| House Committee Holds
Hearing on Export Controls |
6/12. The House
International Relations Committee held a hearing on the Export
Administration Act, which expired in 1990. Since then the
administration has used a series of temporary emergency powers
to continue its export control regime. The current extension
expires on August 20. There is legislation pending to extend
the act, and reform the export control regime.
Rep. Henry Hyde
(R-IL), the Chairman of the Committee, presided. He said in
his opening
statement that "we face a growing proliferation
threat from countries on our terrorism list, such as Iran,
Iraq, Libya and North Korea, but we also confront a resurgent
China -- a country whose marketplace attracts our high-tech
companies and whose military build-up concerns our defense
planners." Rep.
Tom Lantos (D-CA), the ranking Democrat, was also active
at the hearing, which was sparsely attended by other members
of the Committee.
The Committee heard from and questioned two panels of
witnesses. First, there was a legislative panel made up of Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX), Sen. Fred Thompson
(R-TN), and Rep. Chris Cox
(R-CA). Second, the Committee heard from a panel made up of
Richard Cupitt (University of Georgia), Paul Freedenberg
(Association for Manufacturing Technology), and Dan Hoydish
(UNISYS). See, prepared statements of Cupitt,
Freedenberg,
and Hoydish.
Sen. Gramm advocated reforming the export control regime to
try to meet two objectives. Gramm stated that America's
objectives are to "dominate the world in terms of high
tech production and technology". Also, "as the the
world's only superpower ... we want to protect those items
that have a substantial impact potentially on our national
security." He advocated passage of S
149, the Export Administration Act of 2001, sponsored by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY). It
would ease restraints on the export of most dual use products,
such as computers and software. The Senate Banking Committee
approved S 149 by a vote of 19 to 1 on March 22. Gramm stated
that there are now 90 to 95 votes in the Senate to pass the
bill.
Sen. Thompson testified in opposition to the Export
Administration Act of 2001. He raised several specific
objections. He stated that the bill's definition of
"foreign availability" is too broad. He that the
standard imposed upon the President to stop export of items
subject to foreign availability is too high. He stated that he
wants the Defense Department to have more of a say in the
process. He also wants a "blue ribbon commission" to
study the issue before the Congress acts. He added that the
opponents of the bill in the Senate include Senators Helms,
Kyl and Shelby.
Rep. Cox testified regarding the technology acquisition
program of the People's Republic of China. He stated
that under the current system, "we are achieving the
worst of all possible worlds". He stated that the U.S. is
gaining little security from its current export control
regime. He advocated moving from a unilateral to a
multilateral system. |
|
|
| Deadlines Set for FNPRM on
Spread Spectrum Devices |
6/12. The FCC published a Further
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) in the Federal
Register regarding spread spectrum devices. This FNPRM
proposes to revise the rules for frequency hopping spread
spectrum systems operating in the 2.4 GHz band to reduce the
amount of spectrum that must be used with certain types of
operation, and to allow new digital transmission technologies
to operate pursuant to the same rules as spread spectrum
systems. This FNPRM was adopted by the FCC on May 10. This
publication also sets deadlines for comments. Comments must
be filed on or before August 27, 2001, and reply comments must
be filed on or before September 25, 2001. See, Federal
Register, June 12, 2001, Volume 66, Number 113, at Page 31585
- 31589. (ET Docket 99-231.)
Frequency hopping spread spectrum technology is used to
increase bandwidth in wireless computer local area networks
and wireless cable modems. Many technology companies plan to
produce Internet devices, computer peripherals, hardware
components, software, or services in this new market. Wire
networks are often too expensive or too complicated for
residential customers and small businesses. |
|
|
| New Documents |
Muris:
speech
re Pitofsky and antitrust, 6/12 (HTML, FTC).
Tauzin:
letter
to SEC re regulation of financial portals, 6/12 (HTML, TLJ).
FCC: Further
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking re spread spectrum devices,
6/12 (TXT, FedReg).
