Mobile privacy stakeholders met Thursday to talk about the newest discussion draft of a voluntary code of conduct that would require apps to provide short-form notices to users about what data they collect from users and which third parties the apps share that data with (http://1.usa.gov/14HsqCG). Chris Olsen, assistant director of the FTC’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, highlighted concerns the agency has about the code. The code may not adequately address the issues of just-in-time notices, how data collection does or doesn’t comport with consumer expectations, and material retroactive changes, Olsen said at the meeting’s end. The meeting -- the twelfth facilitated by NTIA in a process that started last summer -- focused on changes to the draft, including language that addresses open text fields, and outstanding issues.

Rulings and pending cases involving rebroadcasting TV over the Internet have huge implications for the TV industry and copyright law, and could be headed for the Supreme Court, said several communications attorneys at an FCBA event Wednesday night. On Monday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision denying broadcasters a preliminary injunction against Aereo, which lets customers watch New York City-area TV broadcasts online by leasing them personal DVRs and antennas (CD April 2 p8). However, in December, a similar injunction against a competing Internet TV company called Aereokiller was upheld in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said he hopes coming changes in the agency’s leadership due to the impending departure of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Robert McDowell won’t impede progress on the development of rules for an incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. However, CTIA President Steve Largent joined other industry figures who have expressed fear that changes at the agency could be a roadblock as it moves toward what Genachowski hopes will be a 2014 auction (CD April 3 p1).

Public interest groups put differences aside and collaborated on a joint letter on the attributes that they said a new FCC chairman and new member of the FCC should have. The letter reminds President Barack Obama that as a senator and as a presidential candidate in 2008, he raised concerns about media consolidation. Last week, Public Knowledge in particular declined to sign on to a letter raising questions about Tom Wheeler, who’s considered the leading contender to be the next chairman (CD March 28 p1), without mentioning him by name. Some public interest groups officials have even signaled to the White House support for Wheeler, the former president of CTIA and NCTA (CD March 26 p1). Last week’s letter had 15 signatories while more than 40 signed the latest letter (http://bit.ly/16zqc6Q).

The U.S. Trade Representative will actively monitor issues and barriers to VoIP services, international telephone termination rates and other problems in the telecom field that must be revisited by foreign trading partners, it said Wednesday. USTR’s Section 1377 Review, issued to Congress this week, identified those areas to encourage trading partners to implement appropriate solutions, said the review (http://1.usa.gov/Yw1mDh).

The 2011 FCC USF order has spurred multiple Texas telcos to seek recovery of millions of dollars worth of lost federal support money from the state’s USF. Valley Telephone Cooperative petitioned the Texas PUC on Friday to allow it to hike rates and recover $613,903.69 from the Texas USF, citing the destructive impact of FCC reform. Valley is the latest among many companies that want state USF money for that reason. Valley and other telcos have asked to recover a total of more than $2.6 million in federal support losses from the Texas USF fund, with more companies potentially following suit despite some opposition.

One potential side effect of the pending change in leadership at the FCC is an almost inevitable slowdown in the development of rules for an incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, industry officials agree. The FCC has already been quiet in recent months on the auction, targeted for 2014, with no workshops on the agenda and comparatively little public outreach in recent months. Industry officials following the auction closely say in some cases they are already getting mixed signals from the Wireless and Media bureaus and the staff team overseeing the rules.

Cybersecurity stakeholders began a comprehensive discussion Wednesday during the first government cybersecurity workshop about how U.S. companies can reduce their cybersecurity risk. The event, hosted by the Department of Commerce, was coordinated by officials from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Department of Homeland Security and the White House. The series of workshops aims to elicit input from the private sector about what current best practices and cybersecurity guidelines companies are using to protect themselves as agencies implement the directives of President Barack Obama’s February cybersecurity order (CD Feb 14 p1), the officials said.

Congress should codify the widespread, bipartisan consensus that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) needs reform, panelists said during a Wednesday event hosted by the Constitution Project. There’s a consensus that distinctions in ECPA about how emails are protected don’t make sense, and “all of us recognize the gaps that exist under current law,” said Google Privacy Policy Counsel David Lieber. Former Department of Justice Criminal Division Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, speaking about his experience at DOJ but not for the agency, discussed the ways in which Justice expects ECPA reform to change the law.

The National Air Transportation Association (NATA), which represents aviation service businesses, said the FCC should back away from any move to prohibit the sale or use of 121.5 MHz emergency locator transmitters (ELTs), radio beacons designed to alert search and rescue personnel that an aircraft has crashed and help locate the aircraft and possible survivors. Other groups representing aviation interests also went on the attack.