27 OCT, 2003 - 1145 CST The letter below from Ambient Corporation to the FCC is a plea for secrecy by Ambient Corporation. In view of the fact that they have patents either pending or granted for their "proprietary" technology, I think their plea rings hollow. It's nothing more than an attempt to deny information to those who oppose BPL on technical grounds. I'm not familiar with the law in this area, but it's my understanding that the purpose of a STA is to see if a given communications technology is truly viable in the field with all parties (pro and con) in possession of all the facts. In my opinion, Ambient's letter is nothing more than an attempt to pervert the purpose of their STA. As such, perhaps the STA should be revoked? 73 - Dick, W9GIG ======================================================================= Delivered-To: dick@pobox.com Received: from imo-d06.mx.aol.com (imo-d06.mx.aol.com[205.188.157.38]) by orb.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id B7A7877A5C for <dick@pobox.com>; Sat, 25 Oct 2003 16:02:33 -0400 (EDT) Received: from Ah6ez@aol.com by imo-d06.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v36_r1.1.) id w.114.2a8ad1bb (4184) for <dick@pobox.com>; Sat, 25 Oct 2003 16:02:26 -0400 (EDT) From: <SNIP> Message-ID: <114.2a8ad1bb.2ccc30d2@aol.com> Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 16:02:26 EDT Subject: BPL article of interest To: dick@pobox.com Here is the text of a letter from Ambient Corporation's, Legal Counsel to the FCC. Of SPECIAL interest are the paragraphs numbered 8 and 9 respectively: ---------------------------------------- HOLLAND & KNIGHT LLP 2099 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Suite 100 Washington, D.C. 20006-6801 202-955-3000 202-955-5564 FAX www.hklaw.com July 8, 2003 GEORGE WHEELER 202-457-7073 gwheeler@hklaw.com Re: Submission of Progress Report and Request for Confidential Treatment Regarding Special Temporary Authorization, Call Sign WB9QXT, File No. 0435-EX-ST 2002 Gentlemen: In accordance with the terms of the Special Temporary Authorization, File 0435-EX-2002, Ambient Corporation (Ambient) is filing the attached six-month progress report (Report) on its progress in evaluating the feasibility of broadband access via carrier current systems over power lines. Because the Report contains proprietary and confidential technical information about Ambient's technology, which would customarily be guarded from competitors, Ambient requests that the Report be treated as confidential and withheld from public inspection in accordance with Section 0.457(d) (trade secrets) of the Commission's Rules. (This Report contains information similar to earlier submissions accorded confidential treatment.) Pursuant to Section 0.459(b) of the Commission's Rules, Ambient provides the following information in support of its request for confidential treatment: (1) Ambient's requests confidential treatment of the Progress Report and attachments thereto. The Report is marked as "Proprietary and Confidential;" (2) This Report is being submitted as required under Special Temporary Authorization, File No. 0435-EX-ST 2002; (3) This Report contains highly confidential and proprietary information about Ambient's unique experimental network, including information about system architecture, equipment and performance; (4) Although power line communications systems are still in the experimental stage in the U.S., there are a number of competitors all trying to be first to market in developing and deploying viable telecommunications systems; (5) Disclosure of such information to competitors could compromise Ambient's efforts to develop this technology, in that other PLC companies could better compete with Ambient if they had information concerning Ambient's proposed network architecture and technology. This would cause Ambient substantial competitive harm; (6) Ambient has marked the Report as "Proprietary and Confidential." In addition, Ambient has been careful in protecting proprietary aspects of its system, including the use of confidentiality agreements with technical consultants; (7) Technical information contained in the Report has neither been disclosed to the public, nor disclosed to third-parties (not including counsel or consultants bound by confidentiality agreements or otherwise); (8) Ambient requests that this information be withheld from public disclosure until such time as Ambient discloses such materials publicly as part of its anticipated commercial rollout. Disclosure during the term of the STA or any experimental license would compromise Ambient's position vis-á-vis competitors; and (9) Confidential treatment of this Report will allow Ambient to fully disclose its progress under the STA to the FCC. Because power line communications systems are still in development, it will serve the public interest if the FCC is fully informed of the progress of innovators like Ambient. Refusal to treat such documents as confidential, would result in less detailed reporting and defeat one of the objectives of the STA. If there are any questions regarding the submission and the request for confidentiality, please contact Jonathan Epstein, Esq. at (202) 828-1870. For technical questions concerning the Report itself, contact Dr. Yehuda Cern, Ambient's Chief Engineer, at (617) 332-7680. Sincerely, /s/ George Y. Wheeler George Y. Wheeler Jonathan Epstein Holland & Knight LLP Counsel for Ambient Corporation (1 This includes previous narrative statements submitted in support of STA applications and Ambient's previous progress report.) ---------------------------------------- So, the way I interpret Paragraph 8: We, the persons most likely to be harmed by their new profit making endeavor, will not be able to see the results of their testing (including reports of interference observed) until they have their "COMMERCIAL ROLLOUT". This is being done to protect their COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. Paragraph 9 reads to me as: If you make us tell, we will hold back on the information. Smells like three-day-old Fish to me! I think we need to let the FCC know, in no uncertain terms, that information on inference to Licensed Radio Services SHOULD NOT be held as Confidential by ANY applicant for BPL services. <Signature SNIPPED> =======================================================================