9/20. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that requests comments to assist it in preparing a report on the internet and physical notorious markets that exist outside the US and that may be included in the OUSTR's 2013 Notorious Markets List.

This FR notice states that "Notorious markets are those where counterfeit trademark or pirated copyright products are prevalent to such a degree that the market exemplifies the problem of marketplaces that deal in infringing goods and help sustain global piracy and counterfeiting."

The OUSTR released its last report [9 pages in PDF] titled "Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets" on December 13, 2012. See, story titled "OUSTR Releases 2012 Notorious Markets Report" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,492, December 17, 2012.

The OUSTR released its previous notorious markets report on December 20, 2011. See, report [6 pages in PDF] titled "Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets", and story titled "OUSTR Releases Notorious Markets Report" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,321, December 21, 2011.

The deadline to submit comments is October 25, 2013. The original notice in the FR (Vol. 78, No. 183, September 20, 2013, at Pages 57924-57925) sets October 11 as the deadline. The OUSTR issued a release on September 23, extending the deadline to October 25. Comments must be in English. The docket number is USTR-2013-0030.

Stanford McCoy, the Assistant USTR for Intellectual Property and Innovation, is once again in charge of this proceeding.

This FR notice does not ask for comment on, or even reference, any particular online online or physical markets.

Alibaba and Taobao. One key question for the OUSTR is whether or not to include Taobao on the notorious markets list. It is a consumer to consumer online marketplace owned by the Alibaba Group that operates in the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Chinese language. It is similar to eBay.

The 2011 report included Taobao on the list. (It first appeared on the list in 2008.) That report stated that "Several commenters reported that pirated and counterfeit goods continue to be widely available on China-based Taobao. While stakeholders report that Taobao continues to make significant efforts to address the problem, they recognize that much remains to be done. Taobao was recently listed as one of the top 16 most visited sites in the world, and one of the top three most visited sites in China, according to rankings published at Alexa.com."

The 2012 report removed Taobao from the list. That report stated that "Taobao has been removed from the 2012 List because it has undertaken notable efforts over the past year to work with rightholders directly or through their industry associations to clean up its site."

It added that "In order to stay off the list in the future, we urge Taobao to further streamline procedures for submitting and responding to notifications to decrease the time required for taking down listings of counterfeit and pirated goods and to continue its efforts to work with and achieve a satisfactory outcome with U.S. rights holders and industry associations (for example in the apparel and footwear and software industries), as well as U.S. based small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and we ask these industries to report back expeditiously on the status of these efforts." (Parentheses in original.)

Alibaba is currently privately held. However, it has announced that it will issue an initial public offering (IPO) of securities. Recent news reports state that it will not list with the Hong Kong exchange, and that it may list with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Facebook, which issued it IPO in May of 2012, is listed with the Nasdaq.

Alibaba also operates an online payment platform named Alipay that is similar to PayPal. There is both a Chinese language version, and an international version in English. Alibaba also operates a set of online business to business trading platforms, a cloud computing platform, a search engine (eTao), and other businesses.

In 2012, the Alibaba Group submitted a comment [29 pages in PDF, redacted] to the OUSTR in which it argued that Taobao has worked with rights holders, has substantially improved its intellectual property protection program, and will continue to work with stakeholders and further improve its systems.

Alibaba was represented in the OUSTR's 2012 proceeding by James Mendenhall, an attorney in the Washington DC office of the law firm of Sidley Austin. He worked in the OUSTR during the Bush administration, including as General Counsel. John Spelich signed the comment.

On August 15, 2013 Alibaba announced in a release that it entered into an agreement with the International Anti Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) that creates "a framework for collaboration to address sales of counterfeit goods online".

In 2012, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) criticized Taobao and Alibaba in its comment [8 pages in PDF]. It wrote that "While we are beginning to see some signs of progress, it is still the case that sale of unauthorized software and keys remain extremely popular and ubiquitous on the website."

It added that "we remain firmly of the view that the Taobao website needs to adopt more effective and transparent measures to allow right holders to secure the removal of infringing materials listed on its platform. The takedown process currently available to rights holders is not efficient or consistently applied, and therefore lacks any meaningful deterrence value."

The BSA also wrote that Taobao needs to "establish appropriate procedures for dealing with repeat offenders".

