9/23. The American Antitrust Institute (AAI) released a paper [22 pages in PDF] titled "The Proposed Google-Yahoo Alliance".

It states that "Google and Yahoo, the two largest providers of paid search advertising, reached an agreement earlier this summer whereby Yahoo would be able to display paid search advertising from Google."

See also, Yahoo's June 12, 2008, release, and story titled "Google and Yahoo Announce Search and Advertising Agreement" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,779, June 13, 2008.

The AAI paper continues that "With a U.S. market share approaching 70% to 80% depending on how the market is defined, Google would already be considered a near-monopolist under traditional antitrust standards, and the combined market share of Google and Yahoo would likely exceed 90%. The parties agreed to delay implementation of their agreement for three and a half months to facilitate a review of the arrangement by the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice. Since that time competition authorities in both Canada and the European Union have stated their intentions to review the agreement."

This paper argues that "Keeping Yahoo in the market as a viable competitor should be the government's the primary goal as it undertakes its review of the proposed arrangement. The loss of an innovative competitor in the extraordinarily concentrated market would surely have anticompetitive effects for advertisers that would undoubtedly ripple into other online advertising markets to the detriment of content providers, advertisers and consumers generally."

It further argues that "the publicly available evidence does not suggest that either the agreement itself or the possible exit of Yahoo from the market would generate any procompetitive efficiencies. Consequently, the government should view the agreement as inherently suspect."

It concludes that "The government should insist on a consent decree which preserves Yahoo’s incentives to remain in the paid search market. If such a consent decree cannot be achieved, then the government should seek an injunction to prevent Google and Yahoo from implementing their agreement."

On September 22, 2008, Yahoo announced in a release "the formation of a Digital Advisory Council that will consist of industry executives from its agency and advertiser partners. The Council will work collaboratively to explore the continued evolution of digital media and online advertising".

Yahoo's Hilary Schneider stated in this release that "there has been confusion and misinformation surrounding Yahoo!'s agreement with Google". She added that "As questions emerge about how Yahoo! will implement this agreement, the Advisory Council will provide a forum for us to engage in a dialogue with key customers on those issues."

9/23. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin sent a letter [PDF] to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC) in connection with government efforts to plan a transition to digital television.

He wrote that "to ask your help in encouraging the availability of battery packs for digital-to-analog converter boxes and battery-powered DTV receivers. Many consumers rely on battery-powered TV receivers to obtain emergency information when power outages occur, particularly during severe weather events. As you know, existing battery-operated TV receivers will no longer be usable after the DTV transition unless they can be connected to a digital-to-analog converter box."

Martin stated that "only one manufacturer has made a battery pack available for use with its analog-to-digital converter box. Many other digital-to-analog converter boxes operate from an external power supply and it appears they could operate with battery packs."

He wrote that "only a very limited number of battery powered DTV receivers are available on the market", and these are "often out of stock".

He argued that "there appears to be a significant unmet market demand for battery packs for digital-to-analog converter boxes and for battery powered DTV receivers." He added that these are "vitally important as a matter of public safety", and "their availability is a critical component of a successful transition".

9/23. M2Z Networks filed a further comment [14 pages in PDF] with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding service rules for Advanced Wireless Services in the 2155-2175 MHz Band (AWS-3) and interference tests conducted by T-Mobile at Boeing's test facility in Seattle, Washington.

See also, M2Z's presentation slides [8 pages in PDF] for ex parte presentation to FCC.

The FCC adopted and released its most recent Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) [45 pages in PDF] on 20, 2008. It is FCC 08-158 in WT Docket Nos. 07-195 and 04-356.

T-Mobile and other wireless carriers dispute M2Z's assertions. See, T-Mobile's presentation slides [9 pages in PDF] for ex parte presentation to FCC on September 22, 2008.

Also, the CTIA released a joint statement of Christopher Guttman-McCabe and Charles Jackson on September 23.

