More U.S. residents than ever have broadband lines, but they're also paying more for high-speed connections than in the past. That's according to a new study issued today by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Congress is set to hold yet another hearing Thursday on behavioral targeting and privacy, marking the second time this year -- and at least the fifth since last summer -- that federal lawmakers are tackling the topic.

It was 10 years ago this month that Napster officially debuted, marking the beginning of the end for the record industry -- or at least for its business model. Now, the defense team for a potentially landmark case intends to turn the trial into a referendum on whether non-commercial file-sharing should even be considered copyright infringement.

Faced with continuing privacy complaints, YouTube has agreed to change its procedures for clips posted by the Obama administration. The site no longer stores information on cookies about people's viewing of clips embedded on Whitehouse.gov, the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation announced this week.

Seems that the Huffington Post doesn't handle criticism all that well. On April 1, the weekly Washington City Paper published a parody of the site.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau convinced around 30 Web publishers to pay their own way to Washington, D.C. this week, where they're lobbying against potential new privacy laws. While no new federal laws are on the table yet, the entrepreneurs were adamant that they opposed nearly any form of regulation.

Tasked with crafting a national broadband policy, the Federal Communications Commission recently solicited opinions on the initiative. So far, hundreds of commenters -- including Internet service providers, public interest groups, think tanks, and even Wired magazine -- have weighed in. Their suggestions cover much ground, including everything from net neutrality principles to increasing competition to proposing that broadband be considered an essential utility. A few groups specifically addressed privacy and behavioral targeting.

Faced with complaints about impersonators, Twitter said this weekend on its blog that it intends to launch a verification system to identify the real celebrities on the site.

Another Craigslist-related crime has the site facing renewed scrutiny this week. In this latest incident, a man in North Carolina allegedly used the site to orchestrate an attack on his wife. Predictably, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, one of the leading critics of the site, is already making noises about subpoenaing Craigslist for more details, according to the Associated Press.

When you think of spyware, Sears probably isn't the first name that comes to mind. But the Federal Trade Commission announced today that the retailer had agreed to settle a complaint alleging it had installed tracking software on visitors' computers without providing adequate notice.