Section 301 and Notorious Markets. The OUSTR notorious markets report is part of the Special 301 process. Section 301 is the statutory means by which the U.S. asserts its international trade rights, including its rights under World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. In particular, under the "Special 301" provisions of the Trade Act of 1974, the OUSTR identifies trading partners that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. artists and industries that rely upon intellectual property protection. See, 19 U.S.C. § 2242.

Section 2242 contains no reference to the identification of notorious web sites, or notorious markets. Rather, it requires the OUSTR to identify "foreign countries". The OUSTR must identify, for example, countries that "deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights, or ... deny fair and equitable market access to United States persons that rely upon intellectual property protection".

Beginning in 2006, the OUSTR included sections on notorious markets in its annual Special 301 reports. In 2010, the OUSTR announced that it would also produce stand alone notorious markets reports. See, story titled "OUSTR Announces Separate Notorious Markets Process" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,138, October 4, 2010. The OUSTR released its first notorious markets report in February of 2011.

Information Sought by OUSTR. The FR notice states that "comments should be as detailed as possible and should clearly identify the reason or reasons why the nature or scope of activity associated with the identified market or markets exemplify the problem of marketplaces that deal in infringing goods and help sustain global piracy and counterfeiting."

It continues that "Potentially helpful information could include: location; principal owners/operators (if known); types of products sold, distributed, or otherwise made available; information on the volume of Internet traffic associated with a Web site (such as a recent Alexa ranking); any known civil or criminal enforcement activity against the market; other efforts to remove/limit infringing materials (e.g., a Web site's responsiveness to requests to remove or disable access to allegedly infringing material); and any other relevant information, including with respect to positive progress made by operators of the market in addressing infringing activity. Any comments that include quantitative loss claims should be accompanied by the methodology used in calculating such estimated losses."

9/24. Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV) sent a letter to twelve companies that "operate websites that gather information directly from consumers". It propounds interrogatories regarding their collection, and sale or sharing, of "personally identifiable information", or PII.

He sent substantially identical letters to operators of information web sites, such as About.com, operators of financial web sites, such as Fool.com and Investopedia.com, and operators of health web sites, such as Health.com and Mensfitness.com. He asks for answers by October 11, 2013.

For example, he asks, "Does your company collect health, family, financial or other information from consumers" through your web site?

He also asks, if so, "does your company share with third parties the personally identifiable information and health, family, financial or other information which your company obtains from or about consumers through its website?"

Also, "Does your company allow or enable third parties to directly collect personally identifiable information from or about consumers" through your web site?

And, if so, Sen. Rockefeller asks for a list of such third parties, and information about how they collect this PII, as well as whether there are any "prohibitions or limitations".

Sen. Rockefeller sent a letter with interrogatories to companies that act as PII data brokers on October 9, 2012. He sent that letter to Acxiom, Experian, Equifax, Transunion, Epsilon, Reed Elsevier (Lexis-Nexis), Datalogix, Rapleaf and Spokeo.

He wrote in the just sent letter that the SCC learned that "hundreds of thousands of websites that gather information directly from consumers may be a source of consumer information for data brokers. Respondent companies have told the Committee they obtain information from consumer-facing website sources."

But, he added, some of these data brokers have refused to disclose their sources to the SCC.

Sen. Rockefeller also opined that before consumers "share personal information it is important that they know it may be used for purposes beyond those for which they originally provided it", but web site privacy policies do not disclose "how the company actually uses and shares consumer information it gathers".

However, the letter does not reference or describe any pending or prospective legislative proposals.

9/28. The New York Times (NYT) published a story by James Risen on September 28, 2013 titled "N.S.A. Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens". It states that the National Security Agency (NSA) "began allowing the analysis of phone call and e-mail logs in November 2010 to examine Americans' networks of associations for foreign intelligence purposes after N.S.A. officials lifted restrictions on the practice, according to documents" provided by Edward Snowden.

The article also states that documents provided by Snowden show that the NSA also uses "bank codes, insurance information, Facebook profiles, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data".

The article states that consequently, the NSA has been able to "create sophisticated graphs of some Americans' social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information".

9/20. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces, and seeks public comments on, its proposal to create, and provide access to, a national electronic database of genomic information.

