11/19. The House passed HR 3140, the "Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act", by a vote of 406-12. See, Roll Call No. 644.

The bill does not reference the internet. However, it would remove some barriers to the sale of contact lenses over the internet. For example, it would require that ophthalmologists and optometrists release contact lens prescriptions to their patients and verify contact lens prescriptions for internet sellers and other third parties.

The bill was introduced on September 23, 2003 by Rep. Richard Burr (R-NC). An earlier version of the bill, HR 2221, also titled the "Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act", was introduced on May 22, 2003 by Rep. Burr. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection held a hearing on September 9, 2003. The Subcommittee approved the bill on September 24, and the full Committee approved it on October 1, 2003.

See also, story titled "Bill Would Facilitate Internet Sale of Replacement Contact Lenses" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 669, May 29, 2003; and story titled "House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Contact Lens Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 736, September 10, 2003.

11/18. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell gave a speech [2 pages in PDF] in Washington DC regarding number portability.

He stated that "In seven days, consumers will be able to enjoy new freedom in their phone service. Freedom to choose among cellular providers and keep their phone number, and Freedom to choose whether to cut the cord entirely and move their wired phone number to their wireless phone."

On November 10, the FCC announced and released a Memorandum Opinion and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [35 pages in PDF] regarding local number portability (LNP). This item states that "We find that porting from a wireline carrier to a wireless carrier is required where the requesting wireless carrier's ``coverage area´´ overlaps the geographic location in which the customer's wireline number is provisioned, provided that the porting-in carrier maintains the number’s original rate center designation following the port." It also states that "wireline carriers may not require wireless carriers to enter into interconnection agreements as a precondition to porting between the carriers." This is FCC 03-284 in CC Docket No. 95-116. See, story titled "FCC Releases LNP Order That Addresses Wireline to Wireless" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 776, November 11, 2003.

On October 7, 2003, the FCC issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order (MOO) [PDF] in its proceeding titled "In the Matter of Telephone Number Portability -- Carrier Requests for Clarification of Wireless-Wireless Porting Issues". This MOO addressed wireless to wireless, but not wireless to wireline, LNP issues. See, story titled "FCC Issues LNP Order" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 756, October 9, 2003. This is FCC 03-237, in CC Docket No. 95-116.

Steve Largent, P/CEO of Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) stated in a release that "Chairman Powell is right on the mark -- competition brings consumers lower prices, better quality, and more innovation ... Wireless competition has delivered for wireless consumers, and wireline consumers expect and deserve the same benefits. It's a simple matter of allowing competition into the marketplace to serve consumers better. Consumers should be able to take their phone numbers from wireless to wireless, from wireline to wireless, and vice versa."

Meanwhile, United States Telecom Association (USTA) and CenturyTel filed a petition [17 pages in PDF] with the FCC on November 18 seeking a stay of the FCC's order of November 10.

The petitioners write that "The Commission's decision to require wireline local exchange carriers ("LECs") to port numbers to any wireless carrier that provides service in the customer's rate center -- even if the wireless carrier lacks any numbering resources or point of interconnection in that rate center -- was procedurally improper and substantively inequitable."

Walter McCormick, P/CEO of the USTA, stated in a release that the FCC's "piecemeal approach to intermodal number portability will lead to negative consequences for carriers and their customers". He continued that "Real competition is a two-way street. This is government-managed competition at its worst ... These rules place the FCC in the role of ‘traffic cop,’ directing consumers away from wireline companies and toward wireless ones. Consumers don't have a real choice to move in the opposite direction, which means local telecommunications companies don't have the opportunity to compete on an equal footing for their business. This is a victory for regulatory favoritism rather than head-to-head competition."

The USTA release adds that if the FCC does not grant a stay, then the USTA "will ask the courts to intervene on behalf of regulatory parity and real consumer choice."

11/19. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing titled "Cybersecurity & Consumer Data: What's at Risk for the Consumer?".

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Orson Swindle wrote in his prepared testimony that the FTC "has sought to address concerns about the security of our nation's computer systems through a combined approach that stresses the education of businesses, consumers, and government agencies about the fundamental importance of good security practices; law enforcement actions; and international cooperation." He added that "In the information security matters, our enforcement tools derive from Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deception acts or practices, and the Commission's Gramm-Leach-Bliley Safeguard Rule".

Scott Charney, Microsoft's Chief Trustworthy Computing Strategist, wrote in his prepared testimony that the government should do several things. He stated that "law enforcement should receive additional resources, personnel, and equipment in order to investigate and prosecute cyber crimes. We also support tough penalties on criminal hackers, such as forfeiture of personal property used in committing these crimes."

