According to Public Integrity, the broadband and wireless industries contributed $81,500 to members of a key House subcommittee after the Federal Communications Commission approved new net neutrality rules in December of last year. Since 2009, large U.S. broadband and wireless companies have donated nearly $1.3 million to members of the subcommittee.

Almost two months later the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s communications and technology subcommittee passed a "resolution of disapproval" of the FCC’s pro-consumer rules. In theory, net neutrality rules block telecommunications companies from charging a higher fee to move certain data faster on the Internet or discriminating against high-bandwidth sites.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and The Guild's Felicia Day kicked off a Monday SXSW session schedule by getting straight to the point about internet freedom. Like a wet blanket on a camp fire, Franken warned attendees that the days of unfettered internet access may soon be over.

"The party may almost be over. There's nothing more motivated than a corporation that thinks it's leaving money on the table," said Franken. "An Open Internet: The Last, Best Hope for Independent Producers." Franken continued, "They're coming after our freedom and openness on the Internet. Net neutrality is the First Amendment issue of our time."

Four United States Senators are not happy with an application that they say helps drunk drivers avoid checkpoints and they are demanding that a number of app stores yank it immediately. Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Tom Udall (D-NM) have asked Apple iPhone head Scott Forstall, Google's CEO Eric Schmidt and Research in Motion's (RIM) co-CEOs, James Balsillie and Michael Lazaridis to pull an undisclosed number of apps.

"Giving drunk drivers a free tool to evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk, is a matter of public concern," the senators said in a letter to the executives of the three companies. "We hope that you will give our request to remove these applications from your store immediate consideration."

Silicon Valley Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA.) says that seizing web sites and web domains tramples on due process. Speaking at length with Ars Technica, Lofgren takes aim at the administration's efforts to take down web sites that allegedly engage in illegal activity like file-sharing, copyright infringement and counterfeit goods.

Lofgren starts by saying that ICE doesn't have the authority to do what they are doing, that they are trampling on due process because the seizures are almost instant, and that - in some cases - they have violated the first amendment rights of some domain owners. Here is more on that from Lofgren:

House lawmakers will examine the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules again next week, but as the Washington Post points out, the Republican-led effort to overturn the rules or pull funding from the agency will be an uphill battle. Experts say that the chances of Congress killing Internet access rules that prohibit blocking and slowing of Web traffic are pretty slim.

On March 9, the House subcommittee for communications and technology will examine the FCC's net neutrality rules a second time. The focus of this hearing will be to overturn the FCC's rules.

When taxpayers hear the term "pork barrel spending" they think of ridiculous projects getting an earmark from appropriations secured by their elected representative in the congress. Yes, if you read only the briefest descriptions of these earmarks you might think it's all a big waste of your tax dollars. After all, do we really need to be spending money on researching yoga and condoms when every state in the country is running deficits and the federal government's level debt is out of control?

If we go by the brief summary descriptions of many of these projects then the answer would probably be "yes." The problem is that many of these "silly-sounding" projects are actually important studies that lead to medical breakthroughs. This in turns leads to advanced medical techniques and technologies, or just a better understanding of how certain diseases and medical conditions can affect human beings.  

According to a C|Net report, the Obama administration has drafted a new set of proposals to deal with intellectual property infringement online that it plans to send to the U.S. Congress very soon. The administration is also applauding  the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which it says will "aid right-holders and the U.S. government to combat infringement" once it enters into effect.

As the C|Net report notes, the 92-page report penned by intellectual property enforcement coordinator Victoria Espinel reads as if it was ghost-written by lobbyists groups. There is some interesting data in there like the fact that the number of FBI and Homeland Security infringement investigations jumped 40 percent from 2009 to 2010, praise for ACTA, and details on various law enforcement operations.

The Entertainment Consumer Association issued a call to action today asking members to tell congress that we do not need additional "warning labels" on video games.

Earlier this week Rep. Joe Baca (D CA-43), along with Rep. Frank Wolf introduced a bill that would put warning labels on video games similar to the kinds of warning labels found on cigarettes. Here's the entirety of the alert (which can be found on the ECA web site):

While conservatives complain that the FCC and the Obama administration have gone too far with net neutrality (with some, like Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), going so far as to sponsor a bill to strip the FCC of any authority to regulate Internet access), Democrats have veered off into another direction. Democrats like Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) think that the FCC has not gone far enough.

