7/6. Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported, without citing any Department of Justice (DOJ) officials or documents, that the DOJ's Antitrust Division is investigating whether U.S. telecommunications companies are abusing their market power in violation of federal antitrust laws. See for example, story by Amol Sharma titled "Telecoms Face Antitrust Threat".

Gigi Sohn, head of the Public Knowledge, stated in a release that "Consumers have suffered over the past 10 years as the industry has consolidated and strengthened its hold over which services can be offered and which equipment can be used. Competition is almost non-existent in crucial services for home and business use. This examination is long overdue. We expect that inquiry itself will be of great value."

Both the Antitrust Division during the Clinton and Bush administrations, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) during the Kennard, Powell and Martin Chairmanships, approved numerous mergers of telecommunications companies.

6/30. The U.S. District Court (SDNY) issued an opinion and order in Arista Records v. Usenet.com, granting summary judgment to the record companies on various theories of liability for copyright infringement.

Arista Records, Atlantic Recording, BMG Music, Capitol Records, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Virgin Records, Warner Brothers, and other record companies filed a complaint in the District Court on October 12, 2007, against Usenet.com and others alleging direct infringement of the exclusive right of distribution, inducement of copyright infringement, contributory infringement, and vicarious infringement.

The District Court granted summary judgment to the records companies on all four claims. The District Court has not yet ruled on remedies.

The District Court also found that the defendants engaged in "widespread destruction of evidence" including by erasing seven hard drives without backup, other forms of discovery misconduct, and evasive litigation tactics. The District Court declined to grant a default judgment to the plaintiffs on this basis. However, it did grant the plaintiffs the sanction of precluding defendants from asserting the affirmative defense of protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) safe harbor provisions, which are codified at 17 U.S.C. § 512.

The Court wrote that "Usenet is a global systems of online bulletin boards on which users ... may post their own messages or read messages posted by others." It also enables the posting and downloading of music files. Thus, it is a file sharing network.

The Court added that Usenet charges its users under various monthly subscription plans.

The Court concluded that "There can be no dispute that Defendants' services were used overwhelmingly for copyright infringement". The Court cited the plaintiffs' estimate that 94% of the music files were infringing or highly likely to be infringing.

The Court also concluded that "The record in this case is replete with instances of Defendants and their employees specifically engendering copyright infringement and targeting infringement-minded users to become subscribers of Defendant's service. First, Defendants own former employees have testified that their marketing department specifically targeted young people familiar with other file-sharing programs and suggested they try Defendants' services ``as a safe alternative to peer-to-peer file sharing programs that were getting shut down´´ due to copyright infringement lawsuits and resulting injunctions."

"Defendants also inserted ``meta tags´´ into the source code for their website to attract internet traffic to their service." For example, the Court noted that they used the terms "warez" and "kazaa".

Next, the Court wrote that the "Defendants' own employees explicitly acknowledged the availability of infringing uses through Defendants' service and using the service themselves to download Plaintiffs' copyrighted works. ... Defendants' technical support staff even provided assistance to users to seeking to download copyrighted material ..."

They "also promoted the fact that users' uploading and downloading activities could not be tracked or monitored, and that unlike other ``lower security´´ file-sharing programs like Napster and Kazaa, user would be able to conduct their infringing activities cloaked in anonymity."

The Court continued: "Based on this knowledge of, and participation in, widespread infringement, Defendants' own employees have acknowledged that Defendants profit from availability of copyrighted material, including music, stored on their servers."

Steve Marks of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) stated in a release that "This decision is another example of courts recognizing the value of copyrighted music and taking action against companies and individuals who are engaging in wide scale infringement. We hope that other bad actors who are engaging in similar activity will take note of this decisive opinion."

This case is Arista Records LLC, et al. v. Usenet.com, Inc., et al., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, D.C. No. 07-cv-8822, Judge Harold Baer presiding.

6/26. A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (NDIll) returned an indictment [PDF] that charges David Yen Lee with five counts of violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1832(a)(3) in connection with his alleged theft of trade secrets from his employer.

The indictment states that he negotiated employment with a competitor, and then "downloaded technical documents and materials, including trade secrets, belonging to" his employer from his employer's "secure internal computer network" to "an external thumb drive".

He bought an airline ticket to Shanghai, People's Republic of China, where he was to start work, but was first arrested.

See also, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) release and Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois release.

