Intellectual Property
Supreme Court Struggles To Find Guidance On File Sharing
     Justices on the nation's highest court this week struggled to elicit consistent guidance during arguments on how to adapt a landmark legal standard to cover the activities of file-sharing companies. In the case, MGM v. Grokster, the justices appeared concerned that the legal test proposed by the entertainment industry would chill the development of innovative technologies like Apple Computer's iPod music player. But they also did not appear copasetic with arguments made by the file-sharing companies that the justices should leave untouched the Supreme Court's 1984 decision in Sony v. Universal City Studios. In its Sony ruling, the Supreme Court concluded that technology companies with products that have substantial legal uses cannot be held liable for the copyright infringement of people using the products. Richard Taranto, a Farr & Taranto attorney arguing the case on behalf of Grokster and Streamcast Networks, told the justices that they should only apply the Sony decision to the Grokster case.

Intellectual Property
Justices Torn Between Copyright Enforcement, Innovation
     The nine Supreme Court justices hearing arguments in a case over file-sharing networks appeared torn between the how to make enforcement of copyright law effective and how to preserve a legal environment that fosters innovation. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor asked both sides about "active inducement," and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg asked Richard Taranto, a lawyer for the file-sharing firms in the case, what questions would be left to address if the case were remanded to a district court in California for a new trial. Active inducement in patent law comes from the same section of the legal code as the concept of "contributory infringement" that the justices applied in the 1984 opinion Sony v. Universal City Studios. But there is no statutory definition of the term. Some friend-of-the-court briefs in the current case against the Grokster file-sharing firm provided the court advice on how to define the term.

Broadband
Supreme Court Appears Skeptical Of Regulatory Distinctions
     The FCC's decision not to regulate high-speed Internet services over cable modems is reasonable, in spite of the fact that Bell telephone companies offering broadband service are regulated, the cable industry and Justice Department argued before a skeptical Supreme Court. Most of the justices peppered the attorneys representing the FCC and the National Cable and Telecommunication Association (NCTA) with a wide range of questions about their argument that cable modems should be considered as an "information service." By contrast, the attorney for the Internet service providers challenging the 2002 rule offered a tutorial-like presentation that the justices scarcely interrupted. Justice Antonin Scalia was the most aggressively skeptical of the FCC's argument that the law permits it to classify cable modems as an unregulated information service and not as a "telecommunications service" conventionally regulated by the agency.

Crime
Microsoft Sues Over 'Phishing,' Joins Warning About Scams
     Microsoft announced that it is filing 117 federal lawsuits against operators of "phishing" scams that involve official-looking but phony e-mails and Web sites. The company also joined the FTC and National Consumers League at a press conference to warn Internet users about the growing threat of online frauds. Microsoft hopes the lawsuits, which were filed as "John Doe" cases because the company has not identified the operators of the Web sites suspected in the scams, will enable the company to learn how such businesses function, a company official said. The practice of sending phony e-mails to trick people into visiting fraudulent Web sites and revealing personal information is on the rise, said Susan Grant, vice president of public policy at the league, which established a database in December 2003 to track fraud. Today, phishing has become the fourth-most commonly registered type of Internet fraud complaint, she said.

Domains
Overdue Report Says Domain-Name System Still Works
     The Internet's primary addressing mechanism is working well but should stay protected from any single government's hegemony, a national panel of experts said in a report produced by a committee at the National Research Council and requested by Congress in 1998. It concludes that the current domain-name system (DNS) has performed admirably in the face of exponential Internet growth but faces challenges. The committee also warned that the "governance of the DNS is not an appropriate venue for the playing out of national political interests." A working group of the United Nations is mulling the issue of governance, and there have been calls from some developing nations to move control of the DNS away from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). In other news, an independent panel recommended that ICANN renew VeriSign's contract to manage domains ending in .net.

Security
Group Launches System To Link Emergency Agencies
     A nonprofit coalition announced an initiative to establish a data-messaging system to link local, state and federal emergency agencies. The National Emergency and Alerting Response System, or NEARS, would deploy emergency messaging by using national data standards. Instead of building a new infrastructure to transmit emergency data, the NEARS system will be able to build upon existing systems and implement new standards as required by the federal National Incident Management System, which shares emergency data communications across jurisdictions. At the core of the system is a directory that will hold the names, addresses, e-mail addresses and contact information of emergency agencies, health departments, schools and hospitals. Notifications to public utilities, schools and eventually to private-sector entities, such as buildings, will be transmitted via the system.

Security
Passenger-Screening System May Not Be Ready By August
     Delays in developing key elements of the computerized system for pre-screening airline passengers make it unclear if the system will be ready by its slated August deployment date, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The watchdog agency also said it is uncertain whether privacy protections for the Secure Flight system will be met. In a congressionally mandated report, GAO found that Secure Flight has failed to meet nine of the 10 criteria outlined by Congress, including oversight, security safeguards, accuracy of data, cost to airlines, privacy protections and a system of redress for passengers who are incorrectly targeted by the system. While GAO reported that the Transportation Security Administration is making progress at addressing key areas, "initial tests have only been completed, and key policy decisions ... have not been made."

Telecom
FCC Commissioner Copps Outlines Agency Landscape
     The FCC led by Chairman Kevin Martin faces a "huge, unfinished agenda" that includes payments between telephone carriers, high-speed Internet deployment, media ownership and homeland security communications, agency Commissioner Michael Copps said. Copps, one of two Democrats on the commission, highlighted what he identified as a close relationship with Martin, whom President Bush appointed as chairman of the agency March 16. Martin's elevation to chairman provides "a fresh opportunity to work together" across partisan lines, he said. On telecommunications policy, Copps said the FCC's highest priority this year should be tackling lingering issues surrounding the rates that carriers pay each other to connect calls, and he said the agency could address such intercarrier compensation without congressional intervention.