11/30. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) sent a letter to Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) requesting that the mark up of spectrum legislation, scheduled for Thursday, December 1, 2011, be postponed.

Rep. Waxman and Rep. Eshoo are the ranking Democrats on the House Commerce Committee (HCC) and its Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. Rep. Upton and Rep. Walden are the Chairmen of the HCC and its SCT.

The bill to be marked up has not yet been introduced. However, on Tuesday, November 29, HCC Republicans released a discussion draft [113 pages in PDF] of the "Jumpstarting Opportunity with Broadband Spectrum (JOBS) Act of 2011".

HCC Democrats introduced their own bill, HR 3509 [LOC | WW], the "Wireless Innovation and Public Safety Act of 2011", on November 29. See, story titled "House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology to Mark Up Spectrum Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,315, November 29, 2011.

The two Democrats wrote that the Republican bill was not released until "Tuesday, so a delay will give members and stakeholders more time to understand the new language."

"Second, we were engaged in constructive negotiations toward a bipartisan bill that were abruptly ended in early October. A delay would provide an opportunity for us to resume these negotiations and to share relevant information we have learned since then."

Both draft bills provide for allocation of the D Block for a public safety network. Rep. Waxman and Rep. Eshoo argued that the Republican bill has three flaws: "(1) its diffuse governance provisions for the public safety network; (2) its prohibition on allocating spectrum from incentive auctions for unlicensed use; and (3) its limitations on the FCC’s authority to craft auction rules in the public interest."

They wrote that the Democratic bill provides for a "national nonprofit corporation" to build the network, while the Republican draft provides for building by the "50 states", with "significant authority over the deployment of the public safety network be contracted out to a private company". They expressed concerns about the "accountability of a private contractor and the costs to the taxpayer".

Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX), the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee (SCC), stated in a release that "I'm very glad that the House Energy & Commerce Committee is placing a priority on providing our nation's first responders with the spectrum they need to build a robust nationwide public safety wireless network.  While there are some differences between our bills, I believe the House's JOBS Act is complimentary to the bipartisan bill Chairman Rockefeller and I have passed in the Senate Commerce Committee, S. 911.  I look forward to working with my House colleagues to incorporate their priorities into S. 911 so we can send a final spectrum bill to the President's desk sometime this winter."

Gordon Smith, head of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), stated in a release that "Chairman Walden's bill represents a major step forward in ensuring that local television stations will continue to be able to serve our vast and diverse audiences with local news, entertainment, sports and emergency weather information. Our position remains unchanged since this debate began: NAB has no quarrel with voluntary spectrum auctions so long as non-volunteer broadcasters and our viewers are not punished."

Steve Largent, head of the CTIA, stated in a release that the "CTIA and the wireless industry welcome the mark-up of the JOBS Act of 2011. This bill takes the important step of authorizing voluntary incentive auctions, which will make a substantial down payment toward solving the looming spectrum crisis." He urged that "Congress should make every effort to get this done this year."

11/30. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) introduced HR __, the "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011". See, discussion draft [11 pages in PDF]. The HIC scheduled an immediate mark up of this bill -- Thursday, December 1, 2011, at 3:00 PM.

This is a bill to promote, but not mandate, information sharing. It would allow sharing. It would create new immunities. On the other hand, it would create no new regulatory regime, no new criminal prohibition regime, no data retention mandate, and no new government surveillance powers.

This bill would amend Title 50, which pertains to national defense and intelligence, to authorize U.S. intelligence agencies to provide secret "cyber threat intelligence" to certain private sector entities, namely, "cybersecurity providers", "protected entities" (of cybersecurity providers), and "self-protected entities" (which provide their own cybersecurity). The bill further allows these entities to further share this intelligence, but prohibits "unauthorized disclosure".

This bill would also allow "cybersecurity providers" and "self-protected entities" to provide "cyber threat information" to others, and to the federal government. But, shared cyber threat information "may not be used by an entity to gain an unfair competitive advantage".

