| PPI Backs Anti Spam
Legislation |
6/4. The Progressive
Policy Institute (PPI) a think tank of the New Democrats
released a paper
titled "E-Mail Spam Labeling: Why the Cyberlibertarians
Have It Wrong." It states that the House Judiciary
Committee "gutted" HR 718, a bill sponsored by Rep. Heather Wilson
(R-NM) and Rep. Gene
Green (D-TX), that the House Commerce Committee had
previously adopted. The PPI report also defended an amendment
offered by Rep. Melissa Hart
(R-PA), which was adopted by the Judiciary Committee, that
would require any spam that contained pormographic content to
be labeled as such. The report specifically rebuts another
report by the Center for
Democracy and Technology which criticized the Hart
amendment. The PPI report was authored by Shane Ham.
6/5. The House Judiciary Committee issued its report on its
version of HR
718. |
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| USPTO Seeks Comments
Regarding Business Method Patents |
| 6/5. The USPTO
published a notice
in the Federal Register requesting comments from the public
regarding optional search criteria used during examination of
patent applications related to computer implemented Business
Methods in Class 705. The USPTO seeks comments concerning
databases, documenting practices, procedures, and
developments, in specific industries within the computer
implemented business method field, to identify additional
information and materials that could be considered during the
examination process. The recommended database will be reviewed
quarterly. Database recommendations received before June 30,
2001, will be included in the first evaluation process which
will commence on July 31, 2001. |
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| GAO Reports on USPTO Lease |
| 6/5. The GAO
issued a report
[PDF] written for Sen.
James Inhofe (R-OK) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
regarding Acquisition of Leased Space for the USPTO. The
report concluded: "we found nothing improper in GSA's
award of the lease for the PTO facility. This procurement has
also been reviewed by the Department of Commerce's (DOC)
Inspector General and later in litigation in federal court.
None of these reviews resulted in a conclusion that the
procurement activities had been conducted improperly."
Currently, the USPTO has 33 leases occupying all or portions
of 18 buildings in Crystal City, Virginia. On June 1, 2000,
the GSA signed a 20
year lease with LCOR
Alexandria for 2.2 million rentable square feet to house 7,100
USPTO staff at the Carlyle site in Alexandria, Virginia. The
lease is valued at $1.24 Billion over 20 years, plus operating
expenses and taxes. |
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| Computer Crime |
6/5. Michael Wallace plead guilty in U.S. District Court to
two counts of theft of government property and unauthorized
removal of classified materials. The defendant, a former
computer specialist for the Department of State, stole
computer equipment from the government and removed equipment
containing classified national security information without
authorization. See, DOJ
release.
6/1. Roosevelt Bailey was sentenced in U.S. District Court (SDInd)
to 18 months imprisonment following his guilty plea to
trafficking in counterfeit computer software, including Adobe
products, and tax evasion. See, DOJ
release. |
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| New Documents |
PPI:
paper
on anti spam legislation, 6/5 (HTML, PPI).
GAO:
report
on USPTO lease, 6/5 (PDF, GAO). |
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| Tauzin Dingell Bill
Criticized at Judiciary Committee Hearing |
6/5. The House
Judiciary Committee held a hearing on HR
1542, the Tauzin Dingell bill to provide protection to the
Bell companies. Committee members made statements, and four
witness testified. See, prepared statements of Jim
Glassman (AEI), Margaret
Greene (BellSouth), Clark
McLeod (McLeod USA), and Tom
Tauke (Verizon). HR 1542 would provide, among other
things, interlata data relief for the RBOCs.
Rep. Chris Cannon
(R-UT) and Rep. John
Conyers (D-MI) are sponsors of a competing pair of bills
that would provide further protection for CLECs.
Supporters of both the Tauzin Dingell bill and the Cannon
Conyers bills assert that their bills would promote the
deployment of broadband services.
