Study after study has shown that the U.S. lags behind other countries when it come to broadband. Not only are fast connections more expensive in the U.S. than abroad, but many people only have a choice of two broadband providers: their cable company or telecom. But one group now says that U.S. broadband isn't as bad as it might seem.

The White House must respond to a petition to fire the attorneys who prosecuted Aaron Swartz, a Web activist who committed suicide while awaiting trial on federal computer fraud charges.

It's no secret that online privacy policies aren't the easiest documents to understand. As far back as 2008, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University reported that actually reading an online privacy policy would take 10 minutes on average. In other words, it would probably take people longer to read the privacy policy of any given site than to read whatever articles or other content drew them to the site in the first place.

The publishing giant Macmillan has agreed to join four other publishers in settling antitrust charges related to ebook pricing, according to court papers filed today. Macmillan is resolving the case on similar terms as four other publishers sued in April by the Department of Justice. Apple, also sued by the government, continues to fight the charges.

Microsoft has launched a new anti-Google campaign that attacks the search giant on privacy grounds. The initiative focuses on Gmail, with Microsoft condemning Google for scanning people's Gmail messages in order to serve them contextual ads. "Think Google respects your privacy? Think again," Microsoft says on Scroogled.com

It looks like the copyright troll Righthaven is facing an uphill battle in its bid to resurrect its lawsuits against bloggers.

Efforts to revise a long out-of-date computer fraud law are continuing to gain momentum following the suicide last month of Web activist Aaron Swartz. The most recent news is that Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) unveiled a revised version of "Aaron's Law," a bill that aims to clarify that violating a company's terms of service isn't a federal crime.

The New York Times is supporting the idea that online ad companies should obtain users' opt-in consent before tracking them across the Web in order to build marketing profiles. In an editorial published today, the Times criticizes the "dubious" ways in which companies track people for marketing purposes.

Do-not-track isn't just for desktops, the Federal Trade Commission said on Friday. Mobile platform companies -- including Apple, Google and Blackberry -- also should develop a do-not-track mechanism that would "prevent an entity from developing profiles about mobile users," the FTC recommended in a new report about mobile privacy.