While the two administrations certainly have their differences, the Obama administration is following the Bush administration's lead on a number of fronts -- specifically in terms of surveillance and privacy in the digital age. According to the Washington Post, the Obama camp is working to make it easier for the FBI to compel your ISP to turn over your online activity records without a court order "if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation:"Of course the problem has traditionally been that the FBI (and major carriers) haven't been particularly good at following the law, and the FBI has consistently faked terrorism emergencies to get access to whatever data they're looking for. As the Post notes, the government portrays these desired changes as technical clarification to resolve legal ambiguity, while privacy watchdogs and others note it's simply an expansion of government power and extended use of "national security letters," which have been abused extensively by both government and companies like AT&T.

Update: Amusingly, the Los Angeles Times today is running a related piece discussing how the FBI is being investigated for agents cheating on a test designed to help them avoid the kind of privacy and wiretap abuse the agency has been repeatedly called out for in recent years.

Phone Scoop noticed a few documents in the ever-compelling FCC document pile that reference a new and somewhat different product from ZTE that's set to launch via Sprint. From the documents, it appears to be some kind of sleeve that can be wrapped around the iPod Touch but has no physical connection to the device. Instead, it appears that the device is essentially a tiny 3G hotspot integrated into a case, allowing users to easily connect their iPod Touch to the Sprint 3G network. Like many of these mobile hotspots, this one comes with integrated GPS and supports up to five additional devices via Wi-Fi. Full documents and photos for the device are available here at the FCC website.

Turner Broadcasting and Verizon have announced that the two companies have expanded Verizon's "TV Anywhere" Internet video ambitions by providing FiOS TV customers with access to TBS and TNT content. According to the companies, users will now have access to show from these channels 24 hours after they air on regular TV. Users can access the content either through the TV Everywhere website for TBS, The TV Everywhere website for TNT, or the Verizon FiOS TV Online website. The walled garden video technology being used is provided by both Adobe Systems Incorporated and FreeWheel.

According to Reuters, Research In Motion is expected to hold a joint announcement next Tuesday to unveil the new BlackBerry 9800, which will feature a new operating system, a revamped web browser and full slide-out keyboard. While the new 9800 will be unveiled next week, it won't officially hit store shelves until mid-August. Early leaks also seem to hint at a looming Storm 3 phone that should launch late this year on Verizon. The phone (like the 9800) is RIM's attempt to play catch up with Android by incorporating features like a portable 3G hotspot, 802.11N Wi-Fi, more RAM, and a 5 megapixel camera.

• The 10 U.S. Cities With The Fastest Broadband [sfgate.com]
• Turner's TV Everywhere Goes Live With Verizon FiOS TV [multichannel.com]
• Former House Energy & Commerce Committee Chair To Genachowski: Abandon Title II Plan [multichannel.com]
• UK population to be guaranteed mobile 768Kb/sec service [theregister.co.uk]
• Broadband and Live Video, A Lifestyle Need [isedb.com]
• Pacnet, Pacific Fiber to build Australia-US cable [reuters.com]
• AT&T claims it will be 'the premier carrier' for Windows Phone 7 [engadget.com]
• Researcher 'leaks' 100 million Facebook IDs [tgdaily.com]

• Just two Chinese ISPs serve 20% of world broadband users [arstechnica.com]
• What does it take to migrate from WiMAX to LTE? [fiercebroadbandwireless.com]
• British Watchdog: Google Wi-Fi Data Contains Nothing Significant [maximumpc.com]
• Will LightSquared succeed with its LTE ambitions? [fiercewireless.com]
• What your phone app doesn't say: It's watching [msnbc.com]
• Google's licensing changes could put a lid on Android app piracy [cnet.com]
• UK Government Confirms Long-Awaited Spectrum Auction [eweekeurope.co.uk]
• Apple to investigate iOS 4 problems on iPhone 3G [cnet.com]

Now basing their determinations on real data and not just lobbyist Powerpoint presentations, the FCC earlier this month released a study highlighting U.S. broadband coverage gaps.

Verizon's transfer of millions of DSL and landline customers to Frontier Communications has gone smoothly so far, if a lack of complaints in our Frontier forum are any indication. Unsurprisingly we're seeing more difficulty in markets Verizon neglected for years (like West Virginia).

Sprint today posted their second quarter earnings, which show that while the company posted a quarterly loss of $760 million, the company saw their first subscriber gain in nearly three years. While the company lost 55,000 subscribers under its multiple brands (Boost, Sprint, Virgin Mobile), and lost 228,000 contract subscribers, the company managed a net gain of 111,000 subscribers -- mostly thanks to wholesale and affiliate subscribers added through resellers. The company says they've seen some help from the sale of the HTC EVO, though supply constraints continue to be a thorn in Sprint's side.

Comcast has released their second quarter earnings, which indicate the company saw earnings slip 8.6% due to costs related to their proposed union with NBC Universal. The company posted a net income of $884 million on the quarter, but dealt with $22 million in operating expenses and $37 million in financing costs incurred from the NBC Universal deal (hiring a massive army of lobbyists, lawyers and politicians is rather expensive).

