Earlier this month, Time Warner had to back off its plan to implement an unpopular new pay-per-byte pricing system for broadband customers in Greensboro, N.C. But residents of North Carolina now have to deal with another potential threat to their ability to access the Web at a reasonable price: Time Warner, along with other cable companies, is pushing for legislation that aims to cripple municipal broadband

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision this week to back the Federal Communications Commission in its hard line against profanity on TV could also boost the FCC on a seemingly unrelated matter: its decision to sanction Comcast for violating net neutrality principles.

As lawmakers continue to scrutinize online advertising, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said today that it has launched a new public policy blog. "Here we'll be providing our members with the latest legislative developments on the state, federal and regulatory levels, as well as highlighting current topics, trends, developments, and events that are inhabiting the interactive advertising ecosystem -- and much like a 'real' ecosystem, it's often the small things that end-up blindsiding you," the IAB states.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz reiterated today that the online ad industry is running out of time to prove it can adequately protect people's privacy.

AT&T has spent much time in this last year criticizing behavioral targeting companies for their privacy policies. But, in contrast to its public stance, the telecom's marketing department has apparently been working with behavioral targeting company Audience Science to sell AT&T products and services to Web users.

Last week, three founders of the Pirate Bay and one of the company's backers were found guilty of criminal copyright infringement in Sweden and sentenced to one year in jail. Now it's come to light that the judge who presided over the trial, Tomas Norstrom, is a member of the anti-piracy group Swedish Copyright Association and on the board of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property.

The U.K.-based group Privacy International has added its voice to the growing roster of Phorm critics, condemning the company's platform as "dangerous and potentially unlawful."

In the latest example of a big media company complaining about a YouTube clip, CNN has demanded that the video-sharing site remove a video that incorporates some footage from the network.

Time Warner might have backed away from its unpopular plan to start charging Web users based on bandwidth consumed, but many people believe the delay is only temporary.

Early this morning, a Swedish court issued a verdict against three founders of The Pirate Bay and one of the company's financial backers. The court found them criminally liable for copyright infringement, imposed a $3.5 million fine and ordered them jailed for one year.