The Authors Guild is asking Congress to require Internet companies to filter pirated e-books, Ars Technica writes. The authors' organization wants lawmakers to revise the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which currently provides that companies aren't liable for infringement by users, provided that pirated material is removed upon request of the content owner. “Technology that can identify and filter pirated material is now commonplace,” the Guild writes. “It only makes sense, then, that ISPs should bear the burden of limiting piracy on their sites, especially when they are profiting from the piracy and have the technology to conduct automates searches and …

Gizmodo examines the Internet policies of eight presidential candidates. “The craziest of candidates are talking about how liberals want to create a government-run internet that would amount to an apocalypse,” Gizmodo writes. “Inevitably, the would-be winner will help decide the fate of the network of networks, for better or for worse.  

Arizona authorities have agreed that they won't enforce a new “revenge porn” law on the grounds that it's too broad. The law prohibited anyone from posting nude images without consent. The ACLU and others argued that the measure could have been used to outlaw images like the famous 1972 “Napalm Girl” photo.

A coalition of advocacy groups and companies have launched the “Competify” campaign, which aims to promote competition in the broadband industry. The group's inaugural initiative urges the Federal Communications Commission to address “the scourge of high broadband prices and anticompetitive behavior by advancing meaningful broadband competition."

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Al Franken (D-Minn.) are asking the Federal Communications Commission to investigate high prices by cable and broadband providers. “In addition to steeply rising prices, consumers are often unaware of the various fees that are tacked onto their monthly bills because of the lack of transparency in pricing,” the lawmaker say in a letter to the FCC.

A coalition including the Cato Institute, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Institute for Justice  are backing Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's attempt to vacate a forfeiture order that turned over his bank accounts, cars and other property to the government. “The federal government’s aggressive use of forfeiture poses a grave threat to property rights and can cause irreparable injury when property is forfeited without any hearing,” the groups write in legal papers filed on Thursday, Torrent Freak reports. Dotcom was indicted three years ago for criminal copyright infringement, but has not yet been extradited to the U.S.

Federal Communications Commissioner said in a speech this week that broadband is a necessity -- contradicting FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who endorsed the opposite position last month. “People can and do live without Internet access, and many lead very successful lives," he said. The comments come as the FCC is considering subsidizing broadband service for low-income households.

U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan has ordered Time Warner to pay $229,500 for placing 153 robocalls to a Texas woman after she told the company it had the wrong number. Hellerstein found that the cable company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and imposed damages of $1,500 per phone call.

Advocacy group Consumer Watchdog is asking the Federal Trade Commission to require Google to grant U.S. citizens the same “right to be forgotten” that exists in Europe. “Before the Internet if someone did something foolish when they were young -- and most of us probably did -- there might well be a public record of what happened," Consumer Watchdog says in a letter to the FTC. The group wants the FTC to say that Americans have the right to ask Google to remove “irrelevant” search results.

Sandwich chain Subway purged Jared Fogel's name and photo from its site, as well as its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, after the authorities raided his home in connection with a child pornography investigation. Video clips featuring Fogel still appear on YouTube.