| Ebbers and Sullivan Refuse
to Testify to House Committee |
7/8. The House
Financial Services Committee held a hearing on financial
accounting practices by WorldCom.
Bernard Ebbers, former CEO of WorldCom, and Scott Sullivan,
former Chief Financial Officer, both appeared, but refused to
testify.
See also, prepared testimony in PDF of other witnesses: John
Sidgmore (new President and CEO of WorldCom), Bert
Roberts (Chairman of WorldCom), Melvin
Dick (former Senior Global Managing Partner, Technology,
Media, and Communications Practice, Arthur Andersen, former
external auditor), and Jack
Grubman (telecommunications analyst at Salomon Smith
Barney).
Sidgmore, who replaced Ebbers as CEO two months ago, discussed
efforts by WorldCom's new management. He also argued that
"WorldCom is a key component of our nation's economy and
communications infrastructure. Both commercial and national
security interests rely upon WorldCom's operations continuing
without disruption." Moreover, he argued that
"WorldCom's presence ensures competition in the rapidly
consolidating telecom industry. ... WorldCom is one of the
last hopes for America to realize the intended benefits of the
1996 Telecom Act."
WorldCom also submitted a revised
statement [7 pages in PDF] to the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) on July 8. See also, Exhibit
1 [2.4MB in PDF], Exhibit
2 [202KB in PDF], Exhibit
3 [130KB in PDF], and Exhibit
4 [340KB in PDF]. |
|
|
| FCC Receives Comments on
Spectrum Policy |
7/8. July 8 was the deadline to file comments with the Federal Communications Commission's
(FCC) Spectrum Policy Task
Force in response to its request for comments on spectrum
policy, including taking steps toward market oriented
allocation and assignment policies, interference, efficient
use of spectrum, public safety communications, and
international issues. The FCC has published nearly 50
comments in its web site.
See, FCC's Public
Notice [PDF] requesting comments. Reply comments are due
by July 23. This is FCC Docket No. 02-135. The FCC is
operating on a short filing schedule in this matter; it has
denied several requests for extensions of time.
Jon Peha,
Associate Director of Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Wireless and
Broadband Networks, wrote in his comment
[PDF] that spectrum scarcity "is severely exacerbated by
our spectrum management policies".
Peha argued that "To alleviate the scarcity, we must find
new methods to allow and encourage efficient spectrum sharing;
exclusivity can lead to inefficiency. Today’s technology
offers many ways to gain the efficiencies of sharing without
unacceptable interference." He continued that the FCC
"should expand use of market based mechanisms, and the
Commission should insure the availability of an unlicensed
spectrum ``commons.´´ Taking either one of these approaches
to a simplistic extreme would be counterproductive, so the
Commission should make judicious use of both. There is no
substitute for an effective regulator."
He also stated that "Thanks to auctions, new licenses are
assigned to those who value them the most. It should similarly
be easy for a license holder to ``sell´´ a license, where
the post sale license holder has rights and obligations that
are identical to those of the previous license holder.
Similarly, a license holder might ``rent´´ the license for a
limited time, which obviously cannot extend beyond the
expiration date of the license."
In contrast, the Consumer
Federation of America (CFA) submitted a comment
[40 pages in PDF] in which it argued that "Creating quasi
property rights in spectrum through auctions is exactly the
wrong thing to do." This comment railed against
"media moguls and communications conglomerates".
The CFA argued that "The auctioning of spectrum is likely
to reinforce existing market power. Dominant incumbents have
the resources and the incentive to win the bids to protect
their existing market power or to capture economies of scale
and scope. In pursuing their interests, proprietary facility
owners restrict the use of communications networks suppressing
innovation. It would be the height of foolishness to create
private ownership or control over the spectrum where it does
not exist, which would then invoke the newly minted
quasi-property rights to strangle the Internet." Rather,
"the FCC should rationalize current uses and expand the
space for unrestricted use."
