11/13. Google Inc., the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and the Authors Guild (AG) filed an amended settlement agreement with the U.S. District Court (SDNY) in Authors Guild and American Association of Publishers v. Google.

See, amended agreement [173 pages in PDF], a copy of original agreement marked up with amendments [179 pages in PDF]. Attachments, forms, and other pleadings are available in the Google Books Settlement web site.

Google, major U.S. book publishers, and an authors' group seek to settle their disputes, and enact major revisions to copyright law that are legislative in scope and nature, via the procedure of class action litigation. Their settlement requires approval by the Court.

On September 18, 2009, the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division filed a pleading [32 pages in PDF] titled "Statement of Interest of the United States of America Regarding Proposed Class Settlement" in which it urged the Court to "reject the Proposed Settlement in its current form". The District Court then put off its hearing on the settlement.  See also, story titled "DOJ Files Pleading in Google Books Case" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,985, September 21, 2009.

On November 9, 2009, the U.S. District Court (SDNY) issued an order [PDF] extending from November 9 to November 13, 2009, the deadline for the parties to submit an amended settlement agreement.

Google stated in a release that "The changes we've made in our amended agreement address many of the concerns we've heard (particularly in limiting its international scope), while at the same time preserving the core benefits of the original agreement: opening access to millions of books while providing rightsholders with ways to sell and control their work online." (Parentheses in original.)

Foreign Rights Holders. The AAP stated in a release [3 pages in PDF] that "the settlement will only include books that were either registered with the U.S. Copyright Office or published in the U.K., Australia, or Canada".

The DOJ wrote back on September 18 that the original foreign rightsholders were inadequately represented in the negotiation of the original agreement. It wrote that the original settlement "operates to sweep in untold numbers of foreign works, whose authors, under current law, are not required to register in the same manner as U.S. rightsholders. Many of those authors have never published works in the United States and are not members of the Authors Guild or the Association of American Publishers, which exclude many foreign copyright owners from membership by virtue of their membership criteria. Moreover, the interests of these class members likely differ from those of the class representatives."

Anticompetitive Provisions. The AAP stated that "The amended settlement clarifies how Google's algorithm will work to price books competitively. The algorithm used to establish consumer purchase prices will simulate the prices in a competitive market, and prices for books will be established independently of each other. The agreement also stipulates that the Registry cannot share pricing information with anyone but the book’s rightsholder."

The AAP also stated that "the amended settlement removes the non-discrimination clause (commonly called the "Most Favored Nation" clause) that pertained to the Registry licensing of unclaimed works. The Registry is free to license to other parties without ever extending the same terms to Google." (Parentheses in original.)

The DOJ wrote in its pleading that the original agreement "appears to give book publishers the power to restrict price competition". Also, "other digital distributors may be effectively precluded from competing with Google in the sale of digital library products and other derivative products to come."

Unlocated Rightsholders. The AAP release also states that "The amended settlement agreement requires the Book Rights Registry to search for rightsholders who have not yet come forward and to hold revenue on their behalf. The settlement now also specifies that a portion of the revenue generated from unclaimed works may, after five years, be used to locate rightsholders, but will no longer be used for the Registry's general operations or redistributed to other rightsholders. The Registry may ask the court after 10 years to distribute these funds to nonprofits benefiting rightsholders and the reading public, and may provide abandoned funds to the appropriate government authority in compliance with state property laws. The Registry will now also include a Court-approved fiduciary who will represent rightsholders of unclaimed books, act to protect their interests, and license their works to third parties, to the extent permitted by law."

See also, AG release that describes some changes made by the amended agreement.

This case Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers v. Google, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, D.C. No. 05 Civ. 8136 (DC).

See also, stories titled "Author's Guild Sues Google for Copyright Infringement" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,218, September 21, 2005, "Major Book Publishers Sue Google for Digitizing Copyrighted Books" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,237, October 20, 2005, and "Google, Publishers and Authors Debate Google's Print for Libraries Program" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,239, October 25, 2005.

11/12. Carl Shapiro, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economic Analysis in the DOJ's Antitrust Division, gave a speech titled "Updating the Merger Guidelines: Issues for the Upcoming Workshops" at a conference hosted by the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law in Washington DC.

See also, story titled "Antitrust Division and FTC May Amend Horizontal Merger Guidelines" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,987, September 23, 2009. The DOJ and FTC have received public comments. They have yet to host workshops.

Shapiro said that "We are now in the process of organizing five workshops that will take place during December and January. All workshops are open to the public and will be webcast."

