9/22. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) submitted a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in which it alleged that JetBlue Airways Corporation and Acxiom Corporation violated Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA), codified at 15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1), in connection with the disclosure of consumer personal information to Torch Concepts Inc.

The EPIC alleges that JetBlue collected personal information from its customers through its web site, and promised customers in its privacy policy that it would not share this information, but did in fact provide the information to an information mining company at the request of the Department of Defense (DOD). The EPIC alleges that this constitutes a deceptive trade practice that violates the FTCA.

The EPIC wants the FTC to conduct an investigation, impose an injunction, collect fines, order JetBlue to disclose to its customers that their personal information was disclosed, and provide such other relief that may make life miserable for JetBlue.

The complaint alleges that JetBlue is a low fare passenger airline that sells tickets through its web site, and that it collects personal information through this ticketing process. The complaint further alleges that JetBlue states in its website that it does not share personal information with third parties.

However, the complaint states that, contrary to its privacy policy, "JetBlue disclosed the names, addresses and phone numbers of JetBlue passengers to Torch Concepts at the request of the Department of Defense." The complaint states that Torch is an information mining company.

JetBlue does not dispute many of the factual allegations in the EPIC complaint. It issued a release on September 22 in which it stated that "At the special request of the Department of Defense, the airline shared passenger itineraries but did not provide payment or credit card information to Torch Concepts." JetBlue conceded that this included "name, address and phone number, along with flight information".

JetBlue stated that Torch is a defense contractor that is working on a project concerning military base security.

JetBlue also stated that "it will not be a test airline nor has it ever shared customer information for the TSA's CAPPS II program and will not do so unless required by law. While, in the interests of the safety and security of its customers, JetBlue had entered into discussions with the TSA regarding the CAPPS II program and had agreed initially to participate in its development, the airline decided against further participation unless federally mandated due to concerns for customer privacy and the uncertainty of the final structure of CAPPS II."

CAPPS is an acronym for Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System. Before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the airlines conducted passenger screening, and administered the CAPPS I, subject to federal guidelines. In late 2001, the Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as a unit of the Department of Transportation (DOT). This Act gave the TSA responsibility for airport passenger screening. In late 2002, the Congress passed the Homeland Security Act, which, among other things, created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and transferred the TSA from the DOT to the new DHS.

The new CAPPS II, the next generation passenger screening system, will be a government (TSA) run system that replaces CAPPS I. The EPIC, and others, have privacy related concerns about the CAPPS II.

The EPIC complaint also names Acxiom. It alleges that "Torch Concepts purchased from Acxiom demographic data on approximately 40% of the passengers whose itineraries JetBlue had already disclosed to Torch Concepts. The information Acxiom provided to Torch Concepts about these passengers included gender, home specifics (owner/renter, etc.), years at residence, economic status (income, etc.), number of children, Social Security number, number of adults, occupation, and vehicle information."

The FTC has consumer protection authority under the FTCA. 15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1) provides that "Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful."

The FTC has no specific statutory authority with respect to privacy. However, it has acted under the FTCA against entities that have violated their published web site privacy policies.

Also, while the EPIC's complaint is structured like a legal pleading, the FTCA creates no administrative cause of action for private parties. Parties, such as EPIC, may submit complaints to the FTC. In fact, the FTC encourages the submission of public complaints. However, it is within the sole discretion of the FTC to determine whether to conduct any investigation, or take any action.

Nevertheless, the EPIC has a track record of success in persuading the FTC to take action against companies for their privacy related practices. For example, in July of 2001, the EPIC and others submitted a complaint to the FTC regarding Microsoft's Passport and other software and services. See, original complaint [PDF] of July 26, 2001, and updated complaint [PDF] of August 15, 2001.

See also, stories titled "EPIC Complains about Microsoft Passport" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 250, August 16, 2001; "EPIC Seeks Government Investigations of Microsoft's Passport" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 357, January 30, 2002; and "EPIC Complains to FTC About Windows XP" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 236, July 27, 2002.

