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Tech Law Journal |
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| News, records, and analysis of legislation, litigation, and regulation affecting the computer, internet, communications and information technology sectors | |
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3/31. Larry Akey, Rep. Rick Hill's (R-MT) Chief of Staff, and Matt Raymond, Sen. Conrad Burn's (R-MT) Communications Director, will swap positions, effective April 10. Sen. Burns is Chairman of the Senate Communications Subcommittee, and a Co-chair of the Internet Caucus. 3/31. The North Carolina Utilities Commission ruled that US LEC is not entitled to reciprocal compensation from BellSouth for traffic generated by Metacomm. The order does not affect the NCUC's order of February 1998 requiring BellSouth to pay reciprocal compensation for ISP traffic in North Carolina. See, Bell South release and US LEC release. 3/31. The Dept. of Commerce's ITA released the Seventh Annual National Export Strategy Report [134 pages PDF] to Congress, outlining a trade agenda for expanding U.S. exports and helping American firms do business in China. See, DOC release. 3/31. The USPTO is proposing changes to the rules of practice in patent cases to implement certain provisions of § 4402 of the "American Inventors Protection Act of 1999" which provide patent term adjustment to compensate patentees for certain delays in the application examination process. See, Notice in Federal Register [PDF]. 3/31. The SEC named Mark Ready Chief Economist and Director of the Office of Economic Analysis. He has been a professor at the business school at the Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison since 1990. He succeeds Erik Sirri. 3/31. The USTR released its 2000 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, a list of unfair trade practices and barriers to American exports of goods, services and farm products. See, release. 3/30. USTR Charlene Barshefsky announced the results of this year's review of Japan's compliance with telecom trade agreements. "Japan's failure to implement cost-oriented interconnection rates calls into question its adherence to its WTO commitment to ensure cost-based interconnection rates and regulate its market in an impartial manner," Barshefsky said. See, release. 3/30. The House Judiciary Committee postponed its markup of HR 3125, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. 3/30. The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed its markup of S 1854, a bill to amend the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. 3/30. The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on the future of the World Trade Organization. See, statements of Rep. Bill Archer (R-TX), Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI), Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN), and Gov. Jesse Ventura (I-MN). See also, witness list with links to testimony. 3/30. The FCC approved the application of Bell Atlantic and Vodafone AirTouch to combine their wireless assets in the Cellco Partnership. The FCC also approved the merger of Aerial Communications and VoiceStream. See, FCC release. 3/29. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced S 2321, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a tax credit for development costs of telecommunications facilities in rural areas. The bill seeks to incentivize broadband deployment in rural areas. 3/29. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) introduced HR 4122, a bill to encourage broadband deployment to rural America. 3/29. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) introduced S 2326, the Wireless Eavesdropping Protection Act. The bill would prohibit the interception and dissemination of conversations over wireless technology, and ban scanners used for this purpose. 3/29. Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-NC) introduced HR 4109, the Worker Economic Opportunity Act. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-TN) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) introduced S 2323, a companion bill in the Senate. The bills would preserve the right of IT companies to provide stock options for hourly employees. The bills would amend §7(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act by exempting stock options, stock appreciation rights and employee stock purchase plans from the calculation of overtime pay. See, Sen. Dodd release. 3/29. The President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion to issued its final report on efforts to address the Year 2000 computer problem. 3/29. Bill Clinton held a press conference at which he advocated granting PNTR status for China. He stated that "you get all this telecommunications revolution permanently manifest in China, they will not be able to control the Internet, they will not be able to control access to information, they will not be able to control freedom of expression. It will become a more free country, and a more open country." 3/29. Bill Clinton also addressed Internet taxes. "So I think that is a matter that the states will have to work out. Since they are basically state taxes, I think we ought to leave it to them." See, full statement. 3/29. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Finance and Hazardous Materials held a hearing titled "Competition in the New Electronic Market." 