| FCC Releases UWB Report and
Order |
4/22. The Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) released its First
Report and Order regarding Ultra Wideband Transmission Systems
[118 pages, 677 KB in MS Word]. This order amends FCC rules to
permit the marketing and operation of certain types of new
products incorporating ultra wideband (UWB ) technology,
including high speed home and business networking devices.
UWB devices, which use very narrow pulses with very wide
bandwidths, have potential applications in both radar and
communications technologies. It has been suggested that UWB
devices can use large portions of already allocated spectrum
with minimal or no interference to incumbent users. However,
the extent of interference has been the subject of some
controversy.
The order concludes that "UWB technology offers
significant benefits for Government, public safety, businesses
and consumers. However, we recognize that these substantial
benefits could be outweighed if UWB devices were to cause
interference to licensed services and other important radio
operations. Our analysis of the record and the various
technical studies submitted indicate that UWB devices can be
permitted to operate on an unlicensed basis without causing
harmful interference provided appropriate technical standards
and operational restrictions are applied to their use."
The order establishes technical standards and operating
restrictions for three types of UWB devices: imaging systems
including Ground Penetrating Radars (GPRs) and wall, through
wall, surveillance, and medical imaging devices; vehicular
radar systems; and communications and measurement systems.
FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin
commented in a separate statement that "Sharing decisions
are made particularly difficult in the context of the
``fiefdom´´ mentality that seems to characterize players who
fervently guard their spectrum ``turf,´´ regardless of
whether additional use can be accommodated." He added
that UWB "challenges the notion that use of particular
frequencies or bands is necessarily mutually exclusive. In
defiance of our traditional allocation paradigm that often
forces us to pick ``winners and losers´´ in the face of
competing demands, this technology seems to allow more winners
all around."
Martin added, however, that he is disappointed that the FCC
did not "adopt more flexible limits that may have allowed
for even more widespread use of this technology. I look
forward to re-examining the technical parameters established
in this order once we have more data that will address the
interference concerns expressed by NTIA." |
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| Gates Testifies Before U.S.
District Court |
4/22. Bill Gates, Chairman of the Board and Chief Software
Architect of Microsoft, testified in person before the U.S. District Court (DC)
in the remedies phase of the long running government antitrust
litigation against Microsoft. He also submitted lengthy written
testimony.
Gates wrote that "The non-settling States' proposed
remedies (``NSPR´´) would imperil Microsoft's business and
technology model, depriving the marketplace of the primary
benefits that Windows provides and thereby greatly devaluing
the product."
He continued that "I believe that Microsoft would be
unable to develop a version of Windows that would comply with
Section 1 of the NSPR", which pertains to the redesign of
the Windows operating system. He further asserted that
"Section 1 would ban Microsoft from continuing to offer
Windows in the marketplace, unless the Court later agreed to
modify the remedy."
He elaborated that "Even if it were feasible to build new
operating systems that conform to Section 1 design
specifications, and Microsoft embarked upon a massive
development effort to do so, the resulting products would be
far less valuable to users and developers because they would,
by definition, not provide a stable, consistent platform for
software development. In addition, Section 1's pricing
provisions would create strong disincentives for Microsoft to
continue to invest in improving its operating system. Faced
with the prospect of building less valuable operating systems
and reduced reward for doing do, I doubt that Microsoft could
motivate talented software engineers to work on operating
system development or that it would make sense for Microsoft
to continue to invest in doing so."
Gates also stated that "the NSPR would undermine the
Windows platform, to the detriment of all who benefit from it,
in many different ways. In fact, the NSPR would hobble
Microsoft as a competitor and innovator across many product
categories because many of its provisions are broadly worded
to apply to any Microsoft product, service, feature or
technology."