This notice also contains the text of the NIH's proposed "Draft NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy " or "GDS Policy". See, FR, Vol.78, No. 183, September 20, 2013, at Pages 57860-57865.

The FR notice does not set a comment deadline. Rather, it states that comments are due "60 days after publication of this notice". TLJ calculates the deadline to be November 19, 2013.

The NIH, the entities that it funds, and the entities that will be permitted to download this data, seek to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce disease. They use genomic data for these purposes. However, one person's genomic data discloses much information about that person.

Some genomic data is non-human, and therefore does not implicate interests in privacy, security or liberty. However, much genomic data is human. In addition, much of this data is attributable to specific individuals.

This NIH FR notice states that "privacy and confidentiality is paramount".

It continues that genomic data will be "deindentified". That is, "identifiers such as name, date of birth, street address, and social security number should be removed". Then, data will be assigned a "unique code to
protect participant privacy".

Yet, even if the NIH and all of the entities that submit genomic data to the NIH always accomplish this "deindentification", a whole genome sequence is in itself a unique identifier, and may be used to re-associate the genome sequence, and all the information that it discloses, with other identifiers, such as a name and social security number.

The GDS Policy states that entities will be allowed to download genomic data from NIH repositories. It states that such entities will  be required to sign something that states that they are "Not attempting to identify individual participants from whom the data were obtained", and will not sell the data to others.

It also states that the NIH will issue "guidance on security practices that outlines expected data security protections (e.g., physical security measures and user training) to ensure that the data are kept secure and not released to any person not permitted to access the data". (Parentheses in original. Footnote omitted.)

The 110th Congress enacted the "Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act" (GINA) in 2008. It is Public Law No. 110-233. It provides that genetic information is health information within the meaning of the HIPAA.

The key part is Title II, which prohibits certain employment discrimination. It is codified at 42 U.S.C. SS 2000ff through 2000ff-11.

For example, it provides that "It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer ... to fail or refuse to hire, or to discharge, any employee, or otherwise to discriminate against any employee with respect to the compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment of the employee, because of genetic information with respect to the employee".

However, the GINA does not affect many other uses of genetic information, such as in issuing life insurance policies.

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The House will meet at 10:00 AM.

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM.

The Supreme Court will hold its opening conference for its October Term 2013.

10:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold a hearing in its incentive auctions rulemaking proceeding. This hearing will address reimbursable costs of broadcasters and MVPDs, and cost mitigation. See, Paragraphs 334-354 of the FCC's September 28, 2012 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [205 pages in PDF] (FCC 12-118 in GN Docket No. 12-268), and the FCC's September 23, 2013 FNPRM (DA 13-1954 in GN Docket No. 12-268) titled "Public Notice". Open to the public. Webcast. See, FCC September 23, 2013 Public Notice (DA 13-1955 in GN Docket No. 12-268) with meeting agenda. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, TW-C305, 445 12th St., SW.

11:30 AM. The Library of Congress (LOC) will host a lecture by Orin Kerr (George Washington University law school, on leave at the LOC) on his article [SSRN] titled "The Next Generation Communications Privacy Act". It proposes an overhaul of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). See, notice. Location: LOC, Madison Building, Montpelier Room, 6th floor, 101 Independence Ave., SE.

12:00 NOON. The filing window opens for the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Auction 902, the Tribal Mobility Fund Phase I support reverse auction. See, the FCC's September 25, 2013 Public Notice (DA 13-1978 in AU Docket No. 13-53).

4:00 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law will hold a hearing titled "The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: Federal Regulations and Regulatory Reform". The witnesses will be Boyden Gray, Sally Katzen (NYU School of Law), John Morrall (Geroge Mason University), and Nicole Riley (National Federation of Independent Business). Webcast. See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Census Bureau regarding its proposal to collect data for its Current Population Survey (CPS) via e-mail. The CPS is used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to prepare monthly reports on employment and unemployment. Some economists argue that the current questionnaire and survey methods produce inaccurate estimates. The DOC's notice in the Federal Register (FR) requesting comments states that "Over the last few years, CPS, like many surveys, has seen response rates declining slowly", in part because "interviewers are unable to make contact with the respondent See, FR, Vol. 78, No. 146, July 30, 2013, at Pages 45910-45911.

