News Briefs from April 1-15, 2000


4/14. The FCC issued a Report and Order which adopted new procedures and standards to select among mutually exclusive TV, FM, and FM translator applicants to construct new noncommercial educational (NCE) broadcast stations or to make major changes in existing facilities of such stations. See, FCC release.
4/14. Karen Onyeije will become FCC Chairman Wm. Kennard's legal advisor on mass media and cable policies at the end of April. She will replace Tom Power, who will become General Counsel at Fiberlink, a Pennsylvania-based provider of virtual network connectivity, starting on May 8. See, FCC release and Fiberlink release.
4/14. James Billington, the Librarian of Congress, gave an address at the National Press Club on the Role of the Library of Congress in the Information Age. He stated that the Library of Congress will not digitize books. See, TLJ story.
4/14. DoubleClick, an Internet advertising company, announced that it has extended its "Internet Privacy Education Campaign" to serve at least 100 million impressions. The banner advertisements link users to www.privacychoices.org, a DoubleClick site devoted to educating consumers about online privacy and giving them the ability to opt-out of the DoubleClick cookie. See, release.
4/14. U S WEST and Qwest announced they have reached agreement with the Minnesota Department of Commerce and the Minnesota Office of the Attorney General on key service, competition and investment issues. The two Minnesota public offices have also agreed to support expeditious approval of the merger. See, Minn. release and USW release.
4/13. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), ranking minority member of the House Commerce Committee, wrote a letter to SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt asking that he submit a report by July 21 regarding previous enforcement actions against the NYSE.
4/13. The SEC issued an Order suspending the deadlines for decimal pricing implementation set out in its Orders of January 28, 2000 and March 10, 2000. This action was necessary due to the NASD's recently announced inability to meet the originally planned implementation schedule for decimalization. See, SEC release.
4/13. The House passed HR 3615, the Rural Local Broadcast Signal Act, by a vote of 375 to 37. See, TLJ story.
4/13. The House passed HR 3439, the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act, by a vote of 274 to 110. The bill limits the FCC's authority to issue LPFM licenses. See, TLJ story.
4/13. FCC Chairman Wm. Kennard lashed back at broadcasters for supporting HR 3439. "Special interests triumphed over community interests today. While the National Association of Broadcasters frequently opposes new competitive services, I'm particularly disappointed that National Public Radio joined with commercial interests to stifle greater diversity of voices on the airwaves." See, FCC release.
4/13. The House Telecom Subcommittee held a hearing on HR 3525, the Religious Broadcasting Freedom Act, and HR 4201, the Noncommercial Broadcasting Freedom of Expression Act.
4/13. The Senate Commerce Committee approved the following bills: S 1407, Technology Administration Authorization Act, a bill authorizing appropriations for the Technology Administration of the Dept. of Commerce for FY 2000, 2001, and 2002; S 1912, Electronic Commerce Technology Promotion Act, a bill to promote the use of electronic commerce within federal government agencies and small and medium-sized businesses; and S 2046, Next Generation Internet Act. (All three are sponsored by Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN).
4/13. The House Science Committee's Subcommittee on Technology held a hearing on wireless Internet technologies. See, TLJ story.
4/13. Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) and Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) introduced HR 4246, the Cyber Security Information Act [PDF], a bill to encourage the disclosure of information about cyber-security by exempting information voluntarily submitted by industry to the government from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
4/13. The FCC adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to resolve issues regarding the compatibility between cable television systems and digital television receivers, set top boxes and other consumer electronics equipment. The FCC seeks comment on (1) how to label DTV receivers with different features, including the proper designation for receivers providing two-way interactive capability, and (2) licensing terms for copy protection technology. See, release.
4/13. The FCC adopted new rules to combat the illegal practice of slamming. See, FCC release and Bell South release.
4/13. The FCC confirmed that it would fund the schools and libraries program at $2.25 Billion this year.
4/13. The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) hired Jason Leuck as the new director of global technology policy and Latin America programs.
4/12. Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) commented on demonstrations in Washington against PNTR status for China. "A few thousand people bussed today to Washington by AFL-CIO labor bosses can’t change the fact that the sky is blue, the earth is round, and trade is key to the United States creating 20 million new jobs and the lowest unemployment in four decades," said Dreier. "David Bonior, Pat Buchanan and their professional protesters are just flat out wrong when they try to whip up fear over China joining the WTO and opening their markets to American goods." See, release.
4/12. Rep. Chip Pickering (R-MS), Rep. Al Wynn (D-MD), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) announced the formation of the Wireless Telecommunications Caucus. Among the issues of concern to the caucus are repeal of the federal excise tax on phones, lifting the spectrum cap, and implementation of CALEA. See, CTIA release.