He also asserted that "it would be extremely difficult,
if not impossible in some cases, for Microsoft to comply with
the NSPR. Many key aspects of the NSPR, particularly its
definitions relating to ``middleware,´´ are vague and
ambiguous, providing Microsoft with no clear statement of its
obligations. Other aspects of the NSPR simply could not be
feasibly implemented. Many provisions of the NSPR lead to
extreme results, but Microsoft would not have the freedom to
construe the NSPR in ways that we find less extreme." |
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| FTC Files Complaint Under
COPPA |
| 4/22. The Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) announced that it filed a complaint
in U.S.
District Court (NDOhio) against Ohio Art Company (OAC),
alleging violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection
Act (COPPA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501-6506. OAC produces the
Etch A Sketch drawing toy. The complaint alleges that OAC
collected personally identifying information from children
through its web site without first obtaining parental consent,
as required by COPPA. The FTC also announced that it entered
into a Consent
Decree with OAC. The decree enjoins further violation of
the COPPA, requires payment of a $35,000 civil penalty, and
requires the OAC to use its web site to advertise the FTC's
children's privacy web site. See also, FTC
release. |
|
|
| USPTO Director Rogan
Addresses Copyright |
4/18. U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) Director James Rogan
gave a speech
in Washington DC titled "Digital Online Content: Creating
a Market that Works".
Rogan stated that "To realize the potential of e-commerce
for the distribution of all sorts of information products,
from entertainment to education, from business software to
databases for scientific research, providers must be confident
that their products are safe from piracy." He continued
that "Providing this security requires both technological
and legal means to enable copyright owners to protect their
works. It also means that these same technologies and laws
need to recognize that fair use means that some uses that
might otherwise be infringing will be permitted."
Section 109. Rogan also addressed proposals to amend 17 U.S.C.
§ 109. He stated that "It has been proposed that one
who lawfully acquires a digital version of a copyrighted work
should be permitted to pass that copy, without making another,
on to a second person just as that person may now do with a
``hard´´ copy of a work under the first sale doctrine,
codified in Section 109 of the Copyright Act. We concur in
principle with this interpretation of Section 109. There is,
however, a significant difference between traditional acts of
distribution and acts of digital distribution."
He continued that "In a traditional distribution, the
work is reproduced and only subsequently distributed. In a
digital distribution, the act of reproduction is an intrinsic
part of the act of distribution. Because of the present
limitations of digital technology and the difficulties in
ensuring that the transmitting party had erased or otherwise
destroyed the copy resident in the sending computer, I have
serious reservations about the prudence of amending Section
109 to grant a blanket exception to digital
distribution."
Copy Protection. Rogan also addressed proposed copy
protection legislation. Sen.
Ernest Hollings (D-SC) introduced S 2048,
the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act,
on March 21.
Rogan stated that "Negotiations are presently underway
among hardware manufacturers and content owners to develop
improved means for protecting on-line content, which I believe
would encourage creativity and promote the development of a
broader range of services for consumers in the Internet and
broadband technologies. Before Congress rushes into the
imposition of a legislative solution, I hope its Members will
grant more time for the free market to find its own middle
ground." |
|
|
| USTR Announces IPR
Agreement with Argentina |
4/19. The Office of the U.S.
Trade Representative (USTR) announced that
"Intellectual property rights officials from the United
States and Argentina, meeting in Buenos Aires, finalized the
elements of a joint notification to the World Trade Organization (WTO)
regarding intellectual property matters."
The USTR stated that "Argentina clarified how certain
aspects of its intellectual property system, such as those
related to its import restriction regime, operate in
conformance with the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights. In addition, Argentina agreed to
amend its patent law to provide protection for products
obtained from a process patent and to ensure that preliminary
injunctions are available in intellectual property court
proceedings, among other amendments. Finally, on the
outstanding issues that remain, including that of data
protection, the United States retains its right to seek
resolution under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism."
