E-Commerce
January 19, 2010
* Survey Says 44% Of Google News Visitors Scan Headlines, Don’t Click Through

TechCrunch - Research firm Outsell has published its third annual News Users’ report [fee only], which is based on a survey about the online and offline news preferences of 2,787 US news consumers. The Outsell report unsurprisingly predicts ongoing, steep drops in US newspapers’ print circulation as consumers continue to head online for news consumption and sharing, forecasting 3.5 percent annual declines in both daily and Sunday circulation by 2012. Interestingly enough, the research also talks of what is referred to as the “dramatic effect” aggregators like Google and Yahoo have had on print and online readership...“Though Google is driving some traffic to newspapers, it’s also taking a significant share away. A full 44 percent of visitors to Google News scan headlines without accessing newspapers’ individual sites.”

January 03, 2010
* Growth of Cloud Computing and Parallel Security Risks

Security in the Ether - Information technology's next grand challenge will be to secure the cloud--and prove we can trust it. By David Talbot, Technology Review, January/February 2010 [Dan Mitchel]

  • "In 2006, when Amazon introduced the Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), it was a watershed event in the quest to transform computing into a ubiquitous utility, like electricity. Suddenly, anyone could scroll through an online menu, whip out a credit card, and hire as much computational horsepower as necessary, paying for it at a fixed rate...Those systems would run on "virtual machines" that could be created and configured in an instant, disappearing just as fast when no longer needed. As their needs grew, clients could simply put more quarters into the meters. Amazon would take care of hassles like maintaining the data center and network. The virtual machines would, of course, run inside real ones: the thousands of humming, blinking servers clustered in Amazon's data centers around the world. The cloud computing service was efficient, cheap, and equally accessible to individuals, companies, research labs, and government agencies. But it also posed a potential threat. EC2 brought to the masses something once confined mainly to corporate IT systems: engineering in which Oz-like programs called hypervisors create and control virtual processors, networks, and disk drives, many of which may operate on the same physical servers."
  • Related postings on cloud computing
  • December 27, 2009
    * Amazon Kindle is the Most Gifted Item Ever on Amazon.com

    News release: Amazon.com, Inc. today announced [December 26, 2009] that Kindle has become the most gifted item in Amazon's history. On Christmas Day, for the first time ever, customers purchased more Kindle books than physical books. The Kindle Store now includes over 390,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases."

  • See also this new LLRX.com article: Understanding the Limitations - and Maximizing the Value of eBooks: The holiday season is here, and many signs suggest that thousands of people are finding themselves new owners of electronic book ("eBook") readers. Whether it's an Amazon Kindle, a Barnes & Noble Nook, a Sony Reader, or any of the less heavily advertised devices currently on the market, electronic book readers are being trumpeted as a product that has finally hit the mainstream after years on the bleeding-edge. eBook readers, in fact, do have the potential to radically reshape how books are read. Equally important, according to Conrad J. Jacoby, they are already reshaping how books are bought and owned.
  • December 26, 2009
    * Newsweek Interview with Jeff Bezos on E-Books and Success of Kindle

    The Customer Is Always Right - Since founding Amazon in 1994, he has revolutionized retailing. Now he's out to transform how we read. By Daniel Lyons | NEWSWEEK.

  • "There are two ways that companies can extend what they're doing. One is they can take an inventory of their skills and competencies, and then they can say, "OK, with this set of skills and competencies, what else can we do?" And that's a very useful technique that all companies should use. But there's a second method, which takes a longer-term orientation. It is to say, rather than ask what are we good at and what else can we do with that skill, you ask, who are our customers? What do they need? And then you say we're going to give that to them regardless of whether we currently have the skills to do so, and we will learn those skills no matter how long it takes."
  • December 25, 2009
    * TIME - 50 Best Websites 2009

    TIME - 50 Best Websites 2009: "50 offerings that are indispensable to navigating, enjoying yourself, shopping or just killing time on the Web."

    December 23, 2009
    * New on LLRX.com - Understanding the Limitations - and Maximizing the Value - of eBooks

    LLRX.com: Understanding the Limitations - and Maximizing the Value- of eBooks: The holiday season is here, and many signs suggest that thousands of people are finding themselves new owners of electronic book ("eBook") readers. Whether it's an Amazon Kindle, a Barnes & Noble Nook, a Sony Reader, or any of the less heavily advertised devices currently on the market, electronic book readers are being trumpeted as a product that has finally hit the mainstream after years on the bleeding-edge. eBook readers, in fact, do have the potential to radically reshape how books are read. Equally important, according to Conrad J. Jacoby, they are already reshaping how books are bought and owned.

    December 19, 2009
    * The eYouGuide now speaks 10 languages

    The eYouGuide, Europe's first online tool giving consumers practical advice on their "digital rights" under EU law is now available in 10 languages. "The eYouGuide was launched in Strasbourg on 5 May 2009 (see IP/09/702). The guide provides information on a number of issues related to online activities, such as shopping online, networking, uploading and downloading content and making online payments, just to mention a few. It is meant as a tool to improve consumers' awareness and confidence in the digital environment. The website will be updated and extended to more EU languages at the beginning of 2010."

    December 04, 2009
    * FTC Renews Call to Entertainment Industry to Curb Marketing of Violent Entertainment to Children

    News release: "Marketers of violent music, movies, and video games can do more to restrict the promotion of these products to children, according to the seventh in a series of Federal Trade Commission reports on marketing violent entertainment to children. The FTC’s report states that the music industry still has not adopted objective marketing standards limiting ad placement for explicit-content music. As a result, the industry still advertises music labeled with a Parental Advisory Label (PAL) on television shows viewed by a substantial number of children. Music retailers routinely sell labeled music to unaccompanied teens. The report also finds that movie studios intentionally market PG-13 movies to children under 13, and the movie industry does not have explicit standards in place to restrict this practice. The growing practice of releasing unrated DVDs undermines the rating system, and confuses parents."

  • Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children: A Sixth Follow-up Review of Industry Practices in the Motion Picture, Music Recording & Electronic Game Industries, December 2009
  • December 02, 2009
    * Publishers Can Now Opt Out of Google News Search Indexing

    Google News Blog: "There are more than 25,000 publishers from around the world in Google News today. [With] the new Google News web crawler publishers [can]...keep their content out of Google News and still remain in Google Search...if a publisher wants to opt out of Google News, they don't even have to contact us - they can put instructions just for user-agent Googlebot-News in the same robots.txt file they have today. In addition, once this change is fully in place, it will allow publishers to do more than just allow/disallow access to Google News. They'll also be able to apply the full range of REP directives just to Google News. Want to block images from Google News, but not from Web Search? Go ahead. Want to include snippets in Google News, but not in Web Search? Feel free...All this will soon be possible with the same standard protocol that is Robots Exclusion Protocol (or REP)."

    November 25, 2009
    * New York Review of Books: Google and the New Digital Future

    Follow up to previous postings on Google Book Search (GBS), Google and the New Digital Future, Robert Darnton is Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor at Harvard

  • "...The digitizing, open-access distribution, and preservation of orphan works could be done by a nonprofit organization such as the Internet Archive, a nonprofit group that was built as a digital library of texts, images, and archived Web pages. In order to avoid conflict with interests in the current commercial market, the database would include only books in the public domain and orphan works. Its time span would increase as copyrights expired, and it could include an opt-in provision for rightsholders of books that are in copyright but out of print. The work need not be done in haste. At the rate of a million books a year, we would have a great library, free and accessible to everyone, within a decade. And the job would be done right, with none of the missing pages, botched images, faulty editions, omitted artwork, censoring, and misconceived cataloging that mar Google's enterprise. Bibliographers—who appear to play little or no part in Google's enterprise—would direct operations along with computer engineers. Librarians would cooperate with both in order to assure the preservation of the books, another weak point in GBS, because Google is not committed to maintaining its corpus, and digitized texts easily degrade or become inaccessible."
  • November 23, 2009
    * Google Product Search - for stuff to buy

    Official Google Blog: "Google Product Search can help you find what you're looking for at a great price. You can compare products and prices from merchants across the web, from popular retailers like Amazon and Best Buy to places to buy unique gifts like eBay and Etsy."

    October 20, 2009
    * BookServer is an open system to find, buy, or borrow e- books

    Internet Archive BookServer: "The widespread success of digital reading devices has proven that the world is ready to read books on screens. As the audience for digital books grows, we can evolve from an environment of single devices connected to single sources into a distributed system where readers can find books from sources across the Web to read on whatever device they have. Publishers are creating digital versions of their popular books, and the library community is creating digital archives of their printed collections. BookServer is an open system to find, buy, or borrow these books, just like we use an open system to find Web sites. The BookServer is a growing open architecture for vending and lending digital books over the Internet. Built on open catalog and open book formats, the BookServer model allows a wide network of publishers, booksellers, libraries, and even authors to make their catalogs of books available directly to readers through their laptops, phones, netbooks, or dedicated reading devices. BookServer facilitates pay transactions, borrowing books from libraries, and downloading free, publicly accessible books."

  • See also cnet: "...the Wall Street Journal reported details on Barnes & Noble's $259 e-reader called the Nook, which will compete with Amazon's Kindle and Sony's E-Reader, a move which heats up the market. More interesting may be Google's announcement last week of its "Google Editions" store, an initiative aimed at offering digital editions of books from publishers with which it already has distribution deals. Google said that should mean about a half-million books would be available initially, either through Google itself, or through sites like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble."
  • October 09, 2009
    * NYT Op Ed - A Library to Last Forever

    Follow up to previous postings on the Google Book Settlement, this New York Times Op-Ed today: A Library to Last Forever, by Sergey Brin/Google: "Because books are such an important part of the world’s collective knowledge and cultural heritage, Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, first proposed that we digitize all books a decade ago, when we were a fledgling startup. At the time, it was viewed as so ambitious and challenging a project that we were unable to attract anyone to work on it. But five years later, in 2004, Google Books (then called Google Print) was born, allowing users to search hundreds of thousands of books. Today, they number over 10 million and counting. The next year we were sued by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers over the project. While we have had disagreements, we have a common goal — to unlock the wisdom held in the enormous number of out-of-print books, while fairly compensating the rights holders. As a result, we were able to work together to devise a settlement that accomplishes our shared vision. While this settlement is a win-win for authors, publishers and Google, the real winners are the readers who will now have access to a greatly expanded world of books.

    September 29, 2009
    * Survey: Two-Thirds of Americans Object to Online Tracking

    New York Times: "About two-thirds of Americans object to online tracking by advertisers — and that number rises once they learn the different ways marketers are following their online movements, according to a new survey from professors at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Berkeley."

  • Contrary to what marketers say, Americans Reject Tailored Advertising and the activities that enable it. Joseph Turow, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, et al.September 2009.
  • September 28, 2009
    * Deloitte: Cloud computing - A collection of working papers

    Deloitte: Cloud computing - A collection of working papers, released September 17, 2009 and published on July 31, 2009.

  • "Cloud Computing frequently is taken to be a term that simply renames common technologies and techniques that we have come to know in IT. It may be interpreted to mean data center hosting and then subsequently dismissed without catching the improvements to hosting called utility computing that permit near realtime, policy-based control of computing resources. Or it may be interpreted to mean only data center hosting rather than understood to be the significant shift in Internet application architecture that it is...Cloud computing represents a different way to architect and remotely manage computing resources. One has only to establish an account with Microsoft or Amazon or Google to begin building and deploying application systems into a cloud. These systems can be, but certainly are not restricted to being, simplistic. They can be web applications that require only http services. They might require a relational database. They might require web service infrastructure and message queues. There might be need to interoperate with CRM or e-commerce application services, necessitating construction of a custom technology stack to deploy into the cloud if these services are not already provided there."
  • September 20, 2009
    * IBM Patent Application - 'Platform for Capturing Knowledge'

    IBM Patent Application: Platform for Capturing Knowledge, September 10, 2009: "A platform used for capturing knowledge. More specifically, a framework configured to capture expert knowledge (e.g., of trained and/or skilled workers) for future instructional purposes (e.g., training of a younger, or less experienced, workforce). The platform comprises a knowledge recorder, instructional design tool, standardized XML, and gaming engine. The knowledge recorder is configured to capture knowledge of a user, which is transferable using a standardized XML format. The instructional design tool is configured to visually model a gaming scenario in order to expose and define logical situations based on the captured knowledge."

  • Via Slashdot to Cringley on Technology: "IBM’s proposed Platform for Capturing Knowledge describes how to use an imersive gaming environment to transfer expert knowledge held by employees “aged 50 and older” to 18-25 year-old trainees who find manuals “difficult to read and understand. IBM also discusses how its invention could be made available for customers’ use in return for “payment from the customer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreement.”
  • September 16, 2009
    * Paying for Digital Goods: Google Checkout

    Google proposal: "The Newspaper Association of America's Request for Information "seeks to gather information about the products and services available from qualified providers with expertise in helping local online publishers additionally monetize digital content, either through transactions (pay for content) and/or through collection of user data for enhanced advertising targeting or other 'access to content programs." This document identifies Google's capabilities in these areas, highlights our planned and existing tools, lays out our vision for what this ecosystem might look like, and hopefully opens the door to more detailed discussions with the NAA and individual publishers. Google believes that an open web benefits all users and publishers. However, "open" need not mean free. We believe that content on the Internet can thrive supported by multiple business models -- including content available only via subscription. While we believe that advertising will likely remain the main source of revenue for most news content, a paid model can serve as an important source of additional revenue. In addition, a successful paid content model can enhance advertising opportunities, rather than replace them." [Nieman Journalism Lab]

  • Economist.com: Google's mad scientists reanimate news industry
  • September 03, 2009
    * Google Explains Email Outage and Comments Fly

    Official Gmail Blog: "Gmail's web interface had a widespread outage [September 1, 2009], lasting about 100 minutes. We know how many people rely on Gmail for personal and professional communications, and we take it very seriously when there's a problem with the service. Thus, right up front, I'd like to apologize to all of you — today's outage was a Big Deal, and we're treating it as such. We've already thoroughly investigated what happened, and we're currently compiling a list of things we intend to fix or improve as a result of the investigation."

  • Google Gaffe: Gmail Outage Shows Pitfalls of Online Services: "Google’s Gmail system was down for 2.5 hours earlier this week, the sixth such outage in the past eight months. It isn’t unusual that an e-mail system crashes, but most such occurrences are limited to one organization. When Gmail, a service Google touts to businesses as more reliable and easier to use than Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes/Domino, goes down, it makes headlines – as well it should."
  • September 01, 2009
    * Online Behavioral Tracking and Targeting, Legislative Primer September 2009

    Online Behavioral Tracking and Targeting Concerns and Solutions, Legislative Primer September 2009 - from the Perspective of: Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Consumer Watchdog, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy Lives, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Privacy Times, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, The World Privacy Forum.

  • News release: "EFF and a coalition of other consumer and privacy groups called on Congress today to protect Americans' privacy from invasive online behavioral tracking and targeting. In letters sent to the House Energy and Commerce Committee and two subcommittees, the groups delivered a legislative primer:
    "Tracking people’s every move online is an invasion of privacy. It’s like being followed by an invisible stalker – individuals aren’t aware that it’s happening, who is tracking them, and how the information will be used. They’re not asked for their consent and have no meaningful control over the collection and use of their information, often by third-parties with which they have no relationships."
  • August 19, 2009
    * Group Identifies the Worst Proposed Internet Laws in America

    "Launched in June, iAWFUL identifies America's 10 worst legislative and regulatory proposals targeted at the Internet. The iAWFUL Web site urges Internet users to join the fight to fix or fight against bills that threaten the future of online commerce and communication. The list is regularly updated to reflect the most immediate dangers, based on regulatory severity and likelihood of passage."

    August 18, 2009
    * American Customer Satisfaction Index Annual E-Business Report

    American Customer Satisfaction Index - Annual E-Business Report, August 18, 2009, by Larry Freed
    President and CEO, ForeSee Results

  • "In 2009, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) score for the e-business sector rises to an all-time high of 81.5 on the ACSI’s 100-point scale, a 29% increase in customer satisfaction since the industry was first measured in 2000. The aggregate e-business score is comprised of an average of many individual portals, search engines, and news websites, all of which were also rated on the ACSI’s 100-point scale and are discussed later in the report. The ACSI e-business sector is made up of two major industries and measures the players with the greatest market share in each industry: search engines and portals (AOL, Ask, Google, MSN, and Yahoo) and news and information sites (ABCNews.com, CNN.com, MSNBC.com, NYTimes.com, and USAToday.com)"
  • August 12, 2009
    * EPIC Forces Disclosure of Government Contracts with Social Media Companies, Privacy Terms Missing

    "In response to an EPIC Freedom of Information Act Request, the Government Services Administration released several contracts between the federal government and web 2.0 companies, including agreements with Blip.tv, Blist, Google (YouTube), Yahoo (Flickr), and MySpace. EPIC also obtained amendments to agreements with Facebook, Slideshare.net, Vimeo.com, and AddThis.com. The contracts do not address the privacy obligations of social media companies. The GSA letter to EPIC explained that “no specific Web 2.0 guidance currently exists,” but provided EPIC with Training Slides that raise privacy issues. The GSA Agreement with Google actually states that, “to the extent any rules or guidelines exist prohibiting the use of persistent cookies in connection with Provider Content applies to Google, Provider expressly waives those rules or guidelines as they may apply to Google.” Some of the agreements also permit companies to track users of government web sites for advertising purposes."

    August 08, 2009
    * Social Networking Sites and the Surveillance Society

    Fuchs, Christian. 2009. Social Networking Sites and the Surveillance Society. A Critical Case Study of the Usage of studiVZ, Facebook, and MySpace by Students in Salzburg in the Context of Electronic Surveillance. Salzburg/Vienna: Research Group UTI. ISBN 978-3-200-01428-2.

  • "674 students from Salzburg participated in the study that was conducted by the eTheory Research Group (University of Salzburg, ICT&S Center). 88.3% of the respondents use studiVZ, 39.5% Facebook, 15.9% MySpace, 9.0% Xing, 7.4% Lokalisten. Each of 61 other social networking sites (SNS) is used by less than 1%. Study author associate professor Christian Fuchs: "There are indications for a strong economic concentration in the area of social networking sites. On the one hand concerning usage, but as a consequence on the other hand also in relation to profits that are made by advertising".
    59.1% of the respondents see the maintenance of social contacts as the biggest advantage of SNS, 55.7% say that economic and political surveillance is the greatest risk. Fuchs: "Students are very aware of the massive collection of personal data on these platforms, they use them nonetheless because of the expected communicative advantages. This does not mean that they are incautious, but that there is a structural lack of alternative platforms. Non-commercial, non-profit SNS do not have to evaluate data for personalized advertisements, therefore the probability of surveillance and data abuse decreases. But such platforms are currently hardly existent or completely unknown, therefore young people − the main usage group of social networking sites − have to rely on commercial service providers that collect, store, and evaluate personal data in order to accumulate profits by targeted advertising"."
  • July 29, 2009
    * New on LLRX.com - After Hours: Fancy Foods Are Alive and Well

    After Hours: Fancy Foods Are Alive and Well - Kathy Biehl returns, sharing the highlights of the 2009 Summer Fancy Food Show, which ran June 28-30 in New York City.

    July 26, 2009
    * Twitter 101 for Business - A Special Guide

    Twitter 101 for Business: "Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter."

    July 17, 2009
    * Financial Times Editor Predicts End of Free News Organization Content

    Guardian UK: "The Financial Times editor, Lionel Barber, has predicted that "almost all" news organisations will be charging for online content within a year. Barber said building online platforms that could charge readers on an article-by-article or subscription basis was one of the key challenges facing news organisations."

    July 14, 2009
    * Filesharing music amongst UK teens down by a third

    "UK Music fans are turning their backs on regular file-sharing in favour of streaming and other ways of sharing music, especially amongst teens, according to the latest survey by The Leading Question, the specialist media and technology research agency. Following the recent Digital Britain Report which set out the UK Government’s stance on how to curb file-sharing, the annual survey of more than 1000 music fans from The Leading Question, in conjunction with Music Ally, shows that the nature of the file-sharing threat is already changing."

    July 13, 2009
    * International publishers demand new intellectual property rights protection to safeguard the future of journalism

    News release, July 9, 2009: "On the day that Commissioner Viviane Reding unveils her strategy for a Digital Europe during the Lisbon Council, and as the European Commission's consultation on the Content Online Report draws to a close this week, senior members of the publishing world are presenting to Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding and Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, a landmark declaration adopted on intellectual property rights in the digital world in a bid to ensure that opportunities for a diverse, free press and quality journalism thrive online into the future."

  • Hamburg Declaration on Intellectual Property Rights - signatures (09 July 2009)
  • July 12, 2009
    * Cornell Research Study: Optimizing Web Traffic via the Media Scheduling Problem

    Optimizing Web Traffic via the Media Scheduling Problem. Lars Backstrom, Jon Kleinbergy, Ravi Kumar, 15th ACM SIGKDD Intl. Conf. on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, 2009: "Website traffic varies through time in consistent and predictable ways, with highest traffic in the middle of the day. When providing media content to visitors, it is important to present repeat visitors with new content so that they keep coming back. In this paper we present an algorithm to balance the need to keep a website fresh with new content with the desire to present the best content to the most visitors at times of peak traffic. We formulate this as the media scheduling problem, where we attempt to maximize total clicks, given the overall traffic pattern and the time varying clickthrough rates of available media content. We present an efficient algorithm to perform this scheduling under certain conditions and apply this algorithm to real data obtained from server logs, showing evidence of significant improvements in traffic from our algorithmic schedules. Finally, we analyze the click data, presenting models for why and how the clickthrough rate for new content declines as it ages."

