The Internet as we know it is coming to an end! Or so some paranoid conspiracy theorists would like us to believe. By now we know the cable and telecommunications companies that power many of our Internet connections are buying up competitors left and right; The Nation worries this  could effectively turn the Internet into a privately run and branded service. The main big brother suspects are Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and Time Warner, who are collecting data about everything we do on the Web, and could one day make that information available to marketers, large corporations, and, yes, …

Members of Congress accused U.S.-based Internet companies of violating American principles of free speech and giving in to pressure from Beijing by censoring information contained on their Web sites. They also doled out criticism to the four companies in question--Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Cisco Systems--for failing to attend the briefing, which was called by a Congressional committee to shed light on how Internet companies do business with China. In a joint statement, Microsoft and Yahoo said that by themselves, they lack the leverage to influence world governments, suggesting that the other two companies could work together with governments to better …

While the U.S. government points fingers at the major Internet companies for bowing to China's demands for censorship, the same Internet outfits are pointing fingers back at the U.S. government. In a prepared statement, Google's senior policy counsel Andrew McLaughlin asked the U.S. government to up the ante by extending its definition of free trade to include the free flow of information. "We have asked the United States government to treat censorship as a barrier to trade," McLaughlin said, adding that the company will continue to do business with China in a manner that balances its "commitments to satisfy the …

In its earnings call Tuesday, Google said its expansion into traditional media would fuel tremendous revenue growth in the future. Company Co-Founder Sergey Brin said advertisers dream of getting the same kind of accountability and tracking that search provides and dMarc Broadcasting--Google's most recent acquisition--has the tools to do it. dMarc is able to schedule and place radio advertising using an automated technology, and Google said it plans to integrate that with Google's ad-serving platform. Over time, CEO Eric Schmidt said Google plans to offer different inputs into its advertising that are tailored for specific media. dMarc's technology, which …

So we're in the middle of an Internet and tech industry renaissance, eh? Well, you certainly wouldn't know it looking at the Nasdaq, USA Today says. Outside of Google, which is already on its way to rebounding after an earnings hiccup, and maybe Yahoo, Wall Street's reaction to Internet stocks has been decidedly tepid considering all the talk of a second coming. This is a completely opposite problem from six years ago, when tech stocks excited the Street but the companies themselves were a standing house of cards. In fact, it’s a whole different world:: investors need to see …

As we all know (and we're reminded every year), many people watch the Super Bowl just to see what kind of clever advertising marketers can come up with for $2.5 million and 30 seconds. Recognizing the market for second-time viewing (or first-time viewing for those who don't care to watch the big game), Yahoo on Wednesday said it will feature links to this year's Super Bowl ads on its video home page, http://video.yahoo.com, hosted at MTV Networks' http://Ifilm.com. Ads will be available for view during the game, but at a delay from the time they air. Apparently Ifilm …

The United States patent office issued a preliminary ruling on Wednesday that undermines legal claims by NTP, an intellectual property holder in Arlington, Va., that BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has violated its copyright. Canada-based RIM said the decision means the patent office has now twice rejected the five patents controlled by NTP that are related to the BlackBerry case. NTP, which holds the intellectual property for wireless e-mail delivery but does not actually incorporate it in any product, has sued RIM for copyright violation. RIM, in turn, asked the U.S. patent office to review and possibly overturn NTP's patents, …

Print publishers, feeling marginalized by the proliferation of free news on the Web, are lashing out now, demanding compensation from search engines for unfairly exploiting their content. On Tuesday the European group The World Association of Newspapers, which includes newspaper, magazine and book publishers, accused Google and the rest of building a business "on the back of kleptomania," and threatened legal action if the search companies refuse to comply. The group's president said that while consumers and publishers alike need search engines to make information on the Web readily accessible, search engines also need news content providers in order to …

Online consumers are spending the same amount of time on the Web as they do watching TV, a new consumer survey from JupiterResearch, an Internet market research firm, said. According to the study, the average online consumer is spending 14 hours per week online, which is the same amount of time he or she spends in front of the television. Meanwhile, the print medium is losing out: a JupiterResearch analyst pointed out that even the most intensive consumers of print products spend less time reading newspapers and magazines than they do surfing the Web or watching TV. He added that …

Philadelphia's municipal Wi-Fi committee, Wireless Philadelphia, has agreed to work with Internet service provider EarthLink to build and maintain the city's municipal Wi-Fi project, an effort that would make affordable high-speed Internet access available to anyone throughout the city. In exchange for ownership of the 135-square-mile network, EarthLink will pay the city for the right to place transmitters on city light posts. Despite ceding full ownership of the network to the telecommunications provider, Wireless Philadelphia will have some say in its operation, charging ISPs a $9 monthly wholesale fee for providing the service to consumers, who will likely be charged …