Search giant Google is asking a federal court to reject a key argument put forward by copyright enforcer Righthaven in one of its appeals. Righthaven's appeal in this particular case centers on whether the nonprofit group Center for Intercultural Organizing was entitled to claim fair use after reposting an entire article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Carrier IQ still can't shake the controversy that erupted last month, after researcher Trevor Eckhart posted a video showing how the company's software can log keystrokes.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is preparing to perform some surgery on the controversial Protect-IP Act now pending in the Senate. The Democrat from Vermont said today that one of the bill's most hotly debated components -- a provision allowing judges to order Internet service providers to block certain domain names -- could be revised.

Reddit intends to black out its site for 12 hours next Wednesday, administrators said this week. The move marks the social news site's latest attempt to rally opposition to the Hollywood-backed Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect-IP Act.

Copyright enforcement outfit Righthaven might be floundering, but issues raised by the company's business model are still up for consideration in the courts. One of the unresolved questions stemming from Righthaven's litigation campaign centers on whether newspapers that invite readers to share articles effectively grant readers licenses to reproduce material in ways that would otherwise infringe on copyright. That question -- which came up when Righthaven launched its litigation campaign -- is among the issues that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals could address when it considers Rightaven's appeal in an unsuccessful lawsuit against the nonprofit Center for Intercultural Organization.

Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) recently asked Facebook to explain why it obtained a patent for tracking people across the Web. The social networking service's response, made public today, reiterates its prior statements to the media -- namely, that tech companies often obtain patents they don't intend to use.

Tech companies like Google, Twitter and Amazon have made no secret of their opposition to anti-piracy proposals currently under consideration on Capitol Hill. So far, however, their efforts have been limited to lobbying Congress against the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (pending in the House) and Protect-IP Act (in the Senate). But this week reports have swirled that the companies are considering a more radical approach: a blackout to protest the measures.

The Federal Trade Commission should require Facebook to restore users' 2009 privacy settings, the advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center says.

Righthaven has been nothing if not aggressive in its litigation campaign against bloggers who reposted newspapers' content. The company, which notoriously sued first and asked questions later, brought a total of around 275 cases against bloggers and small publishers before its campaign came to a halt this summer.

If the Federal Trade Commission wants to ban companies from using behavioral advertising techniques on children, the agency should try the direct approach. That's according to the think tank Future of Privacy Forum. “The straightforward way to regulate the ability of operators to target children with behavioral advertising would be to simply prohibit operators from engaging in the practice,” the think tank says in written comments regarding a proposed update to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. “But the FTC instead focuses on the types of information operators collect rather than on how operators use the information. This approach unnecessarily …