3/20. Robert McDowell announced in a release that "I will step down as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission in a few weeks."

McDowell (at left) has served for seven years. He added that "I have no plans other than to take my family on a much-needed vacation starting this weekend."

Fellow Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai wrote in a statement that McDowell "has championed innovation, promoted competition, and focused on boosting private investment in the communications industry. Rob was among the first to sound the alarm about international threats to Internet freedom, and his leadership has been critical to forging a broad, bipartisan consensus on this issue."

Gordon Smith, head of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), praised McDowell in a release for his "ardent support for fair media ownership rules and full-throated support for a vibrant First Amendment".

See also, praise from FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, praise from Mignon Clyburn, and praise from Jessica Rosenworcel.

For more praise of McDowell, see American Cable Association (ACA) statement, AT&T statement, Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) statement, CTIA statement, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) statement, and US Telecom statement.

Most of the companies and interest groups that have opposed McDowell's positions issued no statements regarding his departure.

However, the Public Knowledge (PK) was gracious in praising its frequent foe. It wrote in a release that "Although we often disagreed, working with Commissioner McDowell was a pleasure. His willingness to hear opposing views, the intellectual rigor in his analysis, and his leadership at the WCIT made him someone we enjoyed working with. Commissioner McDowell deserves enormous credit for defending TV white spaces in its darkest hour and pushing back against House Republicans who saw no value in preserving unlicensed spectrum."

On the other hand, Craig Aaron of the Free Press, a Washington DC based interest group that advocates for greater regulation of telecommunications, media and the press, was blunt in his criticism of McDowell.

He wrote in a release that "We congratulate Commissioner McDowell on his decision to leave the FCC. As he considers his next move, we hope he will reject the revolving door and resist becoming another FCC leader who exploits his public service to cash in at the companies he was supposed to regulate."

Aaron also urged President Obama "to nominate a Republican successor who is not simply another cheerleader for the biggest businesses and media monopolists, but who recognizes the free market cannot work if companies are allowed to amass and abuse market power."

However, as a practical matter, President Obama will nominate someone whose name has been forwarded to him by Congressional Republicans via Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Senate Minority Leader.

Berin Szoka of the Tech Freedom stated in a release that "Given Minority Leader McConnell's remarkable recent track record recommending FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai and FTC Commissioners Maureen Ohlhausen and Josh Wright -- all champions of Internet freedom -- we're confident that McDowell's successor will be both amply qualified and deeply principled."

3/20. Demetrios Marantis, the acting U.S. Trade Representative, sent a letter to Congressional leaders that formally notifies the Congress that "the President intends to enter into negotiations with the European Union (EU) on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)".

Officials in the US and EU announced these TTIP negotiations in February. See also, stories titled "EU and US Announce Beginning of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Negotiations" and "Obama Mentions Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,523, February 13, 2013.

This letter states that "Our specific objectives for the negotiation of the TTIP include" seeking "to develop appropriate provisions to facilitate the use of electronic commerce to support goods and services trade, including through commitments not to impose customs duties on digital products or unjustifiably discriminate among products delivered electronically".

The objectives also include seeking "to include provisions that facilitate the movement of cross-border data flows".

Marantis (at right) become the acting USTR upon the departure of Ron Kirk.

His letter also states that the objective of these TTIP negotiations include seeking "to obtain, consistent with U.S. priorities and objectives, appropriate commitments that reflect the shared U.S-EU objective of high-level IPR protection and enforcement, and to sustain and enhance joint leadership on IPR issues".

The objectives also include seeking "new opportunities to advance and defend the interests of U.S. creators, innovators, businesses, farmers, and workers with respect to strong protection and effective enforcement of intellectual property rights, including their ability to compete in foreign markets".

The objectives also include seeking "to address matters of mutual interest regarding competition policy and process and to further improve cooperation on competition policy".

This six page letter also lists numerous objectives that are not related to information or communications technology.

3/19. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released its Decision and Order [PDF] in its administrative proceeding against Epic Marketplace, Inc. and Epic Media Group, LLC for history sniffing for the purpose of facilitating behavioral advertising, and then deceiving consumers about this in its privacy policy, in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, which is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 45,

The Commission vote was 3-0-1. Commissioner Joshua Wright, who was not a member of the FTC when it issued its complaint, did not participate. There is now one vacancy one the five member Commission, following the departure of Jonathan Leibowitz.

The FTC filed and simultaneously settled its administrative complaint on December 5, 2012. See, story titled "FTC Brings Action Against Behavioral Advertising Company for History Sniffing" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,489, December 12, 2012. The FTC then solicited public comments.

