Congressman proposes 2-year ban on bills about Internet

This CNN.com article talks about a congressman’s proposition of a two-year ban on all new federal legislation concerning the Internet.

 

(CNN) -- In an unusual step, a U.S. congressman is proposing a two-year ban on all new federal legislation regulating the Internet. Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from California who has been an advocate for Internet freedoms, has posted online a draft of his legislation, the Internet American Moratorium Act of 2012. The bill would "create a two-year moratorium on any new laws, rules or regulations governing the Internet."

Issa first posted the complete text of the bill Monday on Project Madison, the nickname for a crowdsourcing platform that allows citizens to amend individual passages of legislation by adding or striking language. On Tuesday, he posted a link to the bill on Reddit, the social news site, where users quickly voted it to the top.

"Together, we can make Washington take a break from messing w/ the Internet," Issa said on Reddit, where he also invited users to suggest changes to the proposed bill. He said he will begin taking questions about it from Reddit users at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

Issa is one of the more tech-fluent members of Congress and was an outspoken critic of the Stop Online Piracy Act, which would have penalized websites that host pirated content. That bill died this year amid near-unanimous opposition from the technology industry.

Initial reaction on Reddit to his proposed moratorium was mixed. Some users were confused about what point Issa was trying to make, while others saw the move as a stunt.

"I have a problem with legislation that preemptively ties your hands for years at a time. You can't know what the internet or society will look like in six months, let alone two years, and making it harder to respond to emerging threats or opportunities is an abdication of your responsibilities as a member of Congress," wrote one Reddit user. "This just seems to me to be more cheap political theater, along the lines of Grover Norquist's 'We will never ever ever raise taxes for any reason' pledge."

"The answer is NOT to ban new regulation. We need regulation," another said. "But, I don't believe ANYBODY in Congress has the vocabulary, is intelligent in knowing how the internet or computers work, or has the foresight to put current trends and future technologies together in a context to create those new regulation that protect the internet and it's users/consumers." Issa's Reddit post had drawn more than 900 comments by late Tuesday afternoon. Leslie Horn, writing for Gizmodo, also dismissed Issa's idea.

"Open internet? That's a good thing. But a law that keeps congress from governing? That's not a good thing -- the internet is a big place, and the language of this law is very broad," she wrote. "As it stands now, IAMA is just a discussion draft, meaning it will be a very long time before it's even close to a vote. And while we're for an open internet, a blanket ban is a bad idea. Let's think about this one a little more, Rep. Issa."

When asked why the congressman introduced the bill, a spokesman for Issa told CNN, "After SOPA and PIPA (the Senate's similar Protect Intellectual Property Act), it became very clear that we needed a cooling-off period to figure out a better way to create policy that impacts Internet users, job creators and all Americans."

The spokesman, who asked not to be named, declined further comment Tuesday.  


Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/27/tech/web/issa-reddit-internet-bill/index.html?iref=allsearch

Ambassador Rice to meet with lawmakers on Libya

This article by Dan Lothian, a CNN correspondent, reports the plan of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice to hold a meeting about Libya at the Capitol Hill.

Washington (CNN)- After facing criticism from Republican lawmakers surrounding her characterization of the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice will hold meetings on Capitol Hill about Libya, an administration official said Monday. Rice will meet with Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire on Tuesday morning, Ayotte told CNN. She said Rice's staff contacted her office about setting up the meeting.

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As to what she expects out of the meeting, Ayotte said, "I think a big part of it will be about her representations of what happened at Benghazi."

Acting CIA director Mike Morrell will attend meetings later this week, a source said.

McCain, Graham, and Ayotte led the criticism of Rice after her television appearances days after the September attack, which killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens. They and other Republicans said they would block the nomination of Rice, should she be advanced by President Barack Obama to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has said she will leave her post when a replacement is ready to be installed.

Later in the week, Rice will meet with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the homeland security committee, which is investigating the Benghazi attack. Collins has not been as critical of Rice as McCain, Graham and Ayotte but has said Rice needs to explain what happened.

This weekend, McCain expressed more openness to her potentially filling that post, saying he would "give everyone the benefit of explaining their position and the actions that they took. I'd be glad to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with her." Rice has not been offered the position but is suspected to top the list of possible successors. At a press conference after his re-election, Obama called McCain and Graham's criticism of Rice "outrageous," adding that if they "and others want to go after someone they should go after me."

