The Senate voted 69-28 Wednesday for a bill (HR-6304) to offer retroactive immunity to telecom carriers alleged to have aided the government in post-Sept. 11 surveillance. The bill goes to President Bush for an expected signature. Civil liberties groups condemned the bill, saying they look forward to reviving the debate next Congress. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., a foe of the bill, vowed to take up the issue when dealing with reauthorization of the Patriot Act.

A tentative deal to handle telecom immunity in surveillance law was on the table as Congress adjourned for a week-long Memorial Day break. The arrangement, whose details Republicans released Thursday afternoon, would have a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court decide the fate of telecom companies reported to have taken part in President Bush’s post-Sept. 11 surveillance program. Telephone companies aren’t commenting on the possible deal.

The Google-DoubleClick regulatory ordeal gets a revival in Microsoft’s proposed $44 billion acquisition of Yahoo, analysts and activists said Friday. As in that deal, parties predict U.S. and European approval but higher hurdles across the Atlantic. Some said, however, the Microsoft proposal also would face more scrutiny stateside than Google’s purchase, due in part to the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Microsoft. Privacy advocates see no difference between the two acquisitions as far as their threat to privacy.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin held his ground against strong bipartisan criticism at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thursday of his plan for a vote Tuesday on broadcast ownership rules, saying the proceeding has long been under way and needs to be completed. Martin said Democratic commissioners urging delay favor a process that would take several months, postponing action on a “contentious” rulemaking already overdue. Martin said he’s “open” to colleagues’ suggestions before the meeting but plans to proceed.

No decision on immunity for telcos’ reported participation in a post Sept. 11 warrantless electronic surveillance program can be considered until the White House provides documents requested weeks ago, House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., said Thursday. “The Department of Justice’s stonewalling is preventing Congress from determining whether or not Americans’ right to privacy has been violated by the Administration’s surveillance program,” said Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich.

No decision on immunity for phone companies’ reported participation in a post Sept. 11 warrantless electronic surveillance program can be considered until the White House provides documents requested weeks ago, House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., said Thursday. “The Department of Justice’s stonewalling is preventing Congress from determining whether or not Americans’ right to privacy has been violated by the Administration’s surveillance program,” said Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich.

A Verizon FiOS mechanism that forwards customers who mistype domains to a Verizon search page is raising hackles among some net neutrality supporters but shrugs from others. The forwarding lets Verizon exploit typos financially and represents another example of a network operator abusing its power, said Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge. “It’s not in itself a major offense,” but gains significance when added to other “itty-bitty things” like Verizon’s banning a NARAL Pro- Choice America text messaging program (CD Sept 28 p2) and Comcast’s blocking of BitTorrent traffic (CD Oct 22 p13), he said. Other net neutrality advocates seemed less upset. “I can see why Public Knowledge is concerned,” but it’s not a “major deal” to the Center for Democracy & Technology, because Verizon is only forwarding users who are already its customers, said Ari Schwartz, CDT deputy director. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has heard about the matter but hasn’t looked into it, a spokeswoman said. A Verizon spokeswoman defended the program, introduced in June. “The service simply helps customers better find what they are looking for when they mistype a URL,” she said. “Instead of getting an error page, they get a page that asks if they meant to type something else, and a list of possible URLs that may lead them where they really wanted to go.” Customers can opt out of the service, she added. But Verizon has had “an extremely low opt out rate and we have received very few complaints from customers about the service,” she said.

A Verizon FiOS mechanism that forwards customers who mistype domains to a Verizon search page is raising hackles among some net neutrality supporters but shrugs from others. The forwarding lets Verizon exploit typos financially and represents another example of a network operator abusing its power, said Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge. “It’s not in itself a major offense,” but gains significance when added to other “itty-bitty things” like Verizon’s banning a NARAL Pro- Choice America text messaging program and Comcast’s blocking of BitTorrent traffic, he said. Other net neutrality advocates seemed less upset. “I can see why Public Knowledge is concerned,” but it’s not a “major deal” to the Center for Democracy & Technology, because Verizon is only forwarding users who are already its customers, said Ari Schwartz, CDT deputy director. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has heard about the matter but hasn’t looked into it, a spokeswoman said. A Verizon spokeswoman defended the program, introduced in June. “The service simply helps customers better find what they are looking for when they mistype a URL,” she said. “Instead of getting an error page, they get a page that asks if they meant to type something else, and a list of possible URLs that may lead them where they really wanted to go.” Customers can opt out of the service, she added. But Verizon has had “an extremely low opt out rate and we have received very few complaints from customers about the service,” she said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to expand protections of journalists and their confidential sources (S- 2035) by 15-2. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., plans to bring a media shield bill to a vote this year, she told the Associated Press Managing Editors conference Thursday, AP reported. “Freedom of the press is fundamental to our democracy,” Pelosi said, according to the text of her prepared remarks. “I have long supported a federal media shield law, without which freedom of the press is threatened.” Many media companies and trade groups praised the committee for moving forward with the bill. “Broadcast journalists take seriously their role in providing listeners and viewers with critical information that at times carries significant risk to reporters and their sources,” said NAB President David Rehr. “We will continue working with both chambers of Congress to ensure that journalists can do their job without fear of revealing confidential sources.”

The Senate Commerce Committee revealed the latest bill aimed at protecting children online -- a measure requiring Internet education in schools receiving E-rate funds. The measure’s emphasis on education departs from other proposals that would label Web sites as explicit or require ISPs to maintain records for certain amounts of time.