FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to tee up an order on the TV incentive auction for the commission’s May 15 meeting, agency and industry officials told us, as what is expected to be a busy couple of months at the FCC on wireless issues seems to be developing.

The Do Not Track (DNT) process will continue to move forward, but in a piecemeal, dispersed fashion, instead of with one “big win,” said Peter Swire, former co-chair of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)-backed DNT discussions, during a Q-and-A at an International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) conference. “I think we'll see a series of those wins,” with some coming from outside the W3C process, said Swire, who left the W3C process to become part of the five-person White House-appointed panel tasked with reviewing the government’s surveillance programs (WID Dec 19 p1). Swire’s W3C comments echoed those of FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez during her own IAPP Q-and-A session Thursday. “Although we haven’t heard much about it,” Ramirez said, “I think good work continues to take place in W3C."

An order to make TV-station joint sales agreements (JSAs) attributable for calculating ownership caps and to prohibit joint negotiation in retransmission consent agreements will go on circulation Monday, the FCC said. Also on circulation then will be an FNPRM seeking comment on shared services agreements (SSAs) and FCC ownership policies that kicks off the 2014 quadrennial review of media ownership, the commission also said Thursday. The FNPRM proposes retaining the current dual-network rule and the local radio rule, tentatively concludes that cross-ownership rules for newspapers and TV stations should remain, and asks whether to eliminate rules against newspaper/radio and the radio/TV combinations rule “in favor of reliance on the local radio and local television rules,” a senior commission official told reporters Thursday. Broadcasters criticized the draft order, while pay-TV interests seeking changes to retrans rules cheered it.

The paid peering deal between Comcast and Netflix is likely a harbinger of things to come, said experts in interviews this week. Many are calling for the FCC to start addressing paid peering and interconnection on the Internet, warning that future Netflix-like companies could be at a disadvantage if they can’t afford the same deals the big players get. Others think the government should leave well enough alone, pointing out that the Internet has bloomed free of regulatory oversight. Public interest and industry representatives don’t see the FTC taking any steps to curb the Comcast/Netflix deal (CD Feb 25 p1), but some said the new territory could use clear rules to avoid market-dominant ISPs overcharging.

Backlash against controversial National Security Agency surveillance programs “directly impacts” Congress’s ability to pass cybersecurity legislation, said Keith Alexander, NSA director and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, during a Georgetown University event Tuesday. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks about the NSA programs “have caused grave, significant and irreversible damage to our nation and to our allies,” Alexander said. “It will take us years to recover.” Alexander told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that Congress needs to “get on with cyber legislation” since “a lack of legislation will impact our ability to defend the country in this area” (CD Feb 28 p11). That legislation should include amended versions of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act, which both needed to be updated to allow for improved information sharing, Alexander said Tuesday.

Backlash against controversial National Security Agency surveillance programs “directly impacts” Congress’s ability to pass cybersecurity legislation, said Keith Alexander, NSA director and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, during a Georgetown University event Tuesday. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks about the NSA programs “have caused grave, significant and irreversible damage to our nation and to our allies,” Alexander said Tuesday. “It will take us years to recover.” Alexander told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that Congress needs to “get on with cyber legislation” since “a lack of legislation will impact our ability to defend the country in this area” (WID Feb 28 p8). That legislation should include amended versions of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act, which both needed to be updated to allow for improved information sharing, Alexander said Tuesday.

The White House included provisions on school and rural broadband, spectrum license fees, the FCC’s USF and more in its proposed $3.9 trillion 2015 budget, partially revealed Tuesday in a 218-page document and requiring the approval of Congress (http://1.usa.gov/1c5yFWg). It would include a $56 billion Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, which promises funding toward various goals in this sphere. The administration will roll out its budget in two phases, the first of which started Tuesday, and then post some other parts a week later. Congressional Republicans have already complained of the broader details.

The White House included provisions on school and rural broadband, spectrum license fees, the FCC’s USF and more in its proposed $3.9 trillion 2015 budget, partially revealed Tuesday in a 218-page document and requiring the approval of Congress (http://1.usa.gov/1c5yFWg). It would include a $56 billion Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, which promises funding toward various goals in this sphere. The administration will roll out its budget in two phases, the first of which started Tuesday, and then post some other parts a week later. Congressional Republicans have already complained of the broader details.

The FCC “should not interfere with the healthy growth and evolution of technology and business models by favoring localities over private investors,” the Free State Foundation said on its blog (http://bit.ly/No91RA) Monday. Criticizing FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s Feb. 19 statement raising the possibility of federal preemption of state anti-municipal broadband laws, FSF said the goal of increasing competition is worthy. But the FCC’s “'hypothesis’ that local entities can achieve that goal has been proven wrong repeatedly,” said the group. “Government-owned systems have experienced widespread failure nationwide, and the localities have passed the cost of those shortcomings onto taxpayers. In contrast, the private sector has been the central source of impressive investment and efficient broadband deployment for years.” The most recent municipal failure is Burlington, Vt.’s network, Burlington Telecom, which recently reached a settlement with Citibank in its lawsuit over BT’s delinquent loans, said FSF. Municipal broadband supporters want the FCC to use the Telecom Act Section 706 authority Wheeler cited to preempt local laws limiting broadband network buildouts (CD Feb 24 p).

The FCC “should not interfere with the healthy growth and evolution of technology and business models by favoring localities over private investors,” the Free State Foundation said on its blog (http://bit.ly/No91RA) Monday. Criticizing FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s Feb. 19 statement raising the possibility of federal preemption of state anti-municipal broadband laws, FSF said the goal of increasing competition is worthy. But the FCC’s “'hypothesis’ that local entities can achieve that goal has been proven wrong repeatedly,” said the group. “Government-owned systems have experienced widespread failure nationwide, and the localities have passed the cost of those shortcomings onto taxpayers. In contrast, the private sector has been the central source of impressive investment and efficient broadband deployment for years.” The most recent municipal failure is Burlington, Vt.’s network, Burlington Telecom, which recently reached a settlement with Citibank in its lawsuit over BT’s delinquent loans, said FSF. Municipal broadband supporters want the FCC to use the Telecom Act Section 706 authority Wheeler cited to preempt local laws limiting broadband network buildouts (WID Feb 24 p4).