See, USTR
release. |
|
|
| WTO DG Moore Addresses
Russian Accession to WTO |
4/19. World Trade Organization
(WTO) Director General Mike
Moore gave a speech
in London titled "Russia and the WTO: Reintegration into
the World Economy". He said that "Russia's accession
is finally entering a decisive and final phase".
However, Moore also stated that "To complete Russia's
accession, we will need to see the completion of meaningful
market access deals in goods and services and a solid legal
and administrative framework in Russia -- which will guarantee
the implementation of the contracted commitments."
He continued that "Our common objective is to build a
balanced package capable of providing Member governments with
meaningful access to the Russian market, on multilaterally
enforceable terms. In turn, Russia will receive guaranteed and
predictable access to the markets of its trading partners.
Russia will also take a central place in the management and
future development of the world economic system. In this way
Russia's reintegration into the world market will be
completed. No matter how difficult the outstanding problems
may be, I believe there are in Washington, Brussels and
Moscow, people with the horsepower, firepower and willpower to
make this accession happen."
Moore concluded that "Accessions, in their final phase,
always come back to such core issues as ...
telecommunications." |
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| More News |
4/22. Williams Communications Group, Inc. filed a Chapter 11
petition for bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court (SDNY). See, Williams
release.
4/22. Qwest announced the
release of a draft report conducted by KPMG regarding its operations
support systems (OSS) in all of the states within its
territory, except Arizona. Qwest anticipates filing Section
271 applications to provide in region interLATA services.
Qwest stated that "The release of the final report in
late May will allow Qwest to begin filing applications with
the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) for approval to sell long distance
services in 13 states. Qwest expects to receive approval
within 90 days of filing each application with the FCC."
See, Qwest
release. Meanwhile, AT&T responded that "the
draft report on the testing of Qwest's operational support
systems is incomplete". See, AT&T
release.
4/20. The Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) announced the selection of sites for
three regional computer forensic laboratories (RCFL): Kansas
City, Chicago, and the San Francisco bay area. See, FBI
release.
4/22. The Federal Election
Commission (FEC) assessed a $1,800 civil penalty on the
Friends of John Conyers committee for not filing an FEC form
in 2000. Rep. John
Conyers (D-MI) is the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary
Committee. The FEC also announced 50 other fines. See, FEC release. |
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|
| AEI Panel Advocates
"Freeing the Chinese Internet" |
4/19. The American Enterprise
Institute (AEI) hosted a panel discussion titled
"Freeing the Chinese Internet". The speakers stated
that the People's Republic of China uses firewalls to block
access to certain web sites by Internet users in China. The
speakers also asserted that American companies have played a
pivotal role in developing the Chinese government's censorship
capabilities. Finally, they advocated freeing the Chinese
Internet by several means, including the use of technologies
designed to evade the blocking by firewalls, industry self
restraint, U.S. government oversight of the technology
industry's support of Chinese censorship, and shareholder
lawsuits against U.S. companies.
The moderator of the AEI discussion was Arthur Waldron
(a China scholar at the AEI). The panelists were William Baum
(Voice of America), Paul
Baranowski (Peekabooty
Project), Ethan Gutmann (Project for the New
American Century), and Greg Walton (Human Rights in China).
William Baum gave the first presentation. As China Branch
Chief for Voice of America (VOA), he has worked to provide
news and information in Mandarin and Cantonese through a web
site and other media. He stated that the Chinese government
blocks access to the VOA web site.
"We have had great difficulty getting through. Their
blocking has been quite effective." He said that they
have been sending, by e-mail, proxy server information.
However, the Chinese government blocks the proxies within
hours. "It is very clear that there is a very concerted
effort within China to do everything they can to block
news," said Baum.
He also pointed out that VOA's proxy servers get many hits
from Saudi Arabia. However, he added that the Saudis mostly
use the proxies to access pormography rather than news and
information.
Baranowski, a young software developer, stated that he is
currently working, on his own, and without support, on the
Peekabooty application, a peer to peer application that
facilities Internet users' ability to avoid the blocking by
government firewalls. He also stated that he would welcome
either foundation or government financial support for his
project.
