Two consumer groups urged U.S. regulators on Monday to block Google from acquiring mobile advertising provider AdMob, citing potential harm the deal could cause to users, advertisers and application developers.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will launch an inquiry into Google Voice, the Web-based voice service, after complaints that the tech giant is blocking some calls.

AT&T on Friday accused Google of violating the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules by blocking Google Voice calls to some rural areas.

New reputation-based antivirus systems are doing a better job of blocking malicious software than did their predecessors.

China will require that Web filtering software be included with all computers sold in the country, another step up in its efforts to control pornography and other content on the Internet.

Social networking site Facebook has been blocked in Iran since Saturday, according to the country's opposition, as opposition voters increasingly turn to online tools like social networking to promote their candidates.

Microsoft has had few critics more vocal than Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Sun Chairman Scott McNealy. With their companies set to merge in a blockbuster US$7.4 billion deal announced Monday, is it time for Microsoft to worry?

Mozilla Corp. is considering adding a tool to Firefox 3.0 that would automatically block Web sites thought to harbor malicious downloads, but the company's security chief refused to spell out details, saying Mozilla is "not ready to talk about the feature."

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has formed an "Internet Access Task Force" to examine whether net neutrality advocates' fears of large broadband providers blocking or slowing Web content from competitors are justified, the agency's chairwoman said.

The Indian government has blocked about 20 Web sites and blogs in India, following suspicions by the country's intelligence agencies that the sites were likely being used by terrorists to communicate with each another.

Microsoft Corp. has blocked the site of a Chinese blogger critical of the government, raising sharp questions from its own employees over how far the company should go in abiding by restrictive laws used to curtail free speech and press in the communist country.