3/28. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [45 pages in PDF] titled "Offshoring in Six Human Services Programs: Offshoring Occurs in Most States, Primarily in Customer Service and Software Development".

This study concerns "offshoring in six federally-funded human services programs". The GAO studied the Child Support Enforcement, Food Stamp, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Unemployment Insurance, Pell Grant, and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) programs.

The report states that "Some work is performed offshore in the majority of states for the four federally-funded state-administered programs we reviewed, but no work is performed offshore for the two federally-administered student aid programs."

The report adds that offshoring occured "most frequently in the Food Stamp and TANF programs", but that "expenditures for services performed offshore in the four state-administered programs appear to be relatively small".

Moreover, the report states that the services most frequently performed offshore are "customer service, such as call centers". Hence, little of the report deals with offshoring of software development.

The report also states that "India was by far the most prevalent offshore location, followed by Mexico, but some offshore work was also performed in Canada, Ireland, and Poland."

The report states that state officials reported that the main benefit of offshoring is "lower costs". However, the report also provides anecdotal reports that foreign providers of software programming services sometimes offer specialized skills and quicker turnarounds.

The report offers some examples of software services offshoring. "In South Carolina, the contractor hired to update the state’s system for managing employer taxes is using software programmers in India to develop the new system. In Wisconsin, while the actual software programming was conducted in the United States, the contractors used an offshore help desk to obtain technical assistance in conducting software programming services. In several child support enforcement programs, the software designed for payment machines used in handling the receipt and disbursement of child support payments was created offshore."

3/27. The Institute for Legal Reform published a ranking [PDF] of state judicial systems based on a telephone survey of 1,456 attorneys at large companies. This study was conducted by The Harris Poll for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. See, full report [113 pages in PDF] titled "2006 U.S. Chamber of Commerce State Liability Systems Ranking Study". See also, U.S. Chamber release.

Delaware is ranked 1st overall, Nebraska 2nd, and Virginia is 3rd. Other highly ranked states include Connecticut (5th), Colorado (8th), and North Carolina (10th).

Six of the bottom ten states are in the deep south. Also, California is ranked 44th and Texas is 43rd. The report does not rate or rank federal courts, where much technology related litigation takes place. However, the Eastern District of Texas is held in low regard by many tech sector attorneys.

Harris conducted a telephone survey of a "nationally representative sample of senior attorneys at companies with annual revenues of at least $100 million." There were 1,456 respondents. Although, for any given state the number of respondents was smaller. For example, only 51 provided responses for the state of North Dakota, while 317 provided responses on California.

Harris questioned respondents, and ranked states, in nine categories:
(1) having and enforcing meaningful venue requirements.
(2) tort and contract litigation.
(3) treatment of class action suits and mass consolidation suits.
(4) punitive damages.
(5) timeliness of summary judgment/dismissal.
(6) discovery.
(7) scientific and technical evidence.
(8) non-economic damages.
(9) judges' impartiality and competence.
(10) juries' predictability and fairness.

Maryland is ranked 20th, while this study did not rank the District of Columbia.

New York is ranked 21st, Washington is 28th, Oregon is 30th, Pennsylvania is 31st, Massachusetts is 32nd, and Kentucky is 34th.

Also, while California is ranked near the bottom, the study suggests that there are regional variations within the state. The study states that "In order to understand if there are any cities or counties which might impact a state's ranking, respondents were asked which five cities or counties have the least fair and reasonable litigation environments, a question first asked in 2004. The worst jurisdiction was Los Angeles, California (mentioned by 20% of the respondents)". (Parentheses in original.)

3/29. The Copyright Office (CO) will hold a series of hearings in Washington DC on possible exemptions to the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. See, CO schedule.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibits circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. More specifically, 17 U.S.C. § 1201 provides, in Subsection (a)(1)(A), that "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title ...".

Then, Subsections (a)(1)(B) through (E) provide for rulemaking proceedings conducted by the CO every three years to establish exemptions to the prohibition of (a)(1)(A) for certain non-infringing uses.

