Washington - A group of key U.S. House lawmakers last week sent a letter to 33 Internet firms and broadband service providers, pressing them for information about the extent to which they collect information on consumers' Web surfing habits for the purpose of targeting advertising. The letter was sent by Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and ranking members Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) to a group of ISPs and other relevant firms that includes AT&T (NYSE: T), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Comcast (NASD: CMCSA) and Google (NASD: GOOG).

Overland Park, Kan. - Embarq, a provider of bundled voice, data and video services in 18 states, announced on Wednesday the launch of an unlimited music streaming and download service, which is powered by Synacor with 3 million tracks from MediaNet Digital. Embarq subscribers can also pay $9.95 per month for the ability to transfer songs to a portable player, and 99 cents per song to burn selections to CD.