Rep. James
Sensenbrenner (R-WI), the Chairman of the Committee,
stated in his opening opening
statement that he has not taken a position in the debate.
He also explained the limited jurisdiction of the Judiciary
Committee over HR 1542: "The referral to this Committee
by the Speaker is specifically, quote, for consideration of
such provisions in the bill and amendment recommended by the
Committee on Energy and Commerce as to close or narrow the
purview of the Attorney General under Section
271 of the Communications Act of 1934." He then
devoted himself to keeping the hearing in order and on
schedule.
Rep. Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the Committee, is an
ardent opponent of the Tauzin Dingell bill. He stated that
"The Telecommunications Act of 1996 unleashed a flood of
new investment directed at that last mile bottleneck. Many new
companies were created to bring consumers new choices,
including new services. And these competitive carriers use all
of the means open to them to compete against monopolies that
have become entrenched over the course of a century. ...
Believing in the promise of the 96 Act the CLECs invested
billions of dollars ... But, today most of the companies have
been devastated by behavior and procrastination on the part of
the Bell systems, which have ironically regrouped, and in some
ways become stronger than they were before the 1996
Telecommunications Act."
Two witnesses testified in favor of the bill: Tom Tauke and
Margaret Greene. Both work for Bell companies that would
benefit from the protections offered by the bill. Tauke argued
that the provisions of the Telecom Act of 1996 that require
the Bells to open their networks to competitors should apply
to voice, but not data, communications. He said that "HR
1542 stops the application of rules that were intended for the
voice telephony market to the broadband services market. These
are two very distinct markets." Green argued that the
cable companies which offer broadband Internet access are not
subject to regulation, so the phone companies should not be
either. Several members of the Committee also spoke in favor
of the bill, including Rep.
Rick Boucher (D-VA), Rep.
Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), and Rep. Spencer Bachus
(R-AL).
Two witnesses opposed the Tauzin Dingell bill: Clark McLeod,
of McLeadUSA, and
James Glassman, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
and publisher of the Tech Central Station
web site. McLeod stated that HR 1542 "strengthens the
Bell monopoly by restricting access to the local loop."
He added that "it is moving our industry towards re-
monopolization."
Glassman stated that "HR 1542 is being promoted as a way
to boost deployment of high-speed data services. In fact, it
will produce the opposite result. It will severely harm
prospects for sustainable and effective telecommunications
competition – and it will further deter the deployment of
broadband Internet technology and do substantial damage to the
U.S. economy as a result. You cannot have real consumer choice
and the benefits that flow from it without competition, and
you cannot have competition without competitors. HR 1542 would
eviscerate the crucial provisions of the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 that have created the competitive local exchange
carrier (CLEC) industry and, make no mistake, kill that
industry – kill the competitors, both current and
future."
Several members of the Committee criticized HR 1542, including
Conyers, Cannon, Nadler, and Weiner. |
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| Glassman: Bells Push HR
1542 to Slow CLEC Investment |
6/5. The Bell companies and their lobbyists have been
pushing hard for passage of HR 1542, the Tauzin Dingell bill.
It currently has 100 cosponsors in the House. Also, it has
been approved by the House Commerce Committee. However, it is
widely regarded to have very little chance of passing the
Senate. This has lead to speculation as to why the Bell
companies are lobbying and advertising intensively for the
bill.
James Glassman offered his explanation at the House Judiciary
Committee's hearing on the bill. He stated during his oral
testimony and responses to questions that HR 1542 has had the
effect of drying up new investment in CLECs.