He added that he is pessimistic for the long run. He stated
that "absolute control of the Internet is possible. Most
people in the technical industry, in the computer industry,
and pretty much, sort of, the general view is that it is not
possible to control the Internet. And, and the Chinese have
shown so far that it is quite possible to control it. And,
eventually they will control it completely. And thus, this
program I am writing is only a temporary solution to what is
actually a political problem. So, it is just buying us time, I
think."
Ethan Gutmann focused especially on the role of U.S. companies
in the development of the Chinese Internet. He stated that
"American business played a very pivotal in the
construction of the construction of the Chinese
Internet." In stated that, in addition, "American
companies could play a role in freeing the Chinese Internet,
or at least stop making the situation worse."
He said that China developed the Internet for several reasons.
China did want to be left behind technologically. It wanted to
get rich. It wanted to use the Internet for nationalist
propaganda. It wanted to used it for surveillance, and the
tracking down of dissent. Also, it wanted to develop Internet
warfare capabilities.
"How did the Western businesses look at this. Well, they
generally underestimated the Chinese leadership," said
Gutmann. "For American computer engineers, the Internet
architecture itself seemed too clever and too egalitarian ...
For U.S. businessmen, the feeling was that our technological
lead was just too great; our financial pace is too fast."
Gutmann then offered his assessment of how the Chinese
firewall was built. "We know that during construction of
the first public access web, Global One in 1996, authorities
suddenly became interested in keyword searching. They wanted
to look into the packets," said Gutmann. "We know
that the Chinese wanted to block forbidden web sites, very
early -- western news, democracy sites, Maoist sites, and so
on -- but Chinese Internet architecture was not very
standardized, because there was so much excitement surrounding
the building" of the Internet.
He then addressed the role of Cisco.
"Cisco Systems has really been a dominant player --
agreed to build a special firewall box for the Chinese
authorities which blocked the forbidden web sites on a
national scale." He added that he is not aware of Cisco
doing this for any other country.
"They basically solved a great part of the problem for
the Chinese government. When you called up a site that was
forbidden, and it would just say, the operation timed out,
which meant that, basically, your request for the site had
been thrown in the electronic equivalent of the trash. Now, we
have reason to suspect that Cisco also gave to the PLA and the
state security the ability to look into the packets, in
exchange for market access."
However, Gutmann said that Cisco was not alone. "On the
area of content control, we know the Internet is a dynamic
place ... search engines had to be controlled tool." He
asserted that Yahoo "disabled search phrases, such as
``China democracy´´ and ``Taiwan independence´´."
"Others, such as Sun
Microsystems, Netscape, Sparkice,
showed goodwill by supporting an arm of Chinese propaganda, at
the time. And AOL, which has been moving into the market very
fast, has similar arrangements, and is considering directly
informing on dissident's web activity if the PSB, the Public
Security Bureau, requests it," said Gutmann.
In addition to censorship by firewalls, Gutmann addressed
surveillance. He stated that "There are big players at
Internet security trade shows in Beijing -- Motorola,
Phillips, DuPont, Siemens -- smaller companies like NetFront
and RSA Security
subsist by their sales of surveillance technology to the
Chinese authorities. And, you know, on the really low end
front, but very important front, there are spyware programs,
those little programs that embed themselves in your computer
after you download something. One is made by Radiate. Another
is made by Clicktiluwin. In the U.S. context these report user
activity to advertisers. In China, there is every reason to
believe that information is also delivered to state security,
the security bureau. This is very useful for identifying
webmasters ... and ... it identifies users who download proxy
servers."
Gutmann also discussed assistance provided by American
companies in cyber warfare. He stated that "it is
increasingly relevant that Network
Associates, that is, McAfee,
and Symantec, which is
Norton AntiVirus, and Trend Micro, gained entry into the
Chinese market by donating 300 live computer viruses to the
Public Security Bureau. From the Chinese perspective, this is
significant. They have a Cisco built firewall. They five
pipelines to the outside world. They can shut those down in a
crisis."
