The FCC has begun implementing recommendations from a July GAO report called FCC Should Review the Effects of Broadcaster Agreements on its Media Policy Goals (http://1.usa.gov/1xq2Eyl), Chairman Tom Wheeler told lawmakers in a Sept. 26 letter released Wednesday. He referred to an April Further NPRM that would kick off the 2014 quadrennial review of media ownership rules. “While the record for the 2014 Quadrennial Review is being developed, the FCC will continue to consider broadcaster agreements, in appropriate cases, in deciding whether approval of particular proposed transactions will serve the public interest,” Wheeler said (http://bit.ly/1t3eiRG).

Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., praised the FCC for extending the comment period (CD Oct 6 p7) on Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable. “By extending the comment period, the FCC clearly realizes that there are still voices that have legitimate concerns with the merger who still need to be heard,” Cardenas said in a statement Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1rhgs8X). “Because this new entity will have such broad control over media production, distribution, cable and broadband, there is a natural chilling effect for many of those voices.” Comcast has shown “a disregard for those who air legitimate concerns and far too often resorts to accusations of extortion and name calling rather than addressing the concerns raised,” Cardenas said. “I personally have concerns with how smaller, independently-owned companies will be affected by the merger, particularly minority-owned networks already struggling in the current media environment.” Comcast has defended the proposed deal as positive for consumers and pushed back against the notion that the acquisition would hurt the health of the overall market. It made this case in a letter to Cardenas and other lawmakers in August (CD Aug 5 p2).

The American Cable Association is expected to be among participants at Thursday’s House Commerce Committee staff briefing on video marketplace issues, an industry official told us. The private event is part of the House Republican effort to overhaul the Communications Act and is open to Democratic and Republican staffers from the Communications Subcommittee. The committee has held two other such briefings -- one on wireline issues and another on wireless (CD Oct 7 p6). Industry officials had previously told us the speakers expected at the Thursday briefing are DirecTV, Dish, NAB and NCTA.

Failing to address the overreach of U.S. government surveillance will create long-lasting damage for the digital economy, said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and tech executives from Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Facebook and Microsoft during a Wednesday discussion at Palo Alto High School, where Wyden went to high school in Palo Alto, California. “The cost,” said Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, “is huge in terms of knowledge, discovery, science, growth, jobs.” Countries around the world will start implementing data localization requirements, said Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith. In the last few months alone, 20 governments have either proposed or discussed such laws, said Dropbox General Counsel Ramsey Homsany. Cloud storage services like Dropbox rely on the ability to store data anywhere, the industry officials said. Requirements to keep individuals’ data stored locally would kill cloud-based storage, they said. In turn, the Internet slows down, becomes less personalized and costs are driven up as companies are required to put data centers in each country, said Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch. Data localization also is a threat to civil liberties, he said. Insisting on local data storage could “result in quite possibly more access by state sponsored surveillance,” he said. Governments have been able to sell data localization as a consumer protection measure, Schmidt said, when in fact localization erodes “the architecture that all these companies and all the startups really need to have.” Wyden touted his industry-supported Digital Trade Act (S-1788), which would prevent cross-border data flow restrictions and prohibit localization requirements, as a first step toward ensuring the continued health of the digital economy. But it’s no fix for the “reckless broad surveillance,” which “hampers our ability” to convince countries to accept the free flow of data, Wyden said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler assured lawmakers that he’s taking security into account in the agency’s selection of the local number portability administrator. “Security is at the forefront of the Commission’s mission in overseeing our nation’s communications infrastructure,” and the administrator “is of vital importance to the national security and the country’s communications networks, and we recognize the need to preserve the effective, reliable, and secure operation of the LNP system and protect it from rapidly evolving future cyber threats,” Wheeler said in a Sept. 30 letter released Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1vWLXJu). “I can assure you that, throughout this [selection] process and thereafter, we will do whatever is necessary to ensure the LNP system meets highly rigorous standards for security and reliability for our Nation.”

