DOJ IG Releases Reports on Use of NSLs and Section 215 Authority

3/9. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report [30 MB in PDF] titled "A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Use of National Security Letters", and a second report [10 MB in PDF] titled "A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Use of Section 215 Order for Business Records".

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gave a speech on Friday, March 9, 2007, in which he discussed these reports.

Gonzales said, with regard to national security letters (NSLs), that "the IG found that the FBI did not have sufficient controls, did not provide adequate training, and failed to follow its own policies and Attorney General Guidelines."

NSLs enable the government to seize records from internet service providers, phone companies, banks, credit card companies and other financial entities, without court approval. § 505(a) of the USA PATRIOT Act expanded the reach of NSL authority by removing the requirement that these NSLs pertain to an "agent of a foreign power", and by allowing NSLs to be used to compel ISPs to produce records about people who use their services. However, these provisions were not sunsetted, and hence, were not at the center of the Congressional debates in 2005 and early 2006 over extension of the sunsetted provisions.

Nevertheless, the House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Crime did hold a hearing, one topic of which was NSLs, on April 28, 2005. See, story titled "House Crime Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Library and ISP Records and § 215 of the Patriot Act and National Security Letters" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,125, April 29, 2005.

Gonzales also discussed the use of NSLs. He said that "an NSL is a letter request for information held by a third party that is issued by the FBI in connection with an authorized counterterrorism or counterintelligence investigation."

He continued that "We have had this tool for many years, but previously the letters had not been used as frequently. In this post-9/11 era, however, with concerns about terrorists operating inside our borders and the threat of homegrown terror cells, they have become much more valuable."

He asserted that "We use NSLs to begin to tie together the various threads of the life of a suspected terrorist -- where he lives, who his friends are, what phone numbers he is calling most often. In an era when prevention is critical, and time is of the essence, NSLs are vital to our national security."

Gonzales also commented on the Section 215 report. He said that this report "confirmed that the Department and the FBI have acted responsibly in exercising their authority under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, which authorizes the government to obtain business records and other materials through the FISA Court. The IG reported only two examples where inadvertent errors, one by a case agent and one by a third party, resulted in the FBI getting more information than it should have. In both cases the data were either sequestered or destroyed, and the appropriate oversight authorities were notified."

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC), stated in a release that "National Security Letters are a powerful tool, and when they are misused they can do great harm to innocent people. The government expects Americans to follow the law, but the American people also have a right to expect that the government follows the law."

He added that "These improper and illegal violations might all be continuing if it were not for the sunshine provisions about the use of NSLs that we insisted on adding to the PATRIOT Act. I intend for the Senate Judiciary Committee to conduct extensive hearings on these findings, their significance and possible remedies in our ongoing oversight efforts, including at a hearing with the FBI Director later this month."

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House Majority Leader, stated in a release that "I am deeply troubled by the Inspector General's report finding that the nation's premier law enforcement agency failed to implement and diligently follow all the controls necessary in obtaining thousands of financial and communications records."

He added that "President Bush, Attorney General Gonzales, and F.B.I. Director Mueller owe it to the American people to explain how they will correct the problems detailed in the report. It is not enough for this Administration to claim that it is upset by today's disclosures. It must also take full responsibility for the errors that occurred, hold the appropriate officials accountable for what happened, and, most important, ensure that it does not happen again."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated in a release that NSLs remain "an indispensable investigative tool". Also, FBI Director Mueller spoke at news conference. See, transcript. And, AG Gonzales wrote a letter [PDF] to the IG, Glen Fine, on March 9, 2007. Finally, the DOJ issued a release on Section 215.

House Commerce Committee Holds Hearing on Bill Related to Pretexting of, and Data Sharing by, Carriers

3/9. The House Commerce Committee held a hearing titled "Combating Pretexting: H.R. 936, Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act". Both Democrats and Republicans stated that there is a need for the bill, and urged approval.

The one major area of disagreement is the provisions of Title II of the bill that limit data sharing by carriers. Representatives of carriers, and some committee members, argued that the bill should not interfere with legitimate business practices of carriers.

See, full story.