3/29. "The House Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology will hold a hearing titled "Enhancing Computer Security: What Tools Work Best?" See, GAO testimony to the committee titled Federal Information Security: Actions Needed to Address Widespread Weaknesses. [PDF] 3/29. Vint Cerf, SVP of Internet Architecture and Technology for MCI WorldCom, spoke at a Capitol Hill event hosted by the Internet Caucus Advisory Committee. 3/29. The House Appropriations Committee's CJS Subcommittee held a hearing on the FCC. 3/28. Senate Democrats wrote a letter to the conference committee on the electronic signatures bills regarding consumer protections. 3/28. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Harrington entered a Stipulated Permanent Injunction against two people who reverse engineered Cyber Patrol's filtering software. He found that the two had violated copyright law, and barred them from publishing the software source code known as cphack.exe. He wrote: "The federal law of copyright ... has been a prodigious and inexhaustible stimulator of rich creative thought and the firm protector of free individual expression. It is the province of the federal court to insure that the law's protections are enforced and an owner's rights to his creation secured." See also, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and Cyber Patrol release. 3/28. House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt gave a speech on technology policy at an event hosted by the ITAA, the NVTC and CapNet. He covered H1B visas, R&D tax credit, PNTR status for China, online privacy, net taxes, and other topics. 3/28. The Senate Commerce Committee's Communications Subcommittee held a hearing on broadband deployment in rural areas. See, statements of Sen. Burns and Rep. Tauzin. 3/28. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), introduced S 2307 IS, the Rural Broadband Enhancement Act, a bill to create a low interest low program, and to extend universal service support to advanced services. The initial cosponsors are Sens. Daschle, Baucus, Johnson, and Harkin. The bill has been referred to the Senate Commerce Committee. See, statement by Sen. Dorgan. 3/28. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee's Subcommittee on Children and Families held a hearing on child safety on the Internet. See, witness list. 3/28. The Senate Judiciary Committee's Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information Subcommittee will hold a hearing on examine cyber attacks, focusing on removing roadblocks to investigation and information sharing. See, statements of Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), Louis Freeh (FBI), and Harris Miller (ITAA). 3/28. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) introduced HR 4098, a bill to require the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations specifying the application of the Occupational Safety and Health Act to home office employment to foster telework opportunities. 3/28. Commerce Sec. Wm. Daley gave a speech in Chicago on the politics of granting PNTR status for China. "If we had to take the vote today, it would be tough in the House -- even with Speaker Hastert's support. It is easier in the Senate -- but I don't think we have the votes in the House yet. But the opposition doesn't either. Passage is always tough for every big trade agreement we've ever voted on. At this point of the game in NAFTA, we faced the same situation." 3/28. Qualcomm and Motorola announced an agreement to extend their Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cross-licenses and to dismiss all claims and counterclaims in the series of patent infringement lawsuits between the companies. See, Qualcomm release. 3/28. Micron Technology and Mosel Vitelic announced they have agreed to settle all pending and anticipated litigation. As part of the deal, they agreed to cross license existing and future intellectual property. See, Micron release. 3/27. Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) wrote a letter [PDF] to Janet Reno requesting that she appoint a special counsel to investigate the White House e-mail matter. 3/27. Rep. Bob Franks (R-NJ) introduced HR 4076, a bill to provide for the effective punishment of online child molesters. 3/24. The SEC obtained a TRO from the U.S. District Court, C.D.CA, against eConnect, and its president, Thomas Hughes. The complaint, filed March 23, alleges that eConnect issued false press releases claiming that eConnect has a unique license with PalmPilot, and that a subsidiary of eConnect has a strategic alliance with a brokerage firm concerning a system to permit cash transactions over the Internet. See, SEC release. 3/24. The FCC announced that its rules implementing the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 are now in effect. See, release [MS Word]. 3/24. FCC Chairman Wm. Kennard wrote a letter to Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) regarding the full page ads NextWave Telecom placed in the paper editions of The Hill and Roll Call complaining about FCC cancellation of its licenses. 3/24. The FCC released a statement on low power FM issues which accuses the NAB of "disinformation." See also, NAB testimony at Feb. 17 hearing, and NAB web page on LPFM. 3/23. The House Telecom Subcommittee approved HR 3439, the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act, a bill to prevent the FCC from issuing low power FM broadcast licenses. 