11/8. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) released a document [2 pages in PDF] titled "Wireless Content Guidelines". These are guidelines that wireless carriers may voluntarily adopt regarding the classification of wireless content, and limiting access to certain classified content by certain users.

The CTIA stated in a release that this "is intended to give consumers, particularly parents, the ability to limit what Internet content can be accessed through their family's wireless devices."

The document states that signing companies "agree to classify Carrier Content in a minimum of two classifications: (1) Generally Accessible Carrier Content that is available to consumers of all ages; and (2) Restricted Carrier Content accessible only to consumers age 18 years and older or to a consumer less than 18 years of age when specifically authorized by a parent or guardian."

It states that "Restricted Carrier Content" includes "lotteries, gambling, or material that is excessively violent or sexually explicit".

It states also that signing companies "will not provide Restricted Carrier Content until the carrier has deployed controls that can restrict access to such content", and "If a participating wireless carrier offers Restricted Carrier Content, the carrier will restrict, or provide controls that restrict the consumer’s access to such content based on the content classification standard."

This document states little about the "content classification standard". It does provide that this "content classification standards ... will be based on, or use, existing classification criteria established and maintained by third party entities not affiliated with the carriers."

The CTIA did not disclose which companies have signed this document.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy (at right) praised the CTIA in a statement [PDF]. She wrote that "This voluntary program ultimately will provide wireless carriers and their customers with the information and means to limit children's access to the potentially objectionable material that is increasingly available on Internet-enabled wireless handsets. Although advanced technology provides new and improved opportunities to manage our lives and educate our children, in some instances it can also make the already-challenging job of parenting even more difficult. The voluntary initiative announced today by CTIA demonstrates that the wireless industry appreciates these challenges and is willing to better empower parents."

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein wrote in a statement [PDF] that "This industry effort should really help families who rely on their cellphones but do not want their children inadvertently exposed to adult material."

11/7. Chris Cox, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), gave a speech in Tokyo, Japan, at the 12th XBRL International Conference. He discussed the SEC's progress towards, and benefits of,  accommodating interactive data in corporate reporting. He said that "every appointment I make as Chairman will be consistent with this vision of tapping the possibilities of interactive data".

The SEC adopted  rule changes on February 3, 2005 that established its XBRL Voluntary Program, which provides for the submission to the SEC of XBRL documents as exhibits to certain periodic reports and investment company act filings. See also, SEC release summarizing its rule changes.

XBRL is an acronym for "eXtensible Business Reporting Language". The SEC states in a summary of XBRL that "Interactive data relies on standard definitions to ``tag´´ various kinds of information, turning SEC financial reports that have previously been text-only into documents that can be retrieved through computer searches, and analyzed in a variety of spreadsheet programs and analytical software. The data can also be more readily used to compare companies' financial performance, and better identify ``outliers´´ that could represent attractive investment opportunities -- or increased risk of misstatements or fraud."

Chairman Cox (at left) discussed advances in information technology, XBRL, and the use of interactive data in corporate disclosure and financial reporting.

"Technology is fueling a radical change in the way that business and individuals receive, process, and interact with data. It's high time that the SEC's financial reporting caught up with the information revolution", said Cox. "In the global business environment of the 21st century, people and firms need to communicate 24/7. They need to find seamless ways to accommodate different reporting systems, different languages, and different regulatory environments. Not just businesses and regulators, but investors, too, want faster access to more and better information than ever before."

Cox pointed out that the SEC's EDGAR system "has become out of date. It's essentially the same now as it was a decade ago."

He said that the XBRL Voluntary Program "was designed to encourage all of the participants to help us assess the potential for using interactive data both within and outside the Commission. For our registrants, it's an opportunity to explore the costs and benefits of using interactive data. They're helping us understand the impact of using XBRL on their financial reporting systems, and on their internal financial controls and processes. We're also learning how XBRL can help companies communicate with their shareholders and the markets generally."

"In the months ahead, I expect that investors and analysts will continue to pilot the use of interactive data applications. That will help us assess how this new flexible format might help them to improve their own analyses and decisions."

He added that "For software providers and other technology providers, this is an opportunity to showcase the capabilities of XBRL and interactive data and tangibly demonstrate the impact to the aforementioned parties. For the SEC, this is our opportunity to assess how the use of interactive data can help us improve our internal review of information, and how it can help us make it available in more useful form to the public."

