WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Julius Genachowski said on Friday he will step down as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in the coming weeks, ending a four-year tenure at the agency that focused on expanding broadband Internet service to Americans.

In remarks to FCC staffers, Genachowski did not give a date for his widely expected exit or specify his plans after he leaves the agency. His term at FCC, which oversees telecommunications and broadcast companies, was due to end in June.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell, the senior member of the agency’s Republican minority, said on Wednesday he will leave in coming weeks after a seven-year tenure that promoted deregulation of the Internet and the telecom market.

His exit leaves the five-member panel with three Democrats and one Republican. It may pave the way for Democratic Chairman Julius Genachowski – widely expected to leave in coming months as well – to announce his own exit, in part because a Senate confirmation of two new commissioners from both political parties can be smoother to accomplish.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A law regulating authorities’ access to email drew a good deal of attention in Congress on Tuesday as a House panel quizzed Department of Justice and Google experts About it, and the Senate began taking on a bill to update the rules.

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), passed in pre-Web 1986, does not require government investigators to have a search warrant when requesting access to old emails and messages stored online, providing less protection for them than, say, letters stored in a desk drawer or even messages saved on a computer’s hard drive.

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) – A law regulating U.S.
authorities’ access to email drew a good deal of attention in
Congress on Tuesday as a House panel quizzed Department of
Justice and Google experts About it, and the Senate began taking
on a bill to update the rules.

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), passed in
pre-Web 1986, does not require government investigators to have
a search warrant when requesting access to old emails and
messages stored online, providing less protection for them than,
say, letters stored in a desk drawer or even messages saved on a
computer’s hard drive.

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) – The planned incentive
auction of wireless spectrum will fail if U.S. regulators race
to hold it by a 2014 deadline, a broadcasters’ trade group
executive said on Monday, addressing one of the hottest topics
in the telecom industry.

Congress has authorized the Federal Communications
Commission to take back some television airwaves and auction
them off to spectrum-hungry wireless providers, paying
broadcasters a portion of the proceeds. The rest would pay for a
public safety program and pad federal coffers.

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) – Corporate leaders from the
defense, technology, energy and banking industries told
President Barack Obama on Wednesday they agreed cyber attacks
were a top security threat but that they were looking for a
“light touch” from the government in response to the risk.

Obama and his top security advisers met with chief
executives from 13 companies in the White House Situation Room
to talk about how the government and private sector could
improve U.S. cyber security, including the need for legislation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Corporate leaders from the defense, technology, energy and banking industries told President Barack Obama on Wednesday they agreed cyber attacks were a top security threat but that they were looking for a “light touch” from the government in response to the risk.

Obama and his top security advisers met with chief executives from 13 companies in the White House Situation Room to talk about how the government and private sector could improve cyber security, including the need for legislation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate oversight hearing of the Federal Communications Commission took an unexpected turn on Tuesday toward a hot political topic that telecommunications regulators rarely address: donor disclosure in political advertising.

Fueled by new freedoms gained through a series of court decisions, political and issue advocacy groups spent heavily on the 2012 elections, both congressional and presidential, reaching a final price tag of $6 billion for political ads.

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) – As the White House and
congressional lawmakers resume talks on legislation to improve
U.S. defenses against cyber-attacks, Homeland Security Secretary
Janet Napolitano on Thursday signaled that disagreements remain
over a House cybersecurity bill, which she called insufficient.

In 2012, identical legislation died in the House of
Representatives after President Barack Obama threatened to veto
it, saying the bill did not have adequate safeguards for privacy
and confidentiality, among other things.

WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) – Senator Charles Schumer, a
member of a bipartisan group crafting comprehensive U.S.
immigration reform, urged technology firms on Tuesday to stop
lobbying for a standalone bill on high-skilled immigrants,
saying such narrow legislation would not pass.

“You will not get a bill unless there’s a full immigration
bill,” the New York Democrat said at an event hosted by the
Internet Alliance lobby group. “The best thing you can do now is
not lobby on the high-skilled end.”