He said that "if the Guidelines are revised, we anticipate: "retaining the basic ``hypothetical monopolist´´ test used to ensure that antitrust markets are not unduly narrowly defined", "continuing to use the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) to measure levels of and changes in market concentration", "continuing to apply the same basic structural presumptions", "retaining the basic ``timeliness, likelihood, sufficiency´´ approach to entry analysis", "retaining the fundamental approach to efficiencies", and "retaining the basic approach to the failing firm defense". But, he added, "revisions could be made".

Shapiro also discussed the structural presumption in merger law. He reviewed its treatment in the prior horizontal merger guidelines (HMG) and commentary, beginning with the 1968 HMG.

He said that "The workshops will explore whether the Guidelines should be updated to reflect the fact that investigations often do not begin with, or focus on, market definition and concentration." He continued that "Notwithstanding the decline of the structural presumption, the Agencies continue to rely on measures of market concentration, both to decide which mergers warrant the additional scrutiny associated with a second request, and to decide which mergers to challenge. We do not anticipate changing this basic reliance on the structural presumption in the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, as the importance of market concentration in merger law has declined over the decades, our investigations have focused more on direct evidence of competitive effects, and in some cases we infer the relevant market using the same evidence that leads us to conclude there are likely to be adverse competitive effects."

Shapiro next discussed market definition and the hypothetical monopolist test. He began by stating that "we do not anticipate fundamentally changing this basic component of the Guidelines. There are, however, a number of aspects of the test that warrant a fresh look and may benefit from alterations."

He also discussed unilateral effects with differentiated products. Differentiated products are a characteristic of many IT sectors and information product sectors. (Also, Shapiro and Joe Farrell co-authored a paper [34 pages in PDF] on this subject in 2008 titled "Antitrust Evaluation of Horizontal Mergers: An Economic Alternative to Market Definition".

Shapiro also discussed the topics of large buyers and market entry.

The DOJ and FTC will hold workshops on December 3 (FTC, Washington DC), December 8 (New York University, NYC), December 10 (Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois), January 14 (Stanford University, Palo Alto, California), and January 26 (Washington DC).

11/13. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division released a paper [PDF] titled "The Entry Incentives of Complementary Producers: A Simple Model with Implications for Antitrust Policy". It is a game theoretical and mathematical paper with implications for the tech sector. For example, it states that "our results could rationalize Microsoft's recent launch of Bing in the market for online consumer search, insofar as the existence of a Google competitor creates positive externalities for Microsoft’s positions in operating systems and applications". The authors are Juan Lleras and Nathan Miller of the Antitrust Division's Economic Analysis Group (EAG).

11/12. Phil Weiser, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ's Antitrust Division, gave a speech titled "Antitrust Doctrine, Competition Policy, and International Dialogue " at a conference hosted by the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law in Washington DC.

11/9. The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) submitted a comment [5 pages in PDF] to the European Commission (EC) in which it argued that imposing a browser ballot mandate on Microsoft is unnecessary, because there are many browsers, and nearly all "are available for free and users don't have to choose just one -- they can install, and use simultaneously, as many as they want". The paper also warns that "Such mandates could easily extend to require ballots for choosing one's default search engine, media player, instant messaging client, email provider, and so on. While a ballot may indeed be a reasonable way for a company to offer meaningful choice and allay legitimate concern about any ``market power´´ it might be alleged to possess, government should tread cautiously in such matters, and avoid injecting political decision-making into the software design process." The authors of the comment are the PFF's Adam Marcus and Berin Szoka.

11/16. Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), gave a speech in New York City, titled "On the Outlook for the Economy and Policy". He stated that "I expect moderate economic growth to continue next year. Final demand shows signs of strengthening, supported by the broad improvement in financial conditions."

11/13. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced in a release that the USPTO, Japan Patent Office, and European Patent Office "entered into a series of bilateral agreements to expand the existing Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) work share program." It added that these PPH agreements "will use international search reports, written opinions, and international preliminary examination reports developed within the framework of the international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)".

11/13. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [39 pages in PDF] titled "Information Security: Actions Needed to Better Manage, Protect, and Sustain Improvements to Los Alamos National Laboratory's Classified Computer Network".

11/12. Hewlett Packard (HP) and 3Com Corporation announced that "they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase 3Com, a leading provider of networking switching, routing and security solutions, at a price of $7.90 per share in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $2.7 billion." See, HP release and 3Com release.

