Congress is all caught up in the court issues being debated in the Aereo case, now heading to the Supreme Court, said a Congressional Research Service report dated Monday (http://bit.ly/Ll4dLX). “Several bills introduced during the 113th Congress would implicate the various parties in the Aereo and FilmOn cases,” CRS said. “The Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013, introduced by Senator John McCain, [R-Ariz.,] would impact the market in which companies such as Aereo, FilmOn, and the broadcasters are competing.” It would permit cable providers to offer a la carte service and “deny broadcasters their spectrum licenses if they moved big event programming from broadcast television to cable,” it said. “Many of the Aereo plaintiffs have threatened this action in response to Aereo’s success in the courts.” CRS also pointed to the Consumer Choice in Online Video Act, introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. The bill “contains provisions that would address antenna rental services, such as Aereo, specifically,” and “would exempt these services from paying certain retransmission fees,” CRS said. Legislative attorney Emily Lanza wrote the report.

The National Security Agency can’t “be fairly characterized” as spying on members of Congress, Director Keith Alexander told Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in a letter the senator released Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1dpPqtu). Sanders had asked if the NSA was collecting bulk phone metadata or reviewing email information of Congress members. Alexander stressed the oversight and protections built into U.S. surveillance practices. The bulk phone metadata collection program is lawful, Alexander said. “But the director’s letter and a separate statement that the NSA issued to reporters did not rule out that records swept up by the NSA may include data on elected officials -- information that Sanders said could be abused,” Sanders’ office said in a news release when releasing the NSA response (http://1.usa.gov/19sYAG6).

"American drivers deserve better,” said Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Al Franken, D-Minn., in a letter (http://1.usa.gov/1dwv1V9) to Ford Motor Co. about the company’s mixed statements last week on its in-car data collection practices, said a news release from Franken’s office Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1j6fkWZ). Franken criticized statements made by Jim Farley, Ford global marketing and sales vice president, last week, said the release. “We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you're doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you're doing. By the way, we don’t supply that data to anyone,” said Farley, according to the release. Afterwards, Farley clarified his remarks, saying, “"We do not track our customers in their cars without their approval or their consent,” according to the release. “He did not, however, seem to take back his claim that Ford ‘[doesn’t] supply that data to anyone,’ although you have made recent comments clarifying that this data may be shared with user consent,” said Franken, according to the release. On Jan. 6, the Government Accountability Office released a report (http://1.usa.gov/1aIwOR1) that said that some in-car navigation companies aren’t adequately disclosing the use of a consumer’s data location.

Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen is set to testify before the Senate Finance Committee on the congressional trade agenda. The hearing is scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m. in 215 Dirksen.

Congress should enact national technology-neutral liability protection for all stakeholders involved in emergency services access, such as next-generation 911, and work to consolidate and “regionalize” 911 call centers to help guarantee consistent consumer expectations, CTIA Executive Vice President Chris Guttman-McCabe plans to tell the Senate Communications Subcommittee Thursday, according to his written testimony. The subcommittee is holding a hearing on wireless 911 location accuracy at 10:30 a.m. in 253 Russell. Other witnesses are Trey Forgety, National Emergency Number Association director-government affairs ; APCO International President Gigi Smith; Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Executive Director Claude Stout; and Qualcomm Senior Director-Technology Kirk Burroughs. “The current liability protection framework is premised on protections available to legacy telephone networks under state law and regulations, but the industry is rapidly evolving to IP-based technologies in which services are diverse, increasingly mobile, and potentially multi-jurisdictional,” Guttman-McCabe plans to say. He plans to cite proactive efforts of the wireless industry in bettering emergency services, such as the voluntary carrier commitment to offer text-to-911 services by mid-2014 as well as its work with the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council. In his testimony, he laments what’s happening to states’ 911 funding. “The diversion of these fees is unacceptable and CTIA urges Congress to use every tool at its disposal to halt the practice of raiding 911 funds,” his testimony says. Congress should also “examine the potential intellectual property implications associated with the deployment of E911 and NG911 capabilities,” he will add.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved the renomination of Terrell McSweeny to fill the one remaining FTC commissioner vacancy, the committee said in a statement. The committee originally approved McSweeny’s nomination in November (CD Nov 14 p17), but had to reconsider her because of the beginning of a new session of Congress. McSweeny was originally nominated in June (CD June 24 p12), but the nomination of the current chief counsel for competition policy and intergovernmental relations for the Justice Department never reached a full floor vote

