4/28. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a comment [PDF] with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) pertaining to its consent orders affecting Reed Elsevier, Inc. and Seisint, Inc. (LexisNexis) and TJX Companies, Inc. regarding their failures to use reasonable security measures to prevent unauthorized access to personal information. The EPIC urges the FTC to impose civil penalties.

The EPIC wrote that "TJX caused a data breach that led to the compromise of tens of millions of credit/debit card numbers and associated information, as well as the disclosure of information concerning approximately 455,000 consumers. LexisNexis caused a data breach that resulted in the disclosure of approximately 300,000 consumers’ personal information (including social security numbers, addresses, and dates of birth), and resulted in substantial financial fraud. TJX and LexisNexis caused these data breaches by failing to provide reasonable and appropriate security for sensitive consumer information stored in their computer systems." (Parentheses in original.)

See, March 27, 2008, TJX Agreement Containing Consent Order [7 pages in PDF] and March 27, 2008, LexisNexis Agreement Containing Consent Order [8 pages in PDF].

The EPIC argued that "TJX and LexisNexis’s actions warrant the imposition of civil penalties as a purely punitive measure. In addition, civil penalties would provide strong incentives for TJX, LexisNexis, and other companies to better safeguard sensitive consumer data in the future."

See also, FTC release.

4/28. The U.S. District Court (DC) issued a Memorandum Opinion [17 pages in PDF] in Arista Records v. John Does, denying a John Doe defendant's motion to quash a Rule 45 subpoena directed to the George Washington University (GWU), the defendant's internet service provider (ISP), in an action for copyright infringement involving P2P copying of music files.

Arista and other record companies filed a complaint on September 19, 2007, in U.S. District Court (DC) against 19 unnamed John Doe defendants alleging copyright infringement over GWU's network.

The record companies have only the internet protocol numbers of the defendants. GWU is not a party, but in its capacity as an ISP has information that would enable the record companies to identify the John Doe defendants.

Last October the District Court issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order [2 pages in PDF] granting the record companies' request for a subpoena, pursuant to Rule 45 and 47 U.S.C. § 551(c)(2)(B), directing GWU to provide the names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of certain unnamed users of the GWU's computer network. The District Court also ordered GWU to provide notice to the defendants. See, story titled "GWU Must Disclose Identities of Alleged Online Infringers" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,654, October 15, 2007.

One John Doe defendant, through counsel, filed a motion to quash the subpoena and dismiss the complaint. This defendant argued first that Section 551(c)(2)(B) only applies to cable operators, and GWU is not a cable operator.

Subsection 551(c)(2)(B), which pertains to "personally identifiable information", provides that "A cable operator may disclose such information if the disclosure is subject to subsection (h) of this section, made pursuant to a court order authorizing such disclosure, if the subscriber is notified of such order by the person to whom the order is directed".

The record companies argued that their request rests upon Rules 26 and 45, FRCP, and that Section 551 is inapplicable.

The John Doe defendant added arguments that the discovery is not authorized by 17 U.S.C. § 512(h), and that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), at 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(b)(2), prohibits the disclosure sought by the record companies.

The District Court noted that the record companies did not assert authority under Section 512(h). It also held that the FERPA does not prohibit the disclosure sought by the plaintiffs, because it contains an exception for "directory information" disclosed pursuant to subpoena.

Then, the District Court concluded that Rules 26 and 45 do authorize the discovery sought by the plaintiffs. It added that numerous other courts have so held in similar cases. The District Court also rejected several frivolous arguments, such as that file sharing of copyrighted works is protected speech under the First Amendment.

Hence, the District Court refused to quash the subpoena. It also denied the John Doe defendant's motion to dismiss. The District Court ordered GWU to respond to the subpoena within five days.

This case is Arista Records LLC, et al. v. John Does 1-19, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, D.C. No. 07-1649 (CKK), Judge Colleen Kotelly presiding.

