WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) – Wikipedia founder Jimmy
Wales said o n T hursday he hopes the online encyclopedia would
never have to go dark again, but it would if necessary to
protect the Internet from draconian policies that would harm
everyday users.

The site played a key role in stopping proposed U.S.
anti-piracy legislation in its tracks with a 24-hour blackout in
January.

WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) – The National Association of
Broadcasters has asked a federal appeals court to prevent new
rules from taking effect Aug. 2 that would force broadcasters
to publish political advertising contracts online.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted the rules in
April in an effort to provide insight on campaign spending ahead
of November’s congressional and presidential elections. The
rules would reveal who is paying for political campaign ads and
just how much they are shelling out.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Cell phone carriers have seen a sharp rise in requests from U.S. law enforcement agencies for their customers’ cell phone records, raising privacy concerns and adding a legal burden to mobile phone companies.

Representative Edward Markey on Monday released data from the companies showing more than 1.3 million requests for cell phone records last year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Supreme Court on Friday rejected challenges to the Federal Communication Commission’s U.S. media-ownership rules, longtime limits on cross-ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in a single market

The justices refused to hear appeals by Media General Inc, by broadcast and newspaper groups and by a broadcasting trade group arguing that the Supreme Court should reconsider past precedents that broadcast “scarcity” justified the ownership restrictions under the Constitution’s First Amendment.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday that Comcast Corp would pay $800,000 to resolve an investigation of its broadband-related merger conditions.

The FCC said it began the probe after it was tipped that Comcast was not properly marketing its standalone broadband services, violating a condition of its merger with NBC Universal that requires the cable operator to offer reasonably priced Internet services to consumers who do not subscribe to its cable offerings.

WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) – Two Democratic lawmakers
said Congress should examine whether major wireless carriers and
cable companies are stifling the growth of online video services
like Netflix Inc and Hulu by limiting the amount of
content Internet subscribers can download each month.

Online video providers have argued that data caps are
keeping more Americans from accessing their programming as they
worry bandwidth-heavy shows and movies could interrupt their
Internet service.

WASHINGTON, June 20 (Reuters) – LivingSocial chief executive
Tim O’Shaughnessy said on Wednesday that the online daily-deal
company has no immediate desire to go public and is learning
lessons from the rocky public debuts of other hot tech
companies.

LivingSocial had been expected to follow in rival Groupon
Inc’s footsteps when Groupon went public in November.

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the Federal Communications Commission is asking for a review of the agency’s stance on radiofrequency energy emitted from cell phones amid lingering concerns that the devices may cause brain tumors.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on Friday circulated a proposal to his fellow commissioners calling for a formal inquiry into the mobile phone emissions standards set in 1996.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Executives were urged to join the fight to keep the Internet free from centralized control, ahead of a conference later this year where U.S. government officials fear countries will vote to give the United Nations more power over the Web.

“Get your company involved. Work to get likeminded countries involved. What is at stake here is just that important,” Assistant Secretary of Commerce Lawrence Strickling told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s telecom committee on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lawmakers on Thursday said they are united when it comes to keeping the Internet free from centralized control and preventing the United Nations from gaining power over Web content and infrastructure.

The U.S. government wants to bring as much ammunition as possible to a December meeting in Dubai where delegations from 193 countries will discuss whether to hand governance of the Internet over to the United Nations.