8/5. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) introduced HR 2802 [LOC | WW], the "Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2011".

This bill provides, subject to certain enumerated exceptions, that "the presiding judge of an appellate court of the United States" and "the presiding judge of a district court of the United States may, at the discretion of that judge, permit the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising to the public of any court proceeding over which that judge presides".

The bill provides exceptions to prevent violation of due process rights.

It also provides the exception for trial courts that "upon the request of any witness (other than a party) in a trial proceeding, the court shall order the face and voice of the witness to be disguised or otherwise obscured in such manner as to render the witness unrecognizable to the broadcast audience of the trial proceeding". (Parentheses in original.)

It also provides that "The presiding judge shall not permit the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising of any juror in a trial proceeding, or of the jury selection process."

It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee (HJC).

The companion bill in the Senate is S 410 [LOC | WW], also titled the "Sunshine in the Courtroom Act". Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and others introduced that bill on February 17, 2011. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) amended and approved it on April 7, 2011. See, story titled "Senate Judiciary Committee Continues to Consider Cameras and Mics in Courtrooms" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,207, March 23, 2011.

HR 2802 is also a reintroduction of HR 3054 [LOC | WW], the "Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2009", from the 111th Congress. That bill was introduced by former Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA) and Rep. Lungren. Its other sponsors were Rep. Lofgren, Rep. Deutch, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN).

The companion bill in the Senate in the 111th Congress was S 657 [LOC | WW], also titled the "Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2009". Sen. Grassley was the sponsor. The SJC, but not the full Senate, approved that bill.

There were similar bills and in the 110th Congress. See, S 352 and HR 2128. Also, there were similar bills in the 109th Congress. See, S 829 and HR 2422.

Rule 53, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, provides that "Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom."

The Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts have also been hostile to cameras in courtrooms, and the legislative proposals of Sen. Grassley and others.

See also, story titled "1st Circuit Rejects Webcasting of Civil Motions Hearings in District Court" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,930, April 21, 2009.

8/8. Jacob Lew, Director of the Executive Office of the President's (EOP) Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum [PDF] to the head of executive departments and agencies regarding "Chief Information Officer Authorities".

Lew (at left) wrote that the role of department and agency chief information officers (CIOs) is being changed "away from just policymaking and infrastructure maintenance, to encompass true portfolio management for all IT". He states that this memorandum "is designed to clarify the primary area of responsibility for Agency CIOs".

This memorandum states that "CIOs, or senior agency officials reporting to the CIO, shall have the authority and primary responsibility to implement an agency-wide information security program and to provide information security for both the information collected and maintained by the agency, or on behalf of the agency, and for the information systems that support the operations, assets, and mission of the agency."

It also states that "CIOs must drive the investment review process for IT investments and have responsibility over the entire IT portfolio for an Agency. CIOs must work with Chief Financial Officers and Chief Acquisition Officers to ensure IT portfolio analysis is an integral part of the yearly budget process for an agency."

It also states that "Agency CIOs shall improve the overall management of large Federal IT projects by identifying, recruiting, and hiring top IT program management talent. CIOs will also train and provide annual performance reviews for those leading major IT programs.

It also states that "Agency CIOs must focus on eliminating duplication and rationalize their agency's IT investments.

Finally, it states that "CIOs are required to playa cross-agency portfolio management role through the Federal CIO Council (CIOC)."

7/28. The United Nations' (UN) Human Rights Committee (HRC) released a document [15 pages in PDF] regarding "Freedoms of opinion and expression", which addresses, among other topics, internet based expression.

This is "General Comment No. 34 on Article 19", adopted by the HRC at its July 11-29, 2011, meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. See also, the HRC's July 28 release.

Paragraph 3 states that "Freedom of expression is a necessary condition for the realisation of the principles of transparency and accountability that are, in turn, essential for the promotion and protection of human rights."

Paragraph 43 states that "Any restrictions on the operation of websites, blogs or any other internet-based, electronic or other such information dissemination system, including systems to support such communication, such as internet service providers or search engines, are only permissible to the extent that they are compatible with paragraph 3. Permissible restrictions generally should be content-specific; generic bans on the operation of certain sites and systems are not compatible with paragraph 3. It is also inconsistent with paragraph 3 to prohibit a site or an information dissemination system from publishing material solely on the basis that it may be critical of the government or the political social system espoused by the government."

Paragraph 44 states that "Journalism is a function shared by a wide range of actors, including professional full time reporters and analysts, as well as bloggers and others who engage in forms of self-publication in print, on the internet or elsewhere, and general State systems of registration or licensing of journalists are incompatible with paragraph 3. Limited accreditation schemes are permissible only where necessary to provide journalists with privileged access to certain places and/ or events. Such schemes should be applied in a manner that is non-discriminatory and compatible with article 19 and other provisions of the Covenant, based on objective criteria and taking into account that journalism is a function shared by a wide range of actors."