  • New York Times: Study Measures the Chatter of the News Cycle - "For the most part, the traditional news outlets lead and the blogs follow, typically by 2.5 hours, according to a new computer analysis of news articles and commentary on the Web during the last three months of the 2008 presidential campaign." See also Picturing the News Cycle Graphic
  • July 06, 2009
    * Cross-industry Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising

    News release: "A group of the nation's largest media and marketing trade associations...released self-regulatory principles to protect consumer privacy in ad-supported interactive media that will require advertisers and Web sites to clearly inform consumers about data collection practices and enable them to exercise control over that information...This cross-industry self-regulatory task force represents the first time that representatives of the entire advertising ecosystem have come together to develop principles for the use and collection of data in this important area to the economy."

  • Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, July 2009
  • New York Times: Four Privacy Protections the Online Ad Industry Left Out
  • * Predicting Social Security numbers from public data

    Predicting Social Security numbers from public data, Alessandro Acquisti1 and Ralph Gross, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, May 5, 2009 (received for review January 18, 2009)

  • "Information about an individual's place and date of birth can be exploited to predict his or her Social Security number (SSN). Using only publicly available information, we observed a correlation between individuals' SSNs and their birth data and found that for younger cohorts the correlation allows statistical inference of private SSNs. The inferences are made possible by the public availability of the Social Security Administration's Death Master File and the widespread accessibility of personal information from multiple sources, such as data brokers or profiles on social networking sites. Our results highlight the unexpected privacy consequences of the complex interactions among multiple data sources in modern information economies and quantify privacy risks associated with information revelation in public forums."
  • July 01, 2009
    * FTC Cracks Down on Scammers Trying to Take Advantage of the Economic Downturn

    News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today announced a law enforcement crackdown on scammers trying to take advantage of the economic downturn to bilk vulnerable consumers through a variety of schemes, such as promising non-existent jobs; promoting overhyped get-rich-quick plans, bogus government grants, and phony debt-reduction services; or putting unauthorized charges on consumers’ credit or debit cards. Dubbed “Operation Short Change,” the law enforcement sweep announced today includes 15 FTC cases, 44 law enforcement actions by the Department of Justice, and actions by at least 13 states and the District of Columbia."

  • Related postings on financial system
  • June 28, 2009
    * Is Google Really in a Competitive Space?

    New York Times: "Google handles roughly two-thirds of all Internet searches. It owns the largest online video site, YouTube, which is more than 10 times more popular than its nearest competitor. And last year, Google sold nearly $22 billion in advertising, more than any media company in the world."

  • See also via ZDNet and ConsumerWatchdog.org: "With Justice Department scrutiny over the Google Books Settlement only the the leading edge of antitrust regulators’ attention to Google, the company has launched a dog-and-pony show dedicated to combating the impression that more control is needed. In a presentation (PDF) acquired by Consumer Watchdog, Google public affairs lead Adam Kovacevich argued that Google is anything but anti-competitive. Its success comes from “learning by doing,” the presentation says."
  • June 21, 2009
    * FTC Proposed Guidelines to Monitor Blogs For Commerical Claims and Payments

    Federal Trade Commission, 16 C.F.R. Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising..."In order to limit its potential liability, the advertiser should ensure that the advertising service provides guidance and training to its bloggers concerning the need to ensure that statements they make are truthful and substantiated. The advertiser should also monitor bloggers who are being paid to promote its products and take steps necessary to halt the continued publication of deceptive representations when they are discovered..."

  • See also related Forrester report, March 2, 2009 - Add Sponsored Conversations To Your Toolbox - Why You Should Pay Bloggers To Talk About Your Brand, by Sean Corcoran with Josh Bernoff, Jeremiah Owyang, Tom Cummings, and Jennifer Wise: "Kmart gave some bloggers a free shopping spree in exchange for a blog post about the experience — a practice we call sponsored conversation. With appropriate protections for disclosure and authenticity, this practice will take its place alongside public relations and advertising activities in the blogosphere. Marketers should take advantage of sponsored conversation as an entrée into the online conversation. To succeed, you should get to know the bloggers you plan to work with and set expectations across your organization."
  • * Google Book Search Settlement Continues to Generate Controversy

    TIME: "In a complex settlement agreement, which took three years to hammer out and spans 135 pages excluding attachments, Google will be allowed to show up to 20% of the books' text online at no charge to Web surfers. But the part of the settlement that deals with so-called orphan books — which refers to out-of-print books whose authors and publishers are unknown — is what's ruffling the most feathers in the literary henhouse. The deal gives Google an exclusive license to publish and profit from these orphans, which means it won't face legal action if an author or owner comes forward later. This, critics contend, gives it a competitive edge over any rival that wants to set up a competing digital library. And without competition, opponents fear Google will start charging exorbitant fees to academic libraries and others who want full access to its digital library. "It will make Google virtually invulnerable to competition," says Robert Darnton, head of the Harvard University library system."

    June 19, 2009
    * FTC Staff Report: February 2009 Self-Regulatory Principles For Online Behavioral Advertising

    News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today sent a copy of a recent staff report, Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, to two subcommittees of the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce that are holding a joint hearing on behavioral advertising. A letter on behalf of the Commission that accompanied the report states that the FTC “has actively encouraged industry to embrace new measures relating to behavioral advertising to inform and empower consumers and is monitoring developments” so that consumers’ privacy is protected. The letter and report were sent to the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection."

    June 07, 2009
    * EFF Launches 'Terms of Service' Tracker for Facebook, Google, eBay, and More

    News release: "Terms of Service" policies on websites define how Internet businesses interact with you and use your personal information. But most web users don't read these policies -- or understand that the terms are constantly changing. To track these ever-evolving documents, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is launching "TOSBack": a "terms of service" tracker for Facebook, Google, eBay, and other major websites...At www.TOSBack.org, you can see a real-time feed of changes and updates to more than three dozen polices from the Internet's most popular online services. Clicking on an update brings you to a side-by-side before-and-after comparison, highlighting what has been removed from the policy and what has been added."

    May 31, 2009
    * Impact of URL Shorteners - Food for Thought

    URL shorteners, such as TinyURL, bit.ly and notlong.com allow users to share and post links in a quicker manner with less likelihood of misdirection. They also add an intermediary between the reader and the site of origin, and the risk of countless dead links if and when the business model of the respective services ceases to sustain a viable return.

  • See also 11 Ways to Shorten and Lengthen a Tweet
  • May 25, 2009
    * U.S. Government Agencies and Internet Retailers Receive Failing Grade in

    News release: " The Online Trust Alliance (OTA) gave leading government agencies and online retailers a failing grade in preventing deceptive email and phishing scams based on its newly released analysis of email authentication adoption. While adoption has grown over the past year, OTA found approximately 56 percent of the top .gov sites – including Whitehouse.gov, FBI.gov, Treasury.gov and DHS.gov – still are not protecting U.S. citizens through the use of email authentication. At the same time, progress has been made by other government agencies including the Census Bureau, CIA, FDIC, VA and FTC."

    May 10, 2009
    * Mainstream Media Under Increasing Pressure

    Follow up to April 26, 2009 posting - WSJ Interactive Map - Adverse events at top 100 newspapers, 2006-2009, this New York Times op-ed by Frank Rich - The American Press on Suicide Watch: "Newspaper circulations and revenues are in free fall. Legendary brands from The Los Angeles Times to The Philadelphia Inquirer are teetering. The New York Times Company threatened to close The Boston Globe if its employees didn’t make substantial sacrifices in salaries and benefits. Other papers have died. The reporting ranks on network and local news alike are shriveling. You know it’s bad when the Senate is moved, as it was last week, to weigh in with hearings on The Future of Journalism."

  • See also Financial Times: WSJ plans micro-fees for online articles - "News Corp plans to introduce micro-payments for individual articles and premium subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal's website this year in a milestone in the news industry's race to find better online business models."
  • May 09, 2009
    * The World Internet Project Report 2009

    News release: "Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg with 13 Partner Countries Release First World Internet Project Report - Pioneering Report Finds Remarkable Similarities and Significant Differences Globally - Online Purchasing Not Yet Part of the Global Internet Experience; A Majority of Users Believe Only Half of the Information they Find Online is Reliable."

    April 23, 2009
    * House Hearing on Communications Networks and Consumer Privacy

    The Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a hearing titled, Communications Networks and Consumer Privacy: Recent Developments on April 23, 2009. The hearing focused on technologies that network operators utilize to monitor consumer usage and how those technologies intersect with consumer privacy. The hearing explored three ways to monitor consumer usage on broadband and wireless networks: deep packet inspection (DPI); new uses for digital set-top boxes; and wireless Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking."
    Testimony and Statement for the Record of Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director, EPIC Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center: "we believe it is becoming clear that unregulated collection of consumer data is posing an increasing danger to online privacy and maybe even to the economic model itself. A small number of companies and large advertising networks are obtaining an extraordinarily detailed profile of the interests, activities and personal characteristics of Internet users. Users have little idea how much information is gathered, who has access to it, or how it is used. This last point is critical because in the absence of legal rules, companies that are gathering this data will be free to use it for whatever purpose they wish – the data for a targeted ad today could become a detailed personal profile sold to a prospective employer or a government agency tomorrow."

    February 15, 2009
    * FTC Staff Revises Online Behavioral Advertising Principles

    News release: "Federal Trade Commission staff...issued a report describing its ongoing examination of online behavioral advertising and setting forth revisions to proposed principles to govern self-regulatory efforts in this area. The key issue concerns how online advertisers can best protect consumers’ privacy while collecting information about their online activities...The report discusses the potential benefits of behavioral advertising to consumers, including the free online content that advertising generally supports and personalization that many consumers appear to value. It also discusses the privacy concerns that the practice raises, including the invisibility of the data collection to consumers and the risk that the information collected – including sensitive information regarding health, finances, or children – could fall into the wrong hands or be used for unanticipated purposes. Consistent with the FTC’s overall approach to consumer privacy, the report seeks to balance the potential benefits of behavioral advertising against the privacy concerns it raises, and to encourage privacy protections while maintaining a competitive marketplace."

  • Federal Trade Commission Staff Report - Self-Regulatory Principles For Online Behavioral Advertising: Tracking, Targeting, and Technology (February 2009)
  • Related: "CDT sees the release of the guidelines, which set a higher standard than existing industry principles, as a signal that companies are running out of time to step up their self-regulatory efforts. Although the FTC report raises the bar for self-regulation, the guidelines don't address all of CDT's concerns with online advertising and privacy. CDT looks forward to working with the agency and Congress on legislation that could address online behavioral advertising and general consumer privacy."
  • February 01, 2009
    * New Tool Will Help Online Advertisers Develop Stronger Privacy Practices

    "Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) released a new assessment tool to help online advertising companies develop strong, appropriate privacy protections for the users they serve. Released to coincide with Data Privacy Day 2009, the Threshold Analysis for Online Advertising Practices, is the result of extensive consultation among CDT, Internet companies and public interest advocates. It notes a series of simple tests companies can use to determine whether online advertising activities may trigger the need for additional privacy protections. The document also provides suggestions on how companies can begin putting those protections in place."

    January 28, 2009
    * Pew Survey: Generations Online in 2009

    News release: "Over half of the adult internet population is between 18 and 44 years old. But larger percentages of older generations are online now than in the past, and they are doing more activities online, according to surveys taken from 2006-2008. Contrary to the image of Generation Y as the "Net Generation," internet users in their 20s do not dominate every aspect of online life. Generation X is the most likely group to bank, shop, and look for health information online. Boomers are just as likely as Generation Y to make travel reservations online. And even Silent Generation internet users are competitive when it comes to email (although teens might point out that this is proof that email is for old people)."

  • Generations Online in 2009 and related PowerPoint Presentation
  • December 28, 2008
    * Gartner Says 2008 Should Be the Last Christmas for Retail CDs

    News release: "The music industry must move away from the retail CD as its primary revenue generator before Christmas 2009, according to Gartner. Gartner said that reliance on revenue from the sale of prerecorded CDs is hindering the music industry from fully embracing online distribution opportunities...Enabling the transition away from retail music CDs toward online distribution is now in sight, given that 77 percent of U.S. households (a total of 96 million connections) will have broadband connections by 2012. Beyond these consumers, the alternative distribution afforded by Wi-Fi-enabled notebooks and rapidly improving media-enabled mobile phones pose opportunities that provide multiple paths for marketing, promotion and distribution outside the consumer’s home."

    December 20, 2008
    * Coalition Letter to President-elect Obama on the Future of Privacy

    "Thirty privacy, consumer, and civil liberties organizations sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama on the importance of protecting privacy in the next administration. The organizations support the incoming president’s expressed on privacy, consumer rights, and civil liberties. President-elect Obama stated support for strengthening of privacy protection by harnessing the power of technology to hold government and businesses accountable for violations of personal privacy. The coalition said that “[t]here is a clear need to address the spiraling problems of identity theft, security breaches, and the commercialization of personal information.” For more information visit EPIC’s A-Z Privacy Page."

    December 17, 2008
    * Yahoo! Announces New Data Retention Policy

    Press release: "Today, Yahoo! Inc. announced a new global data retention policy that sets an industry-leading approach to user data privacy. This new policy strengthens Yahoo!'s relationship of trust with its 500 million users world-wide and enhances its longtime leadership on privacy. Under the new policy, Yahoo! will anonymize user log data within 90 days with limited exceptions for fraud, security and legal obligations. Yahoo! will also expand the policy to apply not only to search log data but also page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks."

    * The Network Advertising Initiative's Self-Regulatory Code of Conduct 2008

    2008 Network Advertising Initiative Principles: "Through the present 2008 revision to the NAI’s Self-Regulatory Code of Conduct, NAI members continue their commitment to respect appropriate fair information practices adapted for this medium and to their business models, maintaining self-regulation with respect to notice, choice, use limitation, access, reliability and security."

  • New York Times: "The trade group [NAI], which represents two dozen companies including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL, wants to show that the Internet advertising industry can address privacy concerns through self regulation, to head off potential legislation on the topic. The incoming Obama administration and some in Congress have been interested in exploring new privacy rules. The group also wants to help its members preserve their advertising revenue. And drug ads aimed at people with diseases have become a quite lucrative business."
  • December 15, 2008
    * Most Trusted Companies for Privacy Survey Results Announced

    News release: "Privacy and information security research company Ponemon Institute along with TRUSTe, the most widely recognized Internet privacy trustmark, today announced the results of the Ponemon Institute’s fifth annual survey of Most Trusted Companies for Privacy. The study asked 6,486 adult-aged U.S. consumers which companies they thought were most trustworthy and which did the best job safeguarding personal information. A total of 706 companies were named by consumers; 211 made the final list of most trusted companies. American Express ranked as the Most Trusted Company for 2008 for Privacy, retaining its place from last year despite the current financial climate. eBay earned a ranking as the second most trusted company, while IBM, Amazon, and Johnson & Johnson rounded out the top five. While the financial services sector slipped amid industry-wide woes, the technology sector showed marked improvement as eBay Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft, and HP all bettered previous rankings. Also of note, Facebook moved into the top 20 for the first time, signifying an increased trust in social networking as a mainstream communications tool."

  • Google off list of 20 most trusted companies
  • November 29, 2008
    * New York Times Op-Ed: How to Publish Without Perishing

    How to Publish Without Perishing, by James Gleick: "As a technology, the book is like a hammer. That is to say, it is perfect: a tool ideally suited to its task. Hammers can be tweaked and varied but will never go obsolete. Even when builders pound nails by the thousand with pneumatic nail guns, every household needs a hammer. Likewise, the bicycle is alive and well. It was invented in a world without automobiles, and for speed and range it was quickly surpassed by motorcycles and all kinds of powered scooters. But there is nothing quaint about bicycles. They outsell cars...Go back to an old-fashioned idea: that a book, printed in ink on durable paper, acid-free for longevity, is a thing of beauty. Make it as well as you can. People want to cherish it."

  • May I add what so many of us have known throughout the span of our respective careers - librarians will never be obsolete - either.
  • November 24, 2008
    * EU - ICT Research The policy perspective: e-Government and e-Participation

    "In this report, e-Government and e-Participation, produced for the publication series ICT Research: The Policy Perspective, we examine how information and communications technology, or ICT, is revolutionising the way citizens, businesses and public administrations interact. The EU is investing heavily in e-government to help boost growth while delivering on the benefi ts of the information society, including greater cross-border collaboration, less fragmented research effort, and access to ICT anywhere, any time and by any one."

    November 19, 2008
    * Searchers Led Away From Branded Websites According to New Survey

    Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - US: "This week we are publishing a report on online brand protection. This issue is huge for marketers with our research showing that more than 1 in 10 US Internet searches for leading brands is led away from the brand owner's website. When you search for a brand in the phone book, you don't find that brand's competitors listed. But when you search online, that brand's fiercest competitors often appear in the sponsored listings. Online businesses need to be aware of the extent of the problem and to understand the best ways to deal with threats."

    November 18, 2008
    * The Future of Privacy Forum Launched

    The Future of Privacy Forum Agenda for Consumers and Businesses [See also: About the Forum]

    • "FPF will seek to bring transparency to online data practices. Our plan is to document practices, produce multi-media educational materials, and commission reports and studies that provide consumers and policy makers the real story about how their data is used.
    • FPF will seek to bring true transparency and user control to behavioral targeting and will broaden the discussion of the ethics of what the online norms can be with regard to use of web browsing.
    • FPF will seek to ensure that considerations around data retention, limitation, and deletion are a significant part of the consumer privacy debate.
    • FPF will seek to drive practices that enhance consumer controls - ensuring that data use is obvious, useful, intuitive and used and for a benefit he values and controls - no matter the type of technology used..."

    November 10, 2008
    * Spamalytics: An Empirical Analysis of Spam Marketing Conversion

    Spamalytics: An Empirical Analysis of Spam Marketing Conversion, October 2008 - Chris Kanich, Christian Kreibich, Kirill Levchenko, Brandon Enright, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Vern Paxson† Stefan Savage

  • "The “conversion rate” of spam — the probability that an unsolicited e-mail will ultimately elicit a “sale” — underlies the entire spam value proposition. However, our understanding of this critical behavior is quite limited, and the literature lacks any quantitative study concerning its true value. In this paper we present a methodology for measuring the conversion rate of spam. Using a parasitic infiltration of an existing botnet’s infrastructure, we analyze two spam campaigns: one designed to propagate a malware Trojan, the other marketing on-line pharmaceuticals. For nearly a half billion spam e-mails we identify the number that are successfully delivered, the number that pass through popular anti-spam filters, the number that elicit user visits to the advertised sites, and the number of “sales” and “infections” produced.
  • October 30, 2008
    * FTC Launches New Web Site for Kids

    "The Federal Trade Commission today launched a new Web site to introduce kids to key consumer and business concepts. Set in a shopping mall, http://www.ftc.gov/YouAreHere takes kids on an experiential journey that presents the FTC’s mission and its important role in American commerce. Kids under 12 are reported to spend billions of dollars on goods and services every year."

    September 27, 2008
    * Senate Commerce Committee Hearing: Broadband Providers and Consumer Privacy

    Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation - Hearing on: Broadband Providers and Consumer Privacy, September 25, 2008

  • Testimony of Gigi B. Sohn, President, Public Knowledge: "Today's hearing on consumer privacy comes in the wake of two high-profile online consumer privacy violations, both of which involved the use of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology on an Internet Service Provider's (ISP) network. The first instance came to light in October 2007, when an Associated Press report revealed that Comcast was interfering with its customers' BitTorrent traffic. The report confirmed earlier tests conducted by independent network researcher Robb Topolski, who found that Comcast was analyzing its users' web traffic in order to determine the types of applications and protocols being used. The company then used a technique called "packet spoofing" to delay, degrade and in some cases, block traffic that was identified as being used for BitTorrent, a popular peer-to-peer file sharing protocol...
    The second instance surfaced in May 2008, when it was revealed that various regional ISPs had contracted with NebuAd, a company that provided highly targeted behavioral advertising solutions using DPI equipment. In test deployments of this technology, all of the traffic traveling over an ISP's network was routed through a DPI appliance which collected data on specific users, including web sites visited, terms searched for and services and applications used. This data was then sent to NebuAd, which in turn, used the data to create detailed user profiles. These profiles were used to display highly targeted advertisements, which were dynamically displayed to the user as he or she surfed the Web."
  • September 16, 2008
    * FTC Challenges Reed Elsevier’s Proposed $4.1 Billion Acquisition of ChoicePoint, Inc.

    News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today issued a complaint charging that Reed Elsevier Inc.’s (Reed Elsevier) proposed $4.1 billion acquisition of ChoicePoint Inc. (ChoicePoint) would be anticompetitive and in violation of the antitrust laws, as it would combine the two largest providers of electronic public record services to U.S. law enforcement customers.

    To eliminate the anticompetitive effects of the proposed acquisition, the FTC will require Reed Elsevier to divest assets related to ChoicePoint’s AutoTrackXP and Consolidated Lead Evaluation and Reporting (CLEAR) electronic public records services to Thomson Reuters Legal Inc., within 15 days after the proposed acquisition is consummated.

