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Tuesday, April 10, 2012, Alert No. 2,367.
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Anonymous Launches DDOS Attack on Supporters of CISPA

4/9. The US Telecom announced in a release that a group named Anonymous "has claimed credit for a denial-of-service attack this morning on the USTelecom website in retaliation for the association's support for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011" or CISPA.

Anonymous is a public interest group that has no organization, hierarchy, corporate status, or agent for service of process. It is a loose association of anarchic individuals who engage in distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, and other illegal cyber strategies, to intimate others from engaging in lawful activity to which they object. It focuses on internet related issues. See, related story in this issue titled "Anonymous DDOS Attacks".

Its power to coerce is shown by the American Bar Association's (ABA) decision to host an event later this month titled "Should I Sue? The Perils of Litigation in the Age of Anonymous".

On April 24 the ABA will host a panel discussion regarding hacking attacks launched in retaliation for the filing of lawsuits. The speakers will be Tanya Forsheit (InfoLawGroup), Marcia Hofmann (Electronic Frontier Foundation), Steven Teppler (Edelson McGuire), and Gib Sorebo (SAIC). See, ABA notice.

The bill at the root of the Anonymous's DDOS attack against the US Telecom is HR 3523 [LOC | WW], the "CISPA". Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) introduced it on November 30, 2011. See, story titled "Representatives Introduce Cyber Threat Information Sharing Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,316, November 30, 2011.

Walter McCormick, head of the US Telecom, stated in this release that "As an industry in the business of facilitating communications, we respect the right of those calling themselves `Anonymous´ to express their views and engage in lawful political advocacy. But by launching a cyber attack in an effort to coerce, intimidate and stifle speech, members of Anonymous are acting contrary to the very freedoms and Internet norms that they espouse."

McCormick added that "Ironically, by their actions Anonymous hacktivists underscore the importance of speedy action on the bipartisan Rogers-Ruppersberger legislation to ensure that the Internet remains an open and safe forum for all."

Update on CISPA and Related Bills

4/9. The House Intelligence Committee (HIC) amended and approved HR 3523 [LOC | WW], the "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011" or "CISPA" on December 1, 2011, by a vote of 17-1.

The bill now has a total of 107 sponsors. Support is bipartisan, and also includes senior members of the House Commerce Committee (HCC), including Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the Chairman and ranking Democrat on the HCC's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

In contrast, there is less support for HR 3523 from members of the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) and House Homeland Security Committee (HHSC). Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA), a senior member of both the HJC and HHSC, is the lead sponsor of another bill with cyber security information sharing provisions.

However, it is more narrowly tailored. See, HR 3674 [LOC | WW], the "Promoting and Enhancing Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Effectiveness Act of 2011" which nearly produces the acronym of "PRECISE Act".

HR 3523, the bill which has drawn the ire of the Anonymous cyber hackers, is drafted to promote, but not mandate, information sharing about cyber threats. 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. Mary Mack (R-CA), a cosponsor of HR 3523, wrote in a social medium statement on April 9, "Hacker group Anonymous launches cyber attack on USTelecom. Yet another reason to support my SECURE IT Act."

She is the lead sponsor of  HR 4263 [LOC | WW], the "Strengthening and Enhancing Cybersecurity by Using Research, Education, Information, and Technology Act of 2012" or "SECURE IT Act". It too would incent information sharing. HR 4263 is the House version of S 2151 [LOC | WW], also titled the "SECURE IT Act", introduced on March 1, 2012 by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and others. See, related story in this issue titled "Rep. Mack and Rep. Blackburn Introduce SECURE IT Act".

There are currently many bills pending in the House or Senate that pertain to cyber security. Many of these address information sharing, including the following:

  • HR 3523 [LOC | WW], CISPA, Rogers Ruppersberger.
  • HR 3674 [LOC | WW], PRECISE Act, Lungren King.
  • HR 4263 [LOC | WW], SECURE IT Act, Mack Blackburn.
  • Title VII of S 2105 [LOC | WW], Cybersecurity Act of 2012, Lieberman Collins Rockefeller Feinstein.
  • S 2151 [LOC | WW], SECURE IT Act, McCain Hutchison.
Recent Anonymous DDOS Attacks

4/9. The group Anonymous has engaged in illegal internet based attacks that attempt to stop or intimidate persons, entities, and government agencies from revising, enforcing or implementing laws and policies that enable government to block, deter and prosecute illegal activity on the internet.