The FTC acted upon the EPIC's complaints. On August 8, 2002, the FTC brought and settled an administrative complaint against Microsoft. The complaint alleged that Microsoft "represented, expressly or by implication, that it maintained a high level of online security by employing sufficient measures reasonable and appropriate under the circumstances to maintain and protect the privacy and confidentiality of personal information obtained from or about consumers in connection with the Passport and Passport Wallet services", whereas, in fact, Microsoft "did not maintain a high level of online security ..."

The FTC and Microsoft simultaneously entered into an Agreement Containing Consent Order. Microsoft admitted to no violations of federal law. Microsoft paid no fine. However, the agreement, which has a twenty year duration, imposed numerous requirements for Microsoft's information security program. See, stories titled "FTC Files and Settles Complaint Against Microsoft", August 8, 2002, also published in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 488, August 9, 2002; and "EPIC Comments on FTC's Proposed Consent Order Affecting Microsoft's Privacy Practices" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 505, September 10, 2002.

9/22. Echostar filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals (DC) of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) orders regarding subsidiary terrestrial use of the 12.2 - 12.7 GHz band.

Echostar wants the Appeals Court to vacate two orders of the FCC that provide for the sharing of spectrum by satellite users, such as Echostar, and terrestrial users that employ the technology developed by Northpoint Technologies. This technology is intended to provide a wireless alternative to cable, as well as high speed wireless internet access.

Echostar states in its petition that "the FCC rulings have unlawfully and arbitrarily authorized a new service to operate in a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum currently used to provide Digital Broadcast Service ("DBS") television service to many millions of households, thereby exposing DBS providers (including Echostar) and their customers to the threat of harmful interference from the new service." (Parentheses in original.)

The FCC announced the first of the two orders under review -- its Memorandum Opinion and Order and Second Report and Order -- on April 23, 2002. The FCC released the text of this order on May 23, 2002. It published its notice in the Federal Register on June 26, 2002, at Vol. 67, Page 43031. This is FC 02-116. See also, story titled "FCC Acts on Northpoint Application" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 417, April 24, 2002.

The FCC announced the second of the two orders under review -- its Fourth Memorandum Opinion and Order -- on April 22, 2003. The FCC released the text of this order on April 29, 2003. It published its notice in the Federal Register, on July 25, 2003, at Vol. 68, No. 143, at Pages 43942 - 43946. This is FCC 03-97.

This case is Echostar Satellite Corporation v. FCC and USA, Appeals Court No. 03-1286. Echostar is represented by Pantelis Michalopoulos and Steven Reed of the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson.

9/22. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it approved the merger of Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC) and Univision Communications. It also released its Memorandum Opinion and Order [52 pages in PDF].

The FCC adopted this Memorandum Opinion and Order (MOO) on September 8, but did not announce or release it until September 22. This order is FCC 03-218. This proceeding is MB Docket No. 02-235. See also, FCC release [2 pages in PDF].

Univision is the largest broadcaster of Spanish language television programming in the U.S. It also has one cable channel, internet web sites, and music recording, distribution, and publishing operations. HBC operates over 60 mostly Spanish language radio stations.

This proceeding is a license transfer proceeding. The MOO approves the transfer of licenses to accomplish the merger. It is also a merger review involving antitrust analysis. The FCC MOO states that "we also conclude that the merger will not be anticompetitive".

Univision has an attributable interest in Entravision Communications, which owns and controls 18 full-service television stations and 52 full-service radio stations. This was previously addressed by the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division. On March 26, 2003, the DOJ filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (DC) against Univision and HBC seeking injunctive relief to block Univision's proposed acquisition of HBC. However, the DOJ also simultaneously settled the case.

The DOJ filed a proposed consent decree to settle the lawsuit. The settlement required Univision to sell a significant portion of its partial ownership in Entravision, relinquish its right to two seats on Entravision's Board of Directors, and give up give up the right to vote its shares or veto certain Entravision business decisions. See, Stipulation and Order proposed Final Judgment.

See also, story titled "DOJ Requires Univision to Divest Interests in Entravision Before Acquiring Hispanic Broadcasting" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 632, March 27, 2003.

