Two years after the FCC approved net neutrality rules by a 3-2 vote after a protracted debate, much uncertainty and controversy remains. Next year should prove a key year, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears combined appeals by Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS challenging the FCC’s authority to impose the regulations (WID Dec 22/10 p1).

Two years after the FCC approved net neutrality rules by a 3-2 vote after a protracted debate, much uncertainty and controversy remains. Next year should prove a key year, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears combined appeals by Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS challenging the FCC’s authority to impose the regulations (CD Dec 22/10 p1).

A New York cable company isn’t happy at the statements its new union has been making about its Internet speeds. New York-based Cablevision sued Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1109 and District 1 for defamation Wednesday in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the state’s highest civil trial court, located in Mineola. The complaint named both elements of CWA as well as two people -- District 1 union organizer Tim Dubnau and Local 1109 Executive Vice President Chris Calabrese -- in their individual capacities, but the union denies any fault.

A New York cable company isn’t happy at the statements its new union has been making about its Internet speeds. New York-based Cablevision sued Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1109 and District 1 for defamation Wednesday in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the state’s highest civil trial court, located in Mineola. The complaint named both elements of CWA as well as two people -- District 1 union organizer Tim Dubnau and Local 1109 Executive Vice President Chris Calabrese -- in their individual capacities, but the union denies any fault.

Some at the FCC are considering whether to allow waivers of media ownership rules for some types of arrangements that are barred under draft rules involving TV stations, agency and industry officials said. They said in interviews that some Media Bureau staff members are considering a waiver process for joint sales agreements where a TV station brokers ads for another outlet in the market, when spots on the second station in the JSA exceed 15 percent of that broadcaster’s commercials. A draft order ending the 2010 quadrennial media ownership review would require the attribution of such JSAs to the station doing the brokering within two years (CD Nov 15 p1). That would mean many of the JSAs would need to be renegotiated so the arrangements don’t violate ownership rules, reducing their cost savings, said executives at companies that own brokering stations. There are more than 100 stations in JSAs (CD Nov 29 p5).

The U.S. "maintains a very open trade regime and should be commended for this as well as for its resistance to introduce protectionist measures, even during difficult times," the chair of WTO U.S. Trade Policy Review said in his closing remarks: "It is clear the United States places a high value on transparency and the WTO rules-based system." But he said "there still remain a number of areas that are of systemic concern or have been identified as causing bilateral tensions." For example, members "encouraged" the U.S. to act on several issues:

Multichannel video programming distributors and CEA urged the FCC not to require “video programming apparatus” to include text-to-speech technology to make emergency alert information provided in on-screen “crawls” and messages more accessible to the blind and visually impaired. In comments submitted to the agency this week, there was little support for a text-to-speech mandate. “Even if text-to-speech technologies were reliable, it is unnecessary to require an apparatus to make textual information through audible use of the text-to-speech software,” AT&T said (http://xrl.us/bn68by). But parties generally supported using the secondary audio programming (SAP) channel to provide accessible alert information.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) shouldn’t entertain a proposal to investigate cellphone company privacy practices, CTIA said. In a filing released Thursday (http://xrl.us/bn6ip4), the wireless association attacked a November joint petition of the Consumer Federation of California, The Utility Reform Network and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse asking the CPUC to review these practices. The CPUC has inappropriate “antiquated privacy regulations,” the petition said (http://xrl.us/bn6iro), noting the CPUC has authority to enact consumer protection regulations. The CPUC should evaluate wireless and wireline privacy practices, create privacy standards for carriers and third parties who gain information from them, keep pace with tech advances and institute “penalty mechanisms with ’teeth,'” petitioners said. But the petition is “procedurally defective” and misleadingly neglects to mention federal oversight rules “that already address the privacy concerns raised by the Petitioners,” CTIA said. Federal Trade Commission and FCC oversight, White House efforts and privacy rules and regulations already exist, as do industry practices and industry-government collaboration on these issues, it said. CTIA also discussed the California Online Privacy Protection Act, which the state’s attorney general began enforcing against mobile app developers in 2012 (CD Nov 2 p12). CTIA described formulating its own guidelines with dozens of entities providing input. “Moreover, wireless carriers no longer control -- or even know -- the third parties that create software and install it on wireless devices,” CTIA told the CPUC. “Due to the openness of the Internet, today’s privacy risks originate from the acts and omissions of entities independent of the carrier-customer relationship.” It scolded the petitioners for citing only “potential” harm and no examples. Consumer Federation Staff Attorney Nicole Blake told us the petitioners plan to reply next Thursday but declined to say more.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) shouldn’t entertain a proposal to investigate cellphone company privacy practices, CTIA said. In a filing released Thursday (http://xrl.us/bn6ip4), the wireless association attacked a November joint petition of the Consumer Federation of California, The Utility Reform Network and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse asking the CPUC to review these practices. The CPUC has inappropriate “antiquated privacy regulations,” the petition said (http://xrl.us/bn6iro), noting the CPUC has authority to enact consumer protection regulations. The CPUC should evaluate wireless and wireline privacy practices, create privacy standards for carriers and third parties who gain information from them, keep pace with tech advances and institute “penalty mechanisms with ’teeth,'” petitioners said. But the petition is “procedurally defective” and misleadingly neglects to mention federal oversight rules “that already address the privacy concerns raised by the Petitioners,” CTIA said. Federal Trade Commission and FCC oversight, White House efforts and privacy rules and regulations already exist, as do industry practices and industry-government collaboration on these issues, it said. CTIA also discussed the California Online Privacy Protection Act, which the state’s attorney general began enforcing against mobile app developers in 2012. CTIA described formulating its own guidelines with dozens of entities providing input. “Moreover, wireless carriers no longer control -- or even know -- the third parties that create software and install it on wireless devices,” CTIA told the CPUC. “Due to the openness of the Internet, today’s privacy risks originate from the acts and omissions of entities independent of the carrier-customer relationship.” It scolded the petitioners for citing only “potential” harm and no examples. Consumer Federation Staff Attorney Nicole Blake told us the petitioners plan to reply next Thursday but declined to say more.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A three-hour hearing in federal district court Friday examined questions Judge Jeffrey White still had after reading the briefs on cross-motions for summary judgment and to dismiss cases challenging the government’s alleged warrantless online surveillance program. The cases, Carolyn Jewel v. the National Security Agency (NSA) and Virginia Shubert v. George W. Bush, were brought after Mark Klein, a one-time AT&T engineer in San Francisco, raised allegations that AT&T was diverting Internet traffic to an NSA-controlled room in AT&T’s San Francisco facilities.