The House appeared all but certain at our deadline to be on track to pass the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act (HR-1695) Wednesday, with several lobbyists telling us they will closely watch the margin of opposition the bill gets from House Democrats as an indicator of the bill's trajectory in the Senate. House Republicans appeared likely to give unanimous support to the bill, while House Democrats have been divided on it (see 1704200047). HR-1695 would make the register a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed position with a 10-year term (see 1703230068).

Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fla., led a letter including three other House Democrats backing Charter Communications' proposed buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. “While we respect and commend your task of holding Charter’s proposed transaction to the highest levels of scrutiny, we urge you to recognize Charter’s existing commitments to diversity and inclusion, customer service, and quality broadband access for all Americans,” they said in a Wednesday letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, not released publicly. The deal, if approved, “would only continue to raise standards across the industry,” they said. The other signatories to the letter are Reps. Joyce Beatty (Ohio), Gregory Meeks (N.Y.) and Terri Sewell (Ala.).

Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fla., led a letter including three other House Democrats backing Charter Communications' proposed buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. “While we respect and commend your task of holding Charter’s proposed transaction to the highest levels of scrutiny, we urge you to recognize Charter’s existing commitments to diversity and inclusion, customer service, and quality broadband access for all Americans,” they said in a Wednesday letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, not released publicly. The deal, if approved, “would only continue to raise standards across the industry,” they said. The other signatories to the letter are Reps. Joyce Beatty (Ohio), Gregory Meeks (N.Y.) and Terri Sewell (Ala.).

Five more House members signed on as co-sponsors to the Local Radio Freedom Act (H. Con. Res. 16), said an NAB news release (http://bit.ly/1juGLeS) Tuesday: Reps. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio; Bill Foster, D-Ill.; Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash.; David Jolly, R-Fla.; and Derek Kilmer, D-Wash. The resolution has 231 co-sponsors in the House (http://1.usa.gov/1ksHOam). The resolution would oppose “'any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge’ on local broadcast radio stations,” said NAB. The musicFirst coalition is targeting Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and David Price, D-N.C., to condemn their support of the act (CD July 11 p13) .

Five more House members signed on as co-sponsors to the Local Radio Freedom Act (H. Con. Res. 16), said an NAB news release (http://bit.ly/1juGLeS) Tuesday: Reps. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio; Bill Foster, D-Ill.; Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash.; David Jolly, R-Fla.; and Derek Kilmer, D-Wash. The resolution has 231 co-sponsors in the House (http://1.usa.gov/1ksHOam). The resolution would oppose “'any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge’ on local broadcast radio stations,” said NAB. The musicFirst coalition is targeting Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and David Price, D-N.C., to condemn their support of the act (WID July 11 p10).

The Stored Communications Act (SCA) does not protect against unauthorized access of a user’s email, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled last week (http://xrl.us/bntu4j). The opinion, written by Justice Kaye Hearn, reversed a lower court’s ruling that the SCA protected a man’s Yahoo email account that was accessed without his permission by his wife’s daughter-in-law after he admitted to his wife that he had been communicating with an extramarital romantic interest via email. The court had “misunderstood the definition of electronic storage under the Act and incorrectly concluded that the emails had been stored for the purpose of backup protection,” Hearn wrote. To be protected by the SCA, she said, the emails would have to be in “temporary, intermediate storage” and “for the purposes of backup protection,” although she noted that most courts only require it to meet one of those factors. Citing the Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition for “backup” -- “one that serves as a substitute or support” -- Hearn rejected the idea that “retaining an opened email constitutes storing it for backup protection under the Act.” “As the single copy of the communication,” she wrote, the man’s emails “could not have been stored for backup protection.” Because the emails did not fit the definition of electronic storage set forth by the act, the SCA does not apply, Hearn wrote, saying the ruling “should in no way be read as condoning [the daughter-in-law’s] behavior.” Chief Justice Jean Toal wrote an opinion concurring with the results of Hearn’s opinion but disagreeing with its interpretation of the SCA and arguing that “electronic storage” includes content in “temporary, intermediate storage” and “for the purposes of backup protection.” Focusing on the “temporary, intermediate” language of the law, Toal wrote, “if an email has been received by a recipient’s service provider but has not yet been opened by the recipient, it is in electronic storage. ... When the recipient opens the email, however, the communication reaches its final destination,” and any “retained copy is no longer in electronic storage because it is no longer in ’temporary, intermediate storage.'” Toal partially attributed the difficulty of applying the law to changes in technology that have happened since the SCA was enacted in 1986. “The SCA is ill-fitted to address many modern day issues,” she wrote, “but it is the Court’s duty to interpret, not legislate.” Justice Donald Beatty concurred with Toal’s opinion. Justice Costa Pleicones wrote a brief opinion concurring in result with Hearn but stating that the definition for electronic storage should include anything that meets either the “temporary, intermediate” or the “for the purposes of backup” qualifications.

