Virginia authorities said on Thursday they had arrested and charged a North Carolina man for sending "spam" e-mail in the first use of a new state law that could bring penalties of up to 20 years in prison.

Microsoft is taking spam fighting technology seriously. Enterprise players' reaction? There's plenty of spam to go around.

Coca-Cola is launching an Internet music download service in Britain next month, the first consumer brand to jump into Europe's crowded Internet music market.

Web shoppers are expected to spend more money than ever during the annual holiday shopping season, but online retailers could face a tough time making much of a profit out of the $12 billion in projected sales.

No. 1 Web search service Google Inc. has asked a court to rule on whether its keyword searches infringe company trademarks, a move that lawyers said could set the stage for a landmark ruling over online advertising.

Discount Internet retailer Overstock.com has launched its first national TV campaign in an effort to build brand awareness and compete with eBay. But Overstock faces stiff competition -- and not just from eBay. There's also SmartBargains.com, a smaller operation specializing in closeouts and surplus goods backed by Gordon Brothers Group, one of the biggest retail store liquidators in the country.

Despite widespread sentiment that the Internet's infrastructure should remain free of regulation, most governments maintain some control over their own domains, according to a recent survey.

According to a survey released by nonprofit Web security certification organization TRUSTe, fears related to consumer privacy will have a significant negative impact on online shopping during the 2003 holiday season. A full 49 percent of survey respondents said that fears related to the misuse of personal information will limit their holiday online shopping to some extent, including 5.6 percent who indicated that they will not shop online at all this year due to their concerns.

Top U.S. communications regulators said on Monday that Internet-based telephone service probably should face lighter regulation than traditional land line service -- but were less certain what rules should apply.