5/18. President Bush announced his intent to nominate Alan Greenspan to be Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a term not to exceed four years. Greenspan has been Chairman since 1987. He is also Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Bush stated in a White House release that "Sound fiscal and monetary policies have helped unleash the potential of American workers and entrepreneurs and America's economy is now growing at the fastest rate in two decades. Alan Greenspan has done a superb job as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and I have great confidence in his economic stewardship".

Greenspan has spoken and testified many times about the role of information technology, communications, and innovation in the economy.

He argued that the U.S. should focus on the education and retraining of U.S. workers, not on protectionist barriers to outsourcing in a speech on February 20, 2004. See, story titled "Greenspan Addresses Outsourcing" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 841, February 23, 2004.

Greenspan generally advocates policies of free trade, free enterprise, and protection of property rights. See for example, prepared testimony of April 4, 2002 for the Senate Finance Committee, and story titled "Greenspan on Trade" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 159, April 5, 2001; and speech of December 11, 2003, and story titled "Greenspan Addresses Trade, Jobs, Info Tech, and Creative Destruction" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 798, December 12, 2003.

Education is a frequent theme in his speeches -- particularly its effect upon innovation. See, speech of October 29, 2002, and story titled "Greenspan Addresses Education, Knowledge, Innovation and Technology" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 540, November 1, 2002.

Greenspan has given several speeches in which he has addressed intellectual property, which he often calls "conceptual property". He has noted the growing importance of conceptual property, but has refrained from taking positions in current debates over what should be the scope of legal protection of intellectual property. See, speech of February 27, 2004, and story "Greenspan Discusses Property Rights in Conceptual Products" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 846, March 1, 2004; and speech of April 4, 2003, and story titled "Greenspan Addresses Intellectual Property Laws" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 638, April 7, 2003.

He has often addressed the role of information technology on economic productivity. For example, he gave a speech on October 23, 2002 in which he argued that "the pickup in productivity growth since 1995 largely reflects the ongoing incorporation of innovations in computing and communications technologies into the capital stock and business practices." See, story titled "Greenspan Addresses Productivity Gains and Technological Innovation" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 543, October 24, 2002.

He has frequently spoken about the impact of information technologies on the financial services sector, such as enabling new products, and better assessment of risks. He has also frequently spoken about the impact of information technology on businesses ability to manage inventory, and quickly identify changes in sales.

5/18. The U.S. and Australia signed a free trade agreement (FTA). Robert Zoellick, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), and Mark Vaile, the Australian Minister of Trade, signed the FTA in Washington DC. See, USTR release [PDF] and Australia release.

Zoellick (at right) stated at the signing ceremony that this FTA is a "state of the art agreement". He said that "In addition to freeing trade in industrial goods, the new FTA removes barriers to agricultural products, investment, government procurement, and services while increasing protection for intellectual property and freeing electronic commerce."

He said that "this FTA will speed planes and ships and megabytes across the Pacific". See, transcript [4 pages in PDF].

To become effective, the U.S. Congress and the Australian Parliament must approve the FTA. Pursuant to trade promotion authority, the Congress can either approve or reject, but not amend, this FTA.

The USTR also released the text [267 pages in PDF] of the FTA. The agreement includes extensive provisions regarding electronic commerce, patents, trade secrets, trademarks, cyber-squatting, piracy and counterfeiting. See, story titled "US and Australia Conclude FTA with Extensive Info Tech Provisions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 833, February 10, 2004.

5/18. The Department of Commerce (DOC) released a report [35 pages in PDF] titled "Standards and Competitiveness -- Coordination for Results".

Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans (at right) spoke about the report at an event at the DOC. He stated that "Standards and related technical regulations affect an estimated 80% of world commodity trade. One thing is clear -- the market benefits from fair and equitable standards: They foster international trade; They encourage competition; They spread new technologies; They protect consumers from unsafe or substandard products; and They enable compatibility among products and systems."

But, Evans said, "But, standards can be crafted to close markets and give unfair advantages that tilt a fair, competitive playing field." See, transcript.

The report states that "Standards are a critical issue for manufacturing competitiveness in global markets, as they can facilitate international trade, or they may impede access to foreign markets. Many in U.S. industries view standards as the principal non-tariff barriers in markets around the world."

It summarizes DOC standards related activities and provides numerous recommendations regarding future DOC activities.

The report addresses the use of standards as trade barriers in the PR China. It states that "Input from industry clearly showed significant concern with China and its development and promotion of domestic standards. Industry representatives reported that China’s rulemaking and standards development process lacks transparency. Additionally, a 2004 U.S. General Accounting Office survey of American companies with a presence in China found that standards and certification issues ranked first in importance on a list of specific China WTO implementation commitment areas, above customs procedures, tariffs, and intellectual property rights."

