Sept 23 (Reuters) – Long-awaited U.S. rules addressing the
hot-button issue of balancing consumer and content providers’
interests against those of Internet service providers will take
effect on Nov. 20.

The regulations covering so-called Net neutrality,
published in the Federal Register on Friday, are sure to
trigger legal and congressional challenges. They were adopted
by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission late last year
after a lengthy debate.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two Republican lawmakers urged the top U.S. communications regulator to resist political pressure for allowing broadband start-up LightSquared to deploy a network that could interfere with the global positioning system.

Representative Thomas Petri and Senator Charles Grassley sent a letter on Thursday to the Federal Communications Commission saying a single company should not be allowed to threaten such critical national infrastructure.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Communications regulators urged adoption of new technologies that would allow people needing emergency help to send text, photos and video messages to police and rescue dispatchers.

While sending multimedia messages over mobile devices is commonplace with the smartphone boom, the country’s 9-1-1 emergency system only supports voice calls.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. communications regulators urged adoption of new technologies that would allow people needing emergency help to send text, photos and video messages to police and rescue dispatchers.

While sending multimedia messages over mobile devices is commonplace with the smartphone boom, the country’s 9-1-1 emergency system only supports voice calls.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge set a February 13 start for a trial over whether AT&T Inc can buy rival T-Mobile USA, a compromise between the companies’ desire for a quick resolution and the Justice Department’s request for more time to prepare its case.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle on Wednesday set aside up to six weeks for the trial in response to the Obama administration’s antitrust lawsuit against the deal. She will preside without a jury, as is typical for such cases.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge set a February 13 start for a trial over whether AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) can buy rival T-Mobile USA despite competitive concerns raised in a lawsuit by the Obama administration’s Justice Department.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle set aside 6 weeks for the non-jury trial. There was no discussion during the 80-minute scheduling hearing of any settlement of the case.

WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge set a Feb. 13
start for a trial over whether AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) can buy rival
T-Mobile USA despite competitive concerns raised in a lawsuit
by the Obama administration’s Justice Department.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle set aside 6 weeks for the
non-jury trial. There was no discussion during the 80-minute
scheduling hearing of any settlement of the case.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department will not hold a briefing for lawmakers to explain its decision to challenge AT&T Inc’s (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) purchase of Deutsche Telekom AG’s (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) T-Mobile USA.

In a letter sent on Monday to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, the Justice Department said it could not disclose nonpublic information about a matter in active litigation.

By Jasmin Melvin

(Reuters) – A proposed update of the U.S. online privacy rule for children would revise definitions of personal information and beef up parental consent mechanisms to reflect technological changes.

The Federal Trade Commission plan would modify its Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule that gives parents a say over what information websites and other online providers can collect about children under the age of 13.

Sept 15 (Reuters) – The Federal Trade Commission is
proposing new safeguards to heighten protection of children’s
personal information online.

The proposal would change an existing rule that gives
parents a say over what information a website can collect about
their children. The amendments are aimed at keeping pace with
new technology and devices that give children Internet access.