    Through its LexisNexis division, Reed Elsevier provides electronic public records services to law enforcement customers in direct competition with ChoicePoint’s AutoTrackXP and recently, ChoicePoint’s CLEAR, a new and advanced electronic public records service. Together, the two firms account for over 80 percent of the approximately $60 million U.S. market for the sale of electronic public records services to law enforcement customers."

    August 19, 2008
    * ACSI: Apple, Google Surge in Customer Satisfaction

    News release: "Customer satisfaction continues on a bumpy path without momentum or trend in the second quarter, according to the American
    Customer Satisfaction Index. After a small uptick last quarter, ACSI slips 0.1% to 75.1 on a 100-point scale. The ACSI second quarter report, released today from the University of Michigan’s National Quality Research Center, forecasts consumer spending will remain weak with growth of no more than 2.3% in the third quarter...Customer satisfaction with the e-business category of websites surges 6% to an all-time high of 79.3, largely on the remarkable improvement of Google. After slipping behind Yahoo! for the first time last year, Google surged an unparalleled 10% to leave all rivals in its wake. Google’s score of 86 sets a new standard for e-businesses and creates a formidable nine-point gap between its nearest competitor, Yahoo!, which fell 3% to 77."

    August 12, 2008
    * Interactive Food & Beverage Marketing: Targeting Children and Youth in the Digital Age

    "The Proliferation of the media in children's lives has created a new "marketing ecosystem" that encompasses cell phones, mobile music devices, instant messaging, videogames, and virtual three-dimensional worlds. This report by Jeff Chester from the Center for Digital Democracy and Kathryn Montgomery from American University describes new marketing practices that are fundamentally transforming how food and beverage companies do business with young people in the twenty-first century.[download 8 page brief pdf] [download 98 page full report pdf] [see examples, news coverage, and statements from Marion Nestle, Kelly Brownell, the Strategic Alliance, Senator Tom Harkin, and Congressman Edward J. Markey at [digitalads.org]"

  • "Children in the U.S. are facing a growing health crisis due in part to poor nutrition. Youth who are significantly overweight are at much greater risk for experiencing a variety of serious medical conditions, including digestive disorders, heart and circulatory illnesses, respiratory problems, and Type 2 diabetes, a disease that used to strike only adults. They are also more prone to suffer from depression and other mental illnesses. An estimated 30 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls born in the United States are at risk for being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at some point in their lives. Minority youth populations have been disproportionately affected. For example, African American and Mexican American adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 are more likely to be overweight (at 21 percent and 23 percent, respectively) than are non-Hispanic White children in the same age group (14 percent). The Institute of Medicine has called on all sectors of society—industry, government, health professionals, communities, schools, and families—to address this health crisis."
  • August 05, 2008
    * DOJ: Retail Hacking Ring Charged for Stealing More Than 40 Million Credit and Debit Card Numbers from Major U.S. Retailers

    News release: "Eleven perpetrators allegedly involved in the hacking of nine major U.S. retailers and the theft and sale of more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers have been charged with numerous crimes, including conspiracy, computer intrusion, fraud and identity theft, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Michael J. Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Karen P. Hewitt, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Benton J. Campbell and U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan announced today. The scheme is believed to constitute the largest hacking and identity theft case ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice."

  • Related: Remarks Prepared for Delivery by Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey at the Identity Theft Press Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, Tuesday, August 5, 2008
  • August 04, 2008
    * Commission Approves Final Consent Order in Matters of The TJX Companies, Inc., Reed Elsevier, Inc. and Seisint, Inc.

    Follow up to March 27, 2008 posting, FTC Announces Settlement of Action Against Data Brokers Reed Elsevier and Seisint for Failing to Provide Adequate Security for Consumers' Data, this August 1, 2008 FTC news release: "Following a public comment period, the Commission has approved the issuance of a final consent order and authorized the staff to respond to the commenters of record In The Matter of The TJX Companies, Inc...[and] In The Matter of Reed Elsevier Inc. and Seisint, Inc."

    Related from EPIC: "The settlements arose from data breaches, which exposed the sensitive personal information of over 500,000 consumers and resulted in millions of dollars in financial fraud. Earlier this year, EPIC filed comments with the FTC urging the Commission to include civil penalties in the settlements. EPIC wrote that civil penalties are necessary to provide incentives for companies to safeguard personal data. EPIC also noted that the FTC imposed $10 million in civil penalties in the Choicepoint case. The final agreements impose security and audit responsibilities, but no financial penalties."

    July 29, 2008
    July 08, 2008
    * National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse Report on Internet Activity Related to Controlled Prescription Drugs

    News release: "Despite a decline in the number of Web sites advertising or selling controlled prescription drugs, like OxyContin and Valium, Xanax and Vicodin, and Ritalin and Adderall, in the past year, 85 percent of Web sites selling such drugs do not require a prescription, according to You’ve Got Drugs! V: Prescription Drug Pushers on the Internet, the fifth annual White Paper on this subject released by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University."

    * Report: ISP, Ad Networking Scheme May Violate Federal and State Wiretap Laws

    News release: "The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) today released an analysis questioning the legal standing of a new approach to online advertising being considered by Internet Service Providers and Internet advertising networks. Under the new scheme, an ISP allows an advertising network to copy the contents of the individual Web traffic streams of the ISP's subscribers. The advertising network creates a record of each individual's online behavior, which is used to target ads to the consumer. CDT concludes that the use of Internet traffic content from ISPs may run afoul of federal and state wiretap laws unless performed with the prior, express consent of the subscriber. Some state laws may pose higher burdens."

  • An Overview of the Federal Wiretap Act, Electronic
    Communications Privacy Act, and State Two-Party Consent Laws
    of Relevance to the NebuAd System and Other Uses of Internet
    Traffic Content from ISPs for Behavioral Advertising, July 8, 2008
  • June 27, 2008
    * Biggest Expansion to Internet in Forty Years Approved for Implementation

    News release, June 26, 2008: "The Board of ICANN today approved recommendation that could see a whole range of new names introduced to the Internet's addressing system. "The Board today accepted a recommendation from its global stakeholders that it is possible to implement many new names to the Internet, paving the way for an expansion of domain name choice and opportunity" said Dr Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN. A final version of the implementation plan must be approved by the ICANN Board before the new process is launched. It is intended that the final version will be published in early 2009.

    "The potential here is huge. It represents a whole new way for people to express themselves on the Net," said Dr Twomey. "It's a massive increase in the 'real estate' of the Internet."

    Presently, users have a limited range of 21 top level domains to choose from — names that we are all familiar with like .com, .org, .info.

    This proposal allows applicants for new names to self-select their domain name so that choices are most appropriate for their customers or potentially the most marketable. It is expected that applicants will apply for targeted community strings such as (the existing) .travel for the travel industry and .cat for the Catalan community (as well as generic strings like .brandname or .yournamehere). There are already interested consortiums wanting to establish city-based top level domain, like .nyc (for New York City), .berlin and .paris.

    May 29, 2008
    * CDT Issues Privacy Principles for Digital Watermarking

    News release: "CDT today released a paper offering a set of principles for addressing potential privacy considerations when deploying digital watermarking technology. This technology embeds information within the content of digital media files in a form that is machine readable but often imperceptible to humans. Digital watermarking has a variety of applications and is increasingly being considered as a tool for deterring copyright infringement. CDT's paper is intended to provide guidance for companies that plan to use the technology to communicate information that is specific to individual consumers."

  • Privacy Principles for Digital Watermarking [PDF] May 29, 2008
  • May 18, 2008
    * UK Times: Shops secretly track customers via mobile phone

    Times Online: "Customers in shopping centres are having their every move tracked by a new type of surveillance that listens in on the whisperings of their mobile phones. The technology can tell when people enter a shopping centre, what stores they visit, how long they remain there, and what route they take as they walked around."

  • Related, also from Slashdot: "Path Intelligence has developed a proprietary, patent-pending, new technlogy that is able to accurately locate mobile phones whilst indoors."
  • * Pew Study on Internet and Consumer Choice

    News release: "The internet plays an important role in how people conduct research for purchases, but it is just one among a variety of sources people use and usually not the key factor in final purchasing decisions. A new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project tracks the decision-making processes for buying music, purchasing a cell phone, and buying or renting a home."

  • The Internet and Consumer Choice, May 18, 2008
  • May 16, 2008
    * Secure web browsing with the OP web browser

    Secure web browsing with the OP web browser, Chris Grier, Shuo Tang, and Samuel T. King, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • "Current web browsers are plagued with vulnerabilities,
    providing hackers with easy access to computer systems
    via browser-based attacks. Browser security efforts that retrofit
    existing browsers have had limited success because the design of
    modern browsers is fundamentally flawed. To enable more secure
    web browsing, we design and implement a new browser, called
    the OP web browser, that attempts to improve the state-of-the-art
    in browser security. Our overall design approach is to combine
    operating system design principles with formal methods to design
    a more secure web browser by drawing on the expertise of both
    communities. Our overall design philosophy is to partition the
    browser into smaller subsystems and make all communication
    between subsystems simple and explicit. At the core of our design
    is a small browser kernel that manages the browser subsystems
    and interposes on all communications between them to enforce
    our new browser security features."
  • April 11, 2008
    * New GAO Reports: Media Ownership, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Force Structure, Internet Sales

  • Media Ownership: Economic Factors Influence the Number of Media Outlets in Local Markets, While Ownership by Minorities and Women Appears Limited and Is Difficult to Assess, GAO-08-383, March 12, 2008

  • Millennium Challenge Corporation: Analysis of Compact Development and Future Obligations and Current Disbursements of Compact Assistance, GAO-08-577R, April 11, 2008

  • Defense Acquisitions: 2009 Review of Future Combat System Is Critical to Program's Direction, GAO-08-638T, April 10, 2008

  • Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Request: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-08-616T, April 10, 2008

  • Force Structure: Restructuring and Rebuilding the Army Will Cost Billions of Dollars for Equipment but the Total Cost Is Uncertain, GAO-08-669T, April 10, 2008

  • Internet Sales: Undercover Purchases on eBay and Craigslist Reveal a Market for Sensitive and Stolen U.S. Military Items, GAO-08-644T, April 10, 2008
  • April 02, 2008
    * First Ever Congressional Hearing Simulcast in an Internet-based Virtual World

    Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
    Tuesday, April 1, 2008. Witness List & Prepared Testimony.

  • News release: "Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, conducted the first ever Congressional hearing simulcast in an Internet-based virtual world [April 1, 2008]. The hearing addressed the evolution, culture and future of virtual worlds such as Second Life, Zwinky and There which are part of a new form of communication that has exploded over the last few years..."Virtual worlds are at the cutting edge of so-called "Web 2.0" applications and services, which enable users to generate the content of the realm, such as with YouTube and Flickr and Facebook. Virtual worlds can also support business operations and commercial applications - from real estate sales, to business conferences, product marketing, music sales, and the general buying of goods and services."
  • March 30, 2008
    * YouTube reveals video analytics tool for all users

    News release: "...we're releasing YouTube Insight, a free tool that enables anyone with a YouTube account to view detailed statistics about the videos that they upload to the site. (You can see this...announcement on the Google blog and on the YouTube blog...) This tool will help anyone who uploads videos to YouTube better understand and serve their audiences. For example, users might use Insight to tailor upload strategies to increase their videos' view counts and improve their popularity on the site. And partners who increase their videos' popularity also increase the number of monetizable views their videos get, and as a result, generate more revenue."

    March 28, 2008
    * FTC Staff Report, Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-ade

    News release: "The Commission has issued a staff report highlighting the challenges of consumer protection in the face of emerging and evolving technologies in the next ten years. The report summarizes the proceedings of the FTC’s three-day public hearings, “Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-ade,” and which will inform its consumer protection efforts in the next decade. TThe report explains the FTC will work to prevent Internet fraud by using its new powers under the U.S. SAFE WEB Act to coordinate and cooperate more closely with foreign consumer protection officials, ensure that consumer-producers who engage in activities to market and advertise products for consideration do so within the confines of laws prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trade, and develop new strategies and to harness the power of technology to deliver timely and effective consumer education messages."

  • Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-ade: A Report by the Staff of the Federal Trade Commission, March 2008 (50 pages, PDF)
  • March 18, 2008
    * Google for Non-Profits

    Official Google Blog: "Today, we're excited to launch Google For Non-Profits, a one-stop shop for tools to help advance your organization's mission in a smart, cost-efficient way. This site features ideas and tutorials for how you can use Google tools to promote your work, raise money and operate more efficiently. And to get inspired, you'll also find examples of innovative ways other non-profits are using our products to further their causes."

    March 15, 2008
    * IDC's Worldwide Software Pricing and Licensing Taxonomy and Report Guide, 2008

    IDC's Worldwide Software Pricing and Licensing Taxonomy and Report Guide, 2008, Mar 2008, Doc #210950: "This IDC study defines the classification scheme, or taxonomy, used by IDC's Global Software Business Strategies group to analyze the software licensing strategies of vendors and requirements of end-user organizations. IDC's software pricing and licensing taxonomy represents a fundamental view of the way software is created, priced, sold, and supported."

    March 11, 2008
    * Google Finalizes Acquisition of DoubleClick

    Follow up to previous postings on the Google-DoubleClick merger, this announcement today from Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman and CEO: "I'm pleased to share the news that we completed our acquisition of DoubleClick today. Although it's been nearly a year since we announced our intention to acquire DoubleClick last April, we are no less excited today about the benefits that the combination of our two companies will bring to the online advertising market."

  • Related news today: "The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the online advertising technology company DoubleClick by Google, both of the US. The Commission’s in-depth investigation, opened in November 2007 (see IP/07/1688), concluded that the transaction would be unlikely to have harmful effects on consumers, either in ad serving or in intermediation in online advertising markets. The Commission has therefore concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition within the European Economic Area (EEA) or a significant part of it."
  • * Tail Report - Survey of Web Revenue

    "Tail Report has launched with the goal to map out how money is made in the blogosphere. Tail Report works by asking users to anonymously submit information about their site's traffic, rank and monthly revenue. In return, the user receives a custom report detailing what other websites are making and how their revenue compares based a number of factors, such as traffic, rank, number of RSS subscribers, age, number of employees, content, and ad networks."

    February 17, 2008
    * PBS: Your Guide to Online Privacy

    Your Guide to Online Privacy, by Mark Glaser

  • "As we share more information online via myriad site registrations, online social networking profiles, e-commerce sites and search engines, the desire by companies and governments to mine that information is increasingly at odds with the desire of users to protect it. While online businesses can create their own privacy policies, average folks often can’t comprehend them — or opt out from data collection without leaving the site entirely. And government agencies and law enforcement increasingly are watching what people do online to fight crime and terrorism."
  • February 14, 2008
    * Pew Internet Releases Online Shopping Report

    Press release: "Most online Americans view online shopping as a way to save time and a convenient way to buy products. At the same time, most internet users express discomfort over a key step in online shopping – sending personal or credit card information over the internet. According to the Pew Internet Project’s September 2007 survey...The report, entitled Online Shopping: Internet users like the convenience but worry about the security of their financial information, finds that two-thirds (66%) of online Americans have at one time bought a product online. If online Americans did not have such high levels of concern about sending personal or credit card information over the internet, the report estimates that the share of internet users buying products online could be as much as 3 percentage points higher, or 69%."

    February 10, 2008
    * Update on Microsoft Bid For Yahoo

    Follow up to February 2, 2008 posting Microsoft Proposes Acquisition of Yahoo! for $31 per Share, this news:

  • Microsoft Lawyers Map Out the Bid for Yahoo - Company lines up its case for a new antitrust fight, by Nathan Carlile, Legal Times, February 11, 2008. "By making its offer for Yahoo, antitrust lawyers say, Microsoft is wagering that past rebukes by the feds will not play a role this time. The company is still operating under a consent decree negotiated as part of its settlement with the Justice Department as part of the epic antitrust case against the company. The decree was recently extended until 2009, and a three-member team at Justice is continuing to monitor Microsoft's moves."

  • WSJ - Yahoo Board to Reject Microsoft Bid: "Yahoo Inc.'s board plans to reject Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited $44.6 billion offer to acquire the Web giant, a person familiar with the situation says. After a series of meetings over the past week, Yahoo's board determined that the $31 per share offer "massively undervalues" Yahoo, the person said. It also doesn't account for the risks Yahoo would be taking by entering into an agreement that might be overturned by regulators. The board plans to send a letter to Microsoft Monday, spelling out its position."
  • * One person in eight in the EU27 avoids e-shopping because of security concerns

    Press release: "In connection with the 5th Safer Internet Day1 on 12 February 2008, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, presents a selection of statistics concerning internet activities, security concerns and virus attacks. The Safer Internet Day is part of a global drive to promote a safer Internet for all users, in particular younger people, and is organised by Insafe, a European internet safety network co-funded by the European Commission...In the EU27 in 2007, nearly a quarter of internet users had had a computer virus in the preceding 12 months, which resulted in a loss of information or time. Virus attacks were most frequent in Lithuania (41% of users), Slovenia (35%) and Malta (34%) and least common in the Czech Republic (7%), Estonia (15%) and Sweden (16%)."

    * Connecticut Farmers Selling Dairy Fiber Pot Containers

    Audubon Naturalist Society: "Gardeners have long wanted pots made of biogradable and renewable materials. And now, at least for seedling pots, this alternative exists: CowPots™, invented by two Connecticut dairy farmers, are durable fiber pots made of cow poo. So far, though, these odorless pots are only available to us online."

    January 26, 2008
    * Media Myths and Realities: A Public of One

    Press release, December 10, 2007 - "The way communicators dispense information is out of sync with the way consumers use media, according to Media, Myths & Realities, a comprehensive survey of media usage among consumers and communications professionals conducted by global public relations firm Ketchum and the University of Southern California Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center. Advice from family and friends is the No. 1 source that consumers turn to when making a variety of decisions – ranging from purchasing consumer electronics to planning a vacation – and advice from an expert rates highest when making medical decisions and purchases based on a product’s environmental impact. Despite the strong evidence that friends, family and experts play a key role in influencing decisions, only 24 percent of communicators report having a word-of-mouth program in place."

    January 05, 2008
    * New Study on Copyright and Creativity from the Center for Social Media

    New Study on Copyright and Creativity from the Center for Social Media, Posted by Hugh DAndrade: "Free video hosting sites like YouTube, Yahoo! Video, and Daily Motion are enabling creators to share video instantly with millions of viewers around the world. A new report from the Center for Social Media takes a close look at these user generated sites, and finds that there is much more at stake than the SNL and Daily Show clips often referenced in the usual Viacom v. YouTube debates on copyright infringement. Recut, Reframe, Recycle shows that far from simply uploading content, more and more users are remixing prior works to create new (and often surprising) works of transformative creativity. Users are borrowing from film, television, and pop culture at large to create parodies and satires, commentaries, pastiche, quotations, as well as archives of important work that cannot be shown due to copyright restriction. By illustrating each category with some of the best examples of user-generated content from the past few years, the study attempts to clarify "the difference between quoting for new cultural creation and simple piracy."

    January 01, 2008
    * gethuman 500 database

    "The gethuman™ movement has been created from the voices of millions of consumers who want to be treated with dignity when they contact a company for customer support." The gethuman 500 database, regularly updated, includes telephone numbers for customer service contacts in the following sectors, located in the United States: automotive, credit, finance, government, hardware, insurance, internet, mobile, pharmacy, products, shipping, software, telco, travel, TV/satellite, and utilities.

    December 30, 2007
    * State of the Media Democracy Survey

    The State of the Media Democracy: Are You Ready for the Future of Media?: "To shed light on how different generations are “consuming” media — and what their future media preferences are likely to be — Deloitte & Touche USA LLP’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) practice commissioned an extensive survey on the evolving role of media in America. This State of the Media Democracy survey offers a generational reality check on the usage of current media platforms/devices and what the future may hold. Fielded by Harrison Group (an independent research services firm) from February 23 through March 6, 2007, the survey used an online methodology to collect information from 2,200 U.S. consumers between the ages of 13 and 75."

    December 26, 2007
    * CDT Posts Music Download "Warning List"

    "CDT has created a list to alert consumers about music download Web sites that charge fees and claim a large selection, but do not appear to have obtained licenses to ensure that users' downloads from the site are legal. Consumers looking to download music lawfully for the new computers and MP3 players they receive this holiday season may want to check CDT's list before paying money to unfamiliar but legitimate-looking music services. CDT hopes that warning consumers about these sites can help avoid confusion and promote the continued growth of the lawful online music market."

  • Music Download Warning List, December 26, 2007
  • * 2007 Annual Study: U.S. Cost of a Data Breach

    Ponemon 2007 Annual Study: U.S. Cost of a Data Breach - Understanding Financial Impact, Customer Turnover, and Preventitive Solutions: This study "was derived from a detailed analysis of 35 data breach incidents. According to the study, the cost per compromised customer record increased in 2007, compared to 2006. Lost business opportunity, including losses associated with customer churn and acquisition, represented the most significant component of the cost increase. Companies analyzed were from 16 different industries, including communications, consumer goods, education, entertainment, financial services, gaming, health care, hospitality, internet, manufacturing, marketing, media, retail, services, technology, and transportation."

    December 20, 2007
    * FTC Closes Google/DoubleClick Investigation

    Press release: "The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it will not seek to block Google Inc.’s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of Internet advertising server DoubleClick Inc. In a 4-1 vote to close its eight-month investigation of the transaction, the Commission wrote in its majority statement that "after carefully reviewing the evidence, we have concluded that Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick is unlikely to substantially lessen competition."