The FCC reviewed the DOJ Consent Decree in its MOO. It wrote that "the DOJ stated that it would not oppose the merger of Univision and HBC, if (a) Univision’s interest in Entravision is converted to a new class of Entravision nonvoting stock with no rights to designate members or otherwise influence the Entravision Board of Directors; (b) Univision's total equity interest in Entravision is reduced to 15% of total equity (both voting and nonvoting) in 3 years, and 10% of total equity (both voting and nonvoting) in 6 years; and (c) certain proposed nonvoting shareholder approval rights associated with the new class of nonvoting stock are removed. The DOJ has also set forth specific provisions meant to further ensure that Univision is insulated from participating in Entravision’s radio business."

The MOO states that "We conclude that the absence of the contractual approval right over the sale of Entravision’s radio stations and the Consent Decree’s provisions reasonably prevent Univision from exercising a cognizable level of influence over the core operating functions of Entravision's radio stations while those provisions remain in effect. We conclude, moreover, that attribution of Univision's interest in Entravision’s television stations alone will not result in violation of the Commission's radio/television cross-ownership rule."

The MOO also states that "we have generally assumed, in our competition analyses of radio transactions, that radio and television stations do not compete in the same product market, an approach the DOJ has generally followed. The record in this proceeding offers no basis to disturb this conclusion. We also note that our conclusions are consistent with the actions of the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division in this case, which, after performing its own investigation, did not pursue possible market power allegations with regard to a purported Spanish-language television-radio market."

This was a divided decision. Chairman Michael Powell and Commissioners Kathleen Abernathy and Kevin Martin supported the decision. They wrote in a joint statement [PDF] that "The argument has been made that the FCC should have found a Spanish language media market. Both the FCC and the DOJ have long maintained that television and radio are separate markets. In this transaction, a pure television company is buying a pure radio company and thus there is no reduction in competition."

They also wrote that this merger "will give Hispanic media a better opportunity to compete against big media companies, capturing more advertising revenue to allow it to expand unique language and cultural offerings to its audiences."

Commissioner Michael Copps wrote in a statement [3 pages in PDF] that "Just three months ago, this Commission walked away from most of its media concentration protections, surrendering to a handful of corporations far too much power to determine what news, information, and entertainment every American will receive. Today’s Order allows one of the Big Media conglomerates, Univision, to assume something close to monopoly power in the fast-growing Spanish-language media."

Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Copps wrote in their dissenting statement [at pages 32-52 of the MOO] that "The degree of concentration in Spanish-language broadcasting resulting from this transaction threatens to endanger competition, diversity and localism for millions of Americans who speak only or principally Spanish. Whether they watch broadcast or cable TV, listen to the radio, buy CDs, or surf the Internet, they will face the monolithic Univision".

While the majority focuses on television and radio, the dissent also discusses the internet. Adelstein and Copps noted that "In addition, Univision owns the nation's leading Spanish-language Internet site, with an 80% market share" and that HBC "maintains a network of community-focused bilingual websites".

They conclude that "No other media company has anywhere near the combined influence of Univision’s leading television, cable, music, Internet and radio properties over its respective audience."

9/22. The U.S. District Court (DMass) issued an order [3 pages in PDF] in Resnick v. Copyright Clearance Center denying Resnick's motion for class certification.

The Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) acts as an agent for publishers by granting licenses to businesses, academic institutions, libraries, and other entities for the photocopying of magazine articles. It sells licenses, and pays a portion of the licensing revenues to the magazine publishers.

Seth Resnick, Paula Lerner and Michael Grecco are freelance photographers. They sell limited licenses to magazines for the use of their works, and retain all rights beyond the one-time publication.

They filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (DMass) against the CCC alleging copyright infringement arising out of the unauthorized licensing of photocopying of their images. They also sought class action status. The present order addresses only their motion for class certification, pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The District Court denied the motion for failure to satisfy the numerosity requirement. That is, Rule 23(a) provides that class certification is proper only if, among other requirements, "the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable".

