• 1/31. The Association for Competitive Technology filed an amicus curiae brief (PDF) with Judge Jackson in support of Microsoft. The authors include two former Attorneys General (Bell and Katzenbach) and two former White House Counsel (Cutler and Gray). See, ACT release.

• 1/31. The Texas PUC  wrote a cover letter and report (PDF) to the FCC recommending that it approve SBC's §271 petition to provide interLATA long distance service in Texas. See also, Texas PUC's release.

• 1/31. Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said that they will introduce the Internet Non- Discrimination Act (INDA), a bill to make permanent the temporary moratorium on new, special and discriminatory Internet taxes enacted in 1998.

• 1/31. The European Commission ended its investigation into Network Solutions’ arrangements with European domain name registration service providers, without further inquiry or action. See, NSI release.

• 1/31. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NY) introduced HR 3560, the "Online Privacy Protection Act of 2000."

• 1/31. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NY) introduced HR 3555, a bill to compel the FCC to adopt a plan for the "efficient allocation of telephone numbers".

• 1/31. Bell Atl. and GTE announced that upon completion of their merger Tom Tauke will be SVP for public policy and external affairs, and will report to Bill Barr, EVP and General Counsel. See, release.

• 1/31. The USPTO began publication of PTO Today, a monthly magazine about patents and trademarks. There is an online version in a slow to download PDF format.

• 1/28. The FCC dismissed a complaint filed by the New York City Bd. of Education   requesting mandatory carriage of its TV station (WNYE) on cable systems operated by Comcast and its affiliates and subsidiaries.

• 1/28. FCC Chairman William Kennard gave a speech in Paris titled "Internet: The American Experience" in which he stated that "Regulators like me need decision-making authority. We also need enforcement authority."

• 1/28. The SEC issued an Order directing the exchanges and the NASD to begin decimal pricing by July 3, 2000.

• 1/28. FCC Chr. Wm. Kennard gave a speech in Portugal in which he stated that the dynamic growth of the Internet in the U.S. "was a direct result of government policy." See FCC release.

• 1/27. Rep. Mike Oxley (R-OH) made a statement in the Congressional Record in support of HR 3525, the Religious Broadcasting Freedom Act.

• 1/27. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) made a statement in the Congressional Record in support of HR 3525, the Religious Broadcasting Freedom Act.

• 1/27. John Nannes, Dep. Asst. Atty. Gen. in the Antitrust Div. of the DOJ, gave a speech on antitrust law at a New York State Bar Assoc. meeting.

• 1/27. The FCC appointed Bob Rowe (Montana PSC) and Joe Garcia (Florida PSC) to serve on the Federal State Joint Board on Universal Service. (CC Docket 96-45.)

• 1/27. Bell Atl. and GTE submitted a filing (PDF) to the FCC which states that they "propose to transfer the Internet backbone and related assets of GTE Internetworking to a corporation that is owned and controlled by third-party public shareholders ..." See, release and summary.

• 1/27. CTIA CEO Tom Wheeler gave a speech in Seattle in which he advocated changing government rules to encourage the use wireless phones and hand held devices to close the digital divide.

• 1/27. Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) made a statement in the House of Representatives against OSHA regulation of teleworkers.

• 1/27. Microsoft named former Labor Secretary Ann McLaughlin to its board of directors. See, release.

• 1/25. The U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, issued its opinion in Alenco v. FCC denying the petition for review of small town and rural LECs, and upholding the FCC's Fourth Order on Reconsideration, Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, CC Docket No. 96-45.

• 1/25. The DOJ filed its reply brief regarding proposed conclusions of law in its antitrust case against Microsoft.

• 1/25. Rep. Martin Frost (D-TX), Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, announced that Steve Case of AOL and Gerald Levin of Time Warner will jointly keynote the opening dinner of the Caucus' closed conference on Feb. 5-7.• 1/24. U.S. District Court Judge Whyte reinstated an injunction against Microsoft in Sun Microsystem's java suit, under the Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code. See, MSFT release and SUNW release.

• 1/24. The Arizona State House rejected by a vote of 20 to 32 HB 2006, a bill to require government entities that provide access to computer terminals to install software to block sexually explicit material. See, summary of bill.

• 1/24. The FCC's Common Carrier Bureau requested comments on the request by rural telephone companies for removal of individual caps on high-cost universal service support. (The deadline for comments is 2/14.) See, release.

• 1/24. Rep. Mike Oxley (R-OH) introduced HR 3525, the Religious Broadcasters Freedom Act, to reverse the FCC's Order released on 12/29.

• 1/24. NTIA chief Greg Rhode gave a speech to the ALTV. Quote: "Consumers in rural and small broadcast markets could fall on the wrong side of the digital divide unless steps are taken to ensure that communities have access to local news and information through new technologies." See, NTIA release.• 1/21. Intel asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to bar Taiwan's VIA Technologies from selling certain chips in the U.S. which Intel allege violate its patents.

• 1/21. The RIAA sued MP3.com in U.S. District Court in New York for alleged copyright violation. See also, letter from RIAA to MP3.com, and letter from MP3.com to RIAA.

