OVERNIGHT TECH: Online piracy battle keeps escalating

Spectrum bill could be included in payroll tax proposal: Republicans are considering including Rep. Greg Walden’s (R-Ore.)
spectrum bill in a proposal to extend the payroll tax holiday, Speaker
John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office confirmed on Wednesday. The
spectrum legislation, which could raise as much as $15 billion through
government auctions of airwaves, could help offset the cost of extending
a payroll tax holiday and federal unemployment benefits. Republicans
have insisted that the payroll tax deal not increase the deficit.

Reps. Upton, Walden question FCC release of AT&T staff report: Two top GOP lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent
a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius
Genachowki on Wednesday, questioning his decision to publicly release
his agency’s analysis of the proposed merger between AT&T and
T-Mobile. In the letter, Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep.
Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the subpanel on Communications and
Technology, ask whether Genachowski consulted with the other
commissioners and whether the FCC has ever released another report under
similar circumstances.

ON TAP THURSDAY: 

{mosads}The Senate Commerce Committee
will vote on President Obama’s nominees to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission, a committee aide told The Hill. FCC nominees, Republican Ajit Pai and Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel,
are considered uncontroversial, but Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has
promised to block them unless the FCC releases documents related to its
review of wireless firm LightSquared. His hold would take effect when
the nominations reach the Senate floor.

Obama has nominated Maureen
Ohlhausen to the FTC and Jon Leibowitz to serve a second term as the
agency’s chairman.

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’s (ICANN) plan to
expand top-level domains so almost any word can be used as the final
part of a Web address. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz slammed the proposal in an interview with Hillicon on Wednesday.

The House Homeland Security Committee Transportation
Security subcommittee will hold a noon hearing reviewing passenger-screening
technology at U.S. airports. The technology used to screen passengers
has drawn considerable scrutiny from privacy advocates who claim the
scanners used can be invasive and that the data captured is ripe for abuse by federal
officials.

Brendan Sasso contributed to this post.