One rarely accumulates a net worth of $1.9 billion without breaking the rules. Repeatedly. IAC chairman Barry Diller has agreed to pay $480,000 in civil penalties for anti-trust violations related to his purchase of voting shares in Coca-Cola from 2010 to 2012.

George Orwell once said that "a humanitarian is always a hypocrite." In the case of Jeremy Johnson, the government is also trying him as a criminal.

Carrier IQ, the creepy monitoring software on 150 million or so Android devices, Nokias, and iPhones, may constitute a massive violation of privacy laws. The FTC and FCC are looking into it. In the meantime, enjoy your "smart" phone!

With two former members of the Federal Trade Commission on payroll, perhaps it's not surprising that Facebook just got let off the hook for mass violations of federal privacy rules. It's pretty depressing, though.

Facebook is reportedly about to get a slap on the wrist from the federal government for its huge privacy scandal of 2009 and 2010, in which it forced into public view people's once private lists of friends and interests, then made people bend over backward to re-privatize their information. Why isn't the Federal Trade Commission as outraged as privacy groups or the many, many furious Facebook users? Good question!

The hot vacation rental service Airbnb has been insisting its recent scandals have all been innocent mistakes: The time it spammed Craigslist, its dearth of safety protections, the cover-up it attempted. For penance, the company built safety systems like a "verification dashboard," online references, and address confirmation.

It turns out you can unite liberal and conservative members of Congress. Just bring up Facebook! The co-chairs of the Congressional Privacy Caucus — a Republican from Texas and a Dem from Massachusetts — have teamed up to write a letter pushing the FTC to investigate the social network.

The Senate is about to debate whether Google is evil. The search giant's competitors, including Yelp, have come out swinging, and they seem to have a good case.

Ashton Kutcher's editorship of Details was, as we noted yesterday, a brazenly self interested and highly misleading act of journalism. But it may have been a federal crime, too, judging from what the New York Times is reporting.

Google is about to be officially investigated for being evil. The Federal Trade Commission thinks its search engine may have violated antitrust law, and that Google may be a bully to the core. Review some potential supporting evidence below.

It's a federal offense to take a bribe, endorse a product online and keep it secret. The Feds even launched an educational campaign about it. Too bad they never got around to educating Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley.

The FTC has filed suit against POM, the overpriced juice that looks a lot like blood. Apparently pomegranate juice does not have "super health powers," nor does it contribute to the "fight against cardiovascular, prostate, and erectile health." Bummer.

Any mystery about why tech companies feel free to plunder, lose and even illegally appropriate your personal data should be cleared up by observing how lightly the Federal Trade Commission spanked Twitter for losing control of 35 high-profile accounts.

In your mordant Monday media column: Zachery Kouwe is canned again, a replacement for Gourmet, the government set to save journalism, News Corp makes a purchase, and Howard Kurtz defines heroism.

It's now clear the government is eyeballing Apple's control-freak policy on how iPad and iPhone apps are written, with two more reports of Feds looking into anti-competitive practices. Does Steve Jobs have the stomach for this fight?

The Federal Trade Commission said it investigated Ann Taylor for trying to influence bloggers with gifts. The FTC took no action, its announcement publicized questions about blogger payola. Namely: Since when does a big-name retailer offer such crappy bribes?

Blogging her poops. Deflating Scarlet Johansson. And now, apparently, taking blog bribes that are federal crimes for the rest of us. These are but a few of Gwyneth Paltrow's transgressions, and the FTC will continue to let them happen.

Actually save it for when the deal actually goes through. But that time has moved closer now that Comcast announced a $30 billion deal to take over NBC Universal from GE. The next big question: Are regulators going to flip?

FTC regulations on blogger payola and freebies went into effect today, and bloggers have gotten busy disclosing their "material connections" to the people and companies they write about. Most of what's been disclosed is small-time, slapdash or downright stress inducing.

In your thrashed Thursday media column: More Conde layoff rumors, Martha Stewart's evil company gets sued, media hair racism persists, and Choire Sicha declaims on the current technomedia foofaraw.