However, he went a step further in the written
testimony that he submitted to the Committee. He suggested
that stopping the flow of capital to CLECs is the RBOCs'
purpose in pushing this bill. He stated the "The high
level of uncertainty introduced simply by Congressional
consideration of HR 1542 is exactly the type of force that
squashes investment. Moreover, it raises the possibility that
the Bell monopolies are purposefully lobbying heavily for
bills such as this one because they are well aware that uncertainty
about those changes can itself accomplish the job of slowing
CLEC investment. Because of their smaller size and greater
need for financial resources, CLECs suffer disproportionately
when regulatory uncertainty contributes to raising the costs
for financial capital. That is one of the preliminary
conclusions of our study, but common sense would indicate its
truth." |
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| Carlisle Appointed to
Common Carrier Bureau |
| 6/5. FCC Chairman Michael Powell appointed Jeffrey
Carlisle Senior Deputy Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau,
effective June 11, 2001. Carlisle currently practices law, and
is VP for interconnected services and regulatory affairs at INLEC Communications, a
company that constructs and manages broadband infrastructure
within residential apartment buildings. Previously, he was an
associate in the Washington DC office of the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers, where he
focused on telecommunications mergers and acquisitions and
competitive entry into local exchange markets. |
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| Wednesday, June 6 |
The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business.
The IPO will
hold a day long conference on Corporate IP Management.
Location: the new Ritz-Carlton in Washington DC. For
information call the IPO office at 202-466-2396.
9:00 - 11:30 AM. The President's National Security
Telecommunications Advisory Committee will hold a closed
meeting. Location: Department of State, Washington DC. See, notice
in Federal Register, April 20, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 77, at Pages
20336 - 20337.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and
Independent Agencies will hold a hearing on proposed budget
estimates for FY 2002 for the National
Science Foundation and the Office of Science Technology
Policy. Location: Room 138, Dirksen Building.
2:00 PM. The House
Judiciary Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the
Justice Department. Attorney General John Ashcroft will
testify. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building.
2:00 - 4:00 PM. The House
Science Committee will hold a hearing titled NSF FY02
Budget Request: Research and Related Activities. Location:
Room 2318, Rayburn House Office Building. |
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| Thursday, June 7 |
12:00 NOON. The Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory
Committee will host a luncheon and panel discussion on issues
raised in the Tauzin Dingell and Cannon Conyers bills. RSVP to
RSVP@netcaucus.org or
telephone Danielle at 202-638-4370. Location: Room HC-5, U.S.
Capitol Building.
2:00 PM. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, Internet and
Intellectual Property will hold an oversight hearing on titled
The Operations of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,
Including Review of Agency Funding. Location: Room 2141,
Rayburn House Office Building. |
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| Media Coverage of Court
Proceedings |
6/5. Sen. Charles
Grassley (R-IA), Sen.
Charles Schumer (D-NY), and others, introduced S 986, a
bill that would allow federal trial and appellate judges to
permit cameras in their courtrooms. The bill would also direct
the Judicial Conference, the federal courts' principal policy
making body, to draft non-binding guidelines that judges can
refer to in making a decision pertaining to the coverage of a
particular case. It was referred the the Senate Judiciary
Committee, of which both Grassley and Schumer are members.
Sen. Grassley stated that "Chief Justice Rehnquist
allowed the delayed audio broadcasting of the oral arguments
before the Supreme Court in the 2000 presidential election
dispute. The Supreme Court's response to our request was an
historic, major step in the right direction. Since then, other
courts have followed suit, such as the live audio broadcast of
oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit in the Microsoft
antitrust case and the televising of appellate proceedings
before the Ninth Circuit in the Napster copyright case. The
public wants to see what is happening in these important
judicial proceedings, and the benefits are significant in
terms of public knowledge and discussion." |
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| Two Representatives Oppose
NTR Status for PRC |
| 6/5. Rep. Dana
Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Rep. Sherrod Brown
(D-OH) introduced HJRes 50, a joint resolution disapproving
the extension of the waiver authority contained in section
402(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to the People's
Republic of China (PRC). The resolution would prevent the
extension of normal trade relations status (formerly known as
most favored nation status) to the PRC. It was referred to the
House Ways and Means Committee. See, Rohrabacher
release and Brown
release. |
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