| DC Circuit Rules in Global
Naps v. FCC |
6/4. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (DCCir) issued its opinion
in Global
Naps v. FCC, a petition for review of a Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) order refusing to preempt the regulatory authority of Massachusetts Department of
Telecommunications and Energy (DTE) in a matter regarding
the interpretation of the reciprocal compensation provisions
of an interconnection agreement between Global NAPs and Verizon. The Court rejected
the petition.
Global NAPs is a local exchange carrier (LEC) in Massachusetts
and other states. Verizon is the incumbent local exchange
carrier (ILEC) in Massachusetts. Global NAPs and Verizon
entered into an interconnection agreement that provides for
reciprocal compensation (i.e., for completing local calls made
by customers of one company to customers of the other). Many
of Global NAPs' customers are Internet Service Providers
(ISPs).
Global NAPs sought a declaratory ruling from the DTE that ISP
bound traffic is subject to reciprocal compensation under this
interconnection agreement. Global NAPs then petitioned the FCC
to preempt DTE's jurisdiction and decide the question. Before
the FCC responded, the DTE issued an order dismissing GNAPs'
claim as moot in light of the DTE's decision that ISP bound
calls were not local within the meaning of an identically
worded interconnection agreement between Verizon and MCI
WorldCom.
The FCC then concluded that the DTE had not failed to act to
carry out its responsibility under 47 U.S.C.
§ 252 and, therefore, that preemption was not warranted.
Global NAPs then filed the present petition for review.
The Appeals Court rejected the petition. The Court held that
"the FCC's conclusion that § 252(e)(5) does not
empower it to look behind a state agency's dismissal of a
carrier's claim to evaluate the substantive validity of that
dismissal is both a reasonable interpretation of that
provision and consistent with the Commission's past practices
and precedents." |
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| GAO Releases Report on
Government Use of Social Security Numbers |
6/3. The General Accounting
Office (GAO) released a report [PDF]
titled "Social Security Numbers: Government Benefits from
SSN Use but Could Provide Better Safeguards".
The report discussed the benefits of government use of SSNs.
"When federal, state, and county government agencies
administer programs that deliver services and benefits to the
public, they rely extensively on the SSNs of those receiving
the benefits and services. Because SSNs are unique identifiers
and do not change, the numbers provide a convenient and
efficient means of managing records. They are also
particularly useful for data sharing and data matching because
agencies can use them to check or compare their information
quickly and accurately with that from other agencies. In so
doing, these agencies can better ensure that they pay benefits
or provide services only to eligible individuals and can more
readily recover delinquent debts individuals may owe."
The report continued that "While government agencies are
making wide use of SSNs, they are also taking some steps to
safeguard the numbers; however, certain measures that could
help protect SSNs are not uniformly in place at any level of
government. First, when requesting SSNs, government agencies
are not consistently providing individuals with information
required by federal law. This information, such as how the
SSNs will be used and whether individuals are required to
provide their SSNs, is the first line of defense against
improper disclosure because it allows SSN holders to make
informed decisions about whether to provide their SSN to
obtain the services in question. Second, ... our survey
identified potential weaknesses in the security of information
systems at all levels of government."
The report then addressed the use of SSNs in identity theft.
"This growth in the use of SSNs is important to
individual SSN holders because these numbers, along with names
and birth certificates, are among the three personal
identifiers most often sought by identity thieves. Identity
theft ... occurs when an individual steals another
individual's personal identifying information and uses it
fraudulently."
The report also states that "identity thieves most often
gained access to this personal information by taking advantage
of an existing relationship with the victim. The next most
common means of gaining access were by stealing information
from purses, wallets, or the mail. In addition, individuals
can also obtain SSNs from their workplace and use them or sell
them to others. Finally, SSNs and other identifying
information can be obtained legally through Internet sites
maintained by both the public and private sectors and from
records routinely made available to the public by government
entities and courts." |
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| 7th Circuit Rules in
Copyright and Fair Use Case |
5/30. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (7thCir) issued its opinion
in Ty
v. Publications International, a copyright
infringement and fair use case involving Beanie Babies.
