument before the California Court of
Appeal in Kathleen R. v. City of Livermore. This is an
appeal to the Court of Appeal of the State of California,
First Appellate District, Division 4, Appeal No. A086349.
Plaintiff, a parent of a child who uses Internet access
computers at a public library, seeks to compel the library to
install filtering software on children's computers within the
library. Plaintiff lost in the trial court, and filed this
appeal. See, TLJ
case summary. |
|
|
| Privacy News |
1/22. The FTC
sent a letter
[PDF] to DoubleClick
regarding the complaint
filed against it by the EPIC on
Feb. 10, 2000 regarding its collection and use of personal
identifying information (PII) of web site visitors. The
Electronic Privacy Information Center is a Washington based
advocacy and litigation group which focuses on privacy issues
involved in computer and Internet technologies. DoubleClick is
company specializing in online advertising and marketing. The
EPIC complaint focused on DoubleClick's "DART"
technology, an acronym for "Dynamic Advertising Reporting
and Targeting." This involves the use of
"cookies" to keep track of the web use of individual
browsers which visit web sites with DoubleClick managed ads.
The FTC concluded that "it appears to staff that
DoubleClick never used or disclosed consumers' PII for
purposes other than those disclosed in it privacy policy. ...
Staff has determined to close the investigation at this
time." See also, Feb.
11, 2000 TLJ story.
1/19. The Treasury Dept., Justice Dept. and Clinton/Gore OMB
released a report
[81 pages in PDF] titled "Financial Privacy in
Bankruptcy: A Case Study on Privacy In Public and Judicial
Records." It concluded that "the goal of protecting
personal financial information be given increased emphasis in
the bankruptcy system. Bankruptcy information policy should
better balance society’s interests in fair and efficient
case administration, bankruptcy system integrity, government
accountability, and the debtor’s privacy. As electronic
tools for accessing case information develop and improve,
there is an increased need for analysis of access issues to
ensure the integrity and proper administration of the
system." The report further recommended that "the
general public continue to have access to some general
information [including] that an individual has filed for
bankruptcy, the type of bankruptcy proceeding, the identities
of parties in interest, and other core information."
However, the report recommended that "the general public
not have access to certain highly sensitive information that
poses substantial privacy risks to the debtor. This
information may include, among other items: Social Security
numbers, credit card numbers, loan accounts, dates of birth,
and bank account numbers." See also, Treasury
release. |
|
|
| About Tech Law Journal |
Tech Law Journal is a free access web site
and e-mail alert that provides news, records, and analysis of
legislation, litigation, and regulation affecting the computer
and Internet industry.
This e-mail service is offered free of charge to anyone who
requests it. Just provide TLJ an e-mail address.
Number of subscribers (as of Jan. 23): 615.
Contact TLJ:
202-364-8882.
E-mail.
P.O. Box 15186, Washington DC, 20003.
Privacy
Policy
Notices
& Disclaimers
Copyright 1998 - 2001 David Carney, dba Tech Law Journal. All
rights reserved. |
|
|