Hazlett:
letter
to House Judiciary Committee re testimony of Glassman, 6/12
(HTML, TLJ). |
|
|
|
| Muris Praises Pitofsky and
Comments on Antitrust |
6/12. The new Federal Trade
Commission Chairman, Timothy Muris, gave a speech
at the National Press Club
in Washington DC in which he praised former FTC Chairman
Robert Pitofsky. He reviewed Pitofsky's role in reforming the
FTC over the last 30 years, and his tenure as Chairman for the
last 6 years. Muris also added a few comments about his views
on antitrust law, and the application of antitrust law to
intellectual property. See also, FTC release.
Muris addressed the role of economics in antitrust. "I
believe that economics has a crucial role in informing the
FTC's judgment about how best to carry out its mission. Modern
discussion about developments in industrial organization
economics often focuses on putting economic ideas into
allegedly neat "Chicago" and
"Post-Chicago" compartments. This is a sterile
exercise. Regarding antitrust, we must have solid economic
analysis that is firmly grounded in facts and real world
institutions. These traits characterize what might simply be
called good economics, rather than economics of any 'school.'
"
Muris continued that "there is widespread agreement that
the purpose of antitrust is to protect consumers, that
economic analysis should guide case selection, and that
horizontal cases, both mergers and agreements among
competitors, are the mainstays of antitrust. Moreover, today
there is bipartisan recognition that antitrust is a way of
organizing our economy. A freely functioning market, subject
to the rules of antitrust, provides maximum benefits to
consumers."
Finally, Muris touched on intellectual property. He stated:
"No field of law better demonstrates the Pitofsky
Commission's willingness to engage difficult and complex
matters than the relationship between antitrust doctrine and
intellectual property. In these and other areas, the
Commission confronted special challenges posed by innovation
competition, e-commerce, globalization, and rapid
technological change. Although I have disagreed with some of
the Pitofsky Commission's initiatives here, we agree that the
potential for anticompetitive abuse of intellectual property
is an increasingly important area. While recognizing the
necessity of protecting valid intellectual property rights,
future Commissions will no doubt remain active." |
|
|
| Tauzin Opposes SEC
Regulation of Financial Portals |
6/12. Rep. Billy
Tauzin (R-LA), Chairman of the House Commerce Committee,
wrote a letter
to Acting SEC Chairman Laura
Unger stating that "The SEC needs to be careful not to
create the impression that it is considering regulation of
Internet portals. Internet portals do not fall within the
jurisdiction of the SEC. Absent direction from Congress, there
is no basis for the SEC to extend regulation to Internet
portals."
The SEC held a public
roundtable on May 23 on the issue of regulating financial
portals as broker dealers. Also, on March 2, Unger gave a speech
on this topic. She stated that "Financial portals provide
a central location where investors can find all types of
financial information and portfolio analysis tools. They can
aggregate their financial account data, and they can also
click on hyperlinks to broker-dealer websites to open
brokerage accounts and enter trades. ... But as portals have
gained in popularity, with Yahoo! Finance and other financial
portals becoming household words, broker-dealers are
increasingly finding themselves competing with the financial
portals for customers. At least one of the questions
broker-dealers ask is why aren't the portals registered? My
first question, though, is: what are the portals doing? What
are their relationships with the broker-dealers they hyperlink
to? What are their business arrangements and compensation
arrangements? How do the hyperlinks work, and what do they
look like? " |
|
|
| Tauzin Dingell News |
6/13. The House
Judiciary Committee is scheduled to mark up HR
1542, the Tauzin Dingell bill, and HR
1698, the Cannon Conyers bill, at 10:00 AM on Wednesday,
June 13.
6/12. American Enterprise
Institute (AEI) Resident Scholar Tom Hazlett
wrote a letter
to House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner
(R-WI) disputing the June 5 testimony
of AEI Resident Fellow James Glassman
at the Committee's hearing on HR 1542. Glassman criticized HR
1542 and stated that market uncertainty resulting from House
consideration of HR 1542 has reduced the flow of investment
capital to CLECs
and driven down CLEC stock prices. |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, June 13 |
10:00 AM. The House
Judiciary Committee will meet to mark up HR 1542, the
Tauzin Dingell bill, and HR 1698, the Cannon Conyers bill.
Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Banking Committee will hold a hearing on the nomination of
Roger
Ferguson to be a Member of the Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve
System. Ferguson, who is currently a Governor, was the
Board of Governors' point man on Year 2000 conversion
preparations. Sen. Paul
Sarbanes (D-MD), the new Chairman of the Committee, will
preside. See, notice.
