It’s “vital” the FTC continue taking on major tech companies to protect consumers’ privacy, FTC Chairman Edith Ramirez said Friday at an International Association of Privacy Professionals conference. Under former Chairman Jon Leibowitz, who retired earlier this year, the FTC played an “instrumental” role in elevating the discussion over digital privacy, including more than 50 enforcement actions over the past three years, Ramirez said. The agency currently has consent decrees with Google and Facebook to improve their privacy practices. “We haven’t been shy about taking on the tech giants,” Ramirez said. “That has been just tremendous.” The FTC’s efforts have also shifted the focus on other privacy issues, including the trend of companies like Apple and Google issuing shorter and simpler privacy notices, she said.

Observers disagreed on the FCC’s legal authority to implement the sweeping reforms in its 2011 USF/intercarrier compensation order, which is now the subject of a challenge in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The commission argued in briefs Wednesday that its order was reasonable and grounded in law (CD March 7 p3). Analysts differed on the order’s chances of being upheld, but agreed that the key legal issues will be the scope of the FCC’s jurisdiction, and the true meaning of Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act. Oral argument is set for Nov. 19 in Denver.

Two of three judges asked skeptical questions of WealthTV’s lawyer, in the independent programmer’s attempt (CD March 13 p5) to get the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn an FCC denial of the indie’s program carriage complaint against four cable operators. At the oral argument Thursday in Pasadena, Calif., Judge Paul Watford asked almost all the questions of attorneys for WealthTV, the commission and the four operators. He also homed in on the FCC’s lawyer over whether there was a violation when the FCC administrative law judge, whose recommendation against the indie’s case was upheld by the full commission in 2011, didn’t consider some testimony as evidence.

Elements of Cablevision’s complaint and allegations of illegally “tying networks” against Viacom could be difficult to prove in court, a broadcast lawyer and cable operator said. Cablevision alleged that Viacom forced it into carrying 14 networks that its customers don’t watch in order to carry core networks, like MTV and Comedy Central (CD Feb 27 p11). The complaint, filed last month, was released to the public last week.

The Copyright Alert System (CAS) is designed to educate, not punish, Internet subscribers, said Jill Lesser, executive director of the Center for Copyright Information (CCI) -- the group created to facilitate CAS. Her comments came during a congressional briefing on the system Friday with other participants. CAS, which launched late last month (CD Feb 26 p10), will notify subscribers of five major ISPs when copyright infringing content is accessed via peer-to-peer networks via their accounts. The goal is to educate people on copyright law and where to legally find copyrighted material, Lesser said. “It really is a confusing and confounding topic to a lot of people."

AT&T said Friday it still unlocks handsets for most customers, provided “they've met the terms of their service agreements and we have the unlock code,” AT&T Vice President Joan Marsh said in a blog post Friday. Marsh was reacting to concerns from the FCC and White House over a ruling by the Librarian of Congress limiting handset unlocking (CD March 5 p1).

The joint app announced at CES by Time Warner Cable and Roku, which launched last week with the debut of the Roku 3 streaming player and software upgrade, is a “glimpse into the future” of cable TV, BTIG Research analyst Richard Greenfield wrote in a blog post Friday. The pact between Time Warner and Roku marks the first time TWC TV is available for streaming on a consumer device connected to a TV (CD Jan 17 p10). The authenticated app replicates Time Warner’s existing app -- available on iOS devices and TWCTV.com services via PC -- which streams live linear TV channels and soon, VOD programming.

AT&T and T-Mobile both told the FCC the record is clear that the FCC should require additional interference testing before the H block can be licensed and offered in an auction, in reply comments. The FCC approved an NPRM “setting the stage for an auction of the H Block in 2013” in an electronic vote before its December meeting (http://xrl.us/boffzj). Replies were due Wednesday, when the FCC was closed due to weather, and most comments were posted by the commission Friday. Carriers said in the initial comment round that Lower H block operations at 1915-1920 MHz could potentially interfere with PCS handsets operating at 1850-1915 MHz (CD Feb 8 p5).

Georgia legislators’ attempt to restrict municipal broadband failed Thursday night in a 94-70 House vote. But House Bill 282, introduced last month, echoing a failed Georgia bill last year and laws in other states, skyrocketed into a national debate about municipal networks this year before dying on the House floor. Vigorous back and forth occurred among legislators before the evening vote and carried over into stirrings of victory and lamentation Friday.

NAB proposed ways to help the FCC address coordination with Mexico and Canada in order to successfully repack stations near those borders as a result of the broadcast incentive auctions. A new agreement “is needed simply to permit mobile broadband operations in the 600 MHz band,” NAB said in its proposal. The five-point proposal is designed “to ultimately provide the FCC with a greater level of repacking flexibility in a reasonable timeframe,” it said.