The April 9, 2012 distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack on the US Telecom was related to its urging the Congress to enact HR 3523 [LOC | WW], the "CISPA", a bill that is intended to reduce cyber threats.

Last year the Anonymous was involved in DDOS attacks related to the publication by WikiLeaks of information illegally provided to WikiLeaks.

For example, on July 19, 2011, the U.S. District Court (NDCal) unsealed an indictment [12 pages in PDF] that charged damage to a protected computer in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030, and conspiracy, in connection with the Anonymous retaliatory DDOS attacks directed at PayPal servers after PayPal suspended WikiLeaks' accounts for violating its terms of service (TOS) by publishing classified State Department cables in its web site. WikiLeaks had used PayPal to receive contributions.

The indictment alleged that "In retribution for PayPal's termination of WikiLeaks' donation account, Anonymous co-ordinated and executed DDoS attacks against PayPal's computer servers" using an open source computer program named "Low Orbit Ion Cannon". The indictment adds that "Anonymous referred to these co-ordinated attacks on PayPal as ``Operation  Avenge Assange.´´"

See, story titled "Grand Jury Indicts 14 for WikiLeaks Related DDOS Attacks" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,264, July 20, 2011.

Earlier this year the Anonymous was involved in attacks related to the negotiation of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). On February 17, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a notice in its web site that states that the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection's (BCP) Business Center was hacked on February 17.

The notice stated, in full, "The Bureau of Consumer Protection's Business Center website, run by the Federal Trade Commission, was hacked on February 17, 2012. The FTC takes this malicious act seriously. The site has been taken down and will be brought back up when we're satisfied that any vulnerability has been addressed."

News stories in various publications reported that the Anonymous claimed responsibility, and that the ACTA was its complaint. Although, the FTC does not enforce copyright laws, and was not the agency that negotiated the ACTA. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) did.

The Hill published a story on February 17, 2012, by Brendan Sasso, titled "Anonymous hacks FTC websites", that states that "The hackers replaced the government websites with a German-language video depicting a man in a ski mask gunning down people for downloading copyrighted music. In a profanity-laced statement, Anonymous promised to ``rain torrential hellfire down on all enemies of free speech, privacy and internet freedom´´ if ACTA is approved.

Also, various news publications have reported on Anonymous attacks on the web sites of movie industry web sites. The attackers' complaint is the industry's support for pending legislation directed at web sites dedicated to infringing activity, the SOPA and PIPA.

Also, on December 13, 2011, a grand jury of the U.S. District Court (CDCal) returned an indictment that charges Kevin George Poe with unauthorized impairment of a protected computer in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030 in connection with his conducting a DDOS attack against the web site of Gene Simmons, a musician long affiliated with a rock band titled Kiss. Simmons is an aging rock musician who is best know for painting his face black and white and sticking out his tongue. However, the reason that the Anonymous attacked his web site was his advocacy of rights under copyright law.

The Office of the U.S. Attorney (USAO) for the Central District of California stated in a release that "Poe and others linked to Anonymous allegedly conducted" this DDOS attack by "sending tens of thousands of electronic requests designed to overload the computer server and render the website useless. According to the indictment, Poe used a favorite software tool of the Anonymous collective -- a Low Orbit Ion Cannon, which is a computer program that is used to send extremely large numbers of ``packets´´ or requests over a network in an attempt to overwhelm a target computer."

Rep. Mack and Rep. Blackburn Introduce SECURE IT Act

3/27. Rep. Mary Mack (R-CA) and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced HR 4263 [LOC | WW], the "Strengthening and Enhancing Cybersecurity by Using Research, Education, Information, and Technology Act of 2012" or "SECURE IT Act".