The CO is now conducting its third rulemaking on exemptions from the prohibition on circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. The CO has already solicited and received public comments. The CO has published 74 initial comments, and 35 reply comments.

The CO is now holding public hearings. It held a hearing last week in Palo Alto, California. The CO will hold a series of hearings in Washington DC on March 29, March 31, and April 3. All hearings will be in Room LM-649 (Mumford Room), Madison Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave, SE. This building is just to the east of the Cannon House Office Building.

Lists of Blocked URLs. The first hearing will be on Wednesday, March 29, at 1:30 PM. From 1:30 to 3:00 PM, the CO will hear testimony on "Compilations consisting of lists of Internet locations blocked by commercially marketed filtering software applications that are intended to prevent access to domains, websites or portions of websites, but not including lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to protect against damage to a computer or a computer network or lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to prevent receipt of email."

The witnesses will be Jonathan Band and Steven Metalitz.

Band represents the Library Copyright Alliance, which in turn represents the American Association of Law Libraries, the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries, the Medical Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association. He submitted a comment [10 pages in PDF] that addresses this and other proposed exemptions. The members of these groups seek legal authority to circumvent technological measures that control access to copyrighted works, to enable them to copy other people's works.

Steven Metalitz represents people who create things and companies that hold copyrights and distribute content. They seek copyright protection, and anti-circumvention protection from copiers. He submitted a lengthy reply comment [54 pages in PDF] that responds to numerous proposed exemptions.

He represents, among others, the American Association of Publishers (AAP), American Society of Media Photographers, Authors Guild, Business Software Alliance (BSA), Entertainment Software Association (ESA), Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA). Metalitz is also SVP of the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA).

Certain E-Books. From 3:15 - 4:45 PM on March 29, the CO will hear testimony on "Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling of the ebook's read-aloud function and that prevent the enabling of screen readers to render the text into a specialized format." (Parentheses in original.)

The witnesses will be Mark Richert (American Foundation for the Blind), Jonathan Band (Library Copyright Alliance), and Steven Metalitz (creators and owners).

See, comment [PDF] of Richert (AFB) and Michael Richards and Joseph DiScipio (Fletcher Heald & Hildreth).

Exploitation of Security Vulnerabilities. On Friday, March 31, from 9:30 to 11:30 AM, the CO will hear testimony on sound recordings and audiovisual works "distributed in compact disc format and protected by technological protection measures that impede access to lawfully purchased works by creating or exploiting security vulnerabilities that compromise the security of personal computers."

This is the Sony BMG rootkit exemption. See, stories titled "Texas Sues Sony BMG Alleging Violation of Texas Spyware Statute" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,258, November 22, 2005, and "Texas Amends Spyware Complaint Against Sony BMG" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,280, December 29, 2005.

The witnesses will be Deidre Mulligan (Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic), Edward Felten (Princeton University), Matthew Schruers (Computer and Communication Industry Association and Open Source and Industry Alliance), Jay Sulzberger (New Yorkers for Fair Use), Steven Metalitz (creators and owners), and Megan Carney.

Mulligan and Felton wrote in their comment [13 pages in PDF] that "The creation of security vulnerabilities includes running or installing rootkits or other software code that jeopardize the security of a computer or the data it contains. The exploitation of security vulnerabilities includes running or installing software protection measures without conspicuous notice and explicit consent and failing to provide a permanent and complete method of uninstalling or disabling the technological measure."

Schruers wrote in his comment [PDF] that "Recent events demonstrate that technological protection measures can threaten critical infrastructure. Misguided efforts to cloak technological protection measures from consumers have in fact created computer security vulnerabilities worldwide, including on government and military systems. Computer security and other mission critical applications that protect critical infrastructure must not be compromised by technological protection measures. Where such measures threaten critical infrastructure and potentially endanger lives, prohibiting their circumvention – if only to disable or remove them – is an absurd result that Congress could not have intended. A temporary exemption to circumvent dangerous access control measures so as to make the non-infringing use of disabling or deleting these measures or the underlying work which they are meant to protect is therefore necessary."