The Stored Communications Act (SCA) does not protect against unauthorized access of a user’s email, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled last week (http://xrl.us/bntu4j). The opinion, written by Justice Kaye Hearn, reversed a lower court’s ruling that the SCA protected a man’s Yahoo email account that was accessed without his permission by his wife’s daughter-in-law after he admitted to his wife that he had been communicating with an extramarital romantic interest via email. The court had “misunderstood the definition of electronic storage under the Act and incorrectly concluded that the emails had been stored for the purpose of backup protection,” Hearn wrote. To be protected by the SCA, she said, the emails would have to be in “temporary, intermediate storage” and “for the purposes of backup protection,” although she noted that most courts only require it to meet one of those factors. Citing the Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition for “backup” -- “one that serves as a substitute or support” -- Hearn rejected the idea that “retaining an opened email constitutes storing it for backup protection under the Act.” “As the single copy of the communication,” she wrote, the man’s emails “could not have been stored for backup protection.” Because the emails did not fit the definition of electronic storage set forth by the act, the SCA does not apply, Hearn wrote, saying the ruling “should in no way be read as condoning [the daughter-in-law’s] behavior.” Chief Justice Jean Toal wrote an opinion concurring with the results of Hearn’s opinion but disagreeing with its interpretation of the SCA and arguing that “electronic storage” includes content in “temporary, intermediate storage” and “for the purposes of backup protection.” Focusing on the “temporary, intermediate” language of the law, Toal wrote, “if an email has been received by a recipient’s service provider but has not yet been opened by the recipient, it is in electronic storage. ... When the recipient opens the email, however, the communication reaches its final destination,” and any “retained copy is no longer in electronic storage because it is no longer in ’temporary, intermediate storage.'” Toal partially attributed the difficulty of applying the law to changes in technology that have happened since the SCA was enacted in 1986. “The SCA is ill-fitted to address many modern day issues,” she wrote, “but it is the Court’s duty to interpret, not legislate.” Justice Donald Beatty concurred with Toal’s opinion. Justice Costa Pleicones wrote a brief opinion concurring in result with Hearn but stating that the definition for electronic storage should include anything that meets either the “temporary, intermediate” or the “for the purposes of backup” qualifications.

PHOENIX -- As video margins slice into specialty AV dealers’ earnings, audio is looking better and better as a profit source, Home Technology Specialists Association members told us at their spring meeting. Although some sources said it was “like returning to their roots,” it’s new music sources that are driving the interest in high-performance audio. Streaming services such as Pandora, Rhapsody, Napster and Amazon’s cloud-based service are bringing customers to stores to learn more about the offerings and, in many cases, to get help in setting up systems for use around the home.

The SEC added four former Nortel executives to a fraud complaint against colleagues, it said Wednesday. The SEC wants an injunction, a civil fine, a ban on the defendants working as officers or directors of public companies, and relinquishment by them of profits from the fraud, it said in an amended SEC v. Dunn complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for New York’s Southern District.

LAS VEGAS -- Telcos are only beginning to spend money on IPTV and next-generation networks, but they're starting to decide how, vendors said on the show floor at the TelecomNext convention here. “The big money will be spent over the next few years,” Anne Coulombe, SeaChange dir.-product mktg., said: “This is still nascent, but the big decisions are being made now.”