The Court wrote that "In order to satisfy the numerosity requirement, plaintiffs must show that it is impracticable to join all photographers who have sold their copyright-registered images to CCC-affiliated publications under limited licenses, thereby retaining the exclusive right to reproduce their own work. Citing deposition testimony by the former executive director of the American Society of Magazine Photographers (``ASMP´´), plaintiffs estimate that there are ``roughly 20,000´´ freelancers working in the United States. Additionally, plaintiffs state that freelancers ``typically only license limited use of their product.´´"

The Court continued that "The primary evidence for this proposition is plaintiff Seth Resnick’s declaration that ``[t]he standard practice in the industry is for freelance photographers to own the copyright in their photographic images´´ and excerpts from two ASMP manuals that suggest the same. Such bare assertions do not begin to address the question of how many photographers grant limited licenses to publishers that do not include photocopying rights. The record provides little basis for this Court to determine whether joinder of all class members is impracticable or, for that matter, whether the limited licenses granted by plaintiffs are typical of the class."

9/22. The U.S. District Court (DC) issued an Order [PDF] and Memorandum Opinion [63 pages in PDF] in New York v. Microsoft granting the state of Massachusetts' motion for attorneys fees, in part. The Court awarded Massachusetts $967,014.52 in attorneys fees, and nothing in costs. Massachusetts had requested $1,992,075.00 in attorneys fees.

The Court wrote that "it is clear that the documentation is in many ways deficient and for that reason Plaintiff’s request must be reduced." It concluded that "Given the deficient documentation and lack of explanation provided by Plaintiff, the Court considers this to be a generous award."

This case is State of New York, et al. v. Microsoft Corporation, D.C. No. 98-1233 (CKK), the state antitrust action filed in 1998.

9/21. VeriSign wrote a letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in which it declined the ICANN's September 19 request that it voluntarily suspend the deployment of wildcard service into the .com and .net top level domain zones. On September 20 the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) released a report that reviews the nature of the service, and the problems that it has created. The IAB found that the service "broke several simple spam filters", and creates "significant privacy concerns".

Also, on September 22, the ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee released a report titled "Recommendations Regarding VeriSign's Introduction of Wild Card Response to Uninstantiated Domains within COM and NET".

It found that "VeriSign's change appears to have considerably weakened the stability of the Internet, introduced ambiguous and inaccurate responses in the DNS, and has caused an escalating chain reaction of measures and countermeasures that contribute to further instability."

It reiterated the request that VeriSign "voluntarily suspend the service". The committee also stated that "We call on the IAB, the IETF, and the operational community to examine the specifications for the domain name system and consider whether additional specifications could improve the stability of the overall system. Most urgently, we ask for definitive recommendations regarding the use and operation of wildcard DNS names in TLDs and the root domain, so that actions and expectations can become universal. With respect to the broader architectural issues, we call on the technical community to clarify the role of error responses and on the separation of architectural layers, particularly and their interaction with security and stability."

See also, story titled "ICANN Asks VeriSign to Suspend Wildcard Service" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 743, September 22, 2003.

New items are highlighted in red.

The House will meet at 12:30 PM for morning hour, and at 2:00 PM for legislative business. It will consider several non-tech related items under suspension of the rules. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 PM. See, Republican Whip Notice.

9:30 AM. John Muleta, Bureau Chief of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB), will hold a "briefing for members of the media". RSVP to Marybeth McCarrick at 202 418-0654. Location: FCC, 445 12th St., SW, Room TW A-402/A-442.

9:30 AM. The Senate Committee on Aging will hold a hearing on "to examine HIPAA medical privacy and transaction rules". Location: Room 628, Dirksen Building.

12:00 NOON - 12:00 PM. The Computer & Telecommunications Law Section, and the Antitrust Section, of the D.C. Bar Association will host a brown bag lunch. The topic will be "Telecommunications Access". Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 level.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Cable Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch on "current cable issues". For more information, contact Frank Buono at fbuono@willkie.com. RSVP to wendy@fcba.org Location: Willkie Farr & Gallagher, 1875 K Street, NW.

1:00 PM. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will meet to mark up HR 2898, the "E-911 Implementation Act of 2003". Press contact: Ken Johnson or Vikki Riley at 202 225-5735. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building. This meeting was previously scheduled for September 18.

