United States Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin has penned a letter to the chairman of China's largest Internet search engine, asking for more transparency and greater adherence to human rights.

Tsinghua University and Mozilla China have jointly developed a new Internet browser product that is specially designed for IPv6.

Youku.com and Tudou.com, along with about a dozen competitors, are known as the Chinese versions of YouTube. But beyond the common ability for users to upload videos to Youku.com, Tudou.com, and YouTube, the Chinese and Western business models face different futures.

A new report issued by a Chinese government-funded research organization states Facebook and Western social networking sites pose spy risks, and these problems should make social media mavens worry about possible clampdowns on social networking sites in China.

IBM has announced the launch of its first Chinese-language vertical social networking site, My developerWorks, targeting Chinese software developers and information technology professionals.

The American social gaming developer Zynga has announced that it has acquired the Beijing-based Chinese social media gaming company, XPD Media Inc.

The Chinese Web 2.0 company Oak Pacific Interactive has announced the opening of its social networking site Kaixin.com to developers.

While the world economy is heading to the toilet and Chinese manufacturers are preparing to feel the pinch because their overseas buyers will have no cash, Alibaba.com is hoping a new round of international advertising will maintain its growth with helping connect Chinese suppliers with foreign customers.

Feng Guangshun, general manager for MSN China's public relations, says Microsoft (MSFT) is planning to replace the MSN Groups with Windows Live Group and the new service will also be soon launched in China.

Chinese telecom operator China Unicom (CHU) has opened a social networking services website called u-powerbook.com, targeting at the young users of its Up-Power brand.

Tom Group has secretly changed the layout of Tom.com in a design that has flavors of Facebook in both design style and functionality, a signal that the company may help bring Facebook to China — or compete with it.