A top House Republican will likely introduce a bill Friday to stop the FCC from reinstating net neutrality rules. House Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is going to reintroduce a new version of her Internet Freedom Act, which she introduced as HR-96 in 2011. Blackburn’s proposed bill directly counters legislation that Democrats in the House and Senate introduced in early February, the Open Internet Preservation Act, which would reinstate the FCC net neutrality rules. A wide swath of lobbyists have said no net neutrality legislation of any kind is likely to move (WID Feb 3 p6), a point observers reiterated Thursday.

The rapid expansion of telehealth, using a communications network for supporting healthcare functions, highlights an area of regulatory overlap among the FTC, Food and Drug Administration and the FDA’s parent agency, Health and Human Services (HHS), said industry and consumer advocates in interviews. They agreed mobile health apps will proliferate at a brisk rate in 2014, but differ on the need to regulate the sector. Consumer groups, industry groups and the government are working to decide the best way to oversee the occasionally lax, and minimally regulated, data security standards of telehealth devices like mobile health apps.

Chairman Tom Wheeler made clear Wednesday the FCC would take what is essentially a middle ground following the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s Jan. 14 decision (WID Jan 15 p1) largely rejecting the agency’s 2010 net neutrality rules. The FCC won’t appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Instead, Wheeler said he would propose net neutrality rules aimed at enforcing and enhancing the order’s transparency rule, upheld by the court, and also preventing blocking and assuring nondiscrimination. Wheeler indicated if all else fails, the FCC could still reclassify broadband as a Title II common carrier service as a last resort. Wheeler’s approach accomplishes some key objectives of net neutrality while giving him wiggle room on how to proceed, former FCC officials said in interviews Wednesday.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler made clear Wednesday the commission would take what is essentially a middle ground following the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s Jan. 14 decision largely rejecting the agency’s 2010 net neutrality rules. The FCC won’t appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Instead, Wheeler said he would propose net neutrality rules aimed at enforcing and enhancing the order’s transparency rule, upheld by the court, and also preventing blocking and assuring nondiscrimination. Wheeler indicated if all else fails, the FCC could still reclassify broadband as a Title II common carrier service as a last resort. Wheeler’s approach accomplishes some key objectives of net neutrality while giving him wiggle room on how to proceed, former FCC officials said in interviews Wednesday.

ICANN is seeking feedback on a proposed review mechanism for dealing with “perceived inconsistent expert determinations on string confusion objections [SCOs],” it said Feb. 11 (http://xrl.us/bqnape). Inconsistent resolution of similar new generic top-level domain (gTLD) string applications popped up as an issue last year, when the International Center for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) issued conflicting opinions on whether some strings were so similar that they could create user confusion if they were both delegated into the root zone (WID Nov 27 p3). ICANN’s proposal addresses only the different rulings on .cam/.com and .car/.cars, a focus one domain player criticized as too narrow and another as appropriate.

Chairman Tom Wheeler made clear Wednesday the FCC would take what is essentially a middle ground following the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s Jan. 14 decision (CD Jan 15 p1) largely rejecting the agency’s 2010 net neutrality rules. The FCC won’t appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Instead, Wheeler said he would propose net neutrality rules aimed at enforcing and enhancing the order’s transparency rule, upheld by the court, and also preventing blocking and assuring nondiscrimination. Wheeler indicated if all else fails, the FCC could still reclassify broadband as a Title II common carrier service as a last resort. Wheeler’s approach accomplishes some key objectives of net neutrality while giving him wiggle room on how to proceed, former FCC officials said in interviews Wednesday.

Raising fears it would pave the way for AT&T to eliminate landlines in three years, a controversial bill is expected to come to a vote in the Michigan House any day, said advocates involved in the debates, in interviews Tuesday. SB-636 (http://1.usa.gov/1feaIv2), which passed the Michigan Senate 32-3 in December, would allow ILECs including AT&T to stop providing landline service as of Jan. 1, 2017, without necessarily getting approval from the Public Service Commission.

Greenpeace praised Apple for reducing use of conflict minerals -- the sale of which is believed to be financing armed conflicts -- and improving supply chain “transparency” after the manufacturer posted a supplier responsibility report at its website. Apple’s improved transparency is “becoming a hallmark” of CEO Tim Cook’s leadership at the company, said Greenpeace Energy Campaigner Tom Dowdall in a statement Thursday.

Expect at least two Capitol Hill hearings on Comcast’s proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable, members of Congress said Thursday hours after the merger was announced. Lobbyists and observers predict lawmakers will exert their influence and provide an important source of debate, even though real action will come at the agencies and in the administration. Comcast, however, is seen to have strong Washington muscle it doesn’t hesitate to flex.

Expect at least two Capitol Hill hearings on Comcast’s proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable (see separate story in this issue), members of Congress said Thursday less than 24 hours after the merger was announced. Lobbyists and observers predict lawmakers will exert their influence and provide an important source of debate, even though real action will come at the agencies and in the administration. Comcast, however, is seen to have strong Washington muscle it doesn’t hesitate to flex.