Guttman-McCabe states that "On the very day that Google and T-Mobile announced the first Android-based mobile device that will operate on the AWS-1 spectrum, M2Z has taken its AWS-3 advocacy to a new low. First, M2Z claimed there would be no interference to AWS-1. Then, M2Z conceded that there will be interference, but that AWS-1 licensees should have known better. Now M2Z claims that interference -- to millions of customers relying upon AWS-1 spectrum -- will only happen a small percentage of the time. Tell that to the impacted customers."

He argued that "the proposed AWS-3 mobile transmissions will interfere with AWS-1 operations and that interference will be frequent."

Jackson stated that "Contrary to M2Z's claims, the testing showed that, in many everyday situations, an AWS-3 handset operating within several meters of an AWS-1 handset would render the AWS-1 handset inoperable. The testing also showed that the FCC’s proposed limit on out-of-band emissions would not protect an AWS-1 handset from out-of-band emissions from a nearby AWS-3 handset."

9/19. Comcast filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) a network management plan [46 pages in PDF] mandated by the FCC last month.

The FCC adopted an order [67 pages in PDF] on August 1, 2008, in which it asserted authority to regulate the network management practices (NMPs) of broadband internet service providers. It released this order on August 20, 2008. This order is FCC 08-183 in WC Docket No. 07-52.

See also, story titled "FCC Asserts Authority to Regulate Network Management Practices" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,805, Monday, August 4, 2008.

This order concluded that Comcast's "discriminatory and arbitrary practice unduly squelches the dynamic benefits of an open and accessible Internet and does not constitute reasonable network management".

The FCC order also mandated that Comcast "disclose the details of their unreasonable network management practices, submit a compliance plan describing how it intends to stop these unreasonable management practices by the end of the year, and disclose to both the Commission and the public the details of the network management practices that it intends to deploy following termination of its current practices".

Comcast filed a petition for review of this order with the U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) on September 4, 2008. See, story titled "Comcast Files Petition for Review of FCC's Network Management Practices Order" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,821, September 4, 2008. However, pending judicial review, Comcast is complying with the FCC order.

On September 19, 2008, Comcast filed with the FCC a letter with three attachments, each of which is one of three FCC mandated items.

Comcast's Sena Fitzmaurice stated in a release that "We manage our network for one reason: to deliver a superior, reliable, high-quality experience to every high-speed Internet customer, every time they use our service. As we previously announced in March, we are changing the way we manage network congestion by the end of this year. The new technique does not manage congestion based on the protocol or application a consumer uses. This new technique will ensure that all customers get their fair share of bandwidth every hour of the day. As we roll out these new practices, we'll make sure our customers are fully informed."

Comcast wrote in its cover letter to its September 19 filing that "These filings are consistent with our previously announced commitment to transition away from the congestion management practices we currently use to prevent peer-to-peer (``P2P´´) traffic from degrading our customers’ use and enjoyment of our HSI service to a new set of protocol-agnostic congestion management practices, and to do so across our network by December 31, 2008."

HSI is Comcast's acronym for high speed internet.

Attachment A -- Current Network Management Practices. Comcast wrote that its "Comcast's HSI network is a shared network. This means that our HSI customers share upstream and downstream bandwidth with their neighbors. Although the available bandwidth is substantial, so, too, is the demand. Thus, when a relatively small number of customers in a neighborhood place disproportionate demands on network resources, this can cause congestion that degrades their neighbors' Internet experience."

Comcast continued that "In our experience, over the past several years, the primary cause of congestion (particularly in the upstream portion of our network) has been the high-volume consumption of bandwidth associated with use of certain peer-to-peer (“P2P”) protocols. In order to tailor our network management efforts to this reality, Comcast’s current congestion management practices were designed to address this primary contributor to congestion.

"The specific equipment Comcast uses to effectuate its network management practices is a device known as the Sandvine Policy Traffic Switch 8210". It added that this switch "has been configured to identify unidirectional P2P uploads for the protocols -- identified below -- that were determined to be the primary causes of upstream congestion".

