The definition of data de-identification has dominated the Do Not Track working group discussions the past few weeks as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)-facilitated group marches forward on a compliance document. Since mid-July, when group co-Chairman Justin Brookman, also director of the Center for Democracy & Technology’s Project on Consumer Privacy, released an updated list of de-identification definitions, the group’s public email listserv and Wednesday meetings have centered on the issue. Offered definitions range from one that dovetails with the EU’s strict definition to more general definitions provided by representatives at Apple and Adobe (http://bit.ly/1oHoeaV).

Local Choice, a Senate proposal circulated Friday (CD Aug 11 p12) set to overhaul retransmission consent rules, will likely face an uphill battle and may not become attached to the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization process this year, industry observers told us. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., floated the discussion draft, which broadcasters have attacked and other observers questioned, despite praise from retransmission rule overhaul advocates. Some will lobby to ensure Local Choice advances, they said.

T-Mobile and Sprint filed petitions for reconsideration at the FCC asking the agency to change key parts of its May 15 spectrum holdings order, which restricted the ability of AT&T and Verizon Wireless to buy licenses in the TV incentive auction. The carriers had scored a late win with the final rules assuring each the ability to buy 20 MHz of spectrum in the auction under almost all scenarios (CD May 16 p4). The petitions were filed Monday in docket 12-269 and posted by the FCC Tuesday.

Wireless carriers asked the FCC to revise Connect America Fund (CAF) rules to remove any discrimination against wireless. The request came in filings at the FCC, most of which were posted Monday. The FCC sought comment on rules for the CAF II program, which will provide up to $1.8 billion per year in support to providers that offer broadband service in commission-identified eligible areas. The FCC also sought comment on the Mobility Fund Phase II program (MFII).

The FCC shouldn’t tell video distributors how often to check their closed captioning equipment or tighten rules for live and near-live captioning, said NAB, NCTA and other industry commenters in reply comments filed Friday in docket 05-231 in response to an FCC rulemaking on video closed captioning quality. Though the commission created caption quality standards in February, it also issued a Further NPRM seeking comments on some deferred issues from the rulemaking (CD Feb 21 p5).

Letters the FCC sent to AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile asking about their practices in slowing data speeds used by some of their customers largely track the letter FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler sent to Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead July 30, FCC officials said Monday. Wheeler revealed during a Friday news conference the other national carriers had been sent similar letters (CD Aug 11 p4).

Tech companies united to tell Congress to ensure broadband Internet providers don’t engage in any “market abuse” of paid peering arrangements. The Internet Association submitted comments Friday in response to the House Communications Subcommittee white paper issued as part of its Communications Act update process, one of many comments from stakeholders such as Comptel, T-Mobile and USTelecom (CD Aug 11 p7).

The FCC should move forward to approve Telcordia as the new Local Number Portability Administrator (LNPA), taking the contract away from Neustar, said USTelecom and CTIA in joint reply comments posted by the FCC Monday. Federal law enforcement didn’t pick sides but filed reply comments asking the commission to move forward with caution.

Unlicensed spectrum “powers the devices we now take for granted,” but also “catalyzes innovation” because it allows entrepreneurs to “harness” radio spectrum “to connect people” and devices wirelessly, says a CEA report on “Unlicensed Spectrum and the U.S. Economy.” CEA “intended” the report (http://bit.ly/1sR0zde), which was filed at the FCC Aug. 4 and posted two days later in three separate dockets (12-268, 13-49, 12-354), to “inform” the commission “as it continues its important work in the upcoming TV broadcast spectrum incentive auction and other proceedings that impact unlicensed spectrum allocation and use,” it said. CEA originally publicized the report in a news release mid-June (CD June 17 p11), but last week was the first time it posted the full document at the commission.

IPv6 isn’t in the news as much as it was two or three years ago but that doesn’t mean it isn’t being adopted, those involved in pushing for its deployment said in interviews. Internet Society (ISOC) Technology Program Manager Phil Roberts said people aren’t reaching out to ISOC as they did in the past, but that may be because IPv6 is no longer news. Websites that track deployment worldwide, such as ISOC’s world launch website (http://www.worldipv6launch.org/measurements/), show that as of Monday, 13.4 percent of Alexa top 1,000 websites are reachable over IPv6. Google’s IPv6 site (http://bit.ly/1sk6pWP) showed that since ISOC’s June 2012 world IPv6 launch, more than 4 percent of those accessing the Google search engine do so on IPv6-enabled networks. The idea that IPV6 isn’t being taken up is “wrong,” said Cisco Senior Director IPv6 Program Alain Fiocco.