FCC News

3/9. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin gave a speech [PDF] to the American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT).

3/9. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the text [58 pages in PDF] of its Memorandum Opinion and Order in its proceeding titled "In the Matter of Petition of Qwest Communications International Inc. for Forbearance from Enforcement of the Commission’s Dominant Carrier Rules As They Apply After Section 272 Sunsets". The FCC announced, but did not release, this item on February 20, 2007. See, story titled "FCC Grants Qwest Petition for Forbearance" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,542, February 22, 2007. This item is FCC 07-13 in WC Docket No. 05-333.

More News

3/9. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces and describes a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding rules implementing the REAL ID Act, a bill that federalized state identification systems. The DHS released a draft of this notice on March 1, 2007. See, story titled "DHS Proposes Rules Implementing REAL ID Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,546, March 5, 2007. The just published Federal Register notice adds that the deadline to submit comments is May 8, 2007. See, Federal Register, March 9, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 46, Page 10819-10858.

3/9. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the formation of a National Computer Forensic Institute located in Hoover, Alabama. See, DHS release.

SEC Suspends Trading in 35 Companies Touted by Spam

3/8. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order [5 pages in PDF] that suspends trading in thirty-five companies. The order states that "for each issuer, questions have arisen regarding the adequacy and accuracy of publicly disseminated information concerning". See also, SEC release.

SEC Chairman Chris Cox spoke at a news conference. He said that the SEC "struck a blow for investors, and for every American with a computer, against one of the worst menaces of the information age: Email spam touting possibly worthless securities." See, statement.

"Today's action is the largest trading suspension of spammed companies in SEC history", said Cox (at left). "We ordered these suspensions because of serious questions about the adequacy and accuracy of information about the companies, and also because of the risk they present of future spam campaigns. Some of these securities pitches are still being made in spam campaigns underway even as we speak."

He also said that there are about 5.2 Billion spam messages per year that hype stocks and other securities.

Linda Thomsen, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said that "Today the internet has created electronic boiler rooms, which solicit not by phone but by emails simultaneously touting stocks to millions of people." See, statement.

She continued that "Today's action will disrupt the operations of these boiler rooms and make it harder for the spammers and promoters to dump their stock on an unsuspecting public. Public companies and others touting stocks must tell the truth. They also must have a reasonable basis for the statements they make when they push stocks. Many email spammers distribute false news or old news or old and false news and misleading or stale financial information. It is the lack of accurate and adequate information regarding spammed companies that makes spam emails so dangerous to investors."

Mark Schonfeld, Director of the SEC New York Regional Office, stated that "By interrupting the source of stock for spammers, we take away their ability to profit." See, statement.

He added that "Now that we have stopped the trading in these stocks, we will focus our attention on the people behind the spam and profiting from it."

DOJ Publishes Rules Regarding Functions of the National Security Division

3/8. The Department of Justice (DOJ) published a notice in the Federal Register the announces, describes, recites, and sets the effective date (March 7, 2007) of, the DOJ's National Security Division's (NSD) rules regarding the organization, mission and functions of the NSD.

The NSD was created by Section 506 of the "USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005", which is now Public Law No. 109-277. The NSD has authority with respect to intelligence, counterintelligence, or national security matters.

The rules assign to the new NSD tasks related to the FISA, seizures, surveillance, CFIUS, and data collection and analysis. These rules do not reference CALEA related functions.

The new rules state that "The following functions are assigned to and shall be conducted" by the NSD: "Administer the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act".

It adds that the new NSD shall "Supervise the preparation of certifications and applications for orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, as amended, and the representation of the United States before the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the United States Foreign Intelligence Court of Review."

The rules also state that the NSD shall "review for concurrence the Department's use of criminal proceedings in connection with all matters relating to intelligence, counterintelligence, or counterterrorism", including "the filing of search and arrest warrants or applications for electronic surveillance pursuant".

The new rules also state that the new NSD shall "Represent the Department on the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States", or CFIUS.

The rules also state that the NSD will "Participate in the systematic collection and analysis of data and information relating to the investigation and prosecution of terrorism cases".

