9/6. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted, announced, and released a Memorandum Opinion and Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [57 pages in PDF] in which it granted in part several petitions for forbearance filed by carriers seeking relief from FCC rules mandating the filing of certain Automated Reporting Management Information System (ARMIS) Reports.

These rules pertain to the collecting and reporting of service quality, customer satisfaction, and infrastructure and operating data.

This order also provides Verizon and Qwest cost allocation forbearance relief. The FCC provided similar forbearance relief to AT&T earlier this year. See, April 24, 2008, Memorandum Opinion and Order [31 pages in PDF]. That order is FCC 08-120 in WC Docket No. 07-21 and WC Docket No. 05-342. That order is also the subject of a petition for review pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) in NASUCA v. FCC, App. Ct. No. 08-1226.

The NPRM portion of this item states that "we recognize that collection of certain of that information might be warranted, if tailored in scope to be consistent with Commission objectives, and if obtained from the entire relevant industry of providers of broadband and telecommunications. Therefore, we seek comment on whether and how the Commission should collect such data on an industry-wide basis."

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wrote in his statement [PDF] that this item eliminates "outdated reporting requirements that applied to a small class of carriers, retaining only those requirements that still serve a useful regulatory purpose."

Commissioner Deborah Tate wrote in her statement [PDF] that "The ARMIS reports, created in the Commission's Price Cap Order nearly two decades ago, were intended to serve as ``safety nets´´ to ensure that incumbent local exchange carriers did not lower quality of customer service to increase short-term profit or fail to invest in infrastructure under the new regulatory framework."

She continued that "With the advent of competition in the telecommunications marketplace the opposite has happened, with industry offering a myriad of options to the consumer, investing approximately $68 billion in the marketplace just last year. The majority of these reports, adopted to monitor whatever ``theoretical concern´´ there may have been, are no longer needed to fulfill their goals of consumer protection."

In contrast, Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, who dissented in part, wrote in his statement [PDF] that "we should be skeptical about proposals to effectively jettison a host of reporting requirements that may help the Commission perform its consumer protection, broadband, competition, and public safety functions".

He argued that "today’s item fails to carefully analyze the current collection program or develop consensus about which of these service quality, customer satisfaction, infrastructure, and operating reporting requirements remain useful, or could be revised, eliminated, or enhanced."

Commissioner Michael Copps, who also dissented in part, wrote in his statement [PDF] that he would have preferred to have denied the petitions for forbearance, and then proceeded to update FCC reporting requirements through a rulemaking.

He also complained, as he has in the past, that the FCC's forbearance process has "gone awry".

This item is FCC 08-203 in WC Docket No. 08-190, WC Docket No. 07-139, WC Docket No. 07-204, WC Docket No. 07-273, and WC Docket No. 07-21.

Initial comments in response to the NPRM portion of this item will be due within 30 days of publication of a notice in the Federal Register. Reply comments will be due within 60 days of such publication. As of the September 8, 2008, issue of the Federal Register, this notice had not yet been published.

9/7. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) announced in a release that it sent a letter to Thomas Barnett, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division, regarding its review of the agreement between Google and Yahoo pertaining to search advertising.

This ANA release states that this letter "notes that a Google-Yahoo partnership will control 90 percent of search advertising inventory and states ANA's concerns that the partnership will likely diminish competition, increase concentration of market power, limit choices currently available and potentially raise prices to advertisers for high quality, affordable search advertising."

The ANA's Board of Directors includes representatives of major advertisers, such as General Electric, General Motors, MacDonalds, Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart, and Proctor & Gamble.

The ANA Board also includes representatives of major information technology companies, including IBM, Adobe, Verizon, HP, and Nokia.

Yahoo announced this agreement in a release on June 12, 2008. See, story titled "Google and Yahoo Announce Search and Advertising Agreement" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,779, June 13, 2008.

9/4. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) filed a motion to intervene with the U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) in the proceeding initiated by Comcast on September 4, 2008, with its petition for review of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) August 1, 2008, order [67 pages in PDF] regarding the network management practices of Comcast and other broadband internet access providers.