This week the Senators introduced a billed called the "Internet Freedom, Broadband Promotion, and Consumer Protection Act of 2011." The bill would extend net neutrality rules to wireless networks. In light of consumer complaints and Verizon and MetroPCS already filing lawsuits, politicians believe that more is needed to combat practices that negatively impact consumers' rights.

Congressman Joe Baca (D-Rialto, CA.) introduced a bill that mandates that "all video games with an Electronics Software Ratings Board rating of Teen or higher" must be sold with a health warning label. The bill is called "The Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2011" and would create a new rule within the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The label would read:

"WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior."

Jared Loughner is obviously mentally ill, but the media will not let that fact get in the way of a juicy story. In the hours after the tragedy in Tucson, Arizona when he gunned down twenty people at a Safeway supermarket on Saturday, seriously injuring Arizona congressional representative Gabrielle Giffords, and killing several people including a sitting federal judge and a nine-year-old girl, the media jumped to conclusions about Loughner's motivations and inspirations.

Incoming White House Chief of Staff William Daley's history in the telecom industry has some supporters of the FCC’s net neutrality rules concerned, according to a report in The Hill. Dailey served as president of SBC Communications before it acquired AT&T and took the “smaller” company's name. Saying that AT&T was a smaller company tells you just how big SBC really was.

One of those supporters is Free Press:

"With Daley at his side, how long will it be before Obama caves?" Tim Karr, Free Press campaign director, wrote in the Huffington Post on Saturday.

Opponents of net neutrality, including Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), think that Dailey’s influence in the White House on this particular issue is a good thing:

The new Republican controlled House or Representatives wasted no time this week getting to its agenda which included amending the clean air act, cuts in discretionary spending, plans for hearing on the powers of the president's "czars," and a bill that would limit the power of the FCC to enforce net neutrality.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced H.R. 96, a bill "to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from further regulating the Internet."

Blackburn's new bill has 59 co-sponsors, and should have no problem passing in the House. In the Senate it has less of a chance of surviving.

Republicans in the House and Senate have vowed to find ways to curtail the powers of the FCC and other agencies. The FCC is one of many targets that lawmakers will attempt to take to task in 2011.

Source: Ars Technica

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) admits that overturning or repealing the new net neutrality rules put in place earlier this month by the Federal Communications Commission will be difficult because the Democrats still control the Senate and the White House.

Hutchinson has been one of the most vocal opponents of the new regulations on broadband and wireless service providers. Though she has pledged to put forth a resolution to "disapprove the legislation" she admits that she faces an uphill battle in both houses and an inevitable veto from the president should it make it that far.

"As long as the Democrats are in control of the Senate and the president believes this is the way to govern, we will have a hard time shutting it down," Hutchison told host David Asman during a Fox Business Channel interview. "But I hope enough Democrats will come alongside us in the Senate and Republicans in the House and say this is wrong."

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) said today that the Federal Communications Commission should be renamed the "Fabricating a Crisis Commission," following its vote to approve new rules to regulate certain aspects of the internet. Later on in a blistering attack of the FCC's actions this week, DeMint said he will push for legislation that limits the power of the FCC to act on its own in enforcing rules.

"Proceeding on its own liberal whims rather than facts, this FCC has chosen to grant itself broad authority to limit how businesses can bring the internet to consumers in faster and more innovative ways," DeMint said in a lengthy statement.

Senator Al Franken (D-MN) does not like the new net neutrality proposal and has said publically that it could do "more harm than doing nothing at all." Franken says this for a number of reasons: it exempts wireless broadband from any nondiscrimination provisions, it gives a nod of approval to paid prioritization. In his view, the FCC would be better off waiting and doing net neutrality the right way.

Franken is not alone in his criticism; Republicans don't want any form of net neutrality, while Democrats -- including advocacy groups such as Free Press and the ECA - don't like it because it doesn't do enough.

"I am very worried that the draft Order does not do enough to preserve that openness," he wrote to FCC Chair Julius Genachowski. In fact, as presently written, it could do "more harm than doing nothing at all."

The highest-ranking Republican member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has filed an amendment to an appropriations bill to put a hold on funding for any new net neutrality rules passed by the FCC. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's (R-Texas) amendment was co-signed by John Ensign (R-Nevada) and six other Republican lawmakers.

The amendment to a bill for military and veterans construction projects would "prohibit the FCC from using any appropriated funds to adopt, implement or otherwise litigate any network neutrality based rules, protocols or standards."

The FCC is set to vote on net neutrality rules December 21 at its December meeting.