Cox also discussed the use of interactive data in the context of differing accounting standards. He said that "The global debates over the "right" way to do accounting might never be settled. We may never have a global accounting Esperanto. But if the development of taxonomies for data tagging progresses sufficiently, some day in the future it may well be possible for the users of financial information to render it according to any accounting regime they choose: US GAAP, IFRS, or any other system."

He stated that "Instead of being forced to resolve genuinely difficult financial issues on a Procrustean bed of arbitrary rules which don't suit the user's analytical purpose, accountants, analysts and investors around the world could all view that information from multiple perspectives."

Cox spoke at a conference in Japan. He noted that "XBRL has already received significant support from the Japanese government. In fact, as many of you know, the Bank of Japan plans to implement a voluntary XBRL filing program for over 500 regulated entities, possibly as early as next January. In addition, the counterpart of the SEC in Japan -- the Financial Services Agency -- has already formed a committee to accelerate the use of XBRL in financial disclosure. The FSA anticipates introducing an XBRL-based filing system for financial statements in the near future. The SEC and the FSA have a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding that permits us to partner on issues such as this, and so I expect that Japan's experiences using XBRL will form an important part of our dialogue in the months ahead." See also, XBRL Japan. (This is in Japanese. See, Google's Translate page.)

See also, the IASB's web site on XBRL.

11/8. The U.S. Court of Appeals (10thCir) issued its opinion in In Re Universal Service Fund Telephone Billing Practice Litigation. It dismissed this appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

This case is class action litigation involving the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) program. The plaintiffs filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court (DKan) against defendants, AT&T and Sprint, alleging that they conspired among themselves and with MCI WorldCom to recover funds from the USF program in violation of the Communications Act, at 47 U.S.C. §§ 201 and 202, the Clayton Act, at 15 U.S.C. §§ 15 and 26, and the Sherman Act, at 15 U.S.C. § 1.

The District Court compelled arbitration of the claims of the plaintiffs who are residential customers of MCI WorldCom, pursuant to a written arbitration agreement.

The defendants also moved, in the absence of an applicable arbitration agreement, to compel arbitration of the claims of the plaintiffs who are business customers of MCI WorldCom, and to stay the litigation pending the outcome of that arbitration. The District Court denied this request for mandatory arbitration and stay. Its opinion is reported at 320 F. Supp. 2d 1135.

A&T and Sprint then filed this interlocutory appeal.

The Court of Appeals did not reach the merits of the appeal. It held that it lacks jurisdiction to hear this appeal. The order at issue is not a final decision.

AT&T and Sprint argued that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), at 9 U.S.C. § 16(a)(1)(A) and (B), gives the Court of Appeals jurisdiction to hear this appeal.

The Court of Appeals wrote that while the FAA provides for interlocutory appeals of denials of motions for mandatory arbitration and stays, these provisions of the FAA only apply where there is an underlying arbitration agreement. And, the Court of Appeals concluded that since "none exists", there is no jurisdiction under the FAA.

Mark Hinderks of the law firm of Stinson Morrison Hecker represents Sprint. Michael Doss of Sidley Austin represents AT&T.

This case is In Re Universal Service Fund Telephone Billing Practice Litigation, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, App. Ct. No. 04-3241, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, D.C. No. 02-MD-1468-JWL. Judge Porfilio wrote the opinion of the Court of Appeals, in which Judges Ebel and Herrera joined.

11/8. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice in the Federal Register that names the eight members of the USPTO's Performance Review Board. The members are Stephen Pinkos (Deputy Director), Vickers Meadows (Chief Administrative Officer), John Doll (Commissioner for Patents), Lynne Beresford (Commissioner for Trademarks), David Freeland (Chief Information Officer), James Toupin (General Counsel), Lois Boland (Director of International Relations), and Howard Goldberg (acting Chief Financial Officer). See, Federal Register, November 8, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 215, at Pages 67672 - 67673.

11/4. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced its selection of four slates of nominees for four ICANN bodies: the Board of Directors, the Council of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), the Council of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) and the Interim At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC). See, ICANN release.

