Netflix recently agreed to pay Comcast an interconnection fee, which allows the video rental company to connect directly to Comcast's servers. That deal allows Netflix's movies to be delivered significantly faster than in the past to Comcast's subscribers. But Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings has made it clear that he's not happy with the deal. Now, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) -- among the most visible opponents of Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner -- is asking Hastings to express his concerns to the Senate. "As a popular provider of Internet content that competes directly with Comcast, Netflix is uniquely positioned to …

Continuing its feud with Google, the Authors Guild has asked a federal appellate court to rule that the search company's book-scanning project isn't protected by fair use principles. "Google's massive, unauthorized digitization campaign has acutely harmed the interests of the authors and other rightsholders whose works have been copied," the Authors Guild argues in court papers that were made public late last week. The Authors Guild initially sued Google in 2005, arguing that the company had no right to digitize library books and make snippets available to searchers.

Online ad companies often argue that free material will disappear from the Web if marketers aren't able to draw on data about consumers in order to serve them ads. But many consumers -- particularly those who are 35 and older -- indicate that they're not happy about their data being used in exchange for free services. That's according to a report released today by marketing company Gfk.

In a closely watched case, a federal appellate court has reversed the hacking conviction of Andrew "weev" Auernheimer, who was sentenced to 41 months in prison after exposing AT&T's poor security practices. Briefly, Auernheimer discovered that AT&T had posted iPad users' email addresses on a Web site that wasn't password-protected.

Last month, drugstore chain Duane Reade boasted on Twitter that actress Katherine Heigl shopped at the store. The tweet prompted the "Knocked Up" star to sue the drugstore for turning her into an unpaid endorser.

FilmOn X is asking the Supreme Court to side with the rival streaming service Aereo in its upcoming showdown with TV broadcasters. "Contrary to the networks' contention, Aereo and FilmOn are not stealing copyrighted content, but merely providing a convenient method to access content freely available on the public airwaves," FilmOn X argues in a friend-of-the-court brief filed last week.

The defunct cyberlocker Megaupload and its embattled founder, Kim Dotcom, were hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit this week by the Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA's lawsuit comes more than two years after federal authorities shut down Megaupload and indicted Dotcom for criminal copyright infringement.

A federal judge has sided with the Federal Trade Commission in a high-profile dispute with Wyndham Hotels about its security practices.

Consumers who say that their privacy is violated by Gmail ads are urging an appellate court to allow them to proceed with a class-action.

A controversial order requiring Google to censor the video "Innocence of Muslims" doesn't violate the free-speech rights of either Google or users who want to view the clip, actress Cindy Lee Garcia argues in new court papers.