This bill would promote collaboration and information sharing between government agencies and the private sector, create new criminal penalties, increase penalties for existing prohibitions, and provide for more government research.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX) and others introduced S 2151 [LOC | WW], also titled the "SECURE IT Act", on March 1, 2012. It is similar, but not identical to, the House version.

Rep. Mack issued a release that states that this bill "facilitates information sharing about cyber threats and cyber attacks between the private sector and the federal government. Importantly, the Bono Mack-Blackburn legislation also removes the legal roadblocks for companies that take critically important and necessary steps to protect their networks from cyber assaults. As a deterrent, the legislation also strengthens criminal penalties for hacking into servers as a growing wave of cyber thieves look to steal everything from credit card numbers to secret government documents."

Sen. Hutchison stated in a release that "Our bill focuses on giving businesses the tools they need to protect themselves from the looming threat of cyber criminals, and increased requirements for notification of threats to federal agencies".

Both bills would amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), which is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1030, to increase penalties for certain violations, and to criminalize trafficking in passwords.

Both bills would create a new Section 1030A titled "Aggravated damage to a critical infrastructure computer".

Both bills also address the coordination of government information security policy.

Both also provide for more government cyber security research.

SECURE IT Act Addresses TOS Violations and Lori Drew

4/9. Both HR 4263 [LOC | WW] and S 2151 [LOC | WW], similar bills titled the "Strengthening and Enhancing Cybersecurity by Using Research, Education, Information, and Technology Act of 2012" or "SECURE IT Act", would address not only cyber security, but also the Lori Drew issue.

These bills would prevent prosecutors from charging individuals under Section 1030 solely for violating the terms of service (TOS) of an interactive web site. See, story titled "Groups Urge Reform of Section 1030" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,279, August 4, 2011.

These bills would amend Section 1030's definition of "exceeds authorized access". It currently means "to access a computer with authorization and to use such access to obtain or alter information in the computer that the accesser is not entitled so to obtain or alter".

Both bills would provide that "exceeds authorized access" means "to access a computer with authorization and to use such access to obtain or alter information in the computer that the accesser is not entitled so to obtain or alter, but does not include access in violation of a contractual obligation or agreement, such as an acceptable use policy or terms of service agreement, with an Internet service provider, Internet Web site, or non-government employer, if such violation constitutes the sole basis for determining that access to a protected computer is unauthorized".

See also, stories titled "Lori Drew Pleads Not Guilty in Section 1030 Case" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,794, June 23, 2008, "Law Professors Argue for Dismissal of MySpace Section 1030 Prosecution" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,810, August 11, 2008, and "Jury Returns Guilty Verdict in Lori Drew Case" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,865, December 2, 2008.

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In This Issue
This issue contains the following items:
 • Anonymous Launches DDOS Attack on Supporters of CISPA
 • Update on CISPA and Related Bills
 • Recent Anonymous DDOS Attacks
 • Rep. Mack and Rep. Blackburn Introduce SECURE IT Act
 • SECURE IT Act Addresses TOS Violations and Lori Drew
Washington Tech Calendar
New items are highlighted in red.
Tuesday, April 10

The House will not meet on the week of Monday, April 2, through Friday, April 6, or on the week of Monday, April 9, through Friday, April 13, except for pro forma sessions.

The Senate will not meet on the week of Monday, April 2, through Friday, April 6, or on the week of Monday, April 9, through Friday, April 13, except for pro forma sessions.

8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), and American Bar Association (ABA) will host an event titled "USPTO Design Day". Free. See, notice and registration page. Location: Madison Auditorium, USPTO, 600 Dulaney St., Alexandria, VA.

