Tech Law Journal Daily E-Mail Alert
May 15, 2006, Alert No. 1,370.
Home Page | Calendar | Subscribe | Back Issues | Reference
FCC Reports Another Decline in Phone Subscribership

5/12. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau's (WCB) Industry Analysis and Technology Division (IATD) released a report [51 pages in PDF] titled "Telephone Subscribership in the U.S.". See also, FCC release [PDF].

The FCC reports that as of November of 2005, total telephone penetration in the U.S. was 92.9%. This includes both wireline and wireless phones. This is down from the previous report, for July of 2005. While penetration increased between the March 2005 and July 2005 reports, there is a three year downward trend.

Penetration peaked at 95.5% in March of 2002, and again in March of 2003. The FCC report offers no explanation for this trend. There are many possible explanations.

E-Mail and Other Substitutes. First, one hypothesis is that some consumers could be terminating their phone service because they are substituting the use alternative means of communicating, such as e-mail and instant messaging, and even delivery services.

Wireless Service and Disconnects. Second, the penetration rate could be decreasing because of the migration from wireline carriers to wireless carriers, and the higher bills and more aggressive involuntary disconnect policies of wireless carriers. This is a hypothesis advanced by David Gable, a professor of economics at Queens College in New York City.

He points to the variation among states in the decline in the penetration rate. He observes that the decline is occurring in states other than those served by Qwest. He notes too that Qwest owns no wireless carrier. His argument is that many young people obtain service, run up large bills, which they cannot pay, and are disconnected. Moreover, they cannot switch back to wireline service with their carrier unless they pay off their delinquent wireless bill. But, Qwest has no wireless service.

A corollary to this hypothesis might be that wireless carriers have higher disconnect rates, so that as more people shift to wireless service, more people will be without service at any point in time.

Another corollary to this hypothesis might be that the overall decline is also the result of wireline service providers becoming more aggressive in terminating service as a result of increasing competition.

Unreported VOIP. Third, some consumers may be switching to various forms of voice over internet protocol (VOIP) service, and do not understand this to be covered by the survey question. Respondents are asked "Does this house, apartment, or mobile home have telephone service from which you can both make and receive calls? Please include cell phones, regular phones, and any other type of telephone." Neither the initial question, nor follow up questions, reference VOIP.

A corollary to this hypothesis might be that the uptick in the previous FCC penetration report was caused by consumers who resubscribed to POTS service following the FCC's action against VOIP service providers in its VOIP E911 order. On May 19, 2005, the FCC adopted a First Report and Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in its proceeding regarding the regulation of internet protocol (IP) enabled services that applied E911 regulatory requirements to interconnected VOIP services providers in draconian fashion. The FCC released this order on June 5, 2005. The Census Bureau surveyed consumers again in July of 2005. This order is FCC 05-116 in WC Docket No. 04-36 and WC Docket No. 05-196. See also, stories titled "FCC Adopts Order Expanding E911 Regulation to Include Some VOIP Service Providers", "Summary of the FCC's 911 VOIP Order", "Opponents of FCC 911 VOIP Order State that the FCC Exceeded Its Statutory Authority", and "More Reaction to the FCC's 911 VOIP Order" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,139, May 20, 2005; and story titled "FCC Releases VOIP E911 Order" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,148, June 6, 2005.

Privacy and Misreporting. Fourth, the downward trend could be caused by misreporting by consumers. That is, consumers with phone service could be telling the Census Bureau's survey takers with increasing frequency that they have no phone service. Consumers might mislead government survey takers out of a desire to protect their privacy. Consumers might anticipate, for example, that if they answer in the affirmative, follow up questions will request their phone number, service provider, and so forth.

Consumers may also be increasingly using, and not reporting to the Census Bureau, anonymous pre-paid wireless service. Publicity regarding pretexting to obtain phone records, sale of consumer phone records, the USA PATRIOT Act, extension of the USA PATRIOT Act, and the FCC's CALEA proceeding, may be influencing consumers' purchasing and survey response behavior.

If this is the case, then the disclosure last week by USA Today of the NSA's national phone call database, and the December 2005 disclosure by the New York Times regarding the NSA's extrajudicial intercepts of electronic communications between people inside and outside of the U.S., would likely further decrease the the apparent (but not real) penetration rate. (Both of these disclosures came after the Census Bureau collected the data used in the FCC's just released report.)

Under this fourth hypothesis, the penetration of voice capable communications services is not on the decline. Rather, consumers trust in their government and in most telecommunications carriers is on the decline.