The rules do not elaborate either on what data is to be systematically collected, how it is to be analyzed, or what uses and disseminations will be made of these analyses.

Neither this notice, nor the rules recited therein, reference the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act or CALEA.

House Commerce Committee To Examine NTIA Efforts to Protect DNS Root Server System

3/8. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced in a release and a longer release [6 pages in PDF] that on February 6, 2007 there was a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack on the DNS root server system.

The House Commerce Committee (HCC) may hold an oversight hearing on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on March 22, 2007.

In preparation for this hearing, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) sent a letter [PDF] to John Kneuer, head of the NTIA, asking him to "provide us with the steps that the NTIA has taken in the last three years to safeguard the integrity of (1) the root server system and (2) Internet connectivity generally. Specifically outline efforts taken in conjunction with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and private sector entities."

The ICANN wrote that the attack originated from the Asia-Pacific region, and that the Anycast technology, which was designed to deal with such attacks after an attack in 2002, worked very effectively.

The ICANN wrote that "The core DNS servers of the Internet were hit with a significant distributed denial of service attack, or DDoS. In such an attack, billions of worthless data packets are sent from thousands of different points on the Internet to specific computer servers in order to overwhelm them with requests and so disrupt the smooth running of the Internet."

It continued that "At least six root servers were attacked but only two of them were noticeably affected: the ``g-root´´, which is run by the U.S. Department of Defense and is physically based in Ohio, and the ``l-root´´ run the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is physically based in California."

"The reason why these two were particularly badly affected was because they are the only root servers attacked that have yet to install Anycast (a further three root servers without Anycast were not attacked this time)." (Parentheses in original.)

"Even though it was a large attack, the new technology, combined with the speed, skills and experience learnt by root server operators over the years, helped to make sure that actual Internet users were not inconvenienced", the ICANN wrote in its release.

The letter from Rep. Dingell and Rep. Markey also requests Kneuer to provide information regarding:

• steps taken by the NTIA to achieve the availability of universal affordable access to broadband technology,
• efforts taken by the NTIA to provide competition in domain name registration services,
• actions taken by the NTIA to publicize the dot kids domain,
• steps taken by the NTIA to "enhance minority participation in telecommunications and minority ownership of telecommunications licenses or entities", and
• work conducted at the NTIA's Institute for Telecommunications Sciences to assist public safety and homeland security entities on interoperability emergency communications.

The letter also requests "a copy of any analyses or other commentary provided to NTIA by other Federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, in conjunction with NTIA's review of the dot-com domain name registry agreement between ICANN and VeriSign."

This was not a bipartisan letter. Neither Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), nor Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), signed the letter.

GAO Reports on Stalled Doha Round Negotiations

3/8. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [70 pages in PDF] titled "Congress Faces Key Decisions as Efforts to Reach Doha Agreement Intensify".

This report focuses on what has caused nations to fail to reach agreement -- particularly agriculture -- rather than other areas of negotiation in the Doha round, such trade related aspects of intellectual property, and electronic commerce.

The report concludes that "A successful conclusion of the global trade talks remains uncertain, although resumption of the talks was recently achieved after a 6-month hiatus in the negotiations", and that "the on-going impasse of the Doha talks has effectively placed Congress at the center of the controversy because what the United States does in 2007 on TPA and Farm Bill renewal is widely seen as pivotal to the WTO and its role in the trading system."

It states that talks broke down in July of 2006 "due to persistent disagreement over agricultural market access and levels of domestic support for agriculture among key players, such as the United States, the European Union (EU), and developing countries led by Brazil and India".

It adds that "behind the deadlock on agriculture lies a perhaps more fundamental conflict among WTO members about what a "development round" means and how best to spur development in less-developed countries. The disagreement centers on how trade liberalization contributes to development and to what extent developing countries should be expected to open their markets."

People and Appointments

3/8. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) approved the nomination of Thomas Hardiman to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.

3/8. The Senate confirmed John Alfred Jarvey to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by a vote of 95-0. See, Roll Call No. 67.

