9/14. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) raised the subject of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) paper [24 pages in PDF] titled "Do Local Owners Deliver More Localism: Some Evidence From Local Broadcast News" at the Senate Commerce Committee's (SCC) hearing on September 12, 2006, on Kevin Martin's re-nomination to the FCC. Sen. Boxer stated that the paper had been suppressed. Martin said then that he was not familiar with the paper, and that he had not read it.

The paper, which is dated from 2004, reports on the analysis of statistics on broadcast news stories. The FCC examined over 4,000 stories from 60 stations in 20 different markets. The FCC characterized stories as local or non-local, and the station as locally owned or not. The FCC then conducted a multivariate regression analysis of several models.

In one of these, the independent variable was the total number of seconds of local news at each station. One of the dependent variables was the dichotomous variable for whether the station was locally owned or not. This model's estimate for the coefficient for the local ownership variable was large, positive and statistically significant at the 1 percent level. This suggests stations that are locally owned are more likely to air more local programming than stations that are not locally owned.

The paper also tested a model in which the independent variable is local on location news. Here too the regression results estimated a coefficient for the independent variable for local ownership that was large, positive and statistically significant.

The FCC paper states that its multivariate regression "results suggest that local ownership adds almost five and one-half minutes of local news, and over three minutes of local on-location news."

The paper adds that "These findings may have policy implications for both Congress and the Federal Communications Commission."

Sen. Boxer also wrote a follow-up letter to Chairman Martin. Martin wrote a letter [PDF] in response on September 14. He characterized the paper as "a June 2004 draft of an FCC staff working paper that examined the impact of local television station ownership on local news coverage".

Martin wrote that "As I indicated at the hearing, I was not Chairman at the time that this report was drafted. I had not seen -- nor was I aware of -- this draft report before you brought it to my attention. No one on my staff had seen this report nor were they aware of it."

"I am not aware of any other commissioners, past or present, who knew of the report." He continued that "It is unclear why this report was never released to the public. I am attempting to determine why, but the senior management of the Media Bureau and the Chairman of the Commission at the time are no longer at the Commission."

He added that "In the meantime, the report appears to cover issues relevant to both our open localism proceeding and our recently commenced media ownership proceeding. Accordingly, we included it in the record for both of those proceedings on Tuesday."

Also on September 14, 2006, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the House Commerce Committee (HCC), and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the ranking Democrat on the HCC's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, sent a letter [2 pages in PDF] to Martin.

They described the paper as "missing" and "suppressed", and said its absence from the FCC's public record is "highly controversial".

9/13. Thomas Barnett, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the USDOJ's Antitrust Division, gave a speech titled "Interoperability Between Antitrust and Intellectual Property". He warned that "regulatory second-guessing of private firms' solutions to technological problems, which I perceive to be on the increase, threatens to harm the very consumers it claims to help".

He diplomatically did not mention the EU, Europe, France, or any EU state by name in the prepared text of his speech. However, the details of his speech, and recent actions in Europe, indicate that he directed his comments mainly at Europe for its abuse of governmental authority to damage competition and harm consumer welfare.

In particular, he slammed France and other European nations for faulty competition analysis, and misguided pursuit, of Apple for its development and sale of iPod devices and iTunes service.

Barnett (at right) said that the pursuit of Apple "provides a useful illustration of how an attack on intellectual property rights can threaten dynamic innovation." He added that this government conduct may have a "pernicious" effect; "if the government is too willing to step in as a regulator, rivals will devote their resources to legal challenges rather than business innovation".

Also, he did not discuss the EU's persecution of Microsoft. Nevertheless, this speech was another in a series of speeches by US officials criticizing Europeans for their handling of claims of anti-competitive behavior arising out of single firm conduct in developing and marketing new technologies.

He spoke at a conference hosted by the George Mason University School of Law titled "Managing Antitrust Issues in a Global Marketplace".

