5/4. The People's Republic of China's (PRC) Xinhua announced in an English language release "the setting up of an office to manage Internet information" titled "State Internet Information Office" or SIIO.

Xinhua is a PRC government entity. Its primary responsibility is to disseminate information on behalf of the PRC government.

The Xinhua stated its release that the SIIO is a government office that "will direct, coordinate and supervise online content management and handle administrative approval of businesses related to online news reporting".

It will also "investigate and punish websites violating laws and regulations".

The SIIO will also "oversee telecom service providers in their efforts to improve the management of registration of domain names, distribution of IP addresses, registration of websites and Internet access".

It will also "direct the development of online gaming, online video and audio businesses and online publication industries". This release did not elaborate.

Wang Chen was appointed Director of the SIIO, and Qian Xiaoqian was appointed Vice Director. The Xinhua also stated that "Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xi Guohua, and Vice Minister of Public Security Zhang Xinfeng were concurrently appointed vice directors of the office".

5/4. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced in a letter to Baidu that he is "working on legislation that would require technology companies to take reasonable steps to protect human rights or face liability". It would be modeled on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), but be directed at companies involved in censorship of the internet.

Baidu is the People's Republic of China's national champion internet search provider. Sen. Dubin expressed his "serious concerns" about Baidu's "censorship of the internet". He propounded interrogatories regarding human rights and free expression, and Baidu's possible partnership with Facebook. Also, he briefly outlined his proposed legislation.

First, Sen. Durbin (at right) urged Baidu "to take immediate and tangible steps to protect human rights, including freedom of expression and privacy". He argued that "your company has a moral obligation to respect fundamental human rights".

He continued that "Baidu controls the vast majority of the internet search market in China. Your share of the search market increased when Google, the second largest search engine in China, decided to stop cooperating with the Chinese government’s internet censorship regime."

See, stories titled "Google Offers Uncensored Search from Google Hong Kong" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,063, March 24, 2010, and "Google Accuses Red China of Cyber Attacks Directed at Human Rights Activists" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,036, January 19, 2010.

Sen. Durbin also said that "I recently returned from a Congressional delegation to China. I decided to personally verify the reports about Baidu's censorship. During my trip, I accessed Baidu's homepage and attempted to search for a number of terms. I was disappointed, but not surprised, to see that Baidu heavily censors its search results."

Sen. Durbin noted that Microsoft's Bing also censors search results on behalf of the Chinese government.

Second, Sen. Durbin asked Baidu to respond to two questions that Sen. Durbin stated he has posed to "dozens of American internet companies".

One, "Please describe your company's policies and practices for advancing and protecting human rights and minimizing the risk that your products and/or services will facilitate human rights abuses." Two, "What are your company’s future plans for protecting human rights, including freedom of expression and privacy, in China? Please describe any specific measures you will take to ensure that your products and/or services do not facilitate human rights abuses by the Chinese government, including censoring the internet and monitoring political and religious dissidents."

See also, Sen. Durbin's January 29, 2010, letters to Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, and numerous other companies, and web page with hyperlinks to their responses. See also, Sen. Durbin's August 2009, letter to numerous companies.

Sen. Durbin also asked Baidu, "Do you plan to enter into a partnership with Facebook to provide a social-networking service in China? If so, what safeguards will you implement to protect the users of this service?"

Finally, Sen. Durbin raised the specter of legislation that would impose liability upon Baidu and other companies that fail to protect human rights.

He wrote that "the technology industry is failing to address the serious human rights challenges that it faces. As a result, I am working on legislation that would require technology companies to take reasonable steps to protect human rights or face liability. Baidu and other public companies whose shares are traded on the U.S. stock exchange would be subject to this legislation."

Sen. Durbin did not release a draft of his bill. However, a spokesman for Sen. Durbin told TLJ that it would be modeled on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which is codified at 15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd, 78dd-1, 78d-2, and 78dd-3.

Another bill directed at foreign internet censorship, HR 1389 [LOC | WW], the "Global Online Freedom Act of 2011", was introduced in the House on April 6, 2011. See also, related story in this issue titled "Representatives Introduce Global Online Freedom Act".

