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The Internet will be at the center of some of the knottiest policy fights President Barack Obama is likely to face in his second term. Privacy, cybersecurity and piracy are the top issues, but the technology industry may also press for tax code reform and more visas for foreigners with math and science skills. The Administration is likely to continue pressing to free up airwaves to satisfy the demands of smartphones and tablets. The President will likely to have make appointments to the Federal Trade Commission which regulates how private Web companies collect and use personal information.

Technology companies in San Francisco could soon reap a windfall. A ballot proposition for which the industry lobbied will save them millions in payroll taxes. Proposition E, backed by the venture capitalist Ron Conway, passed with a resounding 70 percent of votes. It was among the most prominent examples of the tech sector flexing its political muscle in city affairs. The proposition replaces a payroll tax with a tax on gross earnings. It is particularly attractive for venture-funded companies that hire well-paid staff, but are slow to bring in revenue. The business tax represents the city’s second largest source of revenue, after property tax, but tends to fluctuate dramatically, says the nonprofit San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association. Proposition E replaces it with a gross receipts tax, which the nonprofit body estimates will bring more stability to city coffers.

Some $6 billion is estimated to have been spent on 2012 election advertising across all media, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That's actually less than the auto industry spends on TV advertising in a year, but it's more than enough to make a 4-year-old girl in Colorado cry out of frustration. Given the inundation of media markets in swing states, is it conceivable that political ad spending has hit a ceiling? According to Kantar Media estimates, $1.1 billion was spent on local TV in 12 states for the presidential race alone, plus another $200 million for local cable. It's not only a lot of money, it's also a lot of inventory -- of which there is only so much. Time Warner Cable, for example, noted during earnings this week that it had carved additional ad inventory out of the time it normally reserves to promote programming to serve demand by political advertisers. But even if all inventory were maxed out, that doesn't mean spending won't continue to climb. More money could be spent on TV ads for presidential candidates in 2016 if rates paid by Super PACs such as Restore Our Future and 501(c)(4)s like Americans for Prosperity soar higher, according to Elizabeth Wilner, VP at Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group. Those independent groups were sometimes paying tens of thousands of dollars more than campaigns -- which are legally guaranteed the lowest available rate for the air time they're seeking -- for a 30-second spot. "The station's going to charge that group as much as it dares," Ms. Wilner said. "[But] there's a question of how much higher it could possibly go."

AT&T announced a plan to invest $14 billion in expanding its wireless and U-Verse service around the country. At the same time, the company submitted a petition to the Federal Communications Commission asking for an end to the "conventional public-utility-style regulation."

"AT&T believes that this regulatory experiment will show that conventional public-utility-style regulation is no longer necessary or appropriate in the emerging all-IP ecosystem," the company wrote in its FCC filing. "Customers are abandoning obsolescent [time-division multiplexing] services, but AT&T and other incumbent carriers still must be prepared to serve every household in their service territories on demand. Thus, the costs of maintaining those networks remain in place, and every loss of another customer increases the average cost per line of serving the customers that remain." Some industry watchers are worried such a move would make an end-run around existing regulations that require a baseline level of phone service under federal law. If the FCC heeds AT&T’s advice, some fear there will be even further entrenchment of the dominant wired carriers, like AT&T and Verizon, who are pushing more profitable wireless services.