2/25. President Obama signed HR  514 [LOC | WW], the "FISA Sunsets Extension Act of 2011". See, White House news office release. This action merely briefly postpones consideration of this topic. The new sunset date is May 27, 2011.

This bill, as passed by the Senate on February 15, 2011, and the House on February 17, 2011, extends statutory sunsets for lone terrorist, business records, and roving wiretap authority. The three provision were set to sunset on February 28, 2011. The bill as introduced would have extended the sunsets to December 31, 2011.

For a more detailed summary of these surveillance provisions, and the history of extension of their sunset dates, see story titled "House and Senate Extend Expiring Surveillance Provisions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,054, March 3, 2010. For more on the legislative history of HR 514, see story titled "House to Continue Consideration of Bill to Extend Sunsets on Surveillance Provisions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,197, February 16, 2011.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (HJC), stated in the House on February 17 that "the Senate amendment to H.R. 514 extends the three expiring provisions of the Patriot Act for only 90 days. I am disappointed that the Senate refused to agree to the 10-month extension approved by the House earlier this week. Repeated short-term extensions of these authorities create uncertainty for our intelligence agencies. They don't know if the tools they rely on to keep America safe today will be available to them tomorrow."

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) stated in the House that "Of course we are supportive of continuing our ability to defend ourselves but not without some refinement, not without some look and say, yes, there are ways we could do this that are more respectful of the liberties of the average American but would not endanger in any way our national security. For the third time, we are being denied a chance to do this".

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), a senior member of the HJC, lamented that there was no hearing or markup in the HJC, and added that the three sunsetted provisions are "deeply troubling". He also addressed the three provisions in some detail.

First, he said that "Section 215 authorizes the government to obtain ``any tangible thing´´ so long as the government provided a ``statement of facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the tangible things are relevant to a foreign intelligence, international terrorism, or espionage investigation.´´ That would include business records, library records, tax records, educational records, medical records, or anything else. Before the enactment of section 215, only specific types of records were subject to FISA orders, and the government had to show ``specific and articulable facts giving reason to believe that the person to whom the records pertain is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power.´´"

Rep. Scott (at right) continued that "This dragnet approach allows the government to review personal records even if there is no reason to believe that the individual involved had anything to do with terrorism. This poses a threat to individual rights in the most sensitive areas of our lives with little restraint on government. Congress should either ensure that the things collected with this power have a meaningful connection to suspected terrorism activity or allow the provision to expire."

Next, he said that "Section 206 provides for roving wiretaps which permit the government to obtain intelligence surveillance orders that identify neither the person nor the facility to be tapped. Without the necessity to specify the person and the facility to be tapped, you have a situation where the tap could be on a particular phone. And without specifically designating the person to be listened into, that means anybody using that pay phone, for example, can be listened into, or a roving wiretap on a person could result in any phone that that person might use being tapped, even if others use that phone, too."

Finally, he addressed lone wolf surveillance authority. He said that it "permits secret intelligence of non-U.S. persons who are known to be not affiliated with any foreign government or organization. It provides the government with the ability to use secret courts or other investigatory tools that are acceptable in a domestic criminal investigation as long as we are dealing with a foreign government or an entity. According to government testimony, the lone wolf provision has never been used. Given the risk of this provision being used to circumvent existing protections against government intrusion, the government should explain why it should remain on the books. Surveillance of an individual who is not working with a foreign government or foreign organization is not what we usually understand as foreign intelligence."

The House passed HR 514 on February 17 by a vote of 279-143. See, Roll Call No. 66. Republicans voted 211-26. Democrats voted 68-117.

2/25. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions.

See, notice in the Federal Register, February 25, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 38, at Pages 10569-10571. The deadline to submit comments is March 31, 2011.

The IANA manages the global coordination of the Domain Name System (DNS) root, internet protocol (IP) addressing, and other IP resources pursuant to a contract with the NTIA that expires on September 30, 2011.

The IANA's functions include coordination of the assignment of technical protocol parameters, administration of responsibilities associated with Internet Domain Name System (DNS) root zone management, and responsibility for allocated and unallocated IPv4 and IPv6 address space and Autonomous System Number (ASN) space, including the delegation of IP address blocks to Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) for routine allocation.