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., formally announced Wednesday that committee staffers are engaging in bipartisan briefings from industry stakeholders this month, as expected (CD Oct 2 p6) and initiated last week (CD Oct 7 p6). The briefings are part of Walden’s initiative to overhaul the Communications Act. “Although Congress may not be in session this month, our work continues full speed ahead,” Walden said in a blog post (http://1.usa.gov/1vWwcm5), referring to “recently commenced” briefings he termed listening sessions. The first session was last Thursday and at least two were scheduled for this week. “These meetings provide our bipartisan staffs an opportunity to dive deeper on specific topics and better understand the issues facing the modern communications marketplace,” Walden said. “We are interested in pursuing pro-innovation policies that reflect our evolving economy. It is important to have a firm grip on how our laws impact consumers, job creators, and the market as a whole, and hear directly what ideas are worth pursuing as well as identifying potential landmines to avoid.” The sessions are intended to “round out the information” that the committee has acquired from white paper responses and hearings, he said.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., plans to release “a Cures legislative discussion draft in early January 2015,” looking to “swiftly move the legislation early in the next Congress,” he said in an opening statement at a roundtable in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1t1Bakz). He was referring to the committee’s 21st Century Cures initiative, which Upton has framed as a natural companion initiative to the overhaul of the Communications Act he also backs. Telehealth is one dimension that lawmakers involved in the 21st Century Cures initiative have examined, and groups such as the Telecommunications Industry Association have weighed in on that front as the committee considers any legislation.

Civil liberties advocates told Congress to pass the latest Senate version of the USA Freedom Act (S-2685), which they have loudly backed in recent months. Several groups, including the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Libertarian Party, National Lawyers Guild and National Network for Arab American Communities, sent lawmakers a letter Monday. “The passage of the USA FREEDOM Act would be an important first step in curtailing the NSA’s abuses of fundamental constitutional rights, but it would not be enough,” the letter said (http://bit.ly/1t1yuU7). It called for further steps such as overhauling the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702, limiting any “backdoor” surveillance searches and creating a stronger adversarial process in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is gathering supporters to oppose the NFL’s blackout policies. “Tell Congress: Demand more from the NFL!” said a petition on his campaign website (http://bit.ly/1s8TveB). “The National Football League has been permitted to earn $9 billion annually through its negotiations with television broadcast networks without competition. Normally this would be considered collusion and would be prohibited under antitrust laws.” The website asks people to add their names to a list telling Congress to “pass legislation ensuring the NFL upholds its public trust and public obligation.” Blumenthal, who’s not up for re-election until 2016, promoted the petition on his campaign Facebook page Tuesday. The petition website and the Facebook page are affiliated with the Blumenthal for Connecticut political action committee rather than his official Senate site and Facebook page. Blumenthal introduced legislation last year that would remove the NFL’s antitrust exemption and he has said this fall he may still want to advance that in Congress, which he says is necessary even after a recent FCC vote to end its sports blackout rule (CD Oct 1 p2). The league had no comment Tuesday.

Net neutrality is a crucial right that requires congressional leadership, said Ro Khanna, a Democrat, Monday in a debate between candidates for the 17th congressional district seat in Silicon Valley. An attorney who was deputy assistant secretary of Commerce during President Barack Obama’s first term, Khanna is competing against Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., a senior member of Congress who backs net neutrality. The candidates emerged on top in an open primary earlier this year -- with Honda winning far more votes than Khanna -- and will go on to compete against one another in the November midterm elections. Khanna, who has backing from the technology industry, said Congress is “dysfunctional” and “slow-moving.” “The frustration people have, though, is nothing is getting done,” Khanna said of Honda’s tenure. “He has passed one bill in 14 years.” House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., has passed several bills, Khanna added. He lamented in the debate in San Jose what he called Honda’s connection to special interests and how people in Washington are “all bought and sold by lobbyists.” Khanna would seek Republican co-sponsors and meet with those who disagree with him, he said. Honda “is not bipartisan,” Khanna argued. “That is not who he is.” Honda defended his record, saying he has worked with Republicans: “I'm not burnt out. I've got a lot of gas in this tank, and I'm not even a hybrid.” Honda said he helped expand the presence of the Patent and Trademark Office in California. Both candidates criticized the Obama administration’s policies of government mass surveillance. Khanna slammed Honda for not being more outspoken on the issue and touted his own so-called Internet Bill of Rights. “First, a right to net neutrality, because we shouldn’t have people who pay special money get special access to the Internet,” Khanna said. “Every person should be free of mass surveillance.” People also have a right to know how companies use their data, he added. “Privacy of the individual is paramount,” Honda agreed, saying he believes Congress can resolve the challenge and citing his vote against the Patriot Act.