Ty Inc. manufactures Beanie
Babies. It holds copyrights to these as "sculptural
works". Publications International, Ltd. (PIL) publishes
books, including For the Love of Beanie Babies and Beanie
Babies Collector's Guide, which contain pictures of Beanie
Babies.
Ty filed a complaint in U.S.
District Court (NDIll) against PIL alleging copyright and
trademark infringement. PIL conceded that the Beanie Babies
are copyrighted, and that its books are derivative works, but
asserted the affirmative defense of fair use. The District
Court ruled on summary judgment that the copying was not fair
use, and granted Ty an injunction on the copyright claim.
The Appeals Court reversed and remanded. Judge Richard
Posner wrote the opinion, which included an application of
legal precedent on fair use, and the distinction between
complementary and substitutional copying, to the facts of this
case. In addition, the opinion provides an economic analysis
of copyright protection and the fair use doctrine. The Court
concluded that the issue was not appropriate for summary
judgment, reversed, and remanded for further proceedings in
light of its opinion.
The Court also addressed the issue of whether it could hear an
interlocutory appeal of an injunction on a copyright
infringement claim, when the District Court had not yet
decided a related trademark claim arising under the same set
of facts. It concluded that it could, noting that the only
issue on appeal was the fair use defense. |
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| NTIA Director Discusses
Spectrum Policy |
5/29. National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
Director Nancy
Victory gave a speech
titled "Migrating to Advanced Wireless Systems
Environments" at an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
meeting in Shanghai, China.
She offered several broad policy recommendations. "First,
spectrum policies must be flexible to allow service growth and
evolution. Technology changes much too fast for government to
timely modify its regulations with every nuance. Moreover, it
is impossible for government always to predict the direction
of technological development or of consumer demand. Rather,
government should strive to set minimal technical standards --
only those needed to minimize interference or permit necessary
interoperability."
"Second, government should continually review its
existing spectrum policies to ensure they are still necessary
and appropriate, given changes in technology and market
demands", said Victory. "Third, transparency and
predictability of regulation is essential to create the right
environment for investment in wireless technology. The
acquisition of spectrum and the deployment of wireless
facilities generally require substantial investment prior to
the time revenue can begin to be collected. In order to make
this up-front commitment, spectrum users -- whether they be
private sector or government users -- need to be comfortable
that they know the rules of the road and that any changes in
policy will not be precipitous, but rather preceded by broad
information gathering and open debate."
Finally, she stated that "spectrum policies should be
designed as much as possible to minimize impediments to
competition and market entry, consistent of course with
interference protection objectives. Competition and the influx
of new market participants is a significant factor in driving
innovation, variety, and lower costs to customers -- things
that are beneficial to all of our citizens. For this reason,
it is important to ensure that market entry and rights of way
use policies are open and non-discriminatory." |
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| Reps. Tauzin and Upton
Write FCC Re Cross Ownership Rule |
6/4. Rep. Billy
Tauzin (R-LA) and Rep.
Fred Upton (R-MI) wrote a letter
to Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell
urging the FCC to repeal its newspaper broadcast cross
ownership rule.
The two argued that much has changed since the rule was
promulgated in 1975, when "there were 7,785 radio
stations, 952 television stations, three major broadcast
networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC), cable television systems served
13 per cent of television households, direct broadcast
satellite (DBS) providers were nonexistent, and the Internet
was not commercially available."
The two wrote that today, "there are approximately 12,900
radio stations, 1,600 full power television stations, 2,390
low power television stations, and 230 Class A television
stations. There are now four major broadcast networks (ABC,
CBS, NBC, and Fox), along with other emerging broadcast
networks (e.g., UPN and WB). Today, cable television systems
serve approximately 70 per cent of television households (with
over 200 video programming services available on such systems,
including significant news programming). Today, DBS is serving
approximately 15 per cent of multichannel video programming
distribution (MVPD) households."
They added that "the Internet also has become a
significant source of local and national news for many
Americans."
"We believe this explosion of media sources should
eliminate any concern regarding a lack of diversity of views
in the marketplace and competition, which have been the
principal justifications for the rule", they concluded.
