A draft version of the FCC’s declaratory ruling on third-party violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) would use agency law rather than strict liability to determine liability, said industry executives. While the draft could be changed while on circulation, the use of agency law would mark a partial win for commercial interests, such as Dish Network. Both commercial interests and the government have been meeting frequently with commissioners’ staff over the last week.

SEATTLE -- Sitting atop a pile of cash, Microsoft has opportunities to shake up the mobile space, challenge Amazon’s cloud dominance and undercut Google and Apple in content billing services, Seattle-area venture capitalists told a Washington Technology Industry Association forum late Wednesday. But the Redmond-based company’s time to strike is limited, said the VCs, who are all Microsoft alumni. VCs also gave a nod to LinkedIn as their theoretical favorite for investment among 2011’s tech IPOs, and predicted Amazon’s Kindle Fire would steal thunder from Apple’s iPad and perhaps morph into a cable TV-like service.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., plans to keep tabs on the FCC and Federal Emergency Management Agency as the agencies investigate glitches during last week’s national test of the Emergency Alert System. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with FEMA and FCC officials Thursday, the House Communications Subcommittee chairman said he’s asked the agencies for more information but doesn’t plan any hearings. The FCC and FEMA gave a “very good and comprehensive report,” Walden said. “I think they're on it, I think they get it, and I think they want to make it work.” A broadcasting executive told us an audio problem caused a cascade-like effect during the test, while a public-access channel executive said those networks didn’t get the message.

China Telecom Americas wants to become a mobile virtual network provider in the U.S. through wholesale partnership, CEO Donald Tan said in an interview. The largest international subsidiary of China Telecom isn’t considering acquisition opportunities now, Tan said. Meanwhile, the House Intelligence Committee will investigate security threats posed by Chinese telecom companies working in the U.S. The probe includes everything related to the cellular supply chain but the scope may narrow later, a committee spokeswoman said.

The FCC’s proposed rules for broadband outage reporting “would go too far” and be too “burdensome,” NTCA and OPASTCO said in a letter posted to docket 11-82. The rural associations differed with the rest of industry by supporting “certain reasonable outage reporting requirements on interconnected VoIP.” NTCA and OPASTCO said this was a “significant” departure from the rest of industry (CD Nov 15 p3).

The FTC is making an effort to build its expertise on antitrust policy and enforcement concerning the technology industry, said Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “As the American economy and FTC portfolio become more and more focused on technology and e-commerce, our need for expertise is greater still,” he said Thursday during a Washington forum by the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section. Technological platforms have come to play a central role in the economy, he said: Although they create great value, they raise “complex consumer protection and competition issues."

SAN FRANCISCO -- The legal system must recognize information law as a cohesive field crossing several traditional doctrines and the world’s many jurisdictions, to lay a good foundation for a long era of new rules supporting innovation, said Kent Walker, Google’s general counsel. “If you get that foundation wrong, the house is going to go off in a funky direction,” he said at the Corporate Counsel West Coast Conference. And in-house lawyers should stop being largely naysayers and become agents of change with regulators and those at other companies in addition to within their own, he said.

ATLANTA -- Taking its cue from such major cable operators as Cablevision Systems and Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications intends to start streaming live TV channels to iPads and possibly other computer tablets in subscribers’ homes before the year’s end.

The FCC is considering capping the Link Up program, requiring what it’s calling “full certification” that customers are actually poor and may require Lifeline vendors to offer bundled broadband and voice service, telecom officials said. Staff is trying to finish an order on Lifeline for the December meeting and lobbyists are flooding the eighth floor hoping to prevent a cap, certification and bundling requirements, ex parte notices in docket 11-42 showed.

Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., has recurring concerns about whether the FCC’s Universal Service Fund order, approved last month, does enough to spur the growth of wireless (CD Oct 28 p1), the vice chairman of the House Communications Subcommittee said Wednesday at a National Journal conference on the future of technology. Spectrum and regulatory reform largely dominated the discussions.