The bill would also grant sweeping immunity from state and federal, and civil and criminal, actions and liability, for "using cybersecurity systems or sharing information in accordance with this" bill, or "for not acting on information obtained or shared in accordance with this" bill.

Rep. Rogers is the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee (HIC). Rep. Ruppersberger is the ranking Democrat on the HIC. The two spoke at an event at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) on November 30. See, video.

The two also issued a release that states that "American businesses are targeted every day by scheming hackers and nation-states such as China and Russia that are intent on stealing America’s intellectually property and sensitive government information through the Internet."

In addition, on November 17 the two announced an investigation "into the threat posed by Chinese-owned telecommunications companies working in the United States, and the government's response to that threat". See, story titled "House Intelligence Committee Launches Investigation of Huawei" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,313, November 22, 2011.

Rep. Rogers stated in the joint release that "There is an economic cyber war going on today against U.S. companies ... There are two types of companies in this country, those who know they’ve been hacked, and those who don’t know they’ve been hacked. Economic predators, including nation-states, are blatantly stealing business secrets and innovation from private companies. This cybersecurity bill goes a long way in helping American businesses better protect their networks and their intellectual property."

Rep. Ruppersberger (at right) stated in this release that "We simply can’t stand by if we have the ability to help American companies protect themselves. Sharing information about cyber threats is a critical step to preventing them. This bill is a good start toward helping the private sector safeguard its intellectual property and critical cyber networks, including those that power our electrical, water and banking systems. The bill maintains vital protections for privacy and civil liberties without any new federal spending, regulations or unfunded mandates".

The bills defines "cybersecurity intelligence" as information "directly pertaining to a vulnerability of, or threat to, a system or network of a government or private entity, including information pertaining to the protection of a system or network from -- (A) efforts to degrade, disrupt, or destroy such system or network; or (B) theft or misappropriation of private or government information, intellectual property, or personally identifiable information."

Michael Powell, head of the NCTA, and former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), stated at the Wednesday event that there is an "inadequate information flow", and that this bill addresses this.

Powell stated in a release that "We applaud Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Ruppersberger for introduction of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 that will ensure better information sharing between all stakeholders involved in protecting our nation's critical cyber infrastructure. We appreciate that this legislation avoids a prescriptive regulatory regime that does not fit the constantly evolving cyber threat environment and it appropriately allows individual companies to determine how they can best participate. This legislation will protect both our national security and our customers and has the strong support of the nation's cable, telephone and wireless industries. We urge Congress to swiftly pass the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 into law."

Steve Largent, head of the CTIA, stated at the Wednesday event that "better sharing of information between carriers and their vendors" and the federal government is important.

Walter McCormack, head of the USTelecom, stated that his group and members are committed to protecting networks against cyber threats, and that "we can do so much better, we can do so much more, if we can share information with the government in a way that is protected ... This legislation will make that possible." See also, USTelecom release.

Rep. Rogers stated at this event that "there is a cyber war that is going on today." He added that "the threat is real, and our protections are not where they ought to be."

Rep. Rogers said that "the best thing that we can do is remove the barriers" to information sharing between the government and the private sector, and within the private sector. He also stated that "The bill has nothing to do with surveillance."

Rep. Ruppersberger stated that "We will have a catastrophic attack within the next year." He suggested that banking, air traffic control and the grid system could be targets.

Rep. Rogers mentioned several countries in his speech, including the People's Republic of China, Russia, and Iran. Rep. Ruppersberger mentioned North Korea.

11/24. The Philippine National Police's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) announced in a vaguely worded release that the CIDG and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) "have busted a group of Filipino hackers whose operation is allegedly being financed by a Saudi-based terrorist group".

This release states that this action included searches and arrests that "stemmed from the complaint of AT&T" about "the activities of Filipino hackers who hacked the system of AT&T" resulting in "almost $2-million in losses".

This release adds that the FBI "uncovered paper trail of various bank transactions linking the local hackers to the Saudi-based cell whose activities include financing terrorist activities".

