Industry expressed nearly universal concern with certain aspects of the Bureau of Industry and Security’s proposed U.S. Munitions List-Commerce Control List “transition rule,” in public comments. Submissions on the proposed rule were due Aug. 6. Commenters overwhelmingly urged BIS to strike or modify the proposed congressional notification requirement for exports of 600-series items; reconsider its proposed de minimis provision for 600-series items; withdraw the proposed unique destination control statement and AES filing requirements for 600-series items; modify the proposed changes to the temporary exports license exception; and consider a long implementation period because of the transition’s heavy burden. Several companies also said the Export Control Reform rules as they now stand would create dual licensing requirements for some shipments.

Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, respectively, asked the State Department and Defense Department to assess the national security impact of the recent Pratt & Whitney Canada export control violations, as well as explain how State and DoD will work more closely together to ensure compliance with export controls, in an Aug. 6 letter to the Secretaries of State and Defense. Levin and McCain also asked DoD to evaluate the case for the appropriateness of contract suspension or debarment.

A “social bookmarking” website can’t get in trouble for streaming pirated videos from elsewhere on the Internet, even if videos are embedded on the site, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. Neither can the person viewing the video, so the safe-harbor mechanism in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512 isn’t implicated, said the opinion for the three-judge panel written by Judge Richard Posner. The ruling appears to undermine the federal government’s attempted crackdown on foreign websites that link to infringing content hosted elsewhere, one observer said. A technology law academic called Posner’s analysis a “train wreck” unlikely to be followed by other appeals courts.

The Federal Communications Bar Association will become more technology-focused as more technology companies join and it begins to utilize social media, members and officials told us. The Young Lawyers Committee is expanding recruitment and increasing opportunities, they said. The annual charity auction will emphasize partnership, and its organizing committee is using more social media, which may also prove useful for the FCBA Foundation, members of the association said. Though the FCBA is developing, “I think in a lot of ways a lot about the bar will stay the same,” former president Yaron Dori said.

The Federal Communications Bar Association will become more technology-focused as more technology companies join and it begins to utilize social media, members and officials told us. The Young Lawyers Committee is expanding recruitment and increasing opportunities, they said. The annual charity auction will emphasize partnership, and its organizing committee is using more social media, which may also prove useful for the FCBA Foundation, members of the association said. Though the FCBA is developing, “I think in a lot of ways a lot about the bar will stay the same,” former president Yaron Dori said.

ISPs working with the FCC on its ongoing broadband speed measurement program are concerned about the introduction of formalized “Principles for Open Measurements,” presented at the agency’s July 25 meeting of stakeholders. ISP representatives we spoke to questioned the value of implementing such formal principles this far into the program, which has already produced two successful Measuring Broadband America reports (WID July 20 p2). ISPs also worried the new principles could turn the group from a flexible and collegial gathering of stakeholders to a more formal and rigid body.

A lawyer for porn companies “apparently ignored, or tried to circumvent, the very safeguards” that U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Brown in Central Islip, N.Y., “put in place to help prevent unfair litigation tactics,” the judge said in an order last week. Brown in May had scolded the firm retained by K-Beech, Malibu Media and Patrick Collins Inc. for using “abusive litigation tactics” in suing alleged BitTorrent downloaders. The jurist recommended to his colleagues hearing similar cases that they bar suits filed against multiple unrelated defendants, known as “swarm joinder” (WID May 9 p1). Colorado-based lawyer Jason Kotzker, who’s handling the suits for remaining plaintiffs Malibu Media and Patrick Collins, told us the flap concerned a simple clerical error.

ISPs working with the FCC on its ongoing broadband speed measurement program are concerned about the introduction of formalized “Principles for Open Measurements,” presented at the agency’s July 25 meeting of stakeholders. ISP representatives we spoke to questioned the value of implementing such formal principles this far into the program, which has already produced two successful Measuring Broadband America reports (CD July 20 p1). ISPs also worried the new principles could turn the group from a flexible and collegial gathering of stakeholders to a more formal and rigid body.

Proposed rules by the NTIA on a technical panel and dispute resolution boards mandated by Congress to speed the conversion of federal spectrum to commercial use, and spectrum sharing “will bring needed clarity” to the process, but need to do more to ensure the transition occurs as Congress intended, T-Mobile said in comments at the agency. The rules the NTIA proposed in mid-July would define terminology for the transition regulations, lay out how the transition’s technical panel would work and establish resolution boards to solve transition-related disputes (http://xrl.us/bni6f6). NTIA posted the comments Thursday, a day after the submission deadline. The changes on which NTIA sought comment were part of spectrum bill enacted in February.

Public Knowledge brought to the FCC allegations that Comcast has been favoring its Internet Protocol-video traffic over that of third parties (CD May 16 p3). In a petition filed with the agency Wednesday, the nonprofit group that’s backed the commission’s net neutrality rules said the way Comcast treated video traffic for its Xfinity video apps on TiVos and Xboxes hits on the concerns the regulator raised in the 2011 order approving Comcast’s takeover of NBCUniversal. “A consumer trying to decide between a number of OTT [over the top] video options on her Xbox 360 or TiVo knows that all of her choices count against her Comcast broadband data cap -- except the choice offered by Comcast,” the petition said.