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• After photo leak, North Korea said to block Instagram

  Days after photos leaked of a fire at one of North Korea's biggest and best-known hotels, the country has begun restricting access to Instagram.

• Louisiana governor vetoes license plate reader legislation

  Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has vetoed legislation that would provide for the pilot use of automatic license plate readers by law enforcement to identify stolen vehicles and uninsured motorists.

• What the FCC's new robocall rules mean for your company's marketing efforts

  Marketers now face tougher restrictions on their use of "robocalls" and other automated telemarketing techniques thanks to a new set of declaratory rulings issued by the FCC on Thursday.

• EU Parliament committee moves copyright reform forward

  The European Parliament's legal affairs committee is taking a strong stance against geo-blocking online content in a report on copyright reform that is largely in sync with the Commission, which is drafting new legislation intended to tackle issues that have arisen in the digital world.

• Amazon now an open book on search warrants and subpoenas

  Amazon.com has published its first transparency report describing how it has responded to requests from law enforcers for information about its customers.

• Another bill targeting patent trolls advances in Congress

  A bill aimed at making it more difficult for so-called patent trolls to file unfair patent-infringement lawsuits has passed in a U.S. House of Representatives committee.

• House panel votes to delay net neutrality rules

  A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee has voted to require the Federal Communications Commission to suspend new net neutrality rules until a series of lawsuits challenging the regulations are resolved.

• Belgian data retention law axed by constitutional court

  A Belgian law requiring telecommunications operators and ISPs to store customer metadata for police investigations was axed by the Constitutional Court of Belgium on Thursday because it violates fundamental privacy rights.

• House panel adds requirements to ICANN transition

  A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee has approved a bill that would add new requirements before a government agency ends its oversight of ICANN, the coordinator of the Internet's domain name system.

• US House votes to ban Internet access taxes permanently

  The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to permanently extend a 17-year moratorium on taxing Internet access and other online services.

• Tech industry redoubles efforts to fight US gov't encryption backdoors

  Groups representing major IT companies have warned U.S. President Barack Obama again not to go through with measures that would undermine encryption technologies. Such policies would undermine privacy and compromise the security of tech products and services, they said.

• US wants to collect bulk call records for six more months

  The U.S. Department of Justice has filed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for permission to continue the bulk collection of call records for another six months, as the new USA Freedom Act allows for this transition period.

• Don't expect major changes to NSA surveillance from Congress

  After the U.S. Congress approved what critics have called modest limits on the National Security Agency's collection of domestic telephone records, many lawmakers may be reluctant to further change the government's surveillance programs.

• US Senate passes bill to rein in NSA phone dragnet

  The U.S. Senate has passed legislation intended to rein in the National Security Agency's bulk collection of domestic telephone records, sending the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature.

• EU online electronics retailers still don't all comply with guarantee laws

  Almost one in five electronics retailers are still not providing consumers with enough information about their legal rights to a guarantee, according to the European Commission.