    December 18, 2007
    * Digital Economy Fact Book 2007

    "The Ninth Edition of The Progress & Freedom Foundation's Digital Economy Fact Book (188 pages, PDF) was released [December 14, 2007]...The resource guide features an expanded section on international data, reflecting the global importance of the digital economy."

    November 23, 2007
    * Census Issues Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales

    Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales 3rd Quarter 2007: "The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the third quarter of 2007, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, was $34.7 billion, an increase of 3.6 percent (±0.8%) from the second quarter of 2007. Total retail sales for the third quarter of 2007 were estimated at $1,020.4 billion, an increase of 0.8 percent (±0.2%) from the second quarter of 2007. The third quarter 2007 e commerce estimate increased 19.3 percent (±2.6%) from the third quarter of 2006 while total retail sales increased 3.8 percent (±0.5%) in the same period. E-commerce sales in the third quarter of 2007 accounted for 3.4 percent of total sales."

    November 20, 2007
    * The Internet Singularity, Delayed: Why Limits in Internet Capacity Will Stifle Innovation on the Web

    The Internet Singularity, Delayed: Why Limits in Internet Capacity Will Stifle Innovation on the Web - "In this research study, Nemertes performed an independent in-depth analysis of Internet and IP infrastructure (which we call capacity) and current and projected traffic (which we call demand) with the goal of understanding how each has changed over time, and determining if there will ever be a point at which demand exceeds capacity....findings indicate that although core fiber and switching/routing resources will scale nicely to support virtually any conceivable user demand, Internet access infrastructure, specifically in North America, will likely cease to be adequate for supporting demand within the next three to five years. We estimate the financial investment required by access providers to bridge the gap between demand and capacity ranges from $42 billion to $55 billion, or roughly 60%-70% more than service providers currently plan to invest. It’s important to stress that failing to make that investment will not cause the Internet to collapse. Instead, the primary impact of the lack of investment will be to throttle innovation” both the technical innovation that leads to increasingly newer and better applications, and the business innovation that relies on those technical innovations and applications to generate value. The next Google, YouTube, or Amazon might not arise, not because of a lack of demand, but due to an inability to fulfill that demand."

  • See also Trend Micro™ Internet Confidence and Safety Survey Reveals Consumer Confidence in the Internet is on the Rise in U.S. and Japan, November 19, 2007
  • November 18, 2007
    * Newsweek Review of Amazon's New E-Book Reader

    The Future of Reading, by Steven Levy, Newsweek, November 17, 2007: "...the Kindle...has the dimensions of a paperback, with a tapering of its width that emulates the bulge toward a book's binding. It weighs but 10.3 ounces, and unlike a laptop computer it does not run hot or make intrusive beeps....with the use of E Ink, a breakthrough technology of several years ago that mimes the clarity of a printed book, the Kindle's six-inch screen posts readable pages... (The Kindle gets as many as 30 hours of reading on a charge, and recharges in two hours.)...E-book devices like the Kindle allow you to change the font size: aging baby boomers will appreciate that every book can instantly be a large-type edition. The handheld device can also hold several shelves' worth of books: 200 of them onboard, hundreds more on a memory card and a limitless amount in virtual library stacks maintained by Amazon. Also, the Kindle [costs $399] allows you to search within the book for a phrase or name...Some of those features have been available on previous e-book devices, notably the Sony Reader. The Kindle's real breakthrough springs from a feature that its predecessors never offered: wireless connectivity, via a system called Whispernet. (It's based on the EVDO broadband service offered by cell-phone carriers, allowing it to work anywhere, not just Wi-Fi hotspots.)"

  • PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY, WSJ: "Amazon's Kindle makes buying e-books easy, but its hardware design and its software user interface are marred by annoying flaws, Walt Mossberg says."
  • November 04, 2007
    * 2007 Digital Future Report

    "The Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School is pleased to present the results of the sixth year of our project, "Surveying the Digital Future." The six years of longitudinal research comprise an absolutely unique data base that completely captures broadband at home, the wireless Internet, on-line media, user-generated content and, now, social networking. This year's report contains a large module looking at on-line communities and social networking in great detail. Readers can compare the social networking data and correlate it to six years of attitudes and behaviors on-line. As usual, the report continues to track off-line media use, purchasing both off-line and through e-commerce, social and political activity and a wealth of other data."

  • The highlights of the report

  • The full report is available for purchase
  • November 02, 2007
    * EIA: Supplement to Energy Market and Economic Impacts of S. 280

    Supplement to: Energy Market and Economic Impacts of S. 280, the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 (11/01/2007)

  • "This paper responds to a September 18, 2007, letter from Senators Barrasso, Inhofe, and Voinovich, seeking further energy and economic analysis to supplement information presented in the Energy Information Administrations (EIA) recent analysis of S. 280, the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007."
  • October 31, 2007
    * Key Privacy Groups Propose Do Not Track List

    Press release: "CDT joined with a coalition of privacy advocates on Wednesday to recommend an ambitious set of proposals intended to give consumers greater control over their personal data and to offset the impact of pervasive behavioral tracking. Included in the recommendations is a call to create a national "Do Not Track List" that would provide consumers with a simple tool for opting out of behavioral tracking. CDT joined with Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy Activism, Public Information Research, Privacy Journal, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and the World Privacy Forum in crafting the proposal, which is timed to coincide with the start Thursday of a two-day Federal Trade Commission workshop on behavioral targeting."

  • Consumer Rights and Protections in the Behavioral Advertising Sector [PDF] October 31, 2007

  • Illustration of Do Not Track List [PDF] October 31, 2007
  • October 29, 2007
    * New Report - Inadvertent Filesharing Sharing Revisited: Assessing LimeWire's Responses to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

    Press release: "Today, the Progress and Freedom Foundation released a new report on inadvertent filesharing by the authors of Filesharing Programs and "Technological Features to Induce Users to Share," a groundbreaking analysis published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in March of 2007. This new report, Inadvertent Filesharing Sharing Revisited: Assessing LimeWire's Responses to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, seeks to enhance understanding of the causes of inadvertent sharing by analyzing (1) recently released data that the distributors of the program LimeWire gave to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform before its July 24, 2007 hearing on inadvertent sharing, and (2) the efficacy of efforts to improve the LimeWire program since the Committee's hearing. The authors conclude that law enforcement should investigate whether filesharing programs deliberately perpetuate inadvertent filesharing."

    * Websites from Government and E-Commerce Sectors Offer Services for Disabled

  • "DisabilityInfo.gov [celebrating 5th anniversary] is the federal government's one-stop Web site for people with disabilities, their families, employers, veterans and service members, workforce professionals and many others. A collaborative effort among twenty-two federal agencies, DisabilityInfo.gov connects people with disabilities to the information and resources they need to a.ctively participate in the workforce and in their communities."

  • New York Times: "Although 50 million people in the United States have some form of physical or mental disability, they spend money just as easily as others. But there are few efficient ways for advertisers to reach them, and that’s what a new Web site, Disaboom.com, hopes to change."
  • October 24, 2007
    * House Budget Cmte. Hearing: The Growing Budgetary Costs of the Iraq War

    House Budget Committee hearing: The Growing Budgetary Costs of the Iraq War, Wednesday, October 24, 2007. Witness statements as follows:

  • Dr. Peter Orszag, Director, Congressional Budget Office: Testimony on Estimated Costs of U.S. Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and of Other Activities Related to the War on Terrorism

  • Testimony of Amy Belasco, Congressional Research Service: "...CRS estimates that Congress has provided about $651 billion to date for Iraq, Afghanistan and enhanced security at defense bases..."

  • Testimony of Professor Linda Bilmes, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University: "...the monthly total for the conflict [in Iraq and Afghanistan is]...an average of $14 billion...Department of Defense and accounting and reporting systems make it very difficult to know exactly where the money is being spent..."
  • September 30, 2007
    * Report - Rising Journal Costs Limit Scholarly Access

    Rising Journal Costs Limit Scholarly Access, Emory University:
    "Are publishers getting rich publishing your research? A Bear-Stearns evaluation of Reed-Elsevier (one of the world's largest publishers of scholarly journals) recently rated the company, which earns profits of almost 40% annually, "a stockholder's dream." Should private publishers be getting rich selling information generated by research that is funded by academic institutions and the public? What's happening and how does it affect scholars? This article looks at one university’s experience."

    September 27, 2007
    * Hearing on Google-DoubleClick Merger

    9/27/2007 Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, An Examination of the Google-DoubleClick Merger and the Online Advertising Industry: What Are the Risks for Competition and Privacy?

  • Link to hearing witness statements

  • Related postings on Google-DoubleClick Merger

  • Hahn, Robert W. and Singer, Hal J., An Antitrust Analysis of Google's Proposed Acquisition of DoubleClick (September 2007). AEI-Brookings Joint Center Related Publication No. 07-24, via SSRN
  • September 19, 2007
    * Senate Plans Hearing on Google-Doubleclick Merger

    EPIC: "The United States Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing entitled An Examination of the Google-Doubleclick Merger and the Online Advertising Industry: What Are the Risks for Competition and Privacy on Thursday, September 27. Dave Drummond of Google, Brad Smith of Microsoft, Scott Cleland of Precursor, Tom Lenard of the Progress & Freedom Foundation, and Marc Rotenberg of EPIC are expected to testify. See EPIC's page on the proposed Google-Doubleclick merger."

  • Related postings on Google/DoubleClick Merger
  • September 09, 2007
    * Reading Books in the Digital Age Subsequent to Amazon, Google and the Long Tail

    Reading Books in the Digital Age subsequent to Amazon, Google and the long tail by Terje Hillesund, Associate Professor at the University of Stavanger, Norway. First Monday, volume 12, number 9 (September 2007),

  • "In the last decades, the book industry has changed and is now characterised by two (or three) opposite tendencies: Many publishing firms are united in large multinational corporations, commercialisation has increased and bookstores are concentrated in large chains, marketing the popular. At the same time, the Internet has come to constitute an immense book market, and recently Google Book Search has demonstrated the power of the Web in book content discovery and display. Search engines and online bookstores disclose and make available books no longer in stock in ordinary bookstore chains; as a result, niche markets flourish and the total sales of obscure books have grown considerably. As a binary underflow, the electronic book slowly seems to be gathering new strength. In this article, I will present literature that analyses current transformations, and I will critically examine John B. Thompson’s analysis of the digitalisation of the book as presented in Books in the Digital Age from 2005. Only two years have passed, yet events already confirm my view that Thompson got most of it wrong."
  • September 06, 2007
    * Consumer Reports Poll: 89 Percent of Americans Want Lawmakers to Restrict the Use of Social Security Numbers

    "As Congress and federal regulators consider proposals aimed at reducing the risk of identity theft, a national poll by the Consumer Reports National Research Center reveals that an overwhelming majority of Americans want lawmakers to restrict the use and availability of Social Security numbers by businesses and government agencies. According to the poll, 89 percent of Americans agree that state and federal lawmakers should pass laws restricting the use of Social Security numbers. Social Security numbers are particularly sensitive information because they can provide the key to unlocking a consumer’s financial identity...Consumers Union released the poll results in comments filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is studying the collection and use of Social Security numbers by the private sector. Several pending congressional proposals would restrict the sale, purchase, and display of Social Security numbers. Consumers Union recommends that the sale and purchase of the numbers be tightly restricted and that solicitation be prohibited except where required by law or where needed for credit, employment, tax compliance, or investment purposes."

  • Summary of Social Security Number Privacy Legislation Under Active Consideration in House and the Senate, as of September 5, 2007 and the full text of H.R. 3046
  • September 05, 2007
    * FTC Approves Issuance of Federal Register Notice Announcing Review of Mail Order Rule

    Press release: "The Commission has approved the issuance of a Federal Register notice announcing the start of its decennial review of the FTC’s Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, 16 CFR Part 435 (Mail Order Rule). As detailed in the notice, the Commission is seeking comment on whether to retain the Rule. To guide discussion of this issue, the Commission is seeking information on the Rule’s costs and benefits. Assuming, based on the public response to the notice, the Commission decides to retain the Rule, it also seeks to determine whether it should make three changes to the Rule in response to changes in technology and marketing practices that have occurred since the Rule was last updated in 1993."

  • Text of the Federal Register Notice: 16 CFR Part 435 - Mail Or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule: Request For Public Comment On the Overall Costs, Benefits, and Regulatory and Economic Impact of the Rule.
  • August 18, 2007
    * Google's New Ad Traffic Quality Resource Center

    "About the Ad Traffic Quality Resource Center - The relationship between Google and AdWords advertisers is built on trust. Advertisers rely on the relevance of our ad placement, our reporting statistics, and the quality of the clicks their ads receive. We take this trust seriously, and we know that AdWords couldn't exist without it."

    August 14, 2007
    * Yahoo Tops Search Engine Satisfaction Survey

    American Customer Satisfaction Index, Scores By Industry, Internet Portals/Search Engines, 2007, Commentary by Professor Claes Fornell, The Donald C. Cook Professor of Business Administration, Director, National Quality Research Center, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan: "Yahoo! has also improved. It has always had more users than Google and now it leads in customer satisfaction as well. Yahoo! has been there before. As its customer satisfaction rose to a high of 80 in 2005, Yahoo! did well financially. With falling customer satisfaction in 2006, Yahoo! also saw stock price and profits falling sharply. The company has also suffered from recent well-publicized management and business strategy issues. But this year's improvement in ACSI restores almost all of the 2006 loss in customer satisfaction..."

    August 13, 2007
    * ABA Launches New Consumer E-Commerce Site

    "Safeselling.org offers a resource for business people launching ecommerce enterprises and for businesses venturing into online sales. First-time entrepreneurs and established small to medium-sized business expanding their horizons should find helpful information on this site about selling goods and services online...Safeselling.org is a companion to safeshopping.org, an earlier project of the Cyberspace Law Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Business Law, which answers questions for consumers about shopping on the web."

    * Team of University of California Researchers Identify "Spamscatter" Technique

    PC World: Study Finds Spam's Achilles Heel - "Researchers say they've discovered a critical weakness in the spam infrastructure."

  • Spamscatter: Characterizing Internet Scam Hosting Infrastructure, David S. Anderson, Chris Fleizach, Stefan Savage, and Geoffrey M. Voelker, Proceedings of the USENIX Security Symposium, Boston, MA, August 2007.

  • See also The New Yorker, Damn Spam, The losing war on junk e-mail,
    by Michael Specter, August 6, 2007: "Nearly two million e-mails are dispatched every second, a hundred and seventy-one billion messages a day. Most of those messages have something to sell...Spam’s growth has been metastatic, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of all mail. In 2001, spam accounted for about five per cent of the traffic on the Internet; by 2004, that figure had risen to more than seventy per cent. This year, in some regions, it has edged above ninety per cent—more than a hundred billion unsolicited messages clogging the arterial passages of the world’s computer networks every day."
  • * New Research Promotes the Value of Banks Developing Social Media Presence

    Press release: "One of the latest reports from Javelin Strategy & Research shows why financial institutions must engage in blogging now, and provides specific steps for assessing this powerful new brand-building and customer-connection capability into 2008-10 strategic plans. According to the study of over 3,500 consumers, one in five online consumers read blogs, yet blogs are offered by less than 1% of financial institutions. Result: banks are largely losing control of discussion about themselves in the ‘blogosphere’. Old-line bankers will find that none of the long-standing customer interaction rules apply to blogging, yet the new capability offers crucial, low-cost marketing benefits available through no other method."

    August 09, 2007
    * Report Highlights Surge in Net Traffic Driven By Demand for Video Content

    Press release: "New Millennium Research Council Analysis report finds growing Internet traffic, driven by online video, requires ongoing investment in new capacity and intelligent networks."

  • The Never Ending Rush Hour - Internet Traffic Growth Requires Continual Investment in Capacity and Innovation in Network Management, August 9, 2007 (21 pages, PDF)
  • August 04, 2007
    * Growing Interest in People Finding Generates New Web Sites and Less Privacy

    Online Snooping Gets Creepy, By Anita Hamilton: "...An estimated 30% of all Web searches are aimed at finding people, according to industry statistics, and upstarts like PeekYou, Pipl, Spock, and Wink are vying for a piece of this potentially huge market. These free sites work by scouring the Web for any virtual footprints you might have on MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Yahoo!, Flickr and elsewhere, and then creating a fresh profile that organizes all that information on one page."

    July 23, 2007
    * Microsoft Announces Enhanced Privacy Protections for Customers

    Press release: "Expanding on its ongoing work to help protect customer privacy, Microsoft Corp. today announced an enhanced set of privacy principles for Live Search and online advertising data collection, use and protection. The principles outline new, enhanced steps to help protect the privacy of Microsoft® Windows Live™ users, including making search query data anonymous after 18 months by permanently removing cookie IDs, the entire IP address and other identifiers from search terms. Microsoft will also work to give customers more control over what information it uses to personalize their online search experience."

  • Microsoft Privacy Web site

  • BusinessWeek.com: Microsoft: Privacy Champion? "The tech giant and others are getting serious about giving Web surfers more control over how information from their online behavior is used."
  • July 13, 2007
    * Pew Research Report on China's Online Population Explosion

    Press release: "The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released a new report on China's internet user population. There are now an estimated 137 million internet users in China, second in number only to the United States, where estimates of the current internet population range from 165 million to 210 million. The growth rate of China's internet user population has been outpacing that of the U.S., and China is projected to overtake the U.S. in the total number of users within a few years. The influx of tens of millions of new online participants each year can be expected to have far-reaching consequences for the Chinese population, for China itself and for the larger world. At the very least, the internet will offer ever greater numbers of Chinese a much more sophisticated information and communications world than the one they currently inhabit. And because the Chinese share a single written language, despite the multiplicity of spoken tongues, it could have a unifying effect on the country's widely dispersed citizenry. An expanding internet population might also increase domestic tensions that could spill over into China's relations with the U.S. and other countries while the difference between Chinese and Western approaches to the internet could create additional sore points over human rights and problems with restrictions on non-Chinese companies."

  • China's Online Population Explosion
  • July 03, 2007
    * Largest Single Personal Data Breach to Date Involves Info on 2.3 Million Customers

    Press release: "Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. announced today that its subsidiary, Certegy Check Services, Inc., a service provider to U.S. retail merchants, based in St. Petersburg, Fla., was victimized by a former employee who misappropriated and sold consumer information to a data broker who, in turn, sold a subset of that data to a limited number of direct marketing organizations...The misappropriated information included names, addresses and telephone numbers as well as, in many cases, dates of birth and bank account or credit card information. Approximately 2.3 million records are believed to be at issue, with approximately 2.2 million containing bank account information and 99,000 containing credit card information. The company is still investigating the time period over which the misappropriations occurred."

    June 27, 2007
    * Democratic Candidates' Site Traffic Market Share and Rankings

    "In a custom report created for ClickZ News, Hitwise measured traffic market share of the candidate sites. The measurement firm found traffic to Democratic candidate sites was top heavy, favoring Clinton's, Obama's and Edwards's sites. HillaryClinton.com garnered nearly a third of visits among Democratic candidate sites in May. BarackObama.com attracted almost 28 percent, and JohnEdwards.com drew 23 percent of visitors to Dem campaign sites last month."

    * FTC Issues Staff Report on Broadband Connectivity Competition Policy

    Press release: "The Federal Trade Commission’s Internet Access Task Force today issued a report, “Broadband Connectivity Competition Policy,” which summarizes the Task Force’s findings in the area of broadband Internet connectivity and, in particular, so-called network neutrality regulation. Based on these findings, and FTC staff’s experience with the operation of myriad markets throughout the economy, the report identifies guiding principles that policy makers should consider in evaluating proposed regulations or legislation relating to broadband Internet access and network neutrality."

  • Broadband Connectivity Competition Policy: A Federal Trade Commission Staff Report, June 2007 (170 pages, PDF)
  • June 24, 2007
    * Special Report Examines Role of Info Industry Big Three in Web Security

    NEWS.COM Special Report: Wardens of the WebTalkBack: Global security challenge falls to an elite corps, June 25, 2007

  • "The job of policing the Web has been left to the corporate world by default. The burden weighs heavily on a trio of companies in particular: Google, Yahoo and Microsoft--the three firms with the most traffic on the Web. Their work, alone or in concert, will likely define what kind of security can be expected for e-mail, purchases, bill payment, other financial transactions and practically anything else involving personal information of the most sensitive nature."
  • * PWC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2007-2011

    PricewaterhouseCoopers, PWC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2007-2011: "The leading entertainment and media industry forecast. Covering the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Canada. In-depth global analyses and 5-year growth projections for 14 industry segments." fee, but free industry segments' summaries are available.

    * Parents, Children and Media: A Kaiser Family Foundation Survey

    "Parents, Children & Media: A Kaiser Family Foundation Survey, is a national survey of 1,008 parents of children ages 2-17, along with a series of six focus groups held with parents across the country. The survey explores such issues as media content, media ratings and the V-Chip, media monitoring, educational media, advertising, and the Internet."