See, GAO report [61 pages in PDF] titled "World Trade Organization: U.S. Companies' Views on China's Implementation of Its Commitments".

The report states that "These results suggest a growing awareness in the business community of standards as a key trade issue for U.S. exporters to China. The Department should expand on current programs relating to standards in China, including initiatives announced by the Secretary in Beijing in October 2003."

National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President Jerry Jasinowski stated that "Incompatible standards and unfair barriers to testing and certification not only drive up the cost of world trade, but also are absolute trade barriers that keep smaller companies out of world markets as surely as quotas or prohibitive tariffs."

5/13. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell spoke with reporters after the FCC's May 13 meeting regarding the future of broadband.

This is what he said. "You guys have been good observers of this for many many years. I think '04 truly is a year where these things are have started to turn a corner. These are not academic discussions anymore. These are not just discussions among a few big companies. I think, I think the world is really beginning to plug in to broadband infrastructure, and have a high expectation of the way its economy and its social strata is going to work going forward, being dependent on this platform. So, there just is new momentum, and even, and deeper more grass roots recognition, that consumers need, and want, an increased ability."

Powell (at left) continued. "I mean, I do believe that broadband ultimately does become a home appliance. It would be much like the refrigerator or the microwave oven, or something that really just have to have to be a full participant in what is going on in society. And so, what we have always been committed to is, that has got to be as many creative platforms as possible. I mean, I have been a broken record on this for seven years, because, one, I want competitive choice, and I want it in lots of differentiated ways."

He added, "And I also think about it as, and you have heard me say this, you want as many tools in the toolbox to reach all of our population. And I think rural areas have their own unique problems. Inner cities are a different kind of unique problem. The more technologies that are capable of delivering broadband, the more likely we are to succeed, I think, even better than we did with the phone deployments of the last 100 years, with broadband. And that's ___"

He was then asked an inaudible question about broadband versus television.

He responded, "No, you can't get me to say that. The point is, shouldn't consumers decide. Shouldn't we make sure that consumers at least have choices to make. As far as I am concerned, if a person wants to watch television to get their news, they should be able to. But if they want to get it from Google News exclusively, they should be able to do that too. And the key is, I don't think you should make excessive value judgments about one to the other. I think you should try to get them access to all of that stuff, and we will see where the populace goes. We will see if they read your product from now on on line, or they still get it in newspapers, or they still get it over the air. My view is lets try to get them all of that stuff. And, let people unfold the way people unfold, as opposed to us prejudge or preordain the best way."

Powell is also scheduled to be the opening speaker at the FCC's event titled "Wireless Broadband Forum", beginning at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, May 19.

FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy will moderate a panel titled "Wireless Broadband Technologies" at 9:45 AM. Commission Jonathan Adelstein will moderate a panel titled "Broadband Business Strategies" at 11:15 AM. Commissioner Kevin Martin will moderate a panel titled "Barriers to Entry in the Broadband Market" at 2:00 PM. Commissioner Michael Copps will moderate a panel titled "Looking to the Future" at 3:30 PM.

The event will be held at the FCC in the Commission Meeting Room. It will also be webcast by the FCC. See, notice and agenda [PDF].

5/17. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil complaint [34 pages in PDF] in U.S. District Court (NJ) against Lucent Technologies, and ten individual executives and employees, alleging violation of federal securities laws, in connection with alleged fraudulent and improper overstatement of income. The SEC simultaneously settled with Lucent and some of the individual defendants.

The complaint alleges that "Lucent fraudulently and improperly recognized approximately $1.148 billion dollars of revenue and $470 million in pre-tax income in violation of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP") during its fiscal year 2000 (October 1, 1999 to September 30, 2000). As a result, Lucent improperly overstated its pre-tax income for its fiscal year 2000 by 16 percent. $511 million of revenue and $91 million in pre-tax income were recognized prematurely in quarterly results during Lucent's fiscal year 2000. The remaining $637 million in revenue and $379 million in pre-tax income should not have been recognized at all during Lucent’s fiscal year 2000."

The complaint further alleges that "Lucent's violations of GAAP were due to the fraudulent and reckless actions of the defendants and were also the result of deficient internal controls that led to numerous accounting errors by others."

The six count complaint alleges violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and Rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5, thereunder. It also alleges various violation of Sections 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A), 13(b)(2)(B), and 13(b)(5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and rules promulgated thereunder.

The SEC announced in a release that it has reached a settlement with Lucent and three of the individual defendants. The SEC stated that "Lucent has consented to the entry of a judgment that enjoins it from violations of the anti-fraud, reporting, books and records and internal control provisions of the federal securities laws ... Lucent will also pay a $25,000,000 civil penalty".

