Internet fraudsters will try to exploit the global financial crisis by sending fraudulent emails purporting to offer cash-strapped consumers new mortgages, loans or money from failed banks, a Microsoft executive said on Wednesday.

Google Inc, Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc are expected to announce on Tuesday, that they have agreed to a common set of principals on how to do business in nations that restrict free speech and expression, the Wall Street Journal reported.

More than three-quarters of Internet users who have stumbled across pictures of online child sex abuse did not know who to report it to, a survey said on Friday.

Cyber-bullying and child pornography will be targeted in a 55 million euro (44 million pound) scheme agreed by European Union lawmakers on Wednesday.

Chinese Internet users have expressed fury at Microsoft's launch of an anti-piracy tool targeting Chinese computer users to ensure they buy genuine software and not a copy.

The personal details of thousands of people who placed classified advertisements in newspapers owned by Axel Springer made their way onto the Internet in the latest data leak scandal to hit Germany.

Shares of Yahoo jumped 12 percent after Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer reportedly said that a deal between the companies may still make economic sense for shareholders.

Google Inc and Yahoo Inc are in talks with the U.S. Justice Department in an effort to head off an antitrust challenge to their proposed advertising agreement, The Wall Street Journal said, citing lawyers.

The U.S. Justice Department has hired Sandy Litvack, who was its former antitrust chief and Walt Disney Co's former vice chairman, to consult on its probe of Google Inc's search advertising deal with Yahoo, a source close to the investigation said.

Microsoft on Friday announced its first major deal since failing to buy Yahoo Inc, agreeing to acquire Web-based survey company Greenfield Online Inc for about $486 million.

Thousands of people suspected of sharing music, films and games over the Internet will be pursued through the courts for damages, lawyers for entertainment companies said on Wednesday.

EBay Inc is cutting the fees U.S. sellers on its site pay for fixed-price items, in one of the company's boldest moves this year to boost merchandise for sale, lure new buyers and take on competitors.

Google Inc said on Monday it has resolved an issue with its contacts system that caused many users of its Gmail service to have trouble accessing their online e-mail.

Google Inc's 5 percent stake in Time Warner Inc's AOL unit may be worth less than the $1 billion the Web company paid for it in 2006, Google warned in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

An eccentric millionaire has put his entire life up for sale on the Internet - including his title of Lord of the Manor of Warleigh - in the hope of converting his assets into cash.

Video-sharing websites like YouTube must do more to protect people from the Internet's "dark side" such as pornography or images of child abuse or bullying, an influential group of MPs said on Thursday.

More than one in four Europeans regularly watches online video on sites such as Google's YouTube but the medium has a long way to go to catch up with regular TV, according to Internet research firm Jupiter.

Pay-TV firm BSkyB is to launch an online subscription music service and has signed the world's largest music group Universal as its first partner, in a deal that could challenge Apple.

Facebook is making sweeping changes to the world's largest social networking site, aiming to give users more control and to curb new forms of spam, company officials said late on Sunday.