EXTENDED TO DECEMBER 4. Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) regarding whether the FCC should "require apparatus manufacturers to ensure that their apparatus synchronize the appearance of closed captions with the display of the corresponding video". This FNPRM is FCC 13-84 in MB Docket No. 11-154. The FCC adopted this item on June 13, 2013, and released the text on June 14. See, original notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 127, July 2, 2013, at Pages 39691-39698. See also, Public Notice (DA 13-1785) extending deadlines, and extension notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 172, September 5, 2013, at Page 54612. See also, story titled "FCC Again Addresses Closed Captioning Mandates for Video Programming Delivered Using IP" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,578, June 17, 2013.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding spectrum allocations for space related purposes. This NPRM makes two alternative proposals to modify the Allocation Table to provide interference protection for Fixed-Satellite Service (FSS) and Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) earth stations operated by federal agencies under authorizations granted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in certain frequency bands. This NPRM also proposes to amend a footnote to the Allocation Table to permit a Federal MSS system to operate in the 399.9-400.05 MHz band, and makes alternative proposals to modify the Allocation Table to provide access to spectrum on an interference protected basis to FCC licensees for use during the launch of launch rockets. This item is FCC 13-65 in ET Docket No. 13-115. The FCC adopted and released this item on May 9, 2013. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 126, July 1, 2013, at Pages 39200-39232.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) [38 pages in PDF] regarding speech to speech relay service by persons with speech disabilities. This FNPRM is FCC 13-101 in CG Docket Nos. 08-15 and 03-123. The FCC adopted and released this FNPRM on July 19, 2013. See, Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 158, August 15, 2013, at Pages 49717-49720.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that refresh the FCC's record regarding property records for rate of return carriers. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 157, August 14, 2013, at Pages 49420-49422. See also, the FCC's order [127 pages in PDF] titled "Memorandum Opinion and Order and Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking", which is also known as the US Telecom Forbearance Long Order. The FCC adopted that order on May 10, 2013, and released it on May 17. It is FCC 13-69 in WC Docket No. 12-61, CC Docket Nos. 00-199 and 99-301, and numerous other dockets. And see, the FCC's July 23, 2013 Public Notice (DA 13-1617).

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding Mobile Relay Associates' (MRA) request for waiver of Sections 2.106 and 90.35 of the FCC's rules to to operate on frequency pairs 462/467.5375 MHz and 462/467.7375 MHz at multiple locations in the Los Angeles, Denver, Las Vegas, and Miami metropolitan areas. See, FCC's August 29, 2013 Public Notice (DA 13-1838 in WT Docket No. 13-212).

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding CenturyLink's August 12, 2013 application, pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 214 and 47 C.F.R. § 63.71, to discontinue certain Integrated Service Digital Network-Primary Rate Interface (ISDN-PRI) domestic telecommunications services in the states of Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming. See, FCC's August 30, 2013 Public Notice (DA 13-1851 in WC Docket No. 13-211).

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding DISH Network Corporation's September 9, 2013 Petition for Waiver and Request Extension of Time [22 pages in PDF] regarding the FCC's AWS-4 rules applied to offering terrestrial broadband service. See, FCC's September 13, 2013 Public Notice (DA 13-1877 in WT Docket No. 13-225) and notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 188, September 27, 2013, at Pages 59633-59635.

Deadline to submit nominations to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for membership on its Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC). See, USPTO release, and notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 156, August 13, 2013, at Pages 49260-49262.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold one in a series of meetings to review and edit its 2013 annual report to the Congress. Open to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 151, August 6, 2013, at Pages 47829-47830. Location: Room 231, Hall of the States, 444 North Capitol St., NW.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a three day event hosted by the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) titled "Intersection of Cloud and Mobility Forum and Workshop". Open to the public. Registration required. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 171, September 4, 2013, at Page 54453. See also, story titled "NIST to Hold Workshop on Cloud Computing and Mobility" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,594, September 3, 2013. Location: NIST, Red Auditorium, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

10:00 AM - 3:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will host an event titled "Cybersecurity Next Generation Technology Forum". The focus of this event is "safeguarding children on the Internet". See, FCC's September 27, 2013 notice, with agenda and list of speakers. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, TW-C305, 445 12th St., SW.