4/12. The House Judiciary Committee's Immigration Subcommittee approved HR 4227, the Technology Worker Temporary Relief Act. This is the Rep. Lamar Smith's latest H1B bill. One minor amendment was approved. See, TLJ story.
4/12. The Senate passed S 2323, the Worker Economic Opportunity Act, sponsored by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), by a vote of 95-0. The bill would exempt stock options, stock appreciation rights and employee stock purchase plans from the Fair Labor Standards Act.
4/12. The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on S 2255, a bill to extend the moratorium on Internet taxes for five years. See, statements of John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA), Gov. Mike Leavitt (Utah), John Berthoud (National Taxpayers Union), Donald Bruce (U. Tenn.), David Bullington (Wal-Mart), Burr Morse (Morse Farm Sugar Works). Jonathan Zittrain (Harvard).
4/12. The House Judiciary Committee held an oversight hearing on antitrust law enforcement by the FTC and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice". See, opening statements by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), Robert Pitofsky, and Joel Klein.
4/12. The House Rules Committee adopted a closed rule for HR 3615, the Rural Local Broadcast Signal Act.
4/12. The House Rules Committee adopted an open rule for HR 3439, the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 2000 (Rep. Mike Oxley's (R-OH) bill to prevent the FCC from issuing low power FM licenses).
4/12. The SIIA released the results of a survey indicating a steep rise in the occurrence of illegitimate software being distributed over online auction sites. See, release.
4/12. The RIAA named Amy Weiss as SVP for Communications. See, release.
4/11. The FCC named Michele Walters Assoc. Division Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau's Accounting Policy Division. She will handle consumer protection rulemaking proceedings, including billing and slamming proceedings. See, release.
4/11. FCC Chairman Wm. Kennard gave a speech [MS Word] to the NAB in Las Vegas. He addressed digital transition ("Analog is dead ... Resistance is futile.") and low power FM ("Why won't you work with the FCC ...?").
4/11. The Senate Judiciary Committee issued it report on S 2045, Sen. Orrin Hatch's (R-UT) H1B visa bill. The Committee amended and approved the bill on March 9. See, Report No. 106-260.
4/11. Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) attacked the government case against Microsoft in a speech on the House floor. "The case against Microsoft is not fundamentally about protecting consumers, it is really about competing businesses in the States in which those businesses reside seeking to get the upper hand on one another by using litigation where innovation has failed, by using the power of the government to usurp the power of the marketplace."
4/11. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) introduced HR 4232, a bill to provide free home computers and Internet access to all government employees.
4/11. The House Commerce Committee's Telecom Subcommittee held a hearing on the status of the deployment of broadband technologies.
4/11. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced HR 4227, a new version of his H1B visa bill. It removes the cap on these visas for three years. See, TLJ story.
4/11. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on permanent normal trade relations for China. The committee heard testimony from Wei Jingsheng (Columbia Univ.), Arthur Waldron (AIE), Greg Mastel (New America Foundation), and Robert Kapp (U.S.-China Business Council).
4/11. The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on the effects of permanent normal trade relations with China on the U.S. economy. Commerce Sec. Wm. Daley provided testimony [HTML] on his recent visit to China. See also, prepared statements [in PDF] of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Richard Kahler (Caterpillar, Inc.), Jack Valenti (Motion Picture Assoc. of America), Lori Wallach (Global Trade Watch), and Harry Wu (Chinese dissident.)
4/11. Bell Atlantic was named the local telecommunications provider for the 2000 Republican National Convention, to be held in Philadelphia July 31 - August 3.
4/11. The CTIA released its semi annual wireless survey [10 pages in PDF].
4/11. NCTA CEO Robert Sachs gave a speech in San Antonio criticizing broadcasters regulatory efforts. "In the digital must carry context, broadcasters are asking the FCC to increase regulatory burdens on the cable industry by mandating carriage of not just the original broadcast channel but also a digital duplicate of every channel? In essence, broadcasters are saying to the government, 'deregulate us where we want to be deregulated, protect us where we want to be protected… and, oh, by the way, place more regulations on our competitors, the cable industry.' The victim of such a policy could be the very public affairs, educational, and local programming that helps our industry meet community needs ..."
4/10. America Online announced the appointment of Keith Fulton as Executive Director of Corporate Outreach. Fulton will handle AOL's "digital divide" activities.
4/10. The House approved S 777, The Freedom to E-File Act, by a vote of 397 to 1. The bill will allow farmers, ranchers and others doing business with the USDA to file required forms online.  Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) managed the bill. The bill passed the Senate last November. See, Goodlatte release.
4/10. The ITAA released a study titled Bridging the Gap: IT Skills for a New Millennium. It finds that the IT workforce is over 10 million, and demand for new workers of approximately 1.6 million over the next 12 months. Also, hiring managers foresee a shortfall of almost 850,000 appropriately skilled workers. See, summary of study.
