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FRANKEN BLASTS COMCAST-NBCU, CALLS FOR NET NEUTRALITY

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) called net neutrality "the First Amendment issue of our time" during a speech at Netroots Nation in Las Vegas on Saturday. He touted the regulations as a barrier to media consolidation while slamming the prospective merger of NBC-Universal and Comcast.

"If we don't protect net neutrality now, how long do you think before Comcast-NBC Universal or Verizon-CBS-Viacom or AT&T-ABC-DirectTV or BP-Halliburton-Walmart-Fox-Dominos Pizza will start favoring their own content over everyone else's?" he said.

Franken devoted several minutes of his speech to the merger, arguing that he "knows better" than to believe the companies' executives.

"Comcast and NBC Universal intend to merge. Why? Because concentration of power is profitable. … But when the same company owns the pipes and the programming we could be headed for big trouble," he said.

He continued, "Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, executives at both Comcast and NBC promised that's not what they're interested in. But as the only member of the Judiciary Committee who used to be in show business, I know better."

Watch the net neutrality segment of his speech here. The remarks on net neutrality begin shortly after the four-minute mark.

FRANKEN, ISSA CLASH ON OVERSIGHT OF GOOGLE-WHITE HOUSE LINK

Franken also raised concerns that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, is embarking on a "witch hunt" to "bring down the Obama administration."

Issa has pushed for scrutiny of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), whose deputy chief technology officer used to work at Google. The official was chided by the White House in May for incidental contacts with Google employees.

Issa issued a statement in response to Franken's remarks at Netroots Nation.

"Obviously, Sen. Franken is reading from the same misguided playbook that Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and shares her belief that a Democratic Congress should give this administration immunity from legitimate questions and appropriate accountability," he said.

He continued, "The fact of the matter is oversight should be done vigorously and effectively — even if it raises uncomfortable questions for the Obama White House and Democratic congressional leaders."

ACROSS TOWN AT RIGHTONLINE, MCDOWELL PANS NET NEUTRALITY

Republican FCC commissioner Robert McDowell said in an interview at the RightOnline conference, also in Las Vegas, that net neutrality regulations are not necessary because there are already rules in place to stop phone and cable companies from treating Internet traffic improperly.

"There are laws on the books to prevent that," he said, pointing to anti-trust law and deceptive practices rules at the Federal Trade Commission.

"It sounds good if you say it fast: 'all internet traffic should be treated equally,' " he said of net neutrality.

But the reality is, according to McDowell, "it gets much more complicated" than that. Watch the full interview here. 

WHITE HOUSE CONDEMNS WIKILEAKS

National Security Adviser James Jones lashed out Sunday evening at the publishing of more than 90,000 files related to the Afghanistan war on the site Wikileaks.

"The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security," Jones said in a statement released by the White House. "Wikileaks made no effort to contact us about these documents — the United States government learned from news organizations that these documents would be posted."

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) said in a statement late Sunday that the documents' content were as much a concern as how they surfaced.

FORMER FCC OFFICIAL WARNS PUBLIC SAFETY CASH COULD DISAPPEAR

Richard Mirgon, president of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), said in a C-SPAN interview that aired over the weekend that he would not characterize the difference between his organization and the FCC as a "deep divide."

The FCC and APCO disagree on whether to allocate the D-block of spectrum to public safety officials. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) came down on APCO's side last week.

But former FCC official Edmond Thomas said "there is a deep divide."

"There isn't agreement," he said. Thomas raised concern that if the D-block question turns into a protracted and immutable debate, congressionally authorized funding could disappear.

THIS WEEK: SENATE PRIVACY HEARING DRAWS TOP OFFICIALS

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz are witnesses at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on consumer online privacy Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. Facebook, Apple, Google, and AT&T are also witnesses at the hearing.

CAN'T MISS NEWS

Executive Notes

Microsoft, Google Vie to Sell U.S. Cloud Mail. Selling cloud services to the federal government is a "new front" in the war between Google and Microsoft, according to the Wall Street Journal. The companies are "vying to take over the job of providing email to the General Services Administration," the articles says. The deal could influence how other agencies proceed with technology contracts. In what vendors said was a major step, the GSA certified on Thursday that Google Apps "meets security requirements to qualify for use by the agency."

Industry notes

CTIA sues San Francisco over radiation ordinance. The wireless trade group CTIA is suing the city of San Francisco over its recently announced law that requires retailers to display the level of radiation emitted by wireless devices, the Washington Post reports. The group is arguing that the law could confuse consumers about phones' safety and that it contradicts the Federal Communications Commission's oversight of phone standards. The city passed the law last month out of concerns that the radiation could have health effects, including increasing the risk of cancer. Scientific evidence on that claim is still inconclusive. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has introduced a bill to boost research on the subject.

Foxconn employees at India factory treated for nausea. Bloomberg reports that about 150 Foxconn Technology Group workers at a factory in Chennai, India, were treated for nausea and breathlessness Saturday at a local hospital. A hospital spokesman said that most of the patients have been released but some are still being treated. The cause of the incident remains unknown, but sources tell the Hindu Business Line that the illnesses occurred after workers inhaled pesticide fumes. Foxconn, the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronic components, produces Apple products, Intel motherboards and other electronic products. It has come under scrutiny for its working conditions after a spate of employee suicides in China this year.

Verizon Wireless gains outpace AT&T’s. Verizon's wireless arm added a net 665,000 contract customers in the second quarter, 160,000 more than AT&T added, the Wall Street Journal reports. Verizon got a boost from solid sales of Droid smartphones with Google Android software. Apple’s launch of iPhone 4 wasn’t enough to push AT&T over the top.

Apple pushing back release of white iPhone 4. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple said it was pushing back the release of a white version of iPhone 4 for a second time because of manufacturing problems. The two delays come as Apple regroups from public relations nightmares over reception problems that resulted from the new iPhone’s antenna design.

Court notes

Violating website terms of service is not, and is, a crime, court rules. Yahoo News reports that a California judge has ruled that violations of websites’ terms of service agreements are not enforceable. The judge sided with Power Ventures on that point; Facebook had sued the company for making a program that let users import their personal information from Facebook into other sites. But the judge also agreed with Facebook on one point, saying that it is illegal to attempt for a company to bypass the technical measures another company uses for enforcing its own rules and security. The article’s example: "I can’t make it illegal for you to, say, attempt to save a copy of this blog post to your hard drive; but if I come up with a clever program to keep you from doing that, and you bypass that programming somehow, you may be breaking the law."

NUMBER PUNCH

$1.2 million — The amount former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) will make as the new head of the Motion Picture Association of American, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

WATERCOOLER

TIMELINE — The New York Times reports that the hunt for anachronisms on Mad Men is a hot topic on online comment boards. "Very often, however, fans will discern anachronisms that aren’t there — 'un-achronisms,' as they were dubbed in the online forum Television Without Pity. Deborah Lipp, who runs the 'Mad Men' fan blog Basket of Kisses with her sister Roberta, has dispelled fans’ concerns about the appearance of words like intense, lifestyle, self-worth, regroup and recon. She credits the hard work of the 'Mad Men' brain trust with making sure that the true clunkers are few and far between," says the New York Times.