3/25. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) submitted a comment [14 pages in PDF] to the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions.

See, notice in the Federal Register, February 25, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 38, at Pages 10569-10571, and story titled "NTIA Seeks Comments on IANA Functions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,198, February 25, 2011.

The deadline to submit comments is March 31, 2011. The current one year contract expires on September 30, 2011.

The ICANN wants longer term contracts.

The ICANN also states that "The next framework should impose transparency obligations on all parties to the agreement. The default expectation should be that ICANN and NTIA can and should be transparent about the performance of the IANA functions except in those limited circumstance in which confidentiality is required."

The ICANN also wants the scope of the contract to be reduced. "Under the current agreement, ICANN: (a) coordinates management of root zone; (b) allocates Internet Numbering Resources; (c) coordinates assignment of technical protocol parameters; and (d) coordinates management of the .ARPA and .INT top-level domains."

"Going forward, ICANN should continue to perform all of these functions but the scope of the framework with the DOC should be reduced as follows: (a) port and protocol parameter registry functions should be performed under separate agreement between ICANN and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) / Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF); (b) management of .ARPA should be performed under a separate agreement between ICANN and IAB/IETF; and (c) no new technical functions (e.g., RPKI/signing of numbering resources) should be added to the scope of the agreement. ICANN would continue to perform these functions under separate agreements with the relevant international technical bodies such as the IAB/IETF and Number Resources Organization (NRO)." (Parentheses in original.)

3/21. Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division, gave a speech titled "Dynamic Competition in the Newspaper Industry".

She said that the internet has "undermined the business model of many daily newspapers". She cited the "migration of both readers and advertisers to Internet sources" and readers "shifting from paid subscriptions to free online news sources".

Varney (at right) continued that "Online revenue has not offset these losses. Many newspaper owners offer their online content for free, having reasoned that they could attract more readers and thereby sell more advertising. Although online advertising dollars have grown steadily, online advertising rates are just a fraction of print advertising rates for several reasons, including the transient nature of online readership, the multitude of websites offering advertising opportunities, and the huge inventory of potential online advertising space."

She added that "publishers are proposing or implementing a variety of models for charging for access to online content, working to license their content for distribution on e-readers, cell phones, and other devices, exploring ways to monetize their online content better and to make online advertising more effective".

She reviewed the history of antitrust enforcement in the newspaper industry, and recent business review letters issued by the Antitrust Division on collaboration. See, February 24, 2010 letter to MyWire, and March 31, 2010 letter to the Associated Press.

See also, story titled "DOJ Will Not Challenge MyWire Online News Aggregation Service" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,053, March 2, 2010, and story titled "DOJ Will Not Challenge AP's Internet News Registry" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,070, April 2, 2010.

She said that proposals for "antitrust immunity for news organizations" are "misguided".

She also said that the Antitrust Division continues proceed as though newspapers, radio stations, television stations, and internet media are not in the same market for the purposes of antitrust analysis.

However, she added that "Whether changes in technology and consumer preferences may lead to the conclusion that a relevant market should include sales of advertisements (or content) by both newspapers and other media remains something that should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis." (Parentheses in original.)

3/17. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced S 611 [LOC | WW], the "FCC Technical Expertise Capacity Heightening Act" or the "FCC TECH Act".

It would amend 47 U.S.C. § 154, which currently authorizes each Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to hire "three professional assistants".

It would provide that each Commissioner "may also appoint an electrical engineer or computer scientist to provide the commissioner technical consultation when appropriate and to interface with the Office of Engineering and Technology, Commission Bureaus, and other technical staff of the Commission for additional technical input and resources, provided that such engineer or scientist holds an undergraduate or graduate degree from an institution of higher education in their respective field of expertise".

The bill would also require a study to "evaluate the current staffing levels and skill sets of technical personnel at the Commission to determine if such staffing levels and skill sets are aligned with the current and future needs of the Commission, as well as with current and future issues that come or may come under the jurisdiction of the Commission and shall include a recommendation on the appropriate number or percentage of technical personnel that should constitute the Commission workforce".

