6/6. Various news media have reported that the government surveillance program first disclosed by The Guardian to involve Verizon also extends to other phone companies. These stories also report that there exists another surveillance program, named PRISM, that involves collection of data from internet companies.

The National Security Agency (NSA) released a statement asserting that Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is the authority for the PRISM program. Unlike Section 1861, the basis of the Verizon order, Section 702 authorizes access to the content of communications. It is the "outside" the U.S. surveillance provision that authorizes entire surveillance programs, no individualized surveillance.

The Guardian published a story by Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill titled "NSA taps in to user data of Facebook, Apple, Google and others, secret files reveal".

The Guardian wrote that the NSA "has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian. The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called PRISM, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says."

The Washington Post (WP) published a story by Barton Gellman and Laura Poitras titled "Documents: U.S. mining data from 9 leading Internet firms; companies deny knowledge" that states that the NSA and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) "are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track foreign targets".

The WP added that "The program, code-named PRISM, has not been made public until now. It may be the first of its kind. The NSA prides itself on stealing secrets and breaking codes, and it is accustomed to corporate partnerships that help it divert data traffic or sidestep barriers. But there has never been a Google or Facebook before, and it is unlikely that there are richer troves of valuable intelligence than the ones in Silicon Valley."

See, excerpts of NSA presentation slides published by the WP.

Also, the Wall Street Journal published a story by Siobahn Gorman, Evan Perez and Janet Hook for its June 7, 2013 titled "U.S. Collects Vast Data Trove: NSA Monitoring Includes Three Major Phone Companies, as Well as Online Data".

Section 702. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is codified at 50 U.S.C. § 1881a, contains the "outside" the US surveillance authority.

The 112th Congress extended this controversial authority by passage of HR 5949 [LOC | WW], the "FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act of 2012". See, stories titled "Senate Approves Bill to Extend FISA Outside the US Warrantless Intercept Authority", "Senate Debate: Case For the FISA Extension Bill", "Senate Debate: Case Against the FISA Extension Bill", "Senate Rejects Amendments to FISA Extension Bill", and "Commentary: Analysis of Senate Votes on the FISA Extension Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,499, December 30, 2012, and stories cited in these stories.

This section was enacted by the 110th Congress with HR 6304 [LOC | WW], the "Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008". It allows federal surveillance, without individualized court approval, under the FISA, of people believed to be outside of the US. More specifically, it pertains to "the targeting of persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States to acquire foreign intelligence information".

However, US citizens are located abroad, persons abroad communicate with persons inside the US, and those conducting surveillance often do not know the location of the persons they are attempting to surveil. Hence, this provision enables the government to conduct warrantless wiretaps and other surveillance of US citizens located in the US when communicating with persons whom the government believes are abroad.

Foreigners located outside the US are not protected by the 4th Amendment. The US government can wiretap them at will without court approval without violating US law. However, the 2008 Act authorizes surveillance that also results in the interception of communications of persons who are protected by the 4th Amendment.

It should be noted that the provision in the 2008 Act does require a court order. However, it allows broad generalized orders. It allows orders that cover entire surveillance programs, without identification or description of any person, phone, or email account. The 4th Amendment requires individualized orders. That is, it requires orders "particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized".

The 2008 Act also contains some limitations on this broad surveillance authority. For example, the government "may not intentionally target any person known at the time of acquisition to be located in the United States" under this authority.

Clapper's Response. James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), released a statement regarding the articles in The Guardian and WP.

He wrote that these "articles refer to collection of communications pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They contain numerous inaccuracies."

However, Clapper did not identify the inaccuracies, or explain the PRISM program.

However, he did write that "Section 702 is a provision of FISA that is designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-U.S. persons located outside the United States. It cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person, or anyone located within the United States."

Clapper continued that "Activities authorized by Section 702 are subject to oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the Executive Branch, and Congress. They involve extensive procedures, specifically approved by the court, to ensure that only non-U.S. persons outside the U.S. are targeted, and that minimize the acquisition, retention and dissemination of incidentally acquired information about U.S. persons."

He also asserted that "Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats."

