Julian Hattem

Dozens of privacy, technology and political organizations are calling on Congress to radically overhaul surveillance programs at the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government offices.

As lawmakers spar over President Obama’s proposal to end the NSA’s bulk collection of phone records, the groups called for them to take up broader changes to the country’s spy agencies.

“Overbroad national security surveillance raises a host of Constitutional, human rights, and practical concerns, and we urge Congress and the Administration to address systemic reform,” the organizations wrote in a letter to top lawmakers, along with President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. “The trust of the American people and the global public cannot be regained with legislation that achieves only modest changes to discrete programs.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, online forum reddit and conservative outfit FreedomWorks were among the 42 organizations signing the letter, which went to House and Senate leaders and top lawmakers on the Judiciary and Intelligence committees.

Congressional Democrats are cheering the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) votes to crack down on broadcasters and open up more space for Wi-Fi.

“I thank the FCC for answering my call to rein in the misuse of broadcast television sharing agreements, which has threatened the integrity of the FCC’s media ownership rules,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said. “Today's action on joint sales agreements is a positive step forward, and I am pleased by the agency's further inquiry into how it can monitor the possible impact other sharing agreements could have on consumers.”

In a closely watched 3-2 vote, the FCC placed new limits on those arrangements. Republicans had lambasted the move, and criticized commission Chairman Tom Wheeler for moving forward with the proposal before finalizing a years-overdue review of its media ownership rules. Both Republican members of the panel opposed the new ownership rules, and said that the crackdown will hurt small stations.

A measure to clear up space for Wi-Fi was met more positively on the commission. The FCC's unanimous vote to free up space for unlicensed spectrum “is a win for consumers,” Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) said. “It supports greater competition, it improves mobile services, and it enhances innovation.”

Comcast’s proposed $45 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable is “not particularly scary,” according to Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen.

In an interview on C-SPAN’s “The Communicators,” Cohen said that the planned deal would be good for consumers and help the cable industry compete against satellite, telecoms and online video companies.

“We’re going to have a serious governmental review of the transaction, but I’ll be honest with you: I think the transaction is a lot less scary, it's a lot less large and a lot less complicated than some people would like to make it,” he said.

The deal would combine the two largest cable companies, but executives have been quick to point out that the two giants do not currently compete in the same markets and Comcast has already pledged to drop some customers so that it takes up less than 30 percent of the market.

“In no local market will there be any less choice after the transaction than there is before the transaction,” Cohen said. Instead, the merger will help the cable industry build infrastructure, do research and invest for the future, in order to fight against satellite television, online video companies like Netflix and major telecom companies like Verizon and AT&T, he said.

Rep Jared Polis (D-CO) is telling his fellow members of Congress that their "March Madness" brackets hang in the balance over a federal e-mail privacy law update.

In the playful letter, Rep Polis warned colleagues that Attorney General Eric Holder may be snooping on their basketball picks. "Ever think Eric Holder’s March Madness bracket looked a lot like yours?" he wrote. "Stop the madness, cosponsor the Email Privacy Act!"

The Email Privacy Act, introduced by Rep Polis along with Reps Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and Tom Graves (R-GA) in 2013, would update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which critics say is out of date for the modern world.

Rep Polis's bill would require police to get a warrant before searching e-mails. "It defies common sense that emails should be less protected than postal mail," Polis wrote. The bill has more than 180 co-sponsors in the House and has been steadily gaining steam over recent months.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has introduced a companion measure in the upper chamber, which has the backing of major tech firms like Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

Sens Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) are urging Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to press ahead with plans to bring broadband Internet to remote parts of the country.

Sens Ayotte and Blunt (R-MO) told Chairman Wheeler to “move forward promptly.” “The most rural and mountainous areas of New Hampshire and Missouri are in great need of broadband communications,” the two wrote. The FCC’s effort, they added, “could help ensure that American consumers who live and work in sparsely populated, unserved areas have access to affordable broadband services.”

Under the umbrella of FCC’s Universal Service Fund, which attempts to bring broadband to all corners of the country, $100 million has been set aside for the Remote Areas Fund (RAF), which specifically targets rural residents. The full program was originally scheduled to be implemented by the end of 2012, but the money has not yet been fully allocated. The delay, the lawmakers wrote, is making it harder for people to get access to highest-speed connectivity.