Programs Protected by Dongles. From 2:30 - 4:00 PM, the CO will hear testimony on "Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete." The witnesses will be

The witnesses will be Joseph Montoro and Steven Metalitz (creators and owners). See, Montoro's comment.

DVD Circumvention by Universities. On Monday, April 3, from 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM, the CO will hear testimony on two proposals related to circumvention for educational purposes.

First, the CO will hear testimony on "Audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university's film or media studies department and that are protected by technological measures that prevent their educational use." Second, the CO will hear testimony on "Derivative and collective works which contain audiovisual works that are in the public domain and that are protected by technological measures that prevent their educational use."

The witnesses will be Jonathan Band (Library Alliance), Peter Decherney (University of Pennsylvania), Bill Herman, Sandra Aistars (Time Warner), Fritz Attaway (Motion Picture Association of America), Steven Metalitz (creators and owners), and Bruce Turnbull (DVD Copy Control Association).

Decherney and others wrote in their comment [39 pages in PDF] that "Audiovisual works which are part of the educational library of universities’ film and media studies departments should be exempted from the access control circumvention prohibition of the DMCA. The libraries referred to here are not the general college or university libraries, but specialized ones that exist within film or media studies departments for the sole purpose of supporting classroom teaching. ... Despite the existence of such libraries, however, film and media studies professors are not able to make effective use of key works in their classroom because the CSS technology prevents the making of digital compilations of short selections (or clips) from DVD’s. If a professor wishes to show more than one clip from one DVD in the same class, it means shuffling discs and taking the time to navigate to the desired portion of the work." See also, reply comment [20 pages in PDF].

Turnbull (DVDCCA) wrote in his reply comment [23 pages in PDF] that "First, the marketplace has already provided a non-circumventing alternative to address the concerns raised by the Libraries. Second, further technological developments are occurring that will provide additional non-circumventing alternatives for these concerns. Third, permitting circumvention of CSS technology for these purposes would undermine the technological and legal underpinning of the content protection system that is the basis for the DVD video business."

He points out that "Pioneer offers two players, specifically developed for and marketed to the education community, that offer the functionality sought by the Libraries. The Pioneer DVD-V5000 player offers a command stack feature, that allows the user to select the beginning and end frames of specific clips of video and store them in the player's flash memory for later playback. The playback can either be in the form of sequential video clips (up to 300) that the teacher has pre-selected, or in real time where the teacher plays any clip by reading and transmitting information from printed barcodes using a wired/infrared barcode reader." He goes on to discuss a second DVD player.

He also wrote that "permitting circumvention of CSS to enable the creation of clip compilations would expose the CSS technical and legal protection regime to possible undermining for purposes far beyond those proposed in the exemption request. Once the technology is legally circumvented, the ability to limit the scope of the use of the circumvention may well be impossible, thereby undermining the whole system."

Aistars (Time Warner) wrote in her reply comment [14 pages in PDF] to these and other proposed exemptions that the CO should "accord significant weight to the consumer benefits derived from continued availability of copyrighted works via the numerous digital distribution modes supported by" technology protection measures (TPMs). With respect to circumvention of DVD TPMs, she stated that professors already have access to the content of DVDs, and there there are already devices that facilitate compilation of clips.

3/28. Andrew Card resigned as Chief of Staff for President Bush. Bush named Joshua Bolten to be his new Chief of Staff. See, transcript of transition ceremony. Bolten was previously Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President. From January 2001 through June of 2003, he was Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. Before that, he worked on the Bush Cheney election campaign. From 1994 to 1999, he was Executive Director, Legal & Government Affairs, for Goldman Sachs International in London. He was General Counsel to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) during the administration of the elder President Bush. Before that, he worked for the Senate Finance Committee on trade issues. He has also worked for the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers.

