A New York cable company isn’t happy at the statements its new union has been making about its Internet speeds. New York-based Cablevision sued Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1109 and District 1 for defamation Wednesday in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the state’s highest civil trial court, located in Mineola. The complaint named both elements of CWA as well as two people -- District 1 union organizer Tim Dubnau and Local 1109 Executive Vice President Chris Calabrese -- in their individual capacities, but the union denies any fault.

Copyright interests’ efforts to make broadband subscribers more accountable for the traffic flowing over their home networks conflicts with the aims of a group of advocates, led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), that’s working to woo ISPs to show more leeway. The Open Wireless Movement (OWM), which began in October (CD Nov 1 p8), aims to work with ISPs to make their terms of service more friendly to subscribers who want to open their networks, EFF activist Adi Kamdar told us. The Copyright Alert System (CAS) by contrast urges ISP subscribers to secure Wi-Fi points or else suffer degraded Internet service for others’ infringement. CAS “will encourage, but not require, customers who have received a Copyright Alert to secure their wireless networks,” said Jill Lesser, executive director of the Center for Copyright Information, the organization created to design and administer CAS, in a statement.

A brief by the FCC filed last week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit defended the agency’s decision to largely let its so-called viewability rule expire earlier this year. The rule was enacted to help must-carry TV stations retain viewers through the DTV transition, a technology change that broadcasters completed before the entire cable industry had; it required hybrid digital and analog cable systems to deliver must-carry stations to viewers in both formats. But times and technology have changed in the years since the FCC adopted the requirements in 2007, the brief said. Agape Church, the NAB and others appealed the FCC’s decision to let the rule expire and the court denied their request to stay the sunset (CD Sept 25 p18).

The track record of wireline carriers in Phase I of the Connect America Fund (CAF) program versus that of wireless carriers in Phase I of the Mobility Fund demonstrates that wireless deserves more funding in the revised high-cost USF program, the Competitive Carriers Association said in comments filed at the commission. On Nov. 27, the FCC sought comment on Phase II of the mobility program, which will provide up to $500 million each year in continuing support. CTIA also offered suggestions, while acknowledging that comments were tough to write since the program is still taking shape.

Some at the FCC are considering whether to allow waivers of media ownership rules for some types of arrangements that are barred under draft rules involving TV stations, agency and industry officials said. They said in interviews that some Media Bureau staff members are considering a waiver process for joint sales agreements where a TV station brokers ads for another outlet in the market, when spots on the second station in the JSA exceed 15 percent of that broadcaster’s commercials. A draft order ending the 2010 quadrennial media ownership review would require the attribution of such JSAs to the station doing the brokering within two years (CD Nov 15 p1). That would mean many of the JSAs would need to be renegotiated so the arrangements don’t violate ownership rules, reducing their cost savings, said executives at companies that own brokering stations. There are more than 100 stations in JSAs (CD Nov 29 p5).

The new leaders of the House and Senate committees with cybersecurity authority are already developing a plan to bolster laws and guidelines they hope will protect networks from attack. In separate interviews, incoming House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., incoming chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said it’s crucial to form relationships now that will help them break the cybersecurity impasse of the current Congress. Meanwhile, the White House said it continues to meet with the private sector to help craft a cybersecurity executive order aimed at securing the nation’s computer and communications networks.

Law firms filed three lawsuits involving Google and Viacom, seeking class-action status Friday, alleging violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) and Wiretap Act. Except for their state-level claims, the suits are nearly identical and were filed in federal courts not known as common venues for privacy complaints. They claim that Google’s DoubleClick placed tracking cookies without parents’ consent on the browsers of children under 13 who visited Viacom’s Nick.com and Nickjr.com.

This month’s data roaming decision figured prominently in Verizon and MetroPCS’s net neutrality reply brief to the same court Friday. The carriers argued that in contrast to the FCC’s rules requiring data roaming, net neutrality rules clearly imposed “per se common carriage” obligations on broadband providers. The carriers also argued the rules violated the First and Fifth amendments. The agency looks forward to defending the open Internet order in court, a commission spokesman told us. “This strong and balanced framework is helping ensure that the Internet continues to thrive as an engine for innovation, investment, job creation, and free expression."

WiscNet continues to be a point of contention in the Wisconsin Legislature and among telcos. Some see the nonprofit association, which provides broadband to around 500 members, as unfairly competing against private industry. A report from the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau last week sparked many reactions among stakeholders and led to attacks against the association as well inspired defenders. The audit identified “inappropriate and illegal activity” in the controversial relationship between the University of Wisconsin (UW) and cooperative provider WiscNet, said the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association, repeating charges it has made throughout the last year. UW and WiscNet disagree with the interpretation and see the audit as positive. WiscNet serves many of the state’s schools, libraries, state agencies, the legislature and university system but will be legally required to disconnect from the universities next year due to last year’s political battles.

The results of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) show the West must find ways to enable developing-world participation in the current multistakeholder Internet governance model, said Philip Verveer, U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy and a member of the U.S. WCIT delegation, at an Internet Governance Forum event Friday.