10:30 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology (SCT) will hold a hearing titled "Changes and Opportunities in the 5GHz Spectrum Band". The witnesses will be Julius Knapp (Chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology), Bob Friday (Cisco), John Kenney (Toyota Info Technology Center), and Tom Nagel (Comcast). See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Has the NSA Won the Crypto Wars?". The speakers will be Kevin Bankston (Center for Democracy and Technology), Daniel Castro (ITIF), Alan Davidson (CDT, on leave at Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and Amie Stepanovich (Electronic Privacy Information Center). Free. Open to the public. Lunch will be served. See, notice. Location: ITIF/ITIC, Suite 610A, 1101 K St., NW.

2:15 PM. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) will hold a business meeting. The agenda includes consideration of the nomination of Caroline Kennedy to be Ambassador to Japan. Location: Room S-116, Capitol Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) will hold a closed hearing on undisclosed matters. See, notice. Location: Room 219, Hart Building.

Opening of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) filing window for Form 323, titled "Ownership Form for Commercial Broadcast Station". See, FCC's September 27, 2013 Public Notice (DA 13-1999). See also, FCC's August 6, 2013 Order (DA 13-1710 in MB Docket No. 07-294). This biennial mandate, which applies to all commercial AM, FM, TV, LPTV, and Class A stations, and entities with attributable interests, pertains to the FCC's outdated and obsolete regime for regulating media ownership.

9:30 AM - 3:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will host an event titled "Workshop" regarding mobile device location surveillance capabilities and precision. See, FCC Public Notice (DA 13-1873 in PS Docket No. 07-114) and FCC September 27, 2013 Public Notice (DA 13-2000 in PS Docket No. 07-114). See also, stories titled "FCC Seeks Comments on Mobile Device Location Surveillance Capabilities" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,598, September 10, 2013, and "California House Democrats Urge FCC to Amend Phone Location Detection Rules" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,600, September 12, 2013. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, Room TW-C305, 445 12th St., SW.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold one in a series of meetings to review and edit its 2013 annual report to the Congress. Open to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 151, August 6, 2013, at Pages 47829-47830. Location: Room 231, Hall of the States, 444 North Capitol St., NW.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a three day event hosted by the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) titled "Intersection of Cloud and Mobility Forum and Workshop". Open to the public. Registration required. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 171, September 4, 2013, at Page 54453. See also, story titled "NIST to Hold Workshop on Cloud Computing and Mobility" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,594, September 3, 2013. Location: NIST, Red Auditorium, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Continued Oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act". The witnesses will be James Clapper (Director of National Intelligence) and Keith Alexander (Director of the National Security Agency). Webcast. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (SHSGAC) will hold a hearing on the nomination of Beth Cobert to be Deputy Director of the EOP's Office of Management and Budget (OMB). See, notice. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Building.

12:00 NOON. Deadline to submit requests to make a two minute oral presentation at the teleconference of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) brief public meeting on cyber security on October 7. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 186, September 25, 2013, Page 59013.

12:00 NOON - 2:30 PM. The Federalist Society will host a panel discussion titled "Supreme Court Preview: What Is in Store for October Term 2013?". The speakers will be Megan Brown (Wiley Rein), Michael Carvin (Jones Day), Neal Katyal (Georgetown University Law Center), Nicholas Rosenkranz (Georgetown University Law Center), and Jan Crawford (CBS News). Prices vary. Lunch will be served. See, notice. Location: National Press Club, 529 14th St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association (DCBA) will host a panel discussion titled "Cutting Edge FOIA Issues, Privacy and Civil Liberties". The DCBA notice states that "Open government issues raised by National Security Agency surveillance programs also will be discussed." The speakers will be Melanie Ann Pustay (Department of Justice), Adina Rosenbaum (Public Citizen), Elizabeth Shapiro (DOJ), Thomas Susman, and Edwin Huddleson. The price to attend ranges from $5 to $20. No webcast. No CLE credits. For more information, call 202-626-3463. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "Tolling Agreements, Consent Decrees, and Other Mileposts Along the FCC Enforcement Highway". The deadline to register of 12:00 NOON on Tuesday, October 1. CLE credits. Prices vary. No webcast. See, notice. Location: Arnold & Porter, 555 12th St., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Media Bureau (MB) in response to its June 25, 2013 Public Notice (PN) [6 pages in PDF] regarding video description of video programming that is delivered via both television and the internet. This PN is DA 13-1438 in MB Docket No. 11-43. See also, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 129, July 5, 2013, at Pages 40421-40424.