And, he offered this admonishment. "The unauthorized disclosure of information about this important and entirely legal program is reprehensible and risks important protections for the security of Americans."

6/6. James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), released a statement regarding the order of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) published by The Guardian on June 6, 2013 that directs Verizon to produce the phone call records of its customers on a daily basis.

Clapper (at right) wrote that "The judicial order that was disclosed in the press is used to support a sensitive intelligence collection operation, on which members of Congress have been fully and repeatedly briefed. The classified program has been authorized by all three branches of the Government."

He continued that disclosure of the surveillance program authorized by the order "without any context, has created a misleading impression of how it operates".

He wrote that the "program does not allow the Government to listen in on anyone’s phone calls" and "does not include the content of any communications or the identity of any subscriber".

"The collection is broad in scope because more narrow collection would limit our ability to screen for and identify terrorism-related communications. Acquiring this information allows us to make connections related to terrorist activities over time". Clapper added that it is "part of an overall strategy to protect the nation from terrorist threats to the United States, as it may assist counterterrorism personnel to discover whether known or suspected terrorists have been in contact with other persons who may be engaged in terrorist activities."

He also made some general statements about restrictions and safeguards. "All information that is acquired under this order is subject to strict restrictions", "DOJ conducts rigorous oversight of the handling of the data received to ensure the applicable restrictions are followed", and "programs like this one are consistently subject to safeguards that are designed to strike the appropriate balance between national security interests and civil liberties and privacy concerns". However, he offered no elaboration or explanation.

6/6. Verizon released a statement regarding the disclosure by The Guardian of the phone records surveillance order issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).

The statement, nominally addressed to its employees, but also published in its web site, states that "You may have seen stories in the news about a top secret order Verizon allegedly received to produce certain calling information to the U.S. government."

The statement continues, "We have no comment on the accuracy of The Guardian newspaper story or the documents referenced, but a few items in these stories are important. The alleged court order that The Guardian published on its website contains language that: compels Verizon to respond; forbids Verizon from revealing the order's existence; and excludes from production the ``content of any communications ... or the name, address, or financial information of a subscriber or customer.´´"

The statement adds that "Verizon continually takes steps to safeguard its customers' privacy. Nevertheless, the law authorizes the federal courts to order a company to provide information in certain circumstances, and if Verizon were to receive such an order, we would be required to comply."

6/6. Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) sent a letter [PDF] to Attorney General Eric Holder regarding the order issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) upon the application of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and National Security Agency (NSA) that compels Verizon to turn over the phone records for all calls on a daily basis.

This FISC order, issued on April 25, 2013, was just publicly disclosed by The Guardian. See, story titled "FISC Orders Verizon to Produce Call Data for Everyone Every Day" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,571, June 5, 2013.

Rep. Sensenbrenner (at right), who is the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, wrote that "As the author of the Patriot Act, I am extremely disturbed by what appears to be an overbroad interpretation of the Act. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) applied for a top secret order to collect the phone records of virtually every call that has been made by millions of Verizon customers. These reports are deeply concerning and raise questions about whether our constitutional rights are secure."

"I do not believe the released FISA order is consistent with the requirements of the Patriot Act. How could the phone records of so many innocent Americans be relevant to an authorized investigation as required by the Act?"

In addition, Rep. Sensenbrenner propounded four interrogatories to be answered by June 12.

First, "Do you believe that the recently released FISA order is consistent with the requirements of the Patriot Act?"

Second, "Why was the order so broad?"

Third, "Is the released FISA order consistent with the FBI's interpretation of section 215 of the Patriot Act?"

Fourth, "Does the FBI believe there are limits on what information it can obtain under section 215? Is so what are those limits?"

6/6. Several groups involved in technology related policy making condemned the phone records collection program disclosed by The Guardian early on June 6, 2013, including the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

See, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) order, and story titled "FISC Orders Verizon to Produce Call Data for Everyone Every Day" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,571, June 5, 2013.

Ed Black, head of the CCIA, stated in a release that "Last night's revelation is simply the latest in an apparently never-ending series of stories that show us that the agencies responsible for surveilling Americans cannot be blindly trusted with the keys to the castle. The current laws that govern access to modern telecommunications are woefully out of date and subject to abuse without meaningful boundaries and independent oversight able to protect the fundamental rights of citizens."