11/11. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) released a short paper [5 pages in PDF] titled "American Competitiveness in a Post-American World". The authors are Scott Andes and Daniel Castro.

11/9. Monday, November 9, 2009, was the deadline for the general public to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) in response to its request for comments regarding its Special 301 out of cycle reviews of Fiji, Israel, Philippines, Poland, and Saudi Arabia, and regarding identification of countries under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 5, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 191, at Pages 51215-51216. See, comments submitted by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) regarding Israel Philippines, Poland, and Saudi Arabia.

11/9. Google Inc. announced in a release that "it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AdMob, a mobile display ad technology provider, for $750 million in stock."

11/9. The Free Press, Media Access Project (MAP), Consumers Union (CU), and New America Foundation (NAF) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski complaining about a statement made by Julius Knapp, Chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET), regarding the FCC's internet regulation notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), adopted on October 22, 2009. The letter states that Knapp may have said that giving high priority treatment in a network to voice and video traffic is a reasonable network practice. The groups argue that this was improper because it reaches a conclusion about questions posed in the NPRM.

11/16. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Michael Copps hired Joshua Cinelli to be his Advisor on Media Issues. Cinelli is a former journalist, and not an attorney. He replaces Jamila Bess Johnson, who worked for Copps on an interim basis beginning in January. See, FCC release.

11/16. On Friday, November 20, 2009, the Department of Justice (DOJ) will hold a swearing in ceremony for Neil MacBride, the newly appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Senate confirmed him on September 15. MacBride was previously VP for Anti-Piracy and General Counsel at the Business Software Alliance (BSA). Before that he worked for then Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE). Attorney General Eric Holder will attend the ceremony, at the Bryan Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia.

11/13. The U.S. District Court (EDVa) sentenced former Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) to serve 13 years in prison following his conviction on August 5, 2009, by a jury in Virginia, of conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services wire fraud, and violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The Department of Justice (DOJ) stated in a release that Jefferson "performed a wide range of official acts in return for things of value, including leading official business delegations to Africa, corresponding with U.S. and foreign government officials, and utilizing congressional staff members to promote businesses and businesspersons. The business ventures that Jefferson sought to promote included telecommunications deals in Nigeria, Ghana and elsewhere; oil concessions in Equatorial Guinea; satellite transmission contracts in Botswana, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo". Neil MacBride, the new U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, stated in this release that "Jefferson's repeated attempts to sell his office caused significant damage to the public's trust in our elected leaders. This sentence will begin to repair that damage and to restore that trust." MacBride said nothing about repairing the damage caused by the DOJ's prosecutorial tactics in this case, including an 18 hour search of the Rayburn House Office Building that trampled on the Constitutional principle of separation of powers.

11/13. President Obama named Robert Bauer to be his White House Council, beginning "by the end of the year". He will replace Greg Craig. See, White House news office release. Bauer is currently an attorney in the Washington DC office of the law firm of Perkins Coie. He is head of the firm's Political Law Group. He is also General Counsel to Obama for America, and General Counsel to the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

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The House will meet at 2:00 PM for legislative business. It will consider several non-technology related items under suspension of the rules. Votes postponed until 6:30 PM. see, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of November 16.

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM. It will resume consideration of HR 3082 [LOC | WW], the "Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2010".

7:00 AM - 8:30 PM. The Executive Office of the President's (EOP) Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) will hold an event titled "Nanotechnology Primer Public Pre-meeting". See, notice in the Federal Register, October 30, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 209, at Pages 56246. Location: Holiday Inn Rosslyn Key Bridge, 1900 N. Fort Myer Drive, Arlington, VA.

6:00 - 8:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host a reception for Jonathan Blake, Judith Harris, and Henry Rivera. Register by contacting Desiree Logan at dlogan at reedsmith dot com. Location: Reed Smith, East Tower, Penthouse, 1301 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Public Notice [4 pages in PDF] regarding the proposed creation of a "broadband clearinghouse". The FCC has received comments making such a proposal. See for example, comment [PDF] of the Public Knowledge at page 40. The FCC This item is DA 09-2167 in GN Docket Nos. 09-47, 09-51, and 09-137.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the report [232 pages in PDF] issued by the Harvard University Law School titled "Next Generation Connectivity: A review of broadband Internet transitions and policy from around the world". See, FCC Public Notice. The FCC requests comments to assist it in drafting a document titled "National Broadband Plan". This Public Notice is DA 09-2217 in GN Docket Nos. 09-47, 09-51, and 09-137.

