Changing the Wiretap Act to ban video surveillance could cause more problems than it solves, a former federal prosecutor said Monday at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Crime Subcommittee in Philadelphia. Chairman Arlen Specter, D-Pa., the only lawmaker at the hearing, said he will introduce a bill to expand to still pictures and video the legal protection given oral communications, according to media reports. We couldn’t reach his office for comment. Several civil-liberties groups also said they will propose Tuesday changes in the underlying Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

Ericsson won $1.8 billion in contracts to provide equipment to two of China’s largest operators, China Mobile and China Unicom, the manufacturer said Monday. The manufacturer still is likely to see growth in China slow down this year after the three major Chinese operators cut their investments in 3G, analysts said.

An FCC order signed by the chiefs of the International and Wireless Bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology imposed conditions on Harbinger Capital Partners Funds’ acquisition of SkyTerra that effectively single out AT&T and Verizon Wireless for special treatment. It prohibits SkyTerra from leasing spectrum to either carrier without commission approval. The order was criticized by Verizon Wireless and AT&T, which both said executives had no warning the stipulation was coming. Despite the $1.8 billion involved and the controversial conditions, the two bureaus and OET approved the acquisition on delegated authority.

The Senate and the House late Thursday passed a 30-day extension for the license allowing satellite TV companies to import distant signals. The license was set to expire at the end of the month. The legislation (S-3186) gives DBS providers and legislators until the end of April to pass another extension or a longer-term reauthorization. It’s the third time the license, which was originally set to expire at the end of 2009, has gotten a reprieve. The measure was passed without debate in both houses. The Senate also passed a 10-year reauthorization of the distant signal license Friday.

GENEVA -- The ITU Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) has begun consultations with countries and satellite companies over discrepancies found between satellite networks logged in the master register and their actual use. The BR also started to enforce certain regulatory provisions by removing unused frequency assignments from the register when their use hasn’t been suspended as required. A BR study showed about 10 to 15 percent of geostationary positions with satellite networks recorded in the register may not be in regular operation.

The FCC needs more data before it can make any decisions about whether to move forward on allocating spectrum to an advertising-supported free or low-cost broadband service, one of the suggestions in the National Broadband Plan, Blair Levin, executive director of the FCC’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative, said Friday during a taping of C-SPAN’s The Communicators, to be telecast over the weekend. Levin also responded to criticisms of the plan from both Democrats and Republicans that were voiced during last week’s House hearing on the plan.

Historically non-regulated media companies are approaching the FCC’s Future of Media proceeding cautiously, industry officials said. Most newspapers will leave it to their trade associations to file comments, and some question the agency’s jurisdiction in the area. “I don’t expect them [our members] to file anything that is exhaustive,” said Newspaper Association of America President John Sturm. “It just doesn’t seem to warrant that, at least from the newspaper side. I don’t know what they'll do with regard to their broadcast interests,” he said. “The bottom line is there will be some general information filed on a respectable basis to the commission, but unlikely to be any kind of serious data dump."

TORONTO -- Seeking to “encourage the creation of high-quality Canadian television programs,” the Canadian Radio-TV and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is for the first time imposing spending requirements on the nation’s three largest private, English-language broadcasters.

Debate over the FCC’s authority to regulate the Internet heated up at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday on the National Broadband Plan. Republicans strongly opposed the FCC invoking Title II of the Communications Act if the commission loses an effort to persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that it can regulate broadband under Title I. But Democrats seemed open to the possibility. Lawmakers from the two parties differed on plan details but praised the FCC for hard work and ambition. “Y'all have done as good as could be done,” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the Commerce Committee’s ranking member.