1:00 - 2:30 PM EST. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "Piracy Update: IPR Center Strategies and Successes". The speakers will be Lev Kubiak (Director of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center) and Alexandra Darraby (The Art Law Firm). Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

CANCELLED. 6:00 - 7:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Commendations and Acknowledgements and Young Lawyers Committees will host an event titled "Mentoring Panel and Networking Reception: Reflections on a Career in Communications Law". Location: Drinker Biddle & Reath, 2nd floor, 1500 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding creation, pursuant to the Leahy Smith America Invents Act, of a new derivation proceeding to be conducted before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 28, Friday, February 10, 2012, at Pages 7028-7041.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding creation, pursuant to the Leahy Smith America Invents Act, of a new inter partes review proceeding to be conducted before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 28, Friday, February 10, 2012, at Pages 7041-7060.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding creation, pursuant to the Leahy Smith America Invents Act, of a new post grant review proceeding to be conducted before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 28, Friday, February 10, 2012, at Pages 7060-7080.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding creation, pursuant to the Leahy Smith America Invents Act, of a new transitional post grant review proceeding for covered business method patents to be conducted before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 28, Friday, February 10, 2012, at Pages 7080-7095.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding regulations for determining whether a patent is for a technological invention in a transitional post grant review proceeding for covered business method patents. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 28, Friday, February 10, 2012, at Pages 7095-7108.

Wednesday, April 11

12:00 NOON - 6:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Engineering. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 61, Thursday, March 29, 2012, at Page 19036. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1235, Arlington, VA.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Homeland Security and Emergency Communications and Engineering and Technical Practice Committees will host a brown bag lunch titled "An Interoperable Public Safety Broadband Network: The Challenge of Standards Development". The speakers will be Dereck Orr (NTIA's Public Safety Communications Research Program), Jeffrey Bratcher (NTIA/PSCRP), Jesus Trujillo Gomez (Cisco Systems), Jean-Paul Emard (Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions), Thomas Hengeveld (Harris Corp.), Ajit Kahaduwe (Nokia Siemens Networks), and Vint Cerf (Google). For more information, contact Gina Harrison at 202-482-2695 or rharrison at ntia dot doc dot gov. Location: National Association of Broadcasters, 1771 N St., NW.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association's Media Law Committee will host a closed brown bag lunch meeting to discuss media and communications law developments. Free. No CLE credits. Reporters are barred from covering this event. For more information, contact the DC Bar at 202-626-3463 or Kurt Wimmer (Covington & Burling) at kwimmer at cov dot com or Jim McLaughlin at mclaughlinj at washpost dot com. See, notice. Location: Covington & Burling, 1201 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

6:00 - 9:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "Open Source Licensing: Legal Strategies and Risks". The speakers will be Victoria Hall (solo practice), Daniel Berlin (Google), and Jay Westermeier (Finnegan Henderson). CLE credits. The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

Deadline for communications carriers, handset manufacturers, and operating system developers to respond to letters sent by House Commerce Committee (HCC) Democrats regarding regarding what they are doing to combat theft of smart phones, and protect consumers from theft of personal and financial information. See, story titled "House Commerce Committee Democrats Question Companies Regarding Smart Phone Theft" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,356, March 25, 2012.

Thursday, April 12

8:00 AM - 2:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Engineering. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 61, Thursday, March 29, 2012, at Page 19036. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1235, Arlington, VA.

9:00 - 10:30 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Grand Innovation Challenges of the 21st Century". The speakers will be Thomas Kalil (Deputy Director for Policy of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Rick Valencia (Qualcomm Life), and Robert Atkinson (ITIF), See, notice. Location: ITIF/ITIC: Suite 610, 1101 K St., NW.

5:30 - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a program titled "Ethics and E-Discovery Searches". The speakers will be Ellen Pyle (McDermott Will & Emery), Bennett Borden (Williams Mullen), and Maura Grossman (Wachtell Lipton). The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. CLE credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) regarding jurisdictional separations, the process by which incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) apportion regulated costs between the intrastate and interstate jurisdictions. The FCC once again proposes to extend the current freeze, through June 30, 2014. This item is FCC 12-27 in CC Docket No. 80-286. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 56, Thursday, March 22, 2012, at Pages 16900-16902.