See, stories titled "FCC Asserts Authority to Regulate Network Management Practices" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,805, August 4, 2008, and "Comcast Files Petition for Review of FCC's Network Management Practices Order" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,821, September 4, 2008.

Kyle McSlarrow, head of the NCTA, stated in a release that "We have filed to intervene in support of Comcast's appeal of the FCC network management order. We do so because of the significant and potentially harmful implications of this decision for the vast majority of consumers who are served by network providers. While we support the FCC's Internet Policy Statement, we do not believe the FCC has the authority to make up rules on the fly."

The FCC issued its order in a proceeding initiated by the filing of a complaint against Comcast by the Public Knowledge (PK) and the Free Press (FP). The FP's Ben Scott stated in a release that "Comcast's appeal is predictable -- the cable giant has a long history of appealing any decision it doesn't like. The FCC is well within its authority to protect the open Internet, either by adopting rules or acting on complaints."

Scott added that "The future of the Internet is too important to let Comcast tie it up in legal limbo. Congress should act now to pass Net Neutrality laws that clear up any uncertainty once and for all."

9/4. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Media Bureau released a public notice [3 pages in PDF] that announces and requests public comments on the PPM Coalition's (PPMC) September 2, 2008, filing titled "Emergency Petition for Section 403 Inquiry." The PPMC members include the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Spanish Radio Association and other entities. The petition asks the FCC to open an inquiry into Arbitron's use of Portable People Meters (PPM). Initial comments are due by September 24, 2008. Reply comments are due by October 6, 2008. This item is DA 08-2048 in MB Docket No. 08-187.

9/4. The U.S. Court of Appeals (2ndCir) issued its opinion [7 pages in PDF] in Empresa Cuban del Tobaco v. Culbro Corporation, a trademark infringement case. Following the Court of Appeals' 2005 opinion in this proceeding, which is reported at 399 F.3d 462, and the District Court's 2007 opinion, which is reported at 478 F. 26 Supp. 2d 513, dismissing all remaining claims against the defendants/appellants, the defendants moved for an order pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1119 directing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to dismiss the pending petitions of the plaintiff to cancel the defendants' registration of the disputed trademark. The District Court denied this motion. The Court of Appeals affirmed. This case is Empresa Cuban del Tobaco v. Culbro Corporation, General Cigar Co., Inc., and General Cigar Holdings, Inc., U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, App. Ct. No. 07-1248-cv, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Court of Appeals issued a per curiam opinion of Judges Raggi, Wesley, and Livingston.

9/3. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Public Notice [8 pages in PDF] titled "The Office of Managing Director Releases Data to Assist Commenters on Issues Presented in Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Adopted on August 1, 2008". This item is DA 08-2033 in MD Docket No. 08-65.

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The House will return from its August recess. It will meet at 2:00 PM for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 PM. The House will consider several items under suspension of the rules, including HR 4081 [LOC | WW], the "Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2007" or "PACT Act", and S 2450 [LOC | WW], an untitled bill to amend the Federal Rules of Evidence to address the waiver of the attorney client privilege and the work product doctrine. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of September 8, and schedule for September 8.

The Senate will return from its August recess. It will meet at 3:00 PM. It will consider a motion to proceed to S 3001 [LOC | WW], the Department of Defense authorization bill.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Privacy and Data Security Committee will host a brown bag lunch for organizational purposes. For more information, contact Steven Rich at stevenrich at paulhastings dot com. Location: Paul Hastings, 875 15th St., NW.

3:30 PM. The U.S. District Court (DC) will hold a settlement conference in Esther Williams v. Universal Music Group, et al., a copyright case, D.C. No. 07-cv-0714. Location: Magistrate Judge Facciola's chambers, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

Deadline for Commercial Mobile Service (CMS) providers to file an election with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indicating whether or not it intends to transmit emergency alerts as part of the Commercial Mobile Alert System. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 4, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 172, at Pages 51637-51638.

The House will meet at 10:30 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 PM for legislative business. It will consider several items under suspension of the rules. It may consider HRes 1069, a resolution to condemn Hamas "for using a children's television program to incite hatred, violence, and anti-Semitism toward Israel". See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of September 8.