Members of Congress have introduced numerous bills and resolutions related to internet censorship in recent years. For the 112th Congress, see also HRes 57, introduced on January 26, 2011, by Rep. Mary Mack (R-CA). This is merely a resolution that calls on the President to "oppose any effort to transfer control of the Internet to the United Nations or any other international governmental entity", to "recognize the need for, and pursue a continuing and constructive dialogue with the international community on, the future of Internet governance", and to "advance the values of a free Internet in the broader trade and diplomatic conversations of the United States".

There are also items directed at internet censorship in Vietnam. See, HRes 29, introduced on January 7, 2011, by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA). This is merely a resolution that the House "supports the right of Vietnamese citizens to access Web sites of their choosing and to have the freedom to share and publish information over the Internet". See also, HR 1410 [LOC | WW], the "Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2011", introduced on April 7, 2011, by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and others, a larger bill that recites in its findings that the government of Vietnam engages in internet censorship.

4/6. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) introduced HR 1389 [LOC | WW | PDF], the "Global Online Freedom Act of 2011", on April 6, 2011.

This is a lengthy bill (35 pages in PDF) that would establish a new and complex disclosure regime for a broad range of technology companies with certain connections to the US. It would also impose prohibitions on certain activities that facilitate the internet censorship activities of other nations.

This bill recites in its findings that "A number of repressive foreign governments block, restrict, otherwise control, and monitor the Internet, effectively transforming the Internet into a tool of censorship and surveillance", that US businesses "have enabled the Internet censorship and surveillance of repressive governments by selling these governments or their agents technology or training", and that the US government "has a responsibility to protect freedom of expression on the Internet, to prevent United States businesses from directly and materially cooperating in human rights abuses perpetrated by repressive foreign governments".

This bill states that it is the policy of the US to promote "the right of every individual to freedom of opinion and expression, including the right to hold opinions, and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers", and to deter US businesses "from cooperating with officials of Internet-restricting countries in effecting the political censorship of online content".

It would have the US pursue these policy goals by establishing a new office at the Department of State (DOS) named "Office of Global Internet Freedom" or OGIF. The bill would require the DOS to write annual report that designate internet restricting countries (IRCs). It would then prohibit certain activities by US businesses. First, US businesses that provide internet search, internet communications, or internet content hosting services would be prohibited from locating certain personally identifiable information (PII) in any IRC. Second, US businesses that maintain an internet content hosting service would be prohibited from "jamming" any US government supported web site or US government supported content in any IRC.

It would also impose significant reporting and disclosure requirements on US tech companies. First, it would require any US business that creates, provides, or hosts an internet search engine to disclose to the OGIF any filtering that it has done at the request of any IRC. Second, it would require any US business that maintains a content hosting service to disclose to the OGIF all the content that it has removed, all the content to which it has blocked access, and all the transmission that it has blocked, at the request of any IRC.

A key component of this statutory regime would be the threshold process for designating internet restricting countries (IRCs).

The bill would require the DOS to annually report "an assessment of the freedom of electronic information in each foreign country". It would also require the DOS to annually "designate Internet-restricting countries" (IRCs).

A country would be placed on the list if "the government of the country is directly or indirectly responsible for a systematic pattern of substantial restrictions on Internet freedom during any part of the preceding 1-year period". However, the bill also provides for a waiver system.

A key prohibition of the bill pertains to the protection of personally identifiable information (PII). The bill provides that "A United States business that creates, provides, or offers to the public for commercial purposes an Internet search engine or that offers to the public for commercial purposes Internet communications services or Internet content hosting services may not locate, within an Internet-restricting country, any electronic communication containing personally identifiable information used to establish or maintain an account for Internet communications services."

The definitions are key for this and other provisions in the bill.

First, this provision would affect any "United States business", which the bill defines to include any business that "has its principal place of business in the United States", "is organized under the laws" of any state, or is an "issuer of a security registered pursuant to section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934", which is codified at 15 U.S.C. S 78l.

It should be noted that Baidu is listed on the NASDAQ.

The bill's anti "internet jamming" section provides that "A United States business that maintains an Internet content hosting service may not conduct Internet jamming of a United States-supported Web site or United States-supported content in an Internet-restricting country."

The bill defines "internet jamming" as "jamming, censoring, blocking, monitoring, or restricting access to the Internet, or to content made available via the Internet, by using technologies such as firewalls, filters, and `black boxes´".