He also stated that the "public sector should increase its support for basic research in technology and should maintain its traditional support for transferring the results of federally-funded R&D under permissive licenses to the private sector so that all industry participants can further develop the technology and commercialize it to help make all software more secure."

He also advocated greater cross-jurisdictional cooperation among law enforcement agencies, reduced barriers to the exchange of information, and government leading by example.

Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA) advocated passage of HR 2929, the "Safeguard Against Privacy Invasions Act", which she introduced on July 25, 2003 along with Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY). This bill would prohibit the distribution of certain spyware programs over the internet without notice and consent. See, story titled "Rep. Bono Introduces Spyware Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 706, July 29, 2003.

She stated that this bill "would help prevent Internet spying by requiring spyware entities to inform computer users of the presence of such software, the nature of spyware, and its intended function.  Moreover, before downloading such software, spyware companies would first have to obtain permission from the computer user."
 

She continued that "This is a very basic concept. The PC has become our new town square and global market as well as our private database. If a consumer downloads software that can monitor the information shared during transactions, for the sake of the consumer as well as e-commerce, it is imperative that the consumer be informed of whom he or she is inviting into their computer and what he or she is capable of. After being informed, the consumer should have the chance to decide whether to continue with the download."

Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), the Chairman of the full Committee, issued a statement in which he wrote that "The public needs to be better educated about anti-virus software and personal firewalls for their home computers, as well as the insidious 'SpyWare' technology that can monitor individuals' computers and their actions on the Internet.  I know the gentlelady from California, Ms. Bono, has introduced a bill -- H.R. 2929, 'The Safeguard Against Privacy Invasions Act" -- that attempts to deal with this concern, and I look forward to working with her on the bill to try to prevent these intrusions."

See also, prepared testimony of Howard Schmidt (eBay), prepared testimony of David Morrow (EDS), prepared testimony of Mary Ann Davidson (Oracle), prepared testimony of Joseph Ansanelli (Vent, Inc.), prepared testimony of Daniel Burton (Entrust Technologies), and prepared testimony of Roger Thompson (PestPatrol, Inc.).

11/18. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced HR 3511 [PDF], the "Video Programming Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2003". See also, Markey statement [PDF].

11/19. The House Judiciary Committee held an oversight hearing titled "Saving the Savings Clause: Congressional Intent, the Trinko Case, and the Role of the Antitrust Laws in Promoting Competition in the Telecom Sector". See, prepared testimony in PDF of witnesses: Hewitt Pate (Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division), Alfred Pfeiffer (Association for Local Telecommunications Services and the Competitive Telecommunications Association), John Thorne (Verizon), and Christopher Wright (Harris Wiltshire & Grannis). See also, TLJ story titled "Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in Verizon v. Trinko", March 10, 2003. The Supreme Court has heard oral argument, but not released its opinion, in this case.

11/19. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet held a hearing titled "Digital Dividends and Other Proposals to Leverage Investment in Technology". See, prepared statement [2 pages in PDF] of Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee, and the sponsor of HR 1396, the "Spectrum Commons and Digital Dividends Act of 2003". See also, prepared testimony of witnesses: Newton Minow (Sidley Austin Brown & Wood), Eamon Kelly (Tulane University), James Welbourne (New Haven Free Public Library System), and Ginger Lew (Telecommunications Development Fund).

This is the third article in a series on innovation and public policy. See also, story titled "Nature and Causes Innovation, and the Implications for Public Policy", November 18, 2003, and story titled "Bush Says Liberty Creates Innovation Which Creates Wealth", November 18, 2003. The first 16 paragraphs of this 57 paragraph article are below. The entire article is published in the TLJ web site.

11/19. One common denominator of many of the recent speeches, papers, and reports about innovation and public policy is that the speakers and writers often refer to historical support for their arguments. However, while it is common to state that history supports this or that proposition, very few cite any historical facts, let alone historical works.

Now, along comes veteran conservative controversialist Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) with a book that is a history of innovators. It is titled Human Accomplishment: the Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950. The book was released on October 21. It is 688 pages, with a substantial index, bibliography, endnotes, and appendices. Statistically minded readers will revel in his tables, graphs, and multivariate regression analysis results.

It is quantitative study. He identifies the leading 4,000 innovators over the last three thousand years, and assigns scores indicating the extent of their contributions. He also collected data on such things as when they lived, where they lived, and what were some of the surrounding circumstances in which they lived.

