“Federal Communications Commission” on The Daily Caller

Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, told The Daily Caller that the Federal Communications Commission’s “net neutrality” rules demonstrate a “fundamental disregard of the Constitution.” Hutchison said the rules are an attempt by the Obama administration to regulate the “one economic engine in America that is thriving.” (more)

There is an effort within the United Nations – led by Russia, China and a coalition of developing nations with authoritarian regimes — to control the Internet, and 2012 may be a crucial year for opposition to such a shift, a key U.S. overseer warned Thursday. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department said Friday it wants to withdraw or postpone its antitrust case against the proposed merger between AT&T Inc. and smaller rival T-Mobile USA now that the two companies no longer have a valid application to approve the deal. (more)

Mobile phone service has become a key battleground in the new progressive era in which we live. A small minority of political activists claim to be worried that cell phones could become a consumer rip-off without government intervention. They are pressuring the Federal Communications Commission to torpedo a merger between AT&T and T-Mobile. (more)

Ten years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, a new amendment to a House bill to provide police officers and firemen with the electromagnetic spectrum frequencies needed to improve their communications networks could possibly sink the whole bill in the Senate. The communications bill is designed to prevent the problems during September 11, when first responders died because police and fire departments could not communicate with each other. (RELATED: Spectrum: What it is, and why it matters) (more)

At the Senate Commerce Committee’s confirmation hearings for Federal Communications Commission nominees Wednesday, Republican nominee Ajit Pai — previously employed by at Jenner & Block, the law firm representing clients in the AT&T/T-Mobile deal — told Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison that he “would not feel any prejudice” towards a client of his former firm. (more)

The Federal Communications Commission announced Tuesday that it had approved requests from AT&T and T-Mobile to withdraw their merger applications, filed in April. (more)

AT&T and T-Mobile USA’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, withdrew applications for Federal Communications Commission  approval of their controversial and highly contested $39 billion merger Wednesday. The telecommunications giants made the decision to temporarily withdraw from the approval process one day after FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that he would seek an additional hearing that threatened to sink the proposed merger. (more)

The Federal Communications Commission’s “Open Internet” rules — also known as net neutrality — took effect Sunday, after a year-long battle in Congress. Some market-based technology experts, however, have expressed doubt that the rules will be upheld when the case comes before the federal appellate court in 2012. (more)

The U.S. Senate voted 46-52 along partisan lines, shooting down a Republican effort to stop the Federal Communications Commission from regulating the Internet through net neutrality. (more)

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio delivered a speech before Senate colleagues Wednesday in defense of the Internet of the future. His speech came during a floor debate on the Republican-led effort to overturn the FCC’s Internet regulation, which is set to take effect November 20. (more)

Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison had a message for Democratic Sen. Al Franken during Wednesday’s Senate floor debate to overturn the Federal Communication Commission’s Internet regulation: “We didn’t have net neutrality in 2005.” (more)

Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) President Grover Norquist sent a letter to senators on Tuesday, informing them that their vote on net neutrality may be considered in ATR’s yearly congressional scorecards, which rate congressmen based on their votes. The Senate floor debate to overturn the Federal Communication Commission’s Internet regulation took place on Wednesday in preparation for a vote expected Thursday. (more)

The White House delivered a widely expected statement Tuesday, saying that it will veto any legislation to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s “Open Internet” regulations. (more)

Last Friday, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) — the trade association that represents Britain’s recorded music industry — sent a letter to London-based global telecommunications services corporation BT Group asking them to block user access to The Pirate Bay, an intellectual property piracy website based in Sweden. Tech writers and Internet service providers (ISP) are skeptical of the effectiveness of such measures given the defiant, tech-saavy demographic BPI is attempting thwart. (more)

The Campaign Legal Center and the Sunlight Foundation last week supported the FCC’s proposed requirement for full disclosure of broadcast campaign ad funding. Both organizations acknowledge recent funding from prominent progressive foundations while either publishing research in support of the FCC’s proposed rule change or actually petitioning the FCC for the change. (more)

Political pressure by liberal media reform groups is seen by some conservatives as the reason for last week’s FCC vote to seek public comment on proposed full disclosure rules.  (more)

President Barack Obama announced Monday evening his Federal Communications Commissioner nominations: Ajit Varadaraj Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel. The candidates — a Republican and a Democrat, respectively — bring to the positions years of telecommunications and Capitol Hill experience. (more)

Rural communications just got a boost from the Federal Communications Commission with a bipartisan vote by four commissioners setting into action the Connect America Fund — a modernization plan to help extend high-speed Internet to rural areas. (more)

Even as I type, President Barack Obama is rolling along on his Canadian bus-fueled (he couldn’t go Government Motors?) “Re-Elect Me” Tour. (more)