House Democrats Write Regarding NSA Phone Records Database and Phone Privacy

5/11. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the House Commerce Committee, and all of the other Democrats on the HCC, wrote a letter [PDF] to Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), the Chairman of the HCC, regarding HR 4943, the "Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act".

Rep. Dingell wrote that "The Committee on Energy and Commerce recently passed unanimously H.R. 4943, the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act, that would protect consumers from having their phone calls accessed without their permission as is currently happening. Although it was scheduled for a vote on the House floor on May 2, 2006, it was pulled because of undisclosed concerns of the House Intelligence Committee that may relate to the above-mentioned article. As you know, we have had a good history of working on privacy and consumer issues together. With these recent revelations, we respectfully request that a full Committee hearing be held as soon as possible. We believe it is important to our constituents that we continue the fight to protect their rights."

The HCC approved a committee print of this bill on March 8, 2006.

Section 101 of the bill prohibits obtaining phone records under false pretenses. It targets the practice of pretexting.

It also contains an exception for law enforcement. It provides that "No provision of section 101 shall be construed so as to prevent any action by a law enforcement agency, or any officer, employee, or agent of such agency, from obtaining or attempting to obtain customer proprietary network information from a telecommunications carrier in connection with the performance of the official duties of the agency, in accordance with other applicable laws."

The bill also revises 47 U.S.C. § 222(c), which requires carriers to keep confidential customer proprietary network information (CPNI).

As amended, it would provided that "Except as required by law or as permitted under the following provisions of this paragraph, a telecommunications carrier that receives or obtains individually identifiable customer proprietary network information (including detailed customer telephone records) by virtue of its provision of a telecommunications service shall only use, disclose, or permit access to such information or records in the provision by such carrier of -- (i) the telecommunications service from which such information is derived; or (ii) services necessary to, or used in, the provision of such telecommunications service, including the publishing of directories."

The bill also provides that "A telecommunications carrier may only use detailed customer telephone records through, or disclose such records to, or permit access to such records by, a joint venture partner, independent contractor, or any other third party (other than an affiliate) if the customer has given express prior authorization for that use, disclosure, or access, and that authorization has not been withdrawn."

Neither Section 222(c), as currently written, or as it would be amended by HR 4943, provide an exception for disclosure to law enforcement or intelligence agencies. Arguably, the government would still have to follow one of the relevant procedures contained in Title 18 (criminal code) or the FISA provision of Title 50 to obtain CPNI from carriers.

It is perhaps a related event that the FCC, which has a parallel CPNI rulemaking proceeding, has extended the comment periods. The initial comment and reply comment deadlines were April 14 and May 15. On April 11, the FCC issued its notice of extension [PDF], extending deadlines to April 28 and May 19.

The FCC granted a request for an extension [PDF] that cited only flimsy grounds, such as "spring vacation for family members". The request was filed by Laura Parsky, a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Criminal Division, and others. Parsky has for years worked on surveillance issues, including CALEA. She also testified at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime regarding government seizure of stored telephone calls. See, story titled "House Crime Subcommittee Holds Hearing on § 209 of PATRIOT Act, Stored Communications and VOIP" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,125, April 29, 2005.

Qwest wrote in its April 28, 2006, comment [43 pages in PDF] to the FCC that "Qwest also cooperates with law enforcement in the prosecution of illegal conduct as required or permitted by law." (See, page 32.) The NSA's collection of records for its phone call database could not be described as "prosecution of illegal conduct".

The DOJ wrote in its April 28, 2006, comment [17 pages in PDF] that "access to communications records is a critical tool in the fight against global terrorism", and that "CPNI has enabled law enforcement and national security agencies to prevent terrorist acts and acts of espionage".

The DOJ raised a number of specific issues. It opposes the data destruction proposal. It also wants the FCC to broaden the set of service providers that are covered by the FCC's CPNI rules. The DOJ also complains that some service providers that have flat rate service plans do not keep detailed phone call records. It wants more service providers to keep records. It wants them to keep call by call records. It wants them not to destroy the records. And, it wants access to this data.

More News

5/12. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division, various states, and Microsoft filed a pleading with the U.S. District Court (DC) titled "Joint Status Report on Microsoft's Compliance with the Final Judgments". The original final judgment expires later this year. In this report the parties to the case agree to a two year extension of part of the final judgment. This requires approval by the District Court. The District Court will hold a status conference at 10:00 AM on May 17, 2006. This is D.C. No. 1-1998-cv-01232-CKK and 1-1998-cv-01233-CKK, consolidated. The DOJ stated in a release that "Microsoft has agreed to a two-year extension of the communications protocol licensing program contained in Section III.E of the final judgment, along with all of the final judgment's enforcement provisions. Microsoft has also agreed that the Department and state antitrust enforcement agencies may, at their discretion, apply to the court in Fall 2009 for an additional extension of all or part of the extended provisions of the final judgment for a period of up to three additional years, through November 2012."

