[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 190 (Monday, October 3, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-24458]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: October 3, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Public Hearing and Request for Comments on Commercial Security on
the National Information Infrastructure
AGENCY: Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public hearing and request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The Security Issues Forum of the Infrastructure Task Force
(IITF) and Mega-Project III of the U.S. National Information
Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIIAC) request public input on issues
associated with the security of commercial products and services on the
National Information Infrastructure (NII). Interested members of the
public, especially representatives from the entertainment, computing
and software industries, are invited to participate in a public hearing
and to submit written comments on any of the topics outlined in the
supplementary information section of this notice.
DATES: A public hearing will be conducted by the Patent and Trademark
Office on Thursday, October 20, 1994, from 9:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.
Those wishing to participate as a witness in the hearing must request
an opportunity to do so no later than October 13, 1994. Individuals who
wish to offer general comments or present questions to witnesses may
request an opportunity to do so during the hearing. Written comments on
the topics in the supplementary information section of this notice will
be accepted until December 2, 1994.
ADDRESSES: The public hearing will be held at the Sunnyvale Community
Center, 550 East Remington Drive, Sunnyvale, California. Those
interested in presenting written comments on the topics identified in
the supplementary information, or any other related topics, should
address their comments to the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks,
marked to the attention of Jeff Kushan. Comments submitted by mail
should be sent to Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Box 4, Patent
and Trademark Office, Washington, DC 20231. Comments may also be
submitted by fax to (703) 305-8885 and by electronic mail to
``Comments-security@uspto.gov.'' Written comments should include the
following information:
--Name and affiliation, if any, of the individual responding;
--An indication of whether comments offered represent views of the
respondent's organization or are the respondent's personal views; and
--If applicable, information on the respondent's organization,
including the type of organization (e.g., business, trade group,
university, non-profit organization) and general areas of interest.
Parties offering testimony or written comments are asked to provide
them on paper and, where possible, in machine-readable format. Machine-
readable sub-missions may be provided either as electronic mail
messages sent over the Internet, or on a 3.5'' floppy disk formatted
for use in either a Macintosh or MS-DOS based computer, Machine-
readable submissions should be provided as unencoded, unformatted ASCII
text.
Requests to participate as a witness in the hearing should be
submitted to Jeff Kushan by mail, phone or fax (see information
regarding addresses above). No requests for participation as a witness
will be accepted through electronic mail.
Written comments and transcripts of the hearings will be available
for public inspection by December 10, 1994, at the Patent and Trademark
Office, in Room 902 of Crystal Park Two, 2121 Crystal Drive, Arlington,
Virginia. In addition, transcripts of the hearings and comments
provided in machine-readable format will be available by December 10,
1994, through anonymous file transfer protocol (ftp) via the Internet
(address: comments.uspto.gov and www.uspto.gov).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jeff Kushan by telephone at (703) 305-9300, by fax at (703) 305-8885,
by electronic mail at kushan@uspto.gov, or by mail marked to his
attention addressed to the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Box
4, Washington, DC 20231.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Issues for Public Comment
A. Background
The National Information Infrastructure is a system of high-speed
telecommunications networks, databases, and advanced computer systems
that will make electronic information and entertainment products more
widely available and accessible to the public than ever before. This
increased availability and accessibility will dramatically affect the
way information and entertainment products are created, marketed and
delivered throughout the world. Consequently, the commercial viability
of the NII hinges not only upon effectively promoting and encouraging
use of the NII by types of users, but also upon implementing standards,
policies and practices that ensure that the owners of products can
effectively control access to and the integrity of their electronically
disseminated products and services. In this regard, it is essential
that the public and private sectors collaborate to ensure that the
interests of owners and users of intellectual property are adequately
considered in any discussion of proposed standards and policies that
may be established.
To address the issues raised by the NII, the President formed the
Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF). The mission of the IITF
is to articulate and implement the Administration's vision for the NII.
The IITF is working with the private sector, public interest groups,
Congress and State and local governments, to develop comprehensive
telecommunications and information policies and programs that best meet
the country's needs. The IITF is chaired by the Secretary of Commerce
and is comprised of senior Administration officials having expertise in
the technical and legal areas of particular importance to the NII. The
NII Security Issues Forum was established within the IITF to address
the cross-cutting issue of security on the NII. The Forum is chaired by
Sally Katzen, Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget.