  • Press release

  • Report - Parents, Children & Media: A Kaiser Family Foundation Survey (42 pages, PDF)
  • June 21, 2007
    * Surveys Examine the Impact of the Growing Cell-Only Population

    Follow up to May 14, 2007 posting, Nearly 16% of U.S. Homes Have No Landline Phone, see also these related studies:

  • The Landline-less Are Different and Their Numbers Are Growing Fast, by Scott Keeter, Director, Survey Research, Pew Research Center, June 20, 2007

  • What's Missing from National RDD Surveys? The Impact of the Growing Cell-Only Population, by Scott Keeter (Pew Research Center), Courtney Kennedy (University of Michigan and Pew Research Center), April Clark (Pew Research Center), Trevor Tompson (The Associated Press), and Mike Mokrzycki (The Associated Press).
  • June 20, 2007
    * Pew Survey of American Adults and Use of Gadgets

    Pew Internet and American Life Project: "Fully 85% of American adults use the internet or cell phones – and most use both. Many also have broadband connections, digital cameras and video game systems. Yet the proportion of adults who exploit the connectivity, the capacity for self expression, and the interactivity of modern information technology is a modest 8%."

  • A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users (65 pages, PDF)


  • See also two charts from Business Week's look at Web Strategies That Cater To Customers which track demographics on the use of social media and online tool and applications:
  • Chart - Social Media Usage: Small, But Growing Fast…But Very Few Users Create Content

  • Chart: Who Participates And What People Are Doing Online
  • June 10, 2007
    * Privacy Ranking Report of Internet Service Companies

    Source: "Privacy International (PI) is a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on surveillance by governments and corporations. PI is based in London, and has an office in Washington, D.C. Together with members in 40 countries, PI has conducted campaigns throughout the world on issues ranging from wiretapping and national security activities, to ID cards, video surveillance, data matching, police information systems, and medical privacy, and works with a wide range of parliamentary and inter-governmental organisations such as the European Parliament, the House of Lords and UNESCO."

  • Background report from Privacy International - "A Consultation report: This report has been prepared by Privacy International following a six-month investigation into the privacy practices of key Internet based companies. The ranking lists the best and the worst performers both in Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 across the full spectrum of search, email, e-commerce and social networking sites.
    The analysis employs a methodology comprising around twenty core parameters. We rank the major Internet players but we also discuss examples of best and worst privacy practice among smaller companies. The report was compiled using data derived from public sources (newspaper articles, blog entries, submissions to government inquiries, privacy policies etc), information provided by present and former company staff, technical analysis and interviews with company representatives. Because the 2007 rankings are a precedent, Privacy International will regard the current report as a consultation report and will establish a broad outreach for two months to ensure that any new and relevant information is taken into account before publishing a full report in September."

  • Interim results are available here in PDF format, 6 pages

  • Related: An Open Letter from Privacy International to Google, 10/06/2007
  • June 04, 2007
    * McAfee Report on State of Search Engine Safety

    The State of Search Engine Safety, June 4, 2007 - Ben Edelman, Advisor to McAfee SiteAdvisor and Hannah Rosenbaum - Research Analyst, McAfee SiteAdvisor

  • "In this study, we compare the safety of leading search engines, using McAfee SiteAdvisor’s automated Web site ratings...Since May 2006, search engine results have become safer, primarily due to improved safety of sponsored results on Google, AOL, and Ask. Despite this improvement, dangerous sites are found in search results of all of the top five search engines, and sponsored results continue to be significantly less safe than search engines’ organic results."

  • Key Findings; Introduction; Methodology; Analysis; Discussion; Resources
  • May 29, 2007
    * TriCipher Consumer Online Banking Study

    Press release: "...a recent TriCipher Consumer Online Banking Study, conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research, reveals that consumers would take advantage of more online banking services if banks provided stronger identity protection. The TriCipher Consumer Online Banking Study included 3,349 respondents from a random-sample panel that was representative of the U.S. population. Surprising findings uncovered that nearly 1 in 5 - estimated at 26 million - adult consumers have been victims of identity theft or fraud in their lives. And, according to survey results, over 88 million online banking customers would switch banks, or reduce online banking usage, if news reports exposed their individual institution as compromised."

    May 28, 2007
    * FTC Will Review Google/DoubleClick Merger

    Follow up to April 20, 2007 posting, Google DoubleClick Merger In the News, additional documents and news.

  • Proposed Google/DoubleClick Deal: "On April 20, 2007, EPIC filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), requesting that the Commission open an investigation into the proposed acquisition, specifically with regard to the ability of Google to record, analyze, track, and profile the activities of Internet users with data that is both personally identifiable and data that is not personally identifiable. EPIC further urged the FTC to require Google to publicly present a plan to comply with well-established government and industry privacy standards such as the OECD Privacy Guidelines. Pending the resolution of these and other issues, EPIC encouraged the FTC to halt the acquisition."

  • May 29, 2007: FTC begins antitrust investigation into proposed $3.1 billion Google-DoubleClick deal
  • May 23, 2007
    * Pew Research Survey on Spam 2007

    Press release: "The volume of spam is growing in Americans' personal and workplace emailaccounts, but email users are less bothered by it.
    Spam continues to plague the internet as more Americans than ever say they are getting more spam than in the past. But while American internet users report increasing volumes of spam, they also indicate that they are less bothered by it than before. Users have become more sophisticated about dealing with spam; fully 71% of email users use filters offered by their email provider or employer to block spam... Spam has not become a significant deterrent to the use of email, as some observers speculated it might when unsolicited email first began flooding users' inboxes several years ago. But it continues to degrade the integrity of email. Some 55% of email users say they have lost trust in email because of spam."

  • Here is a link to the complete report.
  • May 14, 2007
    * Restricted Access to Internet Entertainment Sites Across DoD Networks

    B.B. Bell, General, US Army, Commander: Restricted Access to Internet Entertainment Sites Across DoD Networks, May 11, 2007 - "The DoD will block worldwide access to the following internet sites, on or about 14 May 2007: youtube.com, 1.fm, pandora.com, photobucket.com, myspace.com, live365.com, hi5.com, metacafe.com, mtv.com, ifilm.com, blackplanet.com, stupidvideos.com and filecabi.com"

  • Stars and Stripes: DOD blocking YouTube, others - To save bandwidth, officials say several sites to be off-limits at work
  • May 08, 2007
    * Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age

    Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age, James Waldo, Herbert S. Lin, and Lynette I. Millett, editors, 456 pages, May 4, 2007 - This books is available in its pre-publication version from the National Academies Press.

  • "Privacy is a growing concern in the United States and around the world. The spread of the Internet and the seemingly unbounded options for collecting, saving, sharing, and comparing information trigger consumer worries; online practices of businesses and government agencies present new ways to compromise privacy; and e-commerce and technologies that permit individuals to find personal information about each other only begin to hint at the possibilities...The report provides ways to think about privacy, its relationship to other values, and related tradeoffs and provides an in-depth look at ongoing information technology trends as related to privacy concerns. By doing so, the report is intended to contribute to a better understanding of the many issues that play a part in privacy and contribute to the analysis of issues involving privacy. Perhaps most importantly, the report seeks to raise awareness of the web of connectedness among the actions we take, the policies we pass, and the expectations we change."

  • May 06, 2007
    * Forbes Special Report on CEO Compensation

    Special Report - CEO Compensation: "The chief executives of America's 500 biggest companies got a collective 38% pay raise last year, to $7.5 billion. That's an average $15.2 million apiece. Exercised stock options again account for the main component of pay, 48%. The average stock gain was $7.3 million. The highest-paid boss of the 500 companies we tracked: Apple chief Steve Jobs. He drew a nominal $1 salary but realized $647 million from vested restricted stock last year."

    Sort By:
    Rank | Name | Company | Total Compensation | 5-Year Compensation | Shares Owned | Age | Efficiency

    May 04, 2007
    * Policy Center's Study Shows Flaws in News Media's Use of RSS

    From the Center for Media and the Public Agenda at University of Maryland, College Park:

  • International News and Problems with the News Media's RSS Feeds: "This study was constructed to determine which news outlets use RSS well—which outlets give users the range of information that most closely approximates what can be found on the outlets' websites...This study looked at 19 of the top global news online sites to see which ones gave the users of their RSS feeds the same number of stories, the same range of news sources, in as timely a fashion as could be gotten if those users went to the individual website."
  • Study Conclusions

  • Understanding Results

  • What is RSS?

  • Study Methodology

  • Authors
  • May 01, 2007
    * Google Responds to Viacom's Complaint

    Google's response [via Google Watch] to Viacom's copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube.

    April 22, 2007
    * Content Managment Technology Used for Online Video Copyright Infringement

    WSJ free feature: Policing Web Video With 'Fingerprints' - Sharing Sites Say Technology Could Help Them Identify, Remove Unauthorized Clips: "Proponents of fingerprinting technology say it can help spot TV shows and films that are posted on video-sharing sites such as Google Inc.'s YouTube without their owners' permission, so the sites can remove them or share advertising revenue."

    April 20, 2007
    * Google DoubleClick Merger In the News

    Press release, April 13, 2007: "Google to Acquire DoubleClick - Combination Will Significantly Expand Opportunities for Advertisers, Agencies and Publishers and Improve Users' Online Experience."

  • Google Form 8-K, filed on April 18, 2007: Item 1.01 Entry Into a Material Definitive Agreement - "On April 13, 2007, Google Inc. ("Google" or the "Company"), a Delaware corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Google ("Sub"), and Click Holding Corp. ("DoubleClick"), a Delaware corporation, entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Merger Agreement"). Pursuant to the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Merger Agreement, Google will acquire DoubleClick by means of a merger of DoubleClick with and into Sub (the "Merger"), with DoubleClick continuing as the surviving corporation after the Merger."

  • "EPIC, CDD and US PIRG today filed a complaint (pdf) with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging the Commission to open an investigation into the proposed acquisition. The groups urged the FTC to assess the ability of Google to record, analyze, track, and profile the activities of Internet users with data that is both personally identifiable and data that is not personally identifiable. The groups further urged the FTC to require Google to publicly present a plan to comply with well-established government and industry privacy standards such as the OECD Privacy Guidelines. Pending the resolution of these and other issues, EPIC encouraged the FTC to halt the acquisition. See EPIC's FTC Google Complaint

  • Doubleclick Statement Regarding Data Ownership, New York, 4/20/2007 - DoubleClick Inc., the premier provider of digital marketing and technology services, issued the following statement regarding data ownership. Since the announcement of Google’s intention to acquire DoubleClick, several media reports have incorrectly suggested that data collected by the company’s online display advertising technology could be used by Google, or combined with information owned by Google. This is simply not the case.Information collected by DoubleClick DART® ad serving technology belongs to DoubleClick’s clients and not to DoubleClick. Any and all information collected by DoubleClick is, and will remain, the property of the company’s clients. Ownership rights, like the other terms of DoubleClick's client contracts, will be unaffected by any acquisition. Further, Google would not be able to match its search data to the data collected by DoubleClick, as DoubleClick does not have the right to use its clients' data for such purposes. By contract, DoubleClick has only the limited rights to use data for its aggregate reporting and to disclose data, if so required, to government authorities."
  • * UK Consumers Not Risk Averse When Using Online Services According to New Report

    Press release: "UK consumers are not as risk-averse when it comes to using online services as previously thought, according to recent research conducted by BT. Despite daily warnings about security threats and cyber-criminals, people are willing to take risks online, as long as they feel informed, and it is clear how consequences will be addressed. According to the findings from the Trustguide report, which was a collaborative research project by BT with support from the DTI, people use specific online services not because they trust them, but because they believe the benefits outweigh the risks. Government and private industry must therefore take responsibility for educating and reassuring the public that safeguards are in place, if they are to succeed with e-Government and e-Commerce initiatives..Based on the research, the Trustguide report outlines a set of guidelines to inform policy making and service development for ICT delivered services. In addition to enabling better-informed decision-making through education, and advising users of restitution and guarantee measures should something go wrong, the report highlights the need for greater honesty and transparency of data usage by service providers.

  • Trustguide Final Report, October 2006, by Hazel Lacohée, principal researcher at BT Group’s Chief Technology Office, and Andy Phippen, lecturer in socio-technical studies, University of Plymouth. (101 pages, PDF)
  • April 12, 2007
    * FTC Issues Report on Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children

    Press release: "The Federal Trade Commission gave a mixed review of the movie, music, and video-game industries’ self-regulatory programs and their marketing of violent entertainment products to children in its latest report to Congress. This fifth follow-up report, the most comprehensive study since 2000, found that all three industries generally comply with their own voluntary standards regarding the display of ratings and labels. However, entertainment industries continue to market some R-rated movies, M-rated video games, and explicit-content recordings on television shows and Web sites with substantial teen audiences. In addition, the FTC found that while video game retailers have made significant progress in limiting sales of M-rated games to children, movie and music retailers have made only modest progress limiting sales."

  • Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children: A Fifth Follow-Up Review of Industry Practices in the Motion Picture, Music Recording & Electronic Game Industries: A Federal Trade Commission Report to Congress (April 2007)
  • April 11, 2007
    * Survey Highlights Public View of Industry Sectors

    Press release: "The pharmaceutical sector is suffering from a poor reputation among Americans, according to new research by marketing research firm Ipsos. The second edition of I-Rep, Ipsos’ biannual survey on perceptions of large companies, shows that nearly as many Americans hold an “unfavorable” opinion of the pharmaceutical sector (32%) as have a “favorable” opinion (35%), while 33% are neither favorable nor unfavorable. Among other sectors measured, only the oil and gas, chemicals, and tobacco industries fare worse than the pharmaceutical sector. Sectors enjoying the highest favorability scores include the information technology, electronic goods, and food and beverage industries."

    April 02, 2007
    * DHS Releases Comprehensive Regulations for Securing High Risk Chemical Facilities

    Press release: "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security today released an interim final rule that imposes for the first time comprehensive federal security regulations for high risk chemical facilities. The department sought and reviewed comments from state and local partners, Congress, private industry, and the public to develop consistent guidelines using a risk-based approach. The new rule gives the department authority to seek compliance through the imposition of civil penalties, of up to $25,000 per day, and the ability to shut non-compliant facilities down."

  • Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Interim Final Rule
  • March 29, 2007
    * U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Releases Strategic Plan 2007-2012

    USPTO press release from Jon Dudas: "I am pleased to release the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2007 through 2012. This plan builds upon the record-breaking progress the USPTO made during fiscal year 2006 in the areas of quality,production, electronic filing and processing, teleworking, and hiring."

  • Strategic Plan 2007-2012 [PDF]

  • Strategic Plan 2007-2012 Summary [PDF]

  • COMING SOON: E-Mail with Direct Link to Issued Trademark Office Action to Replace E-Mailed Office Actions - Beginning in late spring, the USPTO will notify applicants who have authorized e-mail communication with the USPTO of each issued Trademark Office action by an e-mail message containing a direct link to the Office action in Trademark Document Retrieval (TDR). The USPTO will not send a separate e-mail with the Office action attached.
  • March 28, 2007
    * New FDA Website Warns Against Buying Accutane and Generic Versions Online

    Press release: "FDA put together this Web site to alert you to the risks of buying Accutane (isotretinoin) over the Internet. This Web site is for educational purposes only."

  • "The FDA is launching a special web page to warn consumers about the dangers of buying isotretinoin (Accutane) online. Isotretinoin is a drug approved for the treatment of severe acne that does not respond to antibiotic. Improperly used, Isotretinoin can cause severe side effects, including birth defects. Serious mental health problems have also been reported with isotretinoin use. The web page, will be positioned as a search result on Google and other search engines when a consumer initiates an online search for the drug under any one its four names...The web pages warns that the drug "should be taken under the close supervision" of a physician or a pharmacist, and provides links to helpful information, including ways to check that drugs are purchased online come from legitimate pharmacies."
  • March 27, 2007
    * Reseachers Focus on Fighting Web Spam

    Hao Chen, Assistant Professor, UC Davis in collaboration with In collaboration with Microsoft Researchers Yi-Min Wang and Ming Ma, pub lished Spam Double-Funnel: Connecting Web Spammers with Advertisers. [Darlene Fichter]

  • Overview: "Web spamming is a prevalent problem on the Web. Publishing and contributing to the web is increasingly easy. Spammers, motivated by money, want to attract users to their sites. High visibility in search results facilitates and lends a false air of legitimacy to the spammer's page. To get to this point, spammers create many doorway pages hosted by free services. They publicize the URLs to these doorway pages through comment spam. Their goal in doing so is not to trick people, but rather to defeat search engine ranking algorithms."

  • See also their website, Strider Search Ranger: War on Search Spam: Shifting the Battleground by “Following the Money”. Created: January 2007. Last Updated: March 20, 2007
  • March 22, 2007
    * Usability Issues Assist Online Editors Seeking Better Connection With Readers

    Eyetracking points the way to effective news article design:

  • "Featured finding #1: Rewrite + reformat = remember

  • Featured finding #2: Precise and relevant editing = successful design

  • Featured finding #3: Photos edited for relevance = photos viewed"
  • [via Darlene Fichter]

    * Symantec's 11th Internet Security Threat Report

    "The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report offers analysis and discussion of threat activity over a six-month period. It covers Internet attacks, vulnerabilities, malicious code, phishing, spam and security risks as well as future trends. The eleventh version of the report, released March 19, 2007, is now available."

  • Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, Volume XI: March 2007 (Trends for July - Dec 06 (104 pages, PDF)

  • Key Findings of the Internet Security Threat Report, Volume XI: March 2007 (22 pages, PDF
  • March 09, 2007
    * House Hearing on Combating Pretexting

    Combating Pretexting: H.R. 936, Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Friday, March 9, 2007

  • Witness List and Prepared Testimony

  • EPIC: "In testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg expressed support for H.R. 936, the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act. The Act would increase privacy protections for phone records. In August 2005, EPIC petitioned the FCC to establish stronger security standaard for telephone records. The FCC endorsed EPIC's petition in February 2006, but more than a year later, there are still no clear standards for telephone record privacy."

  • Related postings on pre-texting
  • March 04, 2007
    * RSS Service Tracks Price Changes on Amazon Products

    "RSStalker.com provides RSS feeds to track price changes of Amazon.com products. Generate a feed for a single product or for an entire wishlist. Add it to your favorite aggregator and you will be automatically notified when the price changes. Simply unsubscribe to the feed when you are done...Amazon.com doesn't advertise it, but they have a 30 day price drop policy. If you bought something from them and they lower the price within 30 days, just fill out a form and they'll refund you the difference. See the FAQ for details."

    * Random House and HarperCollins Launch Services for Browsing and Searching Book Pages

  • "Browse and search is a new way of browsing and searching pages from books in a Web browser using a "widget." Thousands of titles are available for browsing and searching and are denoted as such with the "Browse and Search" icon. To get started right away, you can search the Random House catalog for any of the thousands of titles now available in the program." [See also the FAQ page for more details]

  • "Browse Inside is the digital experience of flipping through the pages of a book to get a sense of it. Ultimately, each book in the HarperCollins catalog will have the Browse Inside link. Until then, this page will present noteworthy books as they become available with Browse Inside digital pages for you."

  • Publishers try to stave off Google, Amazon with book search
  • March 02, 2007
    * Upcoming GAO Report Details Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE) Program

  • Washington Post, February 28, 2007: New Profiling Program Raises Privacy Concerns: "The Department of Homeland Security is testing a data-mining program that would attempt to spot terrorists by combing vast amounts of information about average Americans, such as flight and hotel reservations."

  • Christian Science Monitor, February 9, 2006: US plans massive data sweep - Little-known data-collection system could troll news, blogs, even e-mails. Will it go too far?


  • Related government documents:
    House Report 109-699 - Making Appropriations for The Department of Homeland Security for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2007: "The ADVISE program is designed to extract relationships and correlations from large amounts of data to produce actionable intelligence on terrorists. A prototype is currently available to analysts in Intelligence and Analysis using departmental and other data, including some on U.S. citizens. The conferees understand up to $40,000,000 has been obligated for ADVISE. The ADVISE program plan, total costs and privacy impacts are unclear and therefore the conferees direct the Inspector General to conduct a comprehensive program review and report within nine months of enactment of this Act."

    February 28, 2007
    * RIAA Launches New Initiatives Targeting Campus Music Theft

    RIAA press release: "The recording industry today launched a new and strengthened campus anti-piracy initiative that significantly expands the scope and volume of its deterrent efforts while offering a new process that gives students the opportunity to avoid a formal lawsuit by settling prior to a litigation being filed. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), on behalf of the major record companies, today sent 400 pre-litigation settlement letters to 13 different universities. Each letter informs the school of a forthcoming copyright infringement lawsuit against one of its students or personnel. The RIAA will request that universities forward those letters to the appropriate network user. Under this new approach, a student (or other network user) can settle the record company claims against him or her at a discounted rate before a lawsuit is ever filed."

    February 27, 2007
    * Commentary on Our Increasingly Digitized Lives

    Envisioning the Whole Digital Person, by Jonathan Follett, Published February 20, 2007: "Our lives are becoming increasingly digitized—from the ways we communicate, to our entertainment media, to our e-commerce transactions, to our online research. As storage becomes cheaper and data pipes become faster, we are doing more and more online—and in the process, saving a record of our digital lives, whether we like it or not." [via Darlene Fichter]

    February 24, 2007
    * Web Capacity Encounters Limits With Increased Global Demand for Rich Media

    Deloitte Telecommunications Predictions 2007 (TMT Trends 2007) - "This study examines 10 emerging developments sure to make 2007 another eventful year for the telecommunications industry":


    1. "Reaching the limits of cyberspace—growth in video traffic on the "superhighway" means the Internet is approaching gridlock.
    2. The net neutrality debate needs resolution—the Internet, fundamental freedom for all or a tiered, toll-based enterprise?
    3. The broadband appliance unlocks the Internet for everyone—sidestepping the PC via new, small devices will promote future growth in Internet penetration.
    4. Long live mobile video (just forget the television)—moving video content from the phone and onto bigger screens is far more likely to reap profits than trying to squeeze television onto mobile phones.
    5. It’s mobile, but not as we knew it—network operators need to shake things up as mobile moves indoors.
    6. The case for innovation, not imitation, in IPTV—IPTV needs to develop an original offer of television, not be a pale imitation of what currently exists.
    7. The kilobyte is the killer application—bigger is not always better, as kilobyte-sized applications show.
    8. The double-edged sword of triple play—failure to deliver a consistent quality of service across all their bundled offerings could cost operators dearly.
    9. The connectivity chasms deepen—in the expanding digital divide, if you do not have voice, you may not have a voice.
    10. The rising cost of free telecommunications—the "free lunch" in telecommunications may cause indigestion for some."