Barnett covered four main topics in his speech. First, he offered a theoretical overview of intellectual property, static competition, and dynamic competition. Second, he applied this theory to explain how the pursuit of Apple is harming competition and consumers. Third, he offered some general principles for antitrust regulators in cases involving single firm conduct in the tech sector. Finally, he addressed enforcement orders.

Intellectual Property, Static Competition and Dynamic Competition. He began with the statement that "Antitrust and intellectual property policy are complements in that both seek to create a set of incentives to encourage an innovative, vigorously competitive marketplace that enhances efficiency and improves consumer welfare."

He then addressed efficiency. He said that there are two kinds, static efficiency, "which occurs when firms compete within an existing technology to streamline their methods, cut costs, and drive the price of a product embodying that technology down to something close to the cost of unit production", and dynamic efficiency, which refers to "gains that result from entirely new ways of doing business".

He then explained that "antitrust law, with its focus on improving consumer welfare, has a keen interest in protecting innovation. Fostering innovation requires recognition of the benefits of dynamic efficiency and the dangers of focusing myopically on static efficiency."

He elaborated that "The same forces that yield the benefits of static efficiency -- conditions that encourage rivals quickly to adopt a new business method and drive their production toward marginal cost -- can discourage innovation (and thus dynamic efficiency) if the drive toward marginal costs occurs at such an early stage that it makes innovation uneconomical." (Parentheses in original.)

"Where innovation requires substantial up-front research and development (R&D) costs, a rational firm will elect not to innovate if it anticipates a selling environment that too quickly resolves to marginal cost of production. This problem is sometimes described as the need to recoup R&D costs and an expected profit sufficient to induce firms to direct their capital to risky R&D ventures." Barnett added that "Seen in this light, strong intellectual property protection is not separate from competition principles, but rather, is an integral part of antitrust policy as a whole."

He concluded that "IP rights should be seen as encouraging firms to engage in competition, particularly competition that involves risk and long-term investment. Properly applied, strong intellectual property protection creates the competitive environment necessary to permit firms to profit from their inventions, which encourages innovation effort and improves dynamic efficiency."

He quipped that when breakthrough inventions have occurred, governments may be tempted to "to carve up the benefits and spread them around the economy", like a cooked goose at Christmas dinner, but that this would be killing the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs.

He then detailed some of the recent efforts in Europe to kill the goose.

Europe and Apple. He first reviewed the history of Apple's development of the iPod and iTunes over the years, how Apple responded to consumer demand in extending from the Mac platform to include the PC platform, and to adopt USB connection technology. He heaped praise on Apple for its innovation, its responsiveness to consumers, and its solving of the music piracy problem.

"You might think that by creating a product to which consumers have flocked of their own free will and by mitigating the piracy problem, Apple would be cheered for pioneering greater access to music. But you would be wrong." Barnett did not mention the France or any European nation by name. But, he stated that "Apple is now under assault in a number of jurisdictions on the grounds that iTunes is too dominant and does not ``interoperate´´ with devices other than iPods."

He said that "One recent law, for example, may require sales of music or video to operate across a wide range of devices and creates a government body that can require a digital music provider to turn over information relating to its ``technological measures´´ to the extent needed for interoperability with other devices. Some consumer protection agencies have announced that they are considering imposing similar measures through lawsuits. Interestingly, the interoperable song format that is advocated -- MP3 -- is a compressed format of generally lower fidelity than iTunes files."

He then analyzed and rebutted each of the economic rationales that have been advanced in support of this sort of regulation.

"So what consumer harm do these regulatory bodies seek to address?", Barnett asked rhetorically. "One theory is that consumers are locked into buying songs only from the iTunes service and that they will have to pay too high a price for iTunes songs. But there are two problems with this theory. First, consumers can upload other formats (CD-ROMs and MP3 files) to Apple's devices, so they do not have to buy from iTunes. And while it is true that Apple's digital rights management (DRM) software ensures that the first recording of a song downloaded from iTunes can only play on an Apple device, consumers can re-record an iTunes song in an MP3 format and play it on other devices; in sum, it is hardly clear that they are locked in. Second, it appears that Apple has been depressing per-song prices, not raising them."

