Last summer, two researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and AT&T Labs reported on how social networks "leak" data to advertisers through referrer URLs. Now the same pair has published a new study concluding that mobile social networks leak information about users -- including, in some cases, their locations.

Time Warner and digital rights advocates are preparing to face off in court on Wednesday against a copyright enforcement outfit that represents independent filmmakers.

Copyright enforcement outfit Righthaven has filed some questionable lawsuits in the past, but really outdid itself in a case against Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor. That lawsuit, one of several filed on Friday, alleges that Curtis infringed copyright by reposting an article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal . Problem is, that article was itself based on an annual survey conducted by Curtis of ticket prices for entertainment shows.

Cecil Bothwell, a public official in Asheville, N.C., says he has a particular interest in preventing other governmental officials from obtaining people's Amazon records.

Turns out the Federal Trade Commission has spent much of the last year investigating Twitter for two security glitches that resulted in hackers obtaining access to some users' names, passwords and private messages. And the FTC's statement about the case could signal how the commission is viewing other privacy complaints -- especially ones regarding Facebook.

When one news publication breaks a big story, columnists, bloggers and reporters from other publications follow up on it. Often they add new details, but sometimes they only add commentary. And in some cases, they might not add anything new, but merely distribute the information to a wider audience. Doing so might increase these other publications' audience, but it also serves the public. Nonetheless, a host of major newspapers, including The New York Times, have just filed a legal brief with a federal appellate court arguing that, in some situations, publishers should be able to prevent their scoops from appearing …

Officials in Europe and the U.S. indicated this week that online ad companies that track people online could soon face new restrictions.

The fallout from Google's WiFi spying scandal seems to be worsening for the search giant. Today, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he would lead a 30-state investigation of the company's collection of payload data from unsecured WiFi networks.

The peer-to-peer network LimeWire, recently found liable for inducing copyright infringement, says it wants to develop a new music service that will "compensate the entire industry."

A divided Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 this morning to consider reclassifying broadband access as a telecommunications service. If the plan goes through, Internet service providers would be subject to some of the same common carrier rules as telephone companies.