This release does not disclose the name of the Saudi group. It does state that the Philipino individuals have also "targeted the AT&T in the US" and that they "hack the trunk-line (PBX) of different telecommunication companies including the AT&T".

The release does not use the phrase "remote toll fraud". However, its description of the arrested Filipino individuals' activities is consistent with remote toll fraud. This is the gaining of unauthorized access to the telecommunications equipment of clients of AT&T or other telecommunications companies for the purpose making unauthorized calls.

Then, revenues from the sale of such stolen telecommunications services can be used, for example, to fund terrorist activities.

Remote toll fraud is both ancient and common. What is novel about this case is that it discloses that remote toll fraud is being used to fund terrorism.

11/16. Jamie Lynn Snyder pled guilty in the U.S. District Court (DDel) to one count of criminal copyright infringement in connection with her operation of a web site that sold unlicensed copies of programs of Microsoft, Adobe, and other software companies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated in a release that Sydner advertised on the websites on Facebook, MySpace, Google, and Yahoo, and that her "websites processed $971,935.10 in unlawful software transactions between February 26, 2008 and March 3, 2010."

11/15. The U.S. District Court (EDPenn) unsealed an indictment that changes Michael Moore with criminal copyright infringement in connection with his involvement with web sites that sold DVDs containing copies of broadcast hockey games. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated in a release that "HDHOCKEY.TV was a website that offered for sale DVDs containing recordings of copyrighted television broadcasts of hockey games and other copyrighted works such as team and player profiles, from the National Hockey League (NHL) and other professional hockey leagues." The release also states that "BROADSTREETBULLY.COM was a website offering for sale monthly subscriptions that enabled subscribers to download an unlimited number of video clips of copyrighted television broadcasts of hockey games, and other copyrighted works such as team and player profiles, from the NHL and other professional hockey leagues."

11/7. Eleazar Gomez Ortiz pled guilty in the U.S. District Court (EDCal) to conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and traffic in counterfeit labels, illicit labels, and counterfeit documentation and packaging. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated in a release that Ortiz sold the counterfeit music CDs and motion picture DVDs in public flea markets in the Sacramento, California, area.

11/7. The U.S. District Court (DKan) sentenced Timothy Weatherly to serve 27 months in prison following his plea of guilty to one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and make false statements. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated in a release that he and others imported counterfeit Cisco equipment from the People's Republic of China (PRC), packaged this equipment with counterfeit Cisco labels and manuals, and then sold the counterfeits as genuine Cisco products on the eBay auction web site. The FBI added that the "conspirators obtained access to Cisco's confidential serial number verification website in order to obtain legitimate serial numbers" and "used multiple shippers and other methods to attempt to keep shipments from being seized by customs officials".

11/3. John Kenneth Calderon Basto pled guilty in the U.S. District Court (WDOkla) to distribution of child pornography (CP). CP related crime is most frequently prosecuted category of technology related federal crime. Most prosecutions are based upon the defendants' use of computing devices to view internet based CP. A much smaller proportion involve production of CP for distribution via the internet. The Basto case has an atypical origin. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) explained in a release that Basto, who lived in California, and a ten year old boy in Oklahoma played the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on their Xbox LIVE gaming stations. The Xbox LIVE enables simultaneous voice communication. The FBI stated that "Basto and the boy talked online, and he eventually invited the boy into a private chat room, where they exchanged cell phone numbers. Through phone calls and text messages, Basto asked the boy for pictures", who complied, in exchange for cheat codes.

11/3. Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Glendon Swift for making voicemail threats of violence to Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and his family. See, FBI release.

