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FCC, stakeholders continue net-neutrality talks

Sources told Hillicon Valley the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) met with industry stakeholders this Saturday and will continue discussions this week on possible legislative language for net-neutrality rules. The NCTA, Verizon, AT&T, Google, the Open Internet Coalition and Skype will meet again with top FCC officials on Wednesday and Thursday. Stay tuned for more coverage of the talks, which come as opposition on the Hill to the FCC's plan to reclassify broadband as a telecom service becomes increasingly vocal.

More Democrats speak out against reclassification

On Friday Reps. Ben Chandler (D-Ky.) and Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who both support net-neutrality rules, sent separate letters to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski urging him not to reclassify broadband Internet under the more stringent "Title II" legal framework that currently regulates telephone service. The letters come on the heels of a bipartisan resolution introduced last week by Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Gene Green (D-Texas) urging the FCC to wait for congressional action rather than expanding its authority over the Internet. The resolution drew 48 co-sponsors, including 24 Democrats. Thus far 78 Democrats in the House and three in the Senate have voiced their opposition to reclassification.

Can't-miss news

Hill notes

Ban on prison cell phones headed to president's desk. The Senate passed a bill last week by unanimous consent that would ban prison inmates from using cell phones while locked up. The legislation, sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), passed the House last week.

Executive notes

Aiyar out, Katz in as Genachowski's legal advisor. Genachowski's legal adviser Priya Aiyar is moving on to become deputy chief counsel to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Oil Drilling, which is charged with investigating the causes of the spill. Aiyar will be replaced by Zac Katz, who previously served as deputy chief of the FCC’s Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis. Katz joined the FCC from the White House Counsel’s Office and has been one of the FCC officials in the room as it negotiates with industry stakeholders on a possible net neutrality deal.

WikiLeaks researcher detained at the border. Federal agents detained a security researcher involved with WikiLeaks at the border last week, according to a report from CNET. Jacob Appelbaum, a U.S. citizen and Seattle-based programmer for the online privacy protection project Tor, was pulled aside by customs and border protection agents after arriving in Newark, N.J., from Holland and told he had been selected for a random search. He was then taken into a room, frisked and asked questions about WikiLeaks, including the whereabouts of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but declined to respond without a lawyer present. He was not permitted to make a phone call. After about three hours, Appelbaum was given his laptop back, but the agents kept his three mobile phones.

Industry notes

No more Blackberries in Dubai. The United Arab Emirates announced Sunday that it would suspend Blackberry mobile services including e-mail and text messaging, citing security concerns. The Emirates have clashed with Blackberry maker Research In Motion over the device's highly encrypted data system, which hampers the government's ability to effectively monitor its citizens' communications. Other Persian Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain have raised similar concerns and may follow suit.

Fast-growing Tumblr eyes Twitter, Facebook. With 6.6 million users and counting, the fast-blogging service Tumblr is hoping that the hiring of former Newsweek senior editor Mark Coatney as "media evangelist" will help in its mission to fill the space between Facebook and Twitter. The platform has been praised for its speed and ease of use, but Tumblr faces competition from rivals like Posterous, which offer similar rapid-blogging platforms without the character limits that sometimes limit conversations on social networking mediums that prize brevity.

Number Punch

20 BILLION — The number of tweets on the micro-blogging service Twitter since its launch in July 2006. The milestone was crossed by a Japanese graphic designed on Saturday.

Said

"I don't tweet on a regular basis. I think there is an official president's tweet [profile] but some 20-year-old is doing a lot of the tweeting." 

—President Obama on the daytime television show "The View" last Thursday, discussing the White House's social media strategy. (h/t Nextgov)