The panelists also addressed how to free the Internet in
China. Panelists advocated the development and use of proxy
servers and applications such as Peekabooty.
Gutmann cautioned, "but we should be aware of the likely
Chinese response, which would be, easiest thing to do, is just
simply to enlist American companies who are very eager to
curry favor in Beijing ... and ask the American companies to
develop software allowing the Public Security Bureau to kill
any system that we are talking about". Hence, he argued
that American companies would have to cooperate in working to
free the Internet in China.
Panelists cited only one example of a company that has stood
up to the Chinese government's demands -- Microsoft. For example,
Gutmann stated that "Chinese authorities at one point
ordered Microsoft, and pretty much every company, to surrender
their software's underlying source code, their encryption
source code. Underneath it all, Microsoft is the one who
really chose to fight. They organized a massive coalition of
every Chamber of Commerce that you can think of that is
relevant to Beijing, and they won. The Chinese authorities
backed off."
Gutmann also suggested U.S. government oversight of U.S.
company's cooperation with Chinese authorities. He said that
"that ideally would be done by the U.S. China Security
Review Commission, by the Congressional Executive Commission
on China, and by elements of the Administration. The stark
choice that would be offered is either to pay penalties, or
develop a workable code of conduct." But, he concluded
that "oversight can only go so far".
Waldron advocated shareholder litigation. He said that
"in my private capacity, I would be perfectly happy to
buy a share of Cisco stock" in order to bring a
shareholder action.
Waldron waxed philosophically. "It is often said, without
reflection, that of course, the result of this new technology
is going to be more freedom, even though what Orwell thought,
it was going to mean less freedom, and more brain washing.
And, I think that there is no better test case of this than
the Internet in China ..." He pointed out that in
contrast to Orwell, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline
Albright has argued that the Internet will lead to
democratization in China. |
|
|
| Technology of Internet
Censorship |
4/19. The American Enterprise
Institute (AEI) panel discussion titled "Freeing the
Chinese Internet" addressed the technologies of Internet
censorship, and countermeasures used to evade censorship. The
following is a brief overview of some of the concepts
addressed.
Firewalls. Firewalls may be programs located in a
gateway server for a network. They examine each network packet
to determine whether to forward it to its destination.
Firewalls can be used both to prevent malicious outsiders from
accessing private data resources located on the network, and
to control what resources outside of the network users will
have access to. This latter function is used in nations where
governments exercise Internet censorship. First, users are
only permitted access to the Internet through government
controlled firewalls. Second, the government uses these
firewalls to block access to banned web sites, such as foreign
news sites. The firewalls store lists of URLs of banned web
sites. Then, the firewalls will not forward packets directed
to those URLs, thus blocking the user's requests for those web
pages.
Proxy Servers. A proxy server is also an intermediary
between a network and the Internet. It can be used for many
purposes, including caching, administrative control, and
security. Proxy servers can be used to evade the effects of
government firewalls that block access to censored sites.
Rather than directing a request to the censored web site, the
user sends his request to the unblocked proxy server. If the
requested page is cached at the proxy server, the proxy server
can send it to the user. Alternatively, the proxy server,
using one of its own IP addresses can request the page from
the censored web site, and then forward it on to the user.
Peekabooty. Peekabooty
is a distributed or peer to peer application, as are some
music sharing applications. However, the function of
Peekabooty is to have a large number of computers located in
countries other than the ones exercising Internet censorship
to act as a network of intermediaries between the users in the
censoring countries and the banned web sites which they seek
to access. The concept is to have too many computers running
Peekabooty in the background for the censoring government to
identify, track and block them. Peekabooty is still in
development. However, if developed, it could provide several
advantages over simple proxy server evasion. First, once
launched it would not require organization, maintenance, or
funding. Second, it would present a far more difficult target
for blocking. Third, there is no central server or control to
attack to shut down the system. |
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| Tuesday, April 23 |
The House will meet at 12:30 PM for morning hour and 2:00 PM
for legislative business. No votes are expected before 6:30
PM. The House will consider a number of measures under
suspension of the rules.