Comcast also noted that this only examines "relevant header information in the packet". It does not examine the content of packets.

Comcast elaborated that "Data collected from our HSI network demonstrate that, even with these current management practices in place, P2P traffic continues to comprise approximately half of all upstream traffic transmitted on our HSI network -- and, in some locations, P2P traffic is as much as two-thirds of total upstream traffic. The data also show that, even for the most heavily used P2P protocols, more than 90 percent of these flows are unaffected by the congestion management. Data recently collected from our network show that, when a P2P upload from a particular computer was delayed by a reset packet, that same computer successfully initiated a P2P upload within one minute in 80 percent of the cases. In fact, most of our customers using P2P protocols to upload on any given day never experienced any delay at all."

Attachment B -- Planned Network Management Practices. Comcast wrote that the goal of its "new congestion management practices will be to enable all users of our network resources to access a ``fair share´´ of that bandwidth, in the interest of ensuring a high-quality online experience for all of Comcast's HSI customers."

It continued that "the new approach will be protocol-agnostic; that is, it will not manage congestion by focusing on the use of the specific protocols that place a disproportionate burden on network resources, or any other protocols. Rather, the new approach will focus on managing the traffic of those individuals who are using the most bandwidth at times when network congestion threatens to degrade subscribers’ broadband experience and who are contributing disproportionately to such congestion at those points in time."

Comcast stated that its transition "is already underway" and it is "on schedule" to complete the transition by December 31, 2008.

Comcast also explained that "the new approach will not manage congestion by focusing on managing the use of specific protocols. Nor will this approach use ``reset packets.´´ Rather, the new approach will (1) during periods when a CMTS port is in a Near Congestion State, (2) identify the subscribers on that port who have consumed a disproportionate amount of bandwidth over the preceding 15 minutes, (3) lower the priority status of those subscribers’ traffic to BE status until those subscribers meet the release criteria, and (4) during periods of congestion, delay BE traffic before PBE traffic is delayed."

CMTS is Comcast's acronym for "Cable Modem Termination System". BE is best effort traffic, a quality of service level for Comcast HSI customers. And, PBE is priority best effort traffic, a quality of service level for Comcast HSI customers.

The FCC order, and Comcast's plan, pertain only to Comcast's broadband internet access service. Nothing in the FCC order requires that Comcast increase the capacity dedicated to broadband service, or reduce the capacity devoted to either cable television service or digital voice service. And, nothing in Comcast's plan states that it will increase capacity for broadband.

Attachment C -- Transition Plan. Comcast stated that "We will complete that transition across our HSI network by December 31, 2008."

Anticompetitive Conduct. Gigi Sohn, is the head of the Public Knowledge (PK), one of the two interest groups that filed the complaint [48 pages in PDF] with FCC regarding Comcast's network management practices.

She stated in a release that "It appears that the plan does not discriminate against any particular protocols and does not involve using Deep Packet Inspection."

However, she also asked "Will there be anticompetitive aspects to limiting consumer use of video over the Internet, but not on the Comcast cable network?"

The FCC also discussed anticompetitive conduct in its August order. It concluded that BitTorrent, whose peer to peer service Comcast interfered with, is "a competitive threat to cable operators such as Comcast because Internet users have the opportunity to view high-quality video with BitTorrent that they might otherwise watch (and pay for) on cable television." (Parentheses in original.)

The FCC further found that Comcast's NMPs pose "significant risks of anticompetitive abuse".

Identifying the source and nature of the authority the FCC's actions in difficult. Predicting the direction of future FCC action is even more problematic. The FCC's August 2008 order states that the FCC relied upon its brief policy statement [3 pages in PDF] of August 2005 for both substantive law and enforcement authority. However, that was merely a statement.

