A law outlining baseline online privacy rights “would be helpful to enforcement” in the online privacy realm, but not necessary, said FTC Commissioner Julie Brill, at the Silicon Flatirons conference on technology and privacy in Boulder, Colo. Brill outlined the commission’s online privacy priorities, including a report on privacy policies and a do not track (DNT) option, during a webcast Friday.

The FCC in recent months reduced by at least two-thirds pending indecency complaints. That was via career staffers’ continuing effort to cut a backlog of objections from TV viewers and radio listeners by dismissing older cases as commissioners made no policy decisions, agency and industry officials said. They said cases with an expired five-year statute of limitations and those made for late-night and very early-morning shows not subject to indecency rules were among those dismissed by Enforcement Bureau staff. They also appear to be dismissing some complaints that might have been held beyond the statute of limitations by voluntary agreements with licensees, yet not actionable because the brief instances of cursing or nudity aired before the commission said in 2004 that such fleeting indecency could result in fines, industry officials said.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller won’t run for reelection after his term expires in 2014. The announcement came during his speech Friday in the Democrat’s home state of West Virginia. The departure of the five-term, 75-year-old senator will leave a significant leadership void on the Commerce Committee following the recent death of its most senior majority member, Hawaii’s Dan Inouye, and the likely departure of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who has been nominated as secretary of state. Though it’s too early to tell who will succeed Rockefeller as chairman of the committee, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., appears to be the most likely candidate if Democrats keep the Senate after the 2014 elections, media and telecom lobbyists said.

LAS VEGAS -- The outlook appears uncertain when or if the FAA will drop requirements that all personal electronic devices (PEDs) be powered off during takeoff and landing on commercial flights, speakers said Thursday at CES. CEA, CTIA and other industry groups called for a change in U.S. policy last year in filings at the FAA (CD Nov 2 p9). The FAA sought comment in docket 2012-0752, reacting to the desire of many travelers to use their iPads, computers and Kindle Fires below 10,000 feet.

Thousands of census blocks are incorrectly identified as “unserved” by the National Broadband Map (NBM), said cable companies and wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) in comments in FCC docket 10-90 (http://xrl.us/bn99cn). But USTelecom, the Independent Telecommunications and Telephone Alliance (ITTA) and individual ILECs said the map incorrectly overstates the areas listed as served. The map is used to determine where Connect America Fund Phase I money can be distributed. Price-cap carriers get access to the money to help fund broadband buildout in areas the map lists as unserved.

App developers should attempt to minimize the surprises users face when it comes to the data collection and retention practices those apps employ, California Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a new report on mobile privacy (http://xrl.us/bn99ia). “This approach means supplementing the general privacy policy with enhanced measures to alert users and give them control over data practices that are not related to an app’s basic functionality or that involve sensitive information,” she said.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau report on June’s derecho wind storm, which knocked out phone service for 3.6 million people in the mid-Atlantic and beyond -- many unable to reach 911 for several hours -- made demands of telcos among its recommendations. The Public Safety Bureau released the 56-page document Thursday after starting an investigation in July (CD July 20 p5). Four 911 centers in northern Virginia lost 911 access completely, prompting a close look at Verizon’s role and backup power generator failures there. FCC recommendations include provisions on backup power and audits and preface a rulemaking notice intended to strengthen emergency communications.

The FTC will “engage in a lot of educational activities and outreach” to help child-directed sites adjust to the new Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rule, which it released late last year (CD Dec 20 p10), said Rick Quaresima, assistant director of the FTC’s division of advertising practices, during a Thursday panel hosted by the Family Online Safety Institute. While the rule changes who must be COPPA-compliant and expands the definition of personal information, it allows for flexibility by encouraging websites that are directed to children but have users over the age of 13 to age-screen users, he said.

LAS VEGAS -- Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said this week she’s still considering whether the FCC should impose an interoperability mandate for the lower 700 MHz band, a top priority of small carriers led by the Competitive Carriers Association. In March, the commission released a notice of proposed rulemaking examining (http://xrl.us/bn98rf) issues related to a mandate. Chairman Julius Genachowski and other officials said then that the FCC should put off imposing any requirement until industry groups have a chance to work out a voluntary agreement.

LAS VEGAS -- Internet governance and recent actions by the ITU to play a bigger role in overseeing the Internet have to be watched closely in the aftermath of the World Conference on International Telecommunications, said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., at CES. But Goodlatte and others said the U.S. has too much at stake to abandon the ITU entirely.