5/12. The U.S. District Court (EDVa) sentenced Kenneth Kwak to five months in prison, and other penalties, following his previous guilty plea to one count unauthorized access to a protected computer at the Department of Education. Kwak, a government official, placed software on his superior's computer that enabled Kwak to read his superior's e-mail communications. See, DOJ release.

5/4. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its Draft Special Publication 800-80 [49 pages in PDF], titled "Guide for Developing Performance Metrics for Information Security". Public comments are due by Monday, June 19.

5/15. The Supreme Court issued its opinion [12 pages in PDF] in eBay v. MercExhange, vacating the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir). The Supreme Court held that the traditional four factor framework that guides a court's decision whether to grant an injunction applies in patent cases. Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the opinion of the Court, wrote that "a plaintiff seeking a permanent injunction must satisfy a four-factor test before a court may grant such relief. A plaintiff must demonstrate: (1) that it has suffered an irreparable injury; (2) that remedies available at law, such as monetary damages, are inadequate to compensate for that injury; (3) that, considering the balance of hardships between the plaintiff and defendant, a remedy in equity is warranted; and (4) that the public interest would not be disserved by a permanent injunction." That is, injunctions should not issue automatically following a finding of infringement.

5/12. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the text [83 pages in PDF] of its "Second Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order" in its proceeding related to the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). It contains many items that the FCC did not disclose at the May 3, 2006, meeting at which this item was adopted.

TLJ anticipates publishing more thorough stories on the FCC's CALEA order and the Supreme Court's opinion in eBay v. MercExchange in the Tuesday issue.

About Tech Law Journal

Tech Law Journal publishes a free access web site and subscription e-mail alert. The basic rate for a subscription to the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert is $250 per year. However, there are discounts for subscribers with multiple recipients. Free one month trial subscriptions are available. Also, free subscriptions are available for journalists, federal elected officials, and employees of the Congress, courts, and executive branch. The TLJ web site is free access. However, copies of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert are not published in the web site until one month after writing. See, subscription information page.

Contact: 202-364-8882.
P.O. Box 4851, Washington DC, 20008.

Privacy Policy
Notices & Disclaimers
Copyright 1998 - 2006 David Carney, dba Tech Law Journal. All rights reserved.

Washington Tech Calendar
New items are highlighted in red.
Monday, May 15

The House will meet at 2:00 PM in pro forma session only. See, Republican Whip Notice.

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM. It will begin consideration of S 2611, the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006".

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in Complx Covad Comm v. FCC, App. Ct. No. 05-1095. Judges Ginsburg, Tatel and Garland will preside. Location: Prettyman Courthouse, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

CANCELLED. 12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) IP-Based Communications Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The topic will be the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). The speakers will include Matt Brill (Latham & Watkins), Chris Bubb (AOL), Samir Jain (Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr). Location: Pillsbury Winthrop, 2300 N St., NW.

EXTENDED TO MAY 19. Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding privacy of consumer phone records. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 15, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 50, at Pages 13317-13323. The FCC adopted this NPRM on February 10, 2006, and released the text [34 pages in PDF] on February 14, 2006. See, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM Regarding Privacy of Consumer Phone Records" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,308, February 13, 2006, and story titled "FCC Rulemaking Proceeding on CPNI May Extend to Internet Protocol Services" in TLJ Daily E-Mail alert No. 1,310, February 15, 2006. This NPRM is FCC 06-10 in CC Docket No. 96-115 and RM-11277.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding mandatory thousands-block number pooling. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 15, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 50, at Pages 13323-13328. This NPRM is FCC 06-14 in CC Docket No. 99-200.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to various petitions for reconsideration of the FCC's Report and Order regarding the equipment authorization requirements for Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices employing dynamic frequency selection (DFS). See, notice in the Federal Register, May 3, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 85, at Pages 26004-26006. This proceeding is ET Docket No. 03-122.

Tuesday, May 16

The House will meet at 12:30 PM for morning hour, and at 2:00 PM for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 7:00 PM. The House will consider several non-technology related items under suspension of the rules. See, Republican Whip Notice.

8:00 AM - 4:45 PM. The National Science Board will hold a meeting titled "Workshop on Fostering Transformative Research -- Views From Industry and Private Foundations". See, notice in the Federal Register: May 11, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 91, at Page 27521. Location: Room 1235, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA.