3/8. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) approved the nomination of, and the full Senate confirmed, Sara Elizabeth Lioi to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

More News

3/8. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced that its Deemed Export Advisory Committee (DEAC) will meet at an undisclosed location in Atlanta, Georgia, at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, May 2, 2007. The deadline to submit requests to make presentations is 5:00 PM on April 11, 2007. There is no deadline for written comments. The BIS regulates exports. The BIS regulates, among other things, communications equipment, computers and components, software, and encryption products. The BIS treats as deemed exports the certain hiring of certain employees, web site publications, and e-mail. The DOC created the DEAC on September 1, 2006. See, BIS release.

3/8. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces that the FCC has granted Hands On Video Relay Services, Inc.'s application for certification as an IP Relay and VRS provider eligible for compensation from the Interstate TRS Fund. This proceeding is CG Docket No. 03-123. See, Federal Register, Federal Register, March 7, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 44, at Pages 10214-10215.

Gates Advocates H1B Visas, Permanent R&D Tax Credit, Patent Reform, and STEM Education

3/7. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held a hearing titled "Strengthening American Competitiveness for the 21st Century". The witness was Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft.

Gates began his prepared testimony [14 pages in PDF] with the observation that "we as a society are sacrificing the long-term good of our country in the interests of short-term gain. Too often, we lack the political will to take the steps necessary to ensure that America remains a technology and innovation leader." He offered his recommendations regarding what steps should be taken.

Gates advocated more H1B visas and expediting the path to Permanent Resident status for highly skilled workers, more government spending on research, making permanent the research and development tax credit, patent law reform, more science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, as well as life long educational opportunities for all workers.

H1B Visas. Gates offered several immigration policy recommendations, and particularly, the need for more H1B visas for high skilled workers.

He said that "we need to attract and retain the brightest, most talented people from around the world. This will not happen until we reform our immigration policies for highly skilled workers." Currently, said Gates, "America's immigration policies are driving away the world’s best and brightest precisely when we need them most."

He identified two problems: national security concerns, and outdated visa policies. He briefly argued that the goals of protecting national security and promoting competitiveness are compatible. However, most of his prepared testimony addressed outdated visa policies.

He elaborated that "It makes no sense to tell well trained, highly skilled individuals -- many of whom are educated at our top colleges and universities -- that the United States does not welcome or value them. For too many foreign students and professionals, however, our immigration policies send precisely this message."

"Under the current system, the number of H1-B visas available runs out faster and faster each year. The current base cap of 65,000 is arbitrarily set and bears no relation to U.S. industry’s demand for skilled professionals."

He continued that "For Fiscal Year 2008, H-1Bs are expected to run out next month, the first month that it is possible to apply for them. This means that no new H-1B visas -- often the only visa category available to recruit critically needed professional workers – will be available for a nearly 18-month period. Moreover, this year, for the first time in the history of the program, the supply will run out before the year’s graduating students get their degrees. This means that U.S. employers will not be able to get H-1B visas for an entire crop of U.S. graduates. We are essentially asking top talent to leave the U.S."

Gates argued that "we need to encourage the best students from abroad to enroll in our colleges and universities, and to remain in the United States when their studies are completed. Today, we take exactly the opposite approach. Foreign students who apply for a student visa to the United States today must prove that they do not intend to remain here once they receive their degrees. This makes no sense."

Gates added that current policy causes U.S. employers to offshore operations.

He also recommended that "Congress should expedite the path to Permanent Resident status for highly skilled workers".

Government Spending on Research. Gates said that "Federally funded research enriches the commons of knowledge and provides the raw material for U.S. industry to transform into commercially successful products. Federal funding for university-based R&D also helps educate the next generation of scientists and engineers – those who will largely determine whether America remains innovative and globally competitive."

He argued that "America's ability to remain a technological powerhouse will depend in large part on the extent to which the Federal Government invests in basic research. Unfortunately, federal research spending is not keeping pace with our nation’s needs."

He advocated large increases in federal spending. He also offered some specific proposals, such as "new research grants of $500,000 each annually to 200 of the most outstanding early-career researchers".