The House will meet at 10:30 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. The schedule for the week includes consideration of HR 3014 [LOC | WW], the "Small Business Health Information Technology Financing Act". The House may also vote on the conference report on HR 2847 [LOC | WW], the "Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010". See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of November 16.

8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Executive Office of the President's (EOP) Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO). See, notice in the Federal Register, October 30, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 209, at Pages 56245-56246. Location: Holiday Inn Rosslyn Key Bridge, 1900 N. Fort Myer Drive, Arlington, VA.

9:30 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "Universal Service Reform Act of 2009". See, notice. Location: Room 2123 Rayburn Building.

9:30 AM - 4:30 PM. The Heritage Foundation will host a one day conference titled "Measuring Innovation and Change During Turbulent Economic Times". This event will address how innovation can become a standard component of U.S. national accounting system, and how incorporating innovation metrics will aid the development of a unified picture of the sources of growth and economic disruption. See, notice. Location: Heritage, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security will hold a hearing titled "Cybersecurity: Preventing Terrorist Attacks and Protecting Privacy in Cyberspace". The witnesses will be James Baker (Associate Deputy Attorney General), Steven Chabinsky (Assistant Director of the DHS's National Cyber Security Center), Richard Schaeffer (Director of the NSA's Information Assurance Directorate), Steven Chabinsky (Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Cyber Division), Gregory Nojeim (Center for Democracy and Technology), Larry Clinton (Internet Security Alliance), and Larry Wortzel (Vice Chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission). The SJC will webcast this hearing. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Ways and Means Committee's (HWMC) Subcommittee on Trade will hold a hearing titled "Operation, Impact, and Future of the U.S. Preference Programs". See, notice. Location: Room 1100, Longworth Building.

10:00 - 11:30 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Explaining International Mobile Payments Leadership". The speakers will be Rob Atkinson (ITIF), Stephen Ezell (ITIF), Pragnesh Shah (Network Solutions), David Jeppsen (NTT DOCOMO USA), and Mark McCarthy. See, notice. Location: ITIF, 1101 K St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Copyright Alliance will host a panel discussion titled "Expanding the Consumer Experience: The New Generation of Entertainment". The speakers will include Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee (HJC). See, notice. RSVP to Gayle Osterberg at gayle at 133publicaffairs dot com. Location: Room 2226, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Aggressive Sales Tactics on the Internet and Their Impact on American Consumers". See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

5:00 - 7:00 PM. The Copyright Alliance will host an event titled "EXPOnential" and "Live from Main Street: Copyright and the Local Economy". The speakers will include Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (HJC). See, notice. RSVP to Gayle Osterberg at gayle at 133publicaffairs dot com. Location: Cannon Caucus Room, Cannon Building.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit petitions to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) for competitive need limitation (CNL) waivers and Section 503(c)(1)(E) determinations regarding products not produced in the U.S. on January 1, 1995. See, notice in the Federal Register, May 28, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 101, Page 25605-25607.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "Export Controls and Economic Sanctions 2009: Recent Developments and Current Issues". The speakers will be Carol Kalinoski and Thomas Scott. The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. Most DC Bar events are not open to the public. This event qualifies for continuing legal education (CLE) credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) petitions requesting either Competitive Need Limitation (CNL) waivers, or determinations regarding eligible products not produced in the United States on January 1, 1995. See, notice in the Federal Register, November 3, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 211, at Pages 56908-56909.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of November 16.

8:30 AM - 1:00 PM. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will host an event titled "Roundtable on Work Sharing for Patent Applications". See, notice in the Federal Register, October 21, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 202, at Pages 54028-54029. Location: USPTO, Madison Auditorium, Concourse Level, Madison Building, 600 Dulany St., Alexandria, VA.

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the Executive Office of the President's (EOP) Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO). See, notice in the Federal Register, October 30, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 209, at Pages 56245-56246. Location: Holiday Inn Rosslyn Key Bridge, 1900 N. Fort Myer Drive, Arlington, VA.

TIME AND LOCATION CHANGE. 9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Oversight of the Department of Justice". The witness will be Attorney General Eric Holder. The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room G-50, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may host an event titled "open meeting". The agenda includes two items: (1) a staff presentation on the drafting of a document titled "National Broadband Plan", and (2) adoption of a declaratory ruling regarding timeframes for state and local governmental authorities to consider wireless facilities siting applications. For more information, contact Jen Howard at 202-418-0506 or jen dot howard at fcc dot gov. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

1:00 - 5:45 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Business and Operations Advisory Committee. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 26, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 205, at Page 55069. Location: NSF, Room 375, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA.