• 1/21. The FTC named the members of its Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security. The first meeting will be Feb. 4. See, FTC release and list of members.

• 1/21. Dickstein Shapiro named Merle DeLancey a partner in its technology group.

• 1/20. AT&T and MediaOne filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Richmond VA challenging Henrico County's open access ordinance. See, openNET release.

• 1/20. Broadcasters, movie studios, TV networks, the NFL and the NBA filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh to enjoin the unauthorized use of copyrighted material by iCraveTV.com.

• 1/20. TI named Joseph Hubach SVP and general counsel. See release.

• 1/20. The USTA, CTIA, and CDT filed their brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington DC in their challenge to the FCC's CALEA rules.

• 1/20. Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE) said that he will not run for a third term. See, statement.

• 1/20. The FCC by a 3-2 decision created a new class of broadcast radio licenses for low power non commercial stations. See, FCC release and Furchtgott-Roth dissent. (MM Docket 99-25.)

• 1/20. Sen. C. Burns (R-MT), Senate Communications Subcommittee Chair, stated that "I am very disappointed at both the substance and the timing of the FCC's reckless decision on low power FM radio."

• 1/20. The FCC adopted new EEO rules for broadcasters and cable operators (regarding hiring on the basis of race and gender). See, FCC release, Wm. Kennard statement, and Furchtgott-Roth dissent. (The FCC's previous rules where held unconstitutional in Lutheran Church v. FCC. See 4/16/98 story.)

• 1/19. FCC Chr. Wm. Kennard gave a speech in Washington DC about the FCC's new Enforcement Bureau.

• 1/19. The BSA announced that it will advertise on billboards and on the Howard Stern TV show to encourage people to call its hotline to report software piracy in the workplace.

• 1/19. The Department of Justice's Antitrust Division released a statement praising the decision of Compuware and Viasoft to terminate their proposed merger.

• 1/18. Viasoft and Compuware terminated their planned merger, because of the DoJ. Viasoft Chairman Steven Whiteman stated: "We are disappointed that the parties' various discussions were not successful in producing a settlement with the Department of Justice". See, Viasoft release and Compuware release.

• 1/18. The UK Office of Telecom. announced a plan to roll back formal regulation. See, Oftel release and strategy statement.

• 1/14. The BSA gave Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) its Cyber Champion Award.

• 1/14. The FCC adopted an annual report (big MS Word file) on competition in the market for multi- channel video programming (cable, SMATV, MMDS, DBS, etc.). The report finds that cable's share of MVP dropped from 85% to 82%. See also, summary by FCC, statement by Kennard, and dissent by Furchtgott-Roth.

• 1/14. Commerce Sec. Wm. Daley gave a speech in Fairfax VA on online privacy, consumer protection, security, copyright protection, and the "digital divide".

• 1/14. FCC Chairman William Kennard gave a speech in which he praised the the FCC's e-rate program.

• 1/13. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld the FCC's preemption of a Wyoming state law which permitted the state PSC to grant small phone companies ten years of protection from competition. See, opinion.

• 1/13. Microsoft announced that Bill Gates will become Chairman and Chief Software Architect. Steve Ballmer will become President and CEO, and will take over management of the company. See, press release.

• 1/12. The St. Paul City Council approved the transfer of the MediaOne cable franchise to AT&T. AT&T has received approval from all local franchising authorities in the Twin Cities, as well as from the Minnesota Public Utilities Comm. See, MediaOne release.

• 1/12. The Securities Industry Association released a white paper (PDF) that examines different regulatory models. See, press release.

• 1/12. MCI-WC CEO Bernie Ebbers said in a speech in Washington DC that his company, which wants to merge with Sprint, will design its broadband wireless network to be capable of supporting Internet service provider choice by implementing open access to its network wherever wholesale capacity is available. See, MCI-WC release, and OpenNet release.

• 1/12. The FCC decided to cancel and reauction licenses held by NextWave, which is now in bankruptcy. See, FCC press release.

• 1/12. The Dept. of Commerce issued its new encryption export regulations. See also, Commerce Dept. press release.

• 1/12. Rep. Goodlatte stated: "The encryption regulations released today by the Administration are a positive step forward towards a common sense encryption policy." See, release.

• 1/12. Christopher Schroeder will replace Marc Teren as chief executive of the Washington Post's Internet subsidiary (which owns washingtonpost.com, newsweek.com, and onwashington.com.)

• 1/12. FCC Chr. Wm. Kennard issued a statement which relates to the FCC's lack of rules and sluggish pace in antitrust merger reviews. The FCC "is developing internal procedures" and intends that "transactions are processed in 180 days".

• 1/12. The Dept. of Commerce issued its new encryption export regulations. See also, Commerce Dept. press release.

• 1/12. The USPTO unveiled EFS Pilot, the second phase of PTO's evolving Electronic Filing System. See, Commerce Dept. press release.

• 1/11. The SEC brought and settled an enforcement action against Informix for fraudulently inflating revenues. Informix provides database management systems and connectivity tools that let users store, retrieve, and correlate data. See, SEC press release and Informix press release.

