The social networking juggernaut Facebook will likely go public some time after late 2012, according to Paypal co-founder and Facebook board member Peter Thiel.

An initial public offering from Facebook would likely be one of the most anticipated initial public offerings since the collapse of the dot-com bubble at the turn of the millenium. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has already turned down several offers that value the company as highly as $10 billion. Thiel said the offering would not happen until after late 2012 and would depend on the company meeting revenue and growth targets.

"It probably will IPO at some point. The lesson from Google seems to be that you don't go public until very late," Thiel told Reuters on Monday.

Founded by Zuckerberg and friends in his Harvard dorm room in 2004, Facebook has rapidly grown from a student-only service to an international phenomenon with over 500 million users. As the site has grown it has also attracted increasing criticism for its privacy policies and the way it handles user data. There is also a new movie set to release on Friday called "The Social Network" which depicts a fictionalized version of the company's founding.

Good morning!

Republicans who vote to regulate the Internet may get cover from telecom groups, but not from the Tea Party

Conservative telecom groups who frequently back phone and cable company views are indicating they may support House net-neutrality legislation, possibly providing some political cover for GOP members to vote in favor of a policy the party has traditionally opposed.

But some observers said the political climate is anti-regulatory, so GOP members who support the unprecedented set of Internet regulations in the pending bill could face political consequences. Tea Party groups seem poised to oppose the new rules, observers said.

Conservative House members may hesitate to support the bill even if it wins the backing of phone and cable companies. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee, already appears to be skeptical.

“How fitting that in the last days of this Congress, Democrats would draw up a bill to regulate one of the few non-government sectors of our economy still creating jobs,” a spokesman for Blackburn, Claude Chafin, told The Hill on Monday.

Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), another vocal opponent of net-neutrality rules, which he views as "regulating the Internet," also framed the pending bill from House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (Calif.) as a Democratic initiative. Read the full article in The Hill: http://bit.ly/bEHKQV.

Net neutrality bill could come Tuesday; public interest groups seem unlikely to support it

A bill under development by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman could be introduced as soon as Tuesday. Public advocates are unhappy with various aspects of what's anticipated in the legislation. According to a net-neutrality supporter, grievances include that the rules sunset and are not permanent; that rules do not apply as strictly to wireless providers as their wired counterparts; and that the bill takes FCC reclassification off the table. The source said public interest groups may argue that reclassification is necessary for the FCC to move on policies beyond net neutrality, including USF reform.

House may vote on Senate version of NASA reauthorization

House Science Committee chairman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) said the House could consider the Senate's version of NASA reauthorization on Wednesday after House lawmakers failed to put together an acceptable compromise bill in time for passage before recess. Gordon said he still believes the compromise amendment he offered last week is superior to the Senate bill, but he realizes that passing the flawed Senate bill is preferable to leaving NASA in limbo for the start of a new fiscal year. http://bit.ly/9DEUS5

Officials to discuss next generation Web. Senior Obama administration officials and members of industry will meet at the Press Club Tuesday morning for a workshop to discuss progress on implementing IPv6, also known as the next generation of the Internet. With the number of available web addresses set to run out as soon as the end of the year, officials are attempting to speed up the transition to IPv6. While most consumers won't notice any chance on their end, developers and network administrators must make sure their equipment is upgraded and able to carry all types of web traffic. http://bit.ly/cOXau0

Executive notes

FCC review of the Comcast-NBC Universal merger will not be completed this year, officials say. The Wall Street Journal reports that "despite twice-weekly staff meetings on Comcast's proposal to acquire control of NBC Universal from General Electric, the FCC may not finish that review until February," according to agency officials. The piece profiles FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's first year on the job. Accomplishments to this point include his support for data transparency using online tools, a morale boost, and a new website. But the report cites delays on net-neutrality, media ownership, and early termination fees. http://bit.ly/bqgTKk

White House to recruit and train 10,000 STEM teachers. President Obama said Monday on the Today show that his administration has set a goal of recruiting and training 10,000 new teachers in science, math, technology and engineering. The ambitious target is part of the White House's push to increase the quality of education in those fields, which President Obama argued are critical to the U.S.'s future economic competitiveness. Obama noted that even good schools are showing drops in STEM performance compared to other developed nations, a trend he termed "a sign of long-term decline that has to be reversed." http://bit.ly/b8TCde

RIM unveils tablet computer. The makers of the BlackBerry smartphone unveiled their own version of a tablet computer Monday evening with the goal of taking on Apple's iPad and Amazon's Kindle. Research in Motion did not specify the device's price, but said the BlackBerry Playbook would be aimed at business users and full compatible with the secure servers BlackBerry users currently use for messaging and e-mail. http://nyti.ms/bWuLtQ

Tweeted

The pending net neutrality bill seems "more reasonable than I expected."

-Brett Glass, an ardent critic of net-neutrality regulations and the founder of a wireless company, tweeted the message on Monday to Americans for Prosperity executive Phil Kerpen.