11/7. Peter Mandelson, the European Commissioner for Trade, gave a speech in Brussels, Belgium, in which he discussed progress in the Doha Development Agenda talks. He said, "To be precise, the US does not think our market access offer in agriculture is enough to persuade Congress to slash domestic support. Also, it does not go far enough for Brazil, although half of the G20 like the level we have aimed at, while the G90 would be worried if we went further because of preference erosion." He added that "The overall objective is to arrive at a situation where we have, by later this week, or sometime the week after, a first blueprint for HK. Achieving it this week will be a tall order, and unlikely."

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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 S 1042, the "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006".

8:00 - 11:30 AM. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy (DCPEP) and Office of Patent Legal Administration (OPLA) will host an event titled "Rules Customer Partnership Meeting". See, notice [PDF] Location: Madison Auditorium,  600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA.

9:00 AM. Day one of a two day partially closed meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee. The agenda of the public portion of the meeting includes "1. Microprocessor Roadmap Update. 2. Update on BIS programs and activities. 3. Quantum Computing. 4. First Annual HPC Review. 5. InfiniBand Technology and the EAR. 6. Industry proposal to change 4A3g. 7. Network Performance discussions. 8. China ``catch all´´ August 9, 2005 Regulation." See, notice in the Federal Register, October 25, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 205, at Page 61601. The BIS did not disclose the agenda of the closed portion of the meeting. Location: DOC, Room 3884, 14th Street between Constitution and Pennsylvania Aves., NW.

9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) may hold a hearing titled "Cameras in the Courtroom". The SJC frequently cancels of postpones meetings without notice. See, notice. Press contact: Blain Rethmeier (Specter) at 202 224-5225, David Carle (Leahy) at 202 224-4242 or Tracy Schmaler (Leahy) at 202 224-2154. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) will meet to mark up several bills, including HR 2791, the "United States Patent and Trademark Fee Modernization Act of 2005". See, notice. The meeting will be webcast by the HJC. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "Staff discussion draft of legislation to create a statutory framework for Internet Protocol and Broadband Services". The witnesses will be James Ellis (SBC Communications), Tim Krause (Alcatel North America), Paul Mitchell (Microsoft TV Division), Christopher Putala (EarthLink), Wayne Rehberger (XO Communications), Edward Salas (Verizon Wireless), Michael Willner (Insight Communications), James Yager (National Association of Broadcasters), Joel Wiginton (Sony Electronics), Frank Bowe (Hofstra University), Harry Haasch (Alliance for Community Media), Gene Kimmelman (Consumers Union), Diane Munns (Iowa State Utilities Board, on behalf of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners), Marilyn Praisner (Montgomery County Council, on behalf of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors), and Delbert Wilson (Industry Telephone Company). See, notice. The hearing will be webcast by the HCC. Press contact: Larry Neal (Barton) at 202 225-5735,  or Sean Bonyun (Upton) at 202 225-3761. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Finance Committee will hold a business meeting to to review and make recommendations on proposed legislation implementing the United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement. See, notice. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Financial Services Committee's (HFSC) Subcommittee on Financial Institutions will hold a hearing on HR 3997, the "Financial Data Protection Act of 2005". See, notice. Location: Room 2128, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in IP Innovation v. eCollege.com, No. 04-1571. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Computervision Corp. v. US, No. 05-5014. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Enforcement Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Meet the Enforcement Bureau Chief, Kris Monteith". RSVP to Margaret Davis at margaret dot davis at wilmerhale dot com. Location: Wilmer Hale, 1801 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar titled "Secrets of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act". The speaker will be Milton Babirak (Babirak Vangellow & Carr). The price to attend ranges from $70-$125. For more information, call 202-626-3488. See, notice. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 Level.

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

9:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Pulver.com will host a one day conference titled "Peripheral Visionaries' IP-Based Communications Summit". See, conference web site. Location: Washington Plaza Hotel.

9:00 AM - 2:00 PM. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will host an event titled "Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Summit: STOPing the Fakes". The scheduled speakers include Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (Attorney General), Carlos Gutierrez (Secretary of Commerce), Thomas Donohue (Chamber), Suzanne Clark (Chamber), Edward DeGraan (Gillette Company), Mitch Bainwol ( Recording Industry Association of America), David Israelite (National Music Publishers Association), Robert Holleyman (Business Software Alliance), and Dan Glickman (Motion Picture Association of America). The Chamber states that "Credentialed members of the media are invited to attend." See, notice. For more information, contact Scott Eisner at 202 463-5500 or ncfevents at uschamber dot com. The price to attend ranges from free to $195. Location: Grand Hyatt Hotel, 1000 H St., NW.

9:00 AM. Day two of a two day partially closed meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee. The agenda of the public portion of the meeting includes "1. Microprocessor Roadmap Update. 2. Update on BIS programs and activities. 3. Quantum Computing. 4. First Annual HPC Review. 5. InfiniBand Technology and the EAR. 6. Industry proposal to change 4A3g. 7. Network Performance discussions. 8. China ``catch all´´ August 9, 2005 Regulation." See, notice in the Federal Register, October 25, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 205, at Page 61601. The BIS did not disclose the agenda of the closed portion of the meeting. Location: DOC, Room 3884, 14th Street between Constitution and Pennsylvania Aves., NW.

9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) may hold an executive business meeting. The SJC frequently cancels of postpones meetings without notice. See, notice. Press contact: Blain Rethmeier (Specter) at 202 224-5225, David Carle (Leahy) at 202 224-4242 or Tracy Schmaler (Leahy) at 202 224-2154. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Financial Services Committee's Oversight and Domestic & International Subcommittees will hold a hearing titled "Oversight of the Export-Import Bank of the United States". Location: Room 2128, Rayburn Building.

10:00 PM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in SightSound Technologies v. Rozio, No. 05-1277. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Department of State's (DOS) International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will meet to prepare for meetings of the ITU-D Telecommunication Development Advisory Group (TDAG). See, notice in the Federal Register, October 26, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 206, at Page 61876. Location: DOS, Harry Truman Building, Room 2533A.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a panel discussion titled "Managing Your Information Technology Needs". The speakers will include Marc Mayerson (Spriggs & Hollingsworth) and Conrad Jacoby (Potomac Consulting Group). The price to attend ranges from $15-$25. For more information, call 202 626-3463. See, notice. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 Level.

12:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Professional Responsibility Committee will host a brown bag lunch to consider a recommendation to the FCBA Executive Committee. RSVP to Tina Screven at escreven at wbklaw dot com. Location: Wilkinson Barker Knauer, 2400 N Street, NW, 7th Floor.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar titled "Practical Tips for Appellate Litigation and FCC Advocacy". Location: Wiley Rein & Fielding, 1776 K Street, NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding closed captioning rules for video programming. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 26, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 185, at Pages 56150-56157. This NPRM is FCC 05-142 in CG Docket No. 05-231.

Veterans' Day.

There will be no issue of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert.

The House may meet. See, Republican Whip Notice.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other federal offices will be closed for Veterans' Day. See, Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) list of federal holidays.

9:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day one of a four day closed meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 25, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 205, at Page 61606. Location: NIST, Administration Building, Room A1038, Gaithersburg, MD.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in Virgin Islands Telephone Corporation v. FCC, No. 04-1352. Judges Sentelle, Randolph and Rogers will preside. Location: Prettyman Courthouse, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

12:00 NOON. Peter Swire (Ohio State University law school) will deliver a paper titled "Security Market: Competitive and Security Incentives for Disclosure of Data". This event is a part of the George Washington University Law School's (GWULS) intellectual property workshop series. RSVP by Tuesday, November 8, to Rosalie Kouassi at rkouassi at law dot gwu dot edu. Location: GWULS, Faculty Conference Center, 5th Floor Burns, 716 20th St., NW.

Effective date of the order portion of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) that provides that facilities based broadband service providers and interconnected VOIP providers are subject to requirements under the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). See, notice in the Federal Register, October 13, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 197, at Pages 59664 - 59675. The FCC adopted, but did not release, this item at its August 5, 2005, meeting. See, story titled "FCC Amends CALEA Statute" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,191, August 9, 2005. The FCC released the text [59 pages in PDF] of this item on September 23, 2005. It is FCC 05-153 in ET Docket No. 04-295 and RM-10865.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) portion of the Order and FNPRM that provides that facilities based broadband service providers and interconnected VOIP providers are subject to requirements under the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). See, public notice [2 pages in PDF] and notice in the Federal Register, October 13, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 197, at Pages 59704 - 59710. The FCC adopted, but did not release, this item at its August 5, 2005, meeting. See, story titled "FCC Amends CALEA Statute" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,191, August 9, 2005. The FCC released the text [59 pages in PDF] of this item on September 23, 2005. It is FCC 05-153 in ET Docket No. 04-295 and RM-10865.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding amending the FCC's amateur radio service rules to eliminate the requirement that individuals pass a telegraphy examination in order to qualify for any amateur radio operator license. This NPRM is FCC 05-143 in WT Docket No. 05-235. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 31, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 168, at Pages 51705 - 51707.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding eliminating Part 23 of the FCC's rules governing International Fixed Public Radiocommunication Services (IFPRS), and instead regulate IFPRS pursuant to Part 101. This NPRM is FCC 05-130 in IB Docket No. 05-216. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 28, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 187, at Pages 56620 - 56621.

9:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day two of a four day closed meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 25, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 205, at Page 61606. Location: NIST, Administration Building, Room A1038, Gaithersburg, MD.

10:00 AM. The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on the nomination of Ben Bernanke to be Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. See, notice. Location: Room 106, Dirksen Building.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Cable Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Regulatory Issues & Developments". The speaker will be the FCC's Catherine Bohigian. For more information, contact Quyen Truong at ttruong at dowlohnes dot com or 202 776-2058. Location: Dow Lohnes & Albertson, 1200 New Hampshire Ave., NW, Suite 800.

2:00 PM. The House Financial Services Committee's Domestic & International Subcommittee will hold a hearing titled "Increasing Efficiency and Economic Growth Through Trade in Financial Services". Location: Room 2128, Rayburn Building.

4:00 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property will hold a hearing titled "Federal Jurisdiction Clarification Act". The hearing will be webcast by the HJC. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

6:00 - 9:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar titled "Privacy in Today’s Workplace". The speakers will be Charles Henter (Henter Law Group), Lawrence Greenberg (The Motley Fool, Inc.), and Gerard Stegmaier (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati). The price to attend ranges from $70-$125. For more information, call 202-626-3488. See, notice. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 Level.

Deadline to submit to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) proposals for issues and speakers for its forum on the draft Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT). See, WIPO notice.

Effective date of the Copyright Office (CO) interim regulations promulgated pursuant to the Artists' Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2005 (ART Act) governing the preregistration of unpublished works that are being prepared for commercial distribution in classes of works that the Register of Copyrights has determined have had a history of pre-release infringement. Also, the CO's online preregistration system will commence operation on November 15. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 27, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 207, at Pages 61905 - 61908.

9:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day three of a four day closed meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 25, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 205, at Page 61606. Location: NIST, Administration Building, Room A1038, Gaithersburg, MD.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a panel discussion titled "Regulatory and Economic Implications of Delivery of Video Via IP Technology: Burdens, Barriers, and Costs of Doing Business". The speakers will include Brent Olson (SBC Services), Michael Schooler (National Cable & Telecommunications Association), David Young (Verizon), and Ryan Wallach (Willkie Farr & Gallagher). The price to attend ranges from $15-$30. For more information, call 202 626-3463. See, notice. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 Level.

9:00 AM - 1:30 PM. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will host an event titled "Erosion of the Attorney-Client Privilege: What Does the Future Hold?". See, notice. Location: __.

2:00 - 3:00 PM. The Department of State's (DOS) International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will meet to prepare for meetings of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy (OECD/ICCP) Working Parties ITU-D Telecommunication Development Advisory Group (TDAG). See, notice in the Federal Register, October 26, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 206, at Page 61876. Location: DOS, Harry Truman Building, Room 2533A.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar titled "Negotiating Telecommunications Service Agreements for Enterprise Clients". Location: __.

Effective date of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) rules adopted in its Report and Order (R&O) and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) of August 5, 2005. The R&O classified wireline broadband internet access services as information services. The NPRM proposes to impose new regulatory burdens on information services. This item is FCC 05-150 in WC Docket No. 05-271, CC Docket No. 02-33, CC Docket No. 01-337, CC Docket Nos. 95-20 and 98-10, and WC Docket No. 04-242. See, story titled "FCC Classifies DSL as Information Service" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,190, August 8, 2005. The FCC released the text [133 pages in PDF] of this item on September 23, 2005. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 17, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 199, at Pages 60222 - 60234.

Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) regarding significant barriers to U.S. exports of goods, services and overseas direct investment, to assist the USTR in preparing the annual National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE). See, notice in the Federal Register, September 20, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 181, at Pages 55204 - 55205.