FCC Chairman nominee Tom Wheeler will play a critical role in whether the agency should impose some kind of limits on how much 600 MHz spectrum any carrier can buy in the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, said numerous industry executives and former commission officials.

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction against a recently passed New Jersey law, which would hold online platforms and ISPs liable for content their users post, according to a release (http://bit.ly/16bebaC) from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which argued against the law in court on behalf of the Internet Archive. District Judge Dennis Cavanaugh in Newark found that a law aimed at curbing child sex trafficking -- including via the Internet -- creates liability for online platforms and ISPs, contradicting protections established by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman told us. The court hasn’t yet issued a written report.

President Barack Obama laid out several priorities to reform the mechanisms and oversight of controversial U.S. surveillance activities Friday. During a press conference, he touched on revelations that he said have “depleted public trust” while emphasizing the importance of telephone monitoring provisions for public safety. He announced greater moves toward transparency to come among intelligence officials as well as reforms for the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

By a 2-1 vote, the FCC adopted an interim prison phone rate cap of 21 cents a minute for debit and pre-paid calls, and 25 cents a minute for collect calls -- reducing the cost of a 15-minute call from as much as $17 to less than $4. “A change has finally come,” said acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. Rates weren’t made as low as the petitioner sought, and the order had aroused controversy within the agency before it was adopted, with Commissioner Ajit Pai dissenting, as expected (CD Aug 9 p1).

Petitions asking the FCC to reject a proposed $1.5 billion deal between Gannett and Belo because it depends on shared service agreements (SSAs) are an effort to “hijack” the transaction to “advance broader policy goals,” said Gannett in an opposition comment. It was filed alongside similar ones from Belo and affiliated companies Sander Operating Co. and Tucker Operating Co. in docket 13-189 Friday. Under the terms of the Belo’s purchase by Gannett, some of the stations involved in the transaction will be transferred to Sander and Tucker but still share services with Gannett under SSAs (CD July 26 p1). The American Cable Association, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV asked the commission to deny the deal to keep retransmission consent fees down, while a host of public interest groups filed a petition arguing that the FCC should stop companies from using SSAs to get around cross-ownership rules. The petitions are a “stale and overblown rehash of policy positions” from the 2010 Quadrennial Review and the retrans proceeding, said Belo’s filing.

Two of the FCC’s three members are concerned about the retransmission consent blackout of CBS programming on Time Warner Cable systems, they said after Friday’s monthly meeting where a satellite streamlining item was adopted. The commission is “actively monitoring the status of this particular dispute” and is in touch with both parties, said Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn at a news conference. “But this is day seven and, quite frankly, I'm deeply disappointed that the parties seem to be unable to reach a retransmission agreement.”

The FCC approved by a 3-0 vote Friday an order designed to promote greater use of the 60 GHz band for wireless backhaul. The order follows an NPRM released by the agency in 2007 (CD July 26 p5), after industry sought a rule change in 2004. Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp said the order shows the commission’s “proactive” pursuit of “spectrum frontiers,” including high-frequency spectrum, and that no technology was held up as a result of the length of time it took the agency to work through an order.

Gary Epstein, head of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force, Friday laid out in more detail than before the commission’s next steps on an incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. Commissioner Ajit Pai warned that if the FCC doesn’t get repacking rules right, the auction could be a bust.

The U.S. International Trade Commission issued an injunction after our deadline Friday on Samsung mobile devices that violated two Apple patents. The full details of the ban, which will take place within 60 days of Friday’s ruling, were not yet available. The ITC vote followed a hearing earlier Friday at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. There, Apple told a three-judge panel that upholding a lower court’s decision not to ban 26 Samsung mobile devices a San Jose federal jury found last year violated six Apple patents would be a “fundamental change” to U.S. patent law. Apple also faced a hearing at the U.S. District Court, Manhattan, in connection with the ruling last month that Apple violated antitrust laws by conspiring with publishers to “eliminate retail competition and raise the prices for e-books."

Trade associations and consumer groups continued to argue over proposed accessibility rules for user interfaces and program guides, in filings in docket 12-108 Wednesday, the last day for reply comments to be filed in the rulemaking to implement section 204 and 205 of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA).