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Telecommunications
FCC Backs New Method For Collecting Broadband Data
     The FCC this week unanimously approved new methods for collecting data on subscriptions for high-speed Internet service, despite rancor from Democratic members of the commission who said the agency has not done enough to promote broadband deployment -- and complaints from Republicans that the guidelines are too restrictive. Under the new approach, the agency set a faster minimum threshold for broadband service, adopted a revised methodology intended to be more precise and agreed to maintain an evolving definition of what constitutes a high-speed Internet connection. The FCC's three Republicans approved a report concluding that broadband is being deployed in a "reasonable and timely fashion," with dissents from Democratic Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. Copps noted that while the report lists the United States as 11th in worldwide broadband rankings, the nation slipped in the interim to 15th place in per capita subscribers. "The report unconvincingly attempts to dismiss the international broadband penetration rankings. The fact is the U.S. has dropped year-after-year," Adelstein said. The FCC has faced criticism for assuming that an entire five-digit ZIP code has access to broadband if at least one citizen there has service -- one of several guidelines jettisoned. More accurate data could better guide policymakers in crafting regulations and laws to encourage deployment. Republican FCC Commissioners Robert McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate played up the positives: that the United States remains the largest broadband market in the world and that related capital expenditures are on the rise, with $50 billion expected to be spent in 2008 and 2009. Meanwhile, the FCC also voted unanimously to bar telecom carriers from entering into exclusive contracts with apartments and condominiums, extending rules adopted last year that barred such arrangements for video service providers.

Telecommunications
FCC Announces Record Amount From Spectrum Auctions
     The FCC announced this week that it had raised $19.6 billion from the auction of the spectrum that broadcasters will be relinquishing as part of the transition from analog to digital signals in February. The amount is nearly twice as much as the $10 billion that Congress had expected to net from the auction, which began in late January. The FCC did not release the names of the winning bidders, although is expected to do so in a matter of days. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement that the auction "provided an opportunity to have a significant effect on the next phase of wireless broadband innovation. With the open platform requirements on one-third of the spectrum, consumers will be able to use the wireless device of their choice on those networks and download whatever software or applications they want on it." Despite the record proceeds from the auction, the FCC failed to attract a bid for a block of spectrum reserved for a nationwide interoperable network to be used by public safety officials and the private sector. Because no one met the FCC's minimum bid of $1.3 billion for the "D" block of spectrum, Martin said the agency is now evaluating how to proceed. Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey, D-Mass., said he plans to hold a hearing on the auction and how the FCC should proceed with a new auction of the D-block spectrum. "Any new auction for the 'D-block' should be consistent with an overarching policy goal of advancing public safety objectives and ultimately achieving a state-of-the-art, broadband infrastructure for first responders," Markey said in a statement.

Broadcasting
Supreme Court Agrees To Consider FCC Indecency Policy
     The Supreme Court said this week that it would hear an appeal by the FCC of a case challenging the agency's power to ban even a single use of an expletive on radio and television. The lawsuit involves several instances of broadcasters airing the "f-word" or the "s-word." The FCC in 2006 deviated from a precedent that one-time uses of expletives and their derivations did not violate indecency standards, and pursued enforcement action against News Corp., after the vulgarities were used during the Billboard Music Awards -- which aired on its Fox network in 2002 and 2003. No fines were imposed, but Fox took the FCC to court. In June, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told the FCC to reconsider its "fleeting expletive" policy, noting that the agency had "failed to articulate a reasoned basis" for the standard. The 2-1 decision prompted Senate Commerce Committee member John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., to sponsor a bill to codify the FCC's rule change. "It's essential that the FCC have the ability to enforce its own regulations aimed at protecting children and families from obscene language and indecent programming during family hours," Rockefeller said. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin issued a statement saying he was pleased the high court will review the case. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said the FCC has a statutory duty to enforce indecency laws, but that industry and parents share the responsibility to protect children from inappropriate content. The Parents Television Council filed FCC complaints over the Fox incidents and submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the agency's policy change. The Fox network said it was pleased the high court will hear the case because "this will give us an opportunity to demonstrate once again the arbitrary nature of the FCC's decision in this and similar cases. It will also give us the opportunity to argue that the FCC's expanded enforcement of the indecency law is unconstitutional."