The bill defines US supported content as "content that is created or developed, in whole or in part, by a United States-supported information entity". US supported information entity, in turn, means US government agencies, entities that receive government grants for "information dissemination activities", and entities supported by the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

5/6. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced in a letter to Baidu on May 4, 2011 that as a result of US companies' actions in support of foreign governments' censorship of the internet, he is preparing a bill that "would require technology companies to take reasonable steps to protect human rights or face liability".

Also, on April 6, 2011, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) introduced HR 1389 [LOC | WW], the "Global Online Freedom Act of 2011", a bill would establish statutory prohibitions for US companies.

Both HR 1389 and Sen. Durbin's proposal are built on the premise that internet censorship is a moral wrong, and that it violates human rights such as free expression.

However, there also exists the argument that some nations that engage in internet censorship, and particularly the People's Republic of China (PRC), also have trade protectionism as a motive. That is, it is non-PRC service providers who are predominantly harmed or excluded from the PRC market by PRC censorship, and domestic PRC service providers who are protected from this competition. Hence, there exists the argument that the US should also view internet censorship as a trade issue, and deal with it accordingly.

This argument has been articulated by Gil Kaplan (an attorney at King & Spalding), Ed Black (head of the Computer and Communications Industry Association), Nate Anderson (Ars Technica), and others.

For example, Kaplan, who previously held trade related positions at the Department of Commerce (DOC), wrote an opinion piece published in the Huffington Post on March 16, 2010, titled "If China Throws Out Google, We Should Throw Out their Computers".

Kaplan wrote that "not only is Google being forced out by a series of actions and deliberate inactions of the Chinese government, but Google's affiliate, YouTube, was never even let into China in the first place. It is perennially blocked by their ``great firewall´´. Nor do most other U. S. websites have unfettered access to China. eBay has left China. Many newspaper websites are regularly censored. The Chinese competitive sites that are willing to go along with the censorship and the dictates of the Chinese government, like Baidu and Alibaba, are the dominant players on the Chinese internet."

Hence, Kaplan argued that "This is not only a question of freedom of speech. It is also a trade barrier".

Similarly, the CCIA's Black wrote in January of 2010 that "It is increasingly apparent that censorship is a barrier to trade, and that China cannot limit the free flow of information and still comply with its international trade obligations".

He wrote in his March 24, 2010, testimony [PDF] for the Congressional Executive Commission on China titled "Google, the Internet and China: A Nexus Between Human Rights and Trade?" that "Internet censorship is a human rights issue and a trade issue".

Black elaborated that the US "is an information economy, and U.S. companies are leading vendors of information products and services. In this context, information discrimination by other countries fundamentally undermines U.S. economic interests, including the interests of U.S. companies seeking to access foreign markets, including those engaged in electronic commerce. Filtering American content and services has the effect of filtering American competition, and combating it should top our trade agenda."

He continued that "When a foreign government stifles online freedom or otherwise restricts the Internet, it creates a hostile market environment by preventing its consumers from fully using new products, applications and services offered by or through U.S. tech companies."

He added that the "the unreasonable demands the Chinese government has continuously placed on U.S. companies -- from censorship coercion to Green Dam to Indigenous Innovation -- all seem to have the added objective of clearing the competitive deck of foreign companies".

See, story titled "OUSTR and Department of Commerce Write PRC Regarding Green Dam Mandate" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,962, June 29, 2009.

See also, Ed Black March 2, 2010, written statement for the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) in which he wrote that "we may not get very far lecturing the Chinese government about human rights, but treating Internet censorship as a trade barrier is a multilateral approach worth pursuing".

He added that "the Chinese government’s actions seem to constitute violations of its WTO-GATT obligations, as well as specifically scheduled commitments in relation to GATS and China’s WTO Accession Protocol. The WTO is a viable forum because it represents a global rules-based trade system that China, as the world’s largest exporter and the world’s most export-driven economy, must appear to respect."

On May 2, 2011, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) released it report [53 pages in PDF] titled "2011 Special 301 Report". The Special 301 process, which was created by the Trade Act of 1974, requires the OUSTR to identify countries that fail to protect the intellectual property rights (IPR) and market access of US companies that rely on IPR.