9:00 AM - 12:30 PM. Day one of a three day event hosted by the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) titled "Intersection of Cloud and Mobility Forum and Workshop". Open to the public. Registration required. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 171, September 4, 2013, at Page 54453. See also, story titled "NIST to Hold Workshop on Cloud Computing and Mobility" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,594, September 3, 2013. Location: NIST, Red Auditorium, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of S 42 [LOC | WW], the "Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2013". This bill would prohibit retaliation against a whistleblower because he reported to the federal government what he reasonably believes to be a violation of the antitrust laws. The agenda also again includes consideration of numerous judicial nominees: Judge Robert Wilkins (to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir)), James Donato (USDC/NDCal), Beth Freeman (USCD/NDCal), Brian Davis (USDC/MDFl), Timothy Brooks (USDC/WDArk), and Pedro Delgado Hernandez (USDC/DPR). The Pillard nomination is part of President Obama's plan to pack the DC Circuit. See, story titled "Obama Launches Effort to Pack the DC Circuit" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,570, June 4, 2013. Webcast. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 - 11:00 AM. The Heritage Foundation (HF) will host an event titled "What Japan Can Gain from Sound Innovation". The speakers will be Masazumi Ishii (Managing Director of AZCA, Inc.), Derek Scissors (American Enterprise Institute), and Walter Lohman (HF). Free. Open to the public. Webcast. See, notice. Location: HF, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE

11:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold an executive session to vote on pending nominations, including Michael O'Rielly (FCC Commissioner), Terrell McSweeny (FTC Commissioner), and Jo Handelsman (Associate Director for Science in the EOP's Office of Science and Technology Policy). Webcast. See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) will hold a closed hearing on undisclosed matters. See, notice. Location: Room 219, Hart Building.

2:30 PM. The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Economics will host a presentation titled "Reputations in Repeated Games". See, paper with the same title. The speaker will be a co-author, Larry Samuelson (Yale). The paper is 86 pages of game theory. Government agencies often regulate without regard for the role played by reputation in protecting consumers and investors. For more information, contact Christopher Metcalf at cmetcalf at ftc dot gov. Location: FTC, 601 New Jersey Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding its proposed spectrum monitoring pilot program. The NTIA stated in its notice in the Federal Register (FR) that this program, if funded and implemented, would "develop and deploy a prototype system to monitor spectrum usage in up to ten metropolitan areas". See, FR, Vol. 78, No. 160, August 19, 2013, at Pages 50399-50401.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) regarding its public safety Travelers' Information Stations (TIS) rules, under which Public Safety Pool (PSP) eligible entities transmit noncommercial travel related information over AM band frequencies to motorists on a localized basis. The FCC adopted this item on July 18, 2013, and released it on July 23. It is FCC 13-98 in PS Docket No. 09-19. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 160, August 19, 2013, at Pages 50370-50372. See also, August 20 Public Notice (DA 13-1784).

Deadline to file post-hearing briefs and statements with the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) regarding its September 25, 2013 hearing titled "Digital Trade in the U.S. and Global Economies". See, USITC release, and notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 162, August 21, 2013, at Pages 51744-51746. See also, story titled "USITC Releases First Report on Digital Trade" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,589, August 26, 2013.

8:30 AM. The Department of Labor's (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is scheduled to release its September 2013 unemployment data.

9:00 AM - 4:30 PM. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) will hold a hearing. This hearing will address surveillance programs conducted pursuant Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and Section 702 of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Free. Open to the public. For more information, contact Susan Reingold at 202-331-1986 or info at pclob dot gov. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 179, September 16, 2013, at Pages 56951-56952. See also, story titled "PCLOB Schedules Hearing and Comments Deadline Regarding Sections 215 and 702 Surveillance" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,601, September 16, 2013. Location: Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave., NW.

12:00 NOON. Deadline to register to listen to the teleconference of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) brief public meeting on cyber security on October 7. This is also the deadline to submit written comments. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 186, September 25, 2013, Page 59013.

11:59 PM. Extended deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Request for Information on Computer Security Incident Coordination. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 183, September 20, 2013, at Pages 57839-57840.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft SP 800-101 Rev. 1 [85 pages in PDF] titled "Guidelines on Mobile Device Forensics".