The second theory is that "Apple is selling songs on the cheap but devices on the dear, and consumers are hurt because they are locked into buying the same expensive devices in the future. The cheap songs/expensive device model may indeed be Apple's strategy. But this type of business model has been criticized in the past because the cheap product was the one that was sold first -- think cheap razors and expensive replacement blades or cheap printers and expensive replacement ink. Apple's model is the opposite: consumers buy the expensive iPod device first, then have the option -- not the obligation -- to use the free iTunes software and buy the cheap iTunes songs."

The third theory is that "information just wants to be free". Barnett dismissed this utopian and anthropomorphic slogan with the observation that "information creators want to be paid -- they will not create without rewards." He added that "the difficulty of protecting digital information against easy, unlawful misappropriation underscores the need for measures to protect one's investments."

The fourth theory is that "Apple may not be hurting consumers, but it is hurting competitors." He noted that "Antitrust law protects competition, not competitors."

Barnett gave his speech on Wednesday, September 13. On September 14, Microsoft announced details of its competing Zune technology, which will compete with Apple's iPod and iTunes technology.

Microsoft stated in a release that Zune is its "music and entertainment platform that provides an end-to-end solution for Connected Entertainment. The Zune experience includes a 30GB digital media player, the Zune Marketplace music service, and a foundation for an online community that will enable music fans to discover new music."

Single Firm Conduct. Barnett also articulated three new principles for antitrust regulators when reviewing claims of anti-competitive behavior that involve single firm conduct and innovative technologies.

First, "We should apply greater skepticism when the complaint about a dominant firm comes almost exclusively from rivals, not consumers, and where the remedy would deprive consumers of a choice."

Second, "We should increase that skepticism when the complaining parties engage in forum shopping, failing to make their case before the first, most obvious jurisdiction or government body before taking their case elsewhere."

Third, "We should avoid involving the government in the detailed re-engineering of products produced by private firms, under the guise of antitrust policy; we should question any claim that government regulators are more competent than private firms and consumers to choose the ``best´´ design for a product, particularly when the ``best´´ design must evolve rapidly to meet changing consumer demands."

9/14. Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Competition, gave a speech at Fordham University in New York, New York. She discussed, among other topics, innovation, Microsoft, venture capital, and telecommunications.

She asserted that "In our many dealings with Microsoft ... central to the Commission's rationale for intervention has been the importance of preserving the incentive for firms to innovate. In this regard, an artificial interoperability advantage for a super-dominant player actually dampens the market's incentives to innovate since companies know that however good their products are, they cannot compete on the merits of these products."

Kroes (at left) also stated that "Similarly, tying to a super-dominant platform can send signals which limit available venture capital and deter innovation in adjacent product markets, by large and small companies alike. Our enforcement philosophy has therefore been guided by these principles, and our actions are designed to maximise the level of innovation in the market. This will result in benefits in terms of industrial competitiveness – and will ultimately, I believe, translate into more consumer choice and lower prices."

She also discussed telecommunications. She said that "liberalisation has led to the emergence of a multitude of competitors for fixed-line and mobile voice services as well as Internet connections. Research by the OECD indicates that mobile subscriber growth rates are positively correlated with the number of competing networks in the market. So competition not only gives more customers access to mobile services, faster and at lower prices."

She added that, "But it also grows existing markets and creates new ones, provides market entry opportunities for new firms, and lowers the input cost of telecommunication services, as well as widening the choice of available services. So, I think it is evident from the EU’s experience that a carefully planned and executed liberalisation policy is a central piece of a comprehensive modern industrial policy."

9/14. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) held an executive business meeting. The SJC did not reach a quorum, and hence, no business was conducted.

The SJC rarely takes up all of the items on its agenda. It often fails to attain a quorum. Not attending meetings is one way members block approval of certain items. For example, only one Democrat attended the meeting. Senate Democrats oppose several of the Court of Appeals nominees of President Bush who were up for consideration.