Murray (at right) finds that "At irregular times and in scattered settings, human beings have achieved great things. They have discovered truths about the workings of the physical world, invented wondrous devices, combined sounds and colors in ways that touch our deepest emotions, and arranged words in ways that illuminate the mysteries of the human condition."

Having found that innovation occurs at irregular times and in scattered settings, Murray then makes some significant strides, through empirical analysis, towards identifying some conditions that have been conducive to innovation and accomplishment, and others that have not. Since some of these conditions, such as individual freedom and the presence of elite universities, can be either advanced or limited by governments, the book has public policy implications. Although, Murray asserted at a lecture at the AEI on October 27 that the book "has no apparent public policy ramifications".

Murray's methodology is to quantify human accomplishment in many of the sciences, technology, art, and literature over a nearly three millennium period (800 B.C. through 1950) by resorting to what others have written about these fields. He developed a huge database of significant figures (scientists, inventors, artists, writers, and others) and significant events. He did not compile the lists based on his own subjective assessments. Rather, he used a reputational approach. That is, he collected leading encyclopedias, histories and surveys, and looked to see who got mentioned, and by how many sources. He also considered how many pages were devoted to each innovator or creator (he calls them "significant figures") in these sources. Based on this data, he calculated scores, on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the maximum possible.

For example, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein both attain the maximum possible score of 100 in the field of physics. Leonhard Euler scores 100 in mathematics, James Watt and Thomas Edison both score 100 in technology.

He has tables in the book listing the top twenty in each field. The rest of the significant figures are listed in appendices at the end of the book. Since his study only examines significant figures through 1950, most information technology innovators are missing from the book. However, Johan Gutenberg, famous for his printing press, just misses the top twenty in technology with a score of 23, and has to settle for a listing in the appendix. Charles Babbage, who worked on his "Difference Engine", makes the top twenty in technology, at 11th place, with a score of 33 out of 100. Guglielmo Marconi is 6th in the field of technology with a score of 50. John Von Neumann, who developed the structure of digital computers, nearly makes Murray's top twenty lists in both mathematics and technology. Vannevar Bush, author of "As We May Think", scores a respectable 16 in technology.

Readers may look at the lists in this book and conclude that some people are overrated, while others are underrated. Nevertheless, these scores and rankings reflect combined opinions of a large number of encyclopediaists and historians who have studied the various fields covered by the book. For example, Murray consulted 17 sources on technology.

Murray also collected data for a large number of other variables, such place of birth, date of birth, where these individuals grew up, where they worked, and the dates when they flourished. He also collected data on such factors as the political system of the various locations of these individuals, economic growth, whether there was an elite or other university nearby, whether there was war or domestic turmoil, and other variables.

In short, whatever the shortcomings of his methodology might be, he has amassed an amazing body of data that one might use test various hypotheses regarding what leads to innovation, and what does not.

He then goes on to conduct some useful statistical analysis. Unfortunately, he leaves untested many testable hypotheses that might be relevant to many public policy debates today.

Then midway through the book he argues that the rate of accomplishment has been on a steady decline for over century, including in science and technology. Actually, his raw data does not demonstrate this -- he manipulates his data. Finally, he argues that the reason for this decline has to do with religion, transcendental goods, and the values espoused by Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics. Whatever the merits of this section of the book might be, it is of little relevance public policy debates regarding promoting innovation.

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

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM. It will resume consideration of the conference report to accompany HR 6, the Energy Policy Act.

8:00 AM - 5:30 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST), Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award will hold the third day of a four day closed meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 27, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 207, at Pages 61189 - 61190. Location: NIST, Building 222, Red Training Room, Gaithersburg, MD.

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) will hold a meeting. See, notice and agenda [4 pages in PDF] and notice in the Federal Register, October 31, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 211, at Pages 62078 - 62079. The FCC has stated that the start time is 8:30 AM. Location: FCC, Room TW-C305, 445 12th Street, SW.

8:30 AM. The Computing Research Association and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) will hold a press conference on "Cyber Security Research and Development". The speakers will be Eugene Spafford (Purdue University), Annie Antón (North Carolina State University), Dan Geer (security consultant), Susan Landau (Sun Microsystems), and John Richardson (Intel). For more information, contact Carla Romero at 234-2111 x 107. Breakfast will be served. Location: Holeman Lounge, National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor.