9:00 - 10:30 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host an event titled "It's Time to End the Broad Band Wars". The speakers will be Robert Atkinson (ITIF), Scott Cleland (Precursor) and Harold Feld (Media Access Project). Location: ITIF, Suite 200, 1250 Eye St., NW.

9:00 AM. The Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) will meet. Part of the meeting will be closed to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 21, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 163, at Page 49408. Location: Room 3884, Hoover Building, 14th Street between Constitution and Pennsylvania Aves., NW.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in NetworkIP v. FCC, App. Ct. No. 06-1364 and 07-1092. Judges Sentelle, Brown and Kavanaugh will preside. This is petitions for review of a final order of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) pertaining to payphone compensation. See, FCC's brief [58 pages in PDF]. Location: 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing on the nominations of Gregory Garre (to be Solicitor General), Clark Waddoups (to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah), Michael Anello (U.S.D.C., Southern District of California), and Mary Scriven (U.S.D.C., Middle District of Florida). See, notice. Location: Room 562, Dirksen Building.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Mass Media Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Political Broadcasting Update -- Down the Final Stretch". The speakers will include Bobby Baker (FCC Media Bureau). Location: National Association of Broadcasters, 1771 N St., NW.

1:30 PM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing titled "U.S.-Russia Relations in the Aftermath of the Georgia Crisis". Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The House Homeland Security Committee's (HHSC) Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection will hold a hearing titled "Ensuring America's Security: Cleaning Up the Nation's Watchlists". This hearing will be webcast by the HHSC. See, notice. Location: Room 311, Cannon Building.

3:30 - 4:30 PM. The Heritage Foundation will host an event titled "A Democratic Progressive Party Perspective on Current Political Developments in Taiwan". The speaker will be Tsai Ing-wen, Chair of the Democratic Progressive Party. See, notice. Location: Heritage, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in its proceeding titled "In the Matter of Implementation of the NET 911 Improvement Act of 2008". It adopted this item on August 22, and announced it and released the text [34 pages in PDF] on August 25, 2008. This NPRM is FCC 08-195 in WC Docket No. 08-171. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 28, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 168, at Pages 50741-50751.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of September 8.

9:00 - 10:30 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Is the U.S. Falling Behind in Science & Technology or Not?" The speakers will be Robert Atkinson (ITIF), Stephen Ezell (ITIF), Kent Huges (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars), and Clyde Prestowitz (Economic Strategy Institute). See, notice. Location: ITIF, Suite 200, 1250 Eye St., NW.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in NCTA v. FCC, App. Ct. No. 07-1312. This is a petition for review of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) 2007 final order regarding customer proprietary network information (CPNI) and 47 U.S.C. § 222. See, FCC's brief [85 pages in PDF]. Location: 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. District Court (DC) will hold a pretrial conference and motion hearing in US v. Stevens, D.C. No. 08-cr-0231. Judge Emmet Sullivan will preside. Location: Courtroom 24A, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Heritage Foundation will host an event titled "Fukuda's Resignation: Where Does Japan Go From Here?" The speakers will be Kent Calder (Johns Hopkins University), Michael Green (Center for Strategic and International Studies), Aya Igarashi (Yomiuri Shimbun), and Bruce Klingner (Heritage). See, notice. Location: Heritage, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

RESCHEDULED FROM JULY 30. 10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Improving Consumer Protection in the Prepaid Calling Card Market". This hearing will also address S 2998 [LOC | WW], the "Prepaid Calling Card Consumer Protection Act of 2008", sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL). Sen. Nelson will preside. The witnesses may be Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), William Kovacic (FTC Chairman), Sally Greenberg, (National Consumers League), Gus West (Hispanic Institute), and Barry Smitherman (Chairman, Texas Public Utility Commission). See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

12:30 PM. Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, will give a speech. Location: Ballroom, National Press Club, 13th Floor, 529 14th St., NW.

2:00 PM. The House Financial Services Committee's (HFSC) Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology will hold a hearing titled "Sovereign Wealth Funds: New Challenges from a Changing Landscape". See, notice. Location: Room 2128, Rayburn Building.