Moreover, while the Congress often directs the FCC to conduct studies itself, this bill would require the FCC to outsource this study to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The NAS is a body of scientists, and might be expected to conclude that the FCC needs more persons with scientific and technical expertise, rather than legal expertise.

The FCC is an agency run by lawyers. Were the FCC, or a legal group, such as the American Bar Association (ABA) or Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA), to conduct the study mandated by this bill, one might expect the conclusion to be that the FCC should continue to be run by lawyers.

Sen. Snowe (at right) stated that "In 1948, the FCC had 720 engineers on staff; today, it has fewer than 270 -- an astonishing 63 percent reduction -- even though the FCC now must face more technical issues concerning the Internet, advanced wireless communications, commercial cable & satellite industries, and broadband. It should be noted that engineering staff currently only accounts for a dismally low 14 percent of the FCC's workforce--in 1948 that figure was more than 50 percent." See, Congressional Record, March 17, 2011, at Page S1832.

She added that "This legislation enhances technical resources at the FCC so it will be better equipped and more agile to address the ever-changing technical landscape from a regulatory perspective. If it isn't, our nation's technical leadership in this area will continue to erode and it will be even more difficult to lay the proper policy foundation necessary to meet future telecommunications needs."

Sen. Snowe sponsored a similar bill in 111th Congress, S 2881 [LOC | WW], the "FCC Commissioners' Technical Resource Enhancement Act". The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) amended and approved the bill. The full Senate did not pass that bill. See, story titled "Senate Commerce Committee to Mark Up Bill to Give FCC Commissioners More Staff" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,060, March 20, 2010.

The related bill in the House in the 111th Congress was HR 4809 [LOC | WW]. It was sponsored by Rep. Jerry McNerny (D-CA) who has a Ph.D. in mathematics, and worked in wind turbine engineering before his election to the Congress. Neither the House Commerce Committee (HCC), nor the full House, passed that bill.

The last economist to serve as a Commissioner was Harold Furchtgott-Roth. This bill does not address the FCC's lack of expertise in economic and competition analysis.

This bill was referred to the Senate Commerce Committee (SCC).

See, related story in this issue titled "Computer Scientist Advocates More Technical Competency at FCC".

3/1. David Farber, a computer scientist, and former Chief Technologist at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), stated that "the FCC needs technical competency".

He spoke on a panel discussion in Washington DC on March 1, 2011, hosted by the Tech Freedom (TF), titled "Decoding the FCC's Net Neutrality Order".

Farber said that "I would feel much more comfortable about a lot of these things, if the FCC had a technical competency."

After some audience laughter, he said, "Seriously, if you look at the FCC, I could probably identify under a hand full of people who really understand the internet. The current Chief Technologist does. A few of the staff do. But, very few do. So, you have basically an organization that doesn't understand the technical aspects of the internet attempting at times to somehow control this thing that they really don't understand."

He continued, "the FCC needs technical competency. It had it in the wireless space -- still has it in the wireless space. It does not have it in the internet space. And, by the way, it did have it in the telephone space. But, we are no longer in that space."

Harold Feld, an attorney with the Public Knowledge, spoke at the same event. He said that "every engineer that I have ever talked to feels that it is a terrible thing that the FCC is run by lawyers, and it ought to be run by engineers."

"Every economist I have ever talked to thinks that it is terrible that the FCC is run by lawyers, and ought to be run by economists."

"And, every lawyer I have ever talked to thinks that the FCC has it just right."

Feld concluded that "you have got to have all of them".

See also, TF web page with video from the event.

See also, related story in this issue titled "Senators Introduce Bill to Address FCC's Lack of Technical Expertise".

