8/5. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) amended and approved S 251 [LOC | WW], the "Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009". Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX) is the sponsor.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) was the only original cosponsor of S 251. However, there are now a total of 14 sponsors, including Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Sen. Jim Thune (R-SD), Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Jon Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

The companion bill in the House is HR 560 [LOC | WW], introduced on January 15, 2009, by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX). It now has 44 mostly Republican sponsors.

This bill, which originates from the Texas delegation, would enable state prisons to petition the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for waivers allowing them to operate radio frequency jamming devices at state prisons for the purpose of interfering with prisoners' use of cell phones.

The bill is supported by prison officials. It is opposed by some public safety officials, who fear interference with their communications, and commercial wireless companies, who fear interference with the wireless communications of their customers near prisons.

On July 15, the SCC held a hearing titled "Contraband Cell Phones in Correctional Facilities: Public Safety Impact and the Potential Implications of Jamming Technologies".

The SCC approved a draft amendment in the nature of a substitute at its August 5 business meeting.

Bill Summary. Currently, 47 U.S.C. § 333 provides, in full, that "No person shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communications of any station licensed or authorized by or under this chapter or operated by the United States Government."

The bill as introduced was short. It would have amended § 333 to provide that "The Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons or the chief executive officer of a State (or his or her designee) may, by petition, request that the Commission grant a waiver ... to permit the installation of devices for the sole purpose of preventing, jamming, or interfering with wireless communications within the geographic boundaries of a specified prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility under his or her jurisdiction". (Parentheses in original.)

The bill as introduced also provided that waivers may have a term of up to ten years. It also required the FCC to write rules which provide, among other things, that prisons "operate the device at the lowest possible transmission power necessary to prevent, jam, or interfere with wireless communications by inmates" and that "operate the device in a manner that does not interfere with wireless communications that originate and terminate outside the area of the prison".

On August 5 the SCC approved a 21 page substitute version. It adds a new Section 333A to Title 47 regarding "Jamming Unauthorized Wireless Devices in Correctional Facilities". It also requirea the FCC to promulgate regulations "governing the use of jamming systems in correctional facilities", and regulations "establishing criteria for certification for the manufacture, sale, importation, and interstate shipment of devices that may be used" for such jamming.

The bill as approved provides that the FCC "may authorize the supervisory authority of a correctional facility to operate a jamming system within the correctional facility to prevent, jam, or otherwise interfere with unauthorized wireless communications within the facility by individuals held in the facility." The FCC would be required to give notice and an opportunity to be heard to public safety agencies and commercial mobile service providers. If a waiver is granted, the bill would then allow public safety agencies to inspect the jamming facilities. The bill would also require the shutdown of jamming in the event of a public safety incident at the prison.

July 15 Hearing. Witnesses and Senators who support the bill stated at the hearing that convicted criminals, and persons in pretrial detention obtain cell phones illegally, and then use them to intimidate witnesses, harass crime victims, arrange murders, coordinate escapes and attacks on prison guards, and conduct other criminal activities.

One critic of the bill, Richard Mirgon, President of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, said the prison jamming technologies could be diverted to illegal use. However, Steve Largent, head of the CTIA, and another critic of the bill, responded that there is already an illegal market for jamming devices.

Largent argued that prison jamming would interfere with nearby wireless communications, especially when prisons are located in urban areas. John Whitmire and John Moriarity, two witnesses from the state of Texas, stated that the prisons where cell phones constitute a problem are mostly located in rural areas.

Whitmire also said that Texas is already using prison searches, pat downs, and dogs, but still has a cell phone problem.

Moriarity added that Texas has made it a felony to possess a cell phone in prison. He elaborated that the problem is that cell phones are very small, and SIM cards even smaller. He said that SIM cards enable many prisoners to share one phone. There are easy to smuggle, especially in body cavities. Moreover, prison guards are paid little, and are sometimes bribed to smuggle cell phones.

Largent argued that prison jamming in other countries, including India, has led to interference with outside communications. He urged the use of other techniques, including cell phone detection. Moriarity responded that Texas does this, and it is both expensive and ineffective.

Largent also called for "managed access" and "airport style security checks" at prisons.

Steve Largent stated in a release issued on August 5 that "While CTIA believes policy should favor non-interfering technologies, we appreciate Senator Hutchison’s willingness to redraft her bill to protect commercial and emergency wireless communications from interference caused by the use of jamming systems. We are in complete alignment with the Senator on the need to prohibit wireless access by those who aren't supposed to have it, and we commend her for the attention she has brought to this important public safety issue."

7/29. The U.S. Court of Appeals (3rdCir) issued its opinion [26 pages in PDF] in USA v. Ramirez, a criminal case involving the use of evidence at trial obtained by wiretaps of cell phone conversations. The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of the defendant by the District Court.

