Sen. Jay Rockefeller won’t run for reelection after his term expires in 2014. The announcement came during his speech Friday in the Democrat’s home state of West Virginia. The departure of the five-term, 75-year-old senator will leave a significant leadership void on the Commerce Committee following the recent death of its most senior majority member, Hawaii’s Dan Inouye, and the likely departure of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who has been nominated as secretary of state. Though it’s too early to tell who will succeed Rockefeller as chairman of the committee, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., appears to be the most likely candidate if Democrats keep the Senate after the 2014 elections, media and telecom lobbyists said.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said he would not run for reelection after his current term expires in 2014. The announcement came during a speech Friday in West Virginia. The departure of the five-term, 75-year-old senator will leave a significant leadership void on the Commerce Committee following the recent death of its most senior majority member, Hawaii’s Dan Inouye, and the likely departure of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who has been nominated as secretary of state. Though it’s too early to tell who will succeed Rockefeller as chairman of the committee, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., appears to be the most likely candidate if Democrats keep the Senate after the 2014 elections, media and telecom lobbyists said.

The European Cybercrime Center (EC3), which opens for business Friday, will focus on organized crimes such as fraud and child sexual abuse, said European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström at a Wednesday press briefing. The center, located in The Hague, will help EU countries fight cybercrime and “defend an Internet that is free, open and secure,” she said. Trying to keep the cybercommunity safe is a major task, said EC3 Head Troels Oerting. Meanwhile, the U.K. Commons Defense and Cyber-Security Committee warned that British armed forces are so dependent on information and communications technology that a sustained cyberassault could jeopardize operations, and pressed the government either to detail its contingency plans or “urgently create some."

Reply comments to the FCC’s proposed rules for making on-screen emergency alerts more accessible to people with trouble seeing and hearing show a wide rift between disability advocates and industry groups and companies over how such rules should apply to IP-based video and devices that can display such video. AT&T, Verizon and CTIA each largely supported comments made earlier in the docket by the CEA, Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) urging the commission to limit its new accessibility requirements to devices and services of broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). But Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. (TDI), along with seven other groups that work on behalf of the deaf and blind, argued the rules should apply to all video distributors.

Large and small carriers reiterated their stances on how the FCC should structure a spectrum screen, in replies to a notice of proposed rulemaking in docket 12-269. Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and public interest groups urged the commission to separately evaluate a licensee’s spectrum holdings below 1 GHz. AT&T and Verizon Wireless asked the commission to allow the screen to function as a safe harbor. Replies were due Monday.

Reply comments to the FCC’s proposed rules for making on-screen emergency alerts more accessible to people with trouble seeing and hearing show a wide rift between disability advocates and industry groups and companies over how such rules should apply to IP-based video and devices that can display such video. AT&T, Verizon and CTIA each largely supported comments made earlier in the docket by the CEA, Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) urging the commission to limit its new accessibility requirements to devices and services of broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). But Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. (TDI), along with seven other groups that work on behalf of the deaf and blind, argued the rules should apply to all video distributors.

CenturyLink hopes to block Portland, Ore., from changing how it taxes landline phones. The legal challenge focuses on the Portland City Council’s Nov. 28 approval of changes to City Utility License Law, which “substantially increase taxes” on local wireline phone services of incumbent companies CenturyLink and Frontier Communications, effective Dec. 28, according to CenturyLink’s court document filed at the Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland. Other telecom providers don’t pay these fees, the injunction request said, mentioning wireless companies as an example.

After 19 months of investigating Google, the FTC said Thursday it settled with the search giant. In addition to its voluntary binding agreements over Google’s practices of pulling content from other websites and prohibiting advertisers from advertising on multiple search engines, the FTC issued a consent order over Google’s injunctions against the use of technologies under standard-essential patents and closed the investigation of the company’s alleged “search engine bias.” The settlement will be open to public comment for 30 days, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz announced during a news conference.

Congress voted Tuesday to delay for two months the 10-year, $1.2 trillion sequester as a part of the legislation to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff (HR-8). The legislation directs the president to on March 1 order the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts which were originally scheduled to kick in on Wednesday. The FY2013 spending reductions will then be “evaluated and implemented” on March 27, the legislation said. The new deadline provides Congress with less than three months to permanently end or further delay the sharp cuts which threaten federal budgets.

Congress voted Tuesday to delay for two months the 10-year, $1.2 trillion sequester as a part of the legislation to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff (HR-8). The legislation directs the president to on March 1 order the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts which were originally scheduled to kick in on Wednesday. The FY2013 spending reductions will then be “evaluated and implemented” on March 27, the legislation said. The new deadline provides Congress with less than three months to permanently end or further delay the sharp cuts which threaten federal budgets.