Earlier this week, blogger Andre Vrignaud posted an account of how he inadvertently exceeded Comcast's bandwidth cap by uploading his photos and music files to the cloud. After going over Comcast's limit on two occasions, the company disconnected him for one year.

Earlier this year, a Twitter user created an account devoted to parodying Coventry First, a company that pays consumers for the right to collect future proceeds from their life insurance policies. Between the Twitter account's launch date of May 27 and present, the user posted 28 tweets, most of which were critical of Coventry's controversial business. As of today, the account has garnered just 16 followers -- and that marks an increase from several weeks ago when it had just five. But the relatively small readership didn't stop Coventry First from going to court.

Now that Verizon has officially rolled out its new tiered pricing, the company seems to be serious about putting an end to free smartphone tethering. Last month, reports surfaced that Google's Android store had stopped making tethering apps available to Verizon subscribers. Those apps enabled users to connect tablets and other devices to the Web using their smartphones' WiFi capability.

U.S. District Court Judge James Ware in San Jose, Calif. recently issued a groundbreaking ruling against Google in a lawsuit stemming from the Street View WiFi snooping scandal. Ware rejected Google's argument that its activities were lawful because the transmissions it intercepted were not password-protected. Now, in a rare move, Google is attempting to appeal Ware's ruling before the case proceeds any further.

The Federal Communications Commission this week moved forward with its open Internet rules by sending the neutrality regulations to the federal Office of Management and Budget. That agency is expected to approve the rules following a 30-day comment period, after which they will be published in the Federal Register. The rules will take effect 60 days after publication, which will probably occur in October or November.

When Verizon acquired the spectrum that it now uses for 4G wireless phones, the company agreed that it would follow a host of neutrality conditions. Among others, Verizon said it wouldn't restrict people's ability to use devices and applications of their choice. Now, advocacy group Free Press says that Verizon has violated that condition by asking Google to limit people's ability to acquire tethering apps -- which allow people to use their smart phones to connect tablets or other devices to the Web.

Reversing course, Rachel Kane, creator of the parody site WTForever21.com, has decided to continue with her blog despite the clothing retailer's threat to sue.

This week's Senate Commerce Committee hearing about online privacy has led a host of observers to weigh in on the pros and cons of a universal do-not-track mechanism that would allow consumers to easily avoid all online tracking.