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This is getting out of hand.

What began as a series of official denials about Chinese involvement in the cyber attacks that targeted Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and more than two dozen other U.S. companies has snowballed into a mocking report in the state-run Xinhua news agency deriding a New York Times story linking the attacks to two Chinese universities.

Under the headline, "Chinese netizens make fun of NYT Google hacking report," Xinhua quoted several Internet users posting comments in online forums describing the Times piece variously as "nonsense," "a joke" and "science fiction."

Citing unnamed sources involved with the investigation, the Times story reported that the attacks had been traced to Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang Vocational School, though it did not implicate the Chinese government or any other party as being responsible.

Still, the report prompted a set of vigorous denials in Xinhua of any involvement from officials at both schools, followed up by Sunday's story quoting "Chinese netizens" by their online handles lampooning the Times piece.

Leaders of the federal task force developing a national broadband plan today outlined some of the recommendations they will make to Congress next month outlining policy reforms that could capitalize on high-speed Internet technology to advance broad-ranging national goals, such as healthcare, energy and education.

The broadband plan, which the Federal Communications Commission was directed to develop in last year's economic stimulus bill, was initially due to be delivered to Congress on Feb. 17, but the commission asked for a one-month extension, and is now racing toward the new March 17 deadline.

In addition to the typical considerations of the broadband debate, such as deployment, speed, cost and adoption rates, the FCC's national broadband plan is also taking aim at larger "national purposes."

Blair Levin, executive director of the FCC's Omnibus Broadband Initiative, said the plan aimed to unearth "new solutions to previously intractable problems."

The CEO of Boxee, the software startup that connects Internet video with the TV set, has shot back at the head of NBC, who testified yesterday before a House subcommittee that Boxee had illegally appropriated content from Hulu last year.

Boxee's Avner Ronen sees it a little different.

"I'd like to set the record straight regarding Boxee's access to Hulu," Ronen wrote today in a blog post. "Boxee uses a Web browser to access Hulu's content - just like Firefox or Internet Explorer. Boxee users click on a link to Hulu's Web site and the video within that page plays. We don't 'take' the video. We don't copy it. We don't put ads on top of it. The video and the ads play like they do on other browsers or on Hulu Desktop. And it certainly is legal to do so."

NBC's Zucker was testifying before Congress yesterday in defense of the proposed merger with Comcast, answering questions about, among other things, how the combined entity would affect the emerging online video market. Hulu, of which NBC owns roughly a 30 percent stake, last year pulled its content from Boxee, a move it explained at the time came at the request of its programming providers.

At yesterday's hearing, Zucker characterized it a little differently, telling Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) that the decision was made by Hulu's management, offering no hint of the role played by content providers such as NBC.

President Obama today followed up on last week's State of the Union address with an interview streamed live on YouTube, fielding questions submitted by the public and moderated by Steve Grove, YouTube's head of news and politics.

Obama took 12 questions in the session, his first YouTube interview since the campaign trail.

The subject material ran the gamut from jobs to health care to the Sudan, but there was something for the net heads, as well.

Here's picking up after a brief lightning round of something Grove called "good idea/bad idea":