The respondents made no admission of wrongdoing. Under the terms of the settlement, the FTC imposed no fine or other financial penalty. Also, the FTC did not assert that history sniffing alone constitute a violation of Section 5. Rather, the FTC faulted the respondents for misrepresenting its activities to consumers in its privacy policy.

See also, FTC release.

3/13. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced S 555 [LOC | WW | TLJ], the "Captioning and Image Narration to Enhance Movie Accessibility Act" or "CINEMA Act', and S 556 [LOC | WW], the "Air Carrier Access Amendments Act".

S 555 would amend Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) to require open captioning and closed captioning (for deaf people) and video description (for blind people) at most movie theaters.

This bill would not reach single screening room theaters. Nor would it reach screenings that are not "open to the public".

The bills covers any movie theater operator "that operates a complex of 2 or more movie theaters, screening rooms, or similar venues, at a single location, that are used for the exhibition of copyrighted motion pictures, if such exhibition is open to the public".

This bill would also allow "an individual with a disability" to bring into the theater, and use, devices that provide access that is equal to or better than that provided by the theater operator. The bill as introduced does not any include provisions that limit use of such devices to also transmit or make permanent recordings of copyrighted works.

S 556 would amend Title 49, which pertains to transportation, to require that "In providing air transportation, an air carrier, ... shall ensure that ... all visually displayed entertainment programming available to passengers on a flight is accessible to individuals with disabilities, including by ... open captioning ... closed captioning ..." for deaf or hard of hearing people, and "video description" for "blind or visually impaired" people, "when such programming is available".

This bill would also require that air carriers make accessible to disabled persons, including blind people, "all individual video displays that display entertainment programming or information to passengers on a flight that are operated primarily by using touchscreens or other contact-sensitive controls".

This bill would give rule making authority to the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, and enforcement authority to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

S 555 was referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Sen. Harkin is its Chairman. The last bill pertaining to disability access to video, communications and IT, which was enacted into law late in the 111th Congress, addressed video captioning. However, it went through the Senate Commerce Committee (SCC). Sen. Harkin is not a member.

See, from the 111th Congress, S 3304 [LOC | WW], previously titled the "Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act", which contains the substantive language, and S 3828 [LOC | WW], the "Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010". President Obama signed S 3828 into law on October 8, 2010. It is now Public Law No. 111-260. This legislation is more commonly referred to as the CVAA.

S 556 was referred to the SCC. There are no original co-sponsors of either bill.

Sen. Harkin (at left) stated in the Senate that "Although most television and home videos contain captioning for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing -- or the rest of us -- most movie theaters do not. Thus millions of Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing are not able to attend a movie with their families or friends, at a time and location that they want, simply because captioning is not available."  See, Congressional Record, March 13, 2013, at Pages S1791-2.

He added that "The same is true for individuals who are blind or visually impaired; most movie theaters do not provide access to video description technology, which would allow these individuals to have access to the key elements of a motion picture by contemporaneous audio narrated descriptions during the natural pauses in the audio portion of the programming, usually through headphones."

"A similar problem occurs in airplanes, with respect to in-flight entertainment. Many airlines are now providing in-flight entertainment for their passengers -- but individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing cannot access it, because the overwhelming majority of this programming does not have captioning. Individuals who are blind or visually impaired are similarly excluded, since video description is not provided for such programming either."

3/20. Teresa Rea, acting head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), wrote a short piece titled "Examiner Training Continues on First Inventor to File".

3/19. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released prepared testimony [15 pages in PDF] titled "Information Technology: DHS Needs to Enhance Management of Major Investments".

3/15. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [31 pages in PDF] titled "Information Security: IRS Has Improved Controls but Needs to Resolve Weaknesses".

Tech Law Journal publishes a free access web site and a subscription e-mail alert. The basic rate for a subscription to the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert is $250 per year for a single recipient. There are discounts for subscribers with multiple recipients.

Free one month trial subscriptions are available. Also, free subscriptions are available for federal elected officials, and employees of the Congress, courts, and executive branch. The TLJ web site is free access. However, copies of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert are not published in the web site until two months after writing.

For information about subscriptions, see subscription information page.

Tech Law Journal now accepts credit card payments. See, TLJ credit card payments page.

TLJ is published by David Carney
Contact: 202-364-8882.
carney at techlawjournal dot com
3034 Newark St. NW, Washington DC, 20008.

Privacy Policy
Notices & Disclaimers
Copyright 1998-2013 David Carney. All rights reserved.

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

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM. It will continue consideration of HR 933 [LOC | WW], the "Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013".

