Netflix, Etsy and Kickstarter are among the roster of companies lining up to support the Federal Communications Commission in its upcoming net neutrality battle with broadband providers. The Web companies are asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for permission to intervene in the upcoming lawsuit that will determine the fate of the net neutrality regulations.

AT&T's pending $48.5 billion merger with DirecTV will give the company even more reason to discourage customers from cutting the cord, a coalition of critics suggests in a new Federal Communications Commission filing. "Should the transaction proceed, AT&T will obtain a massive video distribution business that it will have every incentive to protect from competitive threats," Free Press, Public Knowledge, New America's Open Technology Institute, Dish Network and transit company Cogent say in a letter to the FCC dated Tuesday.

Verizon's proposed $4.4 billion acquisition of AOL gives the Federal Communications Commission another reason to impose privacy obligations on broadband providers. That's according to Public Knowledge, which today called for the FCC to move forward with new privacy regulations.

The White House has tapped Princeton's Ed Felten to join the Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he will serve as deputy chief technology officer. Felten, an influential expert in online privacy and copyright, previously served as chief technologist for the FTC. While there, he worked on the World Wide Web Consortium's ongoing effort to develop standards to interpret browser-based do-not-track signals.

Broadband providers recently asked the Federal Communications Commission to stay a portion of its historic decision to impose net neutrality rules. Should the FCC grant that request, consumers could once again have trouble streaming video online. At least that's the suggestion made by Cogent Communications, which on Thursday asked the FCC to reject the request for a stay.

Netflix recently warned the Federal Communications Commission that AT&T's proposed $48 billion takeover of DirecTV could pose a threat to online video distributors. The streaming video company said in a filing that it was opposed to the merger -- at least without additional conditions placed on AT&T. Netflix specifically reminded the FCC that AT&T degraded customers' access to Netflix's video streams in 2013 and 2014.

Facing pressure from regulators, AT&T said today that it will revise its practice of throttling some smartphone users who subscribe to old, unlimited data plans. Now, instead of automatically throttling unlimited customers after they exceed a monthly allotment, the company will only slow down those users when the network is congested.

Days after Comcast called off its $46 billion merger with Time Warner Cable, Netflix met with the Federal Communications Commission to voice concerns about another large deal in the works -- AT&T's $48 billion merger with DirecTV. Netflix, which vocally opposed Comcast's acquisition of Time Warner, is now telling FCC officials that AT&T's merger with DirecTV could pose a threat to online video distributors.

Last week, Showtime and HBO went to court to try to preemptively stop people from streaming the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. The companies won a temporary restraining order prohibiting the operators of two Web sites -- boxinghd.net and sportship.org -- from Webcasting streams of the event, which cost $99.95 on pay-per-view. Unfortunately for Showtime, HBO and the fight promoters, operators of the Web sites named in the court papers weren't the only ones who could stream the match.

Starting this June, Comcast intends to roll out its Gigabit Pro network, offering speeds of 2 Gigabits per second, in Chattanooga, Tenn. That location is notable, given the city's combative history with Comcast.