At a speech this week in Los Angeles, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz said that the agency has "great hopes" that a new industry self-regulatory program will adequately protect consumers' privacy. "So long as self-regulation is making forward progress, the FTC is not interested in regulating in this area," he told the National Cable & Telecommunications Association's Cable Show.

Facebook exec Elliot Schrage answered privacy-related questions from readers of The New York Times this week. But Schrage's attempts to justify the recent changes only highlight just how dismissive Facebook is of legitimate concerns.

Facebook has spent the last several weeks touting its controversial instant personalization program, which automatically shares users' names, photos, friend lists and other data with Yelp, Microsoft Docs and Pandora. As it turns out, however, Facebook isn't placing all of its users in the program. The company confirmed to MediaPost today that new members are excluded from instant personalization -- which Facebook describes as a pilot program.

Facebook's privacy problems appear to be spurring the company to take on more lobbyists. This morning, the Financial Times reported that Facebook enlisted former Federal Trade Commission chief Tim Muris to make the company's case to regulators.

Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposal to reclassify broadband transmission as a Title II telecommunications service could enable the agency to do more than simply create net neutrality rules. The shift, if successful, also should remove any doubt that the FCC can move forward with key aspects of the broadband plan, including matters as fundamental as requiring Internet service providers to give consumers accurate data about speeds and pricing.

Digital rights advocates are cheering a decision issued today by the New Hampshire Supreme Court stating that an online news site devoted to covering the mortgage industry is covered by the state's reporter's shield law.

Looks like the Federal Communications Commission is going to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service after all. Tomorrow, Chairman Julius Genachowski intends to put forward a plan to categorize broadband transmission service as a telecommunications service, subject to Title II of the Telecommunications Act. Currently the FCC considers broadband an information service, subject to Title I.

Facebook might think sharing users' data is a great idea, but that doesn't mean it wants users sharing that data on their own. The company's terms of service specifically ban the use of "automatic means" to collect their 'contacts, photos, friends' names and other data stored on the site. Rather, people who want to copy such data to another computer or service must do so manually or else risk Facebook's wrath for violating its terms of service.

Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly, now running for California Attorney General, wants voters to know he's no fan of the company's new "instant personalization."