    February 12, 2007
    * Implications of Service Offshoring for Metropolitan Economies

    The Brookings Institution, The Implications of Service Offshoring for Metropolitan Economies, by Robert Atkinson and Howard Wial, February 2007. [Full Report in PDF]

  • "An examination of service offshoring—the movement of service jobs overseas—forecasts higher than average job losses in twenty-eight U.S. metropolitan areas between 2004 and 2015. Information technology jobs, and the metropolitan areas where they are concentrated, will be hardest hit. To cushion the service offshoring blow, the paper urges federal, state, and local leaders to together pursue policies that boost productivity and innovation, assist workers who are harmed by offshoring, and modernize approaches to economic and workforce development."
  • February 11, 2007
    * Former NASA Engineer Leads Google Book Search Project

    Google's Moon Shot, by JEFFREY TOOBIN - The quest for the universal library. New Yorker, Posted 2007-01-29

  • "Every weekday, a truck pulls up to the Cecil H. Green Library, on the campus of Stanford University, and collects at least a thousand books, which are taken to an undisclosed location and scanned, page by page, into an enormous database being created by Google. The company is also retrieving books from libraries at several other leading universities, including Harvard and Oxford, as well as the New York Public Library. At the University of Michigan, Google’s original partner in Google Book Search, tens of thousands of books are processed each week on the company’s custom-made scanning equipment...The chief engineer of Google’s system for scanning books in the library collections is Dan Clancy, who joined the company after eight years at NASA, where he supervised teams of Ph.D.s. working on problems related to artificial intelligence."

  • Related postings on the Google Library Project
  • February 09, 2007
    * China's Impact on the Semiconductor Industry: 2006 Update

    China's Impact on the Semiconductor Industry: 2006 Update: "PricewaterhouseCoopers began the study series China’s Impact on the Semiconductor Industry in 2004 in response to our clients’ interest in the rapid growth of the semiconductor industry in China. Specifically, clients wanted to find out whether China’s production volumes would contribute to worldwide overcapacity and a subsequent downturn. At the time, multinational integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) were closing down their fabs in North America, and foundries such as Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, Hua Hong NEC, and SMIC were adding capacity. Some multinationals were transferring to joint ventures in China certain equipment and production activities focused on selected products. Many industry participants talked of significant future investments in wafer fabs."

    * Zillow Releases Quarterly Home Value Reports

    Fourth Quarter: October-December 2006: Our statisticians look at zillions of data points each and every day, and are able to spot housing trends based on that information. Read our press release to learn about the trends we saw across the nation in Q4."

    February 08, 2007
    * Election Assistance Commission Prepares to Launch Voting System Test Lab Program

    "The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) today heard testimony during a public meeting about the launch of its accreditation program for laboratories that test voting systems, including discussion about the first two labs that will be considered for accreditation. The Commission also voted to stop accepting applications or additional information related to pending applications to its interim test laboratory accreditation program, effective March 5, 2007, citing the onset of the full accreditation program... After the EAC review, the Commission will vote regarding full accreditation. For more information about the NIST/NVLAP accreditation process and to view related documents, visit www.vote.nist.gov."

  • Related postings on e-voting

  • See also the E-Poll Book Improvement Act of 2007 (Introduced in House), January 31, 2007
  • February 05, 2007
    * Web Search Queries Used to Drive E-Commerce

    WSJ free feature, The New Benefits of Web-Search Queries - Companies Use Research To Develop Products, Trail Consumer Interests: "...companies...are figuring that what users type into search boxes offers insight into what people are actually interested in buying."

    * National Consumer Protection Week: A Time to Read Up and Reach Out

    "The Federal Trade Commission has launched the ninth annual National Consumer Protection Week, February 4-10, 2007, in cooperation with federal, state, and local agencies and national advocacy organizations committed to consumer protection and education. This year’s theme, “Read Up and Reach Out. Be an Informed Consumer,” encourages consumers to arm themselves with knowledge. By gathering information – and sharing it with their friends and families – consumers can become more confident, savvy, and safe in the marketplace."

    * Study on Website Authentication Shows Users Often Disregard Security Measures

    The Emperor's New Security Indicators, An evaluation of website authentication and the effect of role playing on usability studies, working draft released February 4, 2007. Authors: Stuart E. Schechter (MIT), Rachna Dhamija (Harvard), Andy Ozmet (MIT), Ian Fischer (Harvard).

    February 01, 2007
    * Consumer Payment Study - AARP Research Report

    Consumer Payment Study - AARP Research Report, February 1, 2007 (31 pages, PDF): "To what extent do age 25+ individuals with bill-paying responsibility for their households use newer electronic payment methods, such as automatic bill payment and online transactions, as well as more traditional payment methods, such as cash, checks and credit cards? This national survey addresses that question and explores the degree to which use of these newer technologies varies by age."

    January 31, 2007
    * 2007 Consumer Action Handbook

    Federal Citizen Information Center: 2007 Consumer Action Handbook (178 pages, PDF): "This everyday guide to being a smart shopper is chocked full of helpful tips about buying a car or home, preventing identity theft, understanding credit, resolving problems after a purchase, and much more.

  • Consumer Topics: This .pdf includes all of the Consumer Topics (63 pages)

  • Sample Complaint Letter: This .pdf is the sample compaint letter included in the Consumer Action Handbook. It is a quick 1-page download that you can use as a template to write a complaint letter.

  • Consumer Assistance Directory: This 106 page .pdf includes all of the Consumer Assistance Directory contact information including corporate, car manufacturers, state offices, federal agencies, better business bureaus, national consumer organizations, and trade associations.

  • Corporate Consumer Offices: This .pdf includes contact information for all of the corporations listed in the Handbook.(37 pages)

  • Car Manufacturers and Resolution Programs: This .pdf includes contact information for all of the automobile manufacturers listed in the Handbook. (4 pages)

  • State Offices: This .pdf includes contact information for all of the state and local offices listed in the Handbook. (36 pages)

  • Federal Agencies: This .pdf includes contact information for all of the Federal agencies listed in the Handbook. (15 pages)

  • BBBs: This .pdf includes contact information for all of the Better Business Bureaus listed in the Handbook. (5 pages)

  • Consumer Organizations: This .pdf includes contact information for all of the National Consumer Organizations listed in the Handbook. (5 pages)

  • Trade Associations: This .pdf includes contact information for all of the Trade and Professional Associations listed in the Handbook." (6 pages)
  • January 08, 2007
    January 02, 2007
    December 26, 2006
    * Zillow Launches Real Estate Wiki

    Open to registered users, Zillow's Real Estate Wiki "is devoted to all aspects of real estate" and allows "everyone to share their knowledge and experience, whether they are professionals, sellers, buyers, or just plain people who are passionate about real estate."

    * Survey Shows Majority of Online Adults Use E-mail for E-Commerce Transactions

    Press release: A "survey, conducted by Harris Interactive®, found that about three in four online adults (74 percent) view e-mail communications from a company they frequently patronize to be valuable or very valuable. In addition, 30 percent of online adults have purchased a particular good or service as a result of receiving such e-mails, and of these, 85 percent have done so within the past year."

    December 25, 2006
    * Growth in Outsourced Legal Services to Companies in India Reported

    Follow-up to a November 12, 2006 article on LLRX.com, Developments in Legal Outsourcing and Offshoring, Moushumi Anand, Medill News Service, posted this article that highlights the growth in contracts for outsourced legal work undertaken by several companies in India.

    December 19, 2006
    * Topical Blogs Offer Last Minute Shopping Ideas

    WSJ free feature: Blogs for Shoppers, From Fashion to Food, Sites, Track Deals and Offer Ideas For Stumped Gift Givers

  • See also Kathy Biehl's After Hours columns on LLRX.com, which include her 2006 Holiday Gift Guide
  • December 13, 2006
    * Internet Users Increasingly Turn to Online House Hunting

    Pew Internet & American Life Project: "For Americans on the move, the Internet is becoming an increasingly important resource for researching housing options. The number of online house hunters has increased by two thirds since March 2000. On average, more than three million Internet users are online on any given day searching for a new place to live."

  • Looking for Information About a Place to Live, December 13, 2006
  • * Gartner Releases 10 IT Predictions for 2007 and Beyond

    Press release: Among the predicitions, is the following - "Blogging and community contributors will peak in the first half of 2007. Given the trend in the average life span of a blogger and the current growth rate of blogs, there are already more than 200 million ex-bloggers. Consequently, the peak number of bloggers will be around 100 million at some point in the first half of 2007."

    December 01, 2006
    * Special Report on Books From Forbes

    The 12-1-2006 issue of Forbes includes a Special Report, simply titled, Books. The report includes a series of articles on endurance of books, and the role technology has and will play, in their evolving future role.

  • Custom-Built Libraries, By Brandy Slagle

  • Publish And Perish, By Elisabeth Eaves. "Books crumble. Discs degrade. Is the age-old quest to preserve human knowledge just a pipedream?"

  • How The Internet Saved Literacy, By Maureen Farrell. "Reading skills are not eroding; they are just becoming more social--and more closely tied to writing."

  • The Secret Life Of An Online Book Reviewer, By Helen Coster. "Donald Mitchell has written 2,923 book reviews for Amazon.com--and made $20,000 doing it."

  • We Stole This Headline, By R. M. Schneiderman. "Universities are increasingly employing software to nab plagiarists. When will the media and publishing houses catch up?"

  • 2008's Hottest Book?, By David A. Andelman. "HarperCollins is betting big on an American author writing in French about a Gestapo agent."

  • My Author, My Life, By Hannah Clark. "How far will Robert Jordan's fans go to keep their favorite write alive?"

  • Video: The Future Of Publishing. "Why the web has been a boon for the literary world."
  • November 30, 2006
    * 2007 Digital Future Report

    "The Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School has been tracking a representative sample of the American population for over six years watching as people move on-line and then move from modems to broadband."

  • Highlights of the 2007 Digital Future Report

  • "This year's report contains a large module looking at on-line communities and social networking in great detail. Readers can compare the social networking data and correlate it to six years of attitudes and behaviors on-line. As usual, the report continues to track off-line media use, purchasing both off-line and through e-commerce, social and political activity and a wealth of other data." [The report is available for purchase here.]
  • November 27, 2006
    November 23, 2006
    * E-Gov Sites Offer Suggestions for Holiday Shopping

    E-government websites offer useful holiday shopping advice to consumers via the following:

  • FTC Consumer Alert - Holiday Shopping? How To Be On Guard When You’re Online

  • and Consumer Action Buying tips: "Before you head out to the mall or shop online for that perfect present, take a few moments to read these tips to help you have a less stressful holiday season.
    -- Decide in advance exactly what you want and what you can
    afford.
    -- Read sale ads carefully. Some may say "quantities
    limited," "no rain checks," or "not available at all
    stores."
    -- Don't buy on impulse or under pressure. This includes
    donating to charity. Do your research.
    -- Get a written copy of guarantees and warranties.
    -- Get the seller's refund, return and cancellation
    policies."
  • * Presentations Available from FTC Public Hearings on Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-ade

    Federal Trade Commission Public Hearings on Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-ade, November 6 - 8, 2006.

  • Links to presentations (in formats that include html, PDF, and video), on the following topics: Key Changes Predicted in the Next Tech-ade; The Changing Internet; How Will We Communicate in the Next Tech-ade?; Social Networking - Trends and Implications for the Futur; User-generated Content - What Does it Mean for Consumers and Marketers?; Benefits to Consumers of Living in an Instant Information Culture; Marketing and Advertising in the Next Tech-ade; Computing Power and How it Will be Used in the Marketplace of the Next Tech-ade; RFID Technology in the Next Tech-ade; Convergence and What it Means for the Coming Tech-ade; Changes in Payment Devices and Systems; New Products - New Challenges; Communicating with Consumers in the Next Tech-ade - The Impact of Demographics and Shifting Consumer Attitudes; How to Make Sense of it All - Consumers' Perspective
  • * Commentary on the Advertising Power of YouTube

    From Wired Magazine: "TV advertising is broken, putting $67 billion up for grabs. Which explains why google spent a billion and change on an online video startup."

    November 02, 2006
    * YouTube Faces Rapidly Escalating Copyright Challenges

  • Wall Street Journal free feature: YouTube Finds Signing Rights Deals Complex, Frustrating

  • Financial Times: Google in bid to halt YouTube legal threat


  • Related news: eWeek.com Google Watch blog: "Universal Tube and Rollform Equipment Corporation, an industrial manufacturing and sales firm, filed suit this week against YouTube in Ohio federal district court, arguing they've incurred dramatic Web support costs and lost business because surfers looking for YouTube (youtube.com) accidentally visit Universal Tube's site (utube.com) instead."

    November 01, 2006
    * Complaint Filed With FTC Calling for Investigation of Online Consumer Tracking and Data Collection Practices

    Press release, November 1, 2006: "The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG), two of the leading public-interest advocacy groups working on behalf of a more diverse and competitive online environment, filed a complaint today with the Federal Trade Commission, calling on the commission to undertake an immediate, formal investigation of online advertising practices. As the groups make clear in their 50-page filing (PDF), the data collection and interactive marketing system that is shaping the entire U.S. electronic marketplace is being built to aggressively track Internet users wherever they go, creating data profiles used in ever-more sophisticated and personalized "one-to-one" targeting schemes."

    October 30, 2006
    * National Community Reinvestment Coalition Files FTC Complaint Against Zillow.com

    October 26, 2006 press release: - "Today, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) filed a consumer protection complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging Internet financial services and real estate provider Zillow.com is misleading consumers, real estate professionals and financial service providers in on-line home valuations."

  • Zillow's response to the complaint, posted on the Zillow Blog, October 27, 2006, including in part as follows: "We try really hard to be approachable and open about what we're doing, and take all feedback seriously. So we were surprised (and disappointed) that the group that sent the letter, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, did not contact us first, and instead sent it directly to the press at the same time it was sent to the FTC. Zillow is about empowering consumers with information and tools which they have not had access to before. Our Zestimates are designed as a starting point..."
  • October 13, 2006
    * Federal Prosecution of Human Trafficking, 2001-2005

    Federal Prosecution of Human Trafficking, 2001-2005, 10/06. "Presents Federal criminal case processing statistics on peonage and slavery statutes in the U.S. criminal code with a focus on human trafficking offenses created by Congress in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. NCJ 215248"

  • Acrobat file | ASCII file| Spreadsheets (zip format 3K)
  • October 12, 2006
    * CMO Council Survey on ID Theft Tracks Growing Consumer Concern

    Press release, October 4, 2006: "As information security concerns among consumers and other customer constituencies rise, just 29 percent of marketers say that their firm has a crisis containment plan in case of a security breach, according to findings of a major research initiative by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council. Without such a plan and other security strategies in place, companies are at risk of losing hundreds of million of dollars in market value and loss of reputation and brand trust, according to the study's findings."

  • The CMO Council's full report is available for purchase, and an 18 page PDF version as follows: Secure the Trust of Your Brand - Assessing the Mindset of Consumers, 2006.
  • October 05, 2006
    * Telephone Record Seller Settles FTC Charges

    Press release: "An Internet business that advertised and sold consumers' phone records and records of credit card accounts to third parties has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated federal law. The settlement bars the defendants from obtaining or selling consumers' confidential phone and credit account records unless authorized by law or court order’ and requires that they give up the money they made selling phone records in the past."

  • Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Integrity Security & Investigation Services, Inc., Edmund L. Edmister, Tracey Edmister, and F. Lynn Moseley, Defendants; United States District Court Eastern District of Virginia Newport News Division
  • September 12, 2006
    * Large Companies Collecting More Personal Information

    Press release, September 11, 2006: "The Customer Respect Group, an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their online customers, today released findings from its Annual Review of the Largest 100 US Companies... as defined by Fortune Magazine in April 2006. The average rating for the companies was 5.7 on a 10-point scale, in line with the average rating assessed across all website evaluations in 2006. In 2005, the largest 100 companies slightly exceeded the overall average rating...The largest 100 US companies appear to be gathering more personally identifiable information. The use of that information is also changing. Fewer companies are sharing personal data with outside organizations, but more than half continue to send unsolicited marketing emails to those that supply personal information for other reasons." A list of top scoring companies is included in this release, and access to the full Scorecard of the Largest 100 US Companies requires registration.

    September 08, 2006
    * Proposed Framework For Evaluating Digital Rights Management

    CDT press release: "Evaluating DRM: Building a Marketplace for the Convergent World" tackles the complicated subject of copyright protection technology, offering a clear set of metrics for consumers and product reviewers to consider when evaluating DRM-protected devices and services. The goal of the paper is to educate users about what questions to ask to determine how various DRM applications may affect their ability to use movies, music, games and other media."

  • DRM Metrics Quick Reference Chart

  • Evaluating DRM: Building a Marketplace for the Convergent World, September 2006 (25 pages, PDF)
  • August 28, 2006
    * Comparison and Evaluation of 10 Major Internet Bookshops

    Hirwade, Mangala and Hirwade, Anil and Bherwani, Mohini (2006) Evaluative study of major Internet bookshops. ILA Bulletin XLII(1):pp. 32-43.

  • "Internet Bookshops are the online bookshops that allow the user to search the items of his interest, navigate, make a query, communicate, place an order, bargain and negotiate. At its simplest the Internet Bookshop or online bookshop list the products for sale or the services offered and invite the customer to phone, fax or e-mail their order. The present paper evaluates major ten Internet bookshops by using the evaluation criteria like Authority, variety of collection, help menu, shopping procedures, payment acceptance, special facilities for online purchase, user search support, product details, navigation facilities and discounts on the products. A 100 marks scoring system has been adopted to assign the scores to each Internet bookshop under study. Based on the marks obtained these bookshops are graded into five categories viz. Excellent, Very Good, Good, Average and Poor. Amazon.com, USA and Amazom, UK fall uder excellent category while the Internet bookshops from India viz D.K.Agencies and Khemraj fall under good and average category respectively."

  • August 24, 2006
    * Google Book Search Contract to Digitize UC Collection Released

    The Chronicle of Higher Education obtained a copy of the 13 page agreement between Google, Inc. and the Regents of the University of California that details the scope of the digitization project, as well as copyright and ownership issues.

  • Related postings on the Google Book Search Project
  • August 22, 2006
    * Point - Counterpoint on Google Book Search Project

  • Washington Post Op-ed today: The Books Google Could Open, by Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges.

  • eWeek.com: Publishers Fight Back Against Google with New Book Search Service: "Publisher HarperCollins and Austin, Texas-based LibreDigital announced today a hosted service called LibreDigital Warehouse that will give publishers and booksellers the ability to deliver searchable book content on their own Web sites." See also the August 3, 2006 HarperCollins press release: "HarperCollins Publishers is proud to announce a series of digital initiatives, including the beta launch of "Browse Inside," a new application allowing consumers to sample pages of HarperCollins titles online. The implementation of expanded digital technologies signals the latest development in the HarperCollins global digital warehouse initiative and emphasizes the company's commitment to reach consumers on the Web by providing robust content in a wide variety of digital formats."
  • August 21, 2006
    * FTC Chairman Addresses Issue of “Net Neutrality”

    Press release: "Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras today told a meeting of the Progress & Freedom Foundation that she has formed an Internet Access Task Force to examine issues being raised by converging technologies and regulatory developments, and to educate and inform the enforcement, advocacy and education initiatives of the Commission. "I also have asked the Internet Access Task Force to address what is likely the most hotly debated issue in communications, so-called ‘network neutrality,’" she said."

  • The Federal Trade Commission in the Online World: Promoting Competition and Protecting Consumers (21 pages, PDF)-- Deborah Platt Majoras, Remarks to The Progress & Freedom Foundation’s Aspen Summit, August 21, 2006
  • * AOL CTO Resigns Amid Continuing Fallout from Data Breach

    Repercussions continue from AOL release of user data -- from News.com: Three workers depart AOL after privacy uproar and commentary by Anita Ramastry, Privacy and Search Engine Data: A Recent AOL Research Project Has Perilous Consequences for Subscribers.

    August 09, 2006
    * New Report Tracks the Origin and Path of Unwanted Internet Ads

    Press release: "More than half of the pop-up ads served by nuisance "adware" programs are placed knowingly by advertisers, according to a study released today by the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT)."

  • Following the Money II: The Role of Intermediaries in Adware Advertising (28 pages, PDF)

  • July 26, 2006
    * GAO: Key Federal Privacy Laws Do Not Require Information Resellers to Safeguard All Sensitive Data

    Personal Information: Key Federal Privacy Laws Do Not Require Information Resellers to Safeguard All Sensitive Data, Full text GAO-06-674, and Highlights, June 26, 2006.

