Where the first decades of the Internet were marked by a hands-off approach to regulation and legal issues, lawmakers must now focus on ensuring users’ privacy as the worldwide network of networks becomes ever more fundamental to so much of society, lawmakers and privacy experts said Wednesday. At a New America Foundation panel on transatlantic perspectives on digital rights and online privacy (http://xrl.us/bnh7hj), a delegation from Germany discussed Europeans’ concerns on digital policy issues.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- State commissions need to get involved in the growing cybersecurity problem, said panelists at a midyear meeting of state utilities regulators, although they also said sometimes the best way for regulators to get involved is to regulate at a minimum.

Several super-fast Internet initiatives were introduced this year to address the need for citizens to have access to broadband and benefit from emerging applications, backers of one such project said Wednesday. Backers of the White House-convened US Ignite Partnership cited Gig.U, the University Community Next Generation Innovation Project and Google’s fiber project in Kansas City, Kan. The need for more capacity and universal access stems in part from the use of wireless networks and developing applications, said Sue Spradley, US Ignite executive director. With all that’s happening in the wireless space, “it’s clear that there’s tons of innovation happening in the U.S.,” she said on a webinar organized by BroadbandUS.TV.

Three leading House cybersecurity advocates said Wednesday in separate interviews at the Capitol they were encouraged by the Senate’s intention to bring a cybersecurity bill to the floor. Members said they hope the Senate will be able to reach a compromise on the revised Senate Cybersecurity Act (S-3414) in a way that resembles the House-passed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) (HR-3523). Sponsors of S-3414 previously said Majority Leader Harry Reid, R-Nev., plans to bring the bill to the floor for consideration before lawmakers depart Aug. 3 (CD July 25 p12).

Last week’s report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) confirms what NTIA has been saying for the past year about the importance of spectrum sharing, NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said at the opening of the International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies (ISART) meeting Wednesday in Boulder, Colo. But federal government speakers at the meeting said they continue to have concerns about sharing and whether the PCAST report (CD July 23 p1) outlines what will become a final, national policy.

Comcast said it plans to appeal an FCC order largely upholding the ruling of an administrative law judge that it violated program carriage rules in its treatment of the Tennis Channel. The commission voted 3-2 along party lines to uphold Chief FCC ALJ Richard Sippel’s December ruling that Comcast distribute the Tennis Channel, which it doesn’t own, to the same extent it distributes its own Golf Channel and Versus (now called NBC Sports Network) channels (http://xrl.us/bnh4ks). The order gave Comcast 45 days to comply with the sanctions, which include a $375,000 forfeiture, and clarified Sippel’s recommendation to require the operator to carry the plaintiff “on the same distribution tier, reaching the same number of subscribers, as it does Golf Channel and Versus."

AT&T and Verizon have their own plans for developing broadband, and they don’t include accepting money from the FCC, the telcos said. AT&T rejected $48 million and Verizon $20 million of Connect America Fund (CAF) support, citing prior company strategy regarding broadband development. The Virgin Islands Telephone Co. declined the $255,000 Vitelco was allocated, saying it was unable to meet a condition for accepting the funds.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Following the example of larger cable companies, smaller operators are beginning to embrace multi-screen video services, slightly more than three years after Comcast and Time Warner introduced the TV Everywhere concept. Speaking at the Independent Show this week, National Cable Television Cooperative officials said 85 of NCTC’s approximately 900 members have deployed a new TV Everywhere authentication system designed for small- and mid-sized cable providers, just in time for streaming video coverage of the Summer Olympic Games in London. Several cable vendors at the show unveiled new user authentication, authorization and other services aimed at helping smaller operators to beam video programming to multiple screens. But cable operators and programmers conceded that they still have some major problems to iron out.

Telcos are accepting about $115 million of the $300 million the FCC had allocated for broadband buildout to unserved areas. Companies had until Tuesday to accept the funding, which came with conditions: The locations had to be completely unserved, and not already slated for development. Of the 10 companies offered support, four were expected to accept the funding in its entirety, three accepted partial funding, and Verizon and AT&T planned to decline altogether, an FCC official said.

The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee approved a report (http://xrl.us/bnh2eh) by its Unlicensed Subcommittee recommending fundamental changes to how unlicensed devices are viewed and regulated in a shared-spectrum world. The CSMAC, which is working through a number of spectrum sharing issues, held its quarterly meeting Tuesday in Boulder, Colo. “It seems as though ... with the sharing work underway, the unfinished business grows as we try to knock off specific issues that we've addressed the best we can,” said subcommittee Chairman Janice Obuchowski of Freedom Technologies, a former NTIA administrator.