Meanwhile, the SETI
(Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), which uses radio
telescopes to listen for extraterrestrial broadcasting, also
submitted a comment
[PDF]. SETI wants the FCC to "continue to preserve
allocated portions of the radio spectrum for exclusive use of
passive scientific research" so that it may continue to
pursue "the question of whether other intelligent species
occupy our universe". |
|
|
| FCC Releases Annual CMRS
Report |
7/3. The Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) released its 7th
annual report [140 pages in PDF] on CMRS competition. The
FCC adopted this report back on June 13. It is titled
"Annual Report and Analysis of Competitive Market
Conditions With Respect to Commercial Mobile Services".
The report concludes that "In the year 2001, the CMRS
industry continued to experience increased competition,
innovation, lower prices for consumers, and increased
diversity of service offerings. The year saw a number of
operators continue to fill in gaps in their national coverage
through mergers, acquisitions, license swaps, and joint
ventures. In parallel with this process of footprint building,
mobile telephone operators continue to deploy their networks
in an increasing number of markets, expand their digital
networks, and develop innovative pricing plans."
The report also contains the FCC's detailed assessment (at
pages 53-80) of the state the technology and deployment of
mobile data services. The report states that "Estimates
of the number of mobile Internet users at the end of 2001
range from approximately 8 to 10 million, up from 2 to 2.5
million at the end of 2000."
This section of the report addresses 3G wireless technologies,
personal data assistants (PDAs), PDA operating systems,
smartphones, paging mobile data, mobile web browsing, e-mail,
server access, location based services, Bluetooth, 802.11, and
telemetry and telematics. |
|
|
|
| House Commerce Committee
Seeks Corporate Governance Records |
7/5. Rep. Billy
Tauzin (R-LA) and Rep. Jim Greenwood
(R-PA) sent a letter to 13 companies asking for information
pertaining to corporate governance and financial reporting.
The recipients include WorldCom,
Tyco, Global Crossing, Xerox, Qwest, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems and MicroStrategy.
Rep. Tauzin is Chairman of the House Commerce Committee,
which is investigating questionable financial accounting
practices, and board of directors oversight of corporate
management. Rep. Greenwood is Chairman of the Subcommittee on
Oversight and Investigations.
The letter states that the Committee "is undertaking a
comprehensive review of corporate governance in light of the
alarming number of recent business accounting scandals and
failures. Specifically, we are reviewing the extent and
quality of management oversight by the boards of directors of
several of the companies now in crisis. A thorough examination
of this matter is vital to restore confidence in American
business and financial markets."
The letter includes both a detailed request for production of
documents, and interrogatories. It requests documents and
information pertaining to the current and past members of the
boards or directors, policies of the boards of directors,
external auditors, reviews of external auditors, reviews of
management, communications with the SEC, presentations to the
boards of directors, and other matters.
On July 2 Rep. Tauzin and Rep. Greenwood wrote a letter
to Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) Chairman Harvey
Pitt requesting information and documents pertaining to
the SEC's investigations of the accounting practices of
WorldCom, Tyco, Global Crossing, Xerox, and Qwest
Communications.
On June 5 Reps. Tauzin and Greenwood wrote another letter to
Chairman Pitt which expands the companies covered, from five,
to the thirteen above referenced companies. |
|
|
| People and Appointments |
7/8. Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) Commissioner Michael Copps
announced that Alexis Johns has been "detailed to
his office" to assist in handling media and consumer
protection issues. She joined the FCC in 1996, most recently
working in the Competition Policy Division of the Wireline
Competition Bureau. Previously, she was an associate with the
law firm of Cooley Godward.
Susanna Zwerling, who is currently Commissioner Copps'
Legal Advisor for media and consumer protection issues, plans
to leave the FCC upon completion of several pending projects.
7/2. Ira Keltz has been named Deputy Chief of the Federal Communications Commission's
(FCC) Office of Engineering
and Technology's (OET) Policy and Rules Division (PRD).