The Congress has enacted no statute that prohibits any NMPs of broadband internet access providers. Nor has the Congress enacted any statute that delegates authority to the FCC to regulate or adopt rules regarding NMPs. Nor has the FCC promulgated any substantive rules that regulate NMPs. Nor has the FCC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). Although, it did issue a notice of inquiry (NOI) in 2007 requesting comments on this topic. See, the FCC's proceeding titled "In the Matter of Broadband Industry Practices", numbered WC Docket No. 07-52. Nor has the FCC has promulgated any procedural rules that govern its proceedings pertaining to the NMPs.

Some of the language in the August order, and the latest statement of Sohn, suggest an FCC trajectory towards application of antitrust, or competition, law to the conduct of a wide range of services, including information services and cable services.

The FCC order found that BitTorrent presented a "competitive threat to cable operators", and Comcast's NMPs pose "significant risks of anticompetitive abuse".

The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have statutory antitrust authority which the FCC does not. For example, the FCC has no authority to enforce Section 2 of the Sherman Act, which is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 2. This is the statutory section that the DOJ and FTC might apply in considering whether Comcast engaged in anticompetitive conduct.

Also, the FCC did not engage in discovery regarding, or make specific finding of fact that support, its finding of a competitive threat.

Moreover, as Sohn's latest statement highlights, neither the FCC's order, nor Comcast's plan, attempt to remedy the competitive threat that the FCC recited in its order.

That is, the anticompetitive conduct asserted by the FCC and Sohn is providing broadband internet service that enables transfer of video at speeds that reduce the competitive threat that these internet services present to Comcast's cable services. The FCC order allows Comcast to continue to manage its broadband service. Comcast has tinkered with its technology so that instead of reducing transfer speeds by targeting protocols associated with heavy usage, it targets the heaviest users by their heavy usage. Comcast has not committed to dedicating less capacity to its cable service (which the FCC order states is threatened by services such as BitTorrent) and more capacity to its broadband internet service (which services such as BitTorrent rely upon).

If Sohn's concern about remaining "anticompetitive aspects" is to be addressed, the obvious remedy would be to require Comcast to dedicate more capacity to broadband.

It should be noted that while Sohn's Public Knowledge complained to the FCC about Comcast's NMPs affecting BitTorrent, there are other video services that rely on consumers' use of broadband internet services of Comcast and other cable companies. The same "anticompetitive aspects" that concern Sohn would also concern other video services that rely on broadband services of all cable companies.

It should also be noted that Comcast provides a triple play of services -- cable, broadband, and digital voice service. Just as there are video services that rely on cable broadband, there are also VOIP services that rely on cable broadband. These VOIP services compete with Comcast's digital voice. Hence, these VOIP services might also assert that there are "anticompetitive aspects" to Comcast's and other cable companies' broadband NMPs.

What future actions the FCC will take in the future, and what authority it will assert, is not discernable from existing statutes, regulations, and court opinions, or even from the FCC's August order. All that is clear is that the FCC has begun to invoke the vocabulary of competition law in the context of single firm conduct by broadband service providers.

Tech Law Journal experienced e-mail delivery problems on Tuesday, September 23, 2008, and Wednesday, September 24, 2008. Original versions of the Tuesday issue, TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,830, and the Wednesday issue, TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,831, contained a URL that resulted in e-mail blocking. Both issues are resent on Thursday, September 25, 2008, without this URL.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The House will consider numerous non-technology related items under suspension of the rules. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of September 22, and schedule for September 23.

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM.

9:00 AM. The U.S. District Court (DC) will hold the third day of trial in US v. Stevens, D.C. No. 08-cr-0231. Open statements may be delivered. Judge Emmet Sullivan will preside. Location: Courtroom 24A, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

9:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host an event titled "Beyond the Zero-Sum Game: Technology Transfer and International Security in the Twenty-First Century". See, notice. Location: AEI, 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

9:00 AM - 2:00 PM. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will host an event titled "Information Technology Security Expo". There will be both speakers and vendor booths. This event is free and open to the public. Location: USPTO, Madison Building Auditorium, 600 Dulany St., Alexandria, VA.

