Scarlet Pruitt

In a scathing report released Friday, the U.S. congressional Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovermental Relations flunked 16 federal agencies on their computer security efforts, while giving barely passing grades to a host of other agencies.

In a scathing report released last week, the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovermental Relations flunked 16 federal agencies on their computer security efforts, while giving barely passing grades to a host of other agencies.

In an effort to shore up new advertising revenue in a low-tide market, Spanish and Portuguese-language Internet portal StarMedia Network Inc. announced this week that it is offering advertisers a new technology that promises to increase click-through rates by making ads more interactive, and less invasive, to users.

In the five weeks following the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., online shopping almost rebounded to its pre-attack levels, although travel services continued to drag, according to statistics released Friday by Internet data-tracking company ComScore Networks Inc.

A wide-sweeping antiterrorism bill that gives police new powers to tap phones and track Internet use, among other measures, could move one step closer to becoming law Thursday when the U.S. Senate votes on the legislation.

Despite a sluggish economy and the uncertainty raised by terrorist attacks in the U.S., worldwide online holiday spending is expected to soar this year, reaching US$25.3 billion, according to researcher GartnerG2, a unit of Gartner Inc.

As anthrax anxiety spread around the globe this week, shuttering mailrooms in the U.S. and abroad and causing average citizens to purchase latex gloves and masks just to handle their mail, experts began to wonder if traditional mail would be squashed altogether.

Reflecting the public's insatiable hunger for news following the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., the most-visited sites on the Web last month were news sites, according to a report released Monday by Jupiter Media Metrix Inc.