It wrote that the focus of 18 U.S.C. § 2518 "is on preserving the accuracy and authenticity of the contents of the wiretap recordings used and disclosed at trial". It also wrote that under the statute "the Government may use duplicate tapes, compilation tapes, transcripts, trial testimony, or any other manner of use or disclosure provided that the contents to be used or disclosed exist in a properly obtained and sealed set of wiretap recordings."

The Court of Appeals also held the the defendants' right to a public trial was not violated when the government played tapes to jurors, counsel and the court via headphones only, thus precluding others in the courtroom from hearing the recordings. The public could have later read transcripts or listened to audio tapes of the trial that included the wiretap evidence.

The Sixth Amendment provides, in part, that "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a ... public trial". The Court wrote that "every criminal trial is subject to contemporaneous review in the forum of public opinion is an effective restraint on possible abuse of judicial power". However, the failure to play the tapes for the public at the trial did not rise to the level of a Constitutional violation.

This case is USA v. Arturo Ramirez, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, App. Ct. No. 05-5042, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, D.C. No. 03-cr-00008, Judge Anita Brody presiding. Judge Smith wrote the opinion of the Court of Appeals, in which Judges Scirica and McKee joined.

8/5. President Obama issued a memorandum regarding designation of officers of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to act as Director in the event of the death of the Director.

8/4. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a notice in the Federal Register requesting nominations for members of its eight advisory committees. There is no deadline. See, Federal Register, August 4, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 148, at Pages 38586-38591. The eight committees are as follows:

• Technology Innovation Program (TIP) Advisory Board. See also, TIP web site.
• Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board.
• Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. See also, MBNQA web site.
• Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
• Manufacturing Extension Partnership Advisory Board.
• National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee.
• Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction.
• Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology.

8/5. A trial jury of the U.S. District Court (EDVa) returned a verdict of guilty on 11 counts against former Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). The jury found Jefferson guilty of solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering and conspiracy. The jury acquitted him of other charges, including violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. See, Department of Justice (DOJ) release. The DOJ engaged in ugly prosecutorial tactics to obtain this conviction. It conducted an unprecedented assault upon the Constitutional separation of powers when it raided a House of Representatives office building late in the night of May 20, 2006. See, story titled "Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in Case Regarding FBI Search of Congressional Office" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,740, April 1, 2008. The DOJ also forum shopped to seek a jury unfavorably disposed to Jefferson. Jefferson lost his bid for re-election in 2008. Jefferson had been a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and one of the few Democrats with a record of supporting free trade.

8/4. The Public Knowledge (PK) announced that it is giving awards to Siva Vaidhyanathan (University of Virginia), Karen Jackson (state of Virginia), and Sascha Meinrath (New America Foundation). See, PK release.

8/3. Apple announced in a release that Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, "is resigning from Apple’s Board of Directors, a position he has held since August 2006". Richard Feinstein, Director of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Competition stated in a release that "We have been investigating the Google/Apple interlocking directorates issue for some time and commend them for recognizing that sharing directors raises competitive issues, as Google and Apple increasingly compete with each other ... We will continue to investigate remaining interlocking directorates between the companies."

7/31. President Obama nominated Jacqueline Nguyen to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. She has been a state trial court judge since 2002. Before that, she worked in the U.S. Attorneys Office. See, White House news office release and release.

7/31. President Obama nominated Abdul Kallon to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. See, White House news office release and release.

7/31. President Obama nominated four persons to be U.S. Attorneys for four year terms: Daniel Bogden (District of Nevada), Deborah Gilg (District of Nebraska), Timothy Heaphy (Western District of Virginia), and Peter Neronha (District of Rhode Island). See, White House news office release.

7/23. Jodie Kelley joined the Business Software Alliance (BSA) as General Counsel and VP of Anti-Piracy. She previously was VP and Deputy General Counsel of Fannie Mae. See, BSA release.

The House will not meet. It will return from its August recess on September 8.

The Senate will meet at 9:00 AM. It will consider the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be a Justice of the Supreme Court.

8:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The meeting will be closed to the public from 8:00 - 10:00 AM. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 24, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 141, at Page 36923-36924. Location: Room 100, Keck Center of the National Academies, 500 5th St., NW.

8:00 AM. Day one of a two day partly closed meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science Board (NSB). See, notice in the Federal Register, July 28, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 143, at Pages 37243-37244. Location: 4201 Wilson Blvd., Rooms 1235 and 1295, Arlington, VA.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda includes consideration of the nominations of David Kappos (to be head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office), Steven Dettelbach (to be the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio), and Carter Stewart (to be the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio). See, notice. The SJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold one of a series of meetings to consider staff drafts of material for its 2009 Annual Report to Congress. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 5, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 149, at Pages 39145-39146. Location: Conference Room 333, Hall of States, 444 North Capitol St., NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Kara Technology v. Stamps.com, App. Ct. No. 2009-1027. Location: Courtroom 201.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Waste, Fraud and Abuse in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program". See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

12:45 - 2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) International Telecommunications Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Current Issues in Mexico's Telecommunications Industry: foreign investment restrictions, resale permits, cable, interconnection, spectrum auctions and local area consolidation". The speaker will be Ivan Ruiz (President of Mexico's Institute for Telecommunications Law). Register by August 3 with Jennifer Ullman at Jennifer dot ullman at verizon dot com. Location: Verizon, Suite 400, 1300 I St., NW.