Friday, April 13

RESCHEDULED FROM MARCH 30. 12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Robert McDowell will speak. Free. Brown bag lunch. The FCBA states that this is an FCBA event of its Young Lawyers Committee. Location: FCC, 8th floor South Conference Room, 445 12th St., SW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [14 pages in PDF] regarding allowing Economic Area (EA) based 800 MHz Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) licensees to exceed a channel spacing and bandwidth limitation. The FCC adopted this NPRM on March 7, 2012, and released the text on March 9. It is FCC 12-25 in WT Docket No. 12-64; WT Docket No. 11-110. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 61, Thursday, March 29, 2012, at Pages 18991-18996.

Saturday, April 14

Passover ends at sundown.

Monday, April 16

The House will return from its two week recess at 12:00 NOON. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 PM.

The Senate will return from its two week recess. It will resume consideration of S 2230 [LOC | WW], a tax bill.

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a conference titled "Public Utility, Communications and Transportation Annual Spring Program 2012". The price to attend ranges from $75 to $450. See, notice. Location: Pepco Holdings, 701 9th St., NW.

8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Emerging Technology and Research Advisory Committee (ETRAC) will hold a closed meeting. The BIS agenda for this meeting is undisclosed. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 62, Friday, March 30, 2012, at Page 19179. Location: Room 6527, DOC Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW.

1:00 - 2:00 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host an on site and telecast panel discussion titled "Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation: Cross Border Privacy Rules Introduction And Spotlight on Canada". The speakers will be Daniele Chatelois (Canadian government's Industry Canada) and Josh Harris (U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Technology and Electronic Commerce). Free. No CLE credits. See, notice. Location: Fulbright & Jaworski, 801 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

TIME? The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a telecast panel discussion titled "Legal Issues Stemming from the Impending Shortage of Wireless Spectrum". The speakers will be Tarak Anada (Jones Walker), Babette Boliek (Pepperdine University School of Law), Michael Goggin (AT&T Mobility), and Daniel Brenner (Hogan Lovells). Different ABA notices provide different times. One states 3:00 - 4:00 PM. The other states 4:00 - 5:00 PM. See, notice.

The Executive Office of the President's (EOP) President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) will hold a partially closed meeting. The agenda includes a discussion of a report on the PCAST's Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP). The public portion of the meeting will be teleconferenced from 4:30 - 5:00 PM. The deadline to register to register is 12:00 NOON on April 12. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 60, Wednesday, March 28, 2012, at Pages 18798-18799.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) following its March 29 hearing to assist it in preparing its 2011 Annual GSP Product Review. See, original notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 34, Tuesday, February 21, 2012, at Pages 10034-10036. See also, notice of change of date in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 52, Friday, March 16, 2012, at Page 15841.

Tuesday, April 17

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Emerging Technology and Research Advisory Committee (ETRAC) will hold an open meeting. The agenda for this meeting includes a discussion of "Nanotechnology--Nanocoated Materials". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 62, Friday, March 30, 2012, at Page 19179. Nanocoating has many applications in ICT, including protecting electronics devices from moisture caused corrosion, producing flat panel displays, and adding antireflection coating to optical products. Location: Room 3884, DOC Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW.

1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and telecast panel discussion titled "The New World of Licensing Songs and Sound Recordings". The speakers will be Jeff Brabec (BMG Chrysalis), Todd Brabec, Henny Root (Lapidus Root). Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

1:30 - 4:30 PM. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 62, Friday, March 30, 2012, at Pages 19300-19301. Location: 1310 N. Courthouse Road, Suite 300, Arlington, VA.

2:30 PM. The Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) will hold a closed meeting. See, notice. Location: Room 219, Hart Building.

6:00 - 9:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host the first part of a two part program titled "Preserving Intellectual Property Rights in Gov't Contracts". This first part is subtitled "A Beginner's Guide". The speakers will be David Bloch (Winston & Strawn), Richard Gray (Department of Defense), John Lucas (Department of Energy), and James McEwen (Stein McEwen). The price to attend this part ranges from $89 to $129. CLE credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.