Did Apple conspire with book publishers to end Amazon's $9.99-per-ebook price? That's the question at the center of the government's antitrust lawsuit against the company. Not surprisingly, Apple and the Department of Justice disagree about what the evidence shows. Both sides have now outlined their positions in papers filed with U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote, who has presided over the government's price-fixing case against Apple and five publishers since it was filed last April.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson reportedly confirmed today that the carrier plans to let content companies pay to exclude their material from data caps imposed on wireless subscribers.

In 2010, music service Pandora was one of the first companies to partner with Facebook for its earliest iteration of the "instant personalization" program -- which automatically shared logged-in Facebook users' names and photos with outside companies.

Consumers could once again have the right to unlock their cell phones, if a new law goes through. The "Unlocking Technology Act of 2013," proposed by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), provides that people can tinker with digital locks on software -- the digital rights management technology that prevents people from copying programs -- as long as they aren't doing so in order to infringe copyright.

The sports network ESPN reportedly is talking with a major wireless carrier about a deal to exclude the networks' programs from the monthly data caps, according to The Wall Street Journal. If a deal to that effect goes through, consumers would be able to watch as much ESPN as they want without worrying about whether they're going to be throttled or hit with extra fees for exceeding their monthly data allotment.

Several years ago, attorney Steven Gibson and the publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal cooked up a plan to raise money by suing Web users who reposted news articles on their blogs. To accomplish this, Gibson founded the copyright enforcement outfit Righthaven, with backing from Sherman Frederick, former Review-Journal publisher. The company proceeded to file 300 lawsuits against nonprofits, news outlets and niche bloggers -- like a woman who blogged about cats.

The Authors Guild's odds of winning its long-running lawsuit against Google appear to be dwindling, at least judging by comments made this morning by judges at the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

In its latest move against data brokers, the Federal Trade Commission has warned 10 companies that they potentially violate federal consumer protection laws.

The Federal Trade Commission has unanimously turned down a request by industry groups to push back the start date of new children's privacy regulations.

California state assembly member Bonnie Lowenthal is temporarily shelving her proposed privacy bill, the Right to Know Act (AB 1291), which would have granted state residents the ability to access data held about them by marketers.