He also advocated "ensuring that research projects are communicated to the private sector so that companies can collaborate more effectively with recipients of public research funds".

R&D Tax Credit. Gates noted that two thirds of R&D is conducted by the private sector. He said that "we need to provide a foundation for innovation by investing in ideas and capturing their value." And, the federal government should incent this activity.

He said that "Congress should permanently extend the R&D tax credit, which expires again at the end of the 2007."

Gates did not elaborate on the political considerations associated with permanently extending the credit. The Congress for decades has continually provided short extensions of the R&D tax credit. Research oriented companies tend to lobby for these extensions, and anticipate them. This process provides members of Congress and political committees with a continuous flow of contributions. This process also enables the Congress to indulge in the accounting fiction that tax revenues will increase when the credit expires, thus lowering budget deficit projections.

Patent Law Reform. Gates said that "we must also reward innovators. This means giving inventors the ability to obtain intellectual property protection for their innovations, and to enforce these rights in the marketplace."

He then addressed patent reform. He said that "current efforts in Congress to reform the U.S. patent system to meet the needs of the 21st century. Microsoft and other technology companies are working closely with Chairman Leahy and Senator Hatch on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and with the leadership of the House Judiciary Committee, to advance legislation on needed reforms."

He said that reform should "improve patent quality, reduce excessive litigation, and promote international patent harmonization".

Education Policy. Gates said that "we must ensure that America's students and workers have the skills necessary to compete in a digital economy by providing them with the necessary educational opportunities and resources." He discussed skills for highly educated innovators, as well as basic skills for other workers.

He lamented that "America is falling behind is in math and science education", particularly in computer science. The "percentage of college freshmen planning to major in computer science dropped by 70 percent between 2000 and 2005." He added that not enough students are taking college and graduate decrees in STEM fields.

He continued that the U.S. also needs "a workforce that is equipped with the skills necessary to use technology effectively. In today’s economy, that means a high degree of basic literacy, an increasing level of computing skills, and the ability to create, analyze and communicate knowledge."

He argued that "every job seeker, every displaced worker, and every individual in the U.S. workforce has access to the education and training they need to succeed in the knowledge economy. This means embracing the concept of ``lifelong learning´´ as part of the normal career path of American workers, so that they can use new technologies and meet new challenges."

He suggested that this cannot be left to government or academia. There must be joint efforts with industry.

More News

3/7. The Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights held a hearing titled "Oversight of the Enforcement of the Antitrust Laws". Thomas Barnett (Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division) and Deborah Majoras (Chairman of the FTC) testified. See, Barnett's prepared testimony and Majoras's prepared testimony [PDF]. Barnett said that "The telecommunications industry has kept the Division very busy during the last few years, and it looks likely it will continue to do so." He reviewed the recent reviews of the mergers of Verizon and MCI, SBC and AT&T, the new AT&T and BellSouth, Sprint and Nextel, and Cingular and AT&T Wireless. He also stated that the Division "actively is pursuing a nationwide investigation of bid rigging and fraud in the E-Rate program".

3/7. The U.S. Court of Appeals (9thCir) issued an order [PDF] in J&J Celcom v. AT&T Wireless Services. The plaintiffs are J&J Celcom and other former owners of fractional interests in general cellular telephone partnerships. The defendants are AT&T Wireless Services and subsidiaries. This is an appeal from the U.S. District Court (WDWash) in a diversity of citizenship action in which state law controls. The just released order merely certifies to the Supreme Court of Washington a question of state partnership law. This case is J&J Celcom, et al. v. AT&T Wireless Services, Inc., et al., U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, App. Ct. No. 05-35567, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, D.C. No. CV-03-02629-MJP.

SEC Pursues Second Set of Hijackers of Online Brokerage Accounts

3/6. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil complaint [25 pages in PDF] in U.S. District Court (DC) against "unknown persons" and the JSC Parex Bank in Latvia seeking disgorgement of any and all assets obtained as a result of the unknown persons' violations of federal securities laws. The complaint identifies a securities fraud scheme involving the hijacking of online brokerage accounts.

