The Internet Archive is challenging a New Jersey state law that makes online service providers criminally liable for providing access to third parties’ materials, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a Thursday release (http://bit.ly/14xne0U). The law conflicts with federal law and threatens the free flow of information on the Internet, said EFF, which will represent the Internet Archive in the suit. “The New Jersey statute is an almost carbon copy of a law successfully blocked by EFF and the Internet Archive last year,” it said. The law, specifically section 12(b)(1) of the Human Trafficking Prevention, Protection, and Treatment Act, could impose stiff penalties on ISPs, Internet cafes and libraries that indirectly cause the publication, dissemination or display of content that contains an implicit offer of a commercial sex act and the image of a minor, EFF said. A hearing on the Internet Archive’s request for a preliminary injunction against the law is set for Friday at the U.S. District Court in Newark, it said.

A cross-ownership study by the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council is “deeply flawed in numerous ways,” public interest group Free Press told FCC staff Tuesday, according to an ex parte filing Thursday (http://bit.ly/13apluT). The MMTC study, submitted as part of the 2010 Quadrennial Review, found the impact of cross-media ownership on minority and women broadcast ownership (CD May 31 p1) to be “negligible.” Free Press attacked the study for not being quantitative or providing the data needed by the commission to consider changes to media ownership rules. “MMTC’s study fails to satisfy the Third Circuit’s mandate in Prometheus II that the Commission collect the data necessary for informed policy-making,” said the Free Press filing. The study doesn’t adequately describe its sample, Free Press said, so the responses from “female Caucasian owners” are combined with responses from “female and male racial and/or ethnic minority owners” and it doesn’t differentiate between radio and TV station ownership. “Thus the number of interview subjects is small, and we have no information about the demographic or market distribution of the respondents,” said Free Press. “This information is critical to assessing the study’s validity.” Free Press said the problems with the study mean it isn’t sufficient to be used as a basis for changes to cross-ownership rules. “While qualitative research can inform policymaking, the results of a single, small (and undefined) sample survey that conflated the impacts of two very different types of cross-ownership are not dispositive,” said Free Press. “In this particular case, the results are not even suggestive, and in no way support the study’s conclusion that ’the impact of cross-media ownership on minority and women broadcast ownership is probably negligible.'” MMTC did not comment.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel made clear Thursday that she’s prepared to vote on an order addressing interoperability in the lower 700 MHz band if an order is circulated by acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. “I have understood the importance of interoperability in the 700 MHz band,” Rosenworcel said via email. “We are now waiting for a decision on interoperability to circulate. I look forward to seeing one -- and hope to be able to vote [on] it as soon as it does.” The statement was Rosenworcel’s strongest to date on 700 MHz interoperability. Small carriers led by the Competitive Carriers Association have been in a longstanding fight with AT&T over the need for a 700 MHz interoperability requirement. Clyburn has been widely expected to propose an order during her tenure as acting chairwoman. “Interoperability remains a very important issue for me,” Clyburn said Thursday in a press conference after the FCC meeting. “I am from a rural state and I am desirous of full, robust engagements and opportunities. … This is an item, this is an issue, that I still hope that there will be industry consensus, an industry solution, but if that does not happen … relatively quickly I will be poised to listen to whatever recommendations staff would have.”

Google Fiber is coming to Mission, Kan. The City Council voted in favor of the gigabit-capable fiber provider Wednesday evening, said the Google Fiber blog (http://bit.ly/1aitZtz). “We're not sure when we'll be able to bring Fiber to Mission (we have a lot of work to do before that can happen), but we'll be sure to post any updates right here,” wrote the company’s community manager, Rachel Hack. Mission is a part of the Kansas City area suburbs and has just under 10,000 residents.

NPR reiterated its position that the FCC’s waiver system on third-party on-air fundraising at noncommercial educational stations is working well for NCE radio stations. The commission’s proposal to relax the prohibition on such fundraising raises “serious operational, fundraising and other concerns,” NPR said in an ex parte filing in docket 12-106 (http://bit.ly/14ctVqv). NPR said it continues to be concerned about stations “being inundated with requests from local nonprofits, stations facing pressure to fundraise for affiliated parties” and drawing distinctions between types of NCE stations. The filing recounted a meeting this week with staff from FCC acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn’s office.

Time Warner Cable is rolling out 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots for its Manhattan customers by the middle of July, it said Thursday (http://yhoo.it/12nnYad). The wireless network is freely accessible for current Time Warner Cable standard Internet subscribers. The company has already set up 1,700 hotspots in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, with a plan to bring 10,000 to New York City as a whole by the end of the year.

Tech Valley Communications customers are now able to receive Ethernet and Wavelength services within 10 days of requesting them, the company said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/19F7zzX). It’s calling the new offering “10 Gigs in 10 Days” and it “applies to point-to-point circuits at all on-net locations throughout the Tech Valley Communications network,” according to the company, which is based in New York and New England.

The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks more comment on certain fees related to inmate calling service (ICS), in a public notice released Wednesday (http://fcc.us/11IVIiI). Some commenters “indicate that ICS providers may charge ICS account holders fees that appear ancillary to making calls, such as account setup fees, account replenishment fees, account refund fees, and account inactivity fees,” the bureau said. It seeks data on the ancillary ICS fees charged in connection with interstate service. Comments in WC docket 12-375 are due July 17, replies July 24.

Dish Network withdrew its tender offer of $4.40 per share to buy all of Clearwire. The tender offer “provided that it could be withdrawn, among other reasons, as a result of the recent change in recommendation by Clearwire,” said Dish in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/19CRJWJ). Last week, Clearwire’s board declared its preference for a Sprint Nextel buyout after Sprint revised its bid for Clearwire to $5 a share (CD June 21 p17).

Communications providers created the 21st Century Privacy Coalition to advocate for the modernization of “U.S. privacy and data security laws to better serve consumer expectations as well as technological and competitive changes in the communications marketplace,” said a news release Wednesday. Founding members include Comcast, AT&T and Verizon. The coalition will be chaired by former Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., who chaired the House Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, and former FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, said the release.