10/25. Joshua David Evans pled guilty in the U.S. District Court (EDVa) to criminal copyright infringement and conspiracy in connection with his involvement with the NinjaVideo.net web site. Another defendant, Jeremy Lynn Andrew, pled guilty to conspiracy. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia stated in a release that this web site "provided millions of users with the ability to illegally download infringing copies of copyright-protected movies and television programs in high-quality formats", and that it "generated a total of $505,000 in income from Internet advertising and visitor donations". This release adds that Evans supervised the uploading of infringing content to the web site, while Andrew was an administrator of the web site.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

The Senate will meet at 10:00 AM. It will resume consideration of S 1867 [LOC | WW], the "Department of Defense Authorization Act".

8:00 AM. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), USTelecom, and CTIA will host an event titled "Protecting American Innovation in Cyberspace". The speaker will be Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI). Persons interested in attending should e-mail Pam Ford at pford at ncta dot com. Location: NCTA, 25 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The House Science Committee's (HSC) Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight will hold a hearing titled "Stimulus Oversight: An Update on Accountability, Transparency, and Performance". It will address, among other topics, spending by the Department of Commerce (DOC) and National Science Foundation (NSF). See, notice. The HSC will webcast this event. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing on the nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai to be Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The SCC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "Slicing the Airwaves Pie: Incentive Auctions, Incumbent Relocation and New Principles of Spectrum Management". Prices vary. CLE credits. Registrations and cancellations are due by 5:00 PM on November 28. See, registration form. Location: Bingham McCutchen, 2020 K St., NW.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

8:00 - 10:00 AM. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will host an event titled "Trademark Office Speaks". The speakers will be Deborah Cohn (Commissioner for Trademarks) and Gerard Rogers (Chief Administrative Trademark Judge of the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board). The price to attend ranges from $20 to $35. The D.C. Bar Association, which bars reporters from many of its events, states that this is a DC Bar event. See, notice. Location: Cosmos Club, 2121 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

8:30 AM - 12:30 PM. The Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies will host an event titled "Phoenix Center 11th Annual U.S. Telecoms Symposium". The speakers will include Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE), Marius Schwartz (FCC Chief Economist), Tim Brennan (UMBC), Michael Pelcovits (MiCRA), Michael Rollins (Citi Investment Research & Analysis), Chris Gleason (Alyeska Investment Group), Michael Powell (NCTA), Steve Largent (CTIA), and James Cicconi (AT&T). See, notice. Location: University Club, 1135 16th St., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will meet to mark up a discussion draft [113 pages in PDF] of a yet to be introduced bill titled the "Jumpstarting Opportunity with Broadband Spectrum (JOBS) Act of 2011". See, notice and majority staff memorandum. See also, HCC Democrats' draft bill. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again lists consideration of three judicial nominees: Jacqueline Nguyen (to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit), Gregg Costa (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas), and David Guaderrama (USDC, Western District of Texas). The SJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

12:00 NOON. The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Economics will host a presentation titled "Tying and Bundling in a Nearly Contestable Market". The speaker will be Michael Salinger (Boston University). See, presentation paper [PDF]. For more information, contact Loren Smith at lsmith2 at ftc dot gov or Tammy John at tjohn at ftc dot gov. Location: FTC, Room 4100, 601 New Jersey Ave., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a brown bag lunch titled "Old Media Meet New Media: What Lawyers & Clients Need to Know Before and During a Crisis". The speakers will be Len Biegel, Rich Cooper, Andre Francis and Mark Sedak. See, notice. Location: ABA, 740 15th St., NW.

1:00 PM. The House Small Business Committee's (HSBC) Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology will hold a hearing titled "Cyber Security: Protecting Your Small Business". The witnesses will be Rep. Mac Thornberry, (R-TX), David Beam (North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation and National Rural Electric Cooperative Association), Glenn Strebe (Air Academy Federal Credit Union and National Association of Federal Credit Unions), and Michael Kaiser (National Cyber Security Alliance). See, notice. Location: Room 2360, Rayburn Building.

1:00 PM. The USTelecom will host a webcast seminar titled "Botnets, Malware and Other Cyber Threats: A Technology and Policy Primer". See, notice. Free.