Section 1832(a)(3) was enacted as part of the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. It provides in part that "Whoever, with intent to convert a trade secret, that is related to or included in a product that is produced for or placed in interstate or foreign commerce, to the economic benefit of anyone other than the owner thereof, and intending or knowing that the offense will, injure any owner of that trade secret, knowingly ... (3) receives, buys, or possesses such information, knowing the same to have been stolen or appropriated, obtained, or converted without authorization ... shall ... be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both".

6/30. Bruce Raisley was arrested pursuant to a criminal complaint that alleges violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CAFA), which is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1030, in connection with his unauthorized access of protected computers to cause distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks on other web sites.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated in a release that Raisley installed DDOS programs on the computers of others, and then launched numerous denial of service attacks on the web sites of Rolling Stone magazine and others. It adds that he objected to some of the articles that they had published. He then contacted some web site operators to gloat about his DDOS attacks.

The FBI's Weysan Dun stated in this release that "In this situation, this type of cyberbullying was used as a way to try to silence our media and deny them of their constitutional rights to the freedom of press. It simply will not be tolerated. Technology works both ways and you will get caught".

7/2. Mary Jo LaDuron, aka Mary Jo Gault, pled guilty in U.S. District Court (DKan) to making a false statement to the FBI during an investigation into allegations of fraud involving the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) e-rate tax and subsidy program. See, Department of Justice (DOJ) release.

6/30. Jesse William McGraw was charged by criminal complaint with hacking into the computers of a hospital were he worked as a contract security guard. The Office of the U.S. Attorney (OUSA) for the Northern District of Texas stated in a release that he "committed computer intrusions of several computers in the Carrell Clinic hospital building, including computers controlling the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system and computers containing confidential patient information". The OUSA added that he then "posted videos on the Internet which included admonition to other hackers to assist him in conducting unauthorized computer intrusions in support of a ``massive DDOS´´ on July 4, 2009".

6/29. Max Ray Butler, aka Max Ray Vision, aka Iceman, pled guilty in U.S. District Court (WDPenn) to two counts of wire fraud in connection with his computer hacking and internet based identity theft activities. The Office of the U.S. Attorney (USAO) for the Western District of Pennsylvania stated in a release that "Butler hacked into financial institutions, credit card processing centers and other secure computers in order to acquire credit card account information and other personal identification information. Many of these cards were provided to an accomplice, Christopher Aragon, based in the Los Angeles area, who used the cards and a team of associates to buy up merchandise for sale. Butler sold the rest of the card numbers outright over the Internet." The USAO added that credit card companies reported total losses of "approximately $86.4 million". Sentencing is scheduled for October 20, 2009, at 1:30 PM.

6/26. The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a release that the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) in Dallas, Texas, "has agreed to settle claims that the school district violated the False Claims Act" in connection with its participation in the Federal Communications Commission's e-rate tax and subsidy program. The DOJ stated in this release that "school district officials improperly received gratuities from technology vendors, including trips, meals, golfing and the free use of a yacht". It added that the "DISD will relinquish more than $150 million in requests for federal funds, and will pay a total of $750,000."

6/24. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) charged Hal Turner by criminal complaint with violation of 18 U.S.C. § 115(a)(1)(B) in connection with his internet blog statements threatening the lives of Judges Frank Easterbrook, Richard Posner, and William Bauer of the U.S. Court of Appeals (7thCir) for an opinion of the Court of Appeals. The complaint states that Turner wrote, among other things, that "These Judges deserve to made such an example of as to send a message to the entire judiciary: Obey the Constitution or die" and "These Judges deserve to be killed. Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty." See also, Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois release.

7/6. President Obama formally nominated Jon Huntsman to be Ambassador to the People's Republic of China (PRC). See, White House press office release.

7/6. President Obama nominated Patricia Cahill to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for a term expiring on January 31, 2014. See, White House press office release and release.

7/6. President Obama withdrew his nomination of Philip Mudd to be Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). See, White House press office release.

7/2. Lorin Reisner was named Deputy Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Division of Enforcement. He currently works in the New York City office of the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton. He will join the SEC in early August. See, SEC release.

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The House will return from its Independence Day District Work Period. It will meet at 2:00 PM for legislative business. It will consider numerous items under suspension of the rules, including HR __, a bill to authorize the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to use funds made available under the Trademark Act of 1946 for patent operations in order to avoid furloughs and reductions in force. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 PM. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for the week of July 6, and schedule for July 7.

