The penalty: $163 million. The crime? Using something called “Scareware.” This particular Internet scam delivers fake popups saying, “you’ve got a virus,” followed by a prompt to solve the problem and clean up your computer with the help of your credit card. Of course, once you’re that far, they’re quite possibly helping you dissassemble your computer’s security system as well. This week, the FTC is continuing a multinational crackdown on this particular kind of scam, shutting off phone lines and cutting off bank accounts.

Crowdsourcing: reaching out to the entire planet in search of talent to solve problems. Many argue crowdsourcing is the job market of the future. A New York startup called VoiceBunny is using the power of the crowd to provide voice-overs for online videos, advertisements, and blog podcasts. While the service aims to lower costs and provide faster turn-around for customers, it may threaten the job model of traditional staff announcers.

With the first presidential debate set for tonight in Denver, a question for you: Remember Texas governor Rick Perry’s brain freeze in a debate during primary season? How did you see it — live on TV or later on your laptop or phone? Recent studies have shown that technology is shaking up the way we consume media. We check in with the online news site Buzzfeed and blogger site Tumblr to find out their plans to cover the debate for today’s digital, instant, and social age.

What if the data used by your Smartphone to browse the web, check email and Facebook and look for nearby restaurants were free? A new service called FreedomPop hopes to go up against AT&T and Verizon’s paid data plans by offering customers 500 megabytes per month for free. And, how about electronics that get implanted in the body during an operation and dissolve when no longer needed? This is still early-stage according to an article in the latest edition of the journal “Science,” but it could change medical practice and the term ‘biodegradable’ as we know it.         

A new report says the U.S. Justice Department allowed law enforcement agencies to examine more private data in 2010-2011 than in the entire previous decade. The kind of surveillance allowance isn’t new — but the kinds of data the government is being allowed to pull has changed. And while digital technology has disrupted the old way of doing business for many industrites — like music and books — it’s taken a while with one near-essential, wine. But Amazon may try selling wine online, again.

People are spending more time sharing photos on Instagram than they are writing or reading on Twitter.  The new numbers are a surprise, given how Twitter-style microblogging is supposed to change the way we interrelate. But sending a picture of Dmitri the goldfish via Instagram?

It’s called “Additive Manufacturing.” There’s a snappier name for it: 3D Printing. Til now we’ve tended to make objects by cutting, grinding, chiseling away at metal or wood. Now we are entering the age of  making things by adding, not subtracting. The Obama administration thinks this sort of thing creates jobs, and wants to get 3D printing to a place near you.

The once-mighty social media site Myspace has a slick video showing off its new look. And pop star Justin Timberlake likes it so much he’s endorsing it… though it should be noted that Justin’s also a major investor. But will some celebrity power and a thorough redesign make Myspace a go-to spot again for online users?

With all this information technology at our disposal, it’s striking how getting to the truth of a matter can still be so tough. Two tech stories from opposite sides of the world today remind us how even in 2012 the flow of information is still tightly controlled. First, Iran, where authorities seem to be restricting access to some big websites. And part two, from China: that brawl-slash-unrest-slash-riot involving employees of one of that country’s huge technology factories the other night.