Within the course of seven months, Reddit user Scopolamina went from relative newbie to 2012’s top ranked user on the social news site, amassing an unheard of 1.87 million karma points, the Reddit currency that marks the success and popularity of a particular user. During that span of time, he also submitted well over 37,000 posts, moderated about 300 subreddits (most NSFW), and has personally been responsible for removing countless incidents of spam on the site.

Then, in mid-January, as seems to happen with increasing frequency to top Reddit users, he was unceremoniously banned from the site, following allegations of selling his influence to spammers. Joining us to talk about that incident, his experience as Reddit’s top user, and his insider secrets to becoming a top user, is Reddit user Scopolamina…

This week, tragedy strikes the life of a maverick online activist Aaron Swartz, CBS‘s journalistic bias at CES, Amazon rips your previously purchased CDs, MySpace relaunches, Facebook unveils a few surprises, and the Obama Administration shoots down the Death Star.

What rights to privacy can we expect when we choose to act anonymously/pseudonymously on the internet? Do they end at your public actions? Is it acceptable to violate the privacy of one class of user over another? Is it the purview of objective journalism to make that decision? The outing of Reddit‘s ViolentAcrez, “the Biggest Troll on the Web” by Gawker columnist Adrian Chen brings to light those questions and more this week.

But first, the headlines…Microsoft names launch dates and pricing for Windows 8 & Surface RT, Apple teases the possible announcement of the iPad Mini. Saturday Night Live mocks whiny tech bloggers.

On this week’s show, a court rules in favor of Apple over Samsung in a landmark patent and design lawsuit to the tune of $1 billion. Panelists Andrew Sorcini, Christopher Burnor, and guest VentureBeat staff writer Sean Ludwig discuss how this affects Apple, Samsung, the whole mobile phone ecosystem, the future of patent lawsuits, and you, the consumer.

But first, the headlines…Twitter removes friend-finding from Tumblr and removes 3rd-party plugin identification from Twitter.com, Microsoft gets a new logo, Apple delays TV device development, a landmark filesharing fine is upheld, Ask.com buys About.com from The New York Times, and President Obama visits Reddit.

This week, Dwayne DeFreitas and Andrew Sorcini examine social media’s reaction to the tragedy in Aurora, plans to relaunch Digg, why a Google or Facebook buyout of your favorite startup means it’s probably toast, Nexus 7‘s overwhelming demand, Marissa Mayer‘s big question, Apple‘s Mountain Lion launch, Apple vs. Samsung (again), and why you’re going to need all new dock connectors for your Apple devices.