3/28. Kenneth Glazer was named to be a Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Competition. He has been in house legal counsel at the Coca Cola Company since 1993. See, FTC release.

3/28. David Wales was named to be a Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Competition. Most recently, he briefly worked in the antitrust section of the law firm of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft. Before that, he briefly worked for the antitrust section of the law firm of Shearman & Sterling. Early in the Bush administration, he was Counsel to Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, Charles James. The FTC's release announcing his selection states that while at the Department of Justice he worked on "U.S. v. Microsoft and the DirecTV/Echostar, Northrop Grumman/TRW, General Dynamics/Newport News, and Univision/HBC mergers."

3/28. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Deborah Tate selected John Grant to be her Special Advisor for Policy. He was not named Legal Advisor, although he is working on a law degree at Georgetown University's law school. He previously worked as a Legislative Assistant to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). Before that, he worked for former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL). Tate previously named Aaron Goldberger to be a Legal Advisor.

3/28. Johnny Sutton was named Chair of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys. He is the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas. Susan Brooks was named Vice Chair. She is the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. Thomas Moss (U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho) and Gregory White U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio) were also named to the Committee.

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The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The agenda lists consideration of HR 1606, the "Online Freedom of Speech Act". See, Republican Whip Notice.

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM. It will resume consideration of of S 2349, the "Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006".

9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) may hold a hearing on judicial nominations. The agenda includes the nominations of Brian Cogan (to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York), Michael Barrett (U.S.D.C., Southern District of Ohio), and Thomas Golden (U.S.D.C., Eastern District of Pennsylvania). See, notice. The SJC frequently cancels or postpones meetings without 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 Commerce Committee's (HCC) will meet to mark up HR 4127, the "Data Accountability and Trust Act", or DATA. See, notice. Press contact: Larry Neal (Barton) at 202 225-5735. The meeting will be webcast by the HCC. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

HR 1956 REMOVED FROM AGENDA. 10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) will meet to mark up two bills. One item on the agenda is mark up of HR 1956, the "Business Activity Tax Simplification Act of 2005", sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA). This bill would protect and promote businesses that engage in e-commerce by limiting the ability of states to impose business activity taxes (BATs) on out of state businesses without a presence in the state. The meeting will be webcast by the HJC. See, notice. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202-225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

TIME CHANGE. 10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee's (SCC) Subcommittee on Technology will hold a hearing titled "Importance of Basic Research to United States' Competitiveness". The hearing will address "basic research in the physical sciences impacts both long-term economic development in the United States and the ability of American industry to remain globally competitive". The witnesses will be John Marburger (Director of the EOP's Office of Science and Technology Policy), Arden Bement (Director of the National Science Foundation), William Jeffrey (Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology), Leonard Pietrafesa (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Steven Knapp (Provost of Johns Hopkins University), and Philip Ritter (Texas Instruments), and Adam Drobot (Telcordia). See, notice. Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) will preside. Press contact: Melanie Alvord (Stevens) at 202 224-8456, Aaron Saunders (Stevens) at 202 224-3991, or Andy Davis (Inouye) at 202 224-4546. Location: Room 562, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Defense will hold a hearing titled "National Foreign Intelligence Program". The HAC notice states "MEMBERS ONLY". Location: Room H-140, Capitol Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing titled "U.S. -- China Economic Relations Revisited". The witnesses will be Karan Bhatia (Deputy USTR), Timothy Adams (Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs), Franklin Lavin (Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade), Robert Hormats (Goldman Sachs), John Frisbie (U.S.-China Business Council), Joe Papovich (Recording Industry Association of America), Gary Joachim (American Soybean Association), and Fred Bergsten (Institute of International Economics). See, notice. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Financial Services Committee's (HFSC) Subcommittee on Capital Markets will hold a hearing titled "Fostering Accuracy and Transparency in Financial Reporting". Location: Room 2128, Rayburn House Office Building.