TIME CHANGE. 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold a public meeting to work on its 2008 Annual Report to Congress. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 29, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 146, at Pages 43978-43979, and notice in the Federal Register, September 18, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 182, at Page 54205. Location: Conference Room 333, Hall of the States, 444 North Capitol St., NW.

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM. The Wireless Innovation Alliance (WIA) and the New America Foundation (NAF) will host an event titled "White Space: Broadband for the Future". The speakers will be Larry Page (Google), Marc Berejka (Microsoft), Gary Grube (Motorola), Wally Bowen (Mountain Area Information Network), Mark Lloyd (Leadership Conference of Civil Rights),
Michael Calabrese (New America Foundation), Mark McHenry (Shared Spectrum Company), Roger Cochetti (CompTIA), Ben Scott (Free Press)
Harold Feld (Media Access Project), Neeraj Srivastava (Dell), Greg Goldman (Wireless Philadelphia), and John Windhausen (Telepoly Consulting for Educause). Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact the NAF at 202-986-2700. Location: Room G50, Dirksen Building, Capitol Hill.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Copyright Alliance (CA) will host an event titled "EXPOnential". Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is scheduled to speak at 12:30 PM. The CA states that "Singing and songwriting legends will join representatives from copyright industries ranging from photography to motion pictures to software". There will be booths and exhibitions. Lunch will be served. The CA requests that reporters RSVP to Gayle Osterberg at gayle at 133publicaffairs dot com or 202-669-0689, and that others RSVP to Lucinda Dugger at LDugger at copyrightalliance dot org. Location: Russell Caucus Room, Russell Building, Capitol Hill.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The American Constitution Society (ACS) will host a panel discussion titled "2008-2009 ACS Supreme Court Preview". For more information, contact Daniel Schuman of Jeremy Leaming at 202-393-6181. Location: National Press Club, 13th floor, 529 14th St., NW.

12:15 - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a brown bag lunch titled "Antitrust Issues and the Presidential Campaign: A Debate Between McCain and Obama Supporters". The speakers will be James Rill (Howrey), William Kolasky (Wilmer Hale), and Don Resnikoff (District of Columbia). The price to attend ranges from $10 to $15. For more information, contact 202-626-3463. See, notice. Location: Jacob Burns Moot Court Room, George Washington University, 2000 H St., NW.

2:00 PM. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's (HOGRC) Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archiveswill hold a hearing titled "How Information Policy Affects Competitive Viability in Minority Contracting". Location: Room 2154, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) will hold a hearing titled "The Future of Financial Services: Exploring Solutions for the Market Crisis". The witness will include Henry Paulson (Secretary of the Treasury) and Ben Bernanke (Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board). See, notice. Location: Room 2128, Rayburn Building.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its second draft of NIST SP 800-116 [70 pages in PDF] titled "A Recommendation for the Use of PIV Credentials in Physical Access Control Systems (PACS)".

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Media Bureau in response to the PPM Coalition's (PPMC) September 2, 2008, filing titled "Emergency Petition for Section 403 Inquiry." This petition asks the FCC to open an inquiry into Arbitron's use of Portable People Meters (PPM). This item is DA 08-2048 in MB Docket No. 08-187.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The House will consider numerous non-technology related items under suspension of the rules. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of September 22.

8:30 AM - 12:30 PM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and Silicon Flatirons (SF) will host a half day conference titled "Innovation Economics for the Next Administration". See, notice. Location: Newseum, Knight Conference Center Room 706, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., NW (entrance is on 6th Street).

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM. The Technology Policy Institute (TPI) will host an event titled "Powering the Future Key Energy Issues for the Next Administration". At 2:00 PM there will be a panel titled "The Intersection of Telecommunications and Electricity Markets -- New Technologies for Meeting Energy Needs". The speakers for this panel will be Ray Gifford (TPI), Walter Curt (Power Monitors Inc.), and Pat Vincent-Collawn (PNM Resources). See, agenda. For more information, contact Ashley Creel at 202-828-4405. Location: National Press Club.

