Headlines

China will not guarantee it won't censor the Internet over this summer's Beijing Olympics, nor can it guarantee to stamp out piracy of Olympic-branded goods, officials said on Thursday. Wang Wei, executive vice president of the Beijing Olympic organizers, had promised media would have "complete freedom" to report over the event, but rights groups have regularly criticized China's commitment to that pledge.
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSPEK14583520080508

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission will gain the power to limit local, basic phone rates in the state under a bill that passed the Colorado legislature this week. The legislation reauthorizing all the powers of the PUC removes a state law capping base phone rates and instead puts rate limits in the regulatory body's duties.

The race to bring consumers ultrafast wireless Internet service is on. As early as Wednesday, an unlikely alliance of titans from the cable, Internet and chip industries will disclose they are investing $3.2 billion in a company that will deliver Web access for cellphones and laptops at speeds much faster than what is available today using a technology called WiMax.

House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) has written Department of Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez concerning the department's relationship with the Internet Corporation for Assigned names and Numbers (ICANN). The Dingell letter asks Secretary Gutierrez to answer the following questions within two weeks: 1) Does the Dept of Commerce intend to continue its oversight role of ICANN, 2) In what way does the Dept of Commerce intend to continue that role, 3) Does the Dept intend to ensure that the key facilities of the root server system continue to be housed in the United States, and 4) How does the Dept intend to ensure that ICANN fulfill its commitment to remain headquartered in the US.
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/110-ltr.050608.DOC.ICANN.pdf

Hard-hitting journalism is nearing extinction on television, and the Federal Communications Commission just threw another shovelful of dirt on its grave when it recently ruled that Rupert Murdoch's broadcast of TMZ and Pat Robertson's 700 Club meet the test for "a bona fide newscast." Bona fide newscast? Here's why the FCC decision matters.

House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) and Rep Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), a senior member of the House Committee on Appropriations, want to know whether news networks bear any culpability related to a Department of Defense program to recruit ex-military officers to talk up Iraq and other policies on TV, online and elsewhere.

Hopes for a last-minute breakthrough in negotiations between Hollywood studios and the Screen Actors Guild were dashed Tuesday when contract talks ended on a bitter note, fueling anxiety over the prospect of another strike.

The National Association of Broadcasters weighed in Tuesday in support of the FCC's decision to loosen the newspaper/broadcast crossownership rules. Actually, broadcasters, including NAB, don't love the change. In fact they have taken the FCC to court over it because they believe it is not deregulatory enough.

April showers, of course, bring May flowers. But the first full month of Spring also witnessed the flowering of a number of key telecommunications debates. Just add water and -- presto -- there's some controversy.