Day two of a three day conference of the Electronics Industry Alliance.
See, agenda
[Word]. Location: Grand Hyatt Hotel.
9:30 - 11:30 AM. The American
Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a lecture by Jerry Hausman
of MIT titled From 2G to 3G: Wireless Competition for
Internet Related Services. See, program summary and
online registration page. Location: 12th Floor, AEI, 1150
17th Street, NW.
CANCELLED. 9:30
AM. The U.S. Court of
Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in Saga
Broadcasting Corp v. FCC, No. 01-1249. Judges Ginsburg,
Sentelle and Henderson will preside. Location: 333
Constitution Ave. NW. This case will be decided
without oral argument pursuant to Rule 34j.
10:00 AM. The House
Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce,
Justice, State, and the Judiciary will hold a hearing on the
proposed budget for FY 2003 for the USPTO. Location:
George Washington University, Loudoun Campus.
POSTPONED. 10:00
AM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on reformation of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department
of Justice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.
12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. General
Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
will speak on contributions that the electronics industry has
made to military preparedness at a luncheon at the spring
convention of the Electronics
Industry Alliance. Location: Grand Hyatt Hotel.
12:30 PM. The Consumer
Federation of America (CFA) and the Computer & Communications
Industry Association (CCIA) will host a press briefing
luncheon to announce their opposition to the AT&T Comcast
merger, and to release a report criticizing the argument that
intermodal competition will tame cable market power. The
speakers will be Mark Cooper (CFA), Gene Kimmelman (Consumers Union) and Ed
Black (CCIA). Location: Reserve Officers Association, 5th
Floor Conference Room, One Constitution Ave. NE.
TIME CHANGE. 2:00 PM. The Senate Judiciary
Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition, and
Business and Consumer Rights will hold a hearing titled Cable
Competition and the AT&T Comcast Merger. The witnesses
will be Michael Armstrong (AT&T), Brian Roberts (Comcast),
Charles Betty (Earthlink), Richard Greene (CableLabs), Robert
Perry (Mitsubishi), and Mark Haverkate (WideOpenWest). Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) will
preside. This hearing had originally been scheduled for April
10. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.
7:00 - 10:00 PM. Tom
Ridge, Director of the Office of Homeland
Security, will speak at a dinner at the spring convention
of the Electronics Industry
Alliance. Location: Grand Hyatt Hotel. |
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| Wednesday, April 24 |
The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business.
Day three of a three day conference of the Electronics Industry Alliance.
See, agenda
[Word]. Location: Grand Hyatt Hotel.
9:00 AM - 3:30 PM. The Consumer
Electronics Association (CEA) will host an event titled Digital
Television (DTV) Summit: Moving to Mass Markets. Rep. Billy Tauzin
(R-LA) will give the opening keynote address. A 1:45 PM panel
will include Michael Petricone (CEA), Rick Chessen (FCC),
Andrew Levin (Minority Counsel, House Commerce Committee), and
Jessica Wallace (Counsel, House Commerce Committee). See, agenda.
Location: Washington Convention Center.
9:00 AM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Bureau of Export Administration's
(BXA) Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee
(ISTAC). The ISTAC advises the Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Export Administration on technical questions
that affect the level of export controls applicable to
information systems equipment and technology. The meeting will
be open to the public in part, and closed to the public in
part. The open agenda includes a presentation on web based
remote hardware management, a presentation on microelectro-
mechanical (MEMS) technology and applications, and a
presentation on battery and fuel cell technology. See, notice
in Federal Register. Location: Herbert Hoover Building, Room
3884, 14th Street between Pennsylvania Ave. and Constitution
Ave., NW.