2:00 PM. The Senate Banking Committee will hold a meeting to mark up several bills, including the "National Consumer Credit Reporting System Improvement Act of 2003" and the "Defense Production Reauthorization Act of 2003". See, notice. Location: Room 538, Dirksen Building.

4:00 PM. House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection and the House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property will hold a hearing on HR __, the "Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act of 2003". Press contact: Ken Johnson or Vikki Ehrlich at 202 225-5735. Location: Room 2141 (HJC hearing room), Rayburn Building.

4:00 PM. Douglas Lichtman (University of Chicago Law School) will speak on "Prosecution History Estoppel: Empirical Evidence from Patent Prosecution". For more information, contact Robert Brauneis at 202 994-6138 or rbrauneis@law.gwu.edu. Location: George Washington University Law School, Faculty Conference Center, 5th Floor, Burns Building, 716 20th Street, NW.

Day two of a two day meeting hosted by the International Trademark Association (INTA) titled "Trademarks in Cyberspace". See, conference web site. Location: The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City, Arlington, VA.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) pertaining to its rules governing the provision of air ground telecommunications services on commercial airplanes in order to enhance the options available to the public. The FCC adopted this NPRM on April 17, 2003, and released it on April 28, 2003. This is WT Docket No. 03-103. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 25, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 143, at Pages 44003 - 44011.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding making more spectrum available for unlicensed devices, including WiFi, in the 5 GHz band. See, stories titled "FCC Adopts NPRM to Increase Unlicensed Spectrum" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 663, May 16, 2003; "FCC Releases NPRM Regarding Increasing Amount of Unlicensed Spectrum" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 674, June 5, 2003, and "Delegates Discuss World Radiocommunications Conference" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 703, July 22, 2003. See also, notice in the Federal Register, July 25, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 143, at Pages 44011 - 44020. This is ET Docket No. 03-122. The FCC adopted this NPRM on May 15, 2003, and released June 4, 2003.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Republican Whip Notice.

9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on several pending judicial nominations, including those of Claude Allen to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and Dale Fischer to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. See, notice. Press contact: Margarita Tapia (Hatch) at 202 224-5225 or David Carle (Leahy) at 202 224-4242. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will meet to mark up several bills, including HR __, the "Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act" and HR __, the "International Consumer Protection Act of 2003". See, notice. The event will be webcast. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee will meet to mark up several bills, including HR 1417, the "Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2003". The event will be webcast. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

11:00 AM. The Cato Institute will host a panel discussion titled "Telecom & Broadband Outlook After the FCC's UNE Triennial Review Decision". The speakers will be Tom Tauke (Verizon), John Windhausen (Association for Local Telecommunications Services), Ray Gifford (Progress & Freedom Foundation), and John Malone (Eastern Management Group). To register, contact Krystal Brand at kbrand@cato.org or use the online registration page. Lunch will follow the program. Location: Cato, 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.

1:00 PM. The House Commerce Committee will hold a hearing titled "The Future of Universal Service". The event will be webcast. Press contact: Ken Johnson or Jon Tripp at 202 225-5735. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Computer & Telecommunications Law Section of the D.C. Bar Association will host a CLE seminar titled "Ethics and the Internet". Prices vary. For more information, call 202 626-3488. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 level.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold a narrowband PCS spectrum auction. This is Auction No. 50. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 28, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 60, at Pages 15174 - 15188, for procedures, minimum opening bids, and revised inventory and start date, and other information. See also, FCC notice.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and The Instrumentation and Measurement Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) will host an event titled "Workshop on IEEE-1588 Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems". See, NIST's notice and IEEE-1588 pages. Location: NIST, Gaithersburg, MD.

