6/29. The House approved HRes 895, a resolution that praises the federal government program that accesses and stores financial transactions data, by a vote of 227-183. See, Roll Call No. 357.

Rep. Mike Oxley (R-OH) (at right), the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced this resolution on June 28. The Committee held no hearings, and took no action on this resolution. See also, floor statement by Rep. Oxley.

The New York Times reported on the program on June 23, 2006.

The resolution states that the "House of Representatives -- (1) supports efforts to identify, track, and pursue suspected foreign terrorists and their financial supporters by tracking terrorist money flows and uncovering terrorist networks here and abroad, including through the use of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program".

Second, its states that the House "finds that the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program has been conducted in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and Executive Orders, that appropriate safeguards and reviews have been instituted to protect individual civil liberties, and that Congress has been appropriately informed and consulted for the duration of the Program and will continue its oversight of the Program".

Third, it states that the House "condemns the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by those persons responsible and expresses concern that the disclosure may endanger the lives of American citizens, including members of the Armed Forces, as well as individuals and organizations that support United States efforts".

Finally, the resolution has unkind words for news reporters, and for freedom of speech or of the press. It states that the House "expects the cooperation of all news media organizations in protecting the lives of Americans and the capability of the government to identify, disrupt, and capture terrorists by not disclosing classified intelligence programs such as the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program."

The resolution was approved on a nearly straight party line vote. Republicans voted 210-8 for the resolution. Democrats voted 17-174.

The Republicans who voted against were Roscoe Bartlett (MD), Scott Garrett (NJ), Walter Jones (NC), Donald Manzullo (IL), Butch Otter (ID), Ron Paul (TX), Christopher Shays (CT), and James Walsh (NY)

There is a pattern. Five of the eight are members of the House Financial Services Committee, the committee with expertise. The five are Garrett, Jones, Manzullo, Paul, and Shays.

The seventeen Democrats who voted for this resolution either face serious challenges from a Republican candidate in the November election, or represent Districts that would enable a Republican to mount a serious challenge if the Democratic incumbent were to vote against resolutions of this nature.

6/28. Privacy International (PIS) filed complaints [PDF] with government regulators in seventeen countries regarding "recently publicised activities of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) involving the covert disclosure of personal information relating to nationals of the EU, the United States and other countries." See also, PI release.

PI filed complaints in France, Canada, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Portugal and Greece.

The complaint alleges that "This disclosure of data has been undertaken ostensibly on the grounds of counter-terrorism. The disclosures involve the mass transfer of data from the SWIFT centre in Belgium to the United States, and possibly direct access by U.S. authorities both to data held within Belgium and data residing in SWIFT centres worldwide. It appears that the activity was undertaken without regard to legal process under Data Protection provisions, and it is possible that the disclosures were made without any legal basis or authority whatever."

It adds that "In all cases the disclosures were made without the knowledge or consent of the individuals to whom the data related. To the best of our knowledge, the disclosure activity is ongoing. The scale of the operation, involving millions of records, places this disclosure in the realm of a fishing exercise rather than legally authorised investigation."

6/28. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the text [151 pages in PDF] of its Report and Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that imposes universal service program taxes on interconnected voice over internet protocol (VOIP) service providers, raises the percentage of wireless carriers' revenues subject to universal service taxation, and suggests that the FCC may expand the definition of interconnected VoIP services.

The FCC adopted this item on June 21, 2006. See, story titled "FCC to Tax Interconnected VOIP Service Providers" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,397, June 22, 2006. This item is FCC 06-94 in Docket Nos. 06-122, 04-36, 96-45, 98-171, 90-571, 92-237, 99-200, 95-116, 98-170.

Comments in response to the NPRM portion of this item will be due within 30 days of publication of a notice in the Federal Register. This publication has not yet taken place. Reply comments will be due within 60 days of such publication. This item opens yet another universal service docket. The NPRM portion states that comments should be filed in this new docket, WC Docket No. 06-122.

The NPRM portion seeks comments on the interim rules regarding the percentage of revenues of VOIP and wireless service providers that will be subject to taxation.