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft NIST IR 7946 [41 pages in PDF] titled "CVSS Implementation Guidance". CVSS is Common Vulnerability Scoring System.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding the agreement [11 pages in PDF] that contains a proposed consent order in its Section 5 administrative proceeding against TRENDnet. See, story titled "FTC Brings and Settles Case Alleging Lax Security for IP Based Home Monitoring Camera System" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,597, September 9, 2013. See also, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 176, September 11, 2013, at Pages 55717-55719.

Deadline to file reply submissions with the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its Section 337 exclusion proceeding initiated by InterDigital Communications against Huawei, Futurewei, Nokia and ZTE involving 3G wireless devices. The administrative law judge filed his determination on June 28, 2013 finding no violation of Section 337. The USITC then decided to review this determination in its entirety. It seeks comments on whether establishing a domestic industry based on licensing under 19 U.S.C. § 1337 (a)(3)(C) requires proof of ``articles protected by the patent´´, and if so, whether there is evidence in the record that establishes articles protected by the asserted patents. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 175, September 10, 2013, at Pages 55294-55296.

Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) regarding the proposed participation of Paraguay and Liechtenstein in the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) negotiations. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 174, September 9, 2013, at Pages 55135-55136.

Day one of a four day event hosted by the George Mason University law school and the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law titled "Antitrust Law and Economics Institute". See, notice. For more information, call Kayla Lahti at 703-993-8008. Location: GMU law school, 3301 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a five day meeting of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) RTCA Special Committee 159, Global Positioning Systems. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 182, September 19, 2013, at Pages 57672-57673. Location: RTCA, Inc., Suite 910, 1150 18th St., NW.

11:00 AM. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Chadbourne & Parke v. Troice (Sup. Ct. No. 12-79), Willis or Colorado v. Troice (Sup. Ct. No. 12-86), and Proskauer Rose v. Troice (Sup. Ct. No. 12-88), cases involving the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (SLUSA). See, question presented, and Supreme Court October calendar.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Intellectual Property Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy". The speakers will be Shira Perlmutter (USPTO) and John Morris (National Telecommunications and Information Administration). Free. No CLE credits. No webcast. Location: Wilkinson Barker Knauer, Suite 700, 2300 N St., NW.

12:30 - 5:00 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will host an event titled "ConnectED Workshop". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 176, September 11, 2013, Pages 55684-55685. It states that participants will "discuss the growing bandwidth needs of K-12 schools as more schools use mobile devices to enrich the learning experience; as teachers increasingly integrate Web video and other digital content into the curriculum; and as classroom management software tools move everything from homework assignments to testing into the cloud". Location: American Institute of Architects, 1735 New York Ave., NW.

4:00 - 4:30 PM. The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) will hold a brief public meeting by teleconference. The sole item on the agenda is a PCAST report on cyber security. The deadline to register is 12:00 NOON on October 4, 2013. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 186, September 25, 2013, Page 59013.

Day two of a four day event hosted by the George Mason University law school and the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law titled "Antitrust Law and Economics Institute". See, notice. For more information, call Kayla Lahti at 703-993-8008. Location: GMU law school, 3301 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) regarding extension of its foreign policy based export control regulations. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 172, September 5, 2013, at Pages 54623-54625.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) regarding the request of the Laboratory Accreditation Bureau (LAB) for accreditation by the FCC. See, FCC's August 23, 2013 Public Notice (DA 13-1795 in ET Docket No. 13-208).

Deadline to submit to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oppositions to petitions to deny AT&T's planned acquisition of Leap Wireless. See, FCC August 28, 2013 Public Notice (DA 13-1831 in WT Docket No. 13-193). See also, the FCC's Office of General Counsel's (OGC) web page for this merger review.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding Purple Communications' July 11, 2013 Emergency Petition for Limited Waiver [6 pages in PDF], in connection with FCC's VRS reform order, due to other providers of IP Relay service exiting the IP Relay marketplace. See, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [160 pages in PDF] adopted on June 7, 2013, and released on June 10, 2013. It is FCC in 13-82 in CG Docket Nos. 10-51 and 03-123. See, also the FCC's August 27, 2013 Public Notice (DA 13-1814), and notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 176, September 11, 2013, at Pages 55696-55697.