Black added that "The secrecy surrounding the entire process, especially the lack of due process inherent in the gag order process, is incompatible with a well functioning free and open society."

Also on June 6, Leslie Harris, head of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), stated in a release that "This is a massive abuse of the PATRIOT Act ... The NSA is collecting the telephone call records of Americans who have nothing to do with terrorism or terrorists, and who pose no threat to US national security."

Greg Nojeim of the CDT stated in this release that "This is stunning ... It appears that millions of Americans are being put under surveillance so their communications with others can be tracked in near real time. This may be the broadest investigative program in US history".

Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stated in a release that "From a civil liberties perspective, the program could hardly be any more alarming. It's a program in which some untold number of innocent people have been put under the constant surveillance of government agents ... It is beyond Orwellian, and it provides further evidence of the extent to which basic democratic rights are being surrendered in secret to the demands of unaccountable intelligence agencies."

These technology groups also called on the Congress to address this matter.

Ross Schulman of the CCIA wrote that "Congress must take this moment to institute some control and reign in what is swiftly becoming a surveillance state. They should start by passing the ECPA reform bill already unanimously passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. They should also deal with the anti-democratic practice of the administration having its own secret interpretations of laws, and ensure that judicial review provides a meaningful check and balance on zealous enforcement agencies."

This bill is S 607 [LOC | WW], the "Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2013". See also, story titled "Senate Judiciary Committee Passes Bill to Require Warrant for Accessing Cloud Stored E-Mail" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,556, May 1, 2013, story titled "Sen. Leahy and Sen. Lee Introduce Bill to Require Warrant to Access Cloud Stored E-Mail" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,538, March 21, 2013, and story titled "Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Leahy Bill to Require Warrant for Accessing Cloud Stored E-Mail" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,479, November 30, 2012.

Although, S 607 goes to accessing the content of stored e-mail, and other communications. The just disclosed surveillance program does not involve the accessing of the content of communications. Hence, enactment of S 607 would not preclude issuance of phone records orders such as the one directed to Verizon and just disclosed by The Guardian.

The ACLU's Michelle Richardson stated that "the government should end it and disclose its full scope, and Congress should initiate a full investigation".

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) stated in a release that "the NSA is conducting widespread, untargeted, domestic surveillance on millions of Americans. This revelation should end, once and for all, the government's long-discredited secrecy claims about its dragnet domestic surveillance programs. It should spur Congress and the American people to make the President finally tell the truth about the government's spying on innocent Americans."

Many trade groups that represent phone companies have issued not statements.

6/6. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Saxbe Chambliss (R-GA) released a statement defending the government surveillance program disclosed by the publication of the order of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) by The Guardian.

Sen. Feinstein is the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC). Sen. Chambliss is the ranking Republican on the SIC, the Senate Committee that exercises closed door oversight of intelligence agency activities and operations.

The two are leading advocates in the Senate of broad government surveillance powers. They have also worked with intelligence agencies to maintain the secrecy, not only of actual intelligence programs and operations, but also the legal authority possessed by intelligence agencies.

Their statement is set out in full below:

	Sen. Feinstein

"A primary mission of the U.S. intelligence community is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the United States, and Congress works closely with the executive branch to ensure that the authorities necessary to keep our country safe are in place. One of these authorities is the ‘business records’ provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act under which the executive branch is authorized to collect ‘metadata’ concerning telephone calls, such as a telephone number or the length of a call. This law does not allow the government to listen in on the content of a phone call."

"The executive branch’s use of this authority has been briefed extensively to the Senate and House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, and detailed information has been made available to all members of Congress prior to each congressional reauthorization of this law."

Sen. Chambliss

"Ensuring security, however, must be consistent with respect for the constitutional rights of all Americans. The alleged FISA Court order contained in the Guardian article does not give the government authority to listen in on anyone’s telephone call, nor does it provide the government with the content of any communication or the name of any subscriber. As with other FISA authorities, all information the government may receive under such an order would be subject to strict limitations. While our courts have consistently recognized that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in this type of metadata information and thus no search warrant is required to obtain it, any subsequent effort to obtain the content of an American’s communications would require a specific order from the FISA Court."

