Month: January 2019

Enlarge / Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies before the House Judiciary Committee. (credit: Xinhua/Liu Jie via Getty Images)

American technology giants spent record sums on lobbying in 2018, according to disclosures the companies filed with the Federal Elections Commission on Tuesday.

Google led the pack, spending $21 million—up from $18 million in 2017. The company lobbied on a wide range of issues, including copyright and patent reform, privacy issues, cybersecurity, education, trade, health IT, immigration, workplace diversity, spectrum policy, network neutrality, autonomous vehicles, and tax reform.

Amazon spent $14 million lobbying on many of the same issues, while Facebook spent almost $13 million. Microsoft spent $9.5 million, while Apple spent $6 million.

Enlarge / One of the custom paintings in a stairwell of the Electronic Frontier Foundation offices, Sep 19, 2013 in San Francisco, CA, USA. (credit: Peter DaSilva for The Washington Post via Getty Images))

For the second time in a month, lawyers have told the Electronic Frontier Foundation that their legal claims were sent in error.

On Wednesday, lawyers representing the British fashion company ASOS sent a short email to Daniel Nazer, an EFF attorney, apologizing for a recent cease-and-desist letter over a claimed trademark infringement.

"Clearly the C&D letter should never have been sent," the letter states. "We are taking the matter very seriously and are investigating how this happened. Of course, ASOS would like to assure you that we will not be taking any further action and will ensure appropriate correspondence is sent as soon as possible to confirm this."

Enlarge / Hulu on the Web. (credit: Samuel Axon)

In February, Hulu will drop the price of its ad-supported, on-demand streaming service from $7.99 per month to $5.99, while also raising the base price of its live TV cable replacement service from $39.99 per month to $44.99, Deadline reports. Its ad-free on-demand service will stay at $11.99.

The price changes will go into effect for new customers on February 26 and for existing customers in the billing cycle that follows that date.

One of Hulu's chief competitors, Netflix, did just the opposite recently—it raised the prices of all its plans by a dollar or two per month. Hulu is structured quite differently from Netflix, though; while Netflix licenses some shows from other content providers, its primary focus is on original content produced just for the online platform. Hulu, on the other hand, is co-owned by several of the broadcast TV networks and is primarily oriented toward distributing those networks' shows (and other content from traditional Hollywood sources) online. Hulu has some original series, too, though.

Enlarge / A Comcast Service Vehicle in Indianapolis, Indiana, in March 2016. (credit: Getty Images | jetcityimage)

Comcast's cable division spent 3 percent less on capital expenditures last year, despite promises that the repeal of net neutrality rules would boost broadband network investment.

Comcast's cable division spent $7.95 billion on capital expenditures during calendar year 2017, but that fell to $7.72 billion in the 12 months ending on December 31, 2018.

"Cable Communications' capital expenditures decreased 3.0 percent to $7.7 billion, reflecting decreased spending on customer premise equipment and support capital, partially offset by higher investment in scalable infrastructure and line extensions," Comcast said in an earnings announcement today.