  • "The growth of information resellers--companies that collect and resell publicly available and private information on individuals--has raised privacy and security concerns about this industry. These companies collectively maintain large amounts of detailed personal information on nearly all American consumers, and some have experienced security breaches...GAO found that the applicability of the primary federal privacy and data security laws--the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)--to information resellers is limited."
  • July 24, 2006
    * Improving Criminal History Records for Background Checks, 2005

    Bureau of Justice Statistics - Improving Criminal History Records for Background Checks, 2005: "Describes the achievements of the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP), its authorizing legislation, and program history. This program report summarizes NCHIP-funded criminal record improvement efforts, including improved accessibility of records, full participation in the Interstate Identification Index, the automation of records and fingerprint data, and improvements in the National Instant Criminal Background Check, National Sex Offender Registry, and domestic violence and protection order systems. The report provides examples of projects aimed at enhancing the involvement of the courts and system integration in improving disposition reporting. The report also discusses the Bureau of Justice Statistics' efforts to improve performance measurement including the development and use of a Records Quality Index." [July 6, 2006]

    July 20, 2006
    * Amnesty International Releases Report on Search Engine Censorship in China

    Press release: "Amnesty International (AI) today released a new report, "Undermining Freedom of Expression in China," (32 pages, PDF) exposing how Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google have violated their stated corporate values and policies in pursuit of the potentially lucrative Chinese market. In sync with the report release, the organization unveiled irrepressible.info, a new campaign for free speech online that continues Amnesty International's work combating Internet censorship."

    July 11, 2006
    * House Passes Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act

    Today the House passed HR 4411, the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act. The bill passed by roll call vote #363, 317 yeas to 93 nays.


  • See also:
  • House Approves Boucher-Goodlatte Legislation to Combat Illegal Gambling (July 11, 2006)

  • House votes yes on Net-gambling crackdown

  • July 10, 2006
    June 29, 2006
    * Google Launches Online Secure Purchase Service

    Press release: "Google Inc. today announced the launch of Google Checkout, a checkout process that makes online shopping faster, more convenient and more secure for Google users. Google Checkout offers an easy and trusted checkout option that enables shoppers to purchase from participating stores with a single Google login." More information on this Official Google Blog posting.

    June 28, 2006
    * Senate Defeats Net Neutrality

    In an 11-11 vote today, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation defeated the Communications, Consumers' Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006 (otherwise known as Net Neutrality).

  • Senate Panel Narrowly Rejects Net Neutrality - Broadband equality proposal may be dead for this congressional year.

  • Related postings on net neutrality
  • June 20, 2006
    * Industry Leaders Call For Federal Privacy Legislation

    The Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum (whose members include Google, Microsoft, Oracle, EBay Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Symantec Corp.) issued a statement supporting "a serious process to consider comprehensive harmonized federal privacy legislation to create a simplified, uniform but flexible legal framework."

  • Google Official Blog: "On an Internet beset with spyware, malware, phishing, identity-theft, and other privacy threats, enforcement of privacy protections has become an industry-wide challenge, and highlights the lack of a coherent regulatory structure. Google strongly supports the adoption of a federal consumer privacy law. It would be good for our users, and would contribute to consumer trust on the Internet as a platform for communication, expression, e-commerce, and so forth."
  • * The Battle for Search Engine Dominance Continues

    The un-Google, June 15, 2006, from The Economist print edition (free online, if you view an advert first): "Google dominates the lucrative market for web-search, but its rivals [Microsoft, Ask, Yahoo] are setting out to change that."

  • Most Microsoft Workers Search With Google - Do employees at Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google use their own search engines? Apparently, some do and some don't.
  • June 16, 2006
    * Online Banking 2006: Surfing to the Bank

    Pew Internet, Online Banking 2006: "Online banking is holding steady as a mainstream internet activity, growing along with internet use generally, though not accelerating as have some other forms of online activities. Fully 43% of internet users, or about 63 million American adults, bank online."

  • Online Banking 2006: Surfing to the Bank (3 pages, PDF)
  • June 14, 2006
    * Hearing on Broadband Internet Access, Competition and Consumer Protection

    Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Reconsidering Our Communications Laws: Ensuring Competition and Innovation, June 14, 2006.

  • Links to member statements and testimony [HTML]

  • FTC press release on testimony: "The Federal Trade Commission today told the Senate Judiciary Committee that as the Committee considers legislation to amend the Communications Act, it should preserve the FTC's existing authority to protect consumers and maintain competition in the broadband services industry."
  • * Consumer Efforts to Ward Off Span and Spyware Still Fall Short

    WSJ free feature: Seeking a Safer Internet - New Tools Flag Sites With Spyware, Spam - But the Technology Is Far From Perfect

    June 09, 2006
    * Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus 2006 Watch List

    Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus 2006 Watch List: "...the Caucus announced they will focus on China and Russia as high priority countries, due to the scope and depth of their piracy problems. The Caucus will also closely monitor the serious problems of copyright piracy in the following countries: Mexico, Canada, India and Malaysia."

    June 08, 2006
    * Internet Caucus Advisory Committee Hosts Discussion and Posts Issue Papers on Net Neutrality

    June 8, 2006: "The Internet Caucus Advisory Committee (ICAC) hosted a discussion focusing on the legislative proposals percolating in Congress on so-called Network Neutrality. No fewer than six House and Senate bills are circulating in Congress that in some way address this amorphous policy question." [Link]

  • "...the ICAC has requested of all its 200 member organizations one pager issue briefs on the topic of Legislating Network Neutrality – Necessary? The position papers herein reflect only the perspective of the organization that submitted it."

  • Google founder lobbies for net neutrality
  • May 20, 2006
    * Offshoring of Web Content Maintenance and Support Increasingly Common

    BusinessWeek.com: Life On The Web's Factory Floor - Who do you think turns all those words into an easy click?

  • "Behind the seemingly magical offerings of the Internet are thousands of human beings madly inputting data around the clock...The number of third-party, offshore companies that will perform contract work has more than doubled since 2002, according to Wharton's Aron. With Internet connectivity pushing farther into rural areas of China and India, the cost of such work will fall even lower."
  • May 19, 2006
    * Pros and Cons On Net Neutrality Legislation

  • 5/18/2006 - Press release: Sensenbrenner, Conyers Introduce Bipartisan Net Neutrality Legislation [H.R. 5417: Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006]


  • Related documents and links:
  • The Economics of Net Neutrality, Robert W. Hahn, Scott Wallsten. Related Publication 06-13. Apr 2006. "This essay examines the economics of 'net neutrality' and broadband Internet access. We argue that mandating net neutrality would be likely to reduce economic welfare. Instead, the government should focus on creating competition in the broadband market by liberalizing more spectrum and reducing entry barriers created by certain local regulations. In cases where a broadband provider can exercise market power the government should use its antitrust enforcement authority to police anticompetitive behavior."

  • Related postings on net neutrality

  • May 17, 2006
    * Call for Regs to Limit Sale of Social Security Data On Net

    Social Security Numbers: Internet Resellers Provide Few Full SSNs, but Congress Should Consider Enacting Standards for Truncating SSNs, Full-text report GAO-06-495, and Highlights, May 17, 2006.

  • "According to experts we spoke to, there are few federal laws and no specific industry standards on whether to display the first five or last four digits of the SSN, and SSA officials told us the agency does not have the authority to regulate how other public or private entities use SSNs, including how they are truncated. We could not determine if federal privacy laws were applicable to the Internet resellers because such laws depend on the type of entity and the source of information, and most of the resellers' Web sites did not include this information. However, these laws could apply to resellers; 4 of the resellers we examined had Web sites identifying the type of entity they were. About one-half of the resellers cited adherence to one or more federal privacy laws and a few referenced state laws."
  • May 15, 2006
    * Comparison of Major Search Engines Ranks Their Safety

    The Safety of Internet Search Engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Ask), May 12, 2006, by Ben Edelman and Hannah Rosenbaum.

  • "Abstract: We compare safety of leading search engines, using SiteAdvisor's automated Web site ratings. We find most leading search engines similar in the safety of the sites they link to, though MSN is the safest and Ask lags noticeably behind. Across search engines, we find sponsored results significantly less safe than search engines' organic results."


  • May 01, 2006
    * Factors That Contribute to Successful Banking Websites

    The Three Factors for a Successful Online Banking Site

    * Net Neutrality Proposal Defeated by House

  • Toll Lane Ahead for Internet Traffic?

  • Tech Giants' Internet Battles: "Web titans like Google and Yahoo! are battling some of the smartest lobbyists in the business. And they've just lost a big one on Capitol Hill."

  • Related postings on net neutrality
  • April 21, 2006
    * NY County First in Nation to Require Business Wireless Security

    ComputerWorld reports that Westchester County in New York is the first county in the nation to require all businesses with wireless networks that collect consumer related data to use "minimun security measures."

    April 17, 2006
    * Image Based Searching Using Cell Phone Photos

    From Microsoft Research, Photo2Search: Explore the Real World via Camera Phone

  • "Seeking information about something seen, a user takes a photo of the object and sends the photo, via e-mail or Multimedia Messaging Service, to a Web-based server, which searches an image database for matches. The server then delivers database information—whether it be a Web page featuring the object in the photo or information associated with the object—to the user, who can act on the information received: read a menu, enter a gallery, book a hotel room, make a purchase."

  • Menglei Jia, Xin Fan, Xing Xie, Mingjing Li, Wei-Ying Ma, Photo-to-Search: Using Camera Phones to Inquire of the Surrounding World, demo, The 7th International Conference on Mobile Data Management (MDM'06), Nara, Japan, May, 2006 (text not yet available).
  • April 09, 2006
    * House Cmte. Issued Subpoenas to Companies Selling Cell Phone Records

    As noted in a series of previous postings on the sale of cell phone records and associated privacy issues, it was reported on April 7, 2006 that the House Engery and Commerce Committee's demand for the business records of companies engaged in this commerce has not yielded reponses. Therefore, the committee issued subpoenas to 12 of the targeted companies, including those that manage the following sites: Anderson-pi.com, phonebust.com,reliatrace.com and reliablelitigation.com, efindoutthetruth.com, advsearch.com, csiofamerica.com, abika.com, sherlockinvestigations.com, datafind.org, locatecell.com, celltolls.com, and peoplesearchamerica.com sites, usaskiptrace.com, and telcosecrets.com.

    April 04, 2006
    * Data Brokers Supplying Gov't Don't Consistently Protect Privacy of Citizen Info

    Personal Information: Agencies and Resellers Vary in Providing Privacy Protections, Full-text GAO-06-609T, April 4, 2006. Highlights.

  • "In fiscal year 2005, the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State and the Social Security Administration reported that they used personal information obtained from resellers for a variety of purposes, including performing criminal investigations, locating witnesses and fugitives, researching assets held by individuals of interest, and detecting prescription drug fraud. The agencies spent approximately $30 million on contractual arrangements with resellers that enabled the acquisition and use of such information...The major information resellers that do business with the federal agencies GAO reviewed have practices in place to protect privacy, but these measures are not fully consistent with the Fair Information Practices.


  • Personal Information: Agency and Reseller Adherence to Key Privacy Principles, Full-text GAO-06-421, April 4, 2006. Highlights.
  • "...resellers generally limit the extent to which individuals can gain access to personal information held about themselves, as well as the extent to which inaccurate information contained in their databases can be corrected or deleted. Agency practices for handling personal information acquired from information resellers did not always fully reflect the Fair Information Practices. That is, some of these principles were mirrored in agency practices, but for others, agency practices were uneven. For example, although agencies issued public notices on information collections, these did not always notify the public that information resellers were among the sources to be used."
  • March 29, 2006
    * Data Accountability and Trust Act Unanimously Approved by House Cmte.

    Press release: "The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved new data security laws Wednesday that will ensure consumers' personal information is closely guarded and consumers are notified when they are at risk...The bill places new requirements on specific companies that specialize in collecting personal data. These "data brokers" will be required to implement effective security safeguards. If there is a reasonable risk of identity theft to the individual to whom the personal information relates, fraud or other unlawful conduct, these data brokers must notify consumers. Additionally, data brokers will be prohibited from falsely representing themselves to obtain personal data...H.R. 4127, the Data Accountability and Trust Act, passed 41-0. The bill "sends a clear message: 'If you can't protect it, don't collect it,'" said U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., the committee's ranking member."

  • Related postings on data breaches
  • * BBB Offers Toolkit to Help Manage Privacy and Security

    "The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has partnered with nationally-recognized security and privacy experts to create a new toolkit to help small business owners manage security and privacy challenges. We call it Security & Privacy - Made Simpler (TM). The objective is to demystify the complexities of data security and give small businesses a non-technical roadmap to securing their customer data, and their employees' data, too."

  • Download Security & Privacy - Made Simpler
  • March 28, 2006
    * UK Study Notes Increased Use of Net By Women for E-Commerce

    A new study (4 pages, PDF) by the European Interactive Advertising Association indicates that although men continue to spend more time on the Internet than women, the gap is rapidly closing.

    March 26, 2006
    March 24, 2006
    * FEC Issues Draft Final Rules on Use of Internet In Connection with Federal Elections

    Following up on several related postings on bloggers and campaign speech, today the FEC issued a 96 page document (PDF) promulgating its final rules that impact the publication of campaign related information. Declan McCullagh has more details and commentary.

  • March 22, 2006 - The Commission Has Published Interim Final Rules on Definitions of Federal Election Activity in Today's Federal Register

  • March 23, 2006
    * Report Finds Significant Restrictions to Formulary Drug Access for Seniors

    Press release: "Rep. Waxman releases a new report finding that 97% of plans restrict access to important drugs on their formularies through the use of prior authorization, step-therapy, and quantity limits. A telephone survey of the plans finds that they fail to adequately inform seniors of these restrictions, often providing information that is conflicting or erroneous."

  • Case Studies: The Impact of Restrictions on Seniors

  • Report: Restrictions on Access to Formulary Drugs
  • March 22, 2006
    * CDT Report Identifies Large Corporate Adware Funders

    Press release: "Large well-respected companies are helping to fund the virulent spread of unwanted and potentially harmful "adware" by paying for advertisements generated by those programs, a new report by CDT finds. In "Following the Money: How Advertising Dollars Encourage Nuisance and Harmful Adware and What Can be Done to Reverse the Trend," (10 pages, PDF) CDT details how -- through a complicated network of intermediaries -- major advertisers pay to have their products and services advertised though pop-ups and other ads generated by unwanted advertising software or "adware." The report dissects the financial relationships behind those arrangements and identifies a number of mainstream companies that advertise through one particularly unscrupulous adware distributor."

    March 17, 2006
    * Google Claims Victory in Fight With DOJ Over Search Records

    From the Official Google Blog: Judge tells DoJ "No" on search queries, Posted by Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel: "Google will not have to hand over any user's search queries to the government. That's what a federal judge ruled today when he decided to drastically limit a subpoena issued to Google by the Department of Justice. [Today's ruling, 21 pages (PDF) and the government's original subpoena.)

  • Related postings on DOJ's legal efforts to obtain specific Google database search records
  • * Copyright Case Against Google Dismissed

    WSJ free feature - Google Wins Copyright Battle; Archiving Issue Is Still Unclear: "A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Google Inc. of wrongful conduct, including copyright infringement and defamation, providing the latest court opinion to weigh in on the contentious area of search engines and copyright."

    March 09, 2006
    * Most Website Search Engines Fail Users

    March 1, 2006, It's Time To Update Site Search Functionality, by Iris Cremers with Jaap Favier, Kerry Bodine

  • Summary: "Forrester reviewed 179 Web sites with its updated Web Site Review methodology. One of the criteria looks at the site's search engine and search interface — and more than half of the sites we reviewed failed. As online consumers are accustomed to using effective search engines like Google in their daily lives and are more likely to search an unfamiliar site than browse it, site owners have to make an effort to live up to their customers' search engine expectations."
  • March 03, 2006
    * Some State Online UCC Filings Include Social Security Numbers

    Press release: "Attorney General Jim Petro said today he believes Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has a legal duty to take immediate steps to protect the privacy of citizens whose Social Security numbers have been made public on routine business forms posted on his office’s Web site....The confidentiality of citizens’ Social Security numbers is guarded as well under many public offices’ individual policies, including the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office, which redacts the numbers from forms they display or provide to the public, Petro said."

  • Link to Attorney General Opinion 2005-047

  • Link to Kentucky Secretary of State Business Services Web Page

  • Link to Ohio Supreme Court decision

  • USATODAY.com: "It is common for the websites of the USA's secretaries of state to contain personal information, including Social Security numbers (SSNs) and home addresses, in business statements. Besides Ohio, the data is available in New York, Florida and at least seven other states, say privacy experts who provided USA TODAY with links to public websites."
  • * Lawsuit Against Craigslist Alleges Discriminatory Housing Ads

    Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. v. Craigslist, Inc. Case 1:06-cv-00657, Filed 02/03/2006, 20 pages, PDF.

  • The Fair Housing Act
  • March 02, 2006
    * Internet Non-Discrimination Act of 2006 Introduced Today

    Press release: "U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today unveiled ground-breaking new legislation that would ensure "net neutrality," or equal delivery of content on the internet, for consumers and business interests. Under Wyden's bill, the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006, network operators would be prohibited from charging companies for faster delivery of their content to consumers over the internet or favoring certain content over others."

    Related news and postings on net neutrality:

  • Consumer Federation of America, Survey: Consumers Want Congress to Protect Right to Access Information, Services on Internet, 01/18/06

  • Technology Review: The Net Effect of Neutrality - Web surfing has been, from its beginning, an open digital road. However, Congress may soon build roadblocks to some content, February 10, 2006.

  • Common Cause Factsheet on Net Neutrality

  • Tech Groups: Keep Net Neutrality, March 2, 2006

  • Related postings on net neutrality

  • * Increased Penalties for Sale of Cell Phone Records Passed by House and Senate Cmtes.

    H.R. 4709: Law Enforcement and Phone Privacy Protection Act of 2006, and S. 2178: Consumer Telephone Records Protection Act of 2006, both passed committee by voice vote.

  • Related postings on sale of cell phone records
  • February 27, 2006
    * Phishing, Pharming, Key Logging, DDOS Attacks Require Net Users to Remain Vigilant

    New York Times: Cyberthieves Silently Copy Your Passwords as You Type

  • USA Today, Increasing Web attacks disrupt commerce

  • Related postings on cybercrime
  • February 26, 2006
    * Open Access To Internet Subject of Growing Debate

    Following up on one, two, three recent posting related to increasing focus on issues related to net neutrality, open access, and e-commerce, see an article today from AP: Future of the Internet Highway Debated. It includes a discussion of the commercial, technical and socio-political issues associated with Internet traffic management (packet prioritization - ) the ability to specify different priority levels for different applications).

    February 21, 2006
    * Advocacy Group Targets Attorneys in Controversy Over Purchase of Cell Phone Records

    EPIC: "In a letter sent to state ethical and professional responsibility boards, EPIC warned that there is mounting evidence that attorneys are major purchases of "pretexting" services. Pretexting is the practice of using false pretenses to trick a company into releasing personal information. EPIC urged state boards to evaluate pretexting under ethics rules, and to issue opinions to attorneys advising them not to pretext or hire investigators who use pretexting to obtain information."

    Related references:

  • National Law Journal: Who surfs for cell records? Lawyers

  • Postings on sale of cell phone records; includes recent congressional response and actions.

  • February 17, 2006
    * Google Responds to DOJ 's Motion to Comply With Data Demand

    Following up on a controversial demand made by DOJ to major search engine companies for extensive database records, Google this afternoon posted the following response on their official blog: "In August, Google was served with a subpoena from the U. S. Department of Justice demanding disclosure of two full months' worth of search queries that Google received from its users, as well as all the URLs in Google's index. We objected to the subpoena, which started a set of legal procedures that puts the issue before the Federal courts. Below is the introduction to our response to the Department of Justice's motion to the court to force us to comply with the subpoena. You can find the entire response here. (This is a 25-page PDF file.)"

  • ACLU Urges Court to Reject Governments Bid for Google Records
  • ACLU's legal papers opposing the government's demand for Google's records


  • Related links to a chronology of events pertaining to this issue:
  • Google Fights DOJ Order to Produce Records of Database Searches

  • MSN Blog Post Explains Search Data Provided to DOJ

  • New Bill Requires Websites to Destroy User Data That Compromises Privacy

  • Commentary on Government Search Engine Data Collection Highlights Privacy Issues

  • Google Resists Complying With DOJ Demand For Data to Shield Trade Secrets?

  • February 15, 2006
    * Blogging, Business Models and E-Commerce

    Blogs to Riches - The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom, by Clive Thomson, New York Magazine.

    Related references, all from the 2/20/2006 issue of New York Magazine:

  • Linkology - How the Most-Linked-To Blogs Relate (see also this related graph, which is in PDF)

  • A Timeline of the History of Blogging

  • Five Blogs to Check Out

  • February 14, 2006
    * USTR to Strengthen Enforcement in Readjustment of U.S.-China Trade Policy

    Press release: "Today, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman unveiled the results of a top-to-bottom review of U.S.-China Trade Policy at a news conference. The report, U.S. - China Trade Relations: Entering a New Phase of Greater Accountability and Enforcement (29 pages, PDF), is the first comprehensive statement of U.S. trade policy towards China since it joined the WTO in 2001. The report was provided to Congress this morning with a cover letter (2 pages, PDF) from Ambassador Portman to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees. In this letter, he outlined his objective of closer collaboration with Congress on U.S.-China trade policy."

