The new measure aims to target sites offering music and films illegally

The government has been defeated in the House of Lords over measures to tackle online piracy after opponents said the plans could hamper digital innovation.

Ministers want the power to change laws on online copyright in future without the need for further legislation.

The Lords said the "blanket nature" of the clause was "objectionable".

But their chosen replacement - giving courts the right to block internet sites which are infringing copyright - has also prompted criticism.

The government argued that the new Digital Economy Bill should include the power to amend copyright law to ensure legislation could cope with more technically advanced forms of piracy in the future.

But Google and Facebook were among the firms to express "grave concerns" about the provision, saying it could allow ministers to "increase monitoring of user data even where no illegal practice has taken place".

The committee has also governments approach to copyright

An influential group of MPs and peers has said the government's approach to illegal file-sharing could breach the rights of internet users.

The Joint Select Committee on Human Rights said the government's Digital Economy Bill needed clarification.

It said that technical measures - which include cutting off persistent pirates - were not "sufficiently specified".

In addition, it said that it was concerned that the Bill could create "over-broad powers".

"The internet is constantly creating new challenges for policy-makers but that cannot justify ill-defined or sweeping legislative responses, especially when there is the possibility of restricting freedom of expression or the privacy of individual users," said Andrew Dismore MP and chair of the Committee.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which oversees the Digital Economy Bill, said that government had "always been clear that [its] proposals to deal with unlawful file-sharing should not contravene human rights".

China has more internet users than any other country

China has closed down what is believed to be the country's biggest training website for hackers, state media has reported.

They say the site, Black Hawk Safety Net, gave lessons in hacking and sold downloads of malicious software.

The reports say three people suspected of running the site were arrested.

Hacking is a sensitive topic for China, especially since the internet giant Google recently threatened to pull out of the country.

Google said China-based hackers had attacked its operations but the Chinese government denied any involvement.

The hacker training operation openly recruited thousands of members online and provided them with cyber attack lessons and Trojan software, the China Daily and the Wuhan Evening News said.

Trojans, which can allow outside access to a computer when implanted, are used by hackers to illegally control computers.

Black Hawk Safety Net recruited more than 12,000 paying subscribers and collected more than seven million yuan ($1m: £650,000) in membership fees, while another 170,000 people had signed up for free membership, the paper said.

The Hubei government refused to comment on the reports.

It was unclear when the shutdown had taken place but the Black Hawk Safety Net site was unavailable on Monday.

By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter, BBC News

No cases have yet gone to court

Music industry representative the BPI has criticised the approach used by a UK law firm in chasing file-sharers.

Law firm ACS:Law has sent thousands of letters to people it claims have downloaded illegal content.

The BPI said it did not condone the approach of mass-mailing alleged internet pirates.

A law firm that represents some of those sent letters has called on the Information Commissioner to investigate the matter.

The BPI said it would not be adopting the same approach as ACS: Law if UK legislation on the issue of illegal file-sharing comes into force.

"We don't favour the approach taken by ACS:Law to tackle illegal file-sharing," said spokesman Adam Liversage.

"Our view is that legal action is best reserved for the most persistent or serious offenders - rather than widely used as a first response," he added.

Virgin Media will analyse traffic on the BitTorrent network

A human rights watchdog has asked the European Commission to assess the legality of software being used to analyse file-sharing in the UK.

The software in question is called CView and will be used by ISP Virgin Media to identify legal versus illegal traffic on its network.

The EC has said it will monitor the use of the software, following a complaint from Privacy International.

Virgin Media countered that the software posed no risk to privacy.

Privacy International has concerns about the software, designed by monitoring firm Detica.

It utilises so-called deep packet inspection, which means that it can identify actual file-names, making it possible to accurately find out what content is legal and what is not.

According to Alexander Hanff, head of ethical networks at Privacy International, use of such software is in breach of current UK law.

"Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) intercepting communications is a criminal offence regardless of what you do with the data," he said.

Mr Hanff said he would file a criminal complaint if Virgin Media deployed CView.

He said the software is similar to that used by ad firm Phorm, which developed technology to monitor individual's web use in order to better target adverts.

Trials of the technology in the UK have been put on hold while the EC investigates how it was tested.

Some 1,000 fresh letters have been sent to alleged illegal file-sharers

More than 150 people have approached consumer publication Which? Computing claiming to have been wrongly targeted in crackdowns on illegal file-sharing.

ACS:Law has sent thousands of letters to people claiming they have illegally downloaded material and offers them a chance to settle by paying around £500.

Which? says it has been approached by some - including a 78 year-old accused of downloading pornography - who have no knowledge of the alleged offence.

