European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva is sounding the alarm that Web companies don't adequately protect users' privacy. "The status quo is not an option," Kuneva said today at a meeting in Brussels about behavioral targeting.

Facebook posts have led to libel accusations -- as have posts made to Craigslist. So it shouldn't be surprising that Twitter tweets have now resulted in a defamation lawsuit. Fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir, also known as "Boudoir Queen," filed a lawsuit against celebrity Courtney Love, alleging that she libeled her through a series of Twitter posts made earlier this month.

Web users in the U.S. surf the Internet at an average broadband speed of 3.9 Mbps, according to an upcoming Akamai report obtained by GigaOm's Om Malik. That's higher than the worldwide figure of 1.5 Mpbs, but lower than average speeds in 16 other countries.

When the major record labels said they would stop suing file-sharers in favor of working directly with Internet service providers to squelch piracy, the move raised many questions.The ISPs haven't done the best job of answering these questions in the last three months. So it's not surprising that rumors have been swirling.

In the last 18 months, Facebook has brought one privacy mess after another upon itself. Now, in a move apparently aimed at preempting more privacy fiascos, Facebook has tapped ACLU senior attorney Timothy D. Sparapani to serve in the newly created role as director of public policy, The New York Times reports.

The ad-supported music start-up once hailed as the next new thing, SpiralFrog, closed down this week.

News organizations have long taken as gospel the principal that truth is an absolute defense to libel. That is, no matter how mean-spirited, if a statement is true, it can be published. But a recent decision in a lawsuit in Massachusetts has cast doubt on that proposition.

A lawsuit between two northeastern Pennsylvania newspapers about "plagiarism" of obituaries has resulted in a court ruling that could have a wide-ranging impact on online news sites.

When Guns N' Roses released "Chinese Democracy" last November, it shot to the No. 3 spot on Billboard. But the Recording Industry Association of America thinks sales would have been even greater had Kevin Cogill not posted tracks on his blog last year, before the official album release date. Cogill was arrested last year and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. And now the prosecutor in the case is demanding prison time, even though the probation department recommended a sentence of probation. Why? The U.S. Attorney's Office says probation won't adequately protect the music industry.

Behavioral targeting company Phorm has come in for a lot of criticism from privacy advocates. Now, the company's fighting back by launching its own newsletter. The inaugural edition was distributed this morning to journalists and other industry observers. It includes articles touting personalized ads, bashing Google, and complaining about a recent House of Commons privacy roundtable -- where Phorm wasn't invited to speak.