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Hackers targeted dozens of computer systems at government agencies across Europe in a series of attacks that exploited a recently discovered security flaw in Adobe Systems Inc's software, security researchers reported on Wednesday.

In its biannual report, Google reveals which countries are asking for the most data... Governments around the world made nearly 21,000 requests for access to Google data in the first six months of this year, according to the search engine. Its Transparency Report indicates government surveillance of online lives is rising sharply. The US government made the most demands, asking for details 7,969 times in the first six months of 2012.

Turkey topped the list for requests to remove content.

Government restrictions on the Internet have risen over the past year around the world as regimes use violence against bloggers and turn to censorship and arrest to squelch calls for reform, a new report from a U.S. advocacy group has found.

U.S. authorities are leading the charge as governments around the world pepper Google with more demands to remove online content and turn over information about people using its Internet search engine, YouTube video site and other services.

Cyber rebels from Anonymous announced Friday the group has carried out a new series of attacks against U.S. government websites to protest a global copyright treaty. Anonymous said in a statement posted to the Internet that it had attacked websites for the Federal Trade Commission's consumer protection business center and the National Consumer Protection Week.

The authoritarian government of Belarus blocked access to popular social networking sites on Sunday in an attempt to prevent opposition protests on a national holiday.

The case could turn into the biggest showdown between the government and a major technology company since the Microsoft antitrust trial more than a decade ago.

The U.S. government's new system to replace the five color-coded terror alerts will have two levels of warnings - elevated and imminent - that will be relayed to the public only under certain circumstances for limited periods of time, sometimes using Facebook and Twitter, according to a draft Homeland Security Department plan obtained by The Associated Press....

The answer isn't entirely clear. The Egyptian government’s recent cutting of all Internet traffic in and out of the country in response to ongoing protests calling for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak has garnered a great deal of international attention and condemnation. One result has been a renewed debate in the United States about the possibility of creating a so-called Internet “kill switch.”

It will take several more years for the U.S. government to fully install high-tech systems to block computer intrusions, a drawn-out timeline that enables criminals to become more adept at stealing sensitive data, experts say.