The House Privacy Working Group postponed its Tuesday meeting, which FTC Commissioners Julie Brill and Maureen Ohlhausen were scheduled to attend, said a spokesman for Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Blackburn chairs the panel with Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. (CD Oct 3 p10). Welch and several of his Democratic colleagues were invited to attend a White House briefing, the spokesman said, causing the meeting’s delay. The commissioners were planning to discuss the FTC’s statutory authority on privacy and possible data security legislation (CD Jan 14 p16). There’s no timetable for the meeting to be rescheduled, according to the spokesman.

Missouri groups pushed back against the Lifeline program criticisms of Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. On Tuesday, a news release from the groups included a letter (http://bit.ly/1alJdum) they had sent Dec. 20 to the senator. McCaskill has attacked the program for months for its alleged waste, fraud and abuse. The 11 groups “are very concerned” about McCaskill’s calls to end the program, they said. Signatories include the Missouri Alliance for Retired Americans, the Consumer Council of Missouri and the Missouri Association for Social Welfare. They ask to discuss the program and for McCaskill to consider updates to the rules involving same-day handset distribution.

Several key telecom trade associations united before Congress to back the reinstatement of the bonus depreciation provision of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. In a Monday letter to Senate and House leaders of both parties, the executives leading USTelecom, CTIA, NCTA, NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association, The Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, the Telecommunications Industry Association and PCIA-The Wireless Infrastructure Association told Congress they support efforts to comprehensively update the corporate tax code, but “we believe that the business certainty needed for sustained domestic job growth during the nation’s economic recovery requires renewal for 2014 of the bonus depreciation provision,” which expired Dec. 31. Any overhaul of the tax code would -- “it appears increasingly possible” -- not potentially take effect until Jan. 1, 2015, they said. Until a tax overhaul is effective, “extending bonus depreciation is essential to maintaining the nation’s economic momentum,” they said (http://bit.ly/1djGIgh). “In order to plan with certainty, companies must know as soon as possible what the tax rules for capital investment and job creation in America will be in 2014.” The bonus depreciation provision allowed businesses making domestic investments to “receive substantial tax benefits,” according to USTelecom’s press release. That benefit, as part of the 2012 act, amounts to 50-percent bonus depreciation for such investment. Some observers have argued the provision should stay expired. “Bonus depreciation is costly, particularly if policymakers make it permanent,” Chuck Marr, director of federal tax policy at the nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, wrote in a blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/KVZtvn). “While a one-year extension would cost about $5 billion, the ten-year cost of a permanent extension would be about $280 billion.” He said the provision was intended as temporary, dating back to the economic recession of 2008, and criticized it for “low bang for the buck."

Former FCC Chairman Michael Copps joins the list of former FCC chairmen set to testify before Congress this week, a Common Cause spokeswoman confirmed Monday. Copps is special adviser for Common Cause’s Media and Democracy Reform Initiative. A committee aide to the House Communications Subcommittee also confirmed Copps will testify Wednesday at the 10 a.m. hearing in 2123 Rayburn on updating the Communications Act. The three witnesses revealed last week are former FCC chairmen Dick Wiley, Michael Powell and Reed Hundt. Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld had initially worried when hearing the witness list might consist only of Wiley, Hundt and Powell as well as, according to industry officials, Julius Genachowski. Feld suggested to us that other chairmen such as Copps would be important for balance (CD Jan 10 p10). The GOP memo for the hearing focused on the biographies of the witnesses. They “will provide unique insight into the workings of the expert agency and the challenges of implementing the Act as amended at very different times in the agency’s past,” the memo said (http://1.usa.gov/1djPbQy). “The perspectives of chairmen who served during a range of time periods and technological developments can inform potential legislation and address pitfalls that have been encountered in the past. It is vital that any changes to the law account for the impact on consumers and industry alike, and one starting point will be a conversation with those who were directly responsible for implementing the provisions of the law as written.”