President Barack Obama’s pick to lead the National Security Agency (NSA) pledged to protect privacy rights while at the helm of the spy agency.

Appearing before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Vice Adm. Michael Rogers, who would also be taking the reins as the head of the US Cyber Command, said that he would work to make the embattled agency’s surveillance efforts more transparent. If he takes office, Vice Adm Rogers said he would be “ever-mindful” that the agency needs to work “in a manner which protects the civil liberties and privacy of our citizens.”

“I will be an active partner in implementing the changes directed by the president with respect to aspects of the National Security Agency mission and my intent is to be as transparent as possible in doing so, and in the broader execution of my duties, if confirmed.”

Rogers has spent more than 30 years in the Navy, and has been in charge of the branch’s cyber command since 2011. He has also been the director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the US Pacific Command. As a cryptology expert, he is a relative unknown to privacy and civil liberties advocates, though he will be taking over the NSA amid turmoil unlike any the agency has ever seen.

[March 11]

Lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee are getting “very close” to a new cybersecurity bill, according to the panel's top Republican.

“As you know we have been working on a cyber bill for years now,” Sen Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) told President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the US Cyber Command and National Security Agency, Vice Adm. Michael Rogers. “We’re getting very close to an agreement within the Intelligence Committee between the chairman and myself, on a cyber bill that is much needed. One of the key provisions, and kind of the last remaining obstacle we’ve got, is the immunity provision or the liability protection provision.”

Lawmakers have for years pushed for a comprehensive bill to protect American financial markets, transportation systems and the electric grid in the event of a massive cyber attack. “I believe one of our greatest vulnerabilities is cyber attack,” said Sen Angus King (I-ME). "I think the next Pearl Harbor is going to be cyber. And the problem is we’re more vulnerable than many other places.”

[March 11]

Unless Congress acts, more than a million satellite TV subscribers could turn on their TV in a year and miss out on news, hit shows and sporting events.

On Dec 31, the law allowing satellite television companies like Dish and DirecTV to carry out-of-market broadcast channels to many rural customers expires. Unless Congress takes action, that means some subscribers won’t be able to watch ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox as of 2015. And it’s no sure thing Congress will act. While renewing the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) is one of the few must-pass bills of 2014, many observers expect it to become entangled in larger fights between cable, satellite and broadcast providers. A deadlock might make a short-term extension of the law the only way out.

“You know, I suppose there’s always a possibility, like there is around here, that you get some sort of a short-term extension until we get a chance to do a more complete process with it, but we’ll see,” said Sen John Thune (R-SD) of the Senate Commerce Committee. “The goal is to try and get it done.”

The law allows satellite providers to import broadcast signals to an estimated 1.5 million rural consumers who are unable to pick up the broadcasts on their own. The legal authority for the companies to provide local broadcast channels to people who would otherwise be able to pick them up with an antenna does not expire.

[March 10]

Public interest groups are opposing an effort to update cable TV laws, which they say would “eviscerate” protections for consumers.

In a letter sent to Capitol Hill, a coalition of groups including Public Knowledge, the National Consumers League and Consumer Action criticized part of a draft bill recently released by Rep Greg Walden (R-OR), the chairman of the Commerce subcommittee on Communications. Ending a requirement that all set-top boxes come with the same cards to descramble signals, they wrote, would lead to unequal treatment for customers who buy boxes at retail locations rather than rent them from their provider.

“This is the wrong time to step backward,” the groups wrote. Free Press, the Writers Guild of America and the AllVid alliance, which includes TiVo, Sony and Best Buy, also signed on to the letter. Rep Walden’s effort to update the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) includes a measure to end the requirement on so-called CableCARDs in rented boxes as well as purchased ones.

[March 10]

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has denied the National Security Agency’s (NSA) attempt to hold onto people’s phone records for longer than the law allows. In an order, the court said the Justice Department’s attempt to authorize keeping the records beyond the current five-year legal limit “is simply unpersuasive.” “The Court has not found any case law supporting the government’s broad assertion that its duty to preserve supersedes statutory or regulatory requirements,” Judge Reggie Walton wrote in the court’s decision. [March 7]