As Google faces mounting criticism over its data- retention practices, rivals Microsoft, Ask and Yahoo are touting improvements to their own privacy policies. The moves take aim at a major Google vulnerability.

Could J.K. Rowling and her publisher have really believed that the eagerly awaited final book in the Harry Potter series would remain under wraps until its official release at 12:01 Saturday morning? Astonishingly, the answer seems to be yes.

AOL is postponing the second season of the relentlessly promoted interactive reality show "Gold Rush" until at least next year.

Sony is re-inventing video-sharing site Grouper as a vehicle for new talent. The site, now dubbed "Crackle," will solicit video from online filmmakers in a variety of categories including animated shorts, comedy and the like.

Whether it's creating a "flog," or posting a shill review on Amazon.com, many people have taken to using the Web to help shape opinion, while also obscuring their own identities.

Warner Music Group has added imeem to the roster of Web companies it's partnering with, as opposed to litigating against. The music giant said today it will drop a pending copyright infringement lawsuit against social networking site imeem and, instead, will enter into a revenue-sharing agreement with the company.

Nielsen//NetRatings said today it's going to start ranking sites based on how much time users spend at them, rather than how many page views they garner.

Cranking up its battle with arch-rival Microsoft, Google today said it has agreed to buy e-mail services company Postini for $625 million in cash.

It hasn't been the best week for AT&T. First, the company -- the exclusive wireless carrier for Apple's new iPhone -- wasn't able to activate service for some of the device's purchasers. AT&T eventually got people set up, but now faces another problem: "DVD Jon," the same software guru who figured out how to defeat DVD copying restrictions, also came up with a way to activate the iPhone's music, video and WiFi services without going through AT&T.

A leading consumer group in Europe has added its voice to the growing chorus of concern that the pending Google-DoubleClick merger will erode consumers' privacy.