3/21. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke gave a speech in Brazil in which he discussed intellectual property, STEM education, and other topics. He stated that "Companies also continue to have questions about Brazil’s commitment to supporting innovation, particularly when it comes to intellectual property rights protection." He also said that there is "a recognition that to spur this innovation we all support, we'll need a renewed emphasis on education in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields by sharing best practices and expanding research partnerships".

3/17. Microsoft, the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, and state plaintiffs filed a periodic pleading titled "Joint Status Report on Microsoft's Compliance with the Final Judgments" with the U.S. District Court (DC). This action was filed nearly 13 years ago. It is U.S. v. Microsoft, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, D.C. No. 98-1232 (CKK).

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The House will not meet. See Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of March 28.

The Senate will return from its March recess. At 2:00 PM it will resume consideration of S 493 [LOC | WW], the "SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011".

8:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science Board's (NSB) Task Force on Data Policies. The agenda for this meeting includes discussion of "Data-Intensive Science" and "High Performance Cyberinfrastructure". See, notice in the Federal Register, March 21, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 54, at Pages 15349-15350. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 1235, Arlington, VA.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) [31 pages in PDF] regarding how dynamic access radios and techniques can provide more intensive and efficient use of spectrum. The FCC adopted and released this NOI on November 30, 2010. It is FCC 10-198 in ET Docket No. 10-237. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 28, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 248, at Pages 81558-81559. See also, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM and NOI on Spectrum Innovation" 2,168, December 4, 2010.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding extending to June 30, 2012, the current freeze of jurisdictional separations category relationships and cost allocation factors. This NPRM is FCC 11-34 in CC Docket No. 80-286. The FCC adopted and released it on March 1, 2011. See, Federal Register, March 14, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 49, at Pages 13576-13579.

The House will return from its March recess. It will meet at 2:00 PM for legislative business. It will consider several non-technology related items. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 PM. See Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of March 28.

8:30 AM - 12:30 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science Board's (NSB) Task Force on Data Policies. The agenda for this meeting includes discussion of "Data-Intensive Science" and "High Performance Cyberinfrastructure". See, notice in the Federal Register, March 21, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 54, at Pages 15349-15350. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 1235, Arlington, VA.

2:00 - 3:30 PM. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division will host a presentation titled "Coordinated Effects in the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines". The speaker will be Bob Marshall (Penn State) co-author of a paper [PDF] with the same title. For more information, contact Thomas Jeitschko at 202-532-4826 or atr dot eag at usdoj dot gov. Location: Liberty Square Building, 450 5th St., NW.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Economic Ramifications of Cyber Threats and Vulnerabilities to the Private Sector". The witnesses will be Gordon Snow (Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division), Harriet Pearson (Chief Privacy Officer at IBM), Sara Santarelli (Chief Network Security Officer at Verizon), and Thomas Kellerman (Core Security Technologies). See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

4:00 - 6:30 PM. The House Intelligence Committee (HIC) will hold a closed hearing titled "Ongoing Intelligence Activities". Location: Room HVC-304, House Visitor Center.

Deadline to submit comments to the Copyright Office (CO) in response to its Request for Information regarding commercial television broadcast stations that qualify as as specialty stations. See, notice in the Federal Register, January 28, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 19, at Pages 5213-5214.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour, and at 2:00 PM for legislative business. It will consider several non-technology related items. See Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of March 28.

8:45 AM - 2:30 PM. The U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCESRC) will hold a meeting titled "Chinese State-Owned Enterprises and U.S.-China Bilateral Investment". See, notice in the Federal Register, March 25, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 58, at Pages 16856-16857. Location: Room 538, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation". The witness will be Robert Mueller (FBI Director). The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security will hold a hearing titled "The Permanent Provisions of the PATRIOT Act". The witnesses will be Todd Hinnen (acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the DOJ's National Security Division), Kenneth Wainstein (O'Melveny & Myers), and Mike German (ACLU). See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Homeland Security Committee (HHSC) will hold a hearing titled "Public Safety Communications: Are the Needs of Our First Responders Being Met?". See, notice. Location: Room 311, Cannon Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a web cast panel discussion titled "Data Breach Response: Real-World Examples of Why the Best Defense Is a Good Offense". The price ranges from $95-$115. CLE credits. See, notice.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a lunch. The speaker will be Austin Schlick, General Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This event is closed to reporters. See, notice. The price to attend ranges from free to $209. For more information, call 202-626-3463. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