4/17. Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) spoke in the House regarding HR 2102 [LOC | WW], the Free Flow of Information Act", a bill that limits the ability of the federal entities to compel journalists to provide testimony or documents, or disclose sources, related to their work. It also would limit government access to records of carriers, ISPs and other service providers.

The House passed this bill with overwhelming bipartisan support last October, and the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) approved S 2035 [LOC | WW], the Senate version of the bill, last fall.

The Bush administration is waging a campaign against it. See, April 2, 2008, letter [PDF] of Michael Mukasey (Attorney General) and Michael McConnell (Director of National Intelligence); March 31, 2008, letter [PDF] of Robert Gates (Secretary of Defense); April 7, 2008, letter [PDF] of Samuel Bodman (Secretary of Energy); and, April 15, 2008, letter [PDF] of Henry Paulson (Secretary of the Treasury).

The Mukasey McConnell letter threatens a veto.

Rep. Pence (at left) stated that HR 2102 "is not about protecting reporters, it's about protecting the public's right to know." See, Congressional Record, April 17, 2008, at Page H2454. He also stated that "the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press".

He continued that "we're at a unique moment in the history of this legislation. The overwhelming bipartisan House passage of the Free Flow of Information Act has now been joined with Senate action that includes the leadership of Senator Richard Lugar, Senator Arlen Specter, Senator Patrick Leahy and others. Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton add themselves as cosponsors of the bill this week, and I heartily welcome the strong endorsement of Senator John McCain of this legislation."

"I believe there's now a bipartisan majority in both the House and the Senate to support this vital legislation and ensure the vitality of a free and independent press for generations to come", said Rep. Pence. "We just need one vote in the other body. And I believe we'll put a stitch in this tear in the first amendment freedom of the press."

These bills would impose judicial checks on the government's power to compel journalists to disclose information. However, these provisions do not significantly implicate information or communications technologies. These bills also require court approval of government seizure of certain records and data held by third parties, including carriers and ISPs. These provisions do directly implicate technology. The Bush administration's objections, while stated with vehemence, lack specificity or clarity. Yet, these objections focus on carriers and ISPs.

The government seeks to be able to both compel journalists to disclose their sources and information, and to obtain information from the companies that provide journalists their communications and internet services.

Legislative History. Earlier versions of these bills were considered, but not enacted into law, prior to the present 110th Congress. In this Congress, Rep. Pence and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) introduced the HR 2102 on May 2, 2007.

The House amended and approved this bill on October 16, 2007. The vote on final approval was 398-21. See, Roll Call No. 973. See also, story titled "House Approves Boucher-Pence Media Shield Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,656, October 17, 2007. This story contains a summary of the bill as approved by the House.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) introduced S 2035 [LOC | WW], the "Free Flow of Information Act of 2007" on September 10, 2007. It is different from, but similar to, HR 2102.

The SJC approved S 2035 on October 4, 2007. The full Senate has not yet considered either S 2035 or HR 2102.

Service Providers. The House bill also addresses compelled disclosures from a "communications service provider", who may possess call records for the targeted reporter. These call records may disclose a reporter's sources of information.

The bill only limits (that is, provides for court review of) disclosures by service providers of "any record, information, or other communication that relates to a business transaction between a communications service provider and a covered person".

The related clause in the Senate bill references "any document consisting of any record, information, or other communication that relates to a business transaction between a communications service provider and a covered person".

The House bill also nominally requires notice to a "covered person" by the party seeking disclosure from the service provider. It also requires that the covered person be given an opportunity to be heard. There are limitations upon this requirement. For example, the court may delay notice if "notice would pose a substantial threat to the integrity of a criminal investigation". The bill places no limits on the length of the delay.

The Senate bill contains similar language, but places a 45 day limit on delayed notice to the reporter. Although, it authorizes the court to allow an unlimited number of such delays, so long as it issues an order every 45 days.

These bills rely upon the party seeking information from the service provider to notify the covered person. This government party in many cases will have little or no incentive to do so. The bill contains no sanction or penalty for failure to provide the required notice. Also, the court and service provider may not know that the target is a covered person. And, even if the service provider has knowledge that the target is a covered person, it has little or no incentive to assert the privacy or journalistic interests of the target.