The House will meet at 11:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of September 8.

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award will hold a closed meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 8, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 154, at Pages 46247. Location: NIST, Administration Building, Lecture Room A, Gaithersburg, MD.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) may hold an executive business meeting. The agenda includes consideration of S 3325 [LOC | WW], the "Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act", S 2746 [LOC | WW], the "OPEN FOIA Act of 2008", and the nomination of Patrick Rowan to be Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) National Security Division (NSD). See, notice. The SJC rarely follows the agendas for its executive business meetings. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality will hold a hearing titled "Protecting the Electric Grid from Cyber-Security Threats". The hearing will be webcast by the HCC. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.

10:00 - 11:00 PM. The House Intelligence Committee's (HIC) Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a closed hearing related to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG). See, notice. Location: Room H-405, Capitol Building.

1:00 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property (SCIIP) will hold a hearing on a yet to be introduced bill titled the "Fair Copyright in Research Works Act". This hearing will be webcast by the HJC. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

1:00 PM. The Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) American Health Information Community's (AHIC) Confidentiality, Privacy, & Security Workgroup may meet. AHIC meetings are often noticed, but cancelled. Location: Switzer Building, 330 C St., SW.

3:00 - 4:00 PM. The Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) will meet by teleconference. The dial in number is 1-800-860-2442. The PIN code is 82242. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 22, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 164, at Pages 49693-49694.

The House may meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of September 8.

12:00 NOON. The U.S. District Court (DC) will hold a status conference in Cisco Systems v. Teles AG Informationstechnologien, D.C. No. 05-cv-2048. Location: Courtroom 16, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Engineering and Technical Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch for organizational purposes. For more information, contact Laura Stefani at lstefani at g2w2 dot com. Location: Goldberg Godles, 1229 19th St., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding telecommunications relay services and speech to speech services for individuals with hearing and speech disabilities, and speech to speech services and internet protocol speech to speech telecommunications relay service. The FCC adopted this NPRM on June 11, 2008, and released the text [19 pages in PDF] on June 24, 2008. It is FCC 08-149 in CG Docket Nos. 03-123 and 08-15. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 13, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 157, at Pages 47120-47122.

9:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) will host an event titled "A Forum on our National Cyber Security Posture". Michael Chertoff (Secretary of Homeland Security) will speak at 9:00 AM. The price to attend ranges from $50-$125. See, notice. Location: Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host a brown bag lunch titled "Successfully Solving the Press/Policy Equation". The speakers will be Janice Obuchowski (Freedom Technologies), Blair Levin (Stifel Nicolaus), Michael Balmoris (AT&T), Mary Greczyn (Freedom Technologies), Lynn Stanton (TR Daily), John Dunbar (Associated Press), Jonathan Blake (Covington & Burling), Howard Buskirk (Comm Daily), and William Phillips (Ryan Phillips Utrecht & MacKinnon). Location: Bingham McCutchen, 2020 K St., NW.

2:00 PM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in C-SPAN v. FCC, App. Ct. No. 08-1045. See, FCC's brief [87 pages in PDF]. Judges Rogers, Tatel and Williams will preside. Location: 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

5:00 PM. Extended deadline to submit reply comments to the Copyright Office in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the scope and application of the Section 115 compulsory license to make and distribute phonorecords of a musical work by means of digital phonorecord deliveries. See, original notice in the Federal Register, July 16, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 137, at Page 40802-40813. See also, extension notice in the Federal Register, August 13, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 157, at Pages 47113-47114.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft NIST Interagency Report 7511 [47 pages in PDF] titled "Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) Validation Program Test Requirements".

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to the CTIA's Petition for Declaratory Ruling [44 pages in PDF] regarding 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7)(B), ensuring timely siting review, and preemption under 47 U.S.C. § 253 of state and local ordinances that classify all wireless siting proposals as requiring a variance. This is WT Docket No. 08-165. See, August 14, 2008, Public Notice (DA 08-1913) and notice in the Federal Register, August 29, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 169, at Pages 50972-50973.