1:00 - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Technological Advisory Council will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 15, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 50, at Pages 14009-14010. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

1:30 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet will hold a hearing on HR __, the "America Invents Act", the yet to be introduced House version of S 23 [LOC | WW], which the Senate passed on March 8, 2011. See, story titled "Senate Passes Patent Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,202, March 10, 2011. See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government will hold a hearing on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) FY 2012 budget request. The witness will be Julius Genachowski, FCC Chairman. See, HAC schedule for week of March 28. Location: Room 2359, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) science and technology FY 2012 budget request. The witness will be Tara O’Toole, Under Secretary for Science & Technology Science & Technology. See, HAC schedule for week of March 28. Location: Room 2362-A, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee's (HFAC) Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing titled "Is America’s Foreign Broadcasting Consistent with Our Nation’s Interests and Our Commitment to Freedom?". See, notice. Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Nominations". The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

2:00 PM. The USTelecom will host a webcast panel discussion titled "FCC Insight on USF and Intercarrier Compensation Reform". The speakers will be Rebekah Goodheart (FCC), Carol Mattey (FCC), and Jon Banks (USTelecom). See also, FCC NPRM [289 pages in PDF] adopted on February 8, 2011. It is FCC 11-13 in WC Docket No. 10-90, GN Docket No. 09-51, WC Docket No. 07-135, WC Docket No. 05-337, CC Docket No. 01-92, CC Docket No. 96-45, and WC Docket No. 03-109. Free. See, notice.

2:30 PM. The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Competition will host a presentation titled "Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie? The Supply of New Recorded Music since Napster". The speaker will be Joel Waldfogel (University of Minnesota), author of a paper [PDF] with the same title. For more information, contact Loren Smith at lsmith2 at ftc dot gov or Tammy John at tjohn at ftc dot gov. Location: Room 8089, 1800 M Street Building.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "Spectrum Valuation Issues in the Context of The FCC’s National Broadband Plan". The speakers will include Rebecca Hanson (FCC's Media Bureau). The price to attend ranges from $25 to $150. CLE credits. See, notice. Location: Covington & Burling, 1201 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

Day one of a three day conference of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law. See, conference web site. Prices vary. CLE credits. Location: JW Marriott Hotel.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [71 pages in PDF] regarding changes to the Form 477 data program. The FCC adopted and released this NPRM on February 8, 2011. It is FCC 11-14 in WC Docket Nos. 07-38, 09-190, 10-132, 11-10. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 28, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 39, at Pages 10827-10852.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour, and at 2:00 PM for legislative business. It will consider several non-technology related items. See Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of March 28.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of Goodwin Liu (to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit) and John McConnell (to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island). Both face substantial opposition. The agenda also includes consideration Kevin Sharp (USDC/MDTenn), Roy Dalton (USDC/MDFl), Claire Cecchi (USDC/DNJ), and Esther Salas (USDC/DNJ). The agenda also includes consideration of S 410 [LOC | WW], the "Sunshine in the Courtroom Act". The SJC rarely follows its published agendas. The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies will hold a hearing on the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) FY 2012 budget request. The witness will be John Holdren, OSTP Director. See, HAC schedule for week of March 28. Location: Room H-309, Capitol Building.