The ambassador said she was using de-classified talking points that did not reference the attack as a pre-meditated terror attack, and the spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence later said those talking points were prepared by the intelligence community, and not modified by other governmental agencies.

"When discussing the attacks on our facilities in Benghazi, I relied solely and squarely on the information provided to me by the intelligence community. I made clear that the information was preliminary," Rice told reporters last Wednesday.

McCain charged on the floor of the U.S. Senate hours before Obama's post-election press conference that "this president and this administration has either been guilty of colossal incompetence or engaged in a cover up, neither of which are acceptable to the American people."

Republicans have questioned why the administration used Rice as their spokeswoman, rather than an official more closely involved with the investigation, as well as why the U.S. timeline included a protest surrounding a controversial anti-Islam web video, which now appears to have not been a factor.

On Monday, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a GOP member of the Foreign Relations Committee who recently said Rice was "not fitting" to be Secretary of State in part because of comments on the attack, appeared to shift his views about Rice.

Inhofe said Rice may have been "thrown under the bus" because she wasn't given the full details of what happened before going on television.

"I assumed she had full knowledge of everything that went on," Inhofe said about his initial criticism of Rice. "I'm not at all convinced of that now. I think she very well could have been thrown under the bus."

Inhofe said Monday he has had no request to meet with Rice at this point but that he would be glad to meet with her.

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/26/ambassador-rice-to-meet-with-lawmakers/?iref=allsearch

Twinkie maker Hostess to go into mediation with workers' union

This Guardian.co.uk article discusses the business issues faced by Hostess Brands, the makers of Twinkies.

Hostess had asked for permission to liquidate the company but US bankruptcy court urged firm to resume talks with BCTGM

Troubled Twinkie maker Hostess Brands and the unions representing its striking workers agreed to start mediation hearings on Tuesday at the urging of a bankruptcy court judge.

Management at the Twinkies and Wonder Bread manufacturer sought permission to liquidate the company on Monday, but was urged by the judge to mediate in private. Mediation will begin on Tuesday. If talks collapse, lawyers for Hostess will be back in court to seek approval to shut down the 82-year-old company.

Hostess filed for bankruptcy for the second time in January and had been negotiating cuts with its unions. Those talks fell apart last week as the company's management blamed the union, and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Makers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union in turn blamed mismanagement. The union also balked at a fresh round of pay cuts it said would cut wages by 27-32%.

Judge Robert Drain of the US bankruptcy court asked attorneys to mediate.

"To me, not to have gone through that step leaves a huge question mark over this case, which I think – I may be wrong – but I think will only be answered in litigation. And that's no one's desired outcome," the judge said.

Alongside labour disputes, Hostess, which is based in Irving, Texas, has struggled for years with massive debts, management turmoil, rising commodity costs and America's changing tastes.

After the maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Ho's filed for bankruptcy in January, it brought on CEO Greg Rayburn as a restructuring expert to work on renegotiating contract with labour unions.

In a filing with the court, BCTGM said it had agreed to "significant labor concessions" with the company when Hostess first filed for bankruptcy in 2004. The company had pledged to reinvest the money saved into the business, according to BCTGM, but instead emerged from bankruptcy with $773m in secured debt, over $100m more than when the case was filed. Six management teams in the last eight years have compounded Hostess' woes, according to the union.

Last week, Rayburn rejected calls for renegotiating contracts with BTGCM. Hostess management had reached agreement with other unions, including the Teamsters.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/nov/19/twinkie-hostess-mediation-union

Having an original business identity and avoiding infringement

Evan Granowitz image credit: spurmag.com

Part of a business’ identity is its reputation; according to an article from CNBC, some foreign businesses spend huge amounts of resources to make sure that their products and services capture the look and feel of those with good reputation. Although this is perfectly legal in other countries, in the US, this is very much frowned upon and is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

According to Evan Granowitz, a business lawyer from California, these four principal devices that businesses use to establish original identities should be used carefully to avoid being sued for copyright infringement:

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• Trade name. This can be an official business name or an assumed name under which a business operates that is used to identify a business, corporation, and other business entities. A few examples are McDonalds, KFC, and Burger King.