ACS:Law said its methods were accurate.

The London based firm said that it would send more letters soon.

However, since the latest letters were sent two weeks ago, ten new people have come forward saying they have been wrongly accused.

One told Which?: "My 78 year-old father yesterday received a letter from ACS Law demanding £500 for a porn file he is alleged to have downloaded.

"He doesn't even know what file-sharing or BitTorrent is so has certainly not done this himself or given anyone else permission to use his computer to do such a thing."

Critics say people could accidentally share too much information

Digital rights groups and bloggers have heaped criticism on Facebook's changed privacy policy.

Critics said the changes were unwelcome and "nudged" people towards sharing updates with the wider web and made them findable via search engines.

The changes were introduced on 9 December via a pop-up that asked users to update privacy settings.

Facebook said the changes help members manage updates they wanted to share, not trick them into revealing too much.

"Facebook is nudging the settings toward the 'disclose everything' position," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the US Electronic Privacy Information Center (Epic). "That's not fair from the privacy perspective."

Epic said it was analysing the changes to see if they amounted to trickery.

Windows 7 was released in October

Microsoft has confirmed that it is investigating a problem described as the "black screen of death", which affects its latest operating system.

The error means that users of Windows 7 see a totally black screen after logging on to the system.

The firm said it was looking into reports that suggest its latest security update was the cause the problem.

Reports suggest the flaw also affects Vista, XP and other systems.

Software firm Prevx, which has issued a fix for the problem, says "millions" of people may be affected.

"Users have resorted to reloading Windows as a last ditch effort to fix the problem," the firm's David Kennerley wrote in a blog post.

"We hope we can help a good many of you avoid the need to reload."

By Jonathan Fildes Technology reporter, BBC News

Software is used to track down the suspected pirates

Around 15,000 suspected pirates may soon get legal letters accusing them of illegally sharing movies and games.

ACS:Law plans to send notes to the accused in the new year offering a chance to settle out of court for "several hundreds of pounds".

A lawyer who has defended people who have received similar letters described it as a "scattergun approach" that would catch "innocent people".

ACS:Law said it was "unaware" of anyone who had been wrongly sent a letter.

Andrew Crossley of the firm told BBC News it was acting to "eradicate" sharing of its client's products.

"We give them opportunity to enter into compromise right at the start to avoid having to deal with it [in court]," said Mr Crossley.

If it went to court and the lawyers were successful, he said, damages "would run into several thousands of pounds".

Supporters make the point that Gary McKinnon has Asperger's syndrome

Computer hacker Gary McKinnon faces being tried in the US after requests to block his extradition were refused, the Home Office has confirmed.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson told Mr McKinnon's family he could not block the move on medical grounds.

Glasgow-born Mr McKinnon, 43, who has Asperger's syndrome, is accused of breaking into US military computers. He says he was seeking UFO evidence.

Now of Wood Green, north London, he faces 60 years in prison if convicted.

Mr Johnson said he had carefully considered the representations but had concluded that sending Mr McKinnon to the US would not breach his human rights.

As such, he had no discretion to block the extradition.

It's disgusting - Gary has been in a heightened state of terror for almost eight years. Janis Sharp, Mr McKinnon's mother

"Due to legitimate concerns over Mr McKinnon's health, we have sought and received assurances from the United States authorities that his needs will be met," he said.

Mr McKinnon admits hacking into 97 US government computers, including Nasa's and Pentagon's, during 2001 and 2002.

He has told the BBC he was on a "moral crusade" to prove US intelligence had found an alien craft run on clean fuel.

His mother Janis Sharp told the BBC she was "devastated" by the news.

"It's a disgusting decision. Gary has been in a heightened state of terror for almost eight years. To allow this to happen to a human being who's suicidal through Asperger's... is wrong."

She said she was not comforted by the home secretary's advice that her son would not be held in a "supermax" jail, which hold the highest-security prisoners.

Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead on a Tube train at Stockwell

Officials have said they are standing by their original decision not to recommend disciplining the officers who fatally shot Jean Charles de Menezes.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) had reviewed its earlier findings after requests from the 27-year-old Brazilian's family.

The review followed the recording of an open verdict at last year's inquest into the 2005 shooting in south London.

Police had mistaken the electrician for a suicide bomber.

Reacting to the decision, a spokeswoman for the Justice4Jean campaign said it made a "mockery of the inquest's findings".

She said: "Today's decision by the IPCC... gives a green light to police officers to act with impunity.

"The family are not surprised but crushed that the IPCC have ignored the narrative verdict the jury gave at Jean Charles' inquest."