The PRD writes rules pertaining to the allocation of
electromagnetic spectrum and technical issues pertaining to
radio equipment and electronic devices. It also handles the
coordination of spectrum issues with other agencies of the
federal government. Keltz, an electrical engineer, has worked
for the FCC since 1994. Before that, he worked for Loral. See, FCC
release [PDF]. |
|
|
| More News |
7/8. The Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service
published a notice
in the Federal Register announcing its $20 Million pilot grant
program for the provision of broadband transmission service in
rural America for fiscal year 2002. Applications for grants
are due by November 5, 2002. See, Federal Register, July 8,
2002, Vol. 67, No. 130, at Pages 45079 - 45083.
7/8. Federal Reserve
Board Governor Mark Olson
gave a speech
in Madrid, Spain, titled "Financial Markets Regulation in
the United States". He stated that "Several common
forces are influencing financial services industries around
the world. Perhaps most dominant is the extraordinary leap
forward in technology that has changed every facet of these
industries. The first major technological changes, almost
forty years ago, dramatically changed back office processing.
In recent years, technological improvements have changed the
delivery of retail financial products to such an extent that
our traditional definitions of deposit gathering and lending
are in continual need of updating."
7/8. eBay and PayPal announced that eBay
will acquire PayPal. eBay operates an auction web site. PayPal
facilitates online payments. eBay stated in a release
that "eBay will acquire all of the outstanding shares of
PayPal in a tax free, stock for stock transaction using a
fixed exchange ratio of 0.39 eBay shares for each PayPal
share. Based on eBay's stock price on July 5, 2002, the
acquisition is valued at $1.5 billion." It stated that
the acquisition "is subject to various stockholder,
government and regulatory approvals". PayPal "will
continue to operate as an independent brand". eBay also
stated that "In view of the uncertain regulatory
environment surrounding online gaming, eBay plans to phase out
PayPal's gaming business after the transaction closes." |
|
|
| About Tech Law Journal |
Tech Law Journal publishes a free access web site and
subscription e-mail alert. The basic rate for a subscription
to the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert is $250 per year. However, there
are discounts for entities with multiple subscribers. Free one
month trial subscriptions are available. Also, free
subscriptions are available for law students, journalists,
elected officials, and employees of the Congress, courts, and
executive branch, and state officials. The TLJ web site is
free access. However, copies of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert and
news items are not published in the web site until one month
after writing. See, subscription
information page.
Contact: 202-364-8882; E-mail.
P.O. Box 4851, Washington DC, 20008.
Privacy
Policy
Notices
& Disclaimers
Copyright 1998 - 2002 David Carney, dba Tech Law Journal. All
rights reserved. |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, July 9 |
The House will meet at 10:30 AM for morning hour and 12:00
NOON for legislative business. It will consider a number of
measures under suspension of the rules. It may consider HR 3130,
the Tech Talent Act, which would authorize the
appropriation of $25 Million for FY 2002 for the National Science Foundation for
a grant program intended to increase the number of college
students pursuing degrees in science, mathematics,
engineering, and technology.
9:00 AM. The House
Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigations will hold a hearing on the administration's
proposal to create a Department of Homeland Security.
See, notice.
Webcast. Press contact: Ken Johnson or Jon Tripp at 202
225-5735. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.
9:00 AM. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism,
and Homeland Security will hold a hearing on the
administration's proposal to create a Department of
Homeland Security. Webcast. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or
Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn
Building.
9:30 AM. FCC
Commissioner Kathleen
Abernathy will hold a press briefing. RSVP to Ann Monahan
at amonahan @fcc.gov or
202 418-2535. Location: FCC, Room 8B-115, 445 12th St., SW.
POSTPONED. 11:00 AM. The
Senate Judiciary
Committee's Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and
the Courts will hold a hearing to examine the Federal Bureau
of Investigation's computer hardware problems..
11:30 AM. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Commercial and
Administrative Law will hold a hearing titled Administrative
Law, Adjudicatory Issues, and Privacy Ramifications of
Creating a Department of Homeland Security. Webcast. Press
contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492.
Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.