10:00 AM. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in eBay v. MercExchange, Sup. Ct. No. 05-130. See, Supreme Court calendar [PDF], Supreme Court docket, March 16, 2004, opinion [31 pages in PDF] of the Court of Appeals (FedCir), and story titled "Supreme Court to Consider Availability of Injunctive Relief in Patent Cases" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,261, November 29, 2005. Arguments begin at 10:00 AM. This case is second on the schedule. 90 minutes has been scheduled for the first case.

TIME CHANGE. 10:30 - 11:30 AM. The House Science Committee will meet to mark up HRes 717, a resolution that states that "the Secretary of Commerce is directed to transmit to the House of Representatives, not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution, a copy of the final draft report, produced by the professional staff of the Technology Administration, entitled: `Six-Month Assessment of Workforce Globalization In Certain Knowledge-Based Industries´." The meeting will be webcast by the HSC. For more information, contact Sara Gray (Republican staff) at 202-225-6371, or Dan Pearson (Democratic staff) at 202-225-6375. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Engineering and Technical Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The FCBA notice states that "Staff of the Office of Engineering and Technology to discuss how counsel can more effectively and efficiently represent their clients to the Commission, and how the FCC’s staff can better serve the practitioners' needs. This discussion will include management and staff from the OET front office and from the Laboratory Division." Location: FCC, Room 5-B516, 445 12 St., SW.

12:00 NOON. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host a luncheon. The speakers will be Frank Ahrens (Washington Post), Edie Herman (Communications Daily), Jennifer Kerr (AP), Paul Kirby (Telecommunications Reports), Jeremy Pelofsky (Reuters), and Amy Schatz (Wall Street Journal). The price to attend ranges from $10-$40. Reservations and cancellations are due by 5:00 PM on March 23. See, registration form [PDF]. Location: Sidley Austin, 1501 K Street, NW.

1:00 PM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will hold the first of two hearings titled "Digital Content and Enabling Technology: Satisfying the 21st Century Consumer". The witnesses will be Blake Krikorian (CEO of Sling Media), Jim Denney (TiVo), John Feehery (Motion Picture Association of America), and Stevan Mitchell (Entertainment Software Association). See, notice. Press contact: Larry Neal (Barton) at 202 225-5735 or Paul Flusche (Stearns) at 202-225-5744. The hearing will be webcast by the HCC. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

1:00 PM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies will hold a hearing titled "VA/DHP Information Technology". Location: Room H-143, Capitol Building.

TIME CHANGE. 1:30 - 4:45 PM. The Copyright Office will hold one in a series of hearings on possible exemptions to the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. See, CO schedule. See also, notice in the Federal Register, February 23, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 36, at Pages 9302-9303. See also, stories titled "Copyright Office Announces Proceeding on DMCA Anti-Circumvention Exemptions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,229, October 7, 2005, and "Copyright Office Announces Hearings on Exemptions to Anti-Circumvention Provisions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,318, February 27, 2006. Location: Mumford Room, LM-649, James Madison Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave., SE.

2:00 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property (CIIP) will hold an oversight hearing titled "Remedies for Small Copyright Claims". The hearing will be webcast by the HJC. See, notice. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights may hold a hearing on state regulation of violent video games and the First Amendment. The SJC frequently cancels or postpones hearings without 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.

2:30 - 3:30 PM. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will host an event titled "Intellectual Property Roundtable featuring Julie Myers". Myers is the new Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). See, notice. For more information, contact Scott Eisner ncfevents at uschamber dot com or 202 463-5500. Location: U.S. Chamber, 1615 H St., NW.

2:00 PM? or 3:00 PM? The House Homeland Security Committee' (HHSC) Subcommittee on Management, Integration and Oversight and the House Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Government Management, Finance and Accountability will hold a joint hearing titled "Department of Homeland Security Information Technology Challenges and the Future of eMerge2". Scott Charbo (DHS Chief Information Officer) will testify. For more information, contact 202- 282-8010 (DHS), Location: Room 2247, Rayburn Building.

