A handful of Web personalities with cult followings push for net neutrality rules in a video released Tuesday by Free Press.

The video comes as part of a final push for broadband mandates in advance of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vote Thursday that could help advance net-neutrality policies. 

The activism group sought the help of such online cult celebs as blogger Wil Wheaton, who had a regular role in Star Trek, Adam Savage of Mythbusters, and young adult novelist Maureen Johnson.

It's perhaps not the best PR strategy for mainstreaming the net-neutrality debate, but it's still an entertaining video.

One of the hackers that revealed an iPad-related security flaw in AT&T's systems reportedly was arrested by the FBI this week after authorities said they found illegal drugs in his home.

Andrew "Escher" Auernheimer, 24, was being held after cocaine, ecstasy, LSD and other pharmaceuticals were found in his Arkansas home during the execution of an FBI search warrant, the blog CNET reported.

Auernheimer is a member of a group of hackers known as Goatse Security that recently revealed a hole in AT&T's security that allowed the group to obtain the names and email addresses of 114,000 users.

Authorities did not reveal what prompted the search warrant.

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AT&T and Verizon might be urging Congress to pass narrow legislation on net neutrality, according to a CongressDaily report.

The development comes after the companies have lobbied hard against being stuck with net neutrality rules, which would prevent them from favoring content riding over their networks.

But the companies might view the prospect of narrow legislation as the lesser of two evils, because the Federal Communications Commission is gearing up to boost its authority over these providers as a way to pass net neutrality rules.

Citing unnamed sources, the report says dominant players are pushing for a legislative outcome on net neutrality, which might be softer than the FCC's proposed net-neutrality framework.

Constituents contacted their representatives more frequently about immigration than any other issue during May, a new survey found. 

Defense ranked second after holding the top spot in April. Next were environment, financial services, budget and Medicare. Technology ranked ninth, edging out Social Security.

Since the Computer Emergency Readiness Team lacks the authority to enforce its recommendations, agencies are free to ignore them.

Lawmakers on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee appear confident their recently unveiled comprehensive cybersecurity legislation will pass the Senate this year, despite the administration's refusal to endorse the bill at a hearing on Tuesday.

At a hearing to discuss the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 on Tuesday, experts testified that the bill would significantly upgrade the federal government's approach to protecting its networks. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who sponsored the bill with Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.), said he has scheduled the bill for a markup next week and he anticipates reporting it to the Senate floor before the July 4 recess.

"[Senate Majority leader Harry] Reid (D-Nev.) had been very clear at least to me that he really wants to pass the cybersecurity act this year," Lieberman said, adding that he anticipates combining the committee's bill with several other pending cybersecurity bills currently under consideration by Congress.

Good morning!

AT&T's data breach was back in the headlines Wednesday. The papers report problems with online purchasing of the new iPhone and placed the blame on AT&T's website. As customers flooded the site to buy the device, which will be released June 24, AT&T struggled with the traffic and showed difficulty processing orders.

But the troubling detail is that the website "appeared to reveal subscribers' personal information to strangers," according to the WSJ. Customers "who were logged into AT&T's website as themselves ended up in other users' accounts." No comment yet from AT&T and Apple, and the scope is unknown, but the problems follow a headline-grabbing, FBI-concerning data breach in which a glitch in an AT&T website allowed hackers to get at iPad users' e-mail addresses.

In other stories generated by gadget-love, a reported 45,000 gamers are still in Los Angeles for the Electronic Enertainment Expo (E3), where the WSJ says Sony and Nintendo are going head-to-head with their 3-D offerings. Critics say 3-D, and not Microsoft's motion-sensing technology, is stealing the show.

WHO, WHERE

DEAN GARFIELD and ROBERT HOLLEYMAN are on the Hill Wednesday to talk about intellectual property breaches in China.

ARTHUR COVIELLO and DAVID WENNERGREN are expected to speak at TechAmerica's Technology and Government Dinner Wednesday night.

JOEL WHITE will talk about Health IT on the Hill on Wednesday.

ALAN ROSENBLATT and MARK DRAPEAU will headline Digital Capital Week events Wednesday.

ERIK HUEY is in Los Angeles for E3.

JEREMIE WATERMAN goes to the International Trade Commission to talk about IP in China.

MIGNON CLYBURN saw REP. MAXINE WATERS, REV. WILLIE BARROW and REV. JESSE JACKSON during a quick trip through Chicago.

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CANT-MISS NEWS

Wireless industry pushes back on data roaming regulation: Two of the nation's largest wireless carriers have voiced their opposition to the Federal Communications Commission's proposed data roaming rules for mobile devices, arguing further regulation will harm consumers and discourage private investment. Both Verizon and AT&T have come out against the proposed rule, aimed at smartphone users that make use of wireless data networks while out of their network coverage area. The bill would require carriers to sign agreements to allow reciprocal roaming on each other's networks without users being hit with high roaming charges. The FCC already has a similar policy in place with regards to mobile voice services, but data services like mobile Internet and e-mail were excepted from that 2007 rule.

Federal managers may have a growing tolerance for allowing employees to use technology to work from home, according to survey released Tuesday examining telework.

Ninety-three percent of managers said they are satisfied with work done remotely and 81 percent agree that their management ability is unaffected by telework, says the survey conducted by the marketing firm FedScoop and underwritten by Intel and Cisco.

Workers said the main value of telework is that it saves them time.

Highlights pulled from the report:

• 64 percent of private sector IT respondents said they telework regularly or exclusively, compared to 23 percent of federal IT employees;
• Just six percent of private sector respondents said their employers do not provide them with sufficient technology to telework, compared to 22 percent of federal employees; and
• 23 percent of federal respondents said they have never talked to their managers about telework.

Find the full report here.

Microsoft may be the latest company to raise concerns about a search engine (read: Google) acting as an Internet gatekeeper, according to comments published last week on the Seattle website PubliCola.

During a Q&A session, Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith, had some edgy remarks about the dangers of search, according to a report by Josh Feit. He sounded a lot more like an Internet service provider representative than a lawyer for a search company.

Here's what the report says: "'The real threat to controlling content, Smith said, wasn’t Orwellian ISPs, 'it’s search' he announced, referring to search engines that direct traffic on the web. Was Smith’s Google envy showing? 'Where is the biggest lack of competition?' he asked. 'Search!'"

Search neutrality is the notion that search engines should not favor certain content, including their own. Internet service providers have charged in the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality proceeding that if they are to be regulated in a way that prevents them from favoring certain Internet content, then search engines should, too.

This New York Times op-ed in December helped put search neutrality concerns on the map, but Google backers are often roundly dismissive that the issue constitutes a substantive concern. Google proponents have contended that search neutrality is an opportunistic complaint by Internet service providers rather than a meaningful policy question. But couldn't it be both?