"The intelligence community has successfully used FISA authorities to identify terrorists and those with whom they communicate, and this intelligence has helped protect the nation. The threat from terrorism remains very real and these lawful intelligence activities must continue, with the careful oversight of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government."

6/6. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC), and a leading advocate in the Senate of individuals' interests in privacy and liberty in the context of new information and communications technologies, responded to the statement of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Saxbe Chambliss (R-GA), advocated phone call privacy, and urged greater transparency.

Sen. Wyden (at right) wrote in a release that "The program Senators Feinstein and Chambliss publicly referred to today is one that I have been concerned about for years. I am barred by Senate rules from commenting on some of the details at this time."

"However", he wrote, "I believe that when law-abiding Americans call their friends, who they call, when they call, and where they call from is private information. Collecting this data about every single phone call that every American makes every day would be a massive invasion of Americans’ privacy."

Sen. Wyden added that "The administration has an obligation to give a substantive and timely response to the American people and I hope this story will force a real debate about the government’s domestic surveillance authorities. The American people have a right to know whether their government thinks that the sweeping, dragnet surveillance that has been alleged in this story is allowed under the law and whether it is actually being conducted. Furthermore, they have a right to know whether the program that has been described is actually of value in preventing attacks. Based on several years of oversight, I believe that its value and effectiveness remain unclear."

6/6. Several Senators released statements criticizing the government surveillance program disclosed by the publication of the order of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) by The Guardian.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) stated in a release that "The National Security Agency's seizure and surveillance of virtually all of Verizon's phone customers is an astounding assault on the Constitution. After revelations that the Internal Revenue Service targeted political dissidents and the Department of Justice seized reporters' phone records, it would appear that this Administration has now sunk to a new low."

Sen. Paul (at right) said that "When Sen. Mike Lee and I offered an amendment that would attach Fourth Amendment protections to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act last year, it was defeated, and FISA was passed by an overwhelming majority of the Senate. At the time, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid remarked that FISA was ``necessary to protect us from the evil in this world.´´"

He added that "The Bill of Rights was designed to protect us from evil, too, particularly that which always correlates with concentrated government power, and particularly Executive power. If the President and Congress would obey the Fourth Amendment we all swore to uphold, this new shocking revelation that the government is now spying on citizens' phone data en masse would never have happened."

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) wrote in a statement that "This type of secret bulk data collection is an outrageous breach of Americans' privacy. I have had significant concerns about the intelligence community over-collecting information about Americans’ telephone calls, emails, and other records and that is why I voted against the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act provisions in 2011 and the reauthorization of the FISA Amendments Act just six months ago."

He added that "This bulk data collection is being done under interpretations of the law that have been kept secret from the public.  Significant FISA court opinions that determine the scope of our laws should be declassified. Can the FBI or the NSA really claim that they need data scooped up on tens of millions of Americans?"

6/6. The order of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that The Guardian published requires that Verizon produce numerous specific types of data, such as "originating and terminating telephone number, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number, International Mobile station Equipment Identity (IMEI) number", and "trunk identifier, telephone calling card numbers, and time and duration of call".

The order also compels production of broad categories of data, such as "call detail records" and "telephony metadata". However, the order does not define these term. Also, it neither specifically includes nor excludes geolocation data for mobile wireless devices.

This raises several questions. Does the order compel production of geolocation information when a voice call is made or received. Or, more broadly, does the order compel production of geolocation data not associated with making or receiving a voice call. Also, is Verizon producing any such geolocation data in response to the disclosed order.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), among others, noted this uncertainty on June 6. See, CCIA release.

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) introduced S 1223 [LOC | WW], the "Location Privacy Protection Act of 2011", in the 112th Congress. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) approved that bill in the closing days of the 112th Congress. However, neither the House nor the Senate passed that bill. Also, he has not yet introduced a new version of this bill in the 113th Congress.

S 1223 would have amended the Electronic Communications Privacy Act's (ECPA) Stored Communications Act (SCA), which is codified at 18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2712, by adding a new Section 2713, titled "Voluntary location tracking of electronic communications devices".