The NTIA seeks comments on numerous topics. The NTIA states that "IANA functions have been viewed historically as a set of interdependent technical functions and accordingly performed together by a single entity."

It asks, "In light of technology changes and market developments, should the IANA functions continue to be treated as interdependent? For example, does the coordination of the assignment of technical protocol parameters need to be done by the same entity that administers certain responsibilities associated with root zone management?"

Second, the NTIA notice states that "The performance of the IANA functions often relies upon the policies and procedures developed by a variety of entities", such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), RIRs, and country code top level domain (ccTLD) operators.

It asks, "Should the IANA functions contract include references to these entities, the policies they develop and instructions that the contractor follow the policies?"

Third, the NTIA notice asks, "Cognizant of concerns previously raised by some governments and ccTLD operators and the need to ensure the stability of and security of the DNS, are there changes that could be made to how root zone
management requests for ccTLDs are processed?"

The NTIA notice asks whether the current metrics and reporting requirements are sufficient, whether process improvements or performance enhancements can be made to the IANA functions contract to better reflect the needs of users of the IANA functions, and whether additional security considerations and/or enhancements should be factored into requirements for the performance of the IANA functions.

2/22. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court (CDCal) against Phillip Flora alleging violation of the FTC Act and the civil prohibitions of the federal federal CAN-SPAM Act (15 U.S.C. § 7706) in connection with his sending of unauthorized and unsolicited commercial electronic text messages.

The FTC stated in a release that "In one 40-day period, Flora sent more than 5.5 million spam text messages, a ``mind boggling´´ rate of about 85 per minute, every minute of every day", and that "consumers lose money as a result of Flora's spam text messaging because many of them get stuck paying fees to their mobile carriers to receive the unwanted text messages."

The complaint states that the text messages purported to offer mortgage loan modifications and debt relief services, and then requested recipients to visit a web site that then requested information. The complaint further states that Flora sold consumer phone number and debt information to third parties.

The complaint also notes that "Many of the recipients of Defendant Flora's text message spam have wireless service plans that require them to pay a fixed fee for each text message received by their wireless handsets. Accordingly, many such recipients were 25 required to pay a fee for the receipt of Defendant Flora's text message spam."

It also states that "Many recipients of Defendant Flora's text message spam had the telephone numbers assigned to their wireless handsets registered on the National Do Not Call Registry maintained by the FTC, and thus had explicitly indicated that they did not wish to receive unsolicited marketing calls on those handsets".

The complaint seeks injunctive relief, restitution, and disgorgement.

This case is FTC v. Philip A. Flora, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, D.C. No. SACV11-00299-AG-JEMx.

2/23. President Obama announced his intent to nominate Carl Shapiro to be a member of the Council of Economic Advisors. See, White House news office release. Shapiro is the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics at the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division. See also, November 2008 paper [PDF] by Shapiro and Joseph Farrell titled "Antitrust Evaluation of Horizontal Mergers: An Economic Alternative to Market Definition"; column titled "People and Appointments" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,931, April 27, 2009; story titled "DOJ's Shapiro Discusses Upcoming Revisions to Horizontal Merger Guidelines" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,015, November 16, 2009; and story titled "Antitrust Division Urges FCC to Make More Spectrum Available for Wireless Broadband" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,033, January 6, 2010.

2/17. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) announced the Chairmen and ranking Republicans on its Subcommittees. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) is the Chairman, and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) is the ranking Republican, of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is the Chairman, and Sen. Roy Blunt (D-MO) is the ranking Republican, of the Subcommittee on Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion. Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX) remain the Chairman and ranking Republican of the full Committee. See, SCC release.

2/17. Teresa Rea was named Deputy Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). See, USPTO release. She works in the Washington DC office of the law firm of Crowell & Moring on patent matters. Her Crowell biography states that she "represents emerging companies, corporations and universities and focuses her practice on biotechnology, pharmaceutical chemistry, medical devices, immunology, specialty chemicals, including polymers, and nanotechnology".