The FCC released a Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [PDF] on September 20, 2001
on this matter. It is MM Docket 01-235. Rep. Tauzin is
Chairman of the House
Commerce Committee; Rep. Upton is Chairman of the
Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee. |
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| Nader Writes OMB Re
Government Software Procurement |
6/4. Ralph Nader and Jamie Love, of the Consumer Project on Technology,
wrote a letter
to Mitch Daniels, Director of the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), regarding federal government procurement of
Microsoft software. The letter both asks for information from
the OMB, and makes suggestions for using procurement policies
to promote competition.
The letter states that "OMB should consider if Microsoft
should be required (as a matter of procurement policy) to
fully disclose the file formats of its office productivity and
multimedia programs, so that the data created in such programs
could be reliably read by non-Microsoft software."
The letter also states that "OMB should consider a cost
benefit analysis to determine whether dominant software
providers should make their source code public, in order to
enhance interoperability with products offered by smaller
competitors" and that "OMB should consider if limits
on the number of purchases from any one firm would enhance
competition for PC operating systems and office productivity
tools, and if such enhanced competition would have significant
benefits in terms of licensing fees." |
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| APEC Ministers Issue
Statement Regarding New Economy and IPR |
6/4. Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade
ministers met in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on May 29-30. They
issued a statement
which contains some technology and intellectual property
rights (IPR) related items.
The statement provides that "Ministers emphasized the
positive impact of the new economy on growth and development.
In this regard, Ministers welcomed Officials' work to identify
key trade policies on services liberalization and tariff and
intellectual property regimes that support the new economy,
and reviewed their report on the exchange on trade policy
information in these areas."
It states that "Ministers also discussed ways to improve
IPR enforcement, including Japan's proposal to establish an
IPR Service Centre Network, and instructed Officials to
continue their discussion in order to report the proposal of
appropriate mechanism by next Ministerial Meeting. Ministers
called on APEC members to encourage wide participation from
business sector in the upcoming "APEC Seminar on Venture
Capital and Start-up Companies" to be held in Beijing in
December this year." |
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| SEC Commissioner Addresses
Fake Scam Web Sites |
6/4. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) Commissioner Cynthia
Glassman gave a speech
at a Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) symposium on Enhancing Financial
Transparency, held in Washington DC.
She discussed, among other topics, the SEC's use of the fake
scam web sites to educate investors. She stated that "In
January 2002, the SEC launched a fake ``scam´´ website to
warn investors about fraud before they lose their
money. Anyone who tried to invest was greeted with an
educational message that warns of potential scams. Within
weeks of its launch, the site got more than 1.5 million hits,
and our Office of Investor Education and Assistance received
more than 500 emails, nearly all of which were overwhelmingly
positive. We have launched two additional fake scam websites
and plan to create more in the months ahead." |
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| Commerce Department
Official Addresses Nanotechnology |
5/23. The Commerce Department's
Phillip Bond gave a speech
titled "Building Partnerships to Achieve the Promise of
Newer Technology" at Rice
University in Houston, Texas.
He stated that "I believe fervently in the economic
potential and social advances that nanotechnology can
bring", and that "nanotechnology has enjoyed
significant R&D funding increases" because in
Washington "there is deep bipartisan agreement".
He elaborated that "Nanoscience and nanotechnology --
especially in combination with bio-, info- and cognitive
technologies -- have the power to unleash human potential. It
is not inconceivable that these technology could truly achieve
the miraculous: making the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf
hear; curing AIDS, cancer, diabetes and other afflictions;
ending hunger; and even supplementing the power of our minds,
enabling us to think great thoughts, create new knowledge, and
gain new insights."
However, he also cautioned that "these powerful
technologies can be put to inappropriate uses and may create
moral and ethical dilemmas beyond those we struggle with
today. In the hands of terrorists, these technologies could be
used to injure or kill millions. They could be used to pierce
our privacy monitoring our communications, movements and
associations. They could render all current encryption
technologies powerless to protect national secrets or our
personal privacy." |
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| People and Appointments |
6/4. California Governor Gray Davis announced the
appointments of Marcel Poché and Patrick
Tondreau as Judges of the Santa Clara County Superior
Court. Poché was appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior
Court in 1977, and to the Court of Appeal in 1979. He retired
in 2000. Tondreau is a partner in the Santa Clara law firm of McTernan Stender Walsh
Weingus & Tondreau.