The new section would have provided that "a covered entity may not knowingly collect, receive, record, obtain, or disclose to a nongovernmental individual or entity the geolocation information from an electronic communications device without the express authorization of the individual that is using the electronic communications device."

However, Sen. Franken's bill, as introduced in the 112th Congress, would not reach the phone records surveillance program disclosed in the FISC order.

That order relies on the authority of Section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is codified at 50 U.S.C. § 1861. S 223 would only amend the ECPA, and not the FISA. Moreover, the bill also included an intelligence agency exemption for access to geolocation data under the ECPA.

Perhaps the next version of a geolocation privacy bill will address this matter.

The House will not meet. It will next meet at 3:00 PM on Monday, June 10.

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM. The schedule includes resumption of consideration of the motion to proceed to S  744, the immigration bill.

8:30 AM. The Department of Labor's (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is scheduled to release its May 2013 unemployment data.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Internet Caucus will host a panel discussion titled "Faceoff: A Fact-Based Debate on U.S. Internet Policy and Access Networks". The speakers will be Bryan Tramont (Wilkinson Barker Knauer), Ev Ehrlich (ESC Company), Jeffrey Eisenach (Navigant Economics), Rob Frieden (Penn State University), and Ellen Goodman (Rutgers School of Law). Free. Open to the public. Some box lunches will be served. Respond to RSVP at netcaucus dot org. Location: Room SVC 203-02, Capitol Visitors Center.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. There will be an event titled "Get It Online: Legal Implications of Social Media for Communication & Government Relations Executives". The speakers will include Jason Torchinsky (Holtzman Vogel Josefiak). Prices vary. See, notice and registration page. Location: National Press Club, 13th Floor, 529 14th St., NW.

11:59 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) regarding Japan's participation in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement negotiations. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 88, May 7, 2013, at Pages 26682-26684.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft NIST IR 7924 [91 pages in PDF], titled "Reference Certificate Policy", released in April, 2013.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Public Notice (PN) [17 pages in PDF] regarding its e-rate tax and subsidy program for schools and libraries. The FCC released this PN on April 9, 2013. It is DA 13-592 in CC Docket No. 02-6 and GN Docket No. 09-51. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 78, April 23, 2013, at Pages 23877-23882.

Day one of a three day event hosted by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) titled "Cable Show". See, web site. Location: Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW.

TIME? The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold an executive business meeting at which it will consider the nomination of Penny Pritzker to be Secretary of Commerce. See, story titled "President Obama Picks Democratic Fund Raiser for Secretary of Commerce" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,557, May 6, 2013. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust will host a teleconferenced panel discussion titled "May In-House Counsel Antitrust Update". The speakers will be Anita Banicevic (Davies Ward), and Andrea Murino, Mark Rosman, Michael Rosenthal, and Daniel Wieck (all of Wilson, Sonsini). Free. No CLE credits. See, notice.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit initial comments to the Copyright Office (CO) regarding its proposed rules regarding verification of statements of account submitted by cable
operators and satellite carriers. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 90, May 9, 2013, at Pages 27137-27153.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [47 pages in PDF] regarding implementation of the 2012 spectrum act's provisions regarding deployment of a nationwide public safety broadband network in the 700 MHz band under a nationwide license issued to the FirstNet. See, HR 3630 [LOC | WW], the "Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012", Public Law No. 112-96. The FCC adopted this item on March 7, 2013, and released the text on March 8. It is FCC 13-31 in PS Docket Nos. 12-94 and 06-229, and WT Docket No. 06-150. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 79, April 24, 2013, at Pages 24138-24147.

Day two of a three day event hosted by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) titled "Cable Show". See, web site. Location: Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW.

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 98, May 21, 2013, at Pages 29704-29705. Location: NIST, Portrait Room, Administration Building, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Executive Office of the President's (EOP) Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology Subcommittee. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 79, April 24, 2013, at Page 24241. Location: USDA Conference and Training Center, Patriots Plaza III, 355 E St., SW.

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a two day event hosted by Georgetown University's (GU) Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy (GCBPP) titled "Workshop on the Economics of Information Security". See, notice. Location: GU, Hariri Building, McDonough School of Business.