The order portion of this item states that "we raise the interim wireless safe harbor from its current 28.5 percent level to 37.1 percent. Second, we establish universal service contribution obligations for providers of interconnected voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service."

This item requires "interconnected VoIP services" to pay universal service taxes. It further states that the FCC has defined "interconnected VoIP services" as "those VoIP services that: (1) enable real-time, two-way voice communications; (2) require a broadband connection from the user’s location; (3) require IP-compatible customer premises equipment; and (4) permit users to receive calls from and terminate calls to the PSTN."

In addition, this item announces that "the definition of interconnected VoIP services may need to expand as new VoIP services increasingly substitute for traditional phone service."

The statutory basis for this item is 47 U.S.C. § 254(d), which provides that "Every telecommunications carrier ... shall contribute ...". It adds that "Any other provider of interstate telecommunications may be required to contribute ...". This item asserts that interconnected VOIP service providers are "providers of interstate telecommunications" within the meaning of subsection 254(d).

This item continues the FCC's ongoing process of selectively applying components of its common carrier regulatory regime to VOIP and other information services.

For example, on May 19, 2005, the FCC applied 911/E911 regulation to interconnected VOIP service providers. See, story titled "FCC Adopts Order Expanding E911 Regulation to Include Some VOIP Service Providers" and story titled "Summary of the FCC's 911 VOIP Order" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,139, May 20, 2005.

Similarly, on August 5, 2005, the FCC applied CALEA like regulation and mandates to interconnected VOIP services and facilities based broadband internet access services. See, story titled "FCC Amends CALEA Statute" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,191, August 9, 2005.

Moreover, the FCC's omnibus IP enabled services proceeding, WC Docket No. 04-36, remains active.

The FCC's orders on Vonage's and Pulver's petitions, its orders regarding classification of cable modem service and DSL service, and its "self-congratulatory paean to its deregulatory largesse" (Justice Antonin Scalia's words), have been accompanied by its decisions that reapply components of the old telecommunications regulatory regime, or apply such regulation for the first time to previously unregulated services. Perhaps this involves the sort of "Möbius-strip reasoning" that Justice Scalia predicted in his dissent in NCTA v. Brand X. See, June 27, 2005, opinion [59 pages in PDF] of the Supreme Court, and story titled "Supreme Court Rules in Brand X Case" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,163, June 28, 2005.

6/29. David Fiske, a spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), stated, with reference to Council Tree Communications v. FCC, U.S. Court of Appeals (3rdCir), App. Ct. No. 06-2943, that "We are pleased the advanced wireless auction will proceed on schedule furthering the goal of providing new and better wireless services to American consumers." This pertains to Auction 66, the FCC's auction of Advance Wireless Services (AWS) licenses in the 1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz (AWS-1) bands.

6/28. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Deborah Tate gave a speech [PDF] at a Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) lunch.

There will be no issue of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert on Monday, July 3, 2006, or on Tuesday, July 4, 2006.

The House will not meet. It will not meet the week of July 3 through July 7 because of its Independence Day District Work Period. It will next meet on Monday, July 10, at 2:00 PM. See, Republican Whip Notice.

The Senate will not meet. It will not meet the week of July 3 through July 7 because of its Independence Day District Work Period. It will next meet on Monday, July 10, at 2:00 PM, when it will begin consideration of HR 5441, the homeland security appropriations bill.

10:00 AM. The U.S. District Court (DC) will hold a status conference in Cisco Systems v. Teles AG, D.C. No. 1:2005-cv-02048-RBW, a case involving U.S. Patent No. 6,954,453, titled "Method for transmitting data in a telecommunications network and switch for implementing said method". Judge Walton will preside. Location: Courtroom 5, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

Day four of a four day conference hosted by the Wireless Communications Association International (WCAI). See, conference web site. Location: Omni Shoreham Hotel.

Deadline to submit comments to the Antitrust Modernization Commission (AMC) regarding criminal remedies. See, notice in the Federal Register, Federal Register, May 31, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 104, at Pages 30863-30864.