10:00 AM. The Senate Finance Committee (SFC) will hold a hearing on the nomination of Susan Schwab to be the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). See, notice. The SFC will then proceed to hold a hearing on proposed legislation implementing the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement. See, notice. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.

10:30 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Heritage Foundation will host a panel discussion titled "Trade Is Better Than Aid: Tariff Relief Assistance for Least Developed Economies". The speakers will include Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ). See, notice. Location: Heritage, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a continuing legal education (CLE) program titled "International Licensing: When Technology Crosses Borders". See, notice. Location: teleconference  and audio webcast only.

4:00 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property will hold an oversight hearing on discussion draft of HR __, the "Section 115 Reform Act (SIRA) of 2006". The HJC previously described this event as a hearing on the "Music Licensing for the Digital Age Act". The witnesses will be David Israelite (P/CEO of the National Music Publishers' Association), Jonathan Potter (Executive Director of the Digital Media Association), Rick Carnes (President of the Songwriter's Guild), and Cary Sherman (General Counsel of the Recording Industry Association of America). See, 17 U.S.C. § 115. See, notice. The hearing will be webcast by the HJC. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202-225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a panel discussion titled "Intellectual Property Primer". The speakers will include Joy Butler (Law Office of Joy Butler), Diana Michelle Sobo (Westerman Hattori Daniels & Adrian), Cathy Futrowsky (Gallop Johnson & Neuman), and Melinda Sossamon (Manning & Sossamon). The price to attend ranges from $10-$20. For more information, call 202-626-3463. See, notice. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 Level.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) will host a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar titled "Communications Law 202". It will cover the broadcast and cable industries. Reservations and cancellations are due by May 12 at 12:00 NOON. Prices vary. See, registration form [PDF]. Location: Dow Lohnes, 1200 New Hampshire Ave., NW.

Wednesday, May 17

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

POSTPONED. 10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Technology, Innovation, and Competitiveness will hold a hearing titled "Accelerating the Adoption of Health Information Technology". See, notice. Press contact: Aaron Saunders (Stevens) at 202 224-3991 or Andy Davis (Inouye) at 202 224-4546. Location: Room 562, Dirksen Building. This hearing has not yet been rescheduled.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Department of State's (DOS) International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will meet to prepare for the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2006 on November 6-24, 2006, in Ankara, Turkey. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 29, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 60, at Page 15798. Location: __.

10:00 AM. The U.S. District Court (DC) will hold a status conference in US v. Microsoft. This is D.C. No. 1-1998-cv-01232-CKK and 1-1998-cv-01233-CKK. Judge Colleen Kotelly will preside. Location: Courtroom 28A, 333 Constitution Ave., NW

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will host an event titled "Microsoft Cyber Security Forum". See, notice. Location: Sheraton National Hotel, 900 S. Orme Street, Arlington, VA.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host a brown bag lunch to elect officers. E-mail nominations to Jason Friedrich at jason dot friedrich at dbr dot com or Natalie Roisman at natalie dot roisman at fcc dot gov by May 10. Location: Drinker Biddle & Reath, 1500 K Street, 11th floor.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Department of State's (DOS) International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will meet to prepare for the CITEL PCC.I (Telecommunication) meetings on May 23-26, 2006 in San Domingo, Dominican Republic, and on September 12-15, 2006, in Washington DC. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 29, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 60, at Page 15798. Location: __.

2:00 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law will hold a hearing titled "Privacy in the Hands of the Government: The Privacy Officer for the Department of Homeland Security and the Privacy Officer for the Department of Justice". See, notice. The hearing will be webcast by the HJC. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202-225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The House Financial Services Committee's (HFSC) Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology will hold a rescheduled hearing on HR  5337, the "Reform of National Security Reviews of Foreign Direct Investments Act". This pertains to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CIFIUS). The witnesses will include Stewart Baker (Department of Homeland Security). Location: Room 2128, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law will meet to mark up HR 2840, the "Federal Agency Protection of Privacy Act of 2005". See, notice. The meeting will be webcast by the HJC. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202-225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will host a conference titled "CLIX-COTS Logging Information Exchange". See, notice. Location: NIST, Green Auditorium, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

Thursday, May 18

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

9:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, will hold a hearing on HR 5126, the "Truth in Caller ID Act of 2006". See, notice. Press contact: Larry Neal (Barton) at 202-225-5735, Terry Lane (Barton) at 202-225-5735, or Sean Bonyun (Upton) at 202-225-3761. The hearing will be webcast by the HCC. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold the first of two hearings on S 2686 [135 pages in PDF], the "Communications, Consumer's Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006". See, notice of hearing, statement [5 pages in PDF] by Sen. Stevens, and Sen. Stevens' section by section summary [7 pages in PDF]. See also, stories titled "Stevens Introduces Telecom Reform Bill" and "Section by Section Summary of Sen. Stevens' Telecom Reform Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,362, May 2, 2006. Press contact: Aaron Saunders (Stevens) at 202-224-3991 or Andy Davis (Inouye) at 202-224-4546. The hearing will be webcast by the SCC. Location: Room 216, Hart Building.