10:00 AM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Homeland Security will hold a closed hearing on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cyber security and infrastructure protection FY 2012 budget request. The witnesses will be Rand Beers (Under Secretary of the National Protection & Programs Directorate) and Phil Reitinger (Deputy Under Secretary of National Protection & Programs Directorate). See, HAC schedule for week of March 28. Location: Room H-405, Capitol Building.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on on Immigration Policy and Enforcement will hold a hearing titled "H-1B Visas: Designing a Program to Meet the Needs of the U.S. Economy and U.S. Workers". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Finance Committee (SFC) will hold a hearing titled "APEC 2011: Breaking Down Barriers, Creating Economic Growth". See, notice. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.

1:00 PM. The USTelecom will host a webcast panel discussion titled "Optical Network Edge". The speaker will be Kevin Morgan (Adtran). Free. See, notice.

2:00 PM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee's (HFAC) Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific will hold a hearing titled "Asia Overview: Protecting American Interests in China and Asia". See, notice. Location: Room 2200, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) will hold a hearing on the FY 2012 budget request for the Library of Congress. See, notice. Location: Room 138, Dirksen Building.

Day two of a three day conference of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law. See, conference web site. Prices vary. CLE credits. Location: JW Marriott Hotel.

Target date for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) to conclude its review of the operation, effectiveness, and implementation of and compliance with various telecommunications agreements, including the World Trade Organization (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services. See, notice in the Federal Register, November 18, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 222, at Pages 70770-70771.

Deadline to submit nominations to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the award of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation (NMTI). See, notice in the Federal Register, December 30, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 250, at Page 82378.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft SP 800-131 C [12 pages in PDF] titled "Transitions: Validating the Transition from FIPS 186-2 to FIPS 186-3".

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft SP 800-131 B [11 pages in PDF] titled "Transitions: Validation of Transitioning Cryptographic Algorithm and Key Lengths".

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 25, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 38, at Pages 10569-10571.

Deadline to submit comments to the Copyright Royalty Judges regarding the motion filed by the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), SESAC, and Harry Fox Agency (HFA) for partial distribution of the digital audio recording technology (DART) musical works funds for 2005 through 2008. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 1, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 40, at Pages 11287-11288.

The House may meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. See Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of March 28.

Supreme Court conference day (discussion of argued cases, and decision on cert petitions). Closed.

9:00 - 11:00 AM. The House Intelligence Committee (HIC) will hold a closed hearing titled "FY 2012 Budget Overview". Location: Room HVC-304, House Visitor Center.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "Competition and Consolidation in Financial Markets". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:30 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing on HR __, a yet to be introduced bill regarding broadband spending under HR 1 (111th Congress) for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and Rural Utilities Service (RUS). See, notice. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure will meet, on site and by teleconference. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 16, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 51, at Page 14436. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 1160, Arlington, VA.

Day three of a three day conference of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law. See, conference web site. Prices vary. CLE credits. Location: JW Marriott Hotel.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Commerce (DOC) in response to its Notice and Request for Information regarding the USA's "innovative capacity and international competitiveness". See, original notice in the Federal Register, February 4, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 24, at Pages 6395-6397, and correction notice in the Federal Register, February 17, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 33, at Pages 9320.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "Demystifying Social Media -- What Every Lawyer Should Know". The speakers will be Tasha Coleman, Tom Foster, Laura Possessky, Michelle Thomas. See, notice. Free. For more information, contact Daniel Mills at 202-626-1312. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) International Telecommunications Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Internet Ecosystem". The speakers will include Jack Nadler (Squire Sanders), Michael Kende (Analysys Mason USA), Paul Kouroupas (Global Crossing), Eric Loeb (AT&T), and Dennis Weller (Navigant Economics). For more information, contact Jennifer Ullman at jennifer at thejgroupplanning dot com. Location: Squire Sanders, Suite 500, 1201 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding extending to June 30, 2012, the current freeze of jurisdictional separations category relationships and cost allocation factors. This NPRM is FCC 11-34 in CC Docket No. 80-286. The FCC adopted and released it on March 1, 2011. See, Federal Register, March 14, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 49, at Pages 13576-13579.