The complaint states that "This action stems from a modern-day, technological version of the traditional ``pump-and-dump´´ market manipulation scheme. From at least December 2005 through December 2006, the defendants engaged in a scheme to fraudulently use the Internet to intrude into the online brokerage accounts of unsuspecting customers at U.S. broker dealers and place unauthorized trades in the accounts for the defendants' own pecuniary benefit."

The complaint continues that "First, the defendants purchased in their own accounts shares of stock in a thinly traded company. Shortly thereafter, the defendants, directly or indirectly, intruded into the online brokerage accounts of investors at U.S. broker-dealers, liquidated existing equity positions and, using the resulting proceeds, purchased and sold thousands, and in one instance millions, of shares of the same thinly traded stocks purchased by the defendants in their own accounts. The unauthorized trading in the third-party accounts created the appearance of trading activity and pumped up the price of the stocks. Then, at the height of the price surge, the defendants sold in their own accounts their previously-purchased shares of the same stocks at the inflated prices."

The complaint adds that "the defendants masked their identities by intruding into the online accounts using the Internet Protocol addresses of innocent third parties and by trading anonymously through the domestic brokerage accounts of Latvian-based Relief Defendant JSC Parex Bank."

The complaint also states that "the defendants realized profits totaling at least $732,941 from trading in their accounts. In addition, the broker-dealers whose customers' accounts were compromised suffered in excess of $2 million in losses in their efforts to make their customers whole."

TLJ spoke with John Reed Stark, Chief of the SEC's Office of Internet Enforcement, on March 15. He stated that the SEC learned on March 14 through discovery the names of the persons identified as "unknown persons" in the complaint. However, he would not disclose their identities, state whether any are now in custody, or comment on where any may be located.

Stark did state that none of the three defendants in the Nebraska case, Jaisankar Marimuthu, Chockalingam Ramanathan and Thirugnanam Ramanathan, are any of these "unknown persons". See, story titled "SEC and DOJ Take Action Against Hijackers of Online Brokerage Accounts" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,552, March 14, 2007.

This case is SEC v. One or More Unknown Traders in the Common Stock of Certain Issuers and JSC Parex Bank, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, D.C. No. 1-07CV00432.

Microsoft Counsel Says Google Systematically Violates Copyright

3/6. Thomas Rubin, Microsoft's Associate General Counsel for Copyright, Trademark and Trade Secrets, gave a speech titled "Searching for Principles: Online Services and Intellectual Property" in which he stated that Google systematically violates copyright.

He focused primarily on Google's book search program. In contrast, he said that Microsoft's competing book search program respects copyright.

He spoke in New York City to the American Association of Publishers (AAP), some of the leading members of which have sued Google in federal court in New York alleging copyright infringement.

See, full story.

People and Appointments

3/6. Cindy Jimenez joined the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) as Vice President for Government Relations. She previously worked for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

More News

3/6. The Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF) released a paper [22 pages in PDF] titled "The American System: A Schumpeterian History of Standardization". The author is Andrew Russell. This is a sequel to Russell's paper, also published by the PFF, in September of 2005, and also titled "The American System: A Schumpeterian History of Standardization".

3/6. The Department of Justice (DOJ), Microsoft, and the state parties, filed another periodic pleading titled "Joint Status Report on Microsoft's Compliance with the Final Judgment" in US v. Microsoft, D.C. No. 98-1232 (CKK).

3/6. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces, describes, recites, and sets the effective date (March 6, 2007) of, rule changes that add that software exports can be regulated as crime control items. The notice states that the rules changes "make clear that the restrictions ... on the use of License Exceptions to export or reexport crime control items apply to software and technology, as well as commodities." See, Federal Register, March 6, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 43, at Pages 9847-9849.

3/6. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice in the Federal Register that states that the USPTO "hereby provides sixty (60) days notice of the microfilming and removal of the paper search collection of registered marks consisting only of words from the USPTO's Trademark Search Facility in Arlington, VA. This Notice does not concern the paper search collection of registered marks that consist of or include design elements." See, Federal Register, March 6, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 43, at Pages 9932-9933.

Go to News from March 1-5, 2007.