| Ultrawideband |
| 3/26. The FCC issued a request
for comments [PDF] on five reports that it has received
regarding the potential for ultra-wideband (UWB) transmission
systems to cause harmful interference to other radio
operations. UWB devices, which use very narrow pulses
with very wide bandwidths, have potential applications in both
radar and communications technologies. It has been suggested
that UWB devices can use large portions of already allocated
spectrum with minimal or no interference to incumbent users.
Both the FCC and NTIA
are studying the issue of interference. The five reports are NTIA
comment [PDF/NTIA] on effect of UWB on GPS, March 9; Qualcomm
comment [PDF/ECFS] on effect of UWB on PCS
phones, March 5; Time Domain comment on effect of UWB on GPS
receivers, March 9; Dept. of Transportation comment on effect
of UWB on GPS, March 21; and DOT comment on effect of UWB on
GPS. These documents are sometimes, but not always, available
on the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) at www.fcc.gov/e-file/ecfs.html.
(See, ET Docket 98-153.) Comments are due by April 25, 2001.
Reply comments are due by May 10, 2001. |
|
|
| Encryption |
| 3/27. The NIST
published a notice
in the Federal Register that it will hold a public workshop on
modes of operation for securing data using symmetric key block
cipher algorithms, such as the algorithm specified in the
draft Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Interested
parties may suggest ideas or submit papers for discussion at
the workshop, including proposals of modes of operation. The
workshop will be held at the NIST on August 24, 2001, from
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. [Federal Register, March 27, 2001, Vol.
66, No. 59, at Pages 16658 - 16659.] |
|
|
| 9th Circuit |
| 3/22. Rep. Michael
Simpson (R-ID) introduced HR
1203, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Reorganization
Act of 2001. This bill would split the U.S. Court of Appeals,
Ninth Circuit, into two circuits. It would create a new
12th Circuit comprised of the states of Washington, Oregon,
Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Hawaii. The 9th Circuit would be
left with the states of California, Arizona, and Nevada. This
is the companion bill to S
346, which was introduced by Sen. Frank Murkowski
(R-AK) on February 15, 2001. |
|
|
| New Documents |
FCC: request
for comments re ultrawideband, 3/26 (PDF, FCC).
Simpson:
HR
1203, a bill to split the 9th Circuit in two, 3/22 (HTML,
LibCong).
Honda:
HR
1149, National Education Technology Corps Act, 3/21 (HTML,
LibCong).
Smith:
S
589, To make permanent the moratorium on the imposition of
taxes on the Internet, 3/21 |
|
|
|
| Napster to Educate Congress |
| 3/26. Napster
published a notice in its web site urging supporters of online
music file copying to converge on Washington DC on April 2 and
3 to "educate Congress." The Senate Judiciary
Committee, led by Sen.
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sen.
Pat Leahy (D-VT), has scheduled a hearing on online
entertainment and copyright law for 10:00 AM on April 3.
Napster will hold a "teach in" on music file copying
at the Catholic University law school at 7:00 PM on April 2.
See, teach
in notice. Napster wants its supporters to meet at Union
Station at 9:00 AM on April 3, and then march to the Capitol
Hill hearing room several blocks away. Napster will hand out
free t-shirts and concert tickets to people who come to the
hearing. |
|
|
| Court Watch |
3/26. The Supreme Court of the U.S. denied certiorari in
Michael Fine v. America Online, No. 00-1178. See, Order
List [PDF] at page 3.
3/26. The U.S. Court of Appeals (8thCir) issued its opinion
[PDF] in Ritchey v. Horner, a case concerning application of
the statute of limitations in 10b securities fraud
litigation.
3/23. U.S. District Court (SDFl)
entered final judgments imposing permanent injunctive and
other relief against all defendants in the civil action SEC v.
Gateway Technologies, Cheyenne Holding Corp., Randolph Ross
and Timothy Kavanaghin. The defendants violated § 17(a)
of the Securities Act of 1933 and § 10(b) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, by
offering and selling investments in Gateway -- a company
purportedly building an internet telephone system -- by way of
false, misleading and incomplete information. Also, defendants
Cheyenne, Ross and Kavanagh violated § 15(a) of the
Exchange Act by acting as unregistered brokers. See, SEC
release. |
|
|
| Crime |
3/21. The U.S. Attorney (SDNY)
unsealed a five count complaint charging Fausto Estrada with
theft of trade secrets under the Economic Espionage Act,
mail fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property.
Estrada, who was also arrested, is charged with stealing
confidential documents from the credit card company MasterCard
and offering to sell them to Visa. The FBI's Computer
Intrusion and Intellectual Property Squad caught Estrada in a
sting operation. AUSA
Marc Weinstein is in charge of the prosecution. See, DOJ
release.
3/20. Michael Ventimiglia entered a guilty plea to a one count
felony information in U.S. District Court (MDFl)
charging him with intentionally damaging a protected
computer in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A).
Ventimiglia entered the GTE Network Service Support Center in
Tampa, Florida, where he worked, and entered commands into
three computers which caused the computers to delete
information stored on hard disk drives. The damage to GTE was
at least $209,000. See, DOJ
release.
3/16. Jing Ping Xie and his wife, Shenglan Liu, entered guilty
pleas in U.S. District Court (DMd)
to criminal copyright infringement for selling CDs
containing copyrighted software. Xie and Liu obtained copies
of software products and copying equipments. They then made
copies of software produced by Adobe, Microsoft, Symantec, and
other companies. Finally, they arranged sales of this
counterfeit software via web sites and e-mail. The case was
prosecuted by AUSA
Stuart Berman and Michael O'Leary of the CCIPS.
See, DOJ
release. |
|
|
|
| Appointments |
3/26. President Bush announced his intent to nominate Jon
Huntsman to be Deputy United States Trade Representative.
He is currently the Vice Chairman of the Huntsman Corporation in
Salt Lake City, Utah. He was as Ambassador to Singapore from
1992 to 1993. He was in the Commerce Department from 1989 to
1992, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific
Affairs and Deputy Assistant Secretary in the International
Trade Administration. See, release.
3/26. President Bush announced his intent to nominate former Sen.
Howard Baker (R-TN) to be Ambassador to Japan. See, release.
Baker represented Tennessee in the Senate for three terms, and
was Senate Majority Leader from 1981 to 1985. |
|
|
| Today |
House: the House of Representatives will meet at 12:30 PM
for morning hour and 2:00 PM for legislative business. The
House will consider the Omnibus Committee Funding Resolution,
and begin debate on the Budget Resolution for FY 2000.
Senate: the Senate will continue debate on S 27, Sen. John
McCain's (R-AZ) bill pertaining to campaigns.
8:30 AM. Sen. Blanche
Lincoln (D-AR) will speak at the National Telephone Cooperative
Association's Annual Legislative Conference. (The NTCA is
meeting from March 26 through 30.) Location: Room Regency A,
Hyatt Regency Washington, 400 New Jersey Avenue, NW,
Washington DC.
CLOSED. 2:30 PM. The
Senate Armed Services Committee's Emerging Threats and
Capabilities Subcommittee will hold a closed briefing on information
warfare and other threats to critical information systems.
Location: Room S-407, Capitol Building.
6:30 - 7:30 PM. There will be a panel discussion titled The
State of E-Government at the National Press Club. The
price is $10.00. Location: NPC, Ballroom, 529 14th St. NW,
13th Floor, Washington DC. |
|
|
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