Facebook's recent psychological experiment on 700,000 unwitting users should spur the Federal Trade Commission to examine the ethical issues raised by online research, two professors say in a letter to the agency.

The Federal Trade Commission today published new guidance that could make it easier for developers to create apps aimed at children. Specifically, the FTC is making it easier for app developers to obtain parental approval for data collection.

Commenters deluged the Federal Communications Commission with written opinions about broadband regulations, crashing the agency's Web site and forcing it to extend the comment deadline until Friday. Around 700,000 people and organizations submitted comments before the FCC's system went down.

The largest Web companies officially came out against a proposal to allow broadband providers to create online "fast lanes" for companies willing to pay extra. "Charging for enhanced or prioritized access -- essentially, charging to discriminate against or degrade competing content -- undermines the Internet's level playing field," the trade group Internet Association said on Monday in comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission. "It shifts the balance from the consumers' freedom of choice to the broadband Internet access providers' gatekeeping decisions."

Regulators who are evaluating AT&T's bid to take over DirecTV should consider the telecom's recent history of "skirting the spirit" of neutrality principles, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) says. "AT&T allegedly had blocked applications that compete with its own voice and messaging services, including Skype, Google Voice and Apple's FaceTime," Franken writes in a letter to the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission.

Facebook's now-infamous social experiment on 700,000 unsuspecting users "invites questions" about whether this type of research should be regulated, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) says in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission. Warner is urging the FTC to investigate the "potential ramifications" of the social networking service's research. He expresses a number of concerns, including whether Facebook "responsibly assessed the risks and benefits of conducting this behavioral experiment."

In a recent decision hailed as a victory for digital privacy rights, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that police need to obtain a warrant before searching a suspect's cell phone. Now, a group of Safari users who are suing Google, Vibrant Media and WPP's Media Innovation Group say that the ruling supports the argument that those companies violated the law by allegedly circumventing Safari's no-tracking settings.

Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, who famously used the Internet to rally support for his 2004 presidential campaign, warned today that the Federal Communications Commissions' proposed broadband regulations could squelch political debate. "If you proceed with a two tier Internet, it could result in political bloggers, news outlets, and even organizations like Democracy for America being silenced because the powers that be don't like our message -- or because we can't pay their sky-high rates," he said in comments submitted to the FCC today.

A proposal by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to end restrictions on muni-broadband networks is drawing cheers from the National League of Cities. Local governments should have the flexibility to address broadband and Internet access in a way that meets the needs of the people they serve, the National League of Cities, National Association of Counties and National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors says in a letter sent to the FCC late last week.

Facebook's social experiment on 700,000 unsuspecting users constitutes a deceptive and unfair practice, the Electronic Privacy Information Center says in a complaint filed on Thursday with the Federal Trade Commission. The privacy watchdog is asking the FTC to investigate Facebook's "unlawful manipulation" of users' news feeds. "The company purposefully messed with people's minds," EPIC asserts in its papers.