In this report, the OUSTR did not identify internet censorship in the PRC as a market access issue for US IP based companies. However, the report goes into great detail on internet based infringing activities in the PRC. See also, story titled "OUSTR Releases Special 301 Report" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,231, May 3, 2011.

Also, on December 23, 2010, the OUSTR released its report [124 pages in PDF] titled "2010 Report to Congress On China's WTO Compliance". It does not identify internet censorship of search companies such as Google as a form of trade protectionism.

However, it does identify one narrow censorship related issue. It states that the PRC fails to provide copyright protection for US copyrighted works that have not obtained approval from the PRC's censorship authorities.

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The Senate will not meet. It will next meet at 2:00 PM on Monday, May 9.

8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Computer and Information Science and Engineering will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 11, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 69, at Pages 20051-20052. Location: 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 1235, Arlington, VA.

9:30 - 10:30 AM. The Washington International Trade Association (WITA) will host a panel discussion titled "Trade 101: Free Trade Agreements". The speakers will be from the Congressional Research Service: Bill Cooper (speaking on the Korea FTA), Angeles Villareal (Colombia FTA), and Jeff Hornbeck (Panama FTA). See, notice. Breakfast will be served. Location: Room B-354, Rayburn Building.

10:30 AM - 4:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EAAC) will hold a meeting regarding access to 911 emergency services by individuals with disabilities. See, April 13, 2011, Public Notice and notice in the Federal Register, April 20, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 76, at Pages 22102-22103. Location: FCC, 1st Floor, 1-South Conference Room, 445 12th St., SW.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will host a panel discussion titled "The FCC’s Revised Ex Parte and Procedural Rules". The speakers will be Austin Schlick (FCC General Counsel), Julie Veach (FCC Deputy General Counsel), Bill Cline (FCC's Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau), David Solomon (Wilkinson Barker Knauer), and Howard Weiss (Fletcher Heald & Hildreth). Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding revising the patent term adjustment and extension provisions of the rules of practice in patent cases. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 6, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 66, at Pages 18990-18995.

Deadline to submit written comments pertaining to, and deadline to submit requests to attend, the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Office of Law Enforcement Standards (OLES) and the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office for Interoperability and Compatibility (OIC) May 13, 2011, meeting regarding testing for conformity with interoperability standards for public safety communications. This meeting pertains to Project 25 (P25). These agencies state that "An initial goal of P25 is to specify formal standards for interfaces between the components of a land mobile radio (LMR) system. LMR systems are commonly used by emergency responders in portable handheld and mobile vehicle-mounted devices. Although formal standards are being developed, no process is currently in place to confirm that LMR equipment advertised as P25-compliant meets all aspects of P25 standards." See, notice in the Federal Register, April 29, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 83, at Pages 23992-23993.

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) will host a panel discussion titled "Copyright & Commerce: Guarantees or Promises?". The speakers will include Marybeth Peters, Jon Baumgarten (Proskauer Rose), and Katharine Weymouth (Publisher of the Washington Post). See, notice. Location: Newseum, Knight Studio, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host a brown bag lunch for planning and elections. For more information contact Micah Caldwell at mcaldwell at eapdlaw dot com or Mark Brennan at mark dot brennan at hoganlovells dot com. Location: Hogan Lovells, 555 13th St., NW.

Deadline for Apple and other companies to respond to the April 25, 2011, letter [PDF] from Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) and other House Commerce Committee (HCC) members regarding location data collection by cell phones and tablets. See also, letter to Google, letter to Microsoft, letter to Nokia, letter to Research in Motion, and letter to Hewlett Packard (HP). And see, story titled "House Republicans Write Apple and Others Re Cell Phone and Tablet Location Data Collection" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,225, April 25, 2011.

