The group that manages the Internet's address system approved a proposal that would create a database of trademarks aimed at improving their protection on the Internet, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers announced Friday.

The Trademark Clearinghouse is expected to serve "as a central repository for information to be authenticated, stored, and disseminated" relating to the rights of trademark owners.

"In forming this trademark clearinghouse, we've listened to our community about providing trademark protection," ICANN board Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush said in a statement following the nonprofit corporation's meeting this week in Nairobi, Kenya. "We've also adopted an extremely rapid process by which people or organizations can challenge trademark infringement."

The board also rejected a proposal to implement an "expression of interest," a pre-registration process for those wishing to apply for new generic Internet addresses, also known as domain names. Under procedures it previously approved, ICANN plans to expand the number of generic top-level domain names from the current list of 21, which include .com, .net, and .org, and could include almost any word in most languages.

Internet crimes reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center increased by more than 22 percent in 2009 over the previous year, the center reported Friday. The center, a partnership between the FBI and National White Collar Crime Center, received a total of 336,655 complaints last year and reported total losses linked to online fraud of nearly $560 million - more than double 2008's amount, according to its annual Internet Crime Report.

The top reported Internet-related crime, representing 16.6 percent of the complaints, involved e-mail scams in which the scammer pretended to be with the FBI in order to gain information from the recipient. This was followed by complaints (11.9 percent) involving the failure of an online firm to deliver merchandise or of a buyer to pay a firm for a product or service.

The other top five types of complaints involved advanced fee fraud in which a scammer requests money upfront for some reward but fails to deliver; identity theft; and overpayment fraud, which occurs when a scammer gives a victim a fraudulent monetary instrument above an agreed upon amount for a transaction and asks that the difference be paid with a legitimate form of payment.

"The figures contained in this report indicate that criminals are continuing to take full advantage of the anonymity afforded them by the Internet," National White Collar Crime Center Director Donald Brackman said in a statement. "They are also developing increasingly sophisticated means of defrauding unsuspecting consumers. Internet crime is evolving in ways we couldn't have imagined just five years ago."

A coalition of business groups launched a new organization Friday aimed at boosting American economic competitiveness by promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. The Business and Industry STEM Education Coalition's starting roster includes major players such as the Business Roundtable, National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"Without a concerted effort to enhance the quality of science education in the U.S., innovative industries like biotechnology cannot achieve their immense potential to heal the sick, feed the hungry, restore the environment, and fuel the economy," said Paul Hanle, president of the Biotechnology Institute, in a statement. "It's vital that the private sector work in partnership with government and the nonprofit sector to achieve our common goal of making US science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education again the best in the world."

The new group is aiming to increase the number of STEM bachelor degrees awarded in the United States to 400,000 by the year 2020, and will work to boost STEM education and literacy among children and adults alike. Eight government entities that employ professionals in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, serve as advisory members, including the Defense and Education departments and the National Science Foundation.

Last November, the White House launched the Educate to Innovate initiative, a $260 million commitment made up of public-private partnerships aimed at motivating students to excel in science and math.

A federal appeals court Friday upheld a key portion of the FCC's program access rules that ban exclusive contracts between cable television operators and their affiliated programming networks -- a decision that could have repercussions for the proposed merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, now under government review, CongressDaily reported. The exclusivity prohibition had been challenged by Cablevision and Comcast, whose cases were consolidated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

But Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts repeatedly assured lawmakers that his company would abide by the prohibition even if the court struck it down. He reiterated that commitment Thursday during testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee. Friday's decision by a three-judge panel renders his promises moot because Comcast will be required to make its programming available to competitors, including the satellite networks DirecTV and Dish Network.

"We're disappointed that the court has preserved the current unfairness that allows DirecTV to have exclusives for NFL Sunday Ticket and NASCAR Hot Pass," Comcast responded in a statement, referring to programming agreements not covering the ban.
"Whatever the court decided on these rules, we remain prepared to discuss with the FCC having them continue to apply to Comcast as part of the NBCU transaction, if appropriate," it added. Both the FCC and the Justice Department are reviewing the Comcast-NBCU deal. A Comcast spokeswoman said the company does not plan to appeal the decision.

In its 2-1 decision, the court argued that the commission "was reasonable in its conclusion that the prohibition - in its original form - continues to be necessary."
The petitioners had argued that forcing them to share content they own or produce violates their First Amendment rights, and that the FCC misinterpreted provisions in the 1992 Cable Act that created the ban.

"The commission's program access rules have played a vital role in making diverse and attractive video programming available to cable and satellite TV viewers," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement. To read more, click here. (Subscription required)

The National Association of Broadcasters Friday touted the newest congressional supporters of a resolution opposing a bill that would require AM and FM radio stations to pay performers a fee for playing their music on the radio.

The latest lawmakers to sign on in support of the House resolution are House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman emeritus John Dingell, D-Mich., and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., NAB said in a statement. Their support brings the total number of House supporters of the resolution to 258, well above the number needed for it to pass.

NAB argues that the performance rights bill backed by the music industry would place a big financial burden on radio stations. In addition, the NAB notes that performers already benefit from the exposure they receive from radio air play.

Marty Machowsky, a spokesman for the MusicFIRST Coalition, which represents several music industry groups including the Recording Industry Association of America, argued that the NAB is taking a hypocritical stand on the issue, opposing the performance rights legislation, while battling cable companies to pay a fair retransmission rate to the broadcast networks for using their programming. The latest dispute emerged last week when ABC briefly cut off programming last weekend to subscribers of cable provider Cablevision in the New York area over retransmission fees. The programming was restored minutes into last Sunday's Academy Awards show on ABC after the two sides reached a deal.