5:30 PM. The University of Maryland (UM) and Google will host an event titled "Current R&D Initiatives in Cybersecurity". The speaker will be Douglas Maughan (Director of the DHS's Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency's Cyber Security Division). See, notice and registration page. For more information, contact Eric Chapman at 301-405-7136 or echapman at umiacs dot umd dot edu. Location: UM, Jeong Kim Engineering Building, Room 1110, College Park, MD.

6:00 - 8:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host a reception. Prices vary. Registrations and cancellations are due by 5:00 PM on November 28. See, registration form. Location: Swedish Embassy, 2900 K St., NW.

The House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. The House will consider HR 527 [LOC | WW], the "Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2011", and HR 3010 [LOC | WW], the "Regulatory Accountability Act of 2011". See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

Supreme Court conference day. See, calendar. Closed.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regarding its draft Special Publication 500-293 [32 pages in PDF] titled "US Government Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap, Release 1.0". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 211, Tuesday, November 1, 2011, at Pages 67418-67419.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in response to its notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces, describes, and recites proposed rules regarding its system of records involving collection and use debit and credit card data for civil, criminal and intelligence purposes. The DHS proposes to exempt portions of this system of records from one or more provisions of the Privacy Act. See, FR, Vol. 76, No. 212, Wednesday, November 2, 2011, at Pages 67621-67622.

10:00 - 11:30 PM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host an panel discussion titled "America's Competitiveness Crisis and the Anemic Job Recovery". The speakers will be Lenny Mendonca (McKinsey Global Institute), George Tassey (NIST), and Robert Atkinson (ITIF). See, notice. Location: ITIF/ITIC, Suite 610A, 1101 K St., NW.

6:00 - 9:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "IP Year In Review Series 2011: Copyright and Trademark Update". The speakers will be Amy Benjamin (Stein McEwen) and Terence Ross (Crowell & Moring). See, notice. The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. CLE credits. For more information, call 202-626-3488. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

7:00 PM. The Intellectual Property Owners Association will host a reception and dinner titled "2011 IPO Education Foundation Awards Dinner". The speakers will include David Kappos, head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Location: 8th and G St., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [60 pages in PDF] regarding its review process for foreign ownership of wireless companies. The FCC adopted and released this NPRM on August 9, 2011. It is FCC 11-121 in IB Docket No. 11-133. See, story titled "FCC Issues Foreign Ownership NPRM" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,285, August 10, 2011. See, Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 204, Friday, October 21, 2011, at Pages 65472-65485.

Deadline for Facebook to respond to the November 10, 2011, letter from Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) in which they inquired about Facebook's patent application filed on February 8, 2011 for a method of "tracking information about activities of users of social networking system while on another domain".

10:00 AM. The House Homeland Security Committee's (HHSC) Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies will hold a hearing titled "Draft Legislative Proposal on Cybersecurity". See, notice. Location: Room 311, Cannon Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Access to the Court: Televising the Supreme Court". See, notice. The SJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

POSTPONED 10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security will hold a hearing on HR 1823, the "__". See, notice. Location: Room 2147, Rayburn Bulding.

2:00 PM. The House Homeland Security Committee's (HHSC) Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence will hold a hearing titled "Jihadist Use of Social Media - How to Prevent Terrorism and Preserve Innovation". See, notice. Location: Room 311, Cannon Building.

10:00 AM. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Mayo Collective Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Sup. Ct. No. 10-1150, a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir). The question presented is "Whether 35 U.S.C. § 101 is satisfied by a patent claim that covers observed correlations between blood test results and patient health, so that the claim effectively preempts all uses of the naturally occurring correlations, simply because well-known methods used to administer prescription drugs and test blood may involve "transformations" of body chemistry." See, December 17, 2010 opinion of the Court of Appeals.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "Covering Your Assets: How to Protect and Leverage Your Pro Bono Client's IP". The speakers will be Peter Strand (Leavens Strand Glover & Adler), Marci Rolnik (Lawyers for the Creative Arts), and Judy Tint. . See, notice. Prices vary. CLE credits.

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