Former Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens died in a plane crash on the way to a fishing lodge in Alaska Monday night, state officials announced Tuesday. He was 86. Bill Phillips, previously an outside consultant to NCTA, was among the eight others also on the flight. Officials said there were four survivors, but named only ex-NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and his son. The plane and fishing lodge were owned by Alaskan telecom carrier GCI. The carrier didn’t immediately say what was the purpose of the outing.

Some analysts and economists see the Google-Verizon proposal as a step in the right direction, though they're skeptical of some of the principles. Tom Navin, former Wireline Bureau chief, said in a conference call hosted by Credit Suisse Tuesday that the proposal shows some frustration with negotiations on broadband reclassification at the FCC. Google and Verizon, like many other companies, are probably getting tired of uncertainty as the FCC examines net neutrality, said Navin, now with Wiley Rein. Google’s willingness to compromise takes political leverage away from the FCC, he said.

The cable industry, having sat out Monday’s deal on net neutrality between Google and Verizon, isn’t likely to take part in any future agreements between supporters and opponents of rules, industry officials said. There’s little to be gained politically from cable operators’ signing on to the Google-Verizon agreement, said pay-TV executives and lawyers. Attacks on that wireline-broadband deal by many nonprofit groups supporting net neutrality -- and the lack of support from FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, at whose behest representatives of NCTA and five other bodies met unsuccessfully to seek consensus -- show that similar deals may not have support among regulators and lawmakers, industry lawyers said.

Internet users are disarmed from protecting their privacy by confusion and lack of knowledge about technologies as old and basic as cookies, by disclosures that few understand and by assumptions that laws ban information practices that actually are lawful, research at Carnegie Mellon University found. Results of the studies from recent months were scheduled to be presented late Tuesday at the university’s Silicon Valley campus and then at policy-research conferences in October. They challenge a major prop of the industry’s promotion of self-regulation at a time that the FTC and members of Congress are closely watching, and acting on, targeted ads online and the information collection, sharing and analysis they're based on, the researchers said.

Verizon and Google unveiled Monday the details of their agreement on a proposal for net neutrality legislation, which would exempt wireless from rules except those on disclosure. The principles would create what critics say is an “insurmountable” bar for consumers to lodge complaints, requiring demonstration of actual harm. In another surprise to some observers, the proposed law would eliminate the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer protection role regarding broadband. The proposal builds on an earlier statement by the two companies on net neutrality rules.

The FCC is seeking public input on how to continue improving the data and analysis used to monitor and accelerate progress toward universal broadband, as the commission plans its next report on broadband deployment. A notice of inquiry released Friday set due dates of Sept. 7 for comments, Oct. 5 for replies.

CTIA asked the FCC to drop a proposal that spectrum licensees make a detailed renewal showing, a new requirement that the group said would be “unnecessary, vague, and burdensome” and subject to legal challenge. The objections came in response to a May 20 notice of proposed rulemaking examining how the license renewal process can be more consistent. CTIA, the Rural Cellular Association and major carriers also filed a petition for reconsideration raising legal issues about an accompanying order.

TerreStar is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company said in its Q2 10-Q filing with the SEC. The firm has struggled to find financial stability in recent years despite a launched satellite and large investments from major companies such as Harbinger Capital Partners and EchoStar. Continued operations, including the release of a new phone with AT&T scheduled for September, may depend on support from those companies, said satellite industry executives. How the filing may affect possible incentive auctions for the 2 GHz band is unclear, because the FCC just opened its proceeding on how best to encourage mobile broadband investment in the MSS bands (CD July 16 p1), said executives.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski made a round of calls to key participants in the net neutrality discussions that fell apart Thursday (CD Aug 6 p1), in the wake of a still-to-be unveiled deal between Verizon and Google, FCC and industry officials said Friday. While the commission is unlikely to host the same kind of talks that have grabbed headlines for in recent weeks, some agreement remains possible under which the FCC could avoid reclassifying broadband as a Title II service.

Commerce Committee leaders on Capitol Hill seem at loggerheads over the right approach to building a public safety network. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., on Thursday night introduced a bill to give the D-block to public safety, as expected (CD Aug 6 p9). The measure clashes with legislation being drafted by House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who wants to codify the National Broadband Plan’s recommendation to commercially auction the 700 MHz spectrum. Public safety has vocally criticized the FCC and Waxman’s approach.