[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]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 
``C[email protected].'' 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 [email protected], 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