The House and Senate bills both define "communications service provider" to include anyone who "transmits information of the customer's choosing by electronic means" and "a telecommunications carrier, an information service provider, an interactive computer service provider, and an information content provider

Administration Objections. The longest and most detailed of the Bush administration public letters regarding this legislation is the Mukasey and McConnell letter [PDF] to Senators of April 2.

First, their strategy is to focus on the Senate. It is has not yet passed a bill. Moreover, there is overwhelming support for the House bill in the House.

They wrote that "if this legislation were presented to the President in its current form, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill."

They argued that the Senate bill would encourage "leaks of classified information", and limit the government's ability to "identify and prosecute leakers".

They also argued that it would "effectively provides a safe haven for foreign spies and terrorists".

However, both the House and Senate bills provide that a "covered person" does not include "any person who is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power, as such terms are defined in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978", or any "designated terrorist" or "foreign terrorist organization".

The Senate bill also provides that it "shall not apply to any protected information that a Federal court has found by a preponderance of the evidence would assist in preventing ... an act of terrorism; or ... other significant and articulable harm to national security that would outweigh the public interest in newsgathering and maintaining a free flow of information to citizens."

Mukasey and McConnell also argued that the bill would be applied by judges around the country, and that this is "a recipe for confusion and inconsistency".

But then, the same argument could be made for the entire federal judiciary. Only in a few areas, such as the FISA courts, is there a single federal court.

Mukasey and McConnell also objected to the bill on the grounds that it would give authority to judges. "The bill cedes to judges the authority to determine what does and does not constitute" national security.

The two also argued that the bill "implicates authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act".

The letter states that "the bill implicates core national security authorities, including those set forth in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("FISA"). While the bill creates a mechanism, discussed below, for the Government to go to court to obtain a subpoena for source information from a journalist protected by the privilege, it includes no such mechanism for the Government to obtain permission to use core investigative tools when the privilege is implicated. This gap would potentially undermine critical tools in the War on Terror, such as FISA and pen register and trade and trace authorities, and in the process deprive the Government of vital information necessary to protect national security."

The letter does not explain its use of the terms "core investigative tools" or "critical tools". Although, the letter does reference pen register and trap and trace (PR&TT) authority. These are old old telephone industry concepts. A pen register recorded the numbers that are dialed or punched into a telephone. Trap and trace referred to the capture of the numbers of incoming calls.

Section 216 of USA PATRIOT Act in 2001 formally extended these concepts from merely capturing phone numbers, to capturing routing and addressing information in any electronic communications, including internet communications. See, story titled "Pen Registers and Trap and Trace Devices" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 296, October 29, 2001.

There is a very low standard for issuance of a PR&TT order in criminal investigations. § 216 provides that "the court shall enter an ex parte order authorizing the installation and use of a pen register or trap and trace device anywhere within the United States, if the court finds that the attorney for the Government has certified to the court that the information likely to be obtained by such installation and use is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation." See also, 18 U.S.C. § 3123. The House and Senate bills would set a higher standard of court review for PR&TT orders directed at covered reporters.

The FISA, at 50 U.S.C. § 1842, also sets a very low standard for issuance of PR&TT orders. But, the House and Senate bills both exclude from the definition of "covered person" "any person who is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power, as such terms are defined in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978", or any "designated terrorist" or "foreign terrorist organization". So, arguably, the bills would not affect FISA PR&TT authority.

Nevertheless, the Mukasey McConnell letter continues that Section 6 of the bill, which is the section regarding communications service providers, "has the capacity to wreak havoc on national security and other investigations. This section provides that in the event certain potentially broad categories of information are requested from a communications service provider (broadly defined), notice and an opportunity to be heard must be provided to a covered person. This provision could be inadvertently implicated in a wide range of investigations. For instance, the section is fundamentally incompatible with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The requirements contained in section 6 would make it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain a FISA Court order to conduct electronic surveillance on a foreign power or agent of a foreign power. Moreover, although it does allow for notice to be delayed in certain circumstances, the exception does not extend to national security investigations, and the Government may not obtain the information while notice is delayed. It is therefore a realistic probability that certain national security investigations would be unnecessarily derailed by this provision." (Parentheses in original.)