• Trademark. A trademark can be a word, an emblem, or a symbol attached to a product that is identified with the business. Examples include the golden arches of McDonalds, the Apple logo, and Burger King’s “Have it your way” motto.

• Servicemark. This is similar to a trademark but is used for services. An example would be MGM’s famous lion roar.

• Trade dress. Products should have a signature “look and feel.” For example, BMW’s cars have a distinctive appearance so that they can be easily distinguished from other cars.

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Having a distinctive identity is very important because it can prevent consumer confusion, create product value, and help businesses avoid infringement lawsuits.

For more information on Evan Granowitz, visit Wolf Group L.A.’s website.

Hire an attorney before you need an attorney

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In every business, there are two kinds of professionals who should be hired early on: accountants and lawyers. Accountants are hired to review your business’ numbers periodically and prepare taxes. However, not a lot of businesses hire lawyers from the get-go because they don’t see the need for one. Most of them think that they should only hire lawyers in case they get sued.

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Therein the problem lies, because hiring a lawyer only when you get sued is too late—the problem has already occurred, and you may now have to spend a great deal of money to deal with the lawsuit. The time to get a good business lawyer is before you are sued. Besides, the fee a lawyer will charge to keep you out of trouble is but a small fraction of the fee a lawyer will charge to get you out of trouble when it comes.

Lawyers are not just there to bail you out when you get sued; they are there to prevent you from being sued. By providing assistance in all legal matters of your business and making sure that your business is in compliance with all regulations, such as handling zoning agreements, negotiating leases, filing patents or trademarks, drafting software license agreements and employment contracts, providing legal advice, and handling litigations, they can ensure that your business and you are more protected from potential lawsuits.

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For more information about Evan Granowitz, visit this Myspace page.

Evan Granowitz: Preventing an invasion of privacy employee lawsuit

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Atty. Evan W. Granowitz knows that it is really difficult to be an employer. Employers need to strike a balance between protecting company assets and resources and not making employers feel that they are not trusted. Ensuring that their employees are doing their work and are working at an efficient level is important. Because of this, more employers have been keeping an eye on their workers through the use of modern technology.

Some employers perform routine checks of their employees’ lockers and workstations, do physical exams and substance abuse tests, and sometimes even monitor out-of-work activities. If these employees get reprimanded or fired based on information gleaned through any of these techniques and they discover that their privacy had been violated in the process, they have the right to sue their employers.

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Atty. Evan W. Granowitz is an expert civil litigator who also specializes in business torts and unfair competition disputes.

Here are some ways that employers can do to avoid this:

• Employers should establish a policy regarding the proper use of office resources and publish it in the employee manual.
• Although it is given that employers have the right to monitor e-mail use, publishing their employees’ private messages violates employee public rights.
• Employers should perform drug tests for legitimate reasons and at appropriate times only.
• Employers should indicate their right to do searches in the employee manual and perform these searchers only for business or legal reasons.

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For more information on Atty. Evan W. Granowitz, visit this website or follow this Twitter page.

Evan Granowitz: How civil cases work

Evan Granowitz is a lawyer from Wolf Group LA who specializes in civil litigation such as bankruptcy litigation, business torts, and class action litigation. This article will talk about how civil litigation cases work.
 

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Litigation can be either civil or criminal. The main difference between the two is that criminal litigation seeks to punish people for criminal activities, whereas civil litigation just seeks to settle disputes.

To begin a civil lawsuit, the plaintiff files a complaint with the court and "serves" a copy of the complaint to the defendant. The plaintiff may seek monetary compensation or cessation of the activity that causes harm. Other types of relief, such as declaration of the plaintiff’s legal rights, may also be ordered by the court.

Atty. Evan Granowitz has extensive experience in handling insurance coverage disputes.

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The next step would be the "discovery," or the information sharing of the litigants by assembling evidence and preparing witnesses. However, in litigation cases, the judge usually encourages the litigants to try and resolve their issues without trial or court proceedings; this is called "settlement."

If the case is not settled, then a trial will be scheduled. Under the constitution, either side may or may not request for a jury trial. At a trial, pieces of evidence will be presented and witnesses will be called to the stand. The jury will then determine whether the defendant is responsible for harming the plaintiff or not.

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For more information about Evan Granowitz, visit this website.