Daisuke Wakabayashi

Democrats and Google executives worked arm in arm for years, particularly during the Obama administration. But when Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, testifies before Congress, some of the toughest questioning is likely to come from Democrats. The hearing will provide an early glimpse of how Democrats plan to approach Silicon Valley giants in the coming year as they assume control of the House of Representatives.

Hundreds of Google employees, upset at the company’s decision to secretly build a censored version of its search engine for China, have signed a letter demanding more transparency to understand the ethical consequences of their work.

In Europe and the United States, the conventional wisdom is that regulation is needed to force Silicon Valley’s digital giants to respect people’s online privacy. But new rules may instead serve to strengthen Facebook’s and Google’s hegemony and extend their lead on the internet. That’s because wary consumers are more prone to trust recognized names with their information than unfamiliar newcomers.

As Facebook has taken it on the chin over the way it has handled the personal information of its users, the leaders of other tech companies have demonstrated that even in publicity-hungry Silicon Valley, it is entirely possible for billionaire executives and their sprawling empires to keep a low profile.

Protests to preserve network neutrality, or rules that ensure equal access to the internet, migrated online on Dec 12, with numerous online companies posting calls on their sites for action to stop a vote later this week. Reddit, Etsy and Kickstarter were among the sites warning that the proposal at the Federal Communications Commission to roll back so-called net neutrality rules would fundamentally change the way the internet is experienced.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is signaling a strategy shift for one of its most ambitious and costly efforts: bringing blazing-fast web connections to homes across America. The company is curbing the expansion of its high-speed fiber optic internet network and reducing staff in the unit responsible for the work.

Alphabet did not provide an exact number for the jobs that will be cut. Craig Barratt, chief executive of Access, the Alphabet division containing Google Fiber, also said he planned to step down because the company was shifting to new technologies and methods of deploying high-speed internet. No replacement was announced. Barratt, an Alphabet senior vice president, said he would remain an adviser to the company. The company’s fiber optic internet and television are currently available in eight metro areas, including Kansas City, Atlanta, Nashville and Salt Lake City.

More than 100 technology companies signed a letter taking issue with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposed rules to allow providers of broadband connectivity to charge content providers for access to the fastest lanes on the Internet.

The one technology giant conspicuous by its absence? Apple. The list included prominent Apple rivals such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on why it did not sign onto the letter. One possible explanation: The Wall Street Journal reported in March that Apple and Comcast are in talks for a streaming-television service that would use an Apple set-top box and get special treatment on Comcast’s cables to ensure it bypasses congestion on the Web.

Apple and Samsung Electronics are squaring off in a new round of their long-running patent feud. This time, however, the docket might as well read Apple v. Google.

The trial, which starts in US District Court in San Jose (CA) on March 31, 2014, shows how the battle lines are drawn across the mobile-phone landscape.

Apple and Samsung are the biggest makers of smartphones and reap most of the industry's profits. But when it comes to software, the world is divided between Apple and Google, whose dominant operating systems give them control over the apps where smartphone users spend most of their time.

In this case, Apple is accusing Samsung of violating five of its software patents. Samsung contends that it licensed four of those features as part of Google's Android operating system, and that Google had been working on the technology before Apple filed its patents.

"Google will be a lot more front and center than in previous cases," said Michael Carrier, a patent expert and law professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "Google vs. Apple makes it more of a clash of the titans on the same turf."