Financial Investigations. Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, argued in his April 15 letter [PDF] that the Senate bill would  undermine Department of the Treasury's efforts to fight "illicit finance, and jeopardize our ability to review foreign investment for national security concerns".

His concern is leaks to media regarding these programs. For example, he cited the New York Times' reporting on the DOT Terrorist Finance Tracking Program and leaks regarding CFIUS reviews.

He argued that this "chills foreign investment". That is, foreign companies will become less willing to invest in the US if they fear that the US government will leak confidential information to reporters.

4/29. President Bush nominated Paul Gardephe to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. See, White House release.

4/29. President Bush nominated Clark Waddoups to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, See, White House release.

4/24. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted and released a Memorandum Opinion and Order [31 pages in PDF] in its proceeding titled "In the Matter of Petition of AT&T Inc. For Forbearance Under 47 U.S.C. § 160 From Enforcement of Certain of the Commission’s Cost Assignment Rules [and] Petition of BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. For Forbearance Under 47 U.S.C. § 160 From Enforcement of Certain of the Commission’s Cost Assignment Rules". The FCC granted both petitions, subject to conditions. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein dissented. See, joint statement. This item is FCC 08-120 in WC Docket Nos. 07-21 and 05-342.

4/22. The Progress & Freedom Foundation's (PFF) Bret Swanson wrote a short essay titled "The Need for Speed" in which he writes that the proliferation of high definition (HD) content on the internet will greatly expand traffic. He offers numerous technological options delivering this new HD content, and argues that Washington should not insinuate itself into this process.

The House and Senate will meet jointly to hear Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister of Ireland. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of April 28, and schedule for April 30.

The House will consider numerous non-technology related items. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of April 28, and schedule for April 30.

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM for morning business. It will then resume consideration HR 2881 [LOC | WW], the "FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007".

9:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on the Constitution will hold a hearing titled "Secret Law and the Threat to Democratic and Accountable Government". It will address legal analysis withheld from the public, including memoranda of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) will preside. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) Advisory Committee on the Electronic Records Archives (ACERA). See, notice in the Federal Register, April 11, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 71, at Pages 19903-19904. Location: 700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Science Committee (HSC) will hold a hearing titled "E-Waste: Can the Nation Handle Modern Refuse in the Digital Age?". The witnesses will be Gerardo Castro (Goodwill Industries), Renee St. Denis (HP), Eric Harris (Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries), Ted Smith (Electronics Take Back Coalition), Eric Williams (Arizona State University), and Michael Williams (Sony Electronics). See, notice. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

10:15 AM. The House Judiciary Committee will meet to mark up several bills. The agenda includes HR 4279 [LOC | WW], the "Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2007" or "PRO IP Act". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The Heritage Foundation will host a program titled "Civil Rights and the War on Terror: Promoting Accountability and National Security". The speakers will be Michael Chertoff (Secretary of Homeland Security), Dorit Beinisch (President of the Supreme Court of Israel), and Edwin Feulner (Heritage). See, notice. Location: Heritage, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a presentation titled "U.S. Copyright Office's New Electronic Filing Procedure for the Registration of Copyrights". The speaker will be Jeffrey Cole of the Copyright Office. The price to attend ranges from $20 to $25. For more information, contact 202-626-3488. See, notice. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, B-1 Level, 1250 H St., NW.

1:30 PM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee will meet to mark up several bills, including HR __, the "Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Reform Act of 2008". Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.

