The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)’s formation of a panel on the future of global Internet cooperation in mid-November came in the midst of an increasingly important debate over the future of multistakeholder Internet governance, said stakeholders in interviews last week. “The future of Internet freedom really is at a crossroads,” said former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, a member of the new panel. Although ICANN was a catalyst for the group’s formation, the group is independent of ICANN (CD Nov 19 p17).

States will continue to have a role in arbitration if the 10th U.S. Court of Appeals upholds the 2011 FCC Connect America Fund order, state advocates told us after the Nov. 19 oral argument. The CAF order revamped the rules of the $4.5 billion-a-year fund and set intercarrier compensation on a path toward bill-and-keep (CD Nov 20 p2). At the oral argument in Denver, FCC attorney Richard Welch argued that AT&T v. Iowa Utilities Board took away the states’ exclusive power for ratemaking, and it gave the FCC power in that area. Chief Judge Mary Beck Briscoe, part of a three-judge panel, then asked Welch what’s left to the state commissions. Welch answered that the arbitration and negotiation process still exists for the state commissions when telcos can’t agree.

The European Commission sees broad convergence among stakeholders on the net neutrality provisions of its proposal for digital-single-market regulation, DG Connect Deputy Director General Roberto Viola said Thursday at a webcast hearing of the European Parliament Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee. There’s much less agreement on what to do about excessive mobile roaming charges, however, with rapporteur Pilar del Castillo, of the European People’s Party and Spain, calling for an end to roaming fees altogether, and the EC seeking to tackle the problem through voluntary operator deals. Viola promised the EC will be “open and flexible” in finding compromise.

A U.S. proposal that could curtail what so-called social welfare groups spend on ads about political candidates on the Internet, radio and TV and put on their websites is raising concerns among some industry lawyers and advocates for disclosure by such 501(c)(4) tax-exempt groups. The advocates want such ads considered “political intervention” and subject to limits for a longer period before elections than being proposed Friday by the Treasury Department and IRS. And an advocate and a lawyer for tax-exempt groups doesn’t think online communication should fall under that limit as the agencies proposed in an NPRM. Broadcast lawyers said they worry the rules if put into place could limit spending by groups other than candidates in the runup to elections, which has been a growth area for TV stations. That’s all according to interviews with those experts Wednesday.

The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to discuss at its Dec. 5 open meeting a proposed decision to revise the state LifeLine program. Commissioner Catherine Sandoval’s proposed decision would extend the price cap and adopt specifications for LifeLine wireless services (http://bit.ly/Ihm0C6). The proposed decision requires all participating providers to have a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN), a wireless identification registration from the PUC and/or a franchise authority to provide service. All wireline service providers must charge no more than $6.84 per month for flat-rate local service and no more than $3.66 monthly for measured rate service through Dec. 31, 2015, said the proposed decision. To participate in the California LifeLine program, any fixed VoIP provider or wireless service provider must file a Tier 3 advice letter to demonstrate that its proposed services are in compliance with the proposed decision, it said. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed a bill that would have limited the PUC’s powers to adopt new rules for its LifeLine program due to the open proceeding (CD Oct 16 p16).

Some low-power FM applicants may have blown their chance at obtaining a license for a station due to minor mistakes, said LPFM advocates and broadcast consultants in interviews. The errors were likely made by applicants who didn’t hire consultants or attorneys, they said. The FCC received more than 2,800 applications during the Oct. 17-Nov. 15 filing period (CD Nov 25 p2).

Capitol Hill and the wireless industry have been hailing NTIA’s announcement Monday that the Department of Defense and NAB reached a deal that will allow DOD to move forward with its plan to largely vacate the 1755-1780 MHz band and move operations to the 2025-2110 MHz band. The deal, in which DOD agreed to work around broadcasters’ needs on the 2025 MHz band, would allow the FCC to eventually auction commercial access to the 1755 MHz band (CD Nov 26 p1). Industry stakeholders told us they see the DOD-NAB deal as a sign that federal agencies and industry are becoming more invested in spectrum sharing -- and the agreement could have implications for spectrum beyond the 1755 MHz band.

Internet users should have a legislated right to open access, but some aspects of net neutrality remain hard to pin down, speakers said Wednesday at a webcast hearing of the European Parliament Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee. It’s one of the committees vetting the European Commission proposal for digital-single-market regulation, which includes provisions allowing companies to provide differentiated services as long as they don’t interfere with Internet speeds promised to other customers (CD Sept 12 p7). IMCO’s response makes some changes to the EC version to “clarify and improve the text,” rapporteur Malcolm Harbour, of the European People’s Party and the U.K., wrote in his report (http://bit.ly/1aYRFSg). But questions about what “specialized services” are and how regulators should monitor net neutrality remain open, panelists said.

Stakeholders differ on whether increasing partisanship on Capitol Hill might affect Senate ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty on people with problems seeing having better access to print works. Some said in interviews this week they believe the so-called nuclear option (CD Nov 24 p4) for the Senate, which must ratify the World Intellectual Property Organization treaty, could add to an already fraught legislative environment. Others said they doubt the Senate rules move preventing some nominees from being fillibustered is pertinent to the ratification of the treaty passed at WIPO’s Morocco conference in June.

The European Commission Wednesday pressed for stronger U.S. privacy protections to restore trust in trans-Atlantic data flows badly shaken by revelations of massive surveillance and ineffective compliance with the safe harbor agreement. It has a “clear agenda” for rebuilding trust with Europe and assuring Europeans their privacy will be safeguarded, said Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. The EC criticized compliance by companies, and lax oversight by the U.S. FTC and the Department of Commerce, of safe harbor, which allows businesses to transfer Europeans’ personal data to the U.S. In turn, civil society groups said the EC recommendations for improving safe harbor don’t go far enough, and one European Parliament member accused the EC of a whitewash.