2:30 PM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Technology,
Terrorism, and Government Information will hold a hearing on S 2541,
Sen. Dianne Feinstein's
(D-CA) bill to establish penalties for aggravated identity
theft. The scheduled witnesses include Dan Collins (Dep.
Assoc. Atty. Gen.), Howard Beales (Director of the FTC's
Bureau of Consumer Protection), and Dennis Lormel (Section
Chief of the FBI's Terrorism Financial Review Group). See, notice.
Press contact: Mimi Devlin at 202 224-9437. Location: Room
226, Dirksen Building. |
|
|
| Wednesday, July 10 |
The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business.
9:30 AM. The House
International Relations Committee will meet to mark up HR 5005,
the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Location: Room 2172,
Rayburn Building.
9:30 AM - 4:30 PM. The FTC and DOJ
will continue their series of events titled Competition and
Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge Based
Economy. This event will be a panel of speakers addressing
"Federal Circuit Jurisprudence: Substantive Trends and
Analysis". The first session, running from 9:30 AM to
12:00 NOON, will address "Trends in Federal Circuit
Jurisprudence". The second session, running from 1:30 PM
to 4:30 PM, will address "Patent Law Analysis in Federal
Circuit Jurisprudence". For more information, call Gina
Talamona at 202 514-2007. See, FTC
notice. Location: Room 432, FTC Main, 600 Pennsylvania
Ave, NW.
10:00 AM. The House
Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications
and the Internet will hold a hearing titled Corporation for
Public Broadcasting Oversight and a Look Into Public
Broadcasting in the Digital Era. The scheduled witnesses
include Robert Coonrod (Corporation for Public Broadcasting),
Pat Mitchell (Public Broadcasting Service), Kevin Klose
(National Public Radio), Andrea Lafferty (Traditional Values
Coalition), John Lawson (Association for Public Television
Stations), Michael Willner (Insight Communications), and Laura
Walker (WYNC-FM). Press contact: Ken Johnson or Jon Tripp at
202 225-5735. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.
10:00 AM. The House Armed
Services Committee will hold a hearing on HR 5005,
a bill to establish a Department of Homeland Security.
Location: Room 2118, Rayburn Building.
10:00 AM. The House Government
Reform Committee will meet to mark up HR 5005,
the Homeland Security Act of 2002. See, notice.
Location: Room 2154, Rayburn Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee will hold an executive business
meeting. See, notice.
Press contact: Mimi Devlin at 202 224-9437. Location: Room
226, Dirksen Building.
10:00 AM. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Reiffin
v. Microsoft, No. 01-1380, a patent case. Location:
Courtroom 402, 717 Madison Place, NW.
12:00 NOON. Treasury Secretary Paul
O'Neil will give a luncheon speech titled "The
Economy, Investors and Corporate Governance". The price
to attend is $45 for members and $90 for non members. See, online
registration page. Location: U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
1615 H Street, NW.
2:00 - 3:30 PM. The FTC's Bureau of
Competition will hold a public workshop on merger
investigation best practices. This is the last workshop of
a seven part, five city, series. This event will focus on
accounting and financial data. See, FTC release.
Location: FTC, Room 332, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
3:00 PM. The House
Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and
Consumer Protection will meet to mark up HR 5058,
the Financial Accounting Standards Board Act. Webcast.
Press contact: Ken Johnson or Jon Tripp at 202 225-5735.
Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.
6:00 - 8:00 PM. The FCBA will
host a Continuing Legal Education seminar titled Global
Telecom Markets: Issues and Strategies for Representing
Clients Abroad. This seminar will cover (1) telecom trade
and market access issues, (2) transaction financing and
approval, and (3) the International Telecommunications Union.
Deadline to submit comments to the Bureau of Industry and Security
(BIS), formerly known as the Bureau of Export Administration (BXA),
in response to its Notice of Inquiry regarding "the
current limit for use of License Exception TSR for exports and
reexports of technology and software on the Commerce Control
List (CCL) of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR)
under Export Classification Control Numbers (ECCNs) 4D001 and
4E001". BIS states that "These ECCNs control
technology and software that can be used for the development,
production, or use of computers. The goal of this notice of
inquiry is to collect information from industry that will
assist BIS in evaluating whether the current TSR eligibility
level of 33,000 Millions of Theoretical Operations per Second
(MTOPS) for exports and reexports to most countries should be
adjusted, taking into consideration the control level for the
export of computer equipment and the control policies of other
member countries of the Wassenaar Arrangement." See, notice
in the Federal Register. |
|
|
| Thursday, July 11 |
The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business.
