Time Warner Cable avoided a program access complaint by Hawaii’s largest telco (CD Aug 11 p6), because the two sides agreed to a distribution deal. The cable operator let Hawaiian Telcom distribute a regional sports network, a spokesman for the telco told us. Other multichannel video providers meanwhile asked the FCC to continue or at least look to continue RSN conditions expiring next year. The agency placed the curbs on Time Warner Cable and Comcast in 2006 as part of letting them buy Adelphia Communications.

The 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was expected to pass Sunday without congressional action on a public safety broadband network, despite the best efforts of first responders nationwide. The good news for public safety is that the administration took another shot at pushing the network, along with incentive auctions, in its $447 billion jobs plan, unveiled by President Barack Obama Thursday night during an address to Congress. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a member of Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, said Thursday be expects spectrum to be part of the debate as the group starts what is expected to be a long, contentious debate (CD Sept 9 p10).

LightSquared offered to make some operational adjustments to its rollout plans as part of the continued effort to mitigate the disruption of GPS signals. LightSquared filed a technical presentation Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bmcxfm) at the FCC detailing the changes as part of an ex parte filing and provided information on the filing to reporters Friday. GPS interests were still reviewing the proposed changes, but reacted with initial skepticism. A LightSquared executive, who refused to be identified, said the government agencies seem to be in a “decision-making mode,” based on recent interactions.

Senate Judiciary Committee members gored President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity proposal during a cybercrime hearing Wednesday that featured representatives from the Department of Justice and the Secret Service. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he took issue with the administration’s mandatory minimum sentences for computer crimes, while Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he was worried the proposal would overextend an already bloated government. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said the administration was not doing enough to address the dearth of resources facing cybersecurity enforcement agencies.

The FCC should require that wireless carriers suspend the service of all subscribers whose cellphones are detected to be operating in a prison in violation of the institution’s rules, CellAntenna said in a petition filed at the FCC (http://xrl.us/bmcngg). CellAntenna, which makes devices that jam wireless signals, previously sought an FCC order sanctioning the use of cell signal jamming technology by prison officials. In the latest twist, the company filed a petition for rulemaking that focuses on detection rather than jamming.

The Federal Maritime Commission has issued an order amending and extending the special reporting requirements it previously ordered for the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) and the WTSA, as part of Fact Finding Investigation No. 26 on potential ocean carrier capacity shortages. FMC is interested in collecting information during the upcoming peak shipping season, etc.

Google got a mixed ruling in an antitrust case that also involved the office of the Texas attorney general, which has a separate inquiry into Google’s website-ranking system (WID Sept 8/10 p6). The case started as Google’s attempt to collect back payments from price-comparison site MyTriggers for its AdWords campaigns, but MyTriggers fought back, claiming that Google’s decision to raise MyTriggers’ minimum bid prices for keywords constituted anticompetitive behavior. Franklin County (Ohio) Judge John Bessey turned back Google’s attempt under the immunity provisions of the Communications Decency Act to have MyTriggers’ counterclaims dismissed. Google said it has the right to make editorial decisions about which ads to pair with its search results under the “otherwise objectionable” language of the immunity provisions. Bessey said Google was stretching the language of the statute, which gives immunity to providers who block “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable” content. The cases Google relies on for its expansive reading of “otherwise objectionable” involved ads that claimed fraud by government officials and “atrocities” by the Chinese government, and also email providers blocking spam from reaching subscribers’ inboxes -- all of which are close enough to the “harassing” prong, Bessey said. Content blocked as “otherwise objectionable” must have some relation to the named categories in the immunity provision, he said. Google also cited cases dealing with immunity from being considered the publisher of third-party content, which isn’t at issue here, the judge said. Therefore the CDA doesn’t preempt MyTriggers’ claims under Ohio’s antitrust statute. But Bessey said MyTriggers didn’t allege that Google harmed competition broadly, only that it harmed MyTriggers: The comparison site itself alleges Google favored some competitors, including Shopping.com and PriceGrabber.com. MyTriggers’ claim that Google and its “search partners” put MyTriggers on a “blacklist” is too vague to stand, the judge said, and therefore he won’t consider whether Google’s “unilateral conduct” against MyTriggers is a violation of the act. MyTriggers failed to point to any contractual language that Google breached, and is apparently unaware of whether it had a contract with Google in the first place, Bessey said, noting that MyTriggers claimed Google violated a contract, “'if any.'” The comparison site’s other claims are too vague to remain, the judge said. Though it’s clear that MyTriggers “has gotten zero traction in court” -- all the more embarrassing because of the involvement of high-profile lawyers who have pursued antitrust claims against Google in the past -- the court’s narrow reading of “otherwise objectionable” is troubling, said Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University. Many other courts have not read such relational limits into the CDA, he said.

SEATTLE -- Defendants seeking to hold telecom companies accountable for alleged government-directed wiretapping can’t overcome the classified nature of orders by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, the Justice Department argued Wednesday before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), representing plaintiffs in both the Jewel and Hepting cases targeting government and telecom defendants, asked the judges to find they have more than a “general grievance” and to strike down the law passed by Congress to shield telecoms for cooperation. Judges seemed wary of Justice’s suggestion they hold back oversight and defer to the policy judgment of Congress and the executive branch.

SEATTLE -- Defendants seeking to hold telecom companies accountable for alleged government-directed wiretapping can’t overcome the classified nature of orders by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, the Justice Department argued Wednesday before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), representing plaintiffs in both the Jewel and Hepting cases targeting government and telecom defendants, asked the judges to find they have more than a “general grievance” and to strike down the law passed by Congress to shield telecoms for cooperation. Judges seemed wary of Justice’s suggestion they hold back oversight and defer to the policy judgment of Congress and the executive branch.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted input provided by licensed customs brokers (who do not work for brokerage companies) on the professionalism component of CBP's broker revision project, which was discussed at the August 18, 2011 COAC meeting. Among other things, commenters state that stricter rules to require work experience before sitting for the customs broker exam and for continuing education should be for permit holders, and separate from the changes planned for individual licensed brokers.