Julian Hattem

Days after the streaming TV service Aereo announced it was suspending its operations, one company is offering subscribers a free antenna to watch their favorite NBC, CBS and other broadcast shows.

“We have a solution to the Supreme Court ruling that resulted in the loss of your local broadcast television: A free antenna from Antennas Direct,” the Missouri-based retailer said.

The company is giving away antennas, coaxial cable and mounting to the first 1,000 Aereo subscribers who respond. “To receive your free antenna, simply upload your Aereo billion statement and pay $10.00 for shipping,” the company said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that a plan to allow some companies to pay for "fast lanes" on the Internet "runs contrary to every principle I believe the Internet was based on."

Sen Leahy made the comments as part of a field hearing in Burlington (VT), with Rep Peter Welch (D-VT). The two ripped the Federal Communications Commission plans for "fast lanes," and called for tougher FCC regulations to ensure Internet service providers can't give special treatment to some online content. The two argued the fast lanes could lead to a slower Internet for their constituents.

“We’re not going to have an economy in Vermont if we don’t have an accessible Internet,” said Rep Welch, who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its subcommittee on Communications. “I see this as absolutely essential to the future of Vermont's economy as well as rural America," he added. "We’ve got folks here on the front lines whose access to the Internet is crucial to the jobs that they created, the good jobs that we have in Vermont.”

Sen Leahy said his constituents had "spoken very clearly” on the issue.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) will release its next analysis of US spying programs soon.

The new report from the PCLOB, which declared that the National Security Agency’s (NSA) phone records collection program was illegal, will examine the agency’s collection of foreigners’ data.

The analysis comes as the Senate continues debate on legislation to overhaul the NSA’s operations and could provide ammunition to reformers looking for major changes.

The PCLOB’s report “will contain a detailed analysis” of programs targeting foreigners authorized under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, it said. The government has cited that section of the law as authorization for its controversial PRISM program, which allows agents at the NSA to tap into networks at Facebook, Google and other major websites to scoop up information.

“It will address the Section 702 program's development and operation, statutory basis, constitutional implications, and whether it strikes the right balance between national security and privacy and civil liberties, and will make recommendations for policy reforms,” the PCLOB announced.

High-speed broadband Internet can be vital to gay, lesbian and transgender people struggling to understand their sexuality and gender identity, Rep David Cicilline (D-RI) said.

Rep Cicilline, who is gay and one of the co-chairs of the congressional LGBT caucus, said that the Web can be especially important for people in countries where homosexuality is illegal. He urged Congress to do what it could to allow as many people as possible to get online.

“It has particularly important significance... in places where gay and lesbian and bisexual people -- transsexual people -- live in dangerous, repressive conditions,” he said. “Access to the Internet may be the salvation for these individuals to connect and understand that there are other places to be, other people who are experiencing the same kind of challenges.”

A recent report from the LGBT Technology Partnership and Institute called for the government to ensure that computers at schools and libraries allow people to search for LGBT information, make more of the nation’s airwaves available for public use and make sure that people’s privacy is protected online, among other recommendations.

The Senate Judiciary Committee renewed a “must-pass” satellite television law that avoided changes to the way businesses negotiate to send TV programs into people’s homes.

Members of the panel said those types of discussions are best left to a broader overhaul of the nation’s communication laws. However, their reluctance to make broader reforms now could run into opposition from other lawmakers who have pledged to use the opportunity to enact change.

“I know a number of other telecommunications issues have been raised relative to this bill, but they are more appropriately handled in the context of a comprehensive communication law overhaul which the Commerce Committee is considering,” said Sen Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the panel’s top Republican. “In the meantime, I look forward to working with the chairman and the Commerce Committee in ensuring that satellite consumers, in particular those in rural areas who need the law to get their television signals, will continue to see those signals.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling that police need a warrant to search someone’s cellphone is a “wake-up call” for Congress to act on other kinds of digital privacy, Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said.

“The Supreme Court’s decision in US v. Wurie and Riley v. California is a wake-up call that we need to update our laws to keep pace with technological advances,” he said shortly after the high court’s unanimous ruling. “Just as the government must now obtain a warrant to look through the contents of our cell phones, I believe the same standard should apply when the government wants to look through our emails.”