5:15 PM. Deadline to submit to the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) requests to appear at its April 20, 2006, hearing on the probable economic effects of the proposed U.S.-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 28, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 39, at Pages 10066-10067.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The agenda again includes consideration of HR 1606, the "Online Freedom of Speech Act". See, Republican Whip Notice.

9:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims will hold an oversight hearing titled "Should Congress Raise the H1B Cap?". The hearing will be webcast by the HJC. See, notice. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) may hold an executive business meeting. See, notice. The SJC frequently cancels or postpones meetings without notice. The SJC rarely follows its published agenda. 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.

HEARING, NOT MARK UP. 10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will hold a hearing on HR __ [PDF], a committee print of a bill to be titled the "Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006". See, notice. Press contact: Larry Neal (Barton) at 202 225-5735. The hearing will be webcast by the HCC. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

TIME CHANGE. 10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee will mark up S 2389, the "Protecting Consumer Phone Records Act". See, notice. Press contact: Melanie Alvord (Stevens) at 202 224-8456, Aaron Saunders (Stevens) at 202 224-3991 or Andy Davis (Inouye) at 202 224-4546. Location: Room 562, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The House Science Committee (HSC) will hold a hearing titled "K-12 Science and Math Education Across the Federal Agencies". The witnesses will be Margaret Spellings (Secretary of Education), Arden Bement (Director of the National Science Foundation), John Kelly (Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Shana Dale (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), and James Decker (Office of Science, Department of Energy). Press contact: Joe Pouliot at 202-225-4275 or joe dot pouliot at mail dot house dot gov. For more information, contact Kara Haas (Republican staff) at 202 -225-7858 or Jim Wilson (Democratic staff) at 202-225-6375. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The Department of State's (DOS) Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 23, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 36, at Pages 9407-9408. Richard Wiley, Chairman of the ACICIP, and attorney at the law firm of Wiley Rein & Fielding, will preside. David Gross, Deputy Assistant Secretary and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, will speak. The DOS states that admittance is only by means of a pre-arranged clearance list. March 28 is the deadline to request to attend is March 28. Location: Loy Henderson Auditorium, Harry Truman Building, DOS, 2201 C Street, NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) International Telecommunications Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The speakers will be FCC International Legal Advisors. For more information, contact Wendy Parish at wendy at fcba dot org or LeJuan Butler at 202 778-3501. Location: United Nations Foundation, 1225 Connecticut Ave., NW, 4th Floor.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee and Cable Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The topic will be video local franchising. The speakers will be Libby Beatty (National Association of Telecommunications Officers & Advisors), Leora Hochstein (Verizon), and Diane Burstein (National Cable & Telecommunications Association). RSVP by 12:00 NOON on March 27 to Quyen Truong at ttruong at dowlohnes dot com. Location: Dow Lohnes & Albertson, 8th floor, 1200 New Hampshire Ave., NW.

1:00 - 3:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau will hold a public demonstration of changes to be made to Tower Construction Notification System (TCNS). See, notice [PDF]. The event will be webcast by the FCC. Location: FCC, 6th Floor South Conference Room (Room 6-B516), 445 12th St., SW.

TIME CHANGE. 2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing titled "Competition and Convergence". The witnesses will be Kyle McSlarrow (National Cable and Telecommunications Association), Earl Comstock (Comptel), Walter McCormick (US Telecom), Steve Largent (CTIA-The Wireless Association), Jerry Ellig (George Mason University), and Mark Cooper (Consumer Federation of America). See, notice. Press contact: Melanie Alvord (Stevens) at 202 224-8456, Aaron Saunders (Stevens) at 202 224-3991 or Andy Davis (Inouye) at 202 224-4546. Location: Room 562, Dirksen Building.

6:00 - 9:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers, Wireless and Common Carrier Committees will host an event titled "Young Lawyers Committee Spring Happy Hour". For more information, contact Paul Feldman at 703-812-0403 or feldman at fhhlaw dot com, Jennifer Tatel at 202-736-8038 or jtatel at sidley dot com, or Chris Fedeli at 202-828-9874 or cfedeli at crblaw dot com. Location: Panache, 1825 Desales St., NW.