Source: Washington Post

On Monday, two prominent U.S. Senators released a new government report (US International Trade Commission study) showing that "widespread counterfeiting and piracy in China" has had an impact on U.S. economic interests. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Senator Charles Grassley, who requested the report, are highlighting its findings because high-level US China trade talks are taking place this week in Washington.

"China continually fails to protect and enforce American intellectual property rights and discriminates against American businesses," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said in a statement that accompanied the report.

"Small steps and empty promises won't cut it when American jobs are on the line. This week's US China trade talks are the perfect opportunity for China to make serious commitments to address these issues. It is time for action," Baucus added.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Ma.) is urging Democrats at the Federal Communications Commission to vote for Chairman Julius Genachowski's net neutrality proposal on December 21. The former presidential candidate and long-time Massachusetts Senator wrote a letter to Democratic Commissioners at the FCC saying that they should support it, despite it not being perfect.

"Some advocates for what we consider to be 'the perfect' are now urging you to fight and vote against the good. I would argue that is short sighted," Kerry wrote in a letter to FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps, both Democrats.

Kerry is the chairman of the Senate Communications subcommittee. He said he would support the proposal with some reservations if he were a commissioner.

The Voices Blog on the Washington Post offers two videos that you'll want to see if you are from California or if you are at all interested in net neutrality.

In one video Republican candidate, Carly Fiorina confirms that she is against net neutrality, saying that her "background as an executive at AT&T and Lucent Alcatel before heading Hewlett Packard show that regulation of the telecom industry can be a disaster for business." She also said the FCC should not try to re-assert its authority to regulate broadband.

Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer is for net neutrality being handled by the FCC, or through congressional legislation. She co-signed legislation to create new rules for ISPs that would stop them from blocking web sites and prioritizing traffic unfairly.

Viacom President and Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman issued a short statement in support of the Senate Bill to deal with online infringement - the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act." Viacom's support of such a bill is not surprising considering that it owns multiple media companies. Below is his full, unfiltered comments on the bill:

"The film and television industries are responsible for millions of U.S. jobs and tens of billions in wages to American workers. However, businesses hiding offshore are generating large profits from global theft of intellectual property in digital form, threatening our nation's prosperity and one of its most vital exports. The bipartisan legislation introduced today by Senators Leahy, Hatch and eight other original cosponsors provides necessary authority and flexibility for the Department of Justice to keep pace with the complexities of fighting digital theft. This bill is an important step forward to help curb rampant piracy here and abroad, and protect American jobs. We look forward to working with the Senate and House Judiciary Committees and Congressional leadership on its passage."

A group of Senators introduced legislation Monday to tackle what they say is a "growing problem of online piracy and counterfeiting." Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and senior Republican member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced a new bill called the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act." The legislation is cosponsored by Committee members Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). Senators Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) are also cosponsors of the legislation.

The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act promises to do the following (according to the press release):

- Give the Department of Justice an expedited process for cracking down on websites that are dedicated to making infringing goods and services available;

Minnesota senator and funny man Al Franken will give the opening remarks alongside FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn (who were both invited by Franken) at the Free Press-sponsored Future of the Internet forum in Minneapolis today - says Politico. Speaking to Tech Daily Dose, Franken's office said that the hearing "comes in the wake of Google's pact with Verizon to build toll lanes on the Internet," a reference to the proposal last week from the two companies as an alternative to FCC regulations.

The invite for the event reads: "Members of the community are encouraged to attend and to share their ideas, experiences and concerns with the commissioners. The meeting will focus on the FCC's responsibility to protect the open Internet for consumers and to foster universal broadband access across the country."

The event will take place at 6 p.m. in Minneapolis, and is co-hosted by Free Press, the Main Street Project and the Center for Media Justice.

Even though Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal had a few moments of shame after he was caught overstating his military service earlier in the year, he managed to stay well ahead of his Republican rival, but things are changing rapidly.

That’s because, it seems, that Linda McMahon has the momentum, according to the latest polls so much so, in fact, that a Reuters story from Sunday has the political chattering classes in the state afraid to place any bets on who might win in Nov. Connecticut’s primary is today, and while McMahon and Blumenthal will have a fairly easy time rolling over their party's challenges to incumbency (barring any surprises), their match-up this November won't be a cake-walk for either of them.

What's most interesting about this race is that both candidates have a history with videogames. For Blumenthal it has been against video games in general, and for McMahon it has been as a character in videogames based on the company she ran for a very long time.