Intellectual Property
GAO: Federal IP Efforts Having Mixed Results
     Federal programs intended to protect America's intellectual property rights are showing mixed results, according to a GAO report released this week. While law enforcement activities have increased since 2001, agency efforts to assess their successes and improve upon existing initiatives are limited, the investigation showed. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, asked for the study to gauge how effectively federal resources were being used to fight counterfeiting and piracy. He and Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., introduced a bill last year to create a global task force for tracking intellectual property criminals and a high-level intellectual property czar position that would require Senate confirmation. GAO paid specific attention to an interagency coordination body intended to bring together Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI. The report found intellectual property is frequently not an agency priority and receives too few resources. "IP theft is a serious threat to our nation's economic and homeland security," Voinovich said. GAO's findings are consistent with what Voinovich found during a series of oversight hearings by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee, where he is ranking member. GAO recommended that the attorney general and Homeland Security and HHS secretaries take steps to better assess and report on their agencies' IP enforcement efforts and clarify the purpose and structure of the IP coordination program.

Trade
White House Open To Moving TAA Bill First
     Bush administration officials appear receptive to an arrangement in which House Democratic leaders could move trade adjustment assistance legislation before the Colombia free trade agreement, as long as Democrats set a date for a vote on the trade deal. "The bottom line is, if there's a willingness to engage, there's a deal to be struck," said one administration official. In remarks last week, House Speaker Pelosi indicated a TAA bill must be acted on first. "Until and unless we have a robust trade adjustment assistance bill to help the people affected, I don't see any chance for the Colombia Free Trade Agreement," she said. Administration officials say they are frustrated the Colombia deal has languished without a vote, even though it includes labor and environmental provisions demanded by Democrats. Pelosi was reacting to suggestions last week by President Bush and Trade Representative Schwab that they would soon send the deal to Congress, which under presidential trade negotiating authority rules would force action 90 days after the deal is sent to Congress. But administration officials also have emphasized their eagerness for bipartisan cooperation and do not appear to be planning to immediately send up the agreement when Congress returns from its recess. Nevertheless, Bush might not wait too long to send up the Colombia agreement in the absence of a deal with Congress, and his aides seem suspicious of Democrats' motives. Senate Finance Chairman Baucus is seeking to move a TAA proposal, but has yet to come to terms with Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

Human Rights
Watchdog Groups Slam State Dept. Over China
     A handful of watchdog groups have slammed the State Department's annual survey of international human rights practices, issued last week, for allegedly dropping China from a list of the world's worst violators and for not putting more emphasis on Internet free speech. Reporters Without Borders called the decision ill-timed because Beijing will host the Olympic Games in August and human rights groups have been trying to use that as leverage to improve conditions there. "U.S. authorities are depriving themselves of yet another effective way to pressure China, without having achieved any goodwill gesture from Beijing," it said. Meanwhile, House Foreign Affairs Asia and Pacific Subcommittee ranking member Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., also said China's feet should continue to be held to the fire. In the State Department report, China was listed among countries that are undergoing economic and social change but "have not undertaken democratic political reform." Human Rights Watch's Tom Malinowski said critics are misinterpreting the report and he believes the agency did not mean to send the message that China had been downgraded. Jonathan Farrar, acting assistant secretary of the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said the analysis gave a "very frank appraisal" of China's poor human rights record. It noted that many political prisoners remain behind bars, including journalist Shi Tao, whose story of being imprisoned after Yahoo turned over information about him was told at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in November. The committee approved in October an online freedom bill that would ban U.S. Internet firms from disclosing to restrictive governments materials that identify an Internet user, except in legitimate law-enforcement cases.

Politics
Lessig To Launch Campaign To Rein In Special Interests
     Intellectual property innovator Lawrence Lessig is launching a campaign to combat the influence of money in American politics. The Stanford Law School professor's ChangeCongress project aims to mobilize candidates, citizens and lawmakers to help curb what he views is a political corruption pandemic. Lessig, who briefly considered running for the seat of the late Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., said the ChangeCongress project will "leverage and amplify" work done by organizations to change the political process. Candidates will be able to make four pledges online, each of which "has different political pressures behind it," he added. They include not taking money from PACs, backing a permanent ban on earmarks, supporting public campaign financing and encouraging transparency in Congress. Politicians choosing to commit to any one of those goals can do so at Change-Congress.org and obtain a virtual "badge" to place on their own Web site. Lessig's site will offer a color-coded map that lets citizens track elected officials' stance on those issues and make changes in their profiles -- depending on related promises politicians make on the campaign trail or in Washington, he said. In the spring, ChangeCongress will launch a mechanism for people to donate money to candidates who support the project's principles, Lessig said. "That will create a financial incentive for being inside the reform movement," he said.