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing titled "Health Information Technologies: How Innovation Benefits Patients". See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) will meet to mark up two bills. The first item on the agenda is HR 367 [LOC | WW], the "Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2013" or "REINS Act". Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Homeland Security will hold a closed oversight hearing titled "Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure". The witnesses will be Rand Beers (DHS Under Secretary, National Protection and Programs Directorate) and Suzanne Spaulding (DHS Deputy Under Secretary for the NPPD). See, notice. Location: Room 2359, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an event titled "open meeting". the only item on the agenda [PDF] is adoption of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding its 911 rules, in PS Docket No. 11-60. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, TW-C305, 445 12th St., SW.

10:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "The Future of Drones in America: Law Enforcement and Privacy Considerations". The witnesses will be Benjamin Miller (Airborne Law Enforcement Association), Amie Stepanovich (Electronic Privacy Information Center), Michael Toscano (Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International), and Ryan Calo (University of Washington School of Law). See, notice. Webcast. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:15 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law will host an on site and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Patent Injunctions for Standardized Technology: Update on Antitrust Debate". The speakers will be Michael Lawrence (Google), Avery Gardiner (Verizon), Frances Marshall (DOJ's Antitrust Division), Suzanne Munck (FTC), Hill Wellford (Bingham). Free. No CLE credits. See, notice. Location: 2020 K St., NW.

2:00 PM. The House Homeland Security Committee's (HHSC) Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies will hold a hearing titled "Cyber Threats from China, Russia and Iran: Protecting American Critical Infrastructure". The witnesses will be Frank Cilluffo (George Washington University), Richard Bejtlich (Mandiant Corporation), Ilan Berman (American Foreign Policy Council), and Martin Libicki (RAND Corporation). See, notice. Location: Room 311, Cannon Building.

2:00 PM. The House Science Committee's (HSC) Subcommittee on Technology will hold a hearing titled "Examining the Effectiveness of NIST Laboratories". The witnesses will be Joseph Smith (West Health Institute), Jacqueline Mitus (McKesson Health Solutions), Jim Bialick (Newborn Coalition),
Christine Bechtel (National Partnership for Women and Families), and David Classen (University of Utah School of Medicine). See, notice. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

2:00 - 3:30 PM. The Brookings Institute will host a panel discussion titled "Education Technology: The Next Generation". See, notice. Webcast. Free. Open to the public. Location: Brookings, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

2:00 - 6:00 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) and Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "8th Annual ABA/FCBA Privacy & Data Security Symposium". Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice. Location: Hogan Lovells, 555 13th St., NW.

3:30 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "The Register's Call for Updates to U.S. Copyright Law". The witness will be Maria Pallante (Register of Copyrights). See, HJC notice. See also, Pallante's prepared testimony which states that "Congress should approach the issues comprehensively over the next few years as part of a more general revision of the statute". Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

6:00 - 8:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "Happy Hour". For more information contact Rachel Costello at rachelncostello at gmail dot com. Location: Aria Pizzeria & Bar, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

The House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule.

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM. It will resume consideration of SConRes 8, a budget resolution.

8:30 AM - 3:15 PM. The Free State Foundation (FSF) will host an event titled "Fifth Annual Telecom Policy Conference". The keynote speakers will be Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ajit Pai (FCC Commissioner). Robert McDowell (FCC Commissioner), Gary Epstein (Chair of the FCC's Incentive Auction Task Force), and William Lake (Chief of the FCC's Media Bureau) will be panelists. The other speakers will be Rebecca Arbogast (Comcast), Jeffrey Campbell (Cisco Systems), Michelle Connolly (Duke University), Steve Davis (CenturyLink), Stacy Fuller (Directv), Donna Gregg (Columbus School of Law), Rick Kaplan (NAB), Steve Largent (CTIA), Blair Levin (Aspen Institute), Daniel Lyons (Boston College Law School), Michael Powell (NCTA), Robert Quinn (AT&T), Gigi Sohn (Public Knowledge), Deborah Tate, Tom Tauke (Verizon), Steven Teplitz (Time Warner Cable), Richard Whitt (Google's Motorola Mobility), and Richard Wiley (Wiley Rein). Location: National Press Club, 13th Floor, 529 14th St., NW.

9:00 AM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) Subcommittee on on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats will hold a hearing titled "Cyber Attacks: An Unprecedented Threat to U.S. National Security". The witnesses will be Richard Bejtlich (Mandiant Corporation) and Greg Autry (Coalition for a Prosperous America). See, notice. See also, story titled "Mandiant Releases Report on Cyber Espionage by People's Liberation Army" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,532, March 7, 2013. Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.

9:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing titled "Health Information Technologies: Administration Perspectives on Innovation and Regulation". The witnesses will be Farzad Mostashari (Department of Health and Human Services) and Christy Foreman (Food and Drug Administration). See, notice. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.

9:00 AM. The House Intelligence Committee will hold a closed hearing titled "Ongoing Intelligence Activities". See, notice. Location: Room HVC-304, Capitol Visitor Center.

10:00 AM. The House Small Business Committee (HSBC) will hold a hearing titled "Protecting Small Businesses Against Emerging and Complex Cyber-Attacks". The witnesses will be William Weber (Cbeyond, testifying on behalf of the COMPTEL), Justin Freeman (Rackspace, testifying on behalf of the Application Developers Alliance), and Phyllis Schneck (McAfee). See, notice. Location: Room 2360, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of the nominations of Jane Kelly (USCA/8thCir) and Kenneth Gonzales (USDC/DNMex). See, notice. Webcast. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced presentation titled "Social Media and Local Governments". The speaker will be Julie Tappendorf (Ancel Glink). Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

2:30 PM. The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Economics will host a presentation titled "Switching Costs and Equilibrium Prices". See, paper [PDF] with the same title. The speaker will be the author Luis Cabral (New York University business school). This is an economics paper that does not discuss wireless or other services. However, it is pertinent to policy debates regarding wireless services. For more information, contact Christopher Metcalf at cmetcalf at ftc dot gov or Tammy John at tjohn at ftc dot gov. Location: FTC, 601 New Jersey Ave., NW.

Rep. Cantor's schedule states that no votes are expected in the House.

Supreme Court conference day. See, Supreme Court calendar.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Associates under the New HSR Rules". The speakers will be Jeffrey Ayer (WilmerHale), Kathryn Walsh (FTC Premerger Notification Office), John Ingrassia (Proskauer), and Nadia Murad (Kirkland & Ellis). Free. No CLE credits. See, notice.

2:00 - 3:00 PM. The Brookings Institute will host an event titled "What Lies Ahead for Japan and the United States". Kenichiro Sasae (Ambassador of Japan to the United States) will speak and answer questions. Free. Open to the public. See, notice. Location: Brookings, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

The House will not meet the week of March 25 through March 29, or the week of April 1 through April 5. The House will return on Tuesday, April 9. See, House calendar for 113th Congress, 1st Session.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Intellectual Property Committee and Video Programming and Distribution Committee will host a brown bag lunch regarding the FCC’s encoding rules for cable and satellite providers. The speakers will be Stephanie Roy (Steptoe & Johnson), Robert Schwartz (Constantine & Cannon), and Paul Glist (Davis Wright & Tremaine). Location: Wiley Rein, 1776 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [34 pages in PDF] regarding rates for telecommunications services in prisons. The FCC adopted this NPRM on December 24, 2012, and released the text on December 28. It is FCC 12-167 in WC Docket No. 12-375. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 14, January 22, 2013, at Pages 4369-4376.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Apple v. Samsung, App. Ct. No. 2012-1600, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (NDCal) in a patent infringement case involving technology for smart phones and tablets. The District Court case is 11-CV-1846-LHK, Judge Lucy Koh presiding. See also, stories titled "Trial Jury Returns Verdict In Apple v. Samsung" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,437, August 25, 2012, and "Apple Files Patent Infringement Complaint Against Samsung" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,222, April 18, 2011. Location: Courtroom 201.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "The iPad for Lawyers: Incorporating Tablet Computing Into Your Practice". Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

4:30 - 6:00 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host an event titled "Arbitration and the Constitution". The speakers will be Lee Otis, Peter Rutledge (University of Georgia School of Law), Paul Bland (Public Justice), James Chen (Brandeis School of Law), and Michael Greve (George Mason University School of Law). See, notice. Location: AEI, 1150 17th St., NW.

6:00 - 8:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "Why Every Lawyer Should Understand The Basic Concepts Of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) -- 2013". Prices vary. CLE credits. Registrations and cancellations are due by 12:00 NOON on March 26. See, notice. Location: Bingham McCutchen, 2020 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) regarding implementing allocation decisions from the World Radiocommunication Conference held in Geneva in 2007 (WRC-07) regarding spectrum between 108 MHz and 20.2 GHz, and changing service rules for this spectrum. The FCC adopted this NPRM on November 15, 2012, and released the text on November 19. It is FCC 12-140 in ET Docket No. 12-338. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 248, December 27, 2012, at Pages 76250-76287.