3/23. The House Telecom Subcommittee approved an amended version of HR 3615, The Rural Local Broadcast Signal Act. The substitute amendment scaled back the the sized of the loan guarantee program from $1.25 Billion to $1 Billion, and added a board, which would be comprised of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Treasury, and Commerce, to approve the loan guarantees. 3/23. The House Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee passed an amended version of HR 2100 by a vote of 6 to 3. This bill prohibits anyone except the producer or consumer of a product from altering or removing any product identification code that is affixed to or embedded in any product sold, rented or licensed in interstate or foreign commerce. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), co-chairman of the Internet Caucus, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who represents Silicon Valley. See, TLJ Summary of HR 2100. 3/23. The House Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee unanimously passed HR 4034, a bill sponsored by Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) that requires that all fees collected by the USPTO go towards funding USPTO operations. See, TLJ story. 3/23. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on the nomination the BLM's acting director, Tom Fry, to become director. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) used the event to criticize the BLM for considering a rule making procedure that could increase the fees for easements for fiber optic cable on BLM lands. "I am working to help bring the full promise of telecommunications to rural areas. While we need to look increasingly to wireless technologies, fiber optics are a big piece of the puzzle in Montana, and bureaucrats should not be pursuing policies that will turn us into technology have-nots." 3/23. The FTC held another press conference to tout its efforts to fight fraud on the Internet. See, statement of Jodie Bernstein, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. 3/23. Commerce Sec. Wm. Daley gave a speech on trade in India. "We do no want the World Trade Organization standing still. It needs to find ways to increase trade," said Daley. "[N]othing has the potential to expand trade around the world, like the Internet. I don't think there is a product known to man that cannot be bought or sold all over the world on the Internet. E-commerce creates enormous potential for growth everywhere." 3/22. House Commerce Committee Chairman Tom Bliley (R-VA) issued a press release which praised the work of Governor Jim Gilmore (R-VA) on the Internet tax commission. He also criticized the Clinton Administration for "failing to support a plan to keep taxes off the Internet." 3/22. The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on the reconfirmation of Susan Ness to be Commissioner of the FCC. "I am very disturbed by the Commission's delay in properly using the authority granted to it under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act," Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) stated. "I will not allow Section 706 to be dismantled through FCC inaction." See, Burns statement. 3/22. The Senate Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on antitrust activities of the FTC and DOJ. See, TLJ story. 3/22. SEC Commissioner Norman Johnson announced plans to leave the SEC before the end of this summer. See, release. 3/21. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) stated that "as of March 21, 2000, INS no longer accepts H-1B petitions for employment prior to October 1, 2000." 3/21. Reps. Asa Hutchinson (R-AK) and Jim Moran (D-VA) introduced HR 4049, the Privacy Commission Act. 3/21. House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (R-OK) met with Microsoft officials to discuss security online. Watts stated: "Law enforcement officials at all levels need to be fully trained in new methods to fight a new crime threat. The federal government should undertake aggressive efforts to ensure that national security secrets are safeguarded as commercial secrets are in the private sector. And parents and teachers need to work to reach computer-savvy kids to stop hacking before it starts." 3/21. The SEC announced that Thomas Zaccaro is the new head of securities litigation for the SEC's Pacific Regional Office. He was previously a partner in the law firm of Manatt Phelps. See, release. 3/21. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing on Internet pharmacies. See, statement of Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and links to witness testimony. 3/21. The House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing on private property rights and telecommunications policy. See, TLJ story. 3/21. The Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary held a hearing on the proposed budget estimates for FY 2001 for the Federal Communications Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. See, prepared testimony of William Kennard and Arthur Levitt. 3/21. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), Chairman of the House Telecom Subcommittee, was the luncheon speaker at a USTA conference. He said that the FCC is conducting "government by consent decree--when government agencies will only grant merger approval if the companies are willing to agree to 'voluntary' conditions." See, USTA release. 