House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said she would prefer a “clean” reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA), which is set to expire Dec. 31, 2014. “We don’t want the effort to become a Christmas tree with many things dangling off of it,” she said in an interview for C-SPAN’s The Communicators scheduled to be televised this weekend. “If there are some issues that are proven to be legitimate to be married to this bill, we should have hearings about that.” She echoed House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., who previously said he too would prefer a clean reauthorization of the law, during another C-SPAN interview (CD May 24 p3).

Executives representing wireless carriers said during a House Intellectual Property Subcommittee hearing Thursday they support narrow legislation to permit consumers to unlock their cellphones. CTIA General Counsel Michael Altschul and Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association, asked lawmakers to quickly pass the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act (HR-1123).

European Commission-proposed legislation to boost European network and information security won general backing from telecom ministers Thursday, but they split over whether the approach should take the form of regulation, self-regulation or a mix. All EU members accept the importance of network and information security and that cyberattacks seriously affect national economies, the EU Irish Presidency said at the Telecommunications, Transport and Energy Council meeting in Brussels. There’s also widespread support for finding a global solution that stresses high standards to create a level playing field for European operators, it said. Whatever governments decide, they must move fast, said Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

Over-the-air broadcasters “want a successful, voluntary” incentive auction at the FCC, “provided that it is indeed voluntary,” David Donovan, president of the New York State Broadcasters Association, told an FCBA New York chapter meeting Wednesday. Most of Donovan’s members “intend to stay in broadcasting after the incentive auction,” but think “they should be able to be held harmless” as a result of not participating in the auction, and that means not seeing their coverage areas reduced, among other things, Donovan said: “This is the guidepost that broadcasters are looking at. That’s the North Star for us."

"This important declaratory ruling will help ensure that private consumer information -- such as the time, duration, and location of calls from a mobile device -- will be protected,” Clyburn said. “Millions of wireless consumers must have confidence that personal information about calls will remain secure even if that information is stored on a mobile device. This ruling makes clear that wireless carriers who direct or cause information to be stored in this way have a responsibility to provide safeguards."

One year after World IPv6 Launch Day, twice as many end-users are capable of using the technology and a growing number of service providers are implementing the technology. But several IPv6 engineers and consultants warned in recent interviews that very small numbers, even doubled, don’t represent a meaningful improvement.

The “creepiness” that some associate with online behavioral ads doesn’t necessarily mean a company is engaging in an unfair practice as defined by the authority granted to the FTC in Section 5 of the FTC Act, said Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen. “I don’t think creepiness falls under the unfairness standard,” she said Wednesday. During a Wednesday conference hosted by the Digital Advertising Alliance, Ohlhausen praised industry-led self-regulatory efforts in the online privacy space, including the upcoming DAA mobile guidelines, which the alliance discussed.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., argued against giving liability protection to U.S. companies that agree to adopt the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s forthcoming cybersecurity framework. His objections were voiced in a letter sent this week to Acting Commerce Secretary Cameron Kerry. “Giving companies unprecedented prospective liability protections based on cybersecurity standards that they themselves developed would increase the likelihood that the American taxpayers will one day find themselves on the hook for corporate bailouts of unknown size or scope following a cyber disaster,” the letter said.

Charter Communications fired back at requests by TiVo and CEA that the FCC Media Bureau reconsider a waiver of CableCARD rules granted to the cable operator in April (CD April 22 p3). In separate ex parte letters filed Tuesday (http://bit.ly/14wR1Wj and http://bit.ly/10Qxbb4), Charter said TiVo and CEA arguments that the waiver doesn’t require it to support CableCARDs are “premised on a mistaken understanding” of the commission’s rules and the impact of the January EchoStar decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (http://bit.ly/10nMM3E).