4/7. Genuity (formerly GTE Internetworking, and before that, BBN) filed a registration statement with the SEC for the initial public offering of the company's shares. GTE CEO Charles Lee said that "GTE's foremost priority continues to be completion of our merger with Bell Atlantic, which we are targeting for later this quarter. The transition of Genuity to a public company is part of a comprehensive proposal we have filed with the FCC in order to complete the merger." See, GTE release and Genuity release.
4/7. The FCC released its FY99 Annual Performance Report [PDF] for Bill Clinton. See also, cover letter to Clinton [HTML].
4/7. Sec. of Commerce Wm. Daley gave an address in Beijing on e-commerce and trade with China. "I plan to come right back to China -- one week from today. This time, I will bring with me several members of the United States Congress. These are the people who really run our country. They will vote the week of May 22, on whether America should grant China permanent normal trade relations with China."
4/7. Wm. Daley (U.S. Sec. of Commerce) and Shi Guanghseng (Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of the PRC) issued a Joint Statement on trade, the WTO, and PNTR status.
4/7. See, Full Text of US-China WTO Market Access Agreement [PDF documents].
4/6. Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA) introduced HR 4184 [PDF], a bill to permit small business people to immediately deduct the cost of business software and to cut the amortization period for software not immediately expensed from 15 to three years.
4/6. The SEC filed a securities fraud action against Enterprises Solutions, Inc. (ESI) and others in U.S. District Court, SDNY. The SEC's complaint alleges that ESI claims to be in the business of developing products and encryption technology for Internet security. It also alleges that ESI is controlled by a Florida stock promoter who has twice been convicted of felony fraud.
4/6. The FTC and the Antitrust Division of the DOJ announced that they would make changes to their merger review processes. See, FTC release, DOJ release, and Text of the Guidelines [PDF].
4/6. The Commerce Dept.'s NTIA announced it has received 662 TOP grant applications totalling $270 Million. This year NTIA will award about $12.5 Million for these TOP grants (formerly called TIIAP) to support the use of advanced information technologies in underserved areas. See also, NTIA's Digital Divide page.
4/6. The House Judiciary Committee approved HR 3125, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, by a vote of 21 to 8. The Committee approved an amendment offered by Rep. Goodlatte (Indian gaming) and an amendment offered by Rep. Pease (state lotteries) on April 5. All amendments offered on April 6 were either defeated or withdrawn.
4/6. The Senate Judiciary Committee again postponed markup of S 1854, a bill to amend the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.
4/6. The House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing on the 4th Amendment and the Internet. See, testimony of James Dempsey of the CDT.
4/6. Sec. of State Mad. Albright gave a speech at Agilent Technologies, in Andover, MA, in support of PNTR status for China. The company, which was recently split off from Hewlitt Packard, operates four areas: test and measurement, semiconductor products, healthcare, and chemical analysis. "High tech and financial services are identified as two of the top three employment industries in the greater Boston area. And both will benefit significantly from the market-opening measures required by the WTO. Agilent's own prospects tell this story well. Under our WTO deal signed in November, the tariffs on your hi-tech medical equipment sold in China will be cut by more than a half," said Albright.
4/5. AG Janet Reno spoke about cybercrime to a group of government officials and technology industry representatives at a conference at Stanford University sponsored by the ITAA. "It is imperative that law enforcement and industry work together to address this challenge in a way that protects both public safety and individual privacy," said Reno. "We can no longer rely solely on laws written two decades ago or more to address the challenges we face in the 21st Century," See, DOJ release.
4/5. Commerce Sec. Wm. Daley began a three day trip to China to meet with Chinese political leaders and businesses, and to address a summit on e-commerce in Beijing. See, release. On arrival in Beijing he stated that the purpose of the visit is "to discuss China's ongoing reform efforts and ways to enhance China's transition to a rules-based global trading system." See, speech.
4/5. The House Judiciary Committee began markup of HR 3125, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. It approved an amendment offered by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) which exempts certain Indian gambling operations. The Committee is scheduled to continue deliberation of an amendment offered by Rep. Ed Pease (R-IN) regarding state lotteries on April 6.
4/5. The House Education and Workforce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on OSHA’s Employee Work at Home Policy.
4/5. SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt responded to criticism of plans to use a webcrawler to search for online securities fraud. See, SEC release and TLJ story.
4/5. Microsoft Chief Software Architect Bill Gates visited Washington DC. He met with legislators on Capitol Hill and gave an address at a White House event. He stated: "Look at the impact technology can have on democracy. The Internet will increasingly help citizens learn more about the issues that are important to them; it will encourage voter participation and serve as a tool for people around the world to work for change."