6/4. Peggy Binzel, EVP of the National Cable &
Telecommunications Association (NCTA) will leave the NCTA
on June 30 to become CEO of CoreNet Global, an Atlanta based
professional association representing corporate real estate
executives. See, release.
6/3. Alan Nugent was named Chief Technology Officer of
Novell. See, release. |
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| More News |
| 6/4. The Department of
Education published a notice
in the Federal Register regarding applying for Community
Technology Centers Program grants for Fiscal Year 2002 to
create or expand community technology centers that provide
disadvantaged residents of economically distressed urban and
rural communities with access to information technology and
related training. The deadline for submitting applications is
July 19, 2002. See, Federal Register, June 4, 2002, Vol. 67,
No. 107, at Pages 38555 - 38577. |
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| About Tech Law Journal |
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Copyright 1998 - 2002 David Carney, dba Tech Law Journal. All
rights reserved. |
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| Wednesday, June 5 |
The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business.
The House will likely debate and vote on HR 4664,
the Investing in America's Future Act, a bill to authorize and
increase appropriations for the National
Science Foundation. See, House Science Committee release.
The Supreme Court is in recess until June 10.
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a three day public workshop
hosted by the FTC on proposed
amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule, including the
potential development and implementation of a national do not
call list. See, FTC release
and agenda.
Location: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2600 Woodley Road, NW.
9:30 AM. The National School
Boards Foundation will host a breakfast (9:00 AM) and
media briefing on it release of a national survey titled
"Are We There Yet? Research and Guidelines on Schools Use
of the Internet". For more information, contact Renee
Hockaday at 703 838-6717 or rhockaday @nsba.org.
Location: Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), 2nd
Floor, 401 9th St., NW.
10:00 AM. The House
Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications
and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "The FCC's
UWB Proceeding: An Examination of the Government's Spectrum
Management Process." The scheduled witnesses are Michael
Gallagher (NTIA),
Jeff Shane (Department of Transportation), Stephen Price (Dep.
Asst. Sec. for Spectrum, Space, Sensors and C3 Policy,
Department of Defense), Julius Knapp (FCC), Richard
Nowakowski (City of Chicago, Office of Emergency
Communications R&D), Ralph Petroff (Time Domain Corp.),
and Dennis Johnson (Geophysical Survey Systems). Webcast.
Press contact: Ken Johnson or Jon Tripp at 202 225-5735.
Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.
12:15 PM. The Federal
Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Global
Telecommunications Development Committee will host a brown bag
lunch. The topic will be "Caribbean Telecom -- Challenges
in Bringing Competition to Monopoly Markets". The
speakers will be William Garrison (The Frank Hawkins Kenan
Institute of Private Enterprise), Judy Kilpatrick (NTIA), and
Joanna Lowry (Cable & Wireless). RSVP to Jonathan Cohen at
joncohen @wbklaw.com
or to LaVon Stevens at 202 628-9577. Location: Suite 700,
Wilkinson Barker Knauer, 2300 N St., NW (entrance at 24th and
N Streets).
2:00 PM. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet
and Intellectual Property will hold a hearing titled
"DRM: The Consumer Benefits of Today's Digital Rights
Management Solutions." Audio webcast. Location: Room
2141, Rayburn Building.
EXTENDED TO JULY 17. Extended
deadline to submit reply comments to the FCC in response
to its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding its unbundling
analysis under § 251
of the Communications Act and the identification of specific
unbundling requirements for incumbent local exchange carriers.
See, May 29 order
[PDF] extending deadline from June 5 to July 17. See also, notice
in the Federal Register. This is CC Docket No. 01-338. |
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| Thursday, June 6 |
The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business.
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a three day public workshop
hosted by the FTC on proposed
amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule, including the
potential development and implementation of a national do not
call list. See, FTC release
and agenda.
Location: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2600 Woodley Road, NW.
10:00 AM. The House
Judiciary Committee will meet to mark up several bills,
including HR 3215,
the Combatting Illegal Gambling Reform and Modernization Act
(Goodlatte Internet gambling bill), and HR 4623,
the Child Obscenity and Pormography Prevention Act of 2002.
Audio Webcast. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at
202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.