Sen Leahy’s bill “updates our digital privacy laws to keep pace with new technologies, protect civil liberties, and provide guidance to law enforcers,” he said. “Congress should act swiftly to pass this bill and bring our privacy laws into the 21st Century.”

The top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee is pushing for Congress to overhaul the law governing the Internet, television and phone service. Sen John Thune (R-SD) said that the Senate would likely begin work to update the law in 2015, and seemed to shine on the notion that Republicans would have taken control of the upper chamber.

The Telecommunications Act outlines the authority of the Federal Communications Commission and sets the path for regulating phone, Internet and TV service. But it was written back in 1996, when dialup Internet allowing access to just a few thousand websites was still a luxury. “Back then, you had to pay for Internet by the hour and going online meant tying up your home phone line,” Sen Thune said.

Critics have said that the law created inefficient silos for different types of communications services such as television and the Web, which have posed problems for regulators dealing with modern technologies like broadband Internet. Some Democrats have urged the FCC to regulate the Web like phone service, but Republicans have rejected that view, which they warn would impose strict rules for Internet service providers and would limit its growth.

To settle the issue, Sen Thune said that Congress should make itself clear in a new law.

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) introduced two cybersecurity bills that will advance to a vote in the panel. The pair of bills should make it easier for government agencies and private companies to share information about hackers and focus federal efforts towards preventing stopping major hacks, Sen Carper said.

“Cybersecurity is one of our nation’s biggest challenges,” he said. “While our work in this area is far from finished, these bills are an important step in our effort to modernize our nation’s cybersecurity programs and help the public and private sectors work together to tackle cyber threats more effectively in the future.”

The National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center Act would codify an existing cybersecurity center run by the Homeland Security Department and make sure that it operators as a sort of clearinghouse for the issue. The Federal Information Security Modernization Act would reshuffle administrative roles and put more focus on stopping data beaches.

Members of Congress gave a warm reception to AT&T’s $49 billion proposal to buy DirecTV and suggested regulators should let the deal proceed.

Executives from the TV and Internet companies told lawmakers that they need to combine in order to stay competitive with rivals such as Comcast and Verizon, and members from both sides of the aisle seemed to agree.

Rep Hank Johnson (D-GA), the ranking member on the House Judiciary’s Antitrust subcommittee, said “the bulk of the evidence demonstrates that each company primarily serves different markets with different services,” which should protect them from fears about antitrust violations.

“Although the proposed merger represents a concerning trend towards industry consolidation, there is ample evidence that this transaction would create considerable public-interest benefits,” he said. Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) indicated that federal regulators ought to butt out and let the merger move forward.

“It has been demonstrated repeatedly that a free and competitive marketplace yields lower prices, greater innovation, increased investment and better services,” he said. “We should strive to ensure that proposed transactions result in enhanced competitive marketplaces so that the attendant benefits continue to run to consumers.”

AT&T and DirecTV executives faced members of the House and will then head to a follow-up in the Senate later.

AT&T’s $49 billion plan to buy DirecTV could strengthen the company’s union, a move that is getting Democratic nods of approval on Capitol Hill.

“This transaction presents substantial opportunities for labor standards,” Rep Hank Johnson (D-GA) said in a hearing on the planned merger. “I know everybody doesn’t agree that that is something that is worthy, but I think that is very worthwhile.”

“Given the television industry’s famous reputation for opposing organized labor, this merger would have transformational benefit for thousands of employees in this industry, giving labor a strong foothold in the industry,” added Sen Johnson, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust.

AT&T currently has the largest full-time, private union in the United States with 41,000 members. If regulators allow the phone and Internet company to buy DirecTV, that option would extend to the satellite TV firm's 16,000 employees.

“We have a long history of working with our union members and collective bargaining,” AT&T Chairman Randall Stephenson told lawmakers. “So with DirecTV, you should assume that DirecTV employees will be offered that same option to collectively bargain or not," he said. "That will be their choice.”