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Part of meeting on August 7 will include President Obama, and will be closed to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 24, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 141, at Page 36923-36924. Location: the public portion of this meeting will be in the Truman Room, White House Conference Center, 726 Jackson Place, NW.

Deadline for the US, states and Microsoft to file a periodic joint status report with the U.S. District Court (DC) in US v. Microsoft, D.C. No. 98-1232. See, notice.

The Senate will not meet from August 10 through September 7. See, Senate calendar.

Deadline to submit comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in response to its notice of review of federal policy regarding its current limitations on federal web sites' use of tracking technologies, such as persistent cookies. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 27, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 142, at Pages 37062-37063, and story titled "OMB Seeks Comments on Federal Web Sites' Use of Cookies" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,974, July 27, 2009.

Revised filing deadline for Cox Enterprises, Calvary, Bonneville International, Scranton Times, and Morris Communications to file amendments to pending waiver requests or renewal applications or to file requests for permanent waivers of the newspaper broadcast cross ownership rule. See, FCC Public Notice numbered DA 09-1286.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee. See, notice in the Federal Register: July 10, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 131, at Pages 33231-33232. Location: American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may hold an event titled "Open Meeting". Location: FCC, Room TW-C305, 445 12th St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) will host a panel discussion titled "A Tale of the Google Book Settlement and the Public Interest: Conclusions On The Competitive Elements". The speakers will include David Balto (Center for American Progress), Ed Black (CCIA), and James Grimmelmann (New York Law School). See, notice. Lunch will be served. Location: National Press Club.

3:00 - 4:00 PM. The President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) will meet by teleconference. This event is open to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 27, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 142, at Page 37049.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding additional spectrum for the Medical Device Radiocommunication Service. The FCC adopted this NPRM on March 17, 2009, and released the text on March 20, 2009. It is FCC 09-20 in ET Docket No. 09-36 and RM-11404. See, notice in the Federal Register, May 13, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 91, at Pages 22491-22498.

Deadline to submit reply 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.

9:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. Day two of a two day meeting of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee. See, notice in the Federal Register: July 10, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 131, at Pages 33231-33232. Location: American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Ave., NW.

10:00 - 11:45 AM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a panel discussion titled "Obama Trade Policy: An Assessment at Six Months". The speakers will be Philip Levy (AEI), Edward Gresser (New Democratic Leadership Council), John Murphy (U.S. Chamber of Commerce), Bruce Stokes (National Journal), and Claude Barfield (AEI). See, notice. Location: AEI, 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

Effective day of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) new Medical Device Radiocommunication Service (MedRadio Service) rules. The FCC adopted its Report and Order [45 pages in PDF] on March 19, 2009, and released the text on March 20, 2009. It is FCC 09-23 in ET Docket Nos. 06-135, 05-213, and 03-92, and RM-11271. See, notice in the Federal Register, May 14, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 92, at Pages 22696-22710.

11:00 AM. The U.S. District Court (DC) will hold a status conference in US v. Microsoft, D.C. No. 98-1232. See, notice.

8/5. The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) released an updated version of its report [25 pages in PDF] titled "Browser Privacy Features: A Work In Progress".

8/4. Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, gave a speech in Washington DC regarding cyber security.

8/4. The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a memorandum [PDF] to the heads of executive departments and agencies regarding the preparation of FY 2011 budget requests for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The memorandum addresses the science and technology related activities of executive departments and agencies.

8/4. The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces, describes, recites, and sets the comment deadline for, its interim rule amending its procedural regulations to include a provision governing remands of final determinations pursuant to the Copyright Act, which sets forth the procedural structure to be followed by the Copyright Royalty Judges in making determinations to distribute royalty fees and establish royalty rates and terms under the various statutory licenses of the Copyright Act. The deadline to submit comments to the CRB is September 3, 2009. See, Federal Register, August 4, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 148, at Pages 38532-38533.

7/31. The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) released its draft Special Publication (SP) 800-126 [42 pages in PDF] titled "The Technical Specification for the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP)". The deadline to submit comments in September 15, 2009.

7/30. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [65 pages in PDF] titled "Information Technology: Federal Agencies Need to Strengthen Investment Board Oversight of Poorly Planned and Performing Projects".

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