8. Comcast: No new traffic management plan yet: Reports circulated this week that Comcast has developed a plan to manage its network traffic. The method involves slowing traffic for heavy users for up to 20 minutes during busy periods of network use. The company said that this proposal is one of the leading options, but Comcast has yet to make a final decision. The telecom caused controversy last year when information emerged that it was slowing BitTorrent P-to-P (peer-to-peer) traffic in an effort to ease network congestion. The measure served as a rallying point for net neutrality advocates, and this month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted to ban broadband providers from blocking or slowing specific applications on its network. Comcast's traffic management approach wouldn't target a certain application, the company said, complying with the FCC's ruling.

9. Did Nokia pay for vulnerability information?: The IT industry tends to shun the practice of paying for product security flaw information, fearing scenarios where businesses are blackmailed to keep an exploit from hackers. However, Nokia's cagey answers on how it obtained details of a vulnerability in its Series 40 operating system raised the possibility that it cut a check. The security researcher who discovered the issue wanted ¬20,000 (US$29,500) to compensate for the six-months he spent collecting the data. The researcher also claimed that only reputable companies that paid would get the full research. He didn't reveal if Nokia paid him, but the Finnish phone maker said it has a complete copy of the research. Nokia said that the researcher performed a lot of research, so it understands why he wants the work monetized.

10. China Blocks Apple's ITunes, Amazon Over Tibet Songs: While China pledged Internet freedom during the Olympics, an album promoting peace in Tibet possibly irked Beijing enough to block Apple's U.S. iTunes Music Store and parts of Amazon.com. Internet users in China confirmed Wednesday that they received error messages when attempting to reach the sites. Apple doesn't run a China iTunes store, but people with a U.S. credit card can purchase merchandise from the U.S. store. While Amazon.com remains accessible, attempting to access the album's page and download page prompts a message that the server connection was reset. This message is common when attempting to reach blocked sites.