TIME? The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may hold an event titled "Open Meeting". See, tentative agenda [PDF]. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room.

10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Broadband Providers and Consumer Privacy". See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) may hold an executive business meeting. The agenda includes consideration of an authorization for subpoenas relating to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), and consideration of the nominations of Clark Waddoups (to be a Judge of the U.S. District Judge for the District of Utah), Michael Anello (U.S.D.C., Southern District of California), Mary Scriven (U.S.D.C., Middle District of Florida), Christine Arguello (U.S.D.C., District of Colorado), Philip Brimmer (U.S.D.C., District of Colorado), and Gregory Garre (DOJ Solicitor General). See, notice. The SJC will webcast this meeting. The SJC rarely follows the agendas for its executive business meetings. Location: Room 216, Hart Building.

10:00 AM. The House Small Business Committee will hold a hearing titled "Small Business Competition Policy: Are Markets Open for Entrepreneurs?" Location: Room 1539, Longworth Building.

10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold a public meeting to work on its 2008 Annual Report to Congress. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 29, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 146, at Pages 43978-43979, and notice in the Federal Register, September 18, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 182, at Page 54205. Location: Conference Room 231, Hall of the States, 444 North Capitol St., NW.

10:30 AM. The U.S. District Court (DC) will hold a periodic status conference in US v. Microsoft, D.C. No. 98-cv-1232, and the associated states' action, D.C. No. 98-cv-1233. Location: Courtroom 28A, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

2:00 PM. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's (HOGRC) Subcommittee on Domestic Policy will hold a hearing titled "Tumors and Cell Phone Use: What the Science Says". Location: Room 2154, Rayburn Building.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) regarding assessment and collection of regulatory fees for Fiscal Year 2008. This item is FCC 08-182 in MD Docket No. 08-65. This FCC adopted this item on on August 1, 2008 and released the text [90 pages in PDF] on August 8, 2008. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 26, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 166, at Pages 50285-50296.

Effective date of the order portion of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding assessment and collection of regulatory fees for Fiscal Year 2008. This item is FCC 08-182 in MD Docket No. 08-65. This FCC adopted this item on on August 1, 2008 and released the text [90 pages in PDF] on August 8, 2008. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 26, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 166, at Pages 50285-50296.

Deadline to pay annual fees to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). See, FCC Public Notice [8 pages in PDF] (DA-08-1973) and Public Notice [2 pages in PDF] (DA-08-1974).

The House may meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of September 22.

8:30 AM - 1:00 PM. There will be an event titled "Broadband Census for America Conference". Prices vary. Location: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1200 New York Ave., NW.

9:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold a public meeting to work on its 2008 Annual Report to Congress. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 29, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 146, at Pages 43978-43979, and notice in the Federal Register, September 18, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 182, at Page 54205. Location: Conference Room 333, Hall of the States, 444 North Capitol St., NW.

11:45 AM - 1:45 PM. The Free State Foundation (FSF) will host an event titled "Delivering Media Content in a New Technological Environment: An Exploration of Policy Implications". The speakers will be Steven Wildman (Michigan State University) and Robert McDowell (FCC Commissioner). Lunch will be served. Location: National Academy of Public Administration, 7th and I Streets, NW.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) FCC Enforcement Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "FCC Enforcement Actions Relating to the DTV Transition". The speakers will be David Solomon (Wilkinson Barker Knauer) and Mitch Stoltz (Constantine Cannon). Location: Akin Gump, 1333 New Hampshire Ave., NW.

Extended deadline to submit to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) applications for membership on the NTIA's Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC). The applicable positions have two year terms that commence in December of 2008. See, original notice in the Federal Register, August 1, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 149, at Pages 44972-44973, second notice in the Federal Register, September 10, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 176, at Pages 52646-52647, and third notice in the Federal Register, September 18, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 182, at Page 54139.

9:30 - 11:30 AM. The National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) will meet to "discuss declassification program issues". See, notice in the Federal Register, September 17, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 181, at Page 53905. Location: NARA, Room 105, 700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

Rosh Hashana begins at sundown.