TIME? The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will hold the second of two hearings titled "Digital Content and Enabling Technology: Satisfying the 21st Century Consumer". This hearing will focus on audio. See, notice. Press contact: Larry Neal (Barton) at 202 225-5735 or Paul Flusche (Stearns) at 202-225-5744. The hearing will be webcast by the HCC. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

The House may meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The agenda again includes consideration of HR 1606, the "Online Freedom of Speech Act". See, Republican Whip Notice.

8:30 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) will host an event titled "Card Processing Industry Education Program". See, agenda [PDF]. For more information, contact Rob Drozdowski at 202-828-2635 ext. 203 or rob dot drozdowski at electran dot org. Location: Columbus Room, Union Station.

9:30 AM - 4:00 PM. The Copyright Office (CO) will hold one is a series of hearings on possible exemptions to the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. See, CO schedule. See also, notice in the Federal Register, February 23, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 36, at Pages 9302-9303. See also, stories titled "Copyright Office Announces Proceeding on DMCA Anti-Circumvention Exemptions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,229, October 7, 2005, and "Copyright Office Announces Hearings on Exemptions to Anti-Circumvention Provisions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,318, February 27, 2006. Location: Mumford Room, LM-649, James Madison Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave., SE.

9:45 AM. The U.S. District Court (DC) will hold a status conference in ACLU v. FBI, D.C. No. 2005-cv-01004-ESH. Location: Courtroom 18, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

11:00 AM. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Deborah Tate will hold a news conference. The FCC's notice states that this is a "briefing for members of the media" and that attendees should RSVP to Meribeth McCarrick at 202-418-0654 or Meribeth dot McCarrick at fcc dot gov. Location: FCC, Room 8A204, 445 12th St., SW.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF) will host a program titled "Orphan Works: A Search for Solutions". The speakers will be Jule Sigall (Associate Register for Policy & International Affairs at the Copyright Office), Prue Adler (Association of Research Libraries), Jonathan Band (attorney), and Steven Metalitz (International Intellectual Property Alliance). Solveig Singleton (PFF) will moderate. See, notice. For more information, contact Eileen Goulding at egoulding at pff dot org or 202-289-8928. Press contact: Patrick Ross at 202 289-8928. Location: Room B-369, Rayburn Building.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division regarding its Draft Special Publication 800-88 [40 pages in PDF], titled "Guidelines for Media Sanitization".

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division regarding its Draft Special Publication 800-53 (Revision 1) [130 pages in PDF], titled "Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems".

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Xerox v. 3Com, No. 2004-1470. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

9:30 AM - 12:30 PM. The Copyright Office will hold one in a series of hearings on possible exemptions to the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. See, CO schedule. See also, notice in the Federal Register, February 23, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 36, at Pages 9302-9303. See also, stories titled "Copyright Office Announces Proceeding on DMCA Anti-Circumvention Exemptions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,229, October 7, 2005, and "Copyright Office Announces Hearings on Exemptions to Anti-Circumvention Provisions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,318, February 27, 2006. Location: Mumford Room, LM-649, James Madison Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave., SE.

11:00 AM - 2:00 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a program titled "The Future of U.S. Trade Policy". There will be a panel discussion at 11:00 AM. The speakers will be Claude Barfield (AEI), Lael Brainard (Brookings Institution), Jeffrey Schott (Institute for International Economics), and James Glassman (AEI). Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA), the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, will give the luncheon address, titled "The Doha Merry-Go Round: When the Music Stops Will the U.S. Be Up or Down?". See, notice. Press contact: Veronique Rodman at 202-862-4870 or VRodman at aei dot org. For more information, contact Daniel Geary at 202-862-5940 or DGeary at aei dot org. Location: 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

5:15 PM. Deadline to submit to the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) pre-hearing statements and briefs regarding the probable economic effects of the proposed U.S.-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement. (The hearing is scheduled for April 20.) See, notice in the Federal Register, February 28, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 39, at Pages 10066-10067.

