New foreign markets have been deemed detrimental to U.S. intellectual property, the U.S. Trade Representative said in its annual Notorious Markets List (http://xrl.us/bn6izu). The list “identifies selected markets, including ones on the Internet, that are reportedly engaged in substantial piracy and counterfeiting” and “have been the subject of enforcement actions or that may merit further investigation for possible [intellectual property rights] infringements,” the USTR said in the report.

The FCC should rely on a “cooperative, standards-based approach” in developing rules for the deployment of a next-generation 911 network, Verizon and Verizon Wireless said in comments filed at the FCC. The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) said rollout of a successful NG911 network will require “action at every level of government.” In November, the FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comments on a legal framework for NG911 (http://fcc.us/W6u2m7).

The EU, joining many other delegations in refusing to sign the new International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), remains “100 percent committed to an open Internet,” the European Commission said Friday. The EU worked hard to make constructive updates and revisions to the treaty to bring it up to date while keeping it within appropriate boundaries, it said. There was agreement in several important areas such as price transparency for roaming, global emergency numbers and the updating of charging and accounting arrangements for international telecom traffic, it said. But the proposal to extend the ITRs to cover Internet issues “ruptured the possible fragile compromise,” it said. The final text risked jeopardizing the Internet’s future as well as economic growth, it said. European ISPs slammed some nations for using the conference to try to advance authoritarian controls.

Handing a major legal victory to cable, satellite and other pay-TV providers, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday that broadcasters can’t charge monthly carriage fees for their programming. The 5-4 decision overruled a March 2010 decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to impose some kind of “value for signal” regime on pay-TV providers after four years of battles between the two industries over the proposed carriage fees. Four of Canada’s leading pay-TV providers -- Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications, Cogeco and Telus -- appealed the CRTC’s decision in the federal courts, eventually leading to the high court ruling. Rogers immediately hailed the decision, while Canada’s largest private TV broadcaster, BCE, said it might shut down some of its TV stations.

Addressing Internet Protocol interconnection must be a priority, and the FCC should monitor the market and stand ready to act in the case of market failure, commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday at the Practicising Law Institute telecom policy conference. Clyburn applauded the creation of the Technology Transitions Task Force (CD Dec 11 p5), and proposed that it recommend addressing the IP interconnection issues raised in last year’s USF/intercarrier compensation order, and “fully evaluate” the framework to ensure voice traffic continues to be exchanged between providers. Rosenworcel said the commission “must monitor IP-to-IP interconnection and stand ready to act to ensure that network providers negotiate in good faith."

The U.S. will not sign on to the revised International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) adopted at Thursday’s session of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), said U.S. delegation head Terry Kramer Thursday. Delegations from Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark and the United Kingdom also immediately said their nations would not sign the treaty-level document. Delegations from Costa Rica, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Qatar, Sweden and Poland also expressed concerns about the revised ITRs, but wanted to consult with their national governments before deciding whether to sign. Egypt’s delegation also said it was concerned about the revised ITRs, but its position on signing the document was not immediately clear from its statement following the document’s adoption. Nations that already support the amended ITRs are expected to sign the treaty Friday in Dubai. The amended treaty will take effect Jan. 1, 2015.

Seattle is partnering with Gigabit Squared and the University of Washington to launch a fiber network throughout 12 neighborhoods. The network will bring fiber to the home as well as to businesses, leveraging the city’s “excess fiber capacity,” and include wireless to expand the reach to other parts of the city, Mayor Mike McGinn said Thursday. Seattle shut down its free municipal wireless network in May (CD May 8 p12) and its fiber network in July.

Lawmakers and data brokers should be able to agree on the need to protect children’s online privacy, said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, at a Thursday caucus briefing on data broker practices. If data brokers and lawmakers can agree on that, he said, they can use that agreement as a starting point for a broader conversation on data brokers during the next Congress. Lawmakers respect the role of advertising in a world with free online content, said caucus co-chair Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas: “We're not anti-ad. … We're not even anti-targeted advertising.” He and Markey simply favor users having access to what information is collected on them, Barton said.

The broadcasting industry remains relevant as the public’s viewing habits change, NAB President Gordon Smith said on C-SPAN’s The Communicators in an interview scheduled to air this weekend. In spite of the challenges facing the industry, like spectrum availability, the changing mobile landscape and the broadcasting regulatory burden, broadcasting has a bright future, he said. TV remains highly relevant to the future, “because when you look at the top hundred programs that are watched, 90 of them are broadcast content,” Smith said. “We remain highly relevant because, what we do, it is local,” and it’s free, he said.

FCC rules implementing the Commercial Ad Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act took effect Wednesday as the commission continued fielding last-minute requests for waivers from the rule. The law was designed to ban TV ads whose volume is much louder than the programming they're airing with, which during a press conference Thursday Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., called a “small issue compared to the big challenges facing our nation,” but an “unnecessary annoyance in the daily lives of many Americans.” Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Whitehouse sponsored the initial legislation.