The agenda included consideration of several judicial nominees, including Terrence Boyle (to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit), William Haynes (4th Circuit), Kent Jordan (3rd Circuit), Peter Keisler (DC Cir), William Myers (9th Circuit), Randy Smith (9th Circuit) Valerie Baker (USDC for the Central District of California), Philip Gutierrez (Central District of California), Marcia Howard (Middle District of Florida), John Jarvey (Southern District of Iowa), and Sara Elizabeth Lioi (Northern District of Ohio).

Nevertheless, the inclusion of items on the SJC agenda indicates some intent by the Chairman to move those items.

PERFORM Act. The agenda also included S 2644, the "Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act of 2006", or "Perform Act".

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced this bill on April 25, 2006. The companion bill in the House is HR 5361, also titled the PERFORM Act. It is similar, but not identical, to S 2644. It is sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) and Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA).

S 2644 would amend 17 U.S.C. § 112, regarding ephemeral recordings, and 17 U.S.C. § 114, regarding exclusive rights in sound recordings. It addresses content protection, and the collection of statutory licenses under Section 114.

It would particularly affect satellite music services. It is opposed by XM Satellite Radio and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), but supported by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

See also, stories titled "Summary of the Sen. Feinstein's Perform Act", "Music Licensing, Satellite Radio, and Perform Act Debated", and "Summary of the RIAA Complaint Against XM Satellite Radio" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,384, June 5, 2006.

The House bill has not yet been approved by the House Judiciary Committee (HJC), or even its Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. It was not on the agenda for the HJC mark up on Wednesday, September 13.

Moreover, while Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is trying to move a new composite copyright bill, it does not include any version of the PERFORM Act. See, HR 6052 [100 pages in PDF], the "Copyright Modernization Act of 2006".

Other Bills. The SJC agenda for September 14 also included consideration of several other bills, including S 2831, the "Free Flow of Information Act of 2006", sponsored by Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN). This bill limits prosecutors, government agencies, and others from compelling journalists to disclosure certain information.

The agenda also included S 394, the "Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2005", or "OPEN Government Act", sponsored by Sen. Jon Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). This bill would amend the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). It addresses among other topics, agency fees and requests by journalists.

The agenda also included S 1845, the "Circuit Court of Appeals Restructuring and Modernization Act of 2005", sponsored by Sen. John Ensign (R-NV). This bill would split the 9th Circuit.

The Republican Whip Notice states that the House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business.

The Senate will meet at 10:00 AM. It will consider HR 5684, the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act.

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). The agenda includes "Computer Security Division Update", "Overview of the Privacy & Civil Liberties Oversight Board Activities", "Data Security Breaches", "Privacy Technology Project Discussion", "Safeguarding Personal Information", "Update Status of Security and Privacy Legislation", and "HSPD-12 Status Briefing". See, notice in the Federal Register, August 31, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 169, at Pages 51802-51803. Location: George Washington University, Cafritz Conference Center, Room 101, 800 21st St., NW.

9:30 AM. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing titled "Contact Lens Sales: Is Market Regulation the Prescription?". See, notice. Press contact: Larry Neal (Barton) at 202-225-5735, or Paul Flusche (Stearns) at 202-225-5744. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association and The Copyright Society of the U.S.A. will host an event titled "The Copyright Office Speaks". The speaker will be Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights. The price to attend ranges from $25-$40. For more information, call 202-626-3463. See, notice. Location: City Club of Washington (Columbia Square building concourse level), 555 13th St., NW.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Continuing Legal Education Committee will host its organizational brown bag lunch. RSVP to Joshua Turner at jturner at wrf dot com. Location: Wiley Rein & Fielding, 1776 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for its 2006 biennial review of telecommunications regulations. See, FCC notice [10 pages in PDF] and notice in the Federal Register, August 23, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 163, at Pages 49400-49401. This is CG Docket No. 06-152, EB Docket No. 06-153, IB Docket No. 06-154, ET Docket No. 06-155, WT Docket No. 06-156, WC Docket No. 06-157, and FCC 06-115.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) regarding its Special 301 review of the nations of Indonesia and Chile. The Trade Act of 1974 requires the USTR to identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 23, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 163, at Pages 49491-49492.