In addition to the IITF, the President has established the U.S.
National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIIAC). The NIIAC
represents industry, labor, and public interest groups, and advises the
Secretary of Commerce on issues relating to the NII. The Council has
established three Mega-Projects which will form the backbone for
initial programmatic work of the NIIAC. Mega-Project III, co-chaired by
John Cooke of the Disney Channel and Esther Dyson of EDVenture, is
responsible for addressing security, intellectual property and privacy
issues as they relate to the NII.
B. Structure and Content of Public Hearing
Security is linked inextricably to the commercial success of the
NII. The policies and procedures used to ensure the confidentiality,
availability, and integrity of digitally produced and transmitted
products and services on the NII will determine whether, how, and at
what cost such products and services will be made available. Without
the existence of appropriate legal, technical and policy mechanisms,
the potential of the NII to be a commercially viable means for
delivering digital products and services cannot be realized.
Development of policies and procedures that will ensure commercial
security of intellectual property on the NII requires study from
different perspectives. One such perspective is the legal protection of
intellectual property. This topic is presently being addressed by the
IITF Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, chaired by Bruce A.
Lehman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and
Trademarks. The Working Group on Intellectual Property has recently
released a preliminary report on intellectual property issues on the
NII and has conducted a series of public hearings to receive views on
the preliminary report and any other concerns about intellectual
property raised by the NII.
A second perspective concerns a more functional approach to
protecting intellectual property; namely, what legal measures, policy
mechanisms, and technological solutions, or combinations thereof, aside
from intellectual property laws, can be used to effectively protect
commercial products and services delivered or made accessible using the
NII. This latter topic is the subject that the Forum and Mega-Project
III wish to develop through this public hearing.
The Forum and Mega-Project III seek input from parties who will
produce and make accessible commercial products and services via the
NII, as well as users of such products and services. A panel of
witnesses drawn from the public will be assembled to discuss the
following topics with a panel comprising the Commissioner of Patents
and Trademarks, members of the Security Information Forum and members
of Mega-Project III of the NIIAC, and to field questions and comments
from other members of the public:
1. What types of projects and services are you contemplating
delivering or making available, or would you like to see delivered or
made available on the National Information Infrastructure?
2. What capacity do you want to provide to users of the NII to
view, hear, retrieve, reproduce, modify or further distribute your
products and services? As a user of such products and services, what
capabilities in this regard would you like to see made available by
content producers?
3. What commercial threats do you foresee in making products and
services available via the NII, in terms of:
(a) Unauthorized access to or theft of products or services; and
(b) Integrity or confidentiality of information delivered or
retrieved via the NII?
4. What kinds of technical solutions are you aware of, or would you
like to see developed, to address security concerns?
Note: Parties who wish to offer comments or suggestions
regarding the adequacy of existing intellectual property laws to
address questions of commercial security on the NII should utilize
the public comment process established by the Working Group on
Intellectual Property rights of the IITF. Copies of the draft report
of this working group can be obtained by contacting the Patent and
Trademark Office by phone, fax or mail using the information
provided in the addresses section of this notice. Copies of the
report may also be obtained via the Internet at the addresses listed
in the addresses section of this notice.
II. Guidelines for Participation in the Public Hearing
Participants in the public hearing will testify before a panel
consisting of members of Mega-Project III of the NIIAC, the Security
Issues Forum and the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights of
the IITF. The public hearings will be chaired by Bruce A. Lehman,
Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and
Trademarks.
Individuals who would like to participate as a witness must request
an opportunity to do so no later than October 13, 1994. Each approved
participant will be permitted to present brief opening remarks. Once
each witness has presented their opening remarks, a general discussion
on the topics listed above will be conducted.
Individuals may offer comments or ask questions of the witnesses by
requesting an opportunity to do so and being recognized during the
hearing by the chair of the meeting. Oral remarks offered in this
fashion may not exceed three minutes. No advance approval is required
to attend, offer comments, or present questions during the hearing.
Dated: September 28, 1994.
[FR Doc. 94-24458 Filed 9-30-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-M
