The track record of wireline carriers in Phase I of the Connect America Fund (CAF) program versus that of wireless carriers in Phase I of the Mobility Fund demonstrates that wireless deserves more funding in the revised high-cost USF program, the Competitive Carriers Association said in comments filed at the commission. On Nov. 27, the FCC sought comment on Phase II of the mobility program, which will provide up to $500 million each year in continuing support. CTIA also offered suggestions, while acknowledging that comments were tough to write since the program is still taking shape.

Some at the FCC are considering whether to allow waivers of media ownership rules for some types of arrangements that are barred under draft rules involving TV stations, agency and industry officials said. They said in interviews that some Media Bureau staff members are considering a waiver process for joint sales agreements where a TV station brokers ads for another outlet in the market, when spots on the second station in the JSA exceed 15 percent of that broadcaster’s commercials. A draft order ending the 2010 quadrennial media ownership review would require the attribution of such JSAs to the station doing the brokering within two years (CD Nov 15 p1). That would mean many of the JSAs would need to be renegotiated so the arrangements don’t violate ownership rules, reducing their cost savings, said executives at companies that own brokering stations. There are more than 100 stations in JSAs (CD Nov 29 p5).

The new leaders of the House and Senate committees with cybersecurity authority are already developing a plan to bolster laws and guidelines they hope will protect networks from attack. In separate interviews, incoming House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., incoming chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said it’s crucial to form relationships now that will help them break the cybersecurity impasse of the current Congress. Meanwhile, the White House said it continues to meet with the private sector to help craft a cybersecurity executive order aimed at securing the nation’s computer and communications networks.

Law firms filed three lawsuits involving Google and Viacom, seeking class-action status Friday, alleging violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) and Wiretap Act. Except for their state-level claims, the suits are nearly identical and were filed in federal courts not known as common venues for privacy complaints. They claim that Google’s DoubleClick placed tracking cookies without parents’ consent on the browsers of children under 13 who visited Viacom’s Nick.com and Nickjr.com.

This month’s data roaming decision figured prominently in Verizon and MetroPCS’s net neutrality reply brief to the same court Friday. The carriers argued that in contrast to the FCC’s rules requiring data roaming, net neutrality rules clearly imposed “per se common carriage” obligations on broadband providers. The carriers also argued the rules violated the First and Fifth amendments. The agency looks forward to defending the open Internet order in court, a commission spokesman told us. “This strong and balanced framework is helping ensure that the Internet continues to thrive as an engine for innovation, investment, job creation, and free expression."

WiscNet continues to be a point of contention in the Wisconsin Legislature and among telcos. Some see the nonprofit association, which provides broadband to around 500 members, as unfairly competing against private industry. A report from the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau last week sparked many reactions among stakeholders and led to attacks against the association as well inspired defenders. The audit identified “inappropriate and illegal activity” in the controversial relationship between the University of Wisconsin (UW) and cooperative provider WiscNet, said the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association, repeating charges it has made throughout the last year. UW and WiscNet disagree with the interpretation and see the audit as positive. WiscNet serves many of the state’s schools, libraries, state agencies, the legislature and university system but will be legally required to disconnect from the universities next year due to last year’s political battles.

The results of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) show the West must find ways to enable developing-world participation in the current multistakeholder Internet governance model, said Philip Verveer, U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy and a member of the U.S. WCIT delegation, at an Internet Governance Forum event Friday.

Letting radio and TV stations list contest rules online, instead of requiring on-air disclosure, was backed by all comments to the FCC in RM-11684 (http://xrl.us/bn7heu). Owners of a few thousand stations and their associations and programmers agreed with a request by Entercom to revisit 1976 rules, just as with early-filed comments (CD Dec 20 p20). Although unanimous industry support had been expected (CD Jan 27 p7), it spurred optimism by the lawyer who made the request that the agency will move to change the rules.

The updated Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act rule could violate the First Amendment, the rule’s critics said. The update (CD Dec 20 p10), scheduled to go into effect July 1, allows a website that is considered directed to children but does “not target children as its primary audience” to screen users for age before any personal information is collected. Websites would then treat those users under 13 in accordance with COPPA. Free speech and privacy advocates are taking issue with the provision that provides age-screening as an option.

Congress approved a bill last week to permit online video users to share their consumption habits over social networking sites. On Thursday night, the Senate cleared the House-passed HR-6671, which modernizes the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), a 1988 bill which prohibits video service providers from sharing consumer video viewing practices on an ongoing basis with third parties. The videotape-era law has prevented video streaming companies like Netflix and Hulu from allowing their users to engage in frictionless sharing -- or sharing that requires one-time informed, written consent -- with social media sites like Facebook. A Netflix spokesman said Friday that once the president signs the bill the company will introduce new social features for its U.S. members in 2013 that give consumers “more freedom to share with friends when they want.”