Nevada Senator Harry Reid (D) and his campaign team have re-enabled a website featuring old images and position statements from his opponent, GOP Senatorial nominee Sharron Angle.

As reported yesterday, Angle’s team had issued a cease-and-desist to Reid’s camp over the reproduced content, taken an Angle website launched before she won the right to represent the Republican Party against the incumbent Reid. It was suggested that following her primary win, Angle toned down her rhetoric in a newly fashioned website.

As the battle for one of Nevada’s Senate seats heats up between incumbent Harry Reid (D) and challenger Sharron Angle (R), Angle’s camp issued a cease-and-desist letter to Reid’s team over images and position statements taken from an old Angle website, which were then posted to the website theRealSharronAngle.com.

TPM reported that Angle launched a new website after winning the Nevada Republican Senate primary, at least partly to tone down “her right-wing rhetoric.” The Reid campaign team had saved Angle’s old website contents however, and reproduced them on the aforementioned website (which has since been taken down and now forwards to SharronsUndergroundBunker.com).

Solicitor General Elena Kagan today begins what could be a grueling week of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee as she attempts to become a Supreme Court Justice, and, eventually perhaps, cast her lot in Schwarzenegger vs. EMA.

Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod expressed some concern over Kagan’s confirmation, citing a “hyper-partisanship” in Congress and looming midterm elections as reasons that Republican votes to confirm Kagan might be hard to come by.

Axelrod stated, “On the merits, we think that this should be an easy decision for the committee and for the Senate. We also live in an extraordinarily polarized political climate, and therefore we are preparing to make a vigorous case.”

The Judiciary Committee is made up of twelve Democrats and seven Republicans.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released its National Broadband Plan to Congress.

FCC Chair Julius Genachowski called the document an “action plan” for a “21st century roadmap to spur economic growth and investment, create jobs, educate our children, protect our citizens, and engage in our democracy.”

An Executive Summary of the Plan (PDF) stated that nearly 200 million Americans possessed a broadband Internet connection as of last year, up from 8 million in 2000. 100 million citizens are still without broadband at home however and perhaps more importantly, “nearly a decade after 9/11, our first responders still lack a nationwide public safety mobile broadband communications network.”

While not game-related, it is very entertaining, something not always associated with Senate floor proceedings.

Check out the embedded video of Senator Al Franken (D-MN) denying Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) an extra “moment” to finish his remarks in the midst of a debate on healthcare.

Add in reaction from a peeved Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and the event comes off as a real-life Saturday Night Live sketch.

More videos and commentary are available here.

U.S. Senators Bernard Sanders (I-VT) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) have penned a letter that implores the government to make public the proposals behind the ultra-secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

The letter (PDF here), dated November 23, was addressed to Ron Kirk, The U.S. Trade Representative. In the correspondence, the duo notes that they are “concerned” that President Obama’s previous stress of the importance of transparency, public participation and collaboration in government were not being applied to ACTA negotiations.

From the letter:

The ACTA involves dozens if not hundreds of substantive aspects of intellectual property law and its enforcement, including those that have nothing to do with counterfeiting… There are concerns about the impact of ACTA on privacy and civil rights of individuals, on the supply of products under the first sale doctrine, on the markets for legitimate generic medicines, and on consumers and innovation in general.

Sanders and Brown added that they were “surprised and unpersuaded” by claims that the information concerning the negotiations present a risk to the national security of the U.S. and that the public “has a right to monitor and express informed views on proposals of such magnitude.”

The Senators further stated that the secrecy of ACTA has “undermined” public confidence and attempts to tie this to a point made by Dan Glickman, CEO of the Motion Picture Association (MPAA). Unfortunately, in a letter supporting ACTA, Glickman wrote, “Outcries on the lack of transparency in the ACTA negotiations are a distraction. They distract from the substance and the ambition of ACTA which are to work with key trading partners to combat piracy and counterfeiting across the global marketplace."

Another letter supporting ACTA, sent on November 19, was signed by the likes of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), Directors Guild of America (DGA), National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), NBC Universal, News Corp., The Walt Disney Company, Time Warner, Inc., Universal Music Group, Viacom Inc. and Warner Music Group.

Update: A European Commission examination of ACTA’s Internet chapter has leaked and can be viewed online here (PDF). Michael Geist gives it a going over here. Worth noting: it appears the U.S. proposal contains a three-strikes policy, similar to one enacted in France and proposed for the UK.