Nearly six weeks after the FCC voted 2-1 to reduce interstate prison calling rates (CD Aug 12 p1), the text of the order hasn’t been released. A decade after a Washington, D.C., grandmother asked the commission to lower rates to prisons, the industry continues to wait. Prison phone providers and prisoners’ rights groups say they can do little but speculate -- and worry. Prisoners and their families worry about continued injustices as they decide between talking to a loved one and paying the rent. Prisoners’ rights attorneys are waiting for federal leadership to help guide state commissions on their own intrastate ratemaking. And the nation’s No. 2 U.S. inmate calling service provider carries on uneasily, fearing federal overreach and preparing to file a lawsuit against the commission.

U.S. surveillance and transparency practices faced fierce new debate this week as intelligence officials released another order reiterating the legality of government surveillance and saying telcos did not challenge the process. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence posted the Aug. 29 opinion (http://1.usa.gov/1guBs7I) of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Judge Claire Eagan on its Tumblr page Tuesday. Government surveillance faced challenges on multiple fronts, meanwhile, as LinkedIn announced legal action with the hopes of disclosing more data about how many government requests it receives.

U.S. surveillance and transparency practices faced fierce new debate this week as intelligence officials released another order reiterating the legality of government surveillance and saying telcos did not challenge the process. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence posted the Aug. 29 opinion (http://1.usa.gov/1guBs7I) of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Judge Claire Eagan on its Tumblr page Tuesday. Government surveillance faced challenges on multiple fronts, meanwhile, as LinkedIn announced legal action with the hopes of disclosing more data about how many government requests it receives.

Supporters and opponents of the Marketplace Fairness Act were heartened by a plan for online sales tax legislation put forward Wednesday by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., they said in interviews. The Senate bill’s supporters conceded that Goodlatte’s provisions wouldn’t entirely square with that legislation, but said his willingness to take up the issue “bodes well.” Opponents cheered what they said was Goodlatte’s recognition that some of the principles in the Senate legislation aren’t workable. Neither side expects House-side legislation on the subject soon, but representatives said they expect an issue-based hearing within the next few months.

Congress has an obligation to take a hard look at ICANN’s new generic top-level domain (gTLD) programs, said Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., at a Wednesday event sponsored by the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA). Marino is vice chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, which has investigated new generic top-level domains in the past (WID May 5/11 p1). “I'm sure there will be hearings” to ensure Congress understands the expansion of the Internet and to ensure rightsholders can protect their trademarks amid that expansion, he said.

Supporters and opponents of the Marketplace Fairness Act were heartened by a plan for online sales tax legislation put forward Wednesday by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., they said in interviews. The Senate bill’s supporters conceded that Goodlatte’s provisions wouldn’t entirely square with that legislation, but said his willingness to take up the issue “bodes well.” Opponents cheered what they said was Goodlatte’s recognition that some of the principles in the Senate legislation aren’t workable. Neither side expects House-side legislation on the subject soon, but representatives said they expect an issue-based hearing within the next few months.

Industry efforts won’t be enough to solve the problems of patent assertion entities (PAEs), said developers and others at an Application Developers Alliance event Tuesday. Industry efforts to police the problem or eliminate overly vague patents might not be equally supported by companies with a proportionately larger share of the patents, said Van Lindberg, Rackspace vice president-intellectual property. “It has to be government,” he said. “It has to be all of us agreeing that we're going to act in accord."

Industry efforts won’t be enough to solve the problems of patent assertion entities (PAEs), said developers and others at an Application Developers Alliance event Tuesday. Industry efforts to police the problem or eliminate overly vague patents might not be equally supported by companies with a proportionately larger share of the patents, said Van Lindberg, Rackspace vice president-intellectual property. “It has to be government,” he said. “It has to be all of us agreeing that we're going to act in accord."

The latest Democratic strategy to push enactment of a new Farm Bill threatens to double milk prices, which the International Dairy Foods Association said would lead to decreased consumption and a decline in dairy exports. In a proposal to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., of the House Agriculture Committee suggested the agency immediately enforce dairy provisions from the 1949 Agricultural Act, which would double current milk prices from $18 to roughly $38 per 100 pounds if a new Farm Bill isn't passed by the end of 2013. However, IDFA's Senior Vice President of Legislative and Economic Affairs said the association recommended delayed enforcement of the 1949 provisions and allow Congress time to complete action on a new Farm Bill by the end of the year.

Don’t expect the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act to be the vessel for all communications law changes, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., Tuesday. Former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell had asked Walden at an American Enterprise Institute event whether telecom law would be best served by a comprehensive rewrite or in piecemeal legislation. McDowell congratulated Walden on the recent unanimous House vote approving the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act (CD Sept 11 p18). “These rewrites can take years,” McDowell noted, asking which path is better.