Internet

Revenue generated by online advertising hit a new record in the U.S. last quarter.

Total first-quarter sales hit $9.6 billion, up 15.6 percent from the $8.3 billion seen in the first quarter of 2012, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The latest numbers reflect an ongoing shift to Internet advertising on the part of marketers as revenue continues to grow by double digits.

"Consumers are turning to interactive media in droves to look for the latest information, to connect with their social networks, and simply to be entertained," IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg … Read more

A new lawsuit in Manhattan pitting the U.S. Department of Justice against Google offers a rare glimpse of how determined prosecutors are to defend a process that allows federal agents to gain warrantless access to user records, and how committed the Mountain View, Calif., company is to defending its customers' privacy rights against what it views as illegal requests.

The Justice Department's lawsuit, filed April 22 and not disclosed until this article, was sparked by Google's decision to rebuff the FBI's legal demands for confidential user data. It centers on the bureau's controversial use of … Read more

The heartless are everywhere.

Sometimes they are men, sometimes women. Sometimes they are simply beings beyond definition.

Why, I remember one proud woman telling me that she had dumped her man. He came to reason with her, to plead even.

"He was crying," she gloated afterwards, as if she'd scored some great victory. And to think the only reason she'd dumped him was that she'd discovered he was a drug dealer. Yes, it was only pot.

It's interesting, therefore, to witness the reactions to a Google Street View shot that has been propelled to … Read more

A federal judge has ruled that Google must comply with the FBI's warrantless requests for confidential user data, despite the search company's arguments that the secret demands are illegal.

CNET has learned that U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco rejected Google's request to modify or throw out 19 so-called National Security Letters, a warrantless electronic data-gathering technique used by the FBI that does not need a judge's approval. Her ruling came after a pair of top FBI officials, including an assistant director, submitted classified affidavits.

The litigation taking place behind closed doors in … Read more

You may soon be able to log into your favorite Web sites and apps using just your Amazon credentials.

Following in the footsteps of Facebook and other online companies, the retail giant on Wednesday launched a single-sign on feature dubbed Login with Amazon. The goal of the service is to reduce the need to juggle multiple passwords by allowing you to use your Amazon account to access various Web sites, apps, and games.

Available now to all developers, Login with Amazon is already in place at such Amazon subsidiaries as Zappos and Woot. Amazon claims that both sites saw strong … Read more

Online currency company Liberty Reserve has been shut down following charges that it laundered more than $6 billion over the past several years and became a "bank of choice for the criminal underworld," The New York Times reported today.

An indictment, filed today by U.S. prosecutors in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accused Liberty Reserve of establishing its digital currency exchange to launder money, resulting in 55 million laundering transactions for at least a million people.

Furthermore, prosecutors painted Liberty Reserve as a currency marketplace that enabled criminals to commit … Read more

If attorney general Eric Holder wanted to perform even a momentary Internet wiretap on Fox News' e-mail accounts, he would have had to persuade a judge to approve what lawyers call a "super search warrant."

A super search warrant's requirements are exacting: Intercepted communications must be secured and placed under seal. Real-time interception must be done only as a last resort. Only certain crimes qualify for this technique, the target must be notified, and additional restrictions apply to state and local police conducting real-time intercepts.

But because of the way federal law was written nearly half a … Read more

Update at 8:35 a.m. PT: The site's functionality has been restored, according to a Flickr spokesperson.

Flickr is having performance issues just a few days after a major site revamp.

Some users have been unable to access the site at all, while others have run into delays logging in or launching certain pages. Certain tasks, such as logging into my Flickr account and accessing my Photostream page, each took several minutes to complete.

The photo-sharing site acknowledged the problem in a tweet early Friday, telling users: "Experiencing slowness or having trouble accessing the site? We're … Read more

Twitter users may see more videos start to pop up in their timelines.

The microblogging site has already worked with companies to display videos in their tweets. ESPN and Ford Fusion teamed up to show instant replays in tweets during college football games. Turner Sports, the NCAA, AT&T, and Coke Zero united to tweet real-time video highlights of basketball games.

But now this program has a name and a bunch of new partners.

Dubbed Twitter Amplify, the program will expand to show Twitter users more video clips, accompanied by short ads. The tweeted videos tie in with programs … Read more