Location: Room 538, Dirksen Building.
10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The House Science Committee
will meet to mark up HR
100, the National Science Education Act, sponsored by Rep. Vern Ehlers
(R-MI), and HR
1858, the National Mathematics and Science Partnerships
Act, sponsored by Rep.
Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY). Location: Room 2318, Rayburn
Building.
10:00 AM. The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology will
host the first meeting of the Technological Advisory
Council under its new charter. Location: FCC, 445 12th
Street, SW, Washington, DC. See, FCC
notice.
12:30 PM. The Federal
Communications Bar Association's Transactional Practice
Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled Factors Used
to Value Communications Properties. Location: Dow Lohnes, Conference
Center, Eighth Floor, 1200 New Hampshire Ave., NW, Washington
DC. RSVP to John Logan.
Deadline for submitting petitions to the USTR regarding
the 2001 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility Practices
Review. See, notice
in the Federal Register, April 13, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 72,
Pages 19278 - 19279. |
|
|
| Thursday, June 14 |
9:30 AM. The FCC will hold a meeting. Location: FCC, Portals
II, Room TW-C305 (Commission Meeting Room), Washington DC.
9:30 AM - 3:30 PM. The U.S. State Department's International
Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC)--
Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITAC-T) Study Group
B will meet. The purpose of the ITAC is to advise the State
Department on policy and technical issues with respect to the
International Telecommunication Union and international
telecommunication standardization and development. See, notice
in Federal Register, May 23, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 100, at Page
28591. Location: Department of Commerce, Room B841A, 1401
Constitution Ave, NW, Washington DC.
9:30 AM. The Senate Government Affairs Committee's
Subcommittee on Investigations will hold the first of two
hearings on cross border fraud, focusing on U.S. Canadian law
enforcement cooperation. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Building.
10:00 AM. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime will hold an
oversight hearing titled "Fighting Cyber Crime: Efforts
by Private Business Interests." Location: Room 2237,
Rayburn Building.
10:00 AM. The House
Commerce Committee's Telecom Subcommittee will hold a
hearing titled "Ensuring Compatibility with Enhanced 911
Emergency Calling Systems: A Progress Report." Location:
Room 2322, Rayburn Building. The scheduled witnesses are:
Michael Amarosa (True Position), Steve Clark (U.S. Cellular),
James Nixon (VoiceStream), Andrew Rimkus (Airbiquity), Steve
Souder (9-1-1 Emergency Communications Center), Thomas Sugrue
(FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau).
10:00 AM. The FTC and other agencies will hold a press
conference to announce legal actions taken regarding
fraudulent marketing of supplements and other health products
on the Internet. The participants will include FTC Chairman
Timothy Muris and Director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer
Protection Howard Beales. See, FTC notice.
Location: Room 432, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,
Washington DC. |
|
|
| More News |
6/7. The U.S. District Court (CDCal)
entered judgment in SEC v. Reed Slatkin,
a civil securities fraud action. The Court enjoined Slatkin
from violating the antifraud provisions of federal securities
laws, ordered him to disgorge ill gotten gains, and ordered
him to pay of civil penalties. Slatkin is also a co-founder,
former director and substantial shareholder of Earthlink. See, SEC
release.
6/12. Verizon filed a
complaint in U.S. District Court (NDCal)
against Covad alleging
that it falsified complaints about Verizon's service. Covad is
a competitive DSL service provider. See, Verizon
release.
6/12. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution
held an oversight hearing titled "Constitutional Issues
Raised by Recent Campaign Finance Legislation Restricting
Freedom of Speech." |
|
|
| About Tech Law Journal |
Tech Law Journal is a free access web site
and e-mail alert that provides news, records, and analysis of
legislation, litigation, and regulation affecting the computer
and Internet industry. This e-mail service is offered free of
charge to anyone who requests it. Just provide TLJ an e-mail
address.
Number of subscribers: 1,662.
Contact: 202-364-8882; E-mail.
P.O. Box 15186, Washington DC, 20003.
Privacy
Policy
Notices
& Disclaimers
Copyright 1998 - 2001 David Carney, dba Tech Law Journal. All
rights reserved. |
|
|