BERKELEY, Calif. -- The U.S. State Department and the U.N. are ready to launch efforts to harness advanced digital communications for human-rights work, participants said at the Advancing the New Machine conference at the University of California. A U.N. program is opening at the end of the summer in Kampala, Uganda, the first of a series of Pulse Labs planned around the world to bring together researchers and activists from government, academia and nonprofits to use information about changes in the use of communication services for early-warning systems about crises hitting vulnerable populations, said Robert Kirkpatrick, director of the U.N. Global Pulse program.

Many Tennis Channel advertisers also buy spots on Comcast’s sports networks, the administrative law judge overseeing the network’s case against the cable operator was told Tuesday. There’s a large overlap between top advertisers on the channel and those who also buy ads on Comcast’s Golf Channel and Versus, Tennis Channel Senior Vice President Gary Herman testified. He said the independent channel’s growth in ad dollars and subscribers has been curtailed by Comcast’s refusal to move it to a more widely purchased tier of cable service (CD April 26 p6). A lawyer for Comcast asked Herman about a dozen questions on other channels not owned by the cable operator that have even more advertiser overlap.

The 1755-1780 MHz band is ideal for wireless broadband, and should be reallocated as quickly as possible, CTIA, 4G Americas and the carriers filing comments told the FCC. The band has been identified by NTIA as its top priority for evaluation. Carriers have long sought to have the band paired with the AWS-3 spectrum for eventual auction. The FCC’s Spectrum Task Force had sought comment on various bands identified by NTIA as potentially suitable for wireless broadband. Comments were due Friday.

The Senate Commerce Committee hopes next month to mark up a spectrum bill by Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., multiple Senate aides said. Democratic and Republican staffs are trying to merge the Rockefeller bill with the draft Wireless Innovation and Spectrum Enhancement (WISE) Act by Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, they said. The combined bill could later meet a roadblock if more conservative senators balk on the government paying broadcasters for spectrum the broadcasters never paid for, said one Senate aide.

Wisconsin Republicans Rep. Mark Honadel and Sen. Rich Zipperer circulated a draft bill that would update the state telecom law. The bill is expected to be introduced soon after the Tuesday deadline for co-sponsorship. Two coalitions fought over the proposed mandate on payment of intrastate access charges on VoIP.

The FCC Technological Advisory Committee (TAC) put heavy emphasis on recommendations for getting wireless and wireline for broadband built more quickly in its interim report released Monday. The report also stressed the role femtocells could play in more-efficient use of spectrum. TAC Chairman Tom Wheeler said members of the group continue to meet frequently and more recommendations, including several on the future of IPV6, are coming, likely this summer. The initial report made eight recommendations.

Congressional privacy committees are gearing up to scrutinize Apple and Google’s mobile location tracking policies. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy Chairman Al Franken, D-Minn., will head a hearing next month and House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus Co-Chairman Ed Markey, D-Mass., plans a congressional investigation. Lawmakers are particularly concerned that unencrypted location tracking could make the millions of children who use smartphones more vulnerable to predators. About 13 percent of all iPhone users and 7 percent of all Android users are under the age of 18, according to a 2010 AdMob survey.

Much of the start of a program carriage hearing against Comcast dealt with whether an independently owned sports channel seeking broader distribution on the company’s systems is similar to other networks owned by the cable operator. Chief FCC Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel heard from both sides Monday in Tennis Channel v. Comcast. He agreed to our request to make as much as possible of the hearing open to the public, after much of past program carriage cases were held in private, and said he'd try to release documents more quickly to the public, after some delays.

Most public officials, consumer advocates and industry executives opposed capping the Lifeline and Link-Up programs, in comments to the FCC. But Verizon backed the cap and suggested that the FCC create a voucher program and a central administrator to watch the fund, and the Mississippi Public Service Commission said the FCC should “seriously consider” a cap, “then a state-by-state cap for the low-income fund may offer some promise.” “In fact, an indexed national cap that considers the unique circumstances of each state, especially from the perspective of poverty rates, per capita personal income, levels and unemployment, is worthy of additional review,” the Mississippi regulators said. But the cap should be scrapped “if low-income persons will be deprived of needed support,” the Mississippi commission said.

The sudden resignation of Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., opened the ranking member seat on the Senate Communications Subcommittee. Ensign said late Thursday he would resign effective May 3. A replacement hasn’t been picked, but multiple communications lobbyists said Friday they view Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., as a strong contender to lead subcommittee Republicans. However, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, outranks DeMint in seniority.