Google recently announced a new privacy policy that has users and privacy advocates up in arms. Effective March 1, this new policy will consolidate information from users' various products — from Gmail to YouTube to the Android mobile phone operating system — in order to "better tailor its services" for customers. But the move could potentially violate a users' privacy simply to better target advertising. Estimates say between 50-75 percent of the world's internet users utilize at least one of Google's products.

The anti piracy laws being considered in the U.S. have produced worldwide internet turmoil. Perhaps you are already aware that the giant Wikipedia website in English is down not because of some pirates, but in protest to what the Wikipedia people think this would do to the internet. Well Wikipedia's message today is that we in the 21st century world community need the open architecture of the internet and sites like Wikipedia. Just check out what it is like suddenly not to have them.

Last Friday, President Barak Obama issued a statement announcing that he would not lend his support for the Stop Online Piracy Act, known as SOPA, citing concerns over First Amendment rights and cyber security risks. Introduced last October in Congress, SOPA would give content providers wide reaching powers to shut down websites distributing copyrighted materials. 

When it comes to sales, it's widely known that bookstores, particularly independent ones, face tough competition from online sellers such as Amazon. It looks like the battle lines just got tougher. With their new book app, Amazon is encouraging book store shoppers to scan titles they find intriguing, and see if they can get a better price online. The reward if you find a better price is the chance to earn five percent credit on purchases at Amazon, of course.

Tumblr CEO David Karp and Maria Pallante, United States Copyright Office director, join The Takeaway for two very distinct views on the Stop Online Piracy Act. The bill's stated purpose is to shut down websites that host or post pirated material and counterfeit goods. Hearings on bill began earlier this week in the House. Another version of the bill, called the PROTECT IP Act, already passed in the Senate.

Chuck Klosterman has his finger on the pulse of contemporary American life. His essays and novels examine not only sports and pop culture, but also what the most popular athletes, music, movies and Internet obsessions say about who Americans are. Klosterman’s new book, "The Visible Man" is a novel about a therapist and her extraordinary patient, a man who claims he’s perfected the art of invisibility.

In the coming months, the domain ".xxx" will become available to pornographic websites — and PETA wants in. Many companies are planning to buy the domain in order to stop X-rated sites from using their brand name with the new .xxx domain. But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, no stranger to provocative methods of gaining attention, is going to do so with the full intent of making its .xxx domain name deliver nothing less than what those three letters imply — all in the name of animal rights, of course.

A Senate panel will open an antitrust inquiry into the business practices of Google today. The search giant's executive chairman Eric Schmidt is expected to testify. Federal authorities are accusing the company of playing favorites with its own businesses in search results. Microsoft endured a similar antitrust case, which took nearly a year to resolve.

Yesterday, we told you about a new study that says 53 percent of people feel upset when they are separated from the internet, and 40 percent feel "lonely." We asked for your stories of internet addiction. Aaron, a listener from Oklahoma, had this to say:

"I'm an alcoholic addict and I'm in recovery three years — doing well. But one thing I do struggle with is the internet. I'll use Facebook and aggregator sites like Readit. And I'll be up way past when I should go to bed responsibly. I've heard that the internet can release endorphins because you're finding unique and interesting things so frequently and that that can become addictive in and of itself."

The mental side effects of a drug withdrawal are often debilitating, and can include anxiety, confusion or mild to severe depression. This is true of cigarettes, alcohol, and heroin. But could it apply to the internet as well? According to a study conducted by the London based behavior research company Intersperience, 53 percent of people feel upset when they are separated from the internet, and 40 percent feel "lonely." Do these withdrawal symptoms mean that the Internet is a drug? And if so, what should be done to curb our national addiction?

The Takeaway’s co-host John Hockenberry reacts to today’s discussion of the Oslo terrorist attacks that took place on Friday. With nearly one hundred dead and the same number injured, Hockenberry questions the role of the internet in either fueling or deflating the hunger for violence in extremists such as Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed-suspect of the attacks. Does the passivity of the internet allow extremists to follow an easier path to violence? Hockenberry discusses this and freedom of assembly and expression in the digital age.

UK authorities have arrested a 19-year-old under suspicion for his potential connection to the hacking group LulzSec. The group has claimed to have pulled off attacks on PBS, Sony and the Senate.

