Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing Technology: Consumer Protection and Competition Issues (December 14 and 15, 2004)
The workshop is the latest in a series of efforts to assess the impact of new and significant technologies on consumers and businesses. P2P file-sharing technology enables individuals to share files, including music, video, or software. Because the files do not reside in a central location — they are stored on the hard drives of users — P2P file-sharing technology allows for faster file transfer and conservation of bandwidth.
Email Authentication Summit (November 9-10, 2004)
Co-sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission and the National Institute of Standards and Technology of the Department of Commerce.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology will host an Email Authentication Summit on November 9-10, 2004 from 8:30 a.m. -5:30 p.m. The Summit follows the Commission's June 15, 2004 National Do Not Email Registry Report to Congress. In that Report, the Commission identified domain-level authentication as a promising technological development that would enable Internet Service Providers (''ISPs'') and other domain holders to better filter spam, and that would provide law enforcement with a potent tool for locating and identifying spammers. The Summit will bring together technologists and other interested parties to discuss the market's development, testing, evaluation, and deployment of domain-level authentication systems.
FTC to Host Symposium to Celebrate Agency's 90th Anniversary (September 22 and 23, 2004)
The Federal Trade Commission has planned a symposium in honor of the FTC's 90th anniversary on September 22 and 23, 2004, at the FTC Conference Center at 601 New Jersey Avenue. The event will feature over 40 participants, including current Commissioners and other agency officials, as well as prominent academics and practitioners, many of whom are FTC alumni.
Protecting Consumer Interests in Class Actions (September 13 and 14, 2004)
The Federal Trade Commission and the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics will co-host a workshop on September 13 and 14, 2004, in Washington, DC. The workshop will bring together judges, academics, class action practitioners, in-house corporate and government attorneys, economists, advocacy groups, and claims facilitators to explore whether certain aspects of the class action mechanism - including settlement notices, non-pecuniary remedies, and attorney fee awards - can be revised, reformed, enhanced, or improved to protect the interests of consumer class members.
Green Light and Red Flags:
FTC Rules of the Road for Advertisers (July 24, 2004)
On Thursday, July 22, the Federal Trade Commission and national experts will gather in Denver for a one-day “back to basics” workshop about complying with truth-in-advertising laws.
Roundtable on Methodologies for Assessing Accuracy and Completeness of Credit Reports
On June 30, 2004 , the Bureau of Economics hosted a roundtable with researchers, scholars, and practitioners in the credit reporting industry on methodologies for assessing the accuracy and completeness of credit reports. The roundtable was held in conjunction with Section 319 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. Among other things, the Act requires the FTC to study the accuracy and completeness of the information in consumers’ credit reports. An agenda, list of participants, and transcript of the event are available at the linked website.
Radio
Frequency IDentification: Applications and Implications
for Consumers (June
21, 2004)
The emergence of radio frequency identification
(RFID) technology has important implications for
businesses, consumers, and policymakers. Companies
are turning to RFID to manage warehouse inventory
and to stock retail shelves. Consumers are using
RFID tags when they travel on highways, purchase
gas and groceries, and protect their pets. RFID
also has significant potential as a public safety
and anti-counterfeiting tool. And as the cost
of RFID chips declines, new applications will
undoubtedly be developed.
Hispanic
Outreach Forum & Law Enforcement Workshop
Hispanic
Consumer Outreach Forum (May
12, 2004)
Hispanic
Consumer Protection Law Enforcement Workshop (May
13, 2004)
On May 12 and May 13,
2004, the Federal Trade Commission, the nation's
consumer protection agency, and the U.S. Department
of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime will
host back-to-back workshops on strategies for
effective and high-impact education and enforcement
to protect Hispanic consumers from fraud. On May
12, learn about the U.S. Hispanic market and how
best to reach Hispanic consumers with useful information
that impacts their homes, their health, and their
finances. Speakers will include journalists, marketers,
and consumer protection officials. On May 13,
learn how to mobilize law enforcement resources
to protect Hispanic consumers from fraud. Speakers
will include representatives of state and local
consumer affairs departments, offices of attorneys
general, the Better Business Bureau, and district
attorneys offices.
Ideas
into Action: Implementing Reform of the Patent
System” (April 15 and 16, 2004)
The Federal Trade Commission, the National
Academy of Sciences (NAS), and the Berkeley Center
for Law and Technology will co-sponsor a conference
to address patent reform and how it might be implemented.
The event will bring together government officials,
business representatives, scholars, lawyers, and
leading members of the patent community to discuss
the most significant recommendations of two recent
reports on patent reform – one from the
FTC and one from the NAS that will be issued the
week of April 12. In October 2003, the FTC issued
a report on how to promote innovation by finding
the proper balance of competition and patent law
and policy. The FTC report contained ten recommendations
to reform the patent system, including legislative
and regulatory changes to improve patent quality.
FTC Commissioner Mozelle W. Thompson and Deputy
General Counsel for Policy Studies Susan S. DeSanti
will participate in the conference, along with
government representatives from the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office.
Industry participants include representatives
from CISCO, Chiron, eBay, Eli Lilly, Genentech,
Google, Inflexion Point Strategy, Intel, and Microsoft.
Representatives from the American Intellectual
Property Law Association, the ABA Section of Intellectual
Property Law, and the Intellectual Property Owners
Association also will participate.
"Monitoring
Software on Your PC: Spyware, Adware and Other
Software" (April 19,
2004)
On April 19, 2004, the Federal Trade
Commission will host a one-day public workshop
to explore the issues associated with the distribution
and effects of software that aids in gathering
information about a person or organization without
their knowledge and which may send such information
to another entity without the consumer's consent,
or asserts control over a computer without the
consumer's knowledge. The workshop will be held
from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on April
19, 2004 at the FTC Conference Center
located at 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington,
D.C.
FTC/DOJ to Host
Joint Workshop on Merger Enforcement (February
17-19, 2004)
This three day workshop brought together
prominent practitioners, academics and enforcement
officials to discuss the Horizontal Merger
Guidelines. The workshop explored state-of-the-art
application of the Guidelines by those with
the most experience using them. In preparation
for this workshop, the Agencies released
data associated with their enforcement efforts.
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