9:00 AM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee will hold a hearings to examine
oversight of the Department of Justice and the impact of a new
Department of Homeland Security. See, notice.
Press contact: Mimi Devlin at 202 224-9437. Location: Room
106, Dirksen Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee will hold an executive business
meeting. See, notice.
Press contact: Mimi Devlin at 202 224-9437. Location: Room
226, Dirksen Building.
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. The FTC and DOJ
will continue their series of events titled Competition and
Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge Based
Economy. This event will be a panel of speakers addressing
"Federal Circuit Jurisprudence: Jurisdiction, Choice of
Law, and Competition Policy Perspectives". The first
session will run from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM. The second session
will run from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. For more information, call
Gina Talamona at 202 514-2007. See, FTC
notice. Location: Room 432, FTC Main, 600 Pennsylvania
Ave, NW.
12:00 NOON. Sen. John
McCain (R-AZ), the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce
Committee, will hold a press conference regarding "corporate
governance reform". Location: First Amendment Room, National Press Club, 529 14th
St. NW, 13th Floor.
Deadline to submit comments to the FCC regarding
its Declaratory Ruling and Second Further Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking clarifying that providers of Internet protocol
telecommunications relay services are eligible for
reimbursement from the Interstate TRS Fund. See, FCC
notice [PDF]. |
|
|
| Friday, July 12 |
The House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. No
votes are expected after 6:00 PM.
10:00 AM. Hearing before the U.S.
District Court (EDVa) in Washington Post v. Gator
on the Washington
Post's motion for preliminary injunction. Plaintiffs
allege web based copyright infringement in their complaint
[99 pages in PDF] and Memorandum
in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction
[35 pages in PDF]. Tape recorders and cameras are prohibited
in the courtroom. Location: Room 800, 8th Floor, Bryan
Courthouse, 401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA.
12:00 NOON. The Cato Institute
will host a briefing titled Profiling and National IDs:
Security and Freedom in a Free Society. The speakers will
be Charlotte Twight (author of Dependent on D.C.: The Rise of
Federal Control over the Lives of Ordinary Americans), Robert
Levy (Cato), and Timothy Lynch (Cato). See, registration
page. Lunch will follow. Location: Room B-354, Rayburn
Building.
12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Progress
and Freedom Foundation (PFF) will host a panel discussion
titled When Wireless Grows Up: Mandates vs. Markets for a
‘Mature’ Industry. The scheduled speakers include Rudy
Baca (Precursor Group), Steven Berry (CTIA)
and Kevin Krufky (office of Sen. Sam Brownback).
See, PFF
notice. To register, contact Rebecca Fuller at 202
289-8928 or rfuller @pff.org.
Location: Room B340, Rayburn Building.
TIME? Commerce Secretary Donald
Evans will hold an online chat on AOL with small
investors. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Monday, July 15 |
12:30 PM. Larry Mefford (Assistant Director, FBI Cyber
Division) will give a speech. Pre-registration is required to
attend; contact Kristin Woolley at 703 284-5323 or kwoolley @itaa.org.
Location: Oracle Corporation, 1910 Oracle Way, Reston, VA.
Day three of four of the National
Association of Patent Practitioners' annual meeting. See, registration
and information page. At 9:00 AM, Steve Kunin (Deputy
Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy) will speak. At
10:00 AM, Robert Clarke (Office of Patent Legal
Administration) will speak on Section
102(e). At 12:15 PM, Nicholas Godici (Commissioner of
Patents) will give the luncheon address. Location: Wyndam
Washington DC, 1400 M Street, NW. |
|
|