8:00 -10:00 AM. Broadband Census News LLC will host a panel discussion titled "Digital Video Recorders, the Cablevision Decision, and Industry Licensing Agreements". Breakfast will be served. See, notice and registration page. This event is also sponsored by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and the Public Knowledge (PK). Location: Clyde's of Gallery Place, 707 7th St., NW.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in Feature Group IP West v. FCC, App. Ct. No. 10-1257, a petition for review of orders of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) denying a petition for forbearance from applying certain FCC rules regarding intercarrier compensation. See, FCC's brief [70 pages in PDF]. Judges Tatel, Griffith, and Randolph will preside. Location: Courtroom 11, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law will hold a hearing titled "Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones and Your Privacy". The SJC will webcast this hearing. See, SJC notice. See also, April 20 letter from Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and story titled "Sen. Franken Writes Steve Jobs Regarding Location Data Retention by iPhones and 3G iPads" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,224, April 20, 2011. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

11:00 AM - 1:00 PM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Competition in the Internet Ecosystem". The speakers will be Robert Atkinson (ITIF), Jeffrey Eisenach (Navigant Economics), Michael Calabrese (New America Foundation), and Jonathan Sallet (O'Melveny and Meyers). See, notice and registration page. Location: Room 1539, Longworth Building, Capitol Hill.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [58 pages in PDF] regarding development of a technical interoperability framework for a nationwide public safety broadband network in the 700 MHz band. The FCC adopted this NPRM on January 25, 2011, and released the text on January 26, 2011. It is FCC 11-6 in PS Docket No. 06-229, WT Docket 06-150, and WP Docket 07-100. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 24, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 37, at Pages 10295-10299.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to some portions of its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [139 pages in PDF] regarding changes to the two universal service tax and subsidy programs titled "Lifeline" and "Link Up". The FCC adopted this NPRM on March 3, 2011, and released the text on March 4, 2011. It is FCC 11-32 in WC Docket Nos. 11-42 and 03-109, and CC Docket No. 96-45. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 23, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 56, at Pages 16481-16519.

Deadline to submit requests to participate in the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems Program Advisory Committee's (ITS/PAC) web conference on ITS. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 25, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 79, at Page 22940.

8:55 AM - 3:00 PM. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold a hearing titled "The Implications of China's Military and Civil Space Programs". See, notice in the Federal Register, May 2, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 84, at Pages 24565-24566. Location: Room H-309, Capitol Building.

9:00 AM - 4:15 PM. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will host an event titled "Examining Phone Bill Cramming: A Discussion". See, notice and agenda. Location: FTC Conference Center, 601 New Jersey Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security will hold a hearing titled "The USA PATRIOT Act: Dispelling the Myths". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Finance Committee (SFC) will hold a hearing titled "The U.S.- Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement". See, notice. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.

10:15 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will hold a hearing titled "The AT&T/T-Mobile Merger: Is Humpty Dumpty Being Put Back Together Again?". The witnesses will be Randall Stephenson (P/CEO of AT&T), Philipp Humm (P/CEO of T-Mobile USA), Daniel Hesse (CEO of Sprint Nextel), Hu Meena (P/CEO of Cellular South), Gigi Sohn (Public Knowledge), and Larry Cohen (Communications Workers of America). See, notice. The SJC will webcast this hearing. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) will preside. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "Ethical Traps in E-Discovery". Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice and registration page.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit requests to testify at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) June 1, 2011, hearing regarding its ex parte and inter partes reexamination proceedings. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 25, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 79, at Pages 22854-22861. See also, story titled "USPTO to Hold Hearing on Inter Partes Reexamination Proceedings" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,226, April 26, 2011.

6:00 - 7:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event. The speaker will be Geoffrey Stone (University of Chicago law school). The deadline to register is 12:00 NOON on May 9. Prices vary. Location: Davis Wright Tremaine, 1919 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

EXTENDED TO JULY 11. Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to the December 3, 2010, petition for declaratory ruling (PDR) filed by the CTIA regarding the scope of the federal ban on state and local entry regulation, codified at 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(3)(A), and the state of Connecticut's new regulatory regime for wireless service provides. See, CTIA's PDR part 1 and part 2. This proceeding is WT Docket No. 11-35.. See, CTIA's request to extend comment deadlines, and FCC's extension notice in the Federal Register, April 18, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 74, at Pages 21742-21743.