8:30 - 10:00 AM. The Microsoft and Georgetown University will host an event titled "Privacy in a Digital World". The speakers will be Julie Brill (FTC Commissioner), Marc Rotenberg (EPIC), and Jules Polenetsky (Future of Privacy Forum). See, notice. Location: Washington Post, 1150 15th St., NW.

8:30 AM - 5:30 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Department of the Interior's (DOI) National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). The agenda includes discussion of the Strategic Plan of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), which provides data for, among other things, Google Maps and Microsoft Bing maps. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 99, May 22, 2013, at Page 30328. Location: South Interior Building Auditorium, 1951 Constitution Ave., NW.

9:00 AM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee will hold a partially closed meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 102, May 28, 2013, Page 31884. Location: DOC, Room 3884, Hoover Building, 14th Street between Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues, NW.

9:00 AM - 2:30 PM. The Federalist Society will host an event titled "Executive Branch Review Conference". This event will include numerous panels, including ones titled "Is Government a Friend or Foe of Innovation", "Is the Administrative State on the Rise?", and "Regulation and the Rule of Law". Lunch will be served. Free. The price for CLE credits is $50. See, notice and registration page. Location: National Press Club, 529 14th St., NW.

RESCHEDULED FROM JUNE 4. 9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing on nominations, including that of Stuart Delery to be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Civil Division. Delery has been acting AAG since February of 2012. The SJC will provide a live and archived webcast. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

9:30 AM. The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) will hold a hearing in its proceeding titled "U.S.-Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement Including Japan: Advice on the Probable Economic Effect of Providing Duty-Free Treatment for Imports". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 94, May 15, 2013, at Pages 28623-28625. Location: USITC, 500 E St.,  SW.

10:30 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology (SCT) will hold a hearing titled "The Satellite Television Law: Repeal, Reauthorize, or Revise". See, notice. The witnesses will be __. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

RESCHEDULED FROM JUNE 5. 10:30 AM. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (SHSGAC) will hold a hearing titled "Reducing Duplication and Improving Outcomes in Federal Information Technology". The witnesses will be Steven VanRoekel (Office of Management and Budget), Simon Szykman (Department of Commerce), Frank Baitman (Department of Health and Human Services), and David Powner (Government Accountability Office). See, notice. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Building.

12:15 PM. The New America Foundation (NAF) will host a discussion of the book [Amazon] titled "Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now". The speakers will be Douglas Rushkoff (author), Christine Rosen (NAF) and Marvin Ammori (NAF). See, notice. Location: NAF, Suite 400, 1899 L St., NW.

1:00 - 5:00 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will hold another in its series of meetings regarding mobile application transparency. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 62, April 1, 2013, at Pages 19461-19462. Location: American Institute of Architects, 1735 New York Ave., NW.

1:00 PM. The US Telecom will host a webcast seminar to present a report titled "Independent Telco Benchmark Report". The speaker will be Tim Owens of Cronin Communications. The price for a copy of the report and access to this seminar is $395. See, notice.

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

4:00 - 5:00 PM. The New America Foundation (NAF) will host a panel discussion titled "The Story of WPFW and A Crisis in Grassroots Media". The speakers will be Askia Muhammad (WPFW), Jean Yves Point du Jour (WPFW) and Mark Lloyd (NAF). See, notice. Location: NAF, Suite 400, 1899 L St., NW.

5:00 - 6:00 PM. The New America Foundation (NAF) will host a panel discussion titled "A Crisis in Grassroots Media: Local Outlets and Global Content". The speakers will be Catherine Komp and Alice Ollstein (both of Free Speech Radio News) and Mark Lloyd (NAF). See, notice. Location: NAF, Suite 400, 1899 L St., NW.

Deadline to submit to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) replies to oppositions to the Western Telecommunications Alliance's, Eastern Rural Telecom Association's, and National Exchange Carrier Association's April 18, 2013 petition for reconsideration [36 pages in PDF] of the FCC's Sixth Order on Reconsideration and Memorandum Opinion and Order regarding the Connect America Fund and high cost universal service subsidies. The FCC adopted that item on January 31, and released it on February 27. It is FCC 13-16 in WC Docket Nos. 10-90 and 05-337. See also, FCC Public Notice regarding deadlines, and notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 96, May 17, 2013, at Pages 29097-29098.