10:00 AM. The House
Judiciary Committee will mark up several tech bills,
including HR 3482,
the Cyber Security Enhancement Act of 2001, HR 3215,
the Combatting Illegal Gambling Reform and Modernization Act,
and HR 1877,
the Child Sez Crimes Wiretapping Act of 2001. These bills had
previously been scheduled for mark up on on Thursday, April
18. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.
10:45 AM. FTC Commissioner Mozelle
Thompson will participate in a panel discussion before the
American Bar Association, Antitrust Section, titled "The
Future of Leadership In a Competitive Environment" at the
ABA 2002 Annual Antitrust Spring Meeting. Location: J.W.
Marriott Hotel, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
12:00 NOON. Sen. George
Allen (R-VA) and high tech business representatives will
hold a press conference on the importance of trade
promotion authority (TPA) to the high tech community.
Location: Room S-211, LBJ Room, U.S. Capitol.
12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Cellular
Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) will
host an event titled Wireless Issues Day Luncheon. This
event is open to members of the media. For more information,
contact Travis Larson at tlarson@ctia.org
or Kim Kuo at kkuo@ctia.org.
Location: Room 325, Russell Building.
1:00 - 4:30 PM. The Commodity
Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Technology Advisory
Committee will hold a public meeting on technology related
issues in the financial services and commodity markets,
including cyber security. See, notice
in Federal Register. Location: Room 1000, CFTC, Three
Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street, NW.
2:30 PM. The Senate
Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Science, Technology,
and Space will hold a hearing on S
2037, a bill providing for the establishment of a national
emergency technology guard, and S 2182, a bill to authorize
funding for computer and network security research and
development and research fellowship programs. Location: Room
253, Russell Building. |
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| Thursday, April 25 |
The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business.
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day one of a two day Copyright Conference
hosted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the purpose of
which is to "discuss current domestic and international
issues vital to the development of e-commerce with members of
the business and intellectual property communities." See,
USPTO
notice. Registration is required. Registration closes on
April 19. Location: The Academy for Educational Development
Conference Center, 1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 8th Floor.
9:00 AM. Day two of a two day meeting of the Bureau of Export Administration's
(BXA) Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee
(ISTAC). The ISTAC advises the Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Export Administration on technical questions
that affect the level of export controls applicable to
information systems equipment and technology. The meeting will
be open to the public in part, and closed to the public in
part. The open agenda includes a presentation on web based
remote hardware management, a presentation on microelectro-
mechanical (MEMS) technology and applications, and a
presentation on battery and fuel cell technology. See, notice
in Federal Register. Location: Herbert Hoover Building, Room
3884, 14th Street between Pennsylvania Ave. and Constitution
Ave., NW.
9:30 AM. The Senate
Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on online privacy
legislation. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee will hold an executive business
meeting. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.
10:00 - 11:00 AM. The High Tech Coalition on Trade Promotion
Authority will hold a press conference to urge passage of TPA.
Location: Room SC-4, Capitol Building.
12:15 PM. The Federal
Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers
Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The topic will be
"The Year of the 271". The speakers will be Dorothy
Attwood (Chief of Wireline Competition Bureau), Michelle
Carey, (Chief of the Competition Policy Division), Deena
Shetler (Deputy Chief of the Pricing Policy Division), and
Renee Crittendon (Senior Attorney Advisor in the Competition
Policy Division). RSVP to Pam
Slipakoff. Location: Room 8-C245, FCC, 445 12th Street,
SW.
12:30 PM. The House
Commerce Committee's Telecom and Internet Subcommittee
will hold a hearing titled Ensuring Content Protection in
the Digital Age. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.