4/5. FRB Chairman Alan Greenspan gave a speech in which he credited high tech for economic growth. "While there are various competing explanations for an economy that is in many respects without precedent in our annals, the most compelling appears to be the extraordinary surge in technological innovation ..."
4/5. Bill Clinton held a meeting at the White House on "the new economy." Said Clinton: "I believe the computer and the Internet give us a chance to move more people out of poverty more quickly than at any time in all of human history. I believe we can harness the power of the new economy to help people everywhere fulfill their dreams."
4/5. Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK), Chairman of the House Republican Conference, released a statement on the effect of the Microsoft case on the stock markets. "The Justice Department has demonstrated that, with one major decision, they can send the entire world’s economy into total disarray. The dive in the Nasdaq market is a direct result of the Clinton-Gore Administration meddling with the private sector."
4/5. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Jackson scheduled oral argument on the issue of remedies in DOJ v. Microsoft for May 24.
4/4. Commerce Sec. Wm. Daley gave a speech at Microsoft's Government Leaders Conference in Seattle. He addressed net taxes, the domain name system, privacy, software piracy, and the digital divide. He said: "The Internet may know no borders, but governments' entire existence is based on borders. These differences make it hard for government policy to cope with the Internet."
4/4. Judge Robert Bork stated at a ProCompetition press conference that "the prospects that Microsoft can reverse this decision are slim." Bork, who has been hired to advocate against Microsoft, added that reversal of the Conclusions of Law on the tying claim would have "almost no impact on the case. The important point is that this is a violation of Section 2 – monopolization and attempted monopolization." See, release.
4/4. The US Trade Representative issued its annual review of certain foreign countries' compliance with telecom trade agreements under § 1377 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. The countries covered included the U.K., Germany, and Canada. Charlene Barshefsky stated that "this agreement has allowed U.S. firms to build and operate global telecommunications and information networks around the world. In most of the cases considered in the Section 1377 review, governments and regulators are now taking steps to address the complaints of U.S. carriers." See, release.
4/4. USTR Charlene Barshefsky urged the WTO to take steps to make its activities and procedures more open and accessible, including greater use of the Internet. See, release.
4/4. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit issued its opinion reversing the U.S. District Court decision in Junger v. Daley. The appeals court held that the encryption export regulations at issue in the case violate First Amendment free speech rights.
4/3. Sun Microsystems called for Microsoft to be split up into five companies, banned from "buy[ing] its way into new markets", and required to "publish its programming interfaces openly and freely". See, release.
4/3. Janet Reno and Joel Klein praised the Conclusions of Law in DOJ v. Microsoft. See, release.
4/3. Judge Thomas Jackson issued his Conclusions of Law and Order in the Microsoft antitrust lawsuit. He held that "Microsoft maintained its monopoly power by anticompetitive means and attempted to monopolize the Web browser market, both in violation of § 2. Microsoft also violated § 1 of the Sherman Act by unlawfully tying its Web browser to its operating system." See, TLJ story and TLJ summary of case.
4/3. EPIC released its third annual international survey of encryption policies. The report found that "Governments attempting to develop e-commerce are recognizing that encryption is an essential tool for transactions, and are reversing decades old restrictions based on national security concerns." See, Amazon.com page for ordering hard copy. See also, TLJ story.
4/3. House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) said that the House will vote on granting PNTR status for China before May 29, when Congress begins the Memorial Day recess.
4/3. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) gave a speech in which she announced her support for PNTR status for China. She said that "[e]ngaging China and exposing China to the sunlight of free market economics and democratic political values is the best way to bring about evolution towards freedom in China."
4/3. NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced that NYC may transform an unused water main system into a conduit for high-speed telecommunications cables, such as fiber optic lines. The new network would provide more capacity for NYC's growing Internet and new media industries. See, Giuliani release.
4/3. Bell Atlantic and GTE stated they expect FCC approval of their merger "in the second quarter of 2000". They also announced that they will rename the merged entity Verizon (rhymes with horizon). See, BA release and FCC BA-GTE merger page.
4/1. Judge Richard Posner issued a statement announcing the end of mediation efforts in the Microsoft case. Posner stated that "it is apparent that the disagreements among the parties concerning the likely course, outcome, and consequences of continued litigation, as well as the implications and ramifications of alternative terms of settlement, are too deep-seated to be bridged." Posner added, "I particularly want to emphasize that the collapse of the mediation is not due to any lack of skill, flexibility, energy, determination, or professionalism on the part of the Department of Justice and Microsoft Corporation." This statement omitted reference to the state plaintiffs. See also, Microsoft release and DOJ release.

Go to News Briefs from March 16-31, 2000.