Day one of a two day conference hosted by pulvermedia and Isen.com titled "Internet Freedom Conference". See, conference web site. Press Contact: Bage Anderson at 254 772-5909 or bage at weinkrantz dot com. The scheduled speakers include Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. Location: AFI Silver Theater, Silver Spring, MD.

CANCELLED. 9:30 AM. The Copyright Office will hold one in a series of hearings on possible exemptions to the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 23, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 36, at Pages 9302-9303. See also, stories titled "Copyright Office Announces Proceeding on DMCA Anti-Circumvention Exemptions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,229, October 7, 2005, and "Copyright Office Announces Hearings on Exemptions to Anti-Circumvention Provisions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,318, February 27, 2006. Location: Mumford Room, LM-649, James Madison Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave., SE.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on the Constitution and Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law will hold a joint oversight hearing titled "Personal Information Acquired by the Government from Information Resellers: Is There Need for Improvement?". The hearing will be webcast by the HJC. See, notice. 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 Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing titled "Sexual Exploitation of Children Over the Internet: What Parents, Kids and Congress Need to Know About Child Predators". See, notice. Press contact: Larry Neal (Barton) at 202 225-5735. The hearing will be webcast by the HCC. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in America Online v. U.S., No. 2005-5138. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Honeywell International v. U.S., No. 2005-5145. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in HLG Electronics v. Bizcom Electronics, No. 2005-1261. Location: Courtroom 203, 717 Madison Place, NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) will host a lunch titled "How States Have Succeeded With Video Franchise Reform". The speakers will be Robert Cresanti (Department of Commerce), Brandt Hershman (Indiana State Senate), Rick Cimerman (National Cable and Telecommunications Association), Barry Aarons (IPI), and Bartlett Cleland (IPI). Press contact: Sonia Blumstein at soniab at ipi dot org or 703-912-5742. For more information, contact Betty Medlock at bmedlock at ipi dot org or 972-874-5139. See, notice. Location: Charlie Palmer Steak Restaurant on the Hill, 101 Constitution Ave., NW.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Science and Space will hold a hearing titled "National Science Foundation and Science Priorities". Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX) will preside. Location: Room 562, Dirksen Building.

Day two of a two day conference hosted by pulvermedia and Isen.com titled "Internet Freedom Conference". See, conference web site. Press Contact: Bage Anderson at 254 772-5909 or bage at weinkrantz dot com. The scheduled speakers include Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. Location: AFI Silver Theater, Silver Spring, MD.

TIME? The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will hold a hearing regarding its (1) notice of proposed rulemaking, and (2) proposed revenue procedure, pertaining to tax return preparers' use and disclosure of tax return information in an electronic environment. See, IRS notice in the Federal Register that describes and recites proposed changes to its rules implementing 26 U.S.C. § 7216, Federal Register, December 8, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 235, at Pages 72954 - 72964. See also, IRS web site notice [16 pages in PDF] that describes and contains the proposed revenue procedure. And see, story titled "IRS Releases Proposed Rules Regarding Electronic Tax Preparation" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,268, December 8, 2005. Location: __.

Day one of a three day conference hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) titled "5th Annual PKI R&D Workshop: Making PKI Easy to Use". See, notice. Location: NIST, Green Auditorium, Bldg. 101, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property will hold a hearing titled "Patent Quality Enhancement in the Information-Based Economy". See, notice. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202-225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Silicon Image v. Genesis Microchip, No. 2005-1538. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Phillips Electronics v. Contec, No. 2005-1351. Location: Courtroom 203, 717 Madison Place, NW.

Day two of a three day conference hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) titled "5th Annual PKI R&D Workshop: Making PKI Easy to Use". See, notice. Location: NIST, Green Auditorium, Bldg. 101, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.