From ARS Technica

If you thought corporate "astroturfing" (fake grassroots activity) was a problem at sites like Yelp and Amazon that feature user reviews of products, imagine how much worse it would be if the US government employed a couple hundred thousand people to "shape the debate" among online political forums. Crazy, right? What government would ever attempt it?

From Computer World

Google sounds new alert when accounts may have been hijacked
Google today added an alert to Gmail that warns users of the Web mail service when their account may have been hijacked.

Mozilla pushed out an ahead-of-schedule fix for its Firefox browser to close a critical security hole that became public before the patch was available.

From The Register:

Avira has added cloud technology to the latest version of its popular freebie anti-virus scanner.

From Computer World

Seattle is the most dangerous city in the U.S. when it comes to cybercrime, Symantec said today.

The Northwest sported two of the top 10, with Portland, Ore., ranked No. 10 in the list of the nation's 50 largest metro areas. Rounding out the first five were Boston, Washington D.C., San Francisco and Raleigh, N.C. Atlanta, Minneapolis, Denver, and Austin, Texas completed the top 10.

At the bottom, as in least dangerous, were Detroit (No. 50); El Paso, Texas (No. 49); and Memphis, Tenn. (No. 48).

From Dark Reading

But China could still ultimately block citizens' access

Google today made official its plans to end censorship in China, redirecting Chinese users to its uncensored search service in Hong Kong. The search giant will maintain an R&D and sales presence in mainland China, however, the company also announced.

From Dark Reading

Documents show investigators are going undercover on social networks to tail criminals

The Federal Bureau of Investigations may use fake identities on social networks to investigate criminal activities, according to a redacted FBI document acquired by digital rights advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation.

From Computer World

Several major U.S. Internet companies, including Google and Facebook, need to "step up" and better protect consumer privacy or face tougher penalties from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, a commissioner said Wednesday.

From C/Net News

Classmates.com tied to more dubious marketing tactics

Social-networking site, Classmates.com is once again accused of misleading consumers.
At a time when Classmates.com and parent company United Online are already mixed up in a congressional investigation, Classmates.com is attempting to settle a lawsuit that accuses the company of sending e-mails that duped users into believing the messages had come from old high school chums.