Day two of a two day closed meeting of the Library of Congress's (LOC) Section 108 Study Group. This meeting will address "Copies made at the request of patrons/interlibrary loan" and "Licenses and contracts". This meeting is closed to the public. See also, 17 U.S.C. § 108. Location: undisclosed.

TIME? The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) will host an event titled "Content Ratings for the Web? Legislating a "Sexually Explicit" Label for Web Sites". The speakers will be Stephen Balkam (Internet Content Rating Association), Rachel Brand (Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Policy), and Leslie Harris (CDT). See, notice. Location: __.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in Robert Kaplan v. T Mobile USA, App. Ct. No. 05-7165. Judges Randolph, Tatel and Williams will preside. Location: 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:30 - 11:30 AM. Bill McInturff (Public Opinion Strategies) and Amy Phee (Glover Park Group) will speak regarding their "research and findings regarding opinions about video choice and net neutrality". Location: Senate Commerce Committee hearing room, Room 253, Russell Building, Capitol Hill.

Day one of a two day conference titled "National Security Automation Conference and Workshop", hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Security Agency (NSA), and Defense Information Security Agency (DISA). The subject of this conference is the measurement of the security of information technology systems. See, NIST notice and conference web site. Location: NIST, Gaithersburg, MD.

Deadline set by the House Committee Committee (HCC) for Hewlett Packard to respond to its request for records regarding pretexting. See, story titled "House Commerce Committee Requests Records From HP Regarding Its Use of Pretexting to Obtain Confidential Records" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,447, September 12, 2006.

Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) to assist it in preparing its annual report to the Congress on China's compliance with the commitments made in connection with its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). See, notice in the Federal Register, July 28, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 145, at Pages 42886-42887.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the competitive bidding procedures for Auction No. 69, which is scheduled to begin on February 7, 2007. In this auction, the FCC will offer two 3-megahertz blocks, each consisting of a pair of 1.5 megahertz segments in the 1392-1395 MHz and 1432-1435 MHz bands, in each of six Economic Area Groupings (EAGs). The FCC will also offer one 2-megahertz block of unpaired spectrum in the 1390-1392 MHz band in each of 52 Major Economic Areas (MEAs). See, notice in the Federal Register, August 31, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 169, at Pages 51817-51822.

TIME? The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will meet immediately following the first vote on the Senate floor. It will consider the nominations of Kevin Martin to be a Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and John Kneuer to be Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). See, notice. The meeting will be webcast by the SCC. Press contact: Joe Brenckle (Stevens) at 202-224-3991, Brian Eaton (Stevens) at 202-224-0445, or Teri Rucker (Inouye) at 202-224-4546. Location: undisclosed room off of the Senate floor.

10:00 AM. The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing titled "Combating Child Pornography by Eliminating Pornographers’ Access to the Financial Payment System". The witnesses will be Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Ernie Allen (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children). See, notice. Location: Room 538, Dirksen Building.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Common Carrier Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Meet the FCC Wireline Legal Advisors". The FCBA has invited all of the FCC's wireline legal advisors. RSVP to Myra Creeks at Myra dot Creeks at att dot com. Location: Wiley Rein & Fielding, 1776 K St., NW.

2:00 PM. The House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) will hold a hearing titled "Sarbanes-Oxley at Four: Protecting Investors and Strengthening the Markets". The witnesses will include Chris Cox (Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission) and Mark Olson (Chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board). Rep. Mike Oxley (R-OH), the Chairman of the HFSC, stated in a release that the hearing will address, among other topics, "the complaints from small businesses regarding the cost of complying with the Section 404 internal control provisions". (Emphasis added.) Press contact: Peggy Peterson at 202-226-0471 or Marisol Garibay at 202-226-0471. Location: Room 2128, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Online Child Pornography". See, notice. The hearing will be webcast by the SCC. Press contact: Joe Brenckle (Stevens) at 202-224-3991, Brian Eaton (Stevens) at 202-224-0445, or Teri Rucker (Inouye) at 202-224-4546. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

TIME? The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) North American Numbering Council (NANC) will hold a meeting. Location: ___.

