Good morning tech

Good morning!

The broadband reclassification countdown has begun this week as interest groups sound their final notes of alarm or support over a controversial Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vote coming up on Thursday. Ad blitzes from both sides have lined the telecom news pages even as official FCC lobbying has been cut off in advance of the meeting.

At stake is whether the agency should boost its authority over broadband service providers. This proposal would give the agency a more sound legal basis to expand broadband access and make net neutrality rules prohibiting Comcast, AT&T and others from toying with Internet content and traffic. Here's what's swirling around the Internet on this controversial debate.

In favor of reclassifying…

OP-ED: An Internet for Everybody. Susan Crawford, former tech adviser to President Obama, in the NYT.

THINK TANK: Free Press Tells Truth About FCC's 'Third Way.' Free Press.

PRIVATE SECTOR: Google filing urges FCC to consider reclassification. PostTech.

PRIVATE SECTOR: Small broadband providers support FCC proposal.

FCC: An explanation from FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

Against reclassifying…

OP-ED: Julius Caesar of the Internet. WSJ edit board.

THINK TANK: Reclassification of Broadband Internet Access: No Slam Dunk. Progress and Freedom Foundation.

PRIVATE SECTOR: AT&T top lobbyist Jim Cicconi pans FCC broadband announcement. AT&T blog.

PRIVATE SECTOR: Harold Ford says Wall Street is wary of FCC Plan. Hillicon Valley.

FCC: GOP Commissioner sees Title II as backdoor for net neutrality. Hillicon Valley.

Catch-up stats:
- Almost every Republican House member opposes the plan.
- 77 Democratic members oppose the plan.
- Consumer-minded interest groups such as Public Knowledge and Free Press favor the plan. So do Internet companies (Google, Skype, eBay) and some small providers.
- With three Democratic commissioners out of five serving at the agency, the vote's result is a foregone conclusion, but broadband service providers will still sound off this week in opposition to the plan.

WHO, WHERE

FRANCES TOWNSEND, PHILIP REITINGER and SARA SANTARELLI are on the Hill Tuesday for a hearing on cybersecurity legislation.

ROBERT HOLLEYMAN, JOHN GANTZ, JOHN NEUFFER and MARK BOHANNON will testify Tuesday the U.S. International Trade Commission at a hearing on intellectual infringement in China.

SHASHI BELLAMKONDA is heading to New York City for the Corporate Social Media Summit on Tuesday, which is also expected to draw Intel's KELLY FELLER and Fleishman-Hillard's DON BARTHOLOMEW.

FRANK GRUBER, MARK DRAPEAU and ALEX HOWARD went to NICK O'NEILL's opening party for Digital Capital Week on Monday night by Skye Lounge.

JULIUS GENACHOWSKI and LAWRENCE STRICKLING met on Friday to discuss spectrum policy.

CARL MALAMUD got a close-up in an American Prospect piece out this week by NANCY SCOLA. She calls him "Washington's I.T. guy" and notes that REP. EDWARD MARKEY wrote him a glowing review to PRESIDENT BARCK OBAMA for a post.

JIA LYNN YANG fills in as a guest blogger at PostTech this week for CECILIA KANG.

CAN'T-MISS NEWS

Microsoft Puts Gaming Plans in Motion: At the E3 Expo, the video game trade show in Los Angeles, Microsoft unveiled new details about its Kinect motion technology, which "picks up on movement and speech, so users can interact with the Xbox 360 through gestures and verbal commands, without the need for a physical controller," the WSJ reports, adding some analysis: "This year's E3 represents an important test of whether the industry can generate a level of excitement it desperately needs. Sales have been hurt by the economy and by competition from nontraditional forms of entertainment and games on smartphones and on social-network sites like Facebook."

Sprint May Cap Data Roaming on Laptops: Sprint Nextel said laptop customers using an excessive amount of mobile data while roaming could "have their accounts temporarily suspended," the WSJ reports.

FCC's Future of Media Proceeding Draws Warnings of Dangers in Search: John Eggerton peered into comments from Arts&Labs in the future of media inquiry, an FCC proceeding trying to preserve diversity in news. He found what looked a lot like net neutrality comments. Arts&Labs, the alliance of Microsoft, NBC Universal, Viacom, Verizon, AT&T and others warned that search engines could become the Internet's gatekeeper. “[A] search engine’s results, whether the result of an algorithm, human judgment or deliberate bias, can compromise users effective freedom to access the websites and information they require. Intentionally or not, search engines have enormous ability to act as gatekeepers who effectively select the information that users access.”

Kerry, Snowe Push FCC on Wireless Broadband Goals: Members of the Senate Commerce Committee urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to come through on a proposal for the nation's broadband future by freeing up unused television airwaves for wireless devices, a process that has dragged on for six years. In a letter Monday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Senate Commerce communications subpanel, and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), a member of the commerce panel, called for the agency to free up unused spectrum, known as "white spaces," because it could help narrow the digital divide.
 
SAID

“Dear citizen, you have been tricked by the foreign media and you are working on their behalf. If you do this again, you will be dealt with according to Islamic law."

-A message that Tehran residents received on their cell phones, according to the NYT. (via epolitics.com)

NUMBER PUNCH

6,700 ... The number of Starbucks to begin offering free Wi-Fi on July 1.

SCHEDULED

…Digital Capital Week (#dcweek) continues. Events all day long.

…9:35 a.m. U.S. International Trade Commission hearing on intellectual property breaches in China. Main Hearing Room (Room 101), 500 E Street, S.W., Washington, D.C.

…3 p.m. Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on cybersecurity legislation. 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

FOR THE WATERCOOLER

iPHONE ANGST: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was spotted complaining about his iPhone on his Facebook wall. "This week I got an iPhone," he writes. "This weekend I got four chargers so I can keep it charged everywhere I go and a land line so I can actually make phone calls." (via Mashable)