Facebook is taking a page from Twitter's playbook and adopting the hashtag feature, which is used to follow topics of conversation, Reuters reports. 

Intel is poised to launch a virtual cable service that would sell bundles of TV channels over the Internet, but is facing headwinds from cable companies looking to stop its plans, according to The New York Times.

Eddy Cue, the head of Apple's iTunes, is slated to testify Thursday in the Justice Department's suit against Apple for its alleged e-book price-fixing scheme, The Washington Post reports.

Google's Chief Legal Officer David Drummond shed some more light on how the company uses a file-transferring technology called secure FTP to deliver data to the government, The New York Times says.

A slate of new technologies have enabled government agencies like the National Security Agency to parse through lots of data in an affordable and efficient way, The Wall Street Journal writes.

Terry Branstad urged Iowa’s House members to back a measure giving states greater latitude to collect revenues on online purchases.

THE LEDE: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is looking to recruit the Federal Communications Commission to his campaign for "a la carte" cable TV packages.

"For too long, the government has entered the market on behalf of special interests to afford businesses the opportunity to develop and markets to mature. That time has passed," McCain wrote in a letter to Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn on Wednesday. "As such, I call on the Commission to review this issue and take steps to shift this balance toward consumers, by providing consumers with greater choice when purchasing television video."

The FCC did not respond to a request to comment.

The performing rights organization that represents songwriters and composers blasted Internet radio service Pandora on Wednesday, saying the company is "trying every trick in the book" to underpay its members.

"Songwriters and composers are struggling in the digital economy to be paid fairly for their creative work," said Paul Williams, president of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or ASCAP, in a statement. "Pandora is trying every trick in the book to brazenly and unconscionably underpay and take advantage of the creative labor that produces the core offering of their business—music written by individual songwriters and composers."

Williams' comments are in response to an op-ed published in The Hill on Tuesday by Pandora Assistant General Counsel Christopher Harrison, who accused ASCAP of engaging in "discriminatory treatment" against the Internet radio service. Harrison also revealed that Pandora purchased an FM radio station in South Dakota so it could qualify for the same licensing terms with ASCAP as its other Internet radio competitors—such as Clear Channel-owned iHeartRadio—which would result in lower licensing fees. 

Federal regulators are warning the District of Columbia's taxicab commission that proposed rules on services like Uber that use smartphone applications to pay and hail taxis could be overly restrictive.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) submitted written comments to the D.C. Taxicab Commission on Wednesday, warning that some of its rules could stifle competition and hurt consumers.

"These software applications are an innovative form of competition that may enable consumers to more easily arrange and pay for commercial passenger motor vehicle transportation services, as compared to traditional methods such as street hails or prearrangement by telephone through traditional service dispatchers," the FTC staff wrote. 

Waving his phone at a hearing, Merkley asked Alexander "what authorized investigation gave you the grounds" to seize call data.

Edward Snowden told the South China Morning Post the NSA has been carrying out these hacker attacks since 2009.

Senate Democrats introduced legislation on Wednesday to crack down on unauthorized and unwanted charges on landline phone bills.

The bill from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) would bar telephone providers from placing third-party charges on customers' phone bills without clear disclosure and customers' permission.

Rockefeller unsuccessfully pushed similar legislation last year to combat unwanted phone charges — a practice known as "cramming." The Federal Communications Commission also adopted rules intended to curb the problem.

The White House press secretary referred questions to the Justice Department and FBI, but said officials had seen the request.