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WELCOME MAT OUT FOR NET NEUTRALITY ADVOCATES
[SOURCE: The Politico, AUTHOR: Daniel Reilly]
With the new Congress, the political landscape is shifting for telecom advocates. Democrats generally favor net neutrality. To do otherwise, they maintain, would create a two-tiered pricing scheme that would make Internet access more expensive for ordinary consumers. Companies such as AT&T spent more than $12 million in campaign donations over the last four years trying to get an anti-net neutrality law passed in a more industry-friendly Republican-led Congress. Now, they are considering defensive strategies to block pro-net neutrality measures. the telecom firms are still adjusting to the new congressional landscape, and it remains to be seen whether they will continue their all-out ad blitz. Last summer, at the peak of the net neutrality debate, the telecom firms were spending up to $1 million a week on television and print ads to campaign against net neutrality. The telecoms must also contend with others in the net neutrality fight such as Google and Yahoo, which are all flexing their newfound lobbying muscle for net neutrality. Overall, chances appear slim for a wholesale revision of the nation's telecommunications law. The telecoms will continue to spend millions to try to kill net neutrality, while the Baby Bells will continue to enter the cable television market on a state-by-state basis. Still, net neutrality advocates say this might be their year for success. Until those issues are resolved, the entire slate of telecommunications issues, including financing the transition to digital TV, regulation of wireless telephone providers and spectrum allocation, will probably move to the back burner.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0107/2462.html

FCC TO FEEL UNFAMILIAR HEAT FROM DEMOCRATS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Charles Babington]
As congressional Democrats prepare to give the Federal Communications Commission its toughest scrutiny in years, a rivalry between the powerful agency's two most prominent Republicans is raising questions about its readiness to handle barbed questions and stiff challenges. The Republican-controlled FCC has sparred infrequently with Republican-controlled congresses. But the Democratic-run 110th Congress is about to heat up the grill, starting with a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on Thursday. FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, a Republican with close ties to the Bush administration, will be the focus of Democrats' criticisms. But some industry analysts think those lawmakers may try to find an ally in Commissioner Robert M. McDowell, another young Republican loyalist with a reputation for intelligence and political ambition. The two have clashed on at least three significant issues in the past several months, creating what some see as a rift that could be ripe for exploitation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR200701...
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* Hot Seat Awaits Martin
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6410678.html?display=Top+Stories

SECRECY IS AT ISSUE IN SUITS OPPOSING SPY PROGRAM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Adam Liptak]
The Bush administration has employed extraordinary secrecy in defending the National Security Agency’s highly classified domestic surveillance program from civil lawsuits. Plaintiffs and judges’ clerks cannot see its secret filings. Judges have to make appointments to review them and are not allowed to keep copies. Judges have even been instructed to use computers provided by the Justice Department to compose their decisions. But now the procedures have started to meet resistance. At a private meeting with the lawyers in one of the cases this month, the judges who will hear the first appeal next week expressed uneasiness about the procedures. Lawyers suing the government and some legal scholars say the procedures threaten the separation of powers, the adversary system and the lawyer-client privilege. Justice Department officials say the circumstances of the cases, involving a highly classified program, require extraordinary measures. The officials say they have used similar procedures in other cases involving classified materials.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/26/washington/26nsa.html?ref=todayspaper
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* Dismissal of Lawsuit Against Warrantless Wiretaps Sought
A lawsuit challenging the legality of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program should be thrown out because the government is now conducting the wiretaps under the authority of a secret intelligence court, according to court papers filed by the Justice Department yesterday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR200701...
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COMMERCE HELPS NTIA SPEND EMERGENCY BUCKS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairmen Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) have introduced a bill to give the National Telecommunications & Information Administration more direction on how to spend $1 billion that was appropriated for emergency communications. The grants are to help police, fire and medical personnel better communicate in times of disaster, a response to the communications problems during 9/11.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6409882?title=Article&spacede...

* Press release from Sen Stevens
http://stevens.senate.gov/pr_detailed.cfm?prid=464