According to a coming study by wireless billing Vendor Validas, Verizon Wireless smartphone users officially use more data than iPhone users on the AT&T network. According to Validas, the average monthly wireless data consumption for Verizon Wireless Smartphones is 421 megabytes per month, versus 338 megabytes per month for iPhones.

Sprint's supposed merger with T-Mobile is quickly becoming a rumor staple of the telecom sector right alongside other great buyout rumors that never seem to materialize -- like AT&T's acquisition of DirecTV, or Time Warner Cable's acquisition of Cablevision. Earlier this month Sprint CEO Dan Hesse rekindled the rumors by claiming a union of the two companies "makes sense" -- as long as they're working on the same fourth-generation technology. Now Forbes makes the case that new emergency network bills (which we covered here) could result in T-Mobile and Sprint being forced into a super-union for spectrum's sake.

According to Multichannel News, cable overbuilder Knology is preparing to buy Kansas-based cable broadband operator Sunflower Broadband (see our user reviews). The deal, which is estimated to be worth around $127 million, will involve the transfer of roughly 30,000 cable and telephone subscribers in Lawrence, Eudora and Douglas counties in Kansas (in contrast, Knology has about 600,000 RGUs). Sunflower was among the first to implement the idea of low caps and high overages ($2 for each additional gigabyte). However, the company has slowly been raising their caps as AT&T begins pushing uncapped U-Verse service harder into their markets. Sunflower customers may be interested to learn that Knology has no caps and is pushing forward with DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades.

• Privacy Lawsuit Targets Net Giants Over ‘Zombie’ Cookies [wired.com]
• Mobile-TV Push Gets Fuzzy Reception [wsj.com]
• Australia's largest telco fined AU$18.5 million for blocking broadband competitors [canadianbusiness.com]
• Kerry Will Push for Online Privacy Legislation [multichannel.com]
• Second Student Sues School District Over Webcam Spying [wired.com]
• Netflix Reaches 15 Million Subscribers as Streaming Grows [convergedigest.com]
• Knology Close To Sunflower Buy [multichannel.com]
• Firefox and Chrome security patches released [v3.co.uk]

• D Block Decision May Prompt T-Mobile/Sprint Marriage [forbes.com]
• FCC Chief: Broadband Authority Key to Cybersecurity, Privacy [multichannel.com]
• iPhone not king pig: Verizon 3G phone users gobble most data [arstechnica.com]
• For An Industry Being Destroyed By 'File Sharing,' Film Industry Keeps Reporting Record Numbers [techdirt.com]
• UK falls off list of world's fastest broadband locations [v3.co.uk]
• UK ISP TalkTalk Snoops On Customers’ Web Activity [eweekeurope.co.uk]
• Video Is Dead; Focus On Mobile, Broadband, Commercial: Analyst [multichannel.com]
• Out-of-Stock Droid X Is Best-Selling Android Phone [yahoo.com]
• Apple Responds to iPhone Jailbreaking Decision [foxnews.com]
• AT&T will support Straight Talk prepaid service [fiercewireless.com]

For months tipsters have told us that a 100 Mbps Comcast residential tier is getting very close to launch, with those insiders telling us Comcast would like to hit 20% of their markets with the ultra-fast tier by the end of this year. The looming super tier has been confirmed by some bill insert notifications that began circulating back in June. Light Reading points out that there's flyers making the rounds in Denver that get significantly more specific, the ads promoting an as-yet-unlaunched 105/10 Mbps tier for $199.95 per month (plus a $250 installation fee). Still no word on launch markets or whether that 250 GB cap will apply, and Comcast still won't officially confirm any details to us other than the fact the tier is "coming soon."

In an attempt to beat back cable rivals, Qwest has launched a new marketing effort that promotes their DSL service and bundles under the "Heavy Duty DSL" brand. Note that technically this is the same service Qwest has been offering, albeit with a new brand and a few new promotional twists.

The FCC for years has taken heat for a rather outdated and clunky website, which makes tracking issues or finding what you're looking for a daunting task The FCC today announced (pdf) that the agency has launched a new "Consumer Help Center" as part of their slow but steady website redesign. "Here, in one place, consumers can do a number of things such as read about consumer issues, get practical advice for avoiding problems, file a complaint, comment on our rulemakings, or read what our FCC experts are saying in our Consumer Blog," says Joel Gurin, Chief of the FCC's freshly-formed Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and former editor of Consumer Reports.

Akamai just released their latest "State of the Internet Report," (registration required) which every quarter covers a number of topics including broadband penetration, broadband speeds, security, and more. It's of particular interest to our readers, as the company gathers the data from clients that have hit their 56,000-strong global content server network, tracking 487 million unique IP addresses from 234 countries.

As the battle heats up over the FCC's push to partially reclassify broadband ISPs under Title II of the Communications Act, carriers (and their army of lobbying groups have been trotting out some familiar arguments. Namely, that if the FCC takes any action (no matter how wimpy), the result will be stifled investment and lost jobs.