Traditionally, Google has had separate privacy policies and separate terms of service for each site it operates. YouTube has one agreement, Google News might use another, Google+ something else. The idea behind the new privacy policy is that it will cover all of Google. That will mean the different parts of Google will be free to use information about you with each other. Also in this program, thoughts on why everything has to be so complicated on sites that are supposed to be so simple (i.e. Facebook).

The President’s annual State of the Union address touched on a lot of tenets that are central to his administration and his campaign for re-election. President Obama talked about how the tax laws should be adjusted so that Warren Buffett doesn’t pay a lower tax rate than his secretary. Mr. Obama called for more control over interest rates for student loans and breaks for homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. He stressed the need for investment in renewable energy sources.

The Supreme Court has issued a unanimous ruling in a case that has been watched closely by privacy advocates. United States v. Jones dealt with Washington, D.C., resident Antoine Jones, who was suspected of trafficking in drugs. Authorities attached a GPS device to Jones’ car, ultimately tracing his movements to a suburban house used to stash drugs. The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a search on someone’s car is a search of their property and therefore a warrant should be required. The Court was unanimous in its ruling but was split 5-4 in exactly how the 4th Amendment applies in this situation.

A new book explores the digital trail you leave behind when you visit a site and what advertising companies are able to determine about you based on your activities. And this kind of data mining and profiling isn’t just being used to sell you detergent, it’s used in political campaigns as well — you may be seeing a different candidate than someone else sees, all based on where you went online and the trail you left behind. Also on the show, the number of tablets and readers is spiking up.

Megaupload was one popular website. Its shutdown stems from an indictment issued in a Northern Virginia court accusing the site of being responsible for $500 million in revenue that should have been going to the copyright holders of the movies, TV shows and music on the site. And the timing of the raid, coming as it did the day after the protests by Wikipedia and other sites, may have not been coincidental. Also in this program, another installment of Tech Report Theater.

Apple holds an event today in New York City that is widely expected to be aimed at electronic textbooks. And although you have to pay attention whenever Apple puts some muscle behind a new line of business, this is territory that many people are already deeply involved with — there are a lot of different publishers and a lot of different platforms. Also, time for another Robot Roundup.

SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill being considered by the House. It would expand law enforcement’s authority to fight the online sale of counterfeit products, as well as the trafficking of bootleg movies and music. PIPA is the Protect IP Act, the Senate’s version of the same bill. Wikipedia, as well as other sites like Reddit, are going dark to drum up opposition to those bills, in part because they feel they could be in violation of what the new laws would establish. Also, Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang has resigned from the company’s board of directors. It could be a sign the company is about to be sold.

24 million accounts at Zappos.com have been hacked, according to notifications sent out to customers. According to the online shoe retailer, which is owned by Amazon.com, no credit card information was stolen, instead it was personal data like names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails, as well as the last four digits of a credit card number (traditionally used for verification).

Is Google’s new search system illegal and an invasion of privacy? The company’s social networking tool Google+ is getting very prominent placement in Google’s recently revamped search results, and some aren’t happy about it. It begs to question: What is it positioning itself to be — a portal to somewhere else or a destination in and of itself? Also, a $10 million prize is being offered for anyone who can invent a real live tricorder, like the one used on “Star Trek.”