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Tech community mourns the late Sen. Ted Stevens

An outpouring of sad remarks arose from the tech community after former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who had led the Commerce Committee, passed away in a plane crash on Tuesday. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, all four commissioners, Senate Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), and National Assocation of Broadcasters president Gordon Smith expressed regret over the loss. Smith said Stevens was a "towering figure in the U.S. Senate and shepherded some of the most important legislation through Congress during his tenure on the Senate Commerce Committee."

Conservative groups, bloggers oppose broadband reclassification

Over 150 conservative think tanks, advocacy groups, state legislators and bloggers will send two letters on Wednesday to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voicing their opposition to an agency proposal to reclassify broadband as a telecom service. The signatories, which include Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, Washington Examiner editorial page editor Mark Tapscott, Michelle Malkin and Erick Erickson of RedState, urge the FCC not to move to increase its authority in that way.

The first letter signed by advocacy groups and state lawmakers accuses the FCC of "relentlessly pursuing a massive regulatory regime that would stifle broadband expansion, create congestion, slow Internet speeds, jeopardize job retention and growth, and lead to higher prices for consumers." The second letter from bloggers and members of the media uses more measured language but argues no net neutrality regulations are necessary and claims the only two known net neutrality violations were halted without the FCC's intervention.

Net neutrality activists buy up Facebook ads. A coalition of progressive groups that oppose a proposed net neutrality framework from Verizon and Google, which the groups said is not strict enough, are buying up ads on Facebook. "Tell Google 'Don't be evil,'" the ads say. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a political action committee for candidates on the left, bought the ads.

The Sunlight Foundation questioned the Obama administration's commitment to transparency on Tuesday after the White House announced that ethics czar Norm Eisen would be leaving to serve as ambassador to the Czech Republic.

The White House said Eisen's responsibilities would be assumed by White House counsel Robert Bauer and by Steven P. Croley, who will soon join the Domestic Policy Council. Croley, a University of Michigan Law School professor, advised Obama's transition team on ethics and regulatory reform issues.

In a blog post, Sunlight executive director and co-founder Ellen Miller said the White House's failure to appoint another special ethics adviser showed that the administration's commitment to increasing the transparency of government is "teetering."

"Instead of having a single touch point within the administration, we will now be working with one person who already has more than a full-time job and an academic with no government experience. Sorry, but this doesn’t add up to a strong continuing commitment by the administration to these issues," Miller wrote.

Some net-neutrality purists sang dirges for the future of the wireless Internet on Monday after Google and Verizon announced a policy proposal that would exempt mobile services from a suggested non-discrimination rule, which the companies said should only apply to wired Internet traffic.

The wireless exemption has been portrayed as Google shifting away from a purer view of net neutrality — the notion that phone and cable companies should not speed up or slow down the content and applications that run over their networks. Net-neutrality activists have charged that Google is making an untenable concession to the telecommunications industry and to a company that will use its Android operating system on its phones. 

But some industry sources say Google's seeming policy shift might also be part of a longer strategy by the company in service to its long-held view that the Internet should remain open. "I would say Google's strategy is crazy like a fox," said one industry analyst, who noted the rough publicity Google has faced over the wireless exemption, including accusations from net-neutrality diehards that it is "evil." 

The 2010 decennial Census came in more than 20 percent under budget this year but remains the costliest county in history, according to an announcement from Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on Tuesday.

Locke said the Bureau will return $1.6 billion in operational savings this year, 22 percent of its annual budget. He pointed to the lack of natural disasters or breakdowns in the Bureau's much-criticized information technology systems, as well as a successful media campaign that drove the response rate to 72 percent, well north of expectations.

The announcement was a sign of how far the Census Bureau has come since deciding in April 2008 not to give handheld computers to workers who go door-to-door counting households that don't return their Census forms. The decision to revert to a paper-based Census increased cost estimates by as much as $3 billion to a total estimated lifecycle cost of $14.5 billion.

“After a difficult lead-up to the 2010 Census, the Bureau should be commended for returning $1.6 billion to American taxpayers," said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). "A little bit of luck, hard work by Census employees and the cooperation of people who mailed back their forms means this massive undertaking has come in under budget, a pleasant surprise.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a noted Arizona sports fan, tweeted with Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald after spotting him at a scrimmage Saturday.

As he watched the game from the stands, McCain snapped a photo of Fitzgerald, tweeting "Hey @Lfitzgerald11 it's really me, now tweet back!"

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asked for public input Monday on its proposal to increase its role in protecting the nation from cybersecurity attacks. 

The agency asked for feedback on its proposal to create a cybersecurity "roadmap," a goal laid out in the National Broadband Plan. The roadmap would identify the five most critical cybersecurity threats to the nation's communications infrastructure and would also create a two-year plan for addressing those threats. 

In its public notice, the FCC suggested cyber-threats not only threaten Internet users but also create an economic threat to the broadband providers. 

The White House commended the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on Monday after the agency unveiled a new set of privacy principles for balancing the tradeoffs between national security and individual privacy.

Under its new guidelines, DARPA has promised to analyze the privacy implications of its research and development projects, which aim to keep the military technologically advanced.

Tom Kalil, deputy director for policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said DARPA's privacy proposals take on the difficult issue of privacy in a meaningful way. 

Former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe and former Republican Sen. Ted Stevens are believed to be among the passengers on a small plane that crashed Monday night in southwest Alaska. Rescue crews were attempting to reach the wreckage early Tuesday, and the passengers' status is unknown.

Update: Former CNN reporter and freelance journalist Miles O'Brien is reporting O'Keefe and his son suffered broken bones but survived the plane crash. Five of the nine passengers have reportedly died including Former Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

The AP reported eight nin people were on the plane and quoted a National Guard spokesman as stating there are possible fatalities from the accident. The U.S. division of the European defense contractor EADS said O'Keefe was among the passengers. O'Keefe served as chief of NASA during President George W. Bush's first term, when he oversaw the aftermath of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster before retiring to join EADS North America.

"Sean O’Keefe, EADS North America’s CEO, was a passenger on a private aircraft that crashed in Alaska last night. Local authorities are reporting that there are survivors and a rescue operation is underway. No other details are available at this time,” said Guy Hicks, EADS North America spokesperson.

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South Korean police raided the offices of Google Korea on Tuesday as part of an investigation into whether the company illegally collected personal data as part of its "Street View" service.

A South Korean police official told reporters authorities are investigating whether Google's Street View cars violated the country's privacy and communications laws by downloading personal information from Wi-Fi networks for about six months, from the end of last year until May. The official said police have confiscated computers and hard drives from Google and will issue summonses for company officials in the future.

"We began the probe after having confirmed that the company seized and kept open data as well as unauthorized private communication data collected by its special data-collecting vehicles," the police said in a statement.