In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news:

  • Amazon is going head-to-head with Netflix and Hulu
  • Drone threat to jetliners grows
  • Law support for Burr’s encryption bill
  • Google’s library effort prevails at Supreme Court

The details:

  • Amazon’s stand-alone streaming targets Netflix

Amazon.com Inc. is taking on Netflix and Hulu with its own stand-alone video streaming service, just weeks before Netflix raises prices for longtime subscribers.

New customers can now pay $8.99 a month to watch Amazon’s Prime video streamings ervice. Previously, the only way to watch Amazon’s videos was to pay $99 a year for Prime membership, which includes free two-day shipping on items sold by the site, and other perks.

At $8.99 a month, Amazon’s stand-alone streaming service is $1 less than Netflix’s standard membership and $1 more than Hulu’s basic subscription.

Netflix said earlier this year that a “substantial number” of its longtime members who paid $7.99 monthly — and have been protected from price hikes — will now pay an additional $2 starting in May.

Amazon’s decision to break off its video streaming service could cause some defections at Netflix, wrote Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter in a note to clients.

Both companies have invested heavily in original and exclusive programing. Netflix has “Orange is the New Black,” ”House of Cards” and a couple of series based on Marvel comic characters. Amazon’s offerings include “Transparent,” ”Mozart in the Jungle” and previously aired HBO shows. With Hulu, users can watch many current TV episodes a day after they air on a network. Hulu is also growing its exclusive offerings, with “The Mindy Project” and “Difficult People.”

Netflix Inc. declined to comment Monday. Representatives for Amazon and Hulu did respond to a request for comment.

Amazon may be a rival, but Netflix is also an Amazon customer. The Los Gatos, California-based streaming company uses Amazon Web Services to store its content and help run parts of its site and apps.

Besides its stand-alone video service, Amazon is also offering a new pay-as-you-go option for its full Prime membership for $10.99 a month and comes with free two-day shipping, video streaming and other perks. Amazon’s website said that users who opt to pay $10.99 monthly, instead of the $99 annual fee, can cancel at any time. The $99 a year option remains the cheapest way for most people to get both free two-day shipping and video streaming, equaling about $8.25 a month.

  • Drone collision with jet highlights growing aviation danger

A collision between a British Airways passenger jet and a drone over London has left the plane undamaged but the aviation industry deeply shaken.

British police and air accident authorities were investigating Sunday’s incident, in which an Airbus A320 carrying 137 people struck an object believed to be a drone at a height of about 1,700 feet (518 meters) while it was approaching Heathrow Airport.

The plane landed safely and was cleared to fly again after an inspection by engineers. But the incident has focused attention on the growing number of unregulated drones in the sky and the potential for disaster if they hit a plane — either accidentally or on purpose.

London’s Metropolitan Police said Monday the incident occurred over Richmond Park, a large open expanse a few miles from the airport. Chief Superintendent Martin Hendry said the incident “highlights the very real dangers of reckless, negligent and sometimes malicious use of drones.”

“The potential is there for a major incident,” he said.

  • Supreme Court rejects challenge to Google’s online library

The Supreme Court turned away a challenge Monday to Google’s online book library from authors who complained that the project makes it harder for them to market their work.

The justices let stand lower court rulings in favor of Mountain View, California-based Google and rejected the authors’ claim that the company’s digitizing of millions of books amounts to “copyright infringement on an epic scale.”

Lower courts have said that Google can provide small portions of the books to the public without violating copyright laws.

The Authors Guild and individual authors first filed their challenge to Google’s digital book project in 2005. Google Inc. has made digital copies of more than 20 million books from major research libraries and established a publicly available search function.

In October, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York agreed with a judge who concluded that Google was not violating copyright laws when it showed customers small portions of the books. The authors said the project would spoil the market for their work.

The appeals court said that Google’s “snippet view, at best and after a large commitment of manpower, produces discontinuous, tiny fragments, amounting in the aggregate to no more than 16% of a book. This does not threaten the rights holders with any significant harm to the value of their copyrights or diminish their harvest of copyright revenue.”

The three-judge appeals panel did acknowledge, though, that some book sales would likely be lost if someone were merely searching for a portion of text to ascertain a fact.

  • Manhattan DA, law officials push for encryption legislation

Calling it an issue of victims’ rights, the Manhattan district attorney urged Congress to pass legislation that would require tech companies to give law enforcement a way to access information on encrypted phones and other devices.

Cyrus Vance Jr. says that while the debate over encryption has centered on issues of privacy and national security, the implications go far beyond that. The Manhattan district attorney’s office currently has 230 phones involved in cases that it has warrants to search, but can’t access the information inside.

“There are victims of crime, survivors of crime, that are waiting for the Senate to lead and find a way forward, so we can access key evidence that now resides on smartphones that cannot be opened,” Vance said Monday on the steps of New York’s City Hall.

A Senate bill now being drafted would effectively prohibit unbreakable encryption and require companies to help the government access data on a computer or mobile device with a warrant.

The bill is being finalized by the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and the top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. But it remains unclear when the bill will be introduced.

Tech companies, civil liberties groups and some members of Congress, have railed against the draft, saying that it would effectively require them to create “back doors” into encrypted devices and undermine security for everyone.

Standing near Vance were the mother and sister of Brittney Mills, 29, who was gunned down in her Baton Rouge, Louisiana home in April 2015. Mills was pregnant at the time and baby died days later.

The case remains unsolved, but investigators say clues to the murder might be uncovered from the woman’s iPhone.

Vance spoke Monday just ahead of a hearing on encryption before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. Attorneys for Apple and law enforcement are expected to testify.