The Senate will meet at 10:00 AM. It will begin consideration of HR 2892 [LOC | WW], the "Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010".

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM. The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Technology Innovation Program Advisory Board will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 23, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 119, at Pages 29675-29676. Location: NIST, Administration Building, Employees' Lounge, Gaithersburg, MD.

2:30 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on Antitrust will hold a hearing titled "The Bowl Championship Series: Is it Fair and In Compliance with Antitrust Law?". See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

3:00 PM. The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) will meet to mark up the Agriculture and Military Construction appropriations bills. The agriculture bill includes appropriations for the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). Location: Room 192, Dirksen Building.

3:00 PM. Extended deadline to submit grant applications to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for funding under its Technology Innovation Program (TIP). The TIP is offering grants for research and development of, among other things, civil infrastructure sensing technologies. See, original notice in the Federal Register, March 31, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 60, at Pages 14524-14531, amendment notice in the Federal Register, May 19, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 95, at Page 23396, and extension notice in the Federal Register, July 2, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 126, at Pages 31709-31710.

TIME? The Department of State's (DOS) International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will meet to discuss the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Telecommunication Development Conference on August 13-25, 2009 in Lima, Peru. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 22, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 118, at Pages 29529-29530. Location: AT&T, 10th floor, 1120 20th St., NW.

Effective date of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) final rule regarding the reconfigured 800 MHz band plan established for the U.S.-Canada border contained in the Fourth Memorandum Opinion and Order released on February 25, 2009. This 4thMO&O is DA 09-442 in WT Docket No. 02-55. See, notice in the Federal Register, May 5, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 85, at Pages 20602-20605.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The schedule for the week includes consideration of HR 2965 [LOC | WW], the "Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act of 2009". See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for the week of July 6.

9:30 AM. There will be an event to release a report titled "PointSmart ClickSafe. Task Force Best Practice Recommendations for Child Online Safety". The report is the product of a coalition of companies and groups, including AOL, Comcast, Cox, Google, Symantec, Yahoo, Verizon, Common Sense Media, Internet Keep Safe Coalition, PTA, Family Online Safety Institute, and Children's Partnership. The speakers will include Rep. Debbie Schultz (D-FL) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL). RSVP to Joy Sims at jsims at ncta dot com or 202-222-2365. Location: Room HC-6, Capitol Building.

9:30 AM - 12:30 PM. The National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) Information Security Oversight Office's (ISOO) Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 23, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 119, at Pages 29729-29730. Location: NARA, Room 105, 700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing titled "The Proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency: Implications For Consumers And The FTC". Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Sky Technologies v. SAP, App. Ct. No. 2008-1606. Location: Courtroom 201.

1:30 PM. The Senate Appropriations Committee's (SAC) Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government will meet to mark up the Fiscal Year 2010 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations. This bill includes appropriations numerous technology related entities, including the federal judiciary, Executive Office of the President (EOP) and its Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of the Treasury (DOT), and its Internal Revenue Service (ITS) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Location: Room 192, Dirksen Building.

2:00 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will meet to mark up several bills, including S 649 [LOC | WW], the "Radio Spectrum Inventory Act". See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Inquiry [59 pages in PDF] regarding the drafting of a "national broadband plan", as required by Section 6001(k) of HR 1 [LOC | WW], the huge spending bill passed by the Congress in February. See also, "Broadband Plan Statute: Public Law No. 111-5, § 6001(k)" and stories titled "FCC Releases NOI on Broadband Plan" and "Additional Questions Asked by FCC's Broadband Plan Notice of Inquiry" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,924, April 11, 2009. This NOI is FCC 09-31 in Docket No. GN 09-51.

Deadline to submit comments to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) regarding its document [PDF] titled "Proposals for the Systematization of ICANN’s Organizational Review Processes".

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The schedule for the week includes consideration of HR 2965 [LOC | WW], the "Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act of 2009". See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for the week of July 6.

RESCHEDULED FROM JUNE 18. 10:00 AM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee's (HFAC) Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade will hold a hearing titled "The Export Administration Act: A Review of Outstanding Policy Considerations". See, notice. Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy will hold a hearing titled "Trends Affecting Minority Broadcast Ownership". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

The House Small Business Committee's (HSBC) Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology will hold a hearing titled "Helping Small Business Innovators through the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit". Location: Room 2360, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Resqnet.com v. Lansa, App. Ct. No. 2008-1365. Location: Courtroom 201.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in L-3 Communications v. US, App. Ct. No. 2008-5111. Location: Courtroom 201.