Deadline to submit to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) replies to oppositions to the US Telecom Association's April 4, 2013 petition for reconsideration and clarification [34 pages in PDF] of the FCC's 2011 USF/ICC Transformation Order regarding the reporting requirements to which eligible telecommunications carriers (ETC) are expected to adhere. See also, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 96, May 17, 2013, at Page 29097.

Extended deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) in response to its Public Notice (PN) regarding rural call completion. This PN is DA 13-780 in WC Docket No. 13-39. The FCC released it on April 18, 2013. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 88, May 7, 2013, at Pages 26572-26573. See also, FCC's May 22 Public Notice (DA 13-1196) extending the reply comment deadline.

Day three of a three day event hosted by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) titled "Cable Show". See, web site. Location: Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW.

8:00 AM - 1:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the Executive Office of the President's (EOP) Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology Subcommittee. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 79, April 24, 2013, at Page 24241. Location: USDA Conference and Training Center, Patriots Plaza III, 355 E St., SW.

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a two day event hosted by Georgetown University's (GU) Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy (GCBPP) titled "Workshop on the Economics of Information Security". See, notice. Location: GU, Hariri Building, McDonough School of Business.

8:30 - 11:45 AM Day two of a two day meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 98, May 21, 2013, at Pages 29704-29705. Location: NIST, Portrait Room, Administration Building, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the Department of the Interior's (DOI) National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). The agenda includes discussion of the Strategic Plan of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), which provides data for, among other things, Google Maps and Microsoft Bing maps. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 99, May 22, 2013, at Page 30328. Location: South Interior Building Auditorium, 1951 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (SHSGAC) will hold a hearing on the nomination of Howard Shelanski to be Administrator of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. See, notice, and story titled "Obama Picks Shelanski for OMB Post" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,557, May 6, 2013. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Building.

12:15 - 1:45 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: Washington Post, 1150 15th St., NW.

2:00 PM. The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) will hold a hearing titled "Cybersecurity: Preparing for and Responding to the Enduring Threat". The witnesses will be General Keith Alexander (Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, Director of the National Security Agency, and Chief of the Central Security Service), Rand Beers (acting Deputy Secretary, DHS), Patrick Gallagher (Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology), and Richard McFeely (FBI). See, notice. Location: Room G-50, Dirksen Building.

Deadline to submit to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) objections to AT&T's April 17, 2013 application to discontinue certain domestic telecommunications services that utilize obsolete technologies. See, Public Notice [3 pages in PDF], DA 13-1083 in WC Docket No. 13-126.

Supreme Court conference day. See, Supreme Court calendar.

RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 27. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host an event titled "Is Technology Responsible for American Job Loss?".

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) will hold an oversight hearing on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The witness will be FBI Director Robert Mueller. See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda includes consideration of Tony West (to be the Associate Attorney General) and four judicial nominees: Valerie Caproni (USDC/SDNY), and Vernon Broderick (USDC/SDNY), See also, story titled "Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing on West" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,568, May 31, 2013, and story titled "Obama Nominates Caproni to District Court" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,474, November 19, 2012. Live and archived webcast. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

1:00 - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Technological Advisory Council (TAC) will meet. Tom Wheeler is the Chairman of the TAC. See, story titled "Obama to Nominate Tom Wheeler to Be FCC Chairman" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,556, May 1, 2013. See also, FCC's Public Notice, and notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 106, June 3, 2013, at Page 33092. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Cyber Security for the Overseas Attorney: Understanding and Mitigating the Risk to Client Information When Traveling Abroad". The speakers will be David Manning (Applied Security, Inc.), Keith Riggins (Pamir Consulting), Allen Vaughn (Applied Security, Inc.), and Chandran Iyer (Sughrue Mion). Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

1:00 - 3:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "Cloud Computing Transactions Workshop: A Systems Approach to Avoiding Thunderstorms". The speakers will be Henry Classen (Computer Sciences Corporation) and Philip Porter (Hogan Lovells). The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. CLE credits. For more information, call 202-626-3488. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. See, notice. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

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

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) regarding the 45 day public trial of Google's TV bands database system that was completed on April 17, 2013. See, FCC's May 29, 2013 Public Notice, DA 13-1220 in ET Docket No. 04-186.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) regarding the 45 day public trial of Keybridge's TV bands database system that was completed on April 24, 2013. See, FCC's May 29, 2013 Public Notice, DA 13-1222 in ET Docket No. 04-186.