Watercooler

SUPERMAN—Mashable reports that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will become the star of a comic book this  December. Bluewater Productions, a Canadian company, "plans to release 'Mark Zuckerberg: Creator of Facebook' as a 48-page saga that seeks to answer the question: 'Who is the real Mark Zuckerberg?'" As Mashable puts it, "Is he the philanthropist who recently donated $100 million to public schools in Newark? Or is he the darker character we’re all anxiously awaiting meeting in David Fincher’s The Social Network?" The company previously released a book on William Shatner. http://bit.ly/97MS5t

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced 14 stimulus grants worth $207 million aimed at expanding broadband Internet access and public computing centers on Monday.

The awards were the last of 233 projects funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, which received $4 billion of the $7 billion set aside in the Recovery Act to expand broadband access. The last series of awards focuses on expanding public computing centers and providing training to increase digital literacy and prepare displaced workers for IT jobs.

“In a globalized 21st century economy, when you don’t have regular access to high-speed Internet, you don’t have access to all the educational, business and employment opportunities it provides,” Locke said. “These critical Recovery Act investments will create jobs and lay the groundwork for long-term sustainable economic growth in communities across America.”

All of the 233 BTOP projects must be substantially complete within two years and fully complete within three years. In total they will provide broadband access to 24,000 libraries, schools, community centers and other public locations. The program will also fund more than 3,500 new or upgraded public computing centers in those same community anchor institutions.

“NTIA’s work is far from over,” NTIA Lawrence Strickling said. “We will be overseeing these projects to ensure they are completed on schedule and within budget, and deliver the promised benefits to the communities they serve.”

Among the final awards is a $155 million grant to create a wireless broadband network for public safety officials in Los Angeles County and a $5 million grant to Michigan State University to train more than 3,000 high school students and displaced auto workers for broadband-related IT jobs.

With time running out, the House will likely vote on the Senate's version of the NASA reauthorization bill.

Senior Obama administration officials are encouraging Internet service providers to upgrade their technology before the Web runs out of space for new sites.  

Officials plan to use a workshop Tuesday at the National Press Club to draw attention to the deployment of Internet Protocol Version 6, known in shorthand as IPv6. The protocol, which is often referred to as “Next Generation Internet,” is the successor to the current infrastructure of the Web, IPv4.

The switch to IPv6 has become a critical issue because the stock of unused web addresses could be exhausted before the end of the year. While IPv4 offers roughly 4.3 billion Web addresses, IPv6 can support a virtually unlimited number of devices.

“Tomorrow NTIA will facilitate stakeholder discussions among business, government, and the Internet technical community to highlight the importance of IPv6 to the continued growth of the Internet economy. IPv6 benefits will allow for increased innovation online and allow the Internet to remain a powerful engine for commerce and economic growth,” said NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling.

The expanded size of IPv6 would allow everything from smartphones to household appliances to be tapped into the Internet. IPv6 is also expected to smooth the transition from hardware-based computing to applications and files that reside mostly in the networked “cloud.”

Jennifer Schneider, senior policy advisor to Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC) Michael Copps, is leaving the agency to join the rural  provider Frontier Communications. Her title will be vice president of legislative affairs.

Schneider, who served as Copps' legal advisor on broadband, wireline and universal service issues, previously worked for House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (Va.). Before that, she was at the FCC and at Bingham McCutchen.

Margaret McCarthy, who was a telecom legislative assistant for Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), will fill the spot.

Federal Communications Commissioner Meredith Baker announced a pair of departures and series of staff moves in response on Monday.

Christi Shewman, currently Baker's wireline legal advisor, will leave to rejoin the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau. Baker's legal advisor for media issues Brad Gillen will take over for Shewman and his job will be filled by Krista Witanowski of the FCC's Media Bureau pending the selection of a permanent replacement.

"This is a great opportunity for Christi. While I will miss her counsel, I have been fortunate to have had her on my team since the beginning of my tenure at the Commission. The Bureau is lucky to have her back, and the good news is that we will all benefit from her expertise," Baker said.

Baker also announced her confidential assistant and staff attorney Millie Kerr will be leaving the Commission. Kari Amstutz, who currently works for Rep. Charles Djou (R-Ha.), will be Baker's new confidential assistant and Tasha Kinney, currently at the Department of Agriculture, will also join Baker as a staff assistant.

Read a draft copy of the net-neutrality proposal under development by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman.

A net-neutrality draft bill under development by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (Calif.) looks as follows as of Monday morning, according to one industry source who said the talks are still "fluid:"

-It would expire on 12/31/2012.

-For wireline networks, it would apply the FCC's four open Internet principles, plus a transparency rule, plus a prohibition on unreasonable discrimination.

-For wireless networks, it would prohibit blocking websites and competing applications.

-It would prevent the FCC from reclassifying broadband services under Title II of the Communications Act.

The source also said Waxman's office is still engaging all stakeholders.