EXTENDED TO JULY 31. Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in response to its notice in the Federal Register regarding revisions to guidelines used by USPTO personnel in their review of patent applications to determine whether the claims in a patent application are directed to patent eligible subject matter. The USPTO seeks comments on, among other topics, "claims that perform data transformation" and "claims directed to a signal per se". With respect to the later, the USPTO asks "If claims directed to a signal per se are determined to be statutory subject matter, what is the potential impact on internet service providers, satellites, wireless fidelity (WiFi [reg]), and other carriers of signals?" See, Federal Register, December 20, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 243, at Pages 75451 - 75452. See also, story titled "USPTO Seeks Comments on Subject Matter Eligible for Patents" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,278, December 22, 2005. See, notice in the Federal Register (June 14, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 114, at Pages 34307-34308) extending deadline, and story titled "USPTO Seeks Further Comments on Patentable Subject Matter" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,391, June 14, 2006.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding licensing and use of frequencies in the 904-909.75 and 919.75-928 MHz portions of the 902-928 MHz band that are used for the provision of Multilateration Location and Monitoring Service (M-LMS band). This NPRM is FCC 06-24 in WT Docket No. 06-49. See, text [24 pages in PDF] of NPRM; notice in the Federal Register, March 29, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 60, at Pages 15658-15666; and story titled "FCC Releases NPRM on M-LMS Systems" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,325, March 8, 2006.

Effective data of the Library of Congress's Copyright Office's fee increases. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 28, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 59, at Pages 15368-15371.

The House will not meet on Monday, July 3, through Friday, July 7. See, Majority Whip's calendar.

The Senate will not meet on Monday, July 3, through Friday, July 7. See, 2006 Senate calendar.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its further notice of proposed rulemaking (FNPRM) regarding telecommunications relay services (TRS) and speech to speech services for individuals with hearing and speech disabilities, and misuse of internet protocol relay service and video relay service. This item is FCC 06-58 in CG Docket No. 03-123. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 1, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 105, at Pages 31131-31137.

Independence Day.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other federal offices will be closed. See, Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) list of federal holidays.

4:00 - 6:00 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a panel discussion on trade disputes between the US and EU arising out of competition between, and government support for, Boeing and Airbus. See, notice. Location: AEI, 2th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding creation of broadband channels in the 700 MHz public safety band. The FCC adopted this NPRM on March 17, 2006. See, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM Re Public Safety Communications in the 700 MHz Band" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,332, March 20, 2006. The FCC released the text [30 pages in PDF] of this NPRM on March 21, 2006. This NPRM is FCC 06-34 in WT Docket No. 96-86. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 7, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 67, at Pages 17786-17790.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding management of the internet domain name and addressing system. See, notice in the Federal Register, Federal Register, May 26, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 102, at Pages 30388-30389.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regarding its Draft Special Publication 800-97 [huge PDF] titled "Guide to IEEE 802.11i: Robust Security Networks".

The House will return from its Independence Day recess at 2:00 PM. See, Majority Whip's calendar and Republican Whip Notice.

The Senate will return from its Independence Day recess at 2:00 PM. It will begin consideration of HR 5441, the homeland security appropriations bill.

8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) will host a day long conference titled "Demystifying §337 Investigations at the ITC". For more information, contact Clara Stanfield at cstanfield at ipo dot org or 202- 466-2396. See, notice and brochure [PDF]. Location: Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Action Gaming, Inc. v. Alliance Gaming Corp., a patent infringement case involving computer gambling technology. This is App. Ct. No. 2005-1287, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (DNev). See, December 8, 2004 release. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in response to its notice of inquiry (NOI) regarding "implementation of the Spectrum Sharing Innovation Test-Bed (Test-Bed) where Federal and non-Federal users can study the feasibility of increasing the efficient use of the spectrum". See, notice in the Federal Register, June 8, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 110, at Pages 33282-33284.

Deadline to submit comments to the Antitrust Modernization Commission (AMC) regarding any topic related to the AMC's study. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 15, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 115, at Pages 34590-34591.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding the proposed consent agreement with Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. and Rockstar Games, Inc. This pertains to the alleged deceptive representations in advertising and on product packaging concerning the content in the video game named "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas". See, notice in the Federal Register, June 15, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 115, at Pages 34620-34621.

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