Officials behind SpectrumCo will face questions from the FCC Wireless Bureau after Comcast Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis told investors at a Citigroup conference that the company never planned to build out the AWS spectrum licenses it purchased in the 2006 auction. The questions are expected to come as part of the bureau’s analysis of Verizon Wireless’s pending buy of the licenses from SpectrumCo, FCC officials said Wednesday. Comcast likely will be asked to explain the comment in the initial interrogatory the bureau sends Comcast as it looks more closely at the deal, agency officials said.

Coordinated website blackouts appeared to have had a resounding impact Wednesday on public and congressional support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). At our deadline, at least five of the bill’s original 30 cosponsors said they had either withdrawn or reconsidered their support for the bill. The bipartisan defections came after thousands of websites including Wikipedia, Reddit and Craigslist blacked out their home pages and urged users to contact their representatives in protest of the legislation.

Coordinated website blackouts had a resounding impact Wednesday on both public and congressional support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). At our deadline at least five of the bill’s original 30 cosponsors said they had either withdrawn or reconsidered their support for the bill. The bipartisan defections came after thousands of websites including Wikipedia, Reddit and Craigslist blacked out their home pages and urged users to contact their representatives in protest of the legislation (WID Jan 18 p1).

Criminalizing the use of the Internet has serious implications for basic human freedoms, said Frank La Rue, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The Internet is a tool that enables freedoms and while it can be used for defamation and hate speech, governments around the world should not censor it, he said Wednesday at George Washington University Law School in Washington.

Criminalizing the use of the Internet has serious implications for basic human freedoms, said Frank La Rue, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The Internet is a tool that enables freedoms and while it can be used for defamation and hate speech, governments around the world should not censor it, he said Wednesday at George Washington University Law School in Washington.

The most common concern with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act is how they will affect the domain name system, Public Knowledge Deputy Legal Director Sherwin Siy said Tuesday. Other concerns about SOPA and PROTECT IP include their broad definitions, he said during a conference call with reporters on the bills hosted by several associations.

A letter from the Space-Based Positioning Navigation and Timing (PNT) Executive Committee to the NTIA released Friday is raising questions about the FCC’s ability to allow LightSquared to move forward, said industry executives. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012, signed New Year’s Eve, which prevents the agency from lifting conditions on LightSquared without resolving Defense Department concerns, could be in play due to the letter, the executives said. LightSquared said the PNT process for review was deeply flawed and the NTIA should assert itself to take over the next testing phase. The PNT committee, co-chaired by the DOT and DOD deputy secretaries, works to “advise and coordinate federal departments and agencies on matters concerning,” according to the PNT website.

The most common concern with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act is how they will affect the domain name system, Public Knowledge Deputy Legal Director Sherwin Siy said Tuesday. Other concerns about SOPA and PROTECT IP include their broad definitions, he said during a conference call with reporters on the bills hosted by several associations.

The most common concern with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act is how they will affect the domain name system, Public Knowledge Deputy Legal Director Sherwin Siy said Tuesday. Other concerns about SOPA and PROTECT IP include their broad definitions, he said during a conference call with reporters on the bills hosted by several associations.

Senate Republican intellectual property hawks want to keep the PROTECT IP Act from moving on to a cloture vote, they told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Friday. Bowing to pressure from not only critics but also a proposed compromise from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., over the PROTECT IP Act’s provisions, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, also said Friday he was dropping DNS blocking provisions from the House companion Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Smith’s reversal came just hours after his office declined to even recognize Leahy’s offer to strip DNS blocking from PROTECT IP.