Day two of a two day conference titled "National Security Automation Conference and Workshop", hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Security Agency (NSA), and Defense Information Security Agency (DISA). The subject of this conference is the measurement of the security of information technology systems. See, NIST notice and conference web site. Location: NIST, Gaithersburg, MD.

8:00 - 11:30 AM and 2:00 - 5:00 PM. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee will meet. Part of the meeting will be closed to the public. The DHS states that "the Chief Privacy Officer will provide an update on the activities of the Privacy Office. The subcommittees will update the Committee on the work currently being conducted. In the morning and afternoon sessions, invited speakers will discuss screening, redress, and data integrity". See, notice in the Federal Register, August 29, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 167, at Pages 51201. Location: Transportation Security Administration, 601 South 12th Street, Arlington, VA.

9:30 AM. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's (HSGA) Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security will hold a hearing titled "US International Broadcasts into Iran: Can We Do Better?". The witnesses will be Kenneth Tomlinson (Broadcasting Board of Governors), Tim Shamble (American Federation of Government Employees), Amir Abbas Fakhravar (Independent Student Movement), Alex Alexiev (Center for Security Policy), Robert Schadler (American Foreign Policy Council), and Abbas William Samii (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty). See, notice. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Building.

10:00 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee's (SCC) Subcommittee on Trade, Tourism, and Economic Development will hold a hearing titled "Internet Governance: The Future of ICANN". See, notice. The hearing will be webcast by the SCC. Press contact: Joe Brenckle (Stevens) at 202-224-3991, Brian Eaton (Stevens) at 202-224-0445, or Teri Rucker (Inouye) at 202-224-4546. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

? 10:00 AM. Possible time for the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) meeting to mark up HR 5825, the "Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act", and HR 6052 [100 pages in PDF], the "Copyright Modernization Act of 2006". Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202-225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:30 AM - 4:00 PM. The Department of State's International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will meet to prepare advice on proposed U.S. contributions to Study Group 13 (Next Generation Networks) of the International Telecommunication Union's Telecommunication Standardization Sector. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 31, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 169, at Page 51884. Location: COMTek, 14151 Newbrook Drive, Suite 400, Chantilly, VA.

11:45 AM - 2:00 PM. The AEI Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies will host a discussion of the book titled " New Foundations of Cost-Benefit Analysis" [Amazon], by Matthew Adler (University of Pennsylvania) and Eric Posner (University of Chicago). The speakers will be Adler, Posner, Chris DeMuth (AEI) and Richard Revesz (NYU). Location: American Enterprise Institute, 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Alliance for Public Technology (APT) will host a brown bag lunch titled "Digging Deeper into the Senate Communications Act of 2006:  What does the Bill Mean for the E-Rate Community and People with Disabilities?". The speakers will be Lynne Bradley (American Library Association), Jenifer Simpson (American Association of People with Disabilities), and Karen Strauss (KPS Consulting). RSVP to apt at apt dot org or (202) 263-2970. Location: ALA, first floor conference room, 1615 New Hampshire Ave., NW. 

12:15 - 1:45 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Communications Law and the Internet: Content, Carriage, and Access in the Digital Age". The speakers will be Maureen O'Connell (News Corporation), Paul Glist (Cole Raywid & Braverman), and Rick Whitt (NetsEdge Consulting). For more information, contact Chris Fedeli at cfedeli at crblaw dot com or 202-828-9874 or Natalie Roisman at nroisman at akingump dot com or 202-887-4493. Location: Cole Raywid & Braverman, Suite 200, 1919 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) [77 pages in PDF] regarding the service rules that primarily govern wireless licenses in the 698-746, 747-762, and 777-792 MHz bands (700 MHz Band) currently occupied by television broadcasters and being made available for new services as a result of the DTV transition. This NPRM is FCC 06-114 in WT Docket No. 06-150, CC Docket No. 94-102, and WT Docket No. 01-309. The FCC adopted this NPRM on August 3, 2006, released it on August 10, 2006. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 21, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 161, at Pages 48506-48527. See also, FCC release [PDF] that describes this NPRM.

9:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property will hold a hearing on HRes 916, titled "Impeaching Manuel L. Real, judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, for high crimes and misdemeanors". See, notice. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202-225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

9:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Satellite Industry Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will host an event titled "Continuity of Business (via satellite) Summit: Acquiring Robust Communications Capability to Prepare for Natural and Man-Made Disasters". See, NTIA notice and notice in the Federal Register, August 25, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 165, at Page 50390. Location: U.S. Chamber, 1615 H Street, NW.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing titled "Deleting Commercial Child Pornography Sites From the Internet: The U.S. Financial Industry’s Efforts to Combat This Problem". See, notice. The hearing will be webcast by the HCC. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The House Science Committee will hold a hearing titled "Research on Environmental and Safety Impacts of Nanotechnology: What are the Federal Agencies Doing?" The hearing will be webcast by the HSC. For more information, contact Marty Spitzer (R) at 202-225-8844 or Jim Wilson (D) at 202-225-6375. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

10:30 AM. The Senate Finance Committee (SFC) will hold a hearing on the nomination of John Veroneau to be a Deputy US Trade Representative. See, notice. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF) will host a luncheon. The keynote speakers will be Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Brian Roberts (Ch/CEO of Comcast Corporation). The other speakers will be Raymond Gifford (PFF), Aryeh Bourkoff (UBS Investment Research), Blair Levin (Stifel Nicolaus), and Craig Moffett (Sanford Bernstein). See, notice and registration page. Location: Capital Hilton, 1001 16th St., NW.

12:15 - 1:45 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Communications Law, Copyright & Digital Rights Management Committee will host a brown bag lunch. This is a new committee, and this lunch will serve as the committee's organizational meeting. For more information, contact Seth Davidson at sdavidson at fw-law dot com, Ben Golant at bgol at loc dot gov or Ann Bobeck at abobeck at nab dot org. Location: Fleischman and Walsh, Suite 600, 1919 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

6:00 PM. Alex Kozinski, a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (9thCir), will give a speech titled "Fair Use Revisted". See, notice. RSVP to iplecture at wcl dot american dot edu or 202-274-4148. Location: American University, Washington College of Law, Room 603, 4801 Massachusetts Ave.,  NW.

? TENTATIVE. TIME? The Library of Congress's (LOC) Section 108 Study Group may hold a public meeting regarding expanding the scope of 17 U.S.C. § 108. See also, notice in the Federal Register, February 15, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 31, at Pages 7999-8002. Location: __.

TIME? The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) will host an event titled "Social Networking and Chat Sites Teen-Free Zones?". Location: __.

Rosh Hashana begins at sundown.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) regarding its media ownership rules. The FCC adopted this FNPRM on July 21, 2006, and released the text [36 pages in PDF] on July 24, 2006. See also, story titled "FCC Adopts FNPRM on Rules Regulating Ownership of Media" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,397, June 22, 2006. This FNPRM is FCC 06-93 in MB Docket No. 02-277, MM Docket No. 01-235, MM Docket No. 01-317, MM Docket No. 00-244, and MB Docket Nos. 06-121. See also, notice in the Federal Register, August 9, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 153, at Pages 45511-45515.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [22 pages in PDF] in a new proceeding titled "In the Matter of Amendment of Section 90.20(e)(6) of the Commission's Rules". This is a reaction to Lojack's petition for rulemaking relating to the use of spectrum for stolen vehicle recovery systems (SVRS). The FCC proposes to revise section 90.20(e)(6) of its rules "to permit increased mobile output power, to permit digital emissions in addition to the analog emissions currently authorized by the Rules, and to relax the limitations on duty cycles", among other things. The FCC adopted this item on July 19, 2006, and released it on July 24, 2006. It is FCC 06-107, in WT Docket No. 06-142. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 23, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 163, at Pages 49401-49405.

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.