Many copyright stakeholders said they expect a contentious public meeting Dec. 12 to discuss comments filed earlier this month on the Commerce Department’s green paper. It said it considered a “new framework for addressing online privacy issues” to balance consumer protections with the interests of rights holders on the Internet (http://1.usa.gov/h454cu). Many of the consumer copyright advocates we spoke with expressed disagreement with rightsholders, especially over statutory damages against copyright infringers. How the first-sale doctrine should be applied digitally, where to improve the notice-and-takedown provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and whether the federal government can assist in the development of a “robust online licensing environment” (http://1.usa.gov/1iQ1GWh) were among questions Commerce asked copyright stakeholders to address in the response to its August green paper (CD Aug 1 p12).

The first tests of the FCC’s new openness to increased foreign ownership of broadcasters will likely be small transactions rather than outright purchases of whole stations, said Covington Burling broadcast attorney Mace Rosenstein, speaking at an FCBA event on foreign ownership Monday night. Rosenstein represented a coalition of broadcasters that asked the commission to clarify its stance on foreign ownership applications, leading to its declaratory ruling earlier this month (CD Nov 15 p3). Rosenstein said media attention had focused on the ruling’s ramifications for large transactions, but smaller deals involving a company’s ownership rising only slightly over the 25 percent threshold would be “the best cases to make law” and begin to establish the parameters of the FCC’s new stance on foreign ownership.

AeroMobile is eager to get into the U.S. market if the FCC approves the use of cellphones in-flight, said Kevin Rogers, CEO of the mobile service provider for airlines. “The U.S. is just about the last country in the world to approve this,” he said in an interview Tuesday. The big four wireless carriers have been mum on their plans, but industry observers expect them to embrace the new revenue stream. The FCC at its Dec. 12 meeting is to consider a rulemaking notice proposing to allow cellphone use in-flight, which the agency clarified in an unusual Q-and-A notice on a pending item, wouldn’t require such use (CD Nov 26 p9).

A letter from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., suggesting that the FCC hold off on approving pending transactions involving shared services agreements (SSA) is significant, some broadcast professionals said in interviews Tuesday. Rockefeller urged the agency to cautiously approach transactions that include the use of SSAs, he said in a letter Monday to Chairman Tom Wheeler. Pending deals that may involve SSAs include Sinclair’s acquisition of Allbritton TV (CD July 30 p5) and Gannett buying in Belo Corp. (CD June 14 p7).

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said Tuesday he was considering a bill that would stop an FCC NPRM that would propose to give airlines leeway to allow in-flight use of cellphones for text, data and voice. (See separate report below in this issue.) The backlash from Congress, some in the airline industry and members of the public began last week when the FCC said it would vote on the NPRM at its Dec. 12 meeting. Chairman Tom Wheeler has since said the NPRM would allow further in-flight cellphone use but wouldn’t mandate it, leaving the decision with the airlines (CD Nov 25 p1). Former FCC officials and communications industry groups tell us they believe the agency is justified in pursuing a possible rule change given recent technological advances -- and that Wheeler and the FCC shouldn’t remove the NPRM from its agenda because of recent public criticism. They also say Wheeler won’t likely back down.

The FTC will start its look into the rapidly changing and increasingly widespread practice of native advertising with a Dec. 4 workshop, according to interviews with lawyers, consumer advocates and an agency official. “It’s part of a continuum of our understanding of what’s occurring in the digital marketplace and providing guidance where it may be needed,” said Division of Advertising Practices Staff Attorney Laura Sullivan, who helped convene the daylong workshop. Opinions differ on where and when that guidance is needed when it comes to the relatively nascent practice of native ads: Sponsored content appearing within the context of editorially independent content.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation faced off in oral argument Tuesday in Washington against the Department of Justice on FBI phone surveillance authority. EFF wants the government to release a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion from January 2010 that the FBI has invoked when explaining its authority to access U.S. citizens’ call records in certain ways. The government has pressed back against EFF’s Freedom of Information Act request from February 2011. Attorneys argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in EFF v. U.S. Department of Justice, case number 12-5363.

NTIA said in a letter to the FCC Monday it “fully supports” the Department of Defense’s sharing proposal to partially vacate the 1755-1780 MHz band, and it laid out a specific plan to change allocations in the 2025-2110 MHz band to make the plan work. NTIA’s plan reflects an agreement between DOD and NAB in which DOD agreed to work around broadcaster needs, an NTIA official said during a background briefing with reporters. DOD agreed in July to move some of its operations to the 2025 MHz band in order to free up the 1755 MHz band for commercial use, but discussions between the department and NAB broke down because CTIA wanted to reallocate 15 MHz of the 2025 MHz band to its members. Talks later resumed after CTIA said it would not push for reallocation on the 2025 MHz band (CD Oct 30 p2). The agreement is an outgrowth of those renewed negotiations, the NTIA official said.

Mignon Clyburn became the first FCC member to weigh in publicly on a draft NPRM circulated last week on allowing cellphone use on commercial fights (CD Nov 22 p6). “It’s best to let competition and the marketplace regulate passenger engagements in flight,” said Clyburn in a statement Sunday night (http://bit.ly/17O28jj). “For while it is impossible for us to impose a gag rule on the flying public, I feel certain the airlines can, and will, find a workable solution.” Her comments came after the FCC Friday issued a rare batch of frequently asked questions about draft rules.

AT&T filed tariff changes that would limit future special access contracts to no longer than 36 months. The prospect worries competitive providers and other purchasers of special access services. They say eliminating longer contracts also eliminates discounts, and is effectively a rate increase. AT&T needs FCC approval for the change to go into effect, an AT&T spokesman said. That approval will happen automatically in 15 days unless the commission suspends the tariff. Petitions to reject the tariff are due by Dec. 2, an FCC spokesman said.