1:30 PM. FTC Commissioner Thomas
Leary will participate in a panel discussion titled
"Crises and Transitions: Is Competition Policy Responsive
to Market Power Issues in Restructuring Energy Markets?"
at the ABA 2002 Annual Antitrust Spring Meeting. Location:
J.W. Marriott Hotel, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
2:00 PM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on several
judicial nominees, including Julia Gibbons (to be a judge of
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit), Leonard
Davis (U.S.D.C., Eastern District of Texas), David Godbey
(U.S.D.C., Northern District of Texas), Andrew Hanen
(U.S.D.C., Southern District of Texas), Samuel Mays (U.S.D.C.,
Western District of Tennessee), and Thomas Rose (U.S.D.C.,
Southern District of Ohio). Location: Room 226, Dirksen
Building.
3:30 PM. Mark
Lemley (Professor, Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley) will give a
lecture titled "Antitrust, Intellectual Property, and
Standard Setting Organizations". For more information,
contact Prof. Julie Cohen at jec@law. georgetown.edu.
Location: Georgetown
University Law Center, Faculty Lounge, 5th Floor,
McDonough Hall, 600 New Jersey Ave., NW.
Deadline to submit Notices of Intent to Participate to the Copyright Office (CO)
in its negotiation of 17
U.S.C. § 118 noncommercial educational broadcasting
compulsory license. See, CO notice
in Federal Register. |
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| Friday, April 26 |
The House will not be in session.
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day two of a two day Copyright Conference
hosted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the purpose of
which is to "discuss current domestic and international
issues vital to the development of e-commerce with members of
the business and intellectual property communities." See,
USPTO
notice. Registration is required. Registration closes on
April 19. Location: The Academy for Educational Development
Conference Center, 1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 8th Floor.
10:00 AM. The FCC's
Technology Advisory Council will hold a meeting. See, FCC
notice and notice
in Federal Register, March 13, 2002, Vol. 67, No. 49, at Pages
11334 - 11335. Location: Commission Meeting Room, FCC, 445
12th St., SW.
10:00 AM. FTC Chairman Timothy
Muris will participate in a roundtable discussion at the ABA
2002 Annual Antitrust Spring Meeting. Location: J.W. Marriott
Hotel, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
12:00 NOON. The Cato Institute
will host a briefing titled Financial Privacy and the War
on Terrorism. The speakers will be David Burton
(Prosperity Institute), Bradley Jansen (Free Congress
Foundation), and Veronique de Rugy
(Cato). Lunch will follow. See, agenda and
online registration page. Location: Room B-369, Rayburn
Building.
12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. FCC
Commissioner Kathleen
Abernathy will address the American Woman in Radio &
Television Awards Luncheon. For more information, contact
Sallie Gitlitz at 202 337-4684. Location: Ballroom, National Press Club, 529 14th
St. NW, 13th Floor.
3:00 - 5:00 PM. FCC
Commissioner Kathleen
Abernathy will address a Women's Bar Association Tea.
Location: Mayflower Hotel.
Extended deadline to submit reply comments to the Copyright Office in
response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on "the
requirements for giving copyright owners reasonable notice of
the use of their works for sound recordings under statutory
license and for how records of such use shall be kept and made
available to copyright owners." See, original notice
in Federal Register, and extension notice
in Federal Register. |
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| Monday, April 29 |
The Supreme Court will go on recess until May 13.
10:00 - 11:30 AM. The FCC's Office of Engineering and
Technology (OET) will hold a tutorial titled Security
of Wireless Networks. David Wagner, Assistant Professor in
the Computer Science Division at the University of California
at Berkeley, will discuss security issues associated with
802.11 wireless networks. See, FCC
release.
12:15 PM. The FCBA's
Cable Practice Committee will host a luncheon. Rick Chessen,
head of FCC's DTV Transition Task Force, will discuss Chairman
Powell's proposal for accelerating the transition to digital
television. The price to attend is $15. RSVP to wendy @fcba.org. Location:
Mintz Levin, 9th Floor, 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. |
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