8/8. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a short report of the event in Beijing, People's Republic of China, on July 11-12, 2011, titled "Sino-U.S. Symposium on Audit Oversight". This report states that "the officials briefed each other on their respective audit oversight system and inspection procedures. They also exchanged views on how to deepen cooperation on cross-border audit oversight."

8/8. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [63 pages in PDF] titled "Information Security: State Has Taken Steps to Implement a Continuous Monitoring Application, but Key Challenges Remain".

8/5. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [31 pages in PDF] titled "Green Information Technology: Agencies Have Taken Steps to Implement Requirements, but Additional Guidance on Measuring Performance Needed".

8/5. AT&T announced in a release regarding voicemail security that its "customers have the option and are strongly encouraged to password-protect access to their wireless voicemail. Beginning August 5, voicemail accounts for new customers, those who change phone numbers, upgrade to Visual Voice Mail, or create a new voicemail box will default to a password required setting to check voicemail from their wireless or any other device." Also, "AT&T strongly recommends using a password". AT&T's Bob Quinn explained in another piece that AT&T has allowed "wireless subscribers to get access to their cell phone voicemail boxes without having to use their password when they were calling the mailbox from their mobile device". He explained that AT&T is now responding to "the wide availability of sophisticated telephone number spoofing technology that allows people to ``fake´´ the telephone number they are calling from". Quinn added that "Some privacy advocates have called on companies like AT&T to go further and actually prohibit our customers from accessing voicemail unless they use a password.  We are not going to go that far."

The House will meet in pro forma session at 10:00 AM. It is in recess until 2:00 PM on September 7. However, it will hold pro forma sessions twice per week until then.

The Senate will meet in pro forma session at 11:00 AM. It is in recess until 2:00 PM on September 6. However, it will hold pro forma sessions twice per week until then.

10:30 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an event titled "open meeting". See, tentative agenda, and story titled "FCC Releases Tentative Agenda for August 9 Meeting" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,264, July 20, 2011. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [17 pages in PDF] regarding Terrestrial Trunked Radio, or TETRA, technology. The FCC adopted this item on April 18, 2011, and released the text on April 26, 2011. It is FCC 11-63 in WT Docket No. 11-69 and ET Docket No. 09-234. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 91, Wednesday, May 11, 2011, at Pages 27296-27300.

Deadline set by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) for Groupon to respond the interrogatories propounded in their July 26 letter regarding the July 11 article in the Washington Post titled "Groupon changes privacy policy to collect, share more information". See also, Rep. Markey's release.

10:00 AM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Materials Technical Advisory Committee will hold a partially closed meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 146, Friday, July 29, 2011, at Page 45508. Location: DOC, Hoover Building, Room 3884, 14th Street between Constitution & Pennsylvania Avenues, NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [15 pages in PDF] regarding whether to make the grandfathered providers permanently eligible for universal service subsidies under the FCC's rural health care program. The FCC adopted this NPRM on June 20, 2011, and released the text on June 21, 2011. It is FCC 11-101 in WC Docket No. 02-60. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 123, Monday, June 27, 2011, at Pages 37307-37309.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft SP 800-56 C [17 pages in PDF] titled "Recommendation for Key Derivation through Extraction-then-Expansion".

The House will meet in pro forma session at 10:00 AM.

The Senate will meet in pro forma session at 12:00 NOON.

1:00 - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host an event titled "Summer Rooftop BBQ and Pool Party". The price to attend is $15. For more information, contact Justin Faulb at faulb at lojlaw dot com or Brendan Carr at BCarr at wileyrein dot com.

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The Heritage Foundation (HF) will host a panel discussion titled "National EMP Recognition Day: The Threat That Can't Be Ingnored". The speakers will be Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), Peter Pry (EMPact America), Frank Gafney (Center for Security Studies), Drew Miller, and James Carafano (HF). This event is free and open to the public. See, notice. Location: HF, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the report submitted to the FCC on June 30, 2011, by the technical working group co-chaired by LightSquared and the U.S. Global Positioning System Industry Council (USGIC). See, FCC International Bureau's (IB) order dated June 30, 2011. It is DA 11-1133 in DA 11-1133. See also report, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, and part 7.

EXTENDED FROM AUGUST 8. Extended deadline to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to its notice in the Federal Register regarding the proposed self-regulatory guidelines submitted to the FTC by Aristotle International, Inc. under the safe harbor provision of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule. See, Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 123, Monday, June 27, 2011, at Pages 37290-37291. See, notice of extension.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft NIST IR-7275 Rev. 4 [77 pages in PDF] titled "Specification for the Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF) Version 1.2".

The House will meet in pro forma session at 11:30 AM.

The Senate will meet in pro forma session at 11:00 AM.

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