3/21. The Federal Communications Commission sent a report [PDF] to the Congress in which it states that it wants to "Create a faster, flatter, more functional agency." FCC Chairman Wm. Kennard also submitted testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee: "the FCC will require a FY 2001 budget of $237,188,000 and a staff ceiling of 1,975 full-time equivalent (FTEs). ... These numbers reflect a total increase of $27,188,000 or approximately 13 percent over the FY 2000 Appropriation." 3/21. Michel Daley, spokesperson for Bell Atlantic in Washington since 1990, will retire on April 7. Sandra Arnette will take his place. 3/20. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) introduced HR 4034, the Patent and Trademark Office Reauthorization Act. This bill would also require that all fees collected by the USPTO be used to run the USPTO. 3/20. The SEC filed and settled a civil fraud case against David Rudnick, operator of a web site that provided real-time day trading stock recommendations, and his company, DynamicDaytrader.com. The SEC alleged that Rudnick published false and misleading statements in his web site in violation of §10(b)(5). See, SEC release. 3/20. The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) approved the merger of Qwest and U S West. Iowa is the second of eight states in U S WEST's region to approve. See, U S West release and IUB release [PDF]. 3/20. The Department of Commerce imposed a $20,000 civil penalty on U-Freight, Inc., a freight forwarder in South San Francisco, CA, for arranging a shipment of computers to mainland China in violation of its export license. See, release. 3/20. The Consumer Electronics Association promoted Jayne Dalton to director, CES operations; Lisa Fasold to director, communications, Tim Herbert, staff director, market research; and Kelly Ricker, staff director, conferences. 3/20. Commerce Secretary William Daley gave a speech in Dhaka, Bangladesh. "Every country I go to, people want to know how they can get Bill Gates or Jack Welch to invest, and bring jobs. Enforceable commercial laws are a good start." 3/20. Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK), Chairman of the House Republican Conference and head of the House Republican Cyber-Security Team, met in Seattle with Microsoft officials, including Howard Schmidt, lead network security official. 3/17. Bill Clinton signed the satellite privatization bill. 3/17. The Court of Appeals issued its opinion in GTE v. FCC, upholding most, but not all, of the FCC's Collocation Order. LECs challenged the FCC's rules implementing 47 U.S.C. § 251(c)(6), which requires ILECs to provide physical or virtual collocation for competing providers. The court held: "Petitioners' position that 'physical collocation' under the Act is limited to caged collocation is meritless, as is the claim that the FCC's definition of 'premises' is unduly broad. We also reject petitioners' challenge to the cost recovery mechanism under the Collocation Order. We agree with petitioners, however, that the FCC's interpretations of 'necessary' and 'physical collocation' appear to be impermissibly broad." See, USTA reaction. 3/17. The FCC released a Notice of Inquiry on Software Defined Radio, a technology that eventually will make cellular phones and other hand-held wireless devices with differing architectures compatible with one another. [OET Docket No. 00-47.] See, FCC release. FCC Chairman Kennard released a statement: " ... I view this proceeding ... as another critical step in the development of a more fluid spectrum market." See also, reaction from Bell South. 3/17. Qualcomm announced that it has reached an agreement to resolve the class action litigation filed by former employees arising out of the sale of assets of Qualcomm's infrastructure division to Ericsson. See, release. 3/16. Rep. Chip Pickering (R-MS) introduced HR 4019, a bill to place certain constraints and limitations on the authority of the FCC to review mergers and to impose conditions on licenses and other authorizations assigned or transferred in the course of mergers or other transactions. 3/16. The Department of Housing and Urban Development asserted authority over Internet speech. It announced the formation of a "national task force to fight hate and discrimination on the Internet." Also, "HUD will provide $200,000 ..." See, HUD release. 3/16. Rep. Chip Pickering (R-MS) and others introduced HR 4019, a bill to limit the authority of the FCC to review mergers and to impose conditions on licenses and other authorizations assigned or transferred in the course of mergers or other transactions. 3/16. The FCC announced rules for good faith negotiations and exclusive agreements for retransmission consent involving TV stations and cable or satellite companies. The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) requires the FCC to revise the rules surrounding retransmission consent agreements between television broadcast stations and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), such as cable and satellite companies. See, FCC release. 3/16. The Federal Election Commission submitted 32 legislative proposals to the Congress. On March 13 it submitted 6 priority recommendations. None of these pertain to the issues raised in the FEC's Notice of Inquiry regarding campaign activity and the Internet. See, FEC's recommendations (38 pages PDF.) |
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