AP - A year after his Internet empire came crashing down, turning Japan's most famous dot-com mogul into a business pariah and celebrity defendant, Takafumi Horie and a captivated nation will learn Friday whether his name will be cleared.

Reuters - Google Inc., faced with a mountain of data on its users' Web search habits, is taking steps to bolster consumer privacy protections in coming months, the company said late on Wednesday.

AFP - Google said on Wednesday it would begin routinely purging its data banks of information that identifies search engine users in order to better shield their anonymity.

AP - Google Inc. is adopting new privacy measures to make it more difficult to connect online search requests with the people making them — a move it believes could prevent showdowns with the government over the often sensitive data.

AFP - Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it will buy Tellme Networks with an eye toward using the firm's technology to enable people to search the Internet by speaking instead of typing.

Reuters - AOL on Wednesday withdrew an estimated $900 million cash offer for Swedish online marketer TradeDoubler AB after failing to gain the approval of 90 percent of shareholders.