12:00 NOON. The National Economists Club (NEC) will host a lunch titled "Green Jobs and Patent Protection: The Clean Technologist Case for Consistent Policymaking". The speaker will be Robert Shapiro (ecoIDEA Institute). To make reservations, contact 703-493-8824 or info at national-economists dot org. Location: Chinatown Garden Restaurant, 2nd floor, 618 H St., NW.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "An Introduction to Broadband Regulation and Policy". The speaker will be Dan Brenner (Hogan & Hartson). For more information, contact Micah Caldwell at mcaldwell at fh-law dot com or Christina Langlois at clanglois at nualumni dot com. Location: Drinker Biddle & Reath, 1500 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regarding its "Release 1.0 of the Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Framework". See, notice in the Federal Register: June 9, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 109, at Pages 27288-27289.

The House may meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for the week of July 6.

10:00 AM. The Senate Finance Committee (SFC) will hold a hearing on the nomination of William Wilkins to be Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). See, notice. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) will host an event titled "Regulating Online Advertising: What Will it Mean for Consumers, Culture & Journalism?". The speakers will be Howard Beales (George Washington University), Thomas Lenard (Technology Policy Institute), Jules Polonetsky (Director of the Future of Privacy Forum), Mark Adams (PFF), and Berin Szoka (PFF). See, notice. Location: Room 208, Capitol Visitor Center.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a three day event hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) titled "Workshop on the Protocol for Lightweight Authentication of Identity (PLAID)". See, notice in the Federal Register, June 19, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 117, at Pages 29183-29184. Location: Administration Building, NIST Gaithersburg campus, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Technology Policy Institute (TPI) will host a panel discussion titled "Broadband Competition Policy: What Comes After the Stimulus?". The speakers will be Michael Katz (New York University business school), Eli Noam (Columbia School of Business), William Lehr (MIT), Scott Wallsten (TPI), and Joseph Waz (Comcast). This event is free. Lunch will be served. See, registration page. Location: Room B-340, Rayburn Building.

3:00 PM. Deadline to submit applications to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for money to conduct research on, among other things, information technology and cyber security. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 1, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 103, at Pages 26209-26213.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to it Fourth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding whether or not to modify FCC Form 323-E, the Ownership Report filed by noncommercial educational (NCE) licensees of AM, FM, and TV broadcast stations, to obtain gender, race, and ethnicity data. This 4thFNPRM is FCC 09-33 in MB Docket Nos. 07-294, 06-121, 02-277 and 04-228, and MM Docket Nos. 01-235, 01-317, and 00-244. See, public notice DA 09-1195, and notice in the Federal Register, May 27, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 100, at Pages 25205-25208.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a three day event hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) titled "Workshop on the Protocol for Lightweight Authentication of Identity (PLAID)". See, notice in the Federal Register, June 19, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 117, at Pages 29183-29184. Location: Administration Building, NIST Gaithersburg campus, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The Heritage Foundation will host a panel discussion titled "Securing Identification Cards: REAL ID vs. PASS ID". The speakers will be Stewart Baker (Steptoe & Johnson), Brian Zimmer (Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License), Janice Kephart (Center for Immigration Studies), and Jena McNeil (Heritage). 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) regarding procedures for allocating new FM channels and AM frequency assignments. The FCC adopted this item on April 7, 2009, and released the text [33 pages in PDF] on April 20, 2009. It is FCC 09-30 in MB Docket No. 09-52. See, notice in the Federal Register, May 13, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 91, at Pages 22498-22507.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit applications to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for Priority Round funding under its Low-Power Television and Translator Upgrade Program. See, notice in the Federal Register, May 12, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 90, at Pages 22401-22415.

12:30 - 3:30 PM. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 1, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 103, at Pages 26252-26253. Location: J.W. Marriott, Salons E and F, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) in which it proposes to modify its cost sharing requirements for the 2 GHz BAS band. The FCC adopted this FNPRM on June 10, 2009, and released the text on June 12, 2009. It is FCC 09-49 in WT Docket No. 02-55 and ET Docket Nos. 00-258 and 95-18. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 23, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 119, at Pages 29636-29650.