The Supreme Court will hold the opening conference of its October 2008 term.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a panel discussion titled "The Millennials: The Dumbest Generation or the Next Great Generation?". The speakers will be Mark Bauerlein, author of the book titled "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Threatens Our Future", Neil Howe, and Frederick Hess (AEI). See, notice. Location: AEI, 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Department of State's (DOS) Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy will hold a meeting titled "Policies, Programs and Total Economic Engagement with China". See, notice in the Federal Register, September 15, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 179, at Page 53317. Location: DOS, Room 1107, 2201 C St., NW.

Day one of a three day event hosted by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) titled "NAB Satellite Uplink Operators Training Seminar". Location: NAB, 1771 N St, NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding telecommunications relay services and speech to speech services for individuals with hearing and speech disabilities, and speech to speech services and internet protocol speech to speech telecommunications relay service. The FCC adopted this NPRM on June 11, 2008, and released the text [19 pages in PDF] on June 24, 2008. It is FCC 08-149 in CG Docket Nos. 03-123 and 08-15. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 13, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 157, at Pages 47120-47122.

Rosh Hashana.

9:00 - 11:00 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host an event. The speaker will be Gregory Tassey, Senior Economist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and author of the book [Amazon] titled "The Technology Imperative", and the book [Amazon] titled "The Economics of R&D Policy". See, notice. Coffee and parties will be served. Location: ITIF, Suite 200, 1250 Eye St., NW.

Day two of a three day event hosted by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) titled "NAB Satellite Uplink Operators Training Seminar". Location: NAB, 1771 N St, NW.

Second of three deadlines for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to comply with the request of Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the House Commerce Committee (HCC), and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the HCC's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, for a series of three written status reports on whether the FCC and NTIA anticipate that additional funds will be needed for the DTV transition converter box coupon program. See, March 5, 2008, letter [3 pages in PDF].

Deadline for repeat manufacturers of digital to analog converter boxes to submit to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) notices of intent to participate with addition converter boxes in the NTIA's TV Converter Box Coupon Program. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 24, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 143, at Pages 43211-43212.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft SP 800-37, Revision 1 [81 pages in PDF] titled "Guide for Security Authorization of Federal Information Systems: A Security Lifecycle Approach".

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to the CTIA's Petition for Declaratory Ruling [44 pages in PDF] regarding 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7)(B), ensuring timely siting review, and preemption under 47 U.S.C. § 253 of state and local ordinances that classify all wireless siting proposals as requiring a variance. This is WT Docket No. 08-165. See, August 14, 2008, Public Notice (DA 08-1913) and notice in the Federal Register, August 29, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 169, at Pages 50972-50973.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a program titled "An Election Year Round-up of International Trade and Customs Issues". The speakers will be Warren Maruyama (General Counsel, OUSTR), Alice Kipel (Steptoe & Johnson), Timothy Reif (Chief Democratic Trade Counsel, House Ways and Means Committee), Demetrios Marantis (Chief International Trade Counsel, Senate Finance Committee), Jonathan Stoel (Hogan & Hartson), Daniel Pearson (Vice Chair, International Trade Commission), David Spooner (Department of Commerce). The price to attend ranges from $10 to $35. For more information, contact 202-626-3463. See, notice. Location: Hogan & Hartson, 13th floor, 555 13th St., NW.

6:00 - 9:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a program titled "How to Protect and Enforce Trademark Rights: A Primer". The speakers will be Steven Hollman (Hogan & Hartson) and Shauna Wertheim (Roberts Mardula & Wertheim). The price to attend ranges from $80 to $115. For more information, contact 202-626-3488. See, notice. This event qualifies for continuing legal education (CLE) credits. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, B-1 Level, 1250 H St., NW.

Day three of a three day event hosted by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) titled "NAB Satellite Uplink Operators Training Seminar". Location: NAB, 1771 N St, NW.

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