The White House's push for agencies to dangle prize money in front of the public to solve the government's problems should jump-start creativity, according to some information technology contractors. The White House late Monday released a memorandum explaining how agencies can legally coordinate contests to solicit ideas for using technology to modernize government, Nextgov.com reported.

The move was prompted by a December 2009 directive that required the Office of Management and Budget to establish guidelines on incentive-based strategies to enhance open government, which encompasses agency transparency, industry collaboration and public participation.

But Monday's memo extended beyond open government, encouraging the use of prizes to promote innovation and address other national priorities. The memo reads more like an endorsement than a set of restrictions and could spur innovation not just government wide, but nationwide, industry observers said. "It's almost like encouraging agencies to test the limits of their mandate -- which is very brave and forward-thinking," said Guido Jouret, chief technology officer for Cisco's emerging technologies group.

For example, the Commerce Department is authorized by law to bestow a Commercial Space Achievement Award, but other agencies without explicit mandates can turn grant programs into prizes or use federal acquisition regulations when the reward is for a good or service that benefits the government, according to the guidance. OMB officials this week cited the results of a successful contest where NetFlix awarded a $1 million prize in September 2009 to developers that improved the software the video rental company uses to personalize movie recommendations for customers.

Evaluating entrants fairly will be one of the key tests for the Obama administration as it moves forward with contests, said Susie Adams, chief technology officer for Microsoft Federal. "Everything that they've been doing so far has been done in good faith," she said. "It could easily get out of hand, if it's not properly managed." To read more, click here.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "A Chinese minister made the government's strongest statement yet on Google Inc.'s future in the country, warning that the U.S. Internet company 'will have to bear the consequences'" if it "follows through on its pledge to stop censoring its Chinese search site," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports.

While technology has helped people all over the world gain greater access to more information, many governments last year devoted increased attention and resources to curtailing access to those technologies and information, the State Department said Thursday in its annual Human Rights report.

"It was a year in which governments spent more time, money, and attention finding regulatory and technical means to curtail freedom of expression on the Internet and the flow of critical information and to infringe on the personal privacy rights of those who used these rapidly evolving technologies," the report noted.

"Many governments continued to exert control over information that came into and was produced within their countries," the report added. "This was accomplished by hindering the ability to organize in public, online, or through use of new technologies; by restricting the dissemination of information on the Internet, radio, or television or through print media."

During a briefing to discuss the report, Michael Posner, the assistant secretary for human rights, said one of the areas the department is pursuing "practical strategies" for protecting human rights is in Internet freedom, saying it's "critical that we figure out how are we going to address the restrictions on the Internet that many governments ... are now imposing with greater energy and resources."

Continue reading Report: More Countries Moved To Restrict Net in '09

Federal regulators reviewing the proposed $30 billion merger of Comcast and NBC Universal pledged Thursday to closely scrutinize the transaction's impact on consumers and the marketplace.

"Senator, I can assure you there is no rubber stamp at the Department of Justice," Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney, who heads the antitrust division, said during an exchange with Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing.

"The interests of consumers will be heard in our review of this transaction -- they have to be. That's our core obligation," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who also appeared before the panel.

The regulatory chiefs testified at the fourth congressional hearing on the deal, which would combine Comcast, the nation's largest cable and residential broadband provider, with NBCU, one of the largest programming ventures. Although their testimony marked the first time these officials have answered questions publicly about the planned transaction, both were restricted from discussing any specifics while it is still under government review. Both agencies are expected to issue decisions in the fourth quarter of the year.

Several members voiced concerns, including Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va. "When companies swell to include both content and distribution we need to pay attention," he said. "It is vitally important that when we have mergers in these markets, consumers cannot be left with less programming and higher rates." Also skeptical were Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Maria Cantwell of Washington, the only Commerce member to recommend that the deal be blocked.

Other key lawmakers took a wait-and-see attitude. "I have an open mind on this," said Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass. "Mergers can increase efficiencies and promote innovation when done well," or "distort markets, reduce consumer choice, and drive up the price of services" when approved without rigorous conditions, he said. Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, urged the agencies to "tread carefully" with their reviews and refrain from drawing in ancillary policy matters, but also not to harm consumers, innovation and investment. To read more, click here. (Subscription required)

President Obama Thursday reiterated his administration's commitment to enacting the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, aimed at curbing global piracy, despite a vote by the European Parliament this week calling for greater transparency in the deal's negotiations.

During remarks at the Export-Import Bank's annual conference, the president discussed the need to "aggressively protect" U.S. intellectual property.

"There's nothing wrong with other people using our technologies, we welcome it -- we just want to make sure that it's licensed, and that American businesses are getting paid appropriately," Obama said. "That's why [the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative] is using the full arsenal of tools available to crack down on practices that blatantly harm our businesses, and that includes negotiating proper protections and enforcing our existing agreements, and moving forward on new agreements, including the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement."

Mark Esper, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global IP Center, applauded the president for highlighting the importance of IP protection "as well as singling out the need for a strong Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement that will raise the bar on enforcement standards and improve cooperation between nearly forty countries."

But the ACTA negotiations have been criticized by public interest groups and some lawmakers for lacking transparency. They have pointed in particular to the fact that a public draft of the agreement has not been released.

Continue reading Obama Reiterates Support For Finishing ACTA