9:00 AM. Day two of a two day meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee. This meeting will be partially closed. See, notice in the Federal Register, November 3, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 212, at Pages 62279. Location: DOC, Hoover Building, 14th Street Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, Room 3884.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in CA Metro Mobile Communications v. FCC, No. 02-1370. Judges Sentelle, Henderson and Garland will preside. Location: Courtroom 20, 333 Constitution Ave. NW.

9:45 - 11:00 AM. The Republican Technology Council (RTC) will host an event titled "Stock Options; To Expense or Not". The speakers will include Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY). RSVP to David Miller at 202 467-0045 or Miller@fedgovlink.com. Location: American Gas Association, 400 North Capitol St., NW, 4th Floor.

10:30 to 11:30 AM. Dane Snowden, Chief of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, will hold a media briefing on consumer issues, including the soon-to-be implemented wireless local number portability rules. Location: Conference Room 5, 8th floor, FCC Headquarters, 445 12th St., SW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee will host a panel discussion titled "Internet in Asia: Is the US Falling Behind?". The speakers will include Motohiro Tsuchiya (Senior Research Fellow, Center for Global Communications, International University of Japan), Yasu Taniwaki (Economic Counselor and Telecom Attaché, Embassy of Japan) and Jonas Neihardt (VP for Federal Government Affairs, Qualcomm). Lunch will be served. RSVP to rsvp@netcaucus.org or 202-638-4370. Location: Room HC-5, Capitol Building.

12:00 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Technology Administration (TA) will hold a luncheon briefing on the just released report [105 pages in PDF] titled "Federal Laboratories in Practices Contributing to Economic Development". Assistant Secretary Bruce Mehlman will speak. See, notice. RSVP to Sophia Norris at norriss@asme.org or 202 785-3756. Location: Room B-338, Rayburn Building.

6:00 - 9:15 PM. The D.C. Bar Association will host a CLE course titled "How to Litigate an Intellectual Property Case Series: Part 1 How to Litigate a Patent Case". Prices vary. For more information, call 202 626-3488. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 level.

3:30 PM. Neil Netanel (University of Texas Law School) will give a lecture titled "Copyright and First Amendment: Eldred v. Ashcroft and Beyond". See, Supreme Court opinion [89 pages in PDF], and TLJ story titled "Supreme Court Upholds CTEA in Eldred v. Ashcroft", January 15, 2003. This is a part of Georgetown University Law Center's (GULC) Colloquium on Intellectual Property & Technology Law Series. For more information, contact Julie Cohen at 202 662-9871. Location: GULC, Faculty Lounge, 5th Floor of McDonough Hall, 600 New Jersey Ave., NW.

TIME? The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a business meeting to consider the nomination of James Loy to be Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.

The House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. The House may take up HR 3140, the "Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act", a bill that would facilitate the sale of contact lenses in electronic commerce. See, Republican Whip notice.

8:00 AM - 3:00 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST), Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award will hold the fourth day of a four day closed meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 27, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 207, at Pages 61189 - 61190. Location: NIST, Building 222, Red Training Room, Gaithersburg, MD.

1:00 PM. The Peter Neumann of the National Committee on Voter Integrity (NCVI) will hold a press conference by conference call regarding the reliability and integrity of electronic voting systems. To participate, call 1 512 225-3050 and enter passcode 65889#. For more information, contact Emily Cadei at 202 483-1140 X 119 or cadei@epic.org.

2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) International Bureau (IB) will host a public meeting "to officially kick off the design phase for planned enhancements to its electronic filing system, IBFS". Location: FCC, 445 12th Street, SW, Room, Room CYB418/511.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) regarding its foreign policy-based export controls. This category includes high performance computers, encryption items, as well as chemical and biological agents, missiles, and "implements of torture". See, notice in the Federal Register, October 21, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 203, at Pages 60050-60052.

The Department of State's (DOS) United States International Telecommunication Advisory Committee, Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITAC-T), will meet electronically from November 21 through November 26, 2003 to comment on and approve normal contributions to the ITU-T Study Group 13 meeting, which will be held February 3-13, 2004. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 31, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 211, at Pages 62158.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates v. FCC, No. 02-1261. Judges Ginsburg, Edwards and Rogers will preside. Location: 333 Constitution Ave. NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee may hold an executive business meeting. Press contact: Margarita Tapia (Hatch) at 202 224-5225 or David Carle (Leahy) at 202 224-4242. Location: Room 226, Dirsksen Building.