Patricia Russo, Ch/CEO of Lucent, stated in a release that "We are closing this chapter in our history, putting it behind us and focusing on moving our business forward."

This case is SEC v. Lucent, et al., U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, D.C. No. 04-2315 (WHW).

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Republican Whip Notice.

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM for morning business. It will then resume consideration of S 2400, the FY 2005 Department of Defense Authorization bill.

9:00 AM - 3:30 PM. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) will host a one day conference titled "Wireless Network Sensors: Impacts and Applications". For more information, contact Mark Schoeff at 202 775-3242 or mschoeff@csis.org. Location: CSIS, B-1 conference level, 1800 K Street, NW.

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Day two of a two day closed meeting of the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) to discuss "cyber-related vulnerabilities of the internet". See, notice in the Federal Register, April 16, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 74, at Pages 20635 - 20636. Location: undisclosed.

POSTPONED. 9:30 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing titled "From Public Service to Private Sector: Spinning the Revolving Door for Personal Gain". See, notice. Press contact: Rebecca Fisher at 202 224-2670.

9:30 AM - 5:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will host an event titled "Wireless Broadband Forum". See, notice and agenda [PDF]. Location: FCC, Room TW-C305 (Commission Meeting Room), 445 12th Street, SW.

TIME CHANGE. 11:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "Competition in the Communications Marketplace: How Convergence Is Blurring the Lines Between Voice, Video, and Data Services". The hearing will be webcast by the Committee. See, notice. Press contacts: Jon Tripp (Barton) at 202 225-5735 or Sean Bonyun (Upton) 202 225-3761. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The House Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census will hold a hearing titled "Federal Enterprise Architecture: A Blueprint for Improved Federal IT Investment & Cross-Agency Collaboration and Information Sharing". Location: Room 2154, Rayburn Building.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) World RadioCommunication 2007 (WRC-07) Advisory Committee's Informal Working Group on IMT-2000 and 2.5 GHz Sharing Issues will meet. See, FCC notice [PDF]. For more information, contact Cecily Cohen at 202 887-5210. Location: FCC, 445 12th Street, SW, South Conference Room, 6th Floor, Room 6-B516.

Day two of a two day conference hosted by the CompTel/Ascent titled "Advancing the Business of VOIP". See, notice. Location: Renaissance Mayflower Hotel.

Day three of a three day conference of the American Cable Association. See, notice. Location: Wyndham Hotel.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Republican Whip Notice.

9:30 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing regarding the CAN SPAM Act. The witnesses will be Timothy Muris (Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission), Jana Monroe (FBI Cyber Division), Ted Leonsis (Vice Chairman of AOL), Shinya Akamine (P/CEO of Postini), Hans Peter Brondmo (Digital Impact, Inc.), James Guest (Consumers Union), and Ronald Scelson (Scelson Online Marketing). The hearing will be webcast by the Committee. Press contact: Rebecca Fisher at 202 224-2670. See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold an executive business meeting to mark up bills. It will then hold a hearing titled "FBI Oversight: Terrorism and Other Topics". See, notice of business meeting and notice of hearing. Press contact: Margarita Tapia (Hatch) at 202 224-5225 or David Carle (Leahy) at 202 224-4242. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

9:30 - 10:00 AM. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein will host an event titled "press breakfast". RSVP to Anne Perkins (Adelstein's Special Assistant for Legislative and Media Affairs) at 202 418-2314 by May 19. Location: FCC, 8th Floor Conference Room 1, 445 12th St., SW.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property will hold a hearing titled "Derivative Rights, Moral Rights, and Movie Filtering Technology". The hearing will be webcast by the Committee. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary will hold another hearing on intellectual property. Location: Room 138, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The World RadioCommunication 2007 (WRC-07) Advisory Committee's Informal Working Group 5: Regulatory Issues will meet. Location: Boeing, Arlington, VA.

12:00 NOON. The Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee will host a panel discussion titled "Wiretapping the Internet: Is VOIP Different?" The speakers will be James Dempsey (Center for Democracy & Technology), Anthony Rutkowski (VeriSign), Mike Warren (Fiducianet), and Stewart Baker (Steptoe & Johnson). RSVP to rsvp@netcaucus.org or 202 638-4370. Lunch will be served. Location: Reserve Officers Association, 1st and Constitution, NE (between the Dirksen Building and the Supreme Court).