2/14. Edward Hassi was named Chief Litigation Counsel at the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Competition. He was previously at partner at the law firm O'Melveny & Myers. He replaces Robert Roberston, who is now an antitrust lawyer in the Washington DC office of the law firm of Hogan Lovells. See, FTC release.

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The House will not meet.

The Senate will not meet.

Supreme Court conference day (discussion of argued cases, and decision on cert petitions). Closed.

8:45 AM - 2:30 PM. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold a hearing titled "China's Internal Dilemna's". See, notice in the Federal Register, February 18, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 34, at Pages 9636-9637. Location: Room 562, Dirksen Building, Capitol Hill.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Public Notice (PN) [6 pages in PDF] regarding whether the FCC should conduct a rulemaking proceeding to create a new program that would give preferential treatment in bidding for spectrum licenses to "individuals and entities who have overcome substantial disadvantage", such as people with "physical disabilities or psychological disorders". This PN is DA 10-2259 in GN Docket No. 10-244. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 27, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 247, at Pages 81274-81276.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division regarding the consent judgment in US v. LucasFilm, No. 1:10-cv-02220, one of a series of actions regarding agreements among tech companies not to solicit each others' skilled employees. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 28, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 248, at Pages 81651-81659. The notice does not set a comment deadline. Rather, it states that comments are due within 60 days of December 28, 2010.

The House will meet at 2:00 PM for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 PM. The House will consider several bills under suspension of the rules, including HR 394 [LOC | WW], the "Federal Courts and Venue Clarification Act of 2011", and HR 368 [LOC | WW], the "Removal Clarification Act of 2011". See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of February 28.

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM for morning hour, and for a reading of Washington's Farewell Address.

The Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCUS) will hear oral argument in Stanford University v. Roche Molecular Systems, SCUS No. 09-1159. This is a patent case. See, September 30, 2009, opinion [PDF] of the U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir). The question presented is "Whether a federal contractor university's statutory right under the Bayh Dole Act, 35 U.S.C. §§ 200-212, in inventions arising from federally funded research can be terminated unilaterally by an individual inventor through a separate agreement purporting to assign the inventor's rights to a third party." See, SCUS February calendar and docket. Location: SCUS, 1 First St., NW.

EXTENDED TO MAY 27. Three provisions of surveillance law expire. The three pertain to (1) roving wiretap orders, (2) FISA surveillance of individuals, and (3) easy access under FISA to business records, including library, phone, ISP and other business records. See, story titled "House and Senate Extend Expiring Surveillance Provisions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,054, March 3, 2010.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) [31 pages in PDF] regarding how dynamic access radios and techniques can provide more intensive and efficient use of spectrum. The FCC adopted and released this NOI on November 30, 2010. It is FCC 10-198 in ET Docket No. 10-237. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 28, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 248, at Pages 81558-81559. See also, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM and NOI on Spectrum Innovation" 2,168, December 4, 2010.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft SP 800-145 [7 pages in PDF] titled "A NIST Definition of Cloud Computing".

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft SP 800-144 [60 pages in PDF] titled "Guidelines on Security and Privacy in Public Cloud Computing".

Deadline to submit amended proposals to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Order regarding unlicensed operation in the TV broadcast bands, which conditionally designates nine entities as TV bands device database administrators. The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) adopted and released this Order on January 26, 2011. It is DA 11-131 in ET Docket Nos. 04-186 and 02-380. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 8, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 26, at Pages 6789-6792.

Deadline to submit comments to the Copyright Office (CO) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding electronic registration of automated databases that consist predominantly of photographs
and group registration of published photographs. See, notice in the Federal Register, January 28, 2011,  Vol. 76, No. 19, at Pages 5106-5107.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of February 28.

9:00 AM. Georgetown University will host an event titled "DHS Eighth Anniversary Roundtable". The speakers will be Janet Napolitano, Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff. Location: Georgetown University, Gaston Hall, 37th and O St., NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Banking Committee (SBC) will hold a hearing regarding the Federal Reserve Board's report titled "Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress". The witness will be Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. See, notice. Location: Room 216, Hart Building.