12:15 - 2:00 PM. The Council on Competitiveness's (COC) Forum on Technology and Innovation will host an event titled "Moving Ideas from the Lab to the Marketplace - the Role of Tech Transfer in an Innovative Economy". The program will begin at 12:30 PM. A box lunch will be served. Register by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, May 16, 2006, at registration web page. Location: Room G50, Dirksen Building, Capitol Hill.

12:00 NOON. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) will host a lunch featuring general counsels. Reservations and cancellations are due by May 15 at 5:00 PM. Prices vary. See, registration form [PDF]. Location: Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave., NW.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Department of State's International Telecommunication Advisory Committee will meet to prepare for meetings of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) WPIE and CISP committee meetings of May 29-31, 2006. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 19, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 75, at Pages 20153-20154. Location: Room 2533, Harry Truman Building, 2201 C Street, NW.

3:00 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will hold a hearing titled "AT&T and BellSouth Merger: What Does it Mean for Consumers?". Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) will preside. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

Day one of a two day closed meeting of the Defense Science Board 2006 Summer Study on Information Management for Net-Centric Operations. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 11, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 69, Page 18292. Location: 3601 Wilson Boulevard, 3rd Floor, Arlington, VA.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to various petitions for reconsideration of the FCC's Report and Order regarding the equipment authorization requirements for Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices employing dynamic frequency selection (DFS). See, notice in the Federal Register, May 3, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 85, at Pages 26004-26006. This proceeding is ET Docket No. 03-122.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regarding Draft Special Publication 800-92 [64 pages in PDF], titled "Guide to Computer Security Log Management".

Friday, May 19

The House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. See, Republican Whip Notice.

? TIME? The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) may host a panel discussion titled "Tracking Wireless Location Privacy: Who Knows Where You Are?" The scheduled speakers are Jed Rice (Skyhook Wireless, a Wi-fi positioning technology company), Michael Altschul (CTIA), Jim Smolen (WaveMarket, a wireless services and applications provider). See, notice. Location: __.

8:30 AM - 4:30 PM. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will host the Federal Circuit Judicial Conference. See, conference web site. The general registration fee is $225; government employee fee is $175; the late registration (after May 5) fee is $245. Location: Grand Hyatt Washington, 1000 H Street, NW.

Day two of a two day closed meeting of the Defense Science Board 2006 Summer Study on Information Management for Net-Centric Operations. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 11, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 69, Page 18292. Location: 3601 Wilson Boulevard, 3rd Floor, Arlington, VA.

Extended deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding privacy of consumer phone records. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 15, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 50, at Pages 13317-13323. See also, notice of extension [PDF]. The FCC adopted this NPRM on February 10, 2006, and released the text [34 pages in PDF] on February 14, 2006. See, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM Regarding Privacy of Consumer Phone Records" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,308, February 13, 2006, and story titled "FCC Rulemaking Proceeding on CPNI May Extend to Internet Protocol Services" in TLJ Daily E-Mail alert No. 1,310, February 15, 2006. This NPRM is FCC 06-10 in CC Docket No. 96-115 and RM-11277.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the petition of the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC) for a declaratory ruling that the GPSC is not preempted by federal law from regulating rates under 47 U.S.C. § 271 for local switching, high capacity loops and transport, and line sharing. See, FCC notice [PDF]. This is WC Docket No. 06-90.

Monday, May 22

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee and Common Carrier Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The topic will be "An Introduction To Intercarrier Compensation: Past, Present, and Future". The speakers will be Don Stockdale (Associate Bureau Chief of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau), John Nakahata (Harris Wiltshire), Jon Nuechterlein (Wilmer Hale), and Eric Einhorn (AT&T). Location: Wiley Rein & Fielding, 1776 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding ACA International's petition for an expedited clarification and declaratory ruling concerning the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 26, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 80, at Pages 24634-24635. This is CG Docket No. 02-278.