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

9:00 AM. The House Ways and Means Committee (HWMC) will hold a hearing titled "The Need for Comprehensive Tax Reform to Help American Companies Compete in the Global Market and Create Jobs for American Workers". See, notice. Location: Room 1100, Longworth Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Economic Ramifications of Cyber Threats and Vulnerabilities to the Private Sector". The witnesses will be Gordon Snow (Assistant Director of the FBI's Cyber Division), Harriet Pearson (IBM), Sara Santarelli (Verizon), and Thomas Kellermann (AirPatrol Corp.) See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of the nominations of Virginia Seitz (to be Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel), Donald Verrilli (DOJ Solicitor General), Lisa Monaco (AAG in charge of the DOJ's National Security Division), Bernice Donald (Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (6thCir)), Henry Floyd (USCA/4thCir), Kathleen Williams (USDC/SDFl), Nelva Ramos (USDC/SDTex), Richard Jackson (USDC/DColo), and Sara Darrow (USDC/CDIll). The agenda also again includes consideration of S 623 [LOC | WW], the "Sunshine in Litigation Act". The SJC rarely follows its published agendas. The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) will hold a hearing titled "Export Controls, Arms Sales, and Reform: Balancing U.S. Interests, Part 1". The witnesses will be Ellen Tauscher (Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security), Eric Hirschorn (head of the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security), and James Miller (Department of Defense). See, notice. Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The House Intelligence Committee (HIC) will hold a closed hearing titled "FY 2012 Budget Overview". Location: Room HVC-304, Capitol Visitor Center.

10:30 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an event titled "open meeting". See, tentative agenda and story titled "FCC Releases Tentative Agenda for May 12 Meeting" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,225, April 25, 2011. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

12:00 NOON - 1:45 PM. The New America Foundation (NAF) will host a panel discussion titled "Can the FCC Convert Satellite Spectrum into Wireless Competition?". The speakers will be Sanjiv Ahuja (Ch/CEO of LightSquared), Reed Hundt (REH Advisors LLP), Parul Desai (Consumers Union), Bill Ingram (Cricket/Leap), Larry Krevor (Sprint Nextel), Michael Calabrese (NAF), and Sascha Meinrath (NAF). See, notice. Location: National Press Club, Holeman Lounge, 529 14th St., NW.

2:30 PM. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Reform Committee (SHSGRC) will hold a hearing titled "Ten Years After 9/11: Is Intelligence Reform Working?". See, notice. The SHSBRC will webcast this hearing. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Building.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft FIPS-180-4 [35 pages in PDF] titled "Secure Hash Standard (SHS)". See also, notice in the Federal Register, February 11, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 29, at Pages 7817-7818.

RESCHEDULED FROM MAY 3. 10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing titled "FCC Process Reform". The witnesses will be the five members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

1:00 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Office of Law Enforcement Standards (OLES) and the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office for Interoperability and Compatibility (OIC) will host a teleconferenced meeting regarding testing for conformity with interoperability standards for public safety communications. This meeting pertains to Project 25 (P25). These agencies state that "An initial goal of P25 is to specify formal standards for interfaces between the components of a land mobile radio (LMR) system. LMR systems are commonly used by emergency responders in portable handheld and mobile vehicle-mounted devices. Although formal standards are being developed, no process is currently in place to confirm that LMR equipment advertised as P25-compliant meets all aspects of P25 standards." The deadline to request to attend is May 6. The deadline to submit written comments is May 6. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 29, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 83, at Pages 23992-23993.

4:45 - 6:15 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "Cloud Computing: Will It Reduce IT Costs?". Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice and registration page.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit applications to participate in the June 20, 2001, cyber security research workshop hosted by the National Coordination Office for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NCO/NITRD) titled "Abnormal Behavior Detection Finds Malicious Actors". This is part of its series titled "Assumption Buster Workshops". See, NITRD issue summary, and notice in the Federal Register, April 25, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 79, at Pages 22925-22926.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [152 pages in PDF] regarding disability access and S 3828 [LOC | WW], the "Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010" (CVAA), signed into law on October 8, 2010, and S 3304 [LOC | WW]. This NPRM proposes to adopt rules implementing the new Section 716 of the Communications Act. The CVAA, at S 3304, Title I, Section 104, gives the FCC sweeping direction and authority to regulate "user equipment, network equipment, and software" to ensure that it is "accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities". The FCC adopted this item on March 2, 20111, and released the text on March 3, 2011. It is FCC 11-37 in CG Docket No. 10-213, WT Docket No. 96-198, CG Docket No. 10-145. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 14, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 49, at Pages 13799-13849.