Senators pressed telecom regulators, officials and consumer advocates Thursday on possible IP transition dangers and the need for reliable networks that don’t leave vulnerable communities behind. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., also requested a GAO study of the resilience and reliability of IP networks.

The specifics on incentive auction repacking and reimbursement in the FCC auction order released Monday (CD June 4 p4) leave a lot of uncertainty for broadcasters, said broadcast attorneys in interviews. Though the order details how broadcasters will be paid up front and how their costs caused by the repacking will be assessed, the specifics of the process remain unclear, which makes it hard for broadcasters to plan, the attorneys said. NAB said in a news release Monday that holding nonparticipating stations harmless in the auction is one of its aims, and an organization representing low-power TV has already said it will pursue legal action against the order over repacking costs. Not compensating stations for repacking costs puts a “huge financial burden” on stations, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Peter Tannenwald, who has many LPTV clients.

Leaks that began a year ago this month about controversial National Security Agency surveillance programs continue to damage U.S. relations with erstwhile and potential allies on Internet governance issues, but there are signs that damage can be and already is being repaired, experts said Wednesday at a Brookings Institution event. The U.S. has been trying to maintain and grow a coalition of national governments that back the existing multistakeholder Internet governance model, in the lead- up to upcoming international forums that will affect Internet governance. U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy Daniel Sepulveda has acknowledged the NSA programs have affected his discussions with foreign governments on Internet governance issues (CD Nov 8 p5).

An effort by Google to enter the satellite broadband business would likely be attractive to the FCC, some satellite industry professionals said in interviews. It will involve a fleet of 180 satellites that will supply regions across the globe that can’t be reached with terrestrial infrastructure, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday (http://on.wsj.com/1tAR0NU). If Google plans to become a satellite operator, one of the biggest hurdles will probably be ensuring that it won’t interfere with existing satellite services, the satellite industry professionals said. Google had no comment.

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., restarted the push for his updated location data privacy bill with a Wednesday Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law hearing. Chairman Franken resurfaced his bill in March (http://1.usa.gov/1mGA1sv), nearly three years after it was introduced (CD June 16/11 p11). While Department of Justice and FTC officials expressed strong support for the bill at the hearing, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., echoed industry concerns that the bill would hinder positive uses of geolocation data without properly addressing actual harm.

Songwriters and music publishers shouldn’t get too excited about the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s review of existing consent decrees for performing rights organizations (PROs) American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Media Inc. (BMI), said songwriters advocates in interviews. The consent decrees bar PROs from refusing a license to any organization that requests one, leading to rate negotiations. If DOJ decides to do away with consent decrees, hardly guaranteed, small and independent songwriters and publishers could be left with even less negotiating power, said Casey Rae, Future of Music Coalition interim executive director. Broadcasters warned that the DOJ review could increase the bargaining power of PROs.

Despite the rhetoric and “constant drumbeat” about the U.S. falling behind the rest of the world in broadband, 25 Mbps is more readily available here than in Europe, said University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Christopher Yoo at a Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition event Wednesday. That fact argues against Title II reclassification and regulating the Internet as a public utility, as is done in most of Europe, said Yoo, an opponent of prescriptive net neutrality rules.

Verizon plans to retire its copper network in the Rockaway section of New York City (CD May 14 p8) (http://bit.ly/1hahhCj) and Ocean View, Virginia, (http://bit.ly/1i11hNY) are moving through the FCC under a process in the Communications Act that critic New Networks calls little more than “rubber stamping.” The group and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates said in FCC filings the changes would be so significant and auger such widespread changes that they should undergo more scrutiny.

The FCC Monday quietly released the last of the big items approved at the FCC’s May 15 meeting -- new mobile holdings rules (CD May 16 p5). The FCC posted the item on its Web home page Tuesday. The FCC previously had released only a short fact sheet explaining the order (http://fcc.us/1h5tojV).

Revelations about the NSA’s facial recognition database forced back open the debate of the scope of the NTIA-backed facial recognition code of conduct during a Tuesday meeting. Months ago, NTIA had essentially decided, over some dissent, that the code of conduct would cover only commercial use of facial recognition technology because of the Commerce Department’s jurisdiction. Tuesday, the group discussed ways the code could tangentially control government use of the tech -- such as when the government is the customer of a private company, or when it’s requesting facial recognition information from a privacy company.