The group has a mischievous persona. It has set up a hotline for people to call in and suggest sites that should be attacked. The recorded voice that answers claims, in an exaggerated French accent, that "Pierre Dubois and Franvois Deluxe" are not available because they’re out hacking websites. Yesterday, they announced that they're teaming up with Anonymous, another hacking group with a deeper political bent.

Today the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a global body that coordinates internet names, voted to allow companies to apply for their own domain name extensions. Instead of choosing from the 22 existing top-level domain names, like dot com, dot org or dot net, websites will be able to apply for alternate URL endings—think dot takeaway or dot WNYC. At $185,000, the application fee is hefty and will likely limit the applicant pool to global business giants hoping to maximize their internet presence. ICANN will begin accepting applications on January 12, 2012. Mariko Oi, business reporter for our partner the BBC, speaks with us from Singapore, where ICANN met this morning.

Tom MacMaster, a 40-year-old American man living in Scotland admitted that he was behind the "Gay Girl in Damascus" blog, which, for the past six years provided thousands of persecuted gay people with hope – particularly in the Middle East. The blog was supposedly written by a woman Amina Arraf, who, according to the blog, was kidnapped last week. In response, the international media went on high alert. But within days, it became clear that Amina Arraf, was in fact, not a lesbian, not Syrian, and not even a woman. How did MacMaster manage to dupe so many?

The basics of "Weinergate" are well established. Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), has a Twitter account. The Friday before Memorial Day weekend, a picture was posted on Yfrog and tweeted from Weiner's account to that of a 21-year-old college student in Seattle. The picture, as most of the country knows by now, was a shot from the chest down of a man in his underwear. It was immediately deleted. Rep. Weiner claimed, on twitter, that he'd been hacked. Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich has been watching this unfold. John Abell, New York Bureau Chief for Wired.com, discusses Rep. Weiner's assertion that "I was pranked, I was hacked, I was punked" and how a person might actually prove such a thing.

A new peer-to-peer payment system called bitcoins allow people to use currency online without being taxed, tracked, or subject to the regulation of governments or banks. Internet entrepreneur and host of the "This Week in Startups" podcast Jason Calacanis says they are "the most dangerous open-source project ever created," and that they threaten to "change the world unless governments ban them with harsh penalties."

Facebook has more than 500 million active users. Every link you click, every post you like, every piece of information you share with your friends on the site is also shared with Facebook — and their advertisers. Facebook isn't the only Internet company tracking you. Google, Yahoo News and plenty of other sites do the same. But how are these companies using your information? As the Internet becomes the primary way we get our news and understand our world, how might this filtering affect our world view? In other words, what aren't we seeing?

One of the biggest PR firms in the world, Burson-Marsteller, was hired by Facebook to smear Google, essentially briefing reporters about a feature of Google's social networking service called Social Circle. And the most shocking issue might  just be the clumsiness of the PR firm, which blatantly tried to get bloggers to write an Op-Ed bashing Google. While Social Circle "is kind of creepy," says Dan Lyons, Newsweek editor who wrote the story for The Daily Beast, but what really got Facebook angry wasn't the privacy issue, but the fact that Google is also mining Facebook for their new feature. "Facebook is scared that Google might beat them at their own game," says Lyons.

Microsoft will purchase Skype for 8.5 billion, making it the largest deal in Microsoft's 36-year history. Skype's popularity is due in part to it's functionality across operating systems and it's free calling services. If executed properly, this can greatly improve Microsoft's hold on internet properties as well as the gaming industry. For more on Microsoft's strategy and the impact of this deal on the global communications industry is Andrew Ross Sorkin, chief mergers and acquisitions reporter for The New York Times.

Later today 55-year-old Eric Schmidt leaves his post as Google CEO, to be replaced by the company’s 38 year old co-founder Larry Page. The last time Larry Page lead the company was in 2001. Then, Google had about 200 employees. Today, the monolithic company employs over 24,000. Is Page ready for his old role, and more importantly, what changes will his new leadership bring to the direction and focus of the company that built its fortunes around his visionary search algorithms? For the answer we speak to Siva Vaidhyanathan, professor of law and media studies at the University of Virginia and author of "The Googlization of Everything."