1:00 PM. Don Abelson, Chief of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) International Bureau (IB) will hold an event titled "Media briefing on international issues before the FCC". RSVP to Meribeth McCarrick 202 418-0654 or Meribeth.Mccarrick@fcc.gov. Location: FCC, Room 6-B516 (6 South), 445 12th St., SW.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. Several groups will hold a workshop on the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). The speakers will include Glenn Schlarman (OMB), Drew Arenas (Verizon), Stuart Katzke (NIST), Bob Dix (House Government Reform Committee), Mike Jacobs (SRA), Lance Hoffman (George Washington University), Allen Paller (SANS Institute), and Werner Lippuner (Ernst & Young). The hosting groups are the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), the Council for Excellence in Government (CEG), the Cyber Security and Policy Research Institute of George Washington University, and the American Council for Technology. RSVP to Danielle Wiblemo at dani@cdt.org. Location: Mayflower Hotel, Connecticut Ave.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding its interim rule pertaining to receiving and protecting critical infrastructure information (CII). This rule pertains to the Homeland Security Act's exemption to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for certain information about critical infrastructures, such as cyber security, that is voluntarily provided to the federal government. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 20, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 34, at Pages 8073 - 8089. See also, story titled "DHS Announces Adoption of Rules Implementing the Critical Infrastructure Information Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 840, February 19, 2004.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Republican Whip Notice.

Day one of a two day conference hosted by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) titled "Freedom 2.0: Distributed Democracy". The topics to be addressed include the reliability of electronic voting systems, enabling public participation, government accountability, secrecy and surveillance, Freedom of Information Act, open government initiatives, privacy enhancing technologies, anonymity and identity, trans border data flows, radio frequency identification (RFID), biometrics, Civil Society, World Summit on the Information Society, United Nations Information and Communications Technology Task Force, ICANN, and UNESCO. See, conference web site. Location: Washington Club, 15 Dupont Circle.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its June 21, 2004 workshop on the uses, efficiencies, and implications for consumers associated with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. See, FTC web page for this workshop, and notice in the Federal Register, April 15, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 73, at Pages 20523 - 20525.

Extended deadline to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding its April 19, 2004 workshop titled "Monitoring Software on Your PC: Spyware, Adware, and Other Software". See, notice in the Federal Register, April 1, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 63 at Pages 17155 - 17156.

The House and Senate will not meet on May 24 through May 31.

Day two of a two day conference hosted by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) titled "Freedom 2.0: Distributed Democracy". The topics to be addressed include the reliability of electronic voting systems, enabling public participation, government accountability, secrecy and surveillance, Freedom of Information Act, open government initiatives, privacy enhancing technologies, anonymity and identity, trans border data flows, radio frequency identification (RFID), biometrics, Civil Society, World Summit on the Information Society, United Nations Information and Communications Technology Task Force, ICANN, and UNESCO. See, conference web site. Location: Washington Club, 15 Dupont Circle.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding deployment of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion, and possible steps to accelerate such deployment. The FCC is required by Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to provide an annual report to the Congress on this subject. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 8, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 68, at Pages 18508 - 18515. This is GN Docket No. 04-54.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the Emergency Alert System (EAS). See, notice in the Federal Register, April 9, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 69, at Pages 18857 - 18859.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) regarding expanding the disruption reporting requirements beyond wireline carriers. See, notice in the March 26, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 59, at Pages 15761 - 15774.

11:45 AM - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association's Intellectual Property Law Section will host a lunch. The speaker will be Nicholas Godici, Commissioner for Patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Prices range from $35 to $65. See, notice. Location: The Westin Grand, 2350 M Street, NW.

The Cato Institute will host a debate titled "The FCC’s Media Ownership Decision One Year Later". The speakers will be Adam Thierer (Cato) and Andrew Schwartzman (Media Access Project). Lunch will be served. See, notice and registration page. Location: Room B-339, Rayburn Building, Capitol Hill.

5/17. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published a notice in the Federal Register that describes, and sets comment deadlines for, the FCC's notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding digital audio broadcasting (DAB). The FCC adopted this NPRM on April 15, 2004. This item is FCC 04-99 in MM Docket No. 99-325. Comments are due by June 16, 2004. Reply comments are due by July 16, 2004. See, Federal Register, May 17, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 95, at Pages 27874 - 27885. See also, story titled "FCC Announces FNPRM and NOI Regarding Digital Audio Broadcasting" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 878, April 16, 2004.

5/14. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published a notice in the Federal Register that describes, and sets comment deadlines for, the FCC's notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding regarding unlicensed use of the 3650-3700 MHz band. The FCC adopted this NPRM on April 15, 2004. This item is FCC 04-100 in ET Docket Nos. 04-151, 02-380 and 98-237. Comments are due by July 28, 2004. Reply comments are due by August 27, 2004. See, Federal Register, May 14, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 94, at Pages 26790 - 26803. See also, story titled "FCC Announces NPRM Regarding Unlicensed Use in the 3650-3700 MHz Band" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 878, April 16, 2004.