When Rosetta Stone appealed the dismissal of its lawsuit against Google for allegedly infringing trademark on AdWords, the language learning company filed a good portion of the brief under seal, which included material that both companies wanted to keep confidential. Advocacy group Public Citizen protested, arguing that this closely watched case -- which could determine whether Google can allow companies to use trademarks to trigger search ads -- shouldn't be litigated in secrecy. The parties then agreed to unseal Rosetta Stone's brief, which happened yesterday.

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear the appeal of Whitney Harper, leaving her facing a $27,750 bill for having downloaded 37 tracks from Kazaa when she was 16.

Two years after complaints by lawmakers, consumer advocates and others shut down behavioral targeting company NebuAd -- which partnered with Internet service providers to serve ads to people based on their Web activity -- another company, Kindsight, is readying tests of the same controversial technology in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reports.

Copyright enforcement outfit Righthaven, which sues bloggers, nonprofits and other small Web publishers for allegedly reposting articles from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, appears to be running into some hurdles in its litigation campaign.

Online privacy will be the subject of two separate upcoming governmental reports -- which is one too many, some advocates say.

The Federal Communications Commission is reportedly gearing up once again to tackle net neutrality. A report today in Politico says that the FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is readying a proposal based on one floated earlier this year by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). Waxman attempted to gain bi-partisan consensus for a bill that would require wireline broadband providers to refrain from discriminating or prioritizing traffic for the next two years.

A Senate committee this week unanimously approved a troubling anti-piracy law that would enable the federal authorities to seek court orders directing Internet service providers and domain registrars to shut down sites allegedly dedicated to infringement.

Most of the time, it's defendants who ask judges to dismiss lawsuits and plaintiffs who argue that the case should remain on the court docket. But with Righthaven's litigation campaign against bloggers, nothing is happening quite as one would expect.

The technological feasibility of a do-not-track registry might be uncertain, but the concept has nonetheless caught the attention of policymakers. In the latest sign that some in Congress are at least considering whether to back the idea, the House subcommittee for commerce, trade, and consumer protection has convened a hearing about online privacy at which it will explore do-not-track, according to The Washington Post. The hearing is tentatively slated for Dec. 2.

Judith Griggs, the editor and publisher of Cooks Source magazine, now says she might shutter the 13-year-old publication in wake of the commotion that erupted after it came to light that the magazine had lifted a blogger's article.