POSTPONED. The Senate Commerce
Committee's Subcommittee on Communications will hold a
hearing titled Universal Service Fund.
10:30 AM. The House
International Relations Committee's Subcommittee on
International Operations and Human Rights will hold a hearing
on titled "An Assessment of Cuba Broadcasting -- The
Voice of Freedom". Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The Institute
for International Research (IIR) and ComCare will host a
conference titled "e-SAFETY: Delivering Communications
& Information Technology Solutions for 21st Century Public
Safety". Sen. Conrad
Burns (R-MT) will give a keynote address at 8:30 AM. The
price to attend is $695. See, IIR notice.
Location: Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
Deadline to submit comments to the SEC regarding
its proposed rule amending the Investment Advisers Act of 1940
to exempt certain investment advisers that provide advisory
services through the Internet from the prohibition on SEC
registration set out in § 203A of the Act. The
amendments would permit these advisers to register with the
SEC instead of with state securities authorities. See, notice
in the Federal Register. |
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| Friday, June 7 |
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Day three of a three day public workshop
hosted by the FTC on proposed
amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), including
the potential development and implementation of a national do
not call list. See, FTC release
and agenda.
Location: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2600 Woodley Road, NW.
10:00 AM. The House
Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Technology
and Procurement Policy will hold a hearing titled
"Coordinated Information Sharing & Homeland Security
Technology" Location: Room 2154, Rayburn Building.
12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Federalist
Society will host a debate on judicial nominations.
the participants will be Douglas Kmiec (Dean of the Columbus
School of Law) and Elliot Mincberg (General Counsel of People for the American Way).
For more information, call Joel Pardoe at 202 822-8138. See, release.
Location: Holeman Lounge, National
Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor.
12:15 PM. The FCBA's
Wireless Telecommunications and International Practice
Committees will host a luncheon. The topic will be
International Wireless Developments. The price to attend is
$15. RSVP to wendy @fcba.org.
Location: 1750 K Street, NW. |
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| Sunday, June 9 |
| Day one of a three day conference hosted by George Mason
University titled "Networked Economy Summit". See, event web site.
Location: Hyatt Regency Reston, Reston, VA. |
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| Monday, June 10 |
The FCBA will
host a luncheon. The speaker will be Brian Roberts of Comcast. The price is $45
for FCBA members, $35 for government and student members, and
$55 for non-members. There will be a reception at 12:00 NOON.
The luncheon will begin at 12:30 PM. RSVP to Wendy Parish at wendy @fcba.org by June 5.
Location: Capital Hilton, 16th & K Streets.
Day one of a two day seminar titled "Managing Trade
Compliance In Today's Environment". The seminar is
offered by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security
(formerly BXA). The price to attend is $325. See, information
page. Location: Marriott at Metro Center, 775 12 Street
NW.
Day two of a three day conference hosted by George Mason
University titled "Networked Economy Summit". See, event web site.
First of three deadlines to submit proposals to the NIST
for FY 2002 Advanced
Technology Program (ATP) funds. See, notice
in Federal Register. |
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| Tuesday, June 11 |
7:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Day one of a two day conference titled
"Current and Emerging Solutions to Public Safety
Communications Interoperability" hosted by the NTIA
and the Public Safety Wireless Network (PSWN) Program. Audio
webcast. See, notice
in the Federal Register. Location: Ronald Reagan International
Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
9:00 AM - 2:00 PM. The American
Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a conference titled
"The Future of Telecommunications Regulation". See, agenda and
registration page. Location: AEI, 12th floor, 1150 17th
St., NW.
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Day one of a three day meeting of the NIST's
Computer System Security and Privacy Advisory Board (CSSPAB).
See, notice
in Federal Register. Location: National Security Agency's
National Cryptologic Museum, Colony 7 Road, Annapolis
Junction, MD.
2:30 PM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Technology,
Terrorism, and Government Information will hold a hearing on
the S 2541,
the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act. Location: Room
226, Dirksen Building.
Day two of a two day seminar titled "Managing Trade
Compliance In Today's Environment". The seminar is
offered by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security
(formerly BXA). See, information
page.
Day three of a three day conference hosted by George Mason
University titled "Networked Economy Summit". See, event web site. |
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