1:30 - 3:30 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Spectrum Management Advisory Committee will meet. The agenda includes receiving recommendations and reports from working groups of its Technical Sharing Efficiencies Subcommittee and Operational Sharing Efficiencies Subcommittee. See, NTIA notice and notice in the Federal Register, April 11, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 71, at Pages 19828-19829. Location: Room 1412, DOC, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making regarding public safety communications in the 800 MHz band. The FCC adopted and released this item on March 5, 2008. This item is FCC 08-73 in WT Docket No. 02-55 and ET Docket Nos. 00-258 and 95-18. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 31, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 62, at Pages 16822-16826.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding SP 800-39 [67 pages in PDF], titled "DRAFT Managing Risk from Information Systems: An Organizational Perspective".

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The agenda includes no technology related items. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of April 28.

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) Advisory Committee on the Electronic Records Archives (ACERA). See, notice in the Federal Register, April 11, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 71, at Pages 19903-19904. Location: 700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

9:00 - 10:30 AM. Robert Atkinson, head of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), will present a report titled "Explaining International Broadband Leadership". The other speakers will be Tom Bleha and Magnus Härviden (Embassy of Sweden). See, notice. Location: National Press Club, 529 14th St., NW.

9:30 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will hold a hearing on a yet to be introduced bill that the HCC titles "Draft Legislation Enhancing Access to Broadband Technology and Services for Persons with Disabilities". The witnesses will be Larry Goldberg (WGBH Boston), Jamaal Anderson (Atlanta Falcons), Russell Harvard, Dane Snowden (International Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry), and Ken Nakata (BayFirst Solutions). The hearing will be webcast by the HCC. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security will hold a hearing on HR 4081 [LOC | WW], the "Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2007", and HR 5689 [LOC | WW], the "Smuggled Tobacco Prevention Act of 2008". One of the purposes of these bills is to further regulate cigarette sales to increase federal, state and local tax revenues, particularly with respect to internet sales. See, notice. This hearing will be webcast by the HJC. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The National Economists Club (NEC) will host a lunch. The speaker will be Gary Hufbauer. The topic will be "NAFTA at 14: Why the Uproar?". Location: Chinatown Garden Restaurant, 618 H St., NW.

TIME CHANGE. 2:15 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing on the nominations of Steven Agee (to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit), William Lawrence (U.S. District Court, SDInd), and Murray Snow (USDC, DAriz). See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing on the nomination of Lily Claffee to be General Counsel of the Department of Commerce (DOC). See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

6:00 PM. Deadline for the winning bidders in Auction 73 to avoid default for failure to submit final payment, including late fees, for their winning bids. See, notice.

Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of April 28 states that "no votes are expected in the House".

9:00 AM - 3:30 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Economics and Statistics Administration's (ESA) Bureau of Economic Analysis's (BEA) BEA Advisory Committee will meet. The agenda includes a discussion of how offshoring might bias the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 24, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 57, at Page 15477. Location: BEA, 1441 L St., NW.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in James Kay v. FCC, App. Ct. No. 03-1072. Judges Tatel, Garland and Kavanaugh will preside. Location: 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

11:00 AM - 6:00 PM. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Advisory Committee for Computer and Information Science and Engineering will meet. The agenda includes discussion of "strategic priorities in computing". See, notice in the Federal Register, April 16, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 74, at Page 20721. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 1235, Arlington, VA.

12:30 PM. The Heritage Foundation will host a book talk by Dianne Furchtgott-Roth, author of the book [Amazon] titled "Overcoming Barriers to Entrepreneurship in the United States". See, notice. Location: Heritage, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

Deadline to submit to the Copyright Royalty Judges petitions to participate in the proceeding to determine the Phase I distribution of 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 royalties collected under the cable statutory license. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 2, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 64, at Pages 18004-18005.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Maxwell Technologies v. Nesscap, App. Ct. No. 2007-1324, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (SDCal) in a patent infringement case involving ultracapacitor technology. Location: Courtroom 402, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Stanford v. Motorola, App. Ct. No. 2007-1564. Location: Courtroom 402, 717 Madison Place, NW.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) International Telecommunications Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The topic will be "Understanding the Internet: An International Perspective". The speakers will include Irene Wu (FCC and Georgetown University). For more information, contact John Giusti at John dot Giusti at fcc dot gov. Location: Verizon, 5th floor, 1300 I St., NW.