2:00 -3:30 PM. The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), the Council for Excellence in Government (CEG) and the American Council for Technology (ACT) will host a public meeting regarding agency drafting of reports on privacy activities under the E-Government Act. The participants will be Eva Kleederman (Office of Management and Budget), Dan Costello (OMB), Frank Reeder (Center for Excellence), Ari Schwartz (CDT), Charlene Thomas (IRS). RSVP to Danielle Wiblemo at dani@cdt.org. Location: Willard Hotel, 1401 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20004, Pierce Room.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Copyright Office (CO) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding notice and recordkeeping for use of sound recordings under statutory license. The CO published a notice in the Federal Register stating that it "is requesting public comment on the adoption of regulations for records of use of sound recordings performed pursuant to the statutory license for public performances of sound recordings by means of digital audio transmissions between October 28, 1998, and the effective date of soon-to-be-announced interim regulations." See, Federal Register: October 8, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 195, at Page 58054.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Standards (BIS), which is also known as the Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) regarding its proposal to amend its rules to "expand the availability of license exceptions for exports and reexports of computer technology and software, and microprocessor technology on the Commerce Control List (CCL) of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) under Export Classification Control Numbers (ECCNs) 3E002, 4D001 and 4E001. These ECCNs control technology and software that can be used for the development, production, or use of computers, and development and production of microprocessors." Comments are due by November 24, 2003. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 24, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 206, at Pages 60891-60895.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) regarding the adequacy of its preparation process for the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRC). The next WRC is in 2007. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 23, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 205, at Pages 60646-60648.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding digital low power television and television translator stations. This is FCC 03-198, in MB Docket No. 03-185. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 26, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 187, at Pages 55566 - 55573.

Deadline to submit nominations to the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Technology Administration (TA) of individuals for appointment to the National Medal of Technology Nomination Evaluation Committee (NMTNEC). The TA states that "Typically, Committee members are present or former Chief Executive Officers, former winners of the National Medal of Technology; presidents or distinguished faculty of universities; or senior executives of non-profit organizations." See, notice in the Federal Register, October 27, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 207, at Page 61190.

Deadline for the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Media Security and Reliability Council (MRSC) to complete voting on recommendations regarding prevention and restoration measures to ensure the continued operation and security of media facilities in the face of a national emergency. These recommendations were presented at the biannual meeting of the MRSC on November 6, 2003. See, FCC release [PDF].

Thanksgiving Day.

11/19. President Bush announced that he intends to designate James Comey to be Acting Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice (DOJ). President Bush previously nominated Comey for this position. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) announced on November 17, 2003 that he has placed a hold on this nomination, for reasons unrelated to Comey. See, White House release.

11/19. Nuala Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), gave a speech at her swearing in ceremony. She stated that "There is no more important role for our federal government than to provide a safe space for our citizens and our visitors -- in both mind and body. ... And I am confident that this mission can be accomplished while respecting the privacy and civil liberties of the individual." She added that "The role of the Department is not only to protect the people and places of this country, it is to protect the liberties and the way of life that make this country great. The protection of privacy, of the dignity of the individual, is not a value that can be added on to this or any other organization later, and that is why I am so pleased to have been here from almost the very beginning. This value is one that must be embedded in the very culture and structure of the organization."

11/17. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its "Report and Order" [62 pages in PDF] regarding additional spectrum for unlicensed wireless devices operating in the 5 GHz region. The FCC announced, but did not release, this order at its November 13 meeting. See, story titled "FCC Adopts Report and Order Providing More Spectrum for Unlicensed Devices" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 779, November 14, 2003. This is FCC 03-287 in ET Docket No. 03-122.

11/17. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its "Report and Order, Order on Reconsideration, and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" [68 pages in PDF] expanding the entities eligible for universal service subsidies for rural health clinics, and expanding the services that qualify for subsidies. The FCC announced, but did not release, this order at its November 13 meeting. See, story titled "FCC Expands Universal Service Support for Rural Clinics and Telemedicine" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 779, November 14, 2003. This is 03-288 in ET Docket No. 02-60.

11/19. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released an Order [16 pages in PDF] in its proceeding titled "In the matter of Petition for Forbearance From E911 Accuracy Standards Imposed On Tier III Carriers For Locating Wireless Subscribers Under Rule Section 20.18(h)" denying a petition filed by twelve small Commercial Mobile Wireless Service (CMRS) carriers requesting forbearance of certain E911 Phase II requirements. This is FCC 03-297 in WT Docket No. 02-377.

11/19. The General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report [15 pages in PDF] titled "Computer-Based Patient Records: Short-Term Progress Made, But Much Work Remains to Achieve A Two-Way Data Exchange Between VA and DOD Health Systems".