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Sprint-Nextel said that it has received a special waiver from SoftBank to talk with Dish Network about its takeover proposal. SoftBank, a Japanese cellphone carrier, agreed to buy Sprint last year. Earlier this month, Dish announced a competing $25.5 billion offer for Sprint. Sprint said that the waiver will allow a special committee of its board to enter into a non-disclosure agreement and to hold discussions "for the purpose of clarifying and obtaining further information from DISH regarding its proposal."

A government task force is preparing legislation that would pressure companies such as Face­book and Google to enable law enforcement officials to intercept online communications as they occur, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the effort.

Driven by Federal Bureau of Investigation concerns that it is unable to tap the Internet communications of terrorists and other criminals, the task force’s proposal would penalize companies that failed to heed wiretap orders — court authorizations for the government to intercept suspects’ communications. Rather than antagonizing companies whose cooperation they need, federal officials typically back off when a company is resistant, industry and former officials said. But law enforcement officials say the cloak drawn on suspects’ online activities — what the FBI calls the “going dark” problem — means that critical evidence can be missed.

[Commentary] Last week CISPA, the cybersecurity information-sharing bill, passed the House. Though fundamentally flawed, the bill is very different from when it passed the House a year ago, demonstrating the power of a growing Internet advocacy community that sometimes underestimates its own influence. Two game-changing achievements stand out.

When CISPA was reintroduced this year, CDT and others pointed out that, once again, the bill allowed information shared with the government for cybersecurity purposes to be used for national security purposes unrelated to cybersecurity. In the face of criticism that this loophole would turn CISPA into a backdoor intelligence-gathering operation, the House Intelligence Committee amended the text to clearly prohibit such uses. Chalk up one significant victory for Internet advocacy. A second major flaw in the bill was that it would have changed decades of federal policy by shifting control over private sector cybersecurity programs to a super-secret military agency, the National Security Agency. Last year, in the face of criticism, the House leadership blocked any vote on the question of civilian versus military leadership. This year, in the face of ongoing advocacy about the dangers of giving a military agency the lead role in cybersecurity efforts for private sector networks, an amendment was allowed and passed. The amendment was poorly drafted and may not actually say what its sponsors or advocates intended, but there was no doubt that Members thought they were voting to reaffirm civilian leadership. There is no going back now. That House vote changed the dynamic of the debate. The lead Senate bill last year, and the White House, had already embraced civilian control. Any future cybersecurity bill must give the lead role to a civilian agency. A second significant victory for Internet advocates.

Although iTunes has in many ways been a godsend to fans of digital music, it has been a source of endless frustration for the music industry.

Since the introduction the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, music sales have plummeted in the United States -- from $11.8 billion in 2003 to $7.1 billion last year, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. When adjusted for inflation, revenue has been more than halved since Apple launched the iTunes Music Store. Interestingly, during that same time, people have been buying more music than ever. How is that possible? It's because the iTunes Music Store popularized the cheap digital single.