OVERNIGHT TECH: Web services ready for presidential debate

THE LEDE: The political world will be focused on the first presidential debate on Wednesday night, and leading Web companies are offering a host of services to enhance the experience for viewers.

YouTube will stream the debate live at www.youtube.com/user/politics, and Facebook has been streaming live interviews and holding polls on its election page at www.facebook.com/uspolitics.

On Twitter, users can go to twitter.com/#debates to keep up with reactions from journalists, pundits, staffers and elected officials. Twitter's official @gov account will tweet out interesting data points throughout the night.

Xbox 360 users can visit the company's election hub, which will feature a video stream of the debate, live polling data and information about the candidates and the issues. The service also allows user to register to vote through Rock the Vote.

Technology policy is unlikely to dominate the debates, but issues that could come up include cybersecurity, high-skilled immigration, tax repatriation and (less likely) net neutrality. There's a good chance that Mitt Romney and President Obama will talk about the importance of innovation and technology generally — both candidates referred to Steve Jobs in their acceptance speeches. 

The odds of an extended discussion of spectrum policy seem slim — but rest assured that Hillicon would be all over it.

Rockefeller encourages FTC on Do Not Track: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) encouraged the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday to continue participating in discussions over a Do Not Track feature.

He noted that some industry groups have questioned the FTC's involvement in deliberations at the World Wide Web Consortium.

"I do not share those concerns and urge you to continue your positive and constructive involvement in these deliberations," Rockefeller wrote.

He added that the current self-regulatory regime is "ineffective," and that the government should do more to empower Internet users to opt-out of tracking.

FTC chief expected to step down: There is increasing chatter in Washington that Jon Leibowitz is likely to step down as chairman of the FTC sometime after the election.

Leibowitz has served on the commission since 2004 and has been chairman of the agency since 2009. In March, the Senate confirmed Leibowitz to a second term as chairman.

Asked by The Hill on Wednesday about his plans, Leibowitz said he loves his job, but declined to comment further.

But one person who has spoken to Leibowitz directly about his plans said the chairman intends to step aside late this year or early next year and head to the private sector.

T-Mobile, MetroPCS agree to merger: Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile, agreed to buy MetroPCS on Wednesday, a move that will solidify T-Mobile's standing as a national competitor in the wireless marketplace.

MetroPCS shareholders will receive $1.5 billion in cash and 26 percent ownership of the combined company, which will keep the T-Mobile name.

Regulators crack down on tech support scam: The FTC, in cooperation with foreign regulators, announced a crackdown Wednesday against an international telemarketing scam.

Officials said the scammers, based mostly in India, placed thousands of calls to consumers in English-speaking countries. The callers claimed to be from major companies, including Microsoft, Dell, McAfee and Norton, and told consumers that they had detected malicious files on their computers.

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