An operator alleged to have used 5,500-plus “copycat” Web addresses to lure users from their online destinations to one of his sites, then bombard their screens with adult- themed ads, will forfeit $164,000 to settle FTC charges he violated a court order. In October 2001, the FTC charged John Zuccarini, operating as Cupcake Party, with registering domain names that misspelled legitimate domain names or incorporated “transposed or inverted words or phrases,” often inadvertently causing users to land on one of his sites. Zuccarini’s sites popped up ad windows for Internet gambling, and porn and other goods and services that were “difficult or impossible” to close, the FTC said. In May 2002, a court ordered Zuccarini to stop and give up $1.8 million. In 2003, he was convicted of misleading use of domain names and possession of child porn. Zuccarini was sentenced to 30 months in prison and 36 months’ supervised release. But in 2006, the FTC charged that Zuccarini was up to his old tricks and the court issued a temporary restraining order. In the settlement announced Tuesday, he admitted violating the original order.
A federal court in Missouri upheld Platte County’s denial of a special use permit for a 153-foot wireless tower Sprint wanted to build on agricultural land leased from a local church. Sprint appealed, claiming the county violated the federal Telecom Act because it failed to fully detail its reasoning and lacked substantial evidence to support the denial. The U.S. District Court, St. Joseph, denied the appeal. Sprint said the county failed to tie its reasoning to specific portions of the case record. It also said the bulk of the county’s objections concerned esthetics, and esthetics don’t count as substantial evidence for denial. But the court (Case 06-6049-CV-SJ-DW) said there’s no requirement that a local decision specifically cite the portions of the record that support the denial: A sufficient explanation is one that allows a court to evaluate the record, and the county’s explanation in this case was sufficient. The court also upheld the county on the esthetics issue. It said the county’s denial of the tower as an eyesore was based on facts specific to the proposed tower design and site, and not to general opposition to wireless towers. The court said there’s no evidence of general county hostility to towers, noting Platte had approved four other Sprint towers around the county.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of October 15, 2007. This report includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, tobacco, certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs, etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc. (CBP's weekly TRQ/TPL commodity report, dated 10/15/07, available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/cr071015.ctt/cr071015.doc.)
BusinessWeek reports that in order for fish shipments to be cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, importers simply have to show that five samples of fish are under the mercury limit, and can choose the actual fish for testing, which certain FDA scientists say enables importers to game the system. The FDA now has a list of 382 importers whose shipments are exempt from automatic detention. (BusinessWeek, dated 09/03/07, www.businessweek.com)
Recent reports that All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines have barred passengers from using Nintendo DS or PSP game devices in flight, because of their Wi-Fi capabilities (WID Oct 5 p9), are wrong, said spokesmen for the two carriers. Except for takeoffs and landings, passengers are still free to use the devices as long as their wireless functionality is switched off, they said.
Recent reports that All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines have barred passengers from using Nintendo DS or PSP game devices in flight (CED Oct 5 p7) are wrong, said spokesmen for the two carriers. Except for takeoffs and landings, passengers are still free to use the devices as long as their wireless functionality is switched off, they said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection previously posted to its Web site a notice announcing the phased enforcement of mandatory Automated Commercial Environment electronic manifest: Truck for advance cargo information purposes at all land border ports in New Hampshire and Vermont as well as the remaining land border ports in North Dakota - St. John, Fortuna, Ambrose, Carbury, Noonan, Dunseith, Sherwood, Antler, Northgate, Westhope, and Portal1, beginning July 12, 2007.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology offers an e-mail notification service which alerts readers to drafts or changes to foreign technical regulations for manufactured products which may be considered technical barriers to trade and are therefore required to be reported to the World Trade Organization, which distributes the information to WTO Member countries.
The House Judiciary Committee plans Wednesday to mark up a bill setting tighter court controls over electronic surveillance programs. The draft bill would tweak the six- month measure Congress passed in the summer by giving the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court greater oversight of surveillance programs. The FISA court would be required to run audits of surveillance programs and provide quarterly reports to Congress, according to the bill, proposed by Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.
“Get the Picture” is the tagline that the IBM-led team running the DTV coupon program wants to use to promote it, IBM told the NTIA in an Aug. 1 contract proposal. Coupons will resemble plastic gift cards, and consumers will be able to start requesting them Dec. 25, a week earlier than the law requires, the proposal said. IBM and its partners will be ready to mail coupons beginning Jan. 1, three months earlier than the NTIA request for proposals demanded, they said.