• 1/11. The USPTO announced that IBM recieved the most patents in 1999. See, press release.

• 1/11. NCTA Pres. Broyles reacted to the AOL Time Warner deal: "It also removes any question that market transactions are far preferable to government regulation in sorting out the complex and promising destiny of the new digital economy."

• 1/10. Bill Clinton announced his intent to nominate Nicholas Godici to be Asst. Commissioner of Patents at the USPTO. See, press release.

• 1/10. AOL and Time Warner announced that they will merge. See, AOL press release.

• 1/10. SBC filed a §271 application with the FCC to provide interLATA long distance service in Texas. See, SBC press release.

• 1/10. The FCC issued a request for comments
on the SBC's §271 bid.

• 1/10. AT&T Gen. Counsel Jim Cicconi criticized SBC. Quote: "SBC has been openly hostile to competition in its local market and is now asking the FCC for the right to compete in the long distance market in Texas." See, statement.

• 1/10. Deputy Sec. of Defense John Hamre announced his resignation, effective March 31. Defense Sec. William Cohen recommended that Clinton nominate Rudy de Leon to replace him. See, DoD press release.

• 1/10. Clinton gave a speech on trade with China. Quote: "... we stand to gain when China enters the World Trade Organization. But to lock in our benefits, we first must grant China permanent normal trade relations status."

• 1/10. Microsoft and Caldera announced that they settled Caldera's antitrust suit. See, Microsoft's press release and case summary.

• 1/7. AOL filed comments with the FEC regarding its Notice of Inquiry into application of federal election laws to activity on the Internet.

• 1/7. AT&T filed a preliminary proxy statement with the SEC for the shareholder vote to authorize its Wireless Group tracking stock. See, press release.

• 1/7. Lucent's stock price plunged on 1/6. On 1/7 a class action lawsuit was filed in federal court in New Jersey by Milberg Weiss. It is a typical 10b claim based on allegedly misleading statements.

• 1/7. The Clinton administration released its National Plan for Information Systems Protection (40 page PDF copy in Dept. of Commerce web site) regarding protection of critical infrastructure, computer systems, and networks). See also, transcript of press briefing.

• 1/7. FCC Chr. Wm. Kennard gave a speech in Las Vegas on IPTV. Quote: "The problem is that those in the cable and consumer electronics and programming industries ... cannot reach agreement in two key areas ... standards that allow the various delivery platforms and enhancements to work together; and ...  copyright protection ..."

• 1/7. The Colorado Public Utilities Comm. approved the merger of Qwest and U S West. See, press release.

• 1/6. The FTC reported on the results of its second "surf" of sites that advertise and sell jewelry on the web. See, statement.

• 1/6. The CDT and other groups filed a comment with the FEC  in response to its Notice of Inquiry regarding campaign activity on the Internet.

• 1/5. The SEC filed civil fraud, scalping, and touting charges in federal court in Chicago against a web based advisor know as Tokyo Joe.

• 1/5. The NTIA said it will give $12.5M in TOP grants in 2000 to close the "digital divide." See, press release.

• 1/4. EPIC filed a comment with the FEC  in response to its Notice of Inquiry regarding campaign activity on the Internet.

• 1/4. The U.S. Court of Appeals denied ATT's emergency motion for stay of the FCC order permitting Bell Atl. to provide interLATA long distance service in NY. "I’m pleased ..." said FCC Chr. Kennard in a press release.

• 1/3. Donald Phillips will replace Robert Cassidy as the Asst. U.S. Trade Rep. for China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mongolia. See, press release.• 1/4. The FCC filed its opposition to AT&T's motion for stay of the Bell Atl. long distance order.

• 1/3. The Justice Dept. filed its response to AT&T's motion for stay of the FCC Bell Atl. order. The NYPSC and Bell Atl. also filed responses. See Bell Atl. press release.

• 1/3. The FCC named Univ. of Penn. Prof. David Farber to be its Chief Technologist. See, press release.• 1/3. BellSouth reported "all networks and supporting computer systems operating normally." See press release.

• 1/1. "... the nation's banks, thrifts and credit unions are conducting business as usual," according to a joint press release of the FRB, FDIC, and other regulators.

• 1/1. IBM reports that it "has not experienced any significant issues during the arrival of Y2K, but tens of thousands of employees are on the job or on call through the transition ..." See, press release.

• 1/1. U S West reported that its telecom network was "unaffected by the Y2K date rollover." See, press release.

• 1/1. Bell Atlantic’s telecommunications network continues to function normally. See, press release.

• 1/1. The Dept. of  Transportation reported that "None of the 10 major airlines have reported any disruptions due to Day One incidents." See, press release.

• 1/1. The North Am. Electric Reliability Council reported that "There have been no reports of outages related to Y2k and the status of the nation’s electricity grids remains normal." See, press release.

• 1/1. The U.K. Government Millennium Centre reports that "No bug problems have been reported by the utilities. All electricity companies report business as usual ... No Y2K related problems have been reported from the Water industry. ... telecoms networks are performing normally. ... Air Traffic Control reports all systems operating normally. See, press release.

Go to News Briefs from December 1999.