Various law enforcement agencies filed in support of a Nov. 27 request by the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators (IAATI) for a limited waiver of FCC rules so some anti-theft devices already installed in vehicles would not have to move to narrowband frequencies by a May 27, 2019, deadline. The legacy systems would be able to continue to emit 20 kHz tracking messages rather than operate on 12.5 kHz channels. IAATI said all of the systems are manufactured by LoJack and operate on the 73.075 MHz frequency.

If the EU and U.S. can agree on an umbrella data protection pact, negotiations on other pacts such as the trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) may become easier, said Elmar Brok, European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, at a news conference in Brussels Tuesday. He and Claude Moraes, of the Socialists and Democrats of U.K., who will publish Wednesday the draft report of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee on U.S. mass surveillance of Europeans, met with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich. All three said strong disagreements on data protection remain, but progress is being made.

Gannett, its affiliate Sander Media and Belo agreed to divest a St. Louis TV station as part of a Department of Justice consent decree issued in response to Gannett’s $2.2 billion deal to buy Belo, said DOJ. Gannett already owns KSDK (NBC) St. Louis, and provides news services to KDNL (ABC) St. Louis, according to the Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Public Representation. It objected to Gannett/Belo at the FCC on behalf of several public interest groups (http://bit.ly/18MwNux).

The FTC’s “vague and ambiguous” Section 5 authorities are a “worthy target of reform” and the agency “has the tools needed” to take on net neutrality issues if need be, said Commissioner Joshua Wright Monday at a TechFreedom event. The event coincided with the release of a lengthy report (http://bit.ly/1heY3r5) -- compiled by TechFreedom, attorneys, academics and former FTC officials, directors and commissioners, including one former chairman, Republican Timothy Muris, who served from 2000-2004 -- asking a “series of questions” about the commission’s exercise of its discretion in data security, privacy and unfair-competition cases, said TechFreedom President Berin Szoka at the event. “Both of these cases involved the core question of how to define unfairness under Section 5 of the FTC Act,” the report said. Future reports during the yearlong project will answer the questions and provide recommendations for the FTC, Szoka said.

A federal court ruled the government’s phone surveillance is likely unconstitutional, spurring members of Congress to call for action limiting surveillance. The ruling came as the White House received a set of recommendations from its appointed surveillance review group, with potential action to follow in January. Larry Klayman, the founder of Freedom Watch, initiated the case.

With federal regulators concerned about cutting the number of major national wireless carriers from four to three, a possible Sprint/T-Mobile merger would face an uphill battle at the FCC and Department of Justice, industry observers say. Reports emerged last week that Sprint, the nation’s third largest carrier, and T-Mobile US, its fourth largest, are looking at a deal to merge (CD Dec 16 p15). The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Sprint is looking at making a bid north of $20 billion for T-Mobile in the first half of next year, while it also studies “regulatory concerns."

The U.K. government abandoned its plan to switch off analog radio in 2015, and will guardedly hope for 2020 as a hard date. Communications Minister Ed Vaizey made that admission Monday at the Go Digital conference organized by industry body Digital Radio U.K. and held at the BBC’s London headquarters.

The National Public Safety Telecommunication Council’s recommendations on the future use of the 4.9 GHz band by public safety is raising concerns, especially in New York City. In October, the FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment on an Oct. 24 NPSTC report (http://bit.ly/19V2zbp). Reply comments were due at the commission Friday.

Draft media ownership rules circulated 13 months ago were yanked from circulation recently by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, said agency, industry and public interest officials in interviews Friday. The draft order first circulated by then-Chairman Julius Genachowski and thought to have been largely unchanged when now-Commissioner Mignon Clyburn was acting chairwoman would have ended some cross-ownership bans, which cheered some broadcasters and daily newspaper owners and upset some groups critical of media mergers and acquisitions. The rules, to TV stations’ chagrin, would have made it harder for them to enter into joint sharing arrangements that JSA foes say evade media ownership limits (CD Nov 15/12 p1).

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s recusal from considering AT&T’s special access tariff revisions surprised many, but the recusal isn’t expected to have a major effect on the proceeding, said telecom attorneys and industry observers Friday. Wheeler has also vowed to recuse himself from participating in proceedings that have a “direct and predictable effect” on the 78 telecom companies he’s owned stock in. In response to questioning Thursday by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., about what Wheeler planned to do about special access now that AT&T’s tariff filing has been suspended (CD Dec 9 p1), the chairman said he was “currently recused,” without elaborating.