Verizon may exclude videos streamed through its owns service against wireless subscribers' data caps -- if they're willing to view ads, according to DSLReports. Verizon CFO Fran Shammo indicated this week indicated that the company is exploring different pricing models, "including one that reduces the service's impact on usage caps if they're willing to view certain advertised content," DSLReports writes.

Extramarital dating site Ashley Madison is trying to use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to force sites to take down hacked information about its users. The strategy is "worse than useless," says Fortune's Jeff John Roberts. " Not only will it fail to work, but it provides false assurances, distorts copyright law and is a distraction from the real issues," he writes.

The Federal Communications Commission underestimates the amount of time Internet service providers will have to devote to meeting their "transparency" obligations -- which involve disclosing their network management practices and pricing policies -- according to the American Cable Association. The FCC estimates that complying with the disclosures will take 4.5 hours a year, but the cable organization says it will require significantly longer.

Charter Communications is bulking up on lobbyists in an effort to win approval for its $66 billion acquisition of Time Warner and Bright House Networks, The Hill reports. Earlier this month, Charter registered four lobbying firms on the same day.  

Instagram took down the account of a Madrid resident named Andres Iniesta in order to turn the account over to a Spanish soccer star with the same name. The Iniesta who lost his account wrote about the incident on Medium, following which Instagram restored the account. The soccer player now uses the Instagram handle @andresiniesta8.

Faced with a widespread backlash, Gawker on Friday took down a widely criticized post about a media executive soliciting a male escort. “It is the first time we have removed a significant news story for any reason other than factual error or legal settlement,” Gawker founder Nick Denton wrote in a blog post.

Ten years ago, incumbent Internet service providersattempted to prevent Lafayette, Louisiana from creating its own muni-broadband network. The project now brings in $33 million annually, $1.5 million in franchise fees and is expected to be debt-free by the end of the year, according to Broadband Reports. This week, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler hailed the network's success.

Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman, who came back to the company last week to serve as CEO, has issued a new policy that bans maerial including spam, harassment and the posting of private data. The changes “risk alienating the new chief executive from the community he helped create,” The New York Times reports.

Comcast customer Kia Elder alleges that she was robocalled daily by the cable company for a bill that she paid in 2011, DSLReports says. The new case comes one week after Time Warner Cable was ordered to pay more than 200,000 for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

The White House has launched the ConnectHome program, which aims to extending broadband service to low-income households. The program will launch in 27 cities, including New York, Boston and Seattle. Google Fiber will offer free Web service to some public housing residents in four cities as part of the initiative.