12:15 - 2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) International Telecommunications Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Discussion of Network Management Practices of Fixed and Mobile Broadband Providers in Europe and Asia, along with regulations, if any, governing those practices". The speaker Michael Kende (Analysys Mason). Register by November 13 with Jennifer Ullman at Jennifer dot ullman at verizon dot com. Location: Wiley Rein, 1750 K St., NW.

TIME CHANGE. 2:30 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing on the nominations of Denny Chin (to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit), Rosanna Peterson (USDC/EDWash), William Conley (USDC/WDWisc), and others. See, notice. The SJC will webcast this hearing. For more information, call 202-224-7703. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

2:00 - 3:30 PM. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division's Economic Analysis Group will host a presentation by Louis Kaplow (Harvard law school) titled "Why Ever Define Markets?" To request permission to attend, contact Patrick Greenlee at 202-307-3745 or atr dot eag at usdoj dot gov. Location: DOJ, Liberty Square Building, 450 5th St., NW.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing on nominations, including that of Philip Coyle to be the Associate Director at the Executive Office of the President's (EOP) Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

Deadline to submits comments regarding all issues except sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measure or standards related matters to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) to assist it in preparing its annual National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE). See, notice in the Federal Register, September 24, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 184, at Pages 48811-48813.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of November 16.

8:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. Day two of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Business and Operations Advisory Committee. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 26, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 205, at Page 55069. Location: NSF, Room 375, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a two day event hosted by the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Economics and Northwestern University titled "FTC Microeconomics Conference". Several technology related papers will be presented. See, conference web site and agenda. Location: FTC Conference Center, 601 New Jersey Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will meet in executive session to consider five bills, including S 592 [LOC | WW], the "Local Community Radio Act of 2009", and S 2764 [LOC | WW], the "Satellite TV Extension and Localism Act". Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet and Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing titled "Exploring the Offline and Online Collection and Use of Consumer Information". See, notice. Location: Room 2123 Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of HR 985 [LOC | WW] and S 448 [LOC | WW], both titled the "Free Flow of Information Act of 2009", and S 1147 [LOC | WW], the "Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009", a bill that would regulate internet sales of cigarettes. The agenda also includes consideration of the nomination of Jane Stranch to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. See, notice. The SJC rarely follows is published agendas. The SJC will webcast this meeting. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) will hold a partially closed meeting by teleconference. The agenda includes a report from the Cybersecurity Collaboration Task Force. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 21, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 202, at Pages 54061-54062.

2:00 PM. The Alliance for Public Technology (APT) will host a speaking event, awards ceremony, and reception, regarding broadband policy. The speakers will be Rick Cimerman (NCTA), Debbie Goldman (CWA), Link Hoewing (Verizon), Karyne Jones (National Caucus and Center on Black Aged), Jonathan Linkous (American Telemedicine Association), Sheri Steinig (Generations United), Donald Mathis (Community Action Partnership), Jim Mueller (Wireless RERC at Georgia Tech), and Kenneth Peres (APT). For more information, contact apt at apt dot org or call 202-263-2970. Location: National Education Association, 1201 16th St., NW.

The House may meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of November 16.

9:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will host an event titled "Staff Workshop on Addressing Distracted Driving". See, notice. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

9:00 AM - 1:00 PM. Day two of a two day event hosted by the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Economics and Northwestern University titled "FTC Microeconomics Conference". Several technology related papers will be presented. See, conference web site and agenda. Location: FTC Conference Center, 601 New Jersey Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Media Bureau (MB) regarding the structuring of the 2010 quadrennial review process. This review will examine the FCC's newspaper broadcast cross ownership rule, radio television cross ownership rule, local television ownership rule, local radio ownership rule, and dual network rule. See, FCC notice [PDF]. It is DA 09-2209 in MB Docket No. 09-182.

The House will not meet the week of November 23-27. See, Rep. Hoyer's release.

8:30 AM - 1:30 PM. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) President's Committee on the National Medal of Science will hold a closed meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register: October 19, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 200, at Pages 53521-53522. Location: Hilton Arlington Hotel, 950 North Stafford Street, Arlington, VA.

10:00 AM. Deadline for foreign governments to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) in response to its request for comments regarding its Special 301 out of cycle reviews of Fiji, Israel, Philippines, Poland, and Saudi Arabia, and regarding identification of countries under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 5, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 191, at Pages 51215-51216.