8:00 AM - 4:00 PM. The Georgetown University's Georgetown Center for Business & Public Policy (GCBPP) will host an event titled "Optimal Coevolution of Mobile Broadband Technology and Spectrum Policy". See, notice and registration page. Location: McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University.

9:00 AM - 4:30 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of the Census's (BOC) Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 99, May 22, 2013, at Page 30269. Location: BOC Conference Center, 4600 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, MD.

10:30 AM - 3:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EAAC) will meet to discuss ensuring access to 911 by individuals with disabilities. See, FCC Public Notice. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

12:00 NOON - 1:15 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law will host a an on site and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Patent Pools". The speakers will be Amanda Reeves (Latham & Watkins), Patrick Kuhlmann (DOJ Antitrust Division), Jeffrey Blumenfeld (Crowell & Moring), and Bob Levinson (Charles River Associates). Free. No CLE credits. See, notice. Location: Latham & Watkins, Suite 1000, 555 11th St., NW.

4:30 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of the Census's (BC) Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee Meeting will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 99, May 22, 2013, at Page 30269. Location: BC Conference Center, 4600 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, MD.

Deadline to submit Expressions of Interest to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) regarding serving on the Board of Directors of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 106, June 3, 2013, at Pages 33072-33073.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Public Notice (PN) requesting comments that supplement the record regarding the 600 MHz wireless band plan. This PN is DA 13-1157 in GN Docket No. 12-268. See, statement of Commissioner Ajit Pai explaining that this PN has "substantive and procedural infirmities that I fear will lead the incentive auction rulemaking astray". See also, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 101, May 24, 2013, at Pages 31472-31475.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the Section 214 application [18 pages in PDF] of MCI Communications Services, Inc. dba Verizon Business Services to discontinue MCI 900 Service. See also, FCC's Public Notice. This proceeding is WC Docket No. 13-139.

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law will host a teleconferenced panel discussion titled "A day with the French Data Protection Authority, the CNIL". The speakers will be Florence Raynal (head of the Commission Nationale de L'informatique et des Libertés' Department of European and International Affairs) and Marie-Andrée Weiss. Free. No CLE credits. See, notice.

12:00 NOON. The Tech Freedom and Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will host a panel discussion titled "What Should Congress Do about Cell Phone Unlocking?" The speakers will be __. See, notice. Location: Methodist Building, 101 Maryland Ave., NE.

12:15 - 1:45 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Intellectual Property and Video Programming and Distribution Committees will host a brown bag lunch titled "Copyright, Technology, and Media Litigation: A Mid-Year Review". Location: Wiley Rein, 1776 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [55 pages in PDF] regarding equipment authorization processes. The FCC adopted this NPRM on February 12, 2013, and released the text on February 15, 2013. It is FCC 13-19 in ET Docket No. 13-44. See also, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 86, May 3, 2013, at Pages 25916-25938.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Public Notice (PN) requesting input and data on mobile wireless competition to assist the FCC in preparing a report titled "Seventeenth Annual Report on the State of Competition in Mobile Wireless". This PN is DA 13-1139 in WT Docket No. 13-135.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireline
Competition Bureau (WCB) in response to its May 16 Public Notice (PN) regarding promoting the availability of voice and broadband capable networks in rural areas served by rate of return carriers. This PN is DA 13-1112 in WC Docket No. 10-90. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 109, June 6, 2013, at Pages 34016-34020.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its proceeding titled "U.S.-Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement Including Japan: Advice on the Probable Economic Effect of Providing Duty-Free Treatment for Imports". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 94, May 15, 2013, at Pages 28623-28625.

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