Hadopi, the French anti-piracy body created by the controversial law on creation and the Internet, is facing budget cuts amid growing criticism that it’s too expensive and ineffective. The institution, dedicated to distributing protected works and safeguarding digital rights, enforces a gradual response system in which suspected infringers first receive warning emails and letters, then can be prosecuted, and, finally, face Internet cut-off. Graduated response, or “three-strikes,” has been held out as a model that other countries could use against illegal downloading. Given Hadopi’s problems, it’s hard to believe other nations will pursue it, said digital rights activists. The body may survive in France, but under a new merged regulator akin to the Office of Communications in the U.K., said Hogan Lovells (Paris) media and communications lawyer Winston Maxwell.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell will continue to push for USF contribution reform, though he still has an “open mind” about steps to take next, he said in an interview. McDowell has long championed taking on the contribution side of USF (CD Jan 9 p1). The FCC approved an order in October addressing the distribution side of USF and an order on the USF’s Lifeline program in January. In May, the FCC released a 182-page further notice of proposed rulemaking on contribution reform.

Two mobile carriers are set to expand their use of unlimited data plans, even as a new analysis shows Verizon Wireless’s shared data plans are doing well and AT&T is set to begin offering plans of its own. T-Mobile announced Wednesday that it will begin offering a new unlimited data plan option starting Sept. 5 that eliminates connection throttling. Meanwhile, MetroPCS announced late Tuesday it’s offering a new promotional rate on its existing unlimited data plan.

Cable operators would be able to buy CLECs in the same geographic area without getting both FCC permission and approval of the deals by sometimes multiple local franchise authorities, under a draft commission order, agency and industry officials said. They said the order would forbear from subjecting cable/CLEC combinations to the waiver process under Section 652(b) of the 1996 Telecom Act. The draft grants NCTA’s petition for forbearance, and if not approved by the middle of next month forbearance would automatically take effect because it would be considered to have been deemed granted (CD June 1 p19), commission and industry officials said.

Privacy stakeholders failed to agree on any substantive issues related to mobile application transparency at the second NTIA multistakeholder meeting Wednesday. Too much time is being spent on the process negotiations, stakeholders said, and real progress was dogged by disagreements on the timing, location and even the fundamental structure of the talks. The group ended the talks by voting on more than two dozen items, including whether substantive matters should be considered at the next meeting.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The text-to-911 item up for consideration will propose a regulatory framework for all wireless carriers to deliver texts to Public Safety Answering Points, and will propose a timetable for deployment, an FCC Public Safety Bureau official told the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials convention Wednesday. The item will propose implementation of a standardized “bounce back” message, requiring carriers to respond to customers who text 911 where the service is not yet available, said bureau attorney advisor Patrick Donovan. That message would direct the texter to dial 911. “We haven’t had a whole lot of pushback from carriers on this,” Donovan said. “It seems like something that is pretty easily doable.” People wouldn’t need to have a text plan in order to send a text to 911, he said. The item could be an order, a further notice of proposed rulemaking, or both; it has not yet been circulated on the eighth floor, he said.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The FirstNet board is well positioned to represent the needs of public safety, state and local organizations, NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling told the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials conference Tuesday. He and Deputy Administrator Anna Gomez went into detail on the selection process, next steps, and NTIA’s future role.

Verizon Wireless co-owner Vodafone criticized a decision by the U.K. Office of Communications to allow a U.K. mobile carrier co-owned by T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom (DT) to operate what will be that country’s first 4G LTE service. Ofcom approved an application by Everything Everywhere (EE), co-owned by DT and France Telecom, to use its 1800 MHz spectrum in the U.K. to operate the service. Ofcom-issued licenses will allow EE to start the service as soon as Sept. 11, the regulator said in a written statement.

A CSX freight train derailment damaged Verizon facilities Monday night in Ellicott City, Md. The damaged network facilities include “our fiber, which is an aerial cable (containing multiple fiber lines) along the railway bridge that was damaged when the train derailed,” a Verizon spokeswoman told us. The derailing train cars killed two teenage girls and raised questions Tuesday about the region’s rail safety and telecom reliability. Several derailed coal cars fell to a parking lot below the tracks (http://bit.ly/NeHBMT).

The 2012 version of the FCC’s annual Section 706 report released Tuesday said once again that broadband “is not yet being deployed ’to all Americans’ in a reasonable and timely fashion.” Commissioners Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai issued blistering dissents. McDowell said the FCC majority has “co-opted” the 706 process, using it to justify a “'cynical cycle’ of regulation,” including the approval of net neutrality rules in December 2010.