Deadline to submit proposals to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in response to its April 21, 2008, Request for Proposals (RFP) regarding the appointment of an independent evaluator to undertake a review of the ICANN Board.

EXTENDED TO MAY 19. Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to it Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the Recommended Decision of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, released on November 20, 2007, regarding comprehensive reform of high cost universal service taxes and subsidies. The FCC adopted this NPRM on January 15, 2008, and released the text on January 29, 2008. It is FCC 08-02 in WC Docket No. 05-337 and CC Docket No. 96-45. See, original notice in the Federal Register, March 4, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 43, at Pages 11587-11591. See also, notice [PDF] of extension (DA 08-674).

EXTENDED TO MAY 19. Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to it Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the use of reverse auctions to determine the amount of high cost universal service subsidies provided to eligible telecommunications carriers serving rural, insular, and high cost areas. The FCC adopted this NPRM on January 9, 2008, and released the text on January 29, 2008. It is FCC 08-05 in WC Docket No. 05-337 and CC Docket No. 96-45. See, original notice in the Federal Register, March 4, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 43, at Pages 11591-11602. See also, notice [PDF] of extension (DA 08-674).

EXTENDED TO MAY 19. Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to it Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the FCC's rules governing the amount of high cost universal service subsidies provided to competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs). This NPRM also tentatively concludes that the FCC should eliminate the existing identical support rule, which is also known as the equal support rule. The FCC adopted this NPRM on January 9, 2008, and released the text on January 29, 2008. It is FCC 08-04 in WC Docket No. 05-337 and CC Docket No. 96-45. See, original notice in the Federal Register, March 4, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 43, at Pages 11580-11587. See also, notice [PDF] of extension (DA 08-674).

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in University of Texas v. Benq, App. Ct. No. 2007-1388, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (WDTex) in patent infringement case involving cell phone technology. See, web site with hyperlinks to District Court pleadings. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Technology Properties v. ARM, App. Ct. No. 2008-1020. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in AdvanceME v. RapidPay, App. Ct. No. 2007-1036, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (EDTex) in a patent infringement case involving the concept of joint infringement. Location: Courtroom 203, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Technology Licensing v. Videotek, App. Ct. No. 2007-1441, a patent infringement case involving video signal processing. Location: Courtroom 203, 717 Madison Place, NW.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a lecture by William Lewis titled "Unleashing the Power of Productivity at Home and Abroad". The other speaker will be Ike Brannon (Department of the Treasury). This event is free and open to the public. See, notice. Location: ITIF, Suite 200, 1250 Eye St., NW.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) will host an event titled "2008 Washington Caucus". Prices vary. Location: Willard Hotel.

Day one of a two day workshop hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) titled "Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace". See, notice. Location: FTC Conference Center, 601 New Jersey Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Jacobsen v. Katzer, App. Ct. No. 2008-1001, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (NDCal) in a patent and copyright case involving open source software and model trains. See, hyperlinks to District Court pleadings in Robert Jacobsen's web site titled "Java Model Railroad Interface" or "JMRI". See also, amicus brief of Creative Commons and others. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

12:00 NOON. The Cato Institute will host a panel discussion titled "The REAL ID Rebellion: Whither the National ID Law?". The speakers will be Mark Sanford (Governor of the state of South Carolina), Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), and Jim Harper (Cato). The event will be webcast by the Cato. See, notice and registration page. Location: Cato, 1000 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

Day two of a two day workshop hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) titled "Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace". See, notice. Location: FTC Conference Center, 601 New Jersey Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau in response to its Public Notice regarding the request for clarification filed by Hawk Relay that internet protocol speech to speech (IPSTS) is a form of Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS). This item is DA 08-292 in CG Docket No. 08-15. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 7, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 67, at Page 18796.

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