Day one of a three day course hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and offered by MIS Training Institute, titled "Securing and Auditing Virtual Office Networks". The price to attend is $435. See, notice. Location: NIST, Gaithersburg, MD.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding telecommunication relay services (TRS) and speech-to-speech services for individuals with hearing and speech disabilities. This is CG Docket No. 03-123. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 25, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 164, at Pages 50993 - 50998.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Republican Whip Notice.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a two day conference pubic workshop by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on building secure configurations, security settings, and security checklists for information technology products widely used in the federal government. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 11, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 133, at Pages 41313 - 41314. Location: NIST, Lecture Room B, Bldg 101, Gaithersburg, MD.

9:00 AM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) North American Numbering Council (NANC) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 2, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 169, at Page 52210.

9:30 The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold an executive business meeting. See, notice. Press contact: Margarita Tapia (Hatch) at 202 224-5225 or David Carle (Leahy) at 202 224-4242. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

9:30 AM. The U.S. District Court (DC) will hold a status conference in Genentech v. Rogan, D.C. No. 03-0050. Location: Courtroom 2, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

Day two of a three day course hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and offered by MIS Training Institute, titled "Securing and Auditing Virtual Office Networks". The price to attend is $435. See, notice. Location: NIST, Gaithersburg, MD.

The House will not meet. See, Republican Whip Notice.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a two day conference pubic workshop by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on building secure configurations, security settings, and security checklists for information technology products widely used in the federal government. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 11, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 133, at Pages 41313 - 41314. Location: NIST, Lecture Room B, Bldg 101, Gaithersburg, MD.

Day three of a three day course hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and offered by MIS Training Institute, titled "Securing and Auditing Virtual Office Networks". The price to attend is $435. See, notice. Location: NIST, Gaithersburg, MD.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Notice of Inquiry (NOI) that solicits "data and information on the status of competition in the market for the delivery of video programming for our tenth annual report".

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Federal Advisory Committee on Diversity in the Digital Age will hold its first meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 10, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 175, at Pages 53376 - 53377. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, Room TW-C305, 445 12th St. SW.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The topic will be "Hot Topics in Consumer Affairs". For more information, contact Pam Slipakoff at 202 418-7705 or pslipako@fcc.gov. Location: Hogan and Hartson, 555 13th Street, NW.

Deadline to submit nominations to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for membership on the FCC's Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (IAC), which was previously known as the Local and State Government Advisory Committee. The FCC stated that this Committee provides "ongoing advice and information to the Commission on a broad range of telecommunications issues of interest to state, local and tribal governments, including cable and local franchising, public rights-of-way, facilities siting, universal service, broadband access, barriers to competitive entry, and public safety communications, for which the Commission explicitly or inherently shares responsibility or administration with local, county, state, or tribal governments." The deadline to submit nominations is September 29, 2003. See, FCC release [PDF] and FCC notice [3 pages in PDF].

9/18. Microsoft announced that its board of directors proposef the addition of two more directors: Helmut Panke (BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG Chairman of the board of management) and Charles Noski (former AT&T Vice Chairman). Before joining AT&T, Noski was COO of Hughes Electronics Corp., a satellite and wireless communications business. The two must be formally elected by the shareholders at their annual meeting in November. The current directors are Bill Gates (Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft), Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft), James Cash (former professor at the Harvard Business School), Raymond Gilmartin (Ch/P/CEO of Merck & Co.), David Marquardt (general partner of August Capital), Ann Korologos (senior adviser of Benedetto and Gartland & Company Inc.), William Reed (former chairman of Simpson Investment Co.), and Jon Shirley (former P/CEO of Microsoft). See, Microsoft release.

9/22. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the membership of its Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age. See, FCC release [PDF]. The committee will hold its first meeting, which will be open to the public, on Monday, September 29, 2003, in the FCC's Commission Meeting Room, TW-C305.

9/22. The Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel) and the Association for Communications Enterprises (ASCENT) announced that their members approved the merger of the two groups. The new entity will be named the CompTel/ASCENT Alliance. The merger will become effective on October 1, 2003. See, release.

9/18. Agilent Technologies announced that it and CompUSA "reached a resolution in a dispute over the use of optical sensors supplied by unlicensed manufacturers of Agilent's optical navigation patents. Under the terms of the agreement, CompUSA will discontinue sales of optical computer mice based on the unlicensed technology." See, Agilent release.