1:30 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "Oversight of the Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

5:30 - 7:00 PM. The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) will host a reception in advance of its third annual event titled "Communications Summit" on March 2, 2011. Location: Congressional Meeting Room South (CVC 217), Capitol Visitor Center.

Deadline to submit comments to the President's Export Council (PEC) in advance of its March 11, 2001, meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 18, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 34, at Page 9550.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of February 28.

8:30 AM - 4:45 PM. Day one of a three day meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). The agenda includes discussion of a "National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace" and other topics. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 11, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 29, at Page 7818. Location: Homewood Suites by Washington, 1475 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

9:00 AM - 1:00 PM. The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) will host its third annual event titled "Communications Summit". The speakers will include Meredith Baker (FCC Commissioner), former Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Philip Verveer (U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, Department of State), David Gross (Wiley Rein), and Christopher Boam (Verizon). Location: Reserve Officers Association Building, 5th Floor, One Constitution Ave., NE.

9:00 AM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Materials Processing Equipment Technical Advisory Committee will hold a partially closed meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 16, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 32, at Page 9001. Location: DOC, Room 6087B, Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW.

10:00 AM. The House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) will hold a hearing titled "Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy". See, notice. Location: Room 2128, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM - 1:00 PM. The House Intelligence Committee (HIC) will hold a closed hearing titled "Ongoing Intelligence Activities". See, notice. Location?

3:00 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Nominations". The witnesses will be Goodwin Liu (nominated to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit), Kevin Sharp (USDC/MDTenn), Roy Dalton (USDC/MDFl), Claire Cecchi (USDC/DNJ), and Esther Salas (USDC/DNJ). See, notice. The SJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

FURTHER EXTENDED TO APRIL 13. Extended deadline to submit reply comments to the Library of Congress's (LOC) Copyright Office (CO) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding federal coverage of sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972. See, notice in the Federal Register, November 3, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 212, at Pages 67777-67781. This notice states that the deadline to submit reply comments is December 3, 2010. The LOC web site corrects the reply comment deadline: January 19, 2011. See also, correction notice in the Federal Register, November 18, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 222, at Pages 70704-70705. This proceeding is LOC Docket No. 2010-4. See also, story titled "Library of Congress Issues NOI on Extending Copyright Act to Pre 1972 Sound Recordings" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,150, November 8, 2010.  See also, extension notice in the Federal Register, December 1, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 230, at Pages 74749-74750. See, further extension notice in the Federal Register, February 24, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 37, at Pages 10405-10406.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of February 28.

8:30 AM - 5:30 PM. Day two of a three day meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). See, notice in the Federal Register, February 11, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 29, at Page 7818. Location: Homewood Suites by Washington, 1475 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade will hold a hearing titled "Innovation in Job Creation and Economic Growth". See, notice. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda includes consideration of S 193 [LOC | WW], the "USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act of 2011". It also includes consideration of two judicial nominees: Caitlin Halligan, to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir), and Mae D'Agostino (USDC/NDNY). The SJC rarely follows its published agendas. The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The National Industrial Security Program Policy Advisory Committee (NISPPAC) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 7, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 25, at Pages 6636-6637. Location: National Archives and Records Administration, Archivist's Reception Room, Room 105, 700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

10:30 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may hold an event titled "open meeting". Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will host an event titled "Tribal Issues Commission Meeting". See, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps' November 17, 2010, speech [5 pages in PDF] in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI).

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding its CORES Registration System. The FCC adopted this NPRM on November 19, 2010, and released the text on December 7, 2010. It is FCC 10-192 in MD Docket No. 10-234. See, Federal Register, February 1, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 21, at Pages 5651-5677.

The House will meet at 2:00 PM in pro forma session. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of February 28.

Supreme Court conference day (discussion of argued cases, and decision on cert petitions). Closed.

8:30 AM - 12:30 PM. Day three of a three day meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). The agenda includes discussion of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 11, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 29, at Page 7818. Location: Homewood Suites by Washington, 1475 Massachusetts Ave., NW.