    Related documents:

  • U.S. Trade Deficit Exceeds $725 Billion

  • Economic Report of the President, 2006 Now Available
  • * Case Study of CD Disk Protection System That Triggered Class Action Suit

    Lessons from the Sony CD DRM Episode, February 14, 2006 (27 pages, PDF), by J. Alex Halderman and Edward W. Felton.

    February 13, 2006
    * Senator Pushes For Investigations into Sale of Cell Phone Records

    Press release, February 10, 2006: "U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today renewed his call to stop the sale and fraudulent use of private telephone records. In letters sent today [text of which are included in this release], Durbin requested a hearing from the Senate Judiciary Committee, and investigations from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Department of Justice.

  • Related postings on sale of cell phone records
  • * Yahoo Issues Statement on Chinese Net Censorship

    Following-up on recent postings, Net Censorship Abroad - Free Speech Colides With E-commerce? and Hearing Focuses on Internet Censorship in China, see today's press release: "Yahoo!: Our Beliefs as a Global Internet Company - As a leading provider of Internet-based services, Yahoo! is committed to open access to information and communication on a global basis. We believe information is power. Citizens across the globe are benefiting greatly from increased access to communications, commerce and independent sources of information. The Internet has helped transform the way business is done, advanced consumer cultures, increased competition, allowed entrepreneurship to flourish, and provided citizens with more freedom in how they live, work, exchange ideas and make choices. Doing business in certain countries presents U.S. companies with challenging and complex questions. We are deeply concerned by efforts of governments to restrict and control open access to information and communication. We also firmly believe the continued presence and engagement of companies like Yahoo! is a powerful force in promoting openness and reform. Private industry alone cannot effectively influence foreign government policies on issues like the free exchange of ideas, maximum access to information, and human rights reform, and we believe continued government-to-government dialogue is vital to achieve progress on these complex political issues..."

    February 11, 2006
    * Net Censorship Abroad - Free Speech Colides With E-commerce?

    Follow-up to February 2, 2006 posting, Hearing Focuses on Internet Censorship in China, this WSJ free feature today: Internet Censorship - Web Firms Face Grilling on China.

    Related news:

  • New York Times, So Long, Dalai Lama: Google Adapts to China - "Google's local staff works closely with Chinese officials to ensure that search results from Google.cn do not include information, images or links to Web sites that the government does not want its people to see."

  • Reuters: Fresh US outrage ahead of China Internet hearings - "U.S. Internet companies faced bipartisan criticism in the Congress on Thursday amid a rising controversy over Yahoo Inc.'s alleged role in the Chinese government's imprisonment of a second dissident."

  • February 10, 2006
    * FCC Proposes Rulemaking to Prevent Sale of Cell Phone Records

    Press release: "The Federal Communications Commission today launched a proceeding to examine whether additional security measures could prevent the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive customer information held by telecommunications companies. In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) adopted today, the Commission seeks comment on a variety of issues related to customer privacy, including what security measures carriers currently have in place, what inadequacies exist in those measures, and what kind of security measures may be warranted to better protect consumers’ privacy. The Notice grants a petition for rulemaking filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) expressing concerns about whether carriers are adequately protecting customer call records and other customer proprietary network information, or CPNI. EPIC claims that some data brokers have taken advantage of inadequate security standards to gain access to the information under false pretenses, such as by posing as the customer, and then offering the records for sale on the Internet. The practice is known as pretexting."

  • Related postings on privacy issues related to cell phone records
  • February 08, 2006
    * Markey Introduces Bill to Block Online Storage of Personal Consumer Data

    Press release: "Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), the ranking Democrat on the Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today introduced the Eliminate Warehousing of Consumer Internet Data Act of 2006 (6 pages, PDF) – designed to strengthen consumer' Internet privacy and prevent companies from storing personal information for indefinite periods of time."

    January 31, 2006
    * Global Publishers Investigate Copyright and Brand Infringement By Search Engines

    Press release: "A task force of global and European publishers organizations, led by the World Association of Newspapers, has agreed to work together to examine the options open to publishers to assert their rights to recognition and recompense, and to ultimately improve the relationships between content creators/producers and news aggregators and search engines."

    January 25, 2006
    * Surveillance Increasingly Woven Into Fabric of Online World

    This New York Times essay, A Growing Web of Watchers Builds a Surveillance Society, by David Shenk, offers especially cautionary insight in light of the growing public and political response to revelations about the government's domestic surveillance program.

  • After Subpoenas, Internet Searches Give Some Pause
  • Survey finds solid opposition to release of Google data to feds

  • January 23, 2006
    * Bill to Prohibit Sale of Cell Phone Records Gains Momentum

    Additional information and commentary related to January 18, 2006 posting, Legislation Seeks to Prohibit Sale of Cell Phone Records. The legislation referenced, the Consumer Telephone Records Protection Act of 2006 is S. 2178 (PDF). Commentary on the legislation by Anita Ramastry, It's Time for Congress to Prohibit and Criminally Punish the Sale of our Cell Phone Records: "Pretexting" for Phone Numbers is a Serious Privacy Violation.

    January 22, 2006
    * Is It Time for E-Books Yet?

    Earlier this month I posted New Generation E-Book Reader May Find Market Niche, and in related news, from WJS free features, A Hundred Books in Your Pocket.

    January 19, 2006
    * New on LLRX.com

    The January 15, 2006 issue of LLRX.com includes the following articles:

  • Deep Web Research Research 2006, by Marcus P. Zillman

  • The Google Library Project: The Copyright Debate, by Jonathan Band

  • Researching Laws and Information on Nutritional and Dietary Supplements On the Web, by Joel Rothman

  • Election Law @ Moritz, by Sara Sampson

  • Adobe's Macromedia Studio 8 -- What's New in the Upgrade? by Roger V. Skalbeck

  • E-Discovery Update - by Fios Inc.: Cost Savings With New Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for e-Discovery? by Mary Mack

  • CongressLine by GalleryWatch.com: Floor Fight, by Will Hall and Dan Peake

  • The Government Domain: News Roundup, by Peggy Garvin

  • Faulkner's Practical Web Strategies for Attorneys: New Year's Resolution - Update Your Website, by Frederick L. Faulkner IV

  • The Tao of Law Librarianship: Do-It-Yourself Professional Development, by Connie Crosby

  • FOIA Facts: Bush Orders FOIA Executive Officers, by Scott A. Hodes

  • January 18, 2006
    * Legislation Seeks to Prohibit Sale of Cell Phone Records

    Follow-up to yesterday's posting, Stronger Safeguards Sought As Cell Records Sold on Web - two related press releases on new legislation to protect the privacy of cell phone logs which are available for sale online.

  • press release: "Today U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer introduced legislation to combat the growing black market of cell phone call logs stolen and sold by criminals. The bipartisan Consumer Telephone Records Protection Act of 2006, is being introduced with Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Bill Nelson (D-FL), and it will criminalize the practice of both stealing and selling these records for cell phone, landline and voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) subscribers...

  • press release: "U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today introduced legislation to prohibit the sale, fraudulent transfer or use of cellular telephone records. Durbin's bill would make it illegal to transfer personal information from cell phone companies to online brokers and the legislation provides tough criminal penalties, including up to 10 years in prison, for those found guilty of violating phone users' privacy...The fraudulent acquisition of records needs to be punishable as a true criminal offense, subject to jail time and fines. The sale and transfer of this information needs to be clearly prohibited by law."
  • January 17, 2006
    * Stronger Safeguards Sought As Cell Records Sold on Web

    Press release: "Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) Ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, released responses from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [2 pages, PDF] and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [2 pages, PDF] in response to his inquiry into reports of the commercial availability of consumer telephone records by companies like www.celltolls.com and other web-based companies that sell private cell phone records for as low as $89.95."

  • "High-tech hucksters are using the Internet to sell illegally-obtained consumer telephone records and I urge the FTC and FCC to step up their enforcement efforts already underway to ensure that consumer telephone records do not become commodities in a cyberspace bazaar," said Rep. Markey.
  • January 10, 2006
    * Challenges Posed By Search Engines on E-Commerce Profitability

    Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, January 9, 2006: Search Engines as Leeches on the Web

  • "Summary: Search engines extract too much of the Web's value, leaving too little for the websites that actually create the content. Liberation from search dependency is a strategic imperative for both websites and software vendors."
  • January 08, 2006
    * Wiki Tracks Fortune 500 Adoption Of Public Blogs

    Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki: "This is a directory of Fortune 500 companies that have business blogs, defined as: active public blogs by company employees about the company and/or its products." Currently there are 19 listings that include links to the respective blogs.

    January 03, 2006
    * Leading Business Journals on Web Remove Subscription Barrier

    Om Malik's blog announces that the new content and archives of the Business 2.0 family of online magazines (which includes Fortune and CNN Money), are now available without subscription, i.e., free.

    December 28, 2005
    * Pew Internet Survey Indicates Men and Women Now Online in Equal Numbers

    Press release: "A wide-ranging look at the way American women and men use the internet shows that men continue to pursue many internet activities more intensively than women, and that men are still first out of the blocks in trying the latest technologies. At the same time, there are trends showing that women are catching up in overall use and are framing their online experience with a greater emphasis on deepening connections with people."

  • Report: How Women and Men Use the Internet (54 pages, PDF)

  • See also this Pew Research Center Commentary, What Was and Wasn't on the Public's Mind...And How Opinions Changed During 2005
  • December 22, 2005
    * Consumer Reports Compares and Contrasts 11 Travel Websites

    Do Travel Search Engines Deliver? An Examination of the Leading Sites, December 21, 2005.

    December 19, 2005
    November 30, 2005
    * America's Most Literate Cities, 2005

    America's Most Literate Cities, 2005: Seattle, WA ranked as the number one city for Internet literacy, defined in terms of "Internet resources available to the population." These resources include library Internet connections, commercial and public WiFi access, Internet book orders, and reading newspapers on the Internet.

    November 29, 2005
    * Several Dozen Corporations Embrace Blogging To Expand Customer Relationships

    The Blogosphere Beckons: Should Your Company Jump In? Harvard Management Communication Letter, Vol. 2, No. 4, November 2005.

    November 28, 2005
    * Pew Study Tracks Steep Rise in Consumer Use of Online Classifieds

    Press release: "17% of internet users – about 25 million people -- have sold something online...Data from comScore Media Metrix show that the number of Americans using online classifieds has shot up 80% in the past year, led by the rapid growth of the sites organized by Craigslist.org."

  • About 25 million people have used the internet to sell something (5 pages, PDF)
  • November 23, 2005
    * Google Goes Way Beyond Search

    Who's Afraid of Google? Everyone, by Kevin Kelleher. "It seems no one is safe: Google is doing Wi-Fi; Google is searching inside books; Google has a plan for ecommerce."

  • postings on Google Print/Book Search

  • Google Wants to Provide Free WiFi to SF

  • Google Plans Online-Payment Service
  • November 20, 2005
    * Debate Between Publishers, Authors and Google Over Book Search Program

    New York Times: Googling Literature: The Debate Goes Public

    Related references:

  • Google, Authors, Publishers, and Library Officials in Discussion at The New York Public Library: Panel with Library President Paul LeClerc, Google VP David Drummond, legal scholar Lawrence Lessig, Wired editor Chris Anderson, and others on Thursday, November 17.

  • Postings on Google Print and Google Book Search

  • November 06, 2005
    * The Expanding Reach, and Power, of Google's Plans for Future Services

    New York Times, Just Googling It Is Striking Fear Into Companies, speculates on Google's potential plans to broaden the company's e-commerce endeavors, including property listings in conjunction with mapping, searching, and satellite projects currently extant, and comparison pricing for a range of consumer goods.

    November 04, 2005
    * Amazon Announces Plan to Sell Portions of Books Online

    Press release: Amazon.com Announces Plans for Innovative Digital Book Programs: "...the company is currently developing two new programs that will enable customers to purchase online access to any page, section, or chapter of a book, as well as the book in its entirety. The first program, Amazon Pages, will "un-bundle" the physical-world experience of buying and reading a book so that customers can simply and inexpensively purchase and read online just the pages they need...
    The second program, Amazon Upgrade, will allow customers to "upgrade" their purchase of a physical book on Amazon.com to include complete online access."

    November 02, 2005
    * Google Adds Two New Product Blogs

    The newest additions to the Google product blogs, now numbering ten, are:

  • Inside Google Desktop Blog: "We'll be using this blog as an easy way to make announcements and share all kinds of information - including developer tips, in-depth feature descriptions, user feedback, and ideas on how to get more out of Google Desktop."

  • Google Video Blog: "Google Video is growing so fast that we think a blog is the best way to showcase some of the great videos that catch our attention. Each week we'll highlight a handful of videos that share a common theme."
  • November 01, 2005
    * Forbes Attacks Blogs

    Forbes targets what is calls "attack bloggers" with a very broad brush, in a trio of articles as follows:

  • Attack of the Blogs, Daniel Lyons, 11.14.05 - "Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuit include Google and Yahoo."

  • Fighting Back, Daniel Lyons, 11.14.05

  • Who is Pamela Jones?, Daniel Lyons, 11.14.05
  • October 31, 2005
    * Feds and Industry Join Forces to Fight Spam

    A new, joint federal law enforcement and industry initiative to fight Internet fraud, called LooksTooGoodToBeTrue, was launched today (press release, 5 pages, PDF). "This website was developed to arm you with information so you don’t fall victim to these Internet scam artists." The site provides consumers with documentation on: Types of Fraud; Victim Stories; FAQs & Tips; Information Regarding Phishing Scams; a Fraud Risk Test; and Links to help prevent you from being scammed.

    Related references:

  • Consumer Reports WebWatch Finds Identity Theft Fears, Trust Concerns Turning Significant Number of U.S. Web Users Away, October 26, 2005

  • Leap of Faith: Using the Internet Despite the Dangers - Results of a National Survey of Internet Users for Consumer Reports WebWatch (42 pages, PDF)


  • October 27, 2005
    * GAO Report Examines Gap Between US and Indian Data on Offshoring

    International Trade: U.S. and India Data on Offshoring Show Significant Differences, GAO-06-116, October 27, 2005. Highlights.

    October 25, 2005
    * ICANN and Verisign Agree to Settle Lawsuits

    Press release from October 24, 2005: "ICANN today announced that it has reached an proposed agreement to end all pending litigation over its long-standing dispute with VeriSign. The proposed agreement documents are being posted for public comment and are subject to final approval of the ICANN Board. This settlement will clear the way for a new and productive public/private partnership in coordinating technical management of the Internet's domain name system."

  • Special Meeting of the Board: Preliminary Report

  • Proposed Settlement Agreements

  • Related links to domain name issues
  • September 11, 2005
    * Corporations Large and Small Feel Impact of Katrina

    Companies that produce, house, sell and transport products from within the areas hit hardest by Katrina are evaluating the impact to their respective businesses, ranging from e-commerce to distribution channels, and assessing alternatives to remain viable.

    August 31, 2005
    * Publishing Industry Opposition to Google Print Program Escalates

    Yet another follow-up to my previous postings on this issue here and here; see this statement, Google Print Library Position 'Backwards': Copyright holder should not have to opt-out, from the Text and Academic Author's Association past president.

  • See also Writer Groups Not Backing Down In Fight With Google
  • August 30, 2005
    * EPIC Urges FCC to Protect Consumer Calling Records

    "EPIC has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to initiate a rulemaking to enhance security safeguards for individuals' calling records. The petition follows a complaint concerning the illegal sale of personal information obtained from telephone carriers, and an updated filing where EPIC identified 40 websites that openly offer to obtain calling records without the knowledge and consent of the account holder." [EPIC]

    August 26, 2005
    * Panel Recommends Congress Create A U.S. Patent and Trademark Corporation

    From the National Academy of Public Administration: "...an Academy Panel examined USPTO's organization structure and its work processes to help ensure that USPTO is making progress in meeting workload challenges and implementing its strategic plan. The Panel found that without the ability to adjust its resources to workload, USPTO cannot efficiently respond to higher volumes of patent applications or new skill needs for staff. As a self-sustaining federal entity that performs a direct service for fee-paying customers, USPTO needs to be able to function like a business and report to Congress and the administration with a bottom-line set of financial statements. The Academy Panel recommends that Congress create a U.S. Patent and Trademark Corporation as a wholly owned government entity under the policy direction of the Secretary of Commerce."

  • US Patent and Trademark Office: Transforming to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century (A Report by a panel of the National Academy of Public Administration for the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) - 298 pages, PDF.
  • August 25, 2005
    * Google Continues to Capture Headlines With Free Services and Upgraded Features

    Google has been the topic of several articles in the New York Times this week. Yesterday the focus was on corporate expansion, and today there is news about Google Desktop 2, an IM application called Google Talk, and Gmail for everyone (all of these services are free).
    See also:

  • Google's Grand Ambitions - Its lips are sealed, but its moves rattle everyone from Microsoft to eBay

  • Free Wi-Fi? Get Ready for GoogleNet - "A trail of hidden clues suggests Google is building its own Internet -- and might be looking to let everyone connect for free."

  • August 24, 2005
    * As David Becomes Goliath, Competitors Balk

    From the New York Times, Relax, Bill Gates; It's Google's Turn as the Villain addresses a range of concerns about the expanding profits, plans, and profile of the company that has set its sights on dominating the information technology marketplace.

    August 19, 2005
    * Consumers Seek Stronger Security Measures For E-Commerce Transactions

    Press release from RSA Security: "A survey released [yesterday]...showed that – despite widespread fears of fraudulent activity and identity theft – consumers are willing to increase the amount of personal business they do online if their banks and other online service providers offer them strong authentication."

    * Three Part Series Addresses Google and Privacy Issues

    CIO Today published a three part series, Google Has Your Data: Should You Be Afraid?, that offers perspectives on the growing tension between the expanding public and government demand for quick and easy access to a range of personal data, and concerns about how the ubiquity of such data impacts consumer privacy. Links to the respective articles are as follows: Part One, Part Two, Part Three.

    August 15, 2005
    * Logo and Branding for New Version of IE Browser Debuts

    Via the IEBlog, you may view the new logo and branding for the yet to be released IE 7.

  • See also Exclusive: Why Microsoft Rebranded IE 7.0 as Windows IE 7.0
  • August 12, 2005
    * Changes to Google Print Program Announced Today

    Posted late last night by Adam M. Smith, Google Print Product Manager, on the Google Blog: "As with many ambitious ideas, Google Print has sparked a healthy amount of discussion...Today I'd like to mention two new features that reflect these discussions and which we feel will considerably improve both programs. If you're in the Publisher Program...you can now give us a list of the books that, if we scan them at a library, you'd like to have added immediately to your account. This way you can have your books in Google Print, which will put them into Google.com search results, direct potential buyers to your website, provide ongoing reports about user interest in your books, and your books will also earn revenue from contextual advertising – even if they are out of print....To allow plenty of time to review these new options, we won’t scan any in-copyright books from now until this November."

  • Related postings on the Google Print Program

  • From BusinessWeek.com, Google's Plan Doesn't Scan

  • August 05, 2005
    * New Book Explores Search Technology and Google's Impact

    The first excerpt from John Battelle's new book, The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture, is available on his blog.

    July 29, 2005
    * Commentary on the E-Commerce Market for Used Books

    Reading Between the Lines of Used Book Sales.

    Related references from the article:

  • Ghose, Anindya, Smith, Michael D. and Telang, Rahul, Internet Exchanges for Used Books: An Empirical Analysis of Welfare Implications and Policy Issues (August 25, 2004).
  • Goolsbee, Austan, and Chevalier, Judy, Are Durable Goods Consumers Forward Looking? Evidence from College Textbooks, (42 pages, PDF), 2004

  • * GAO Report on Financial Markets' Electronic Security Initiatives

    Financial Market Organizations Have Taken Steps to Protect against Electronic Attacks, but Could Take Additional Actions, GAO-05-679R, June 29, 2005.

  • "We found that all seven of the selected financial market organizations are taking steps to prevent their operations from being disrupted by electronic attacks. Each of the organizations had implemented the five major elements of a sound information security program. However, we identified actions that each organization could take to further improve their protections against attacks or unauthorized access."
  • July 27, 2005
    * Microsoft Publishes New Anti-phishing White Paper

    "The focus of this white paper is to describe the basic workings of a new capability, the Microsoft® Phishing Filter, that will be included in the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 7. The Microsoft Phishing Filter will not only help provide consumers with a dynamic system of warning and protection against potential phishing attacks, but — more important — it will also benefit legitimate ISPs and Web commerce site developers that want to try to ensure that their brands are not being 'spoofed' to propagate scams and that their legitimate outreach to customers is not confusing or misinterpreted by filtering software." [the document is in Word, and available at this Link]

    * Forbes Best of The Web Directory

    Forbes Best of The Web Directory includes recommendations on more than 3,000 websites and blogs, on topics that include investing, health, e-commerce, management, travel and careers.

    July 26, 2005
    * Customer Privacy Continues to be Compromised by Travel Industry

    July 25, 2005: The Customer Respect Group Announces Third Quarter 2005 Results of Online Customer Respect Study of Largest Airline, Travel Firms: "Competitive Pressures Seen Driving Overall Improvements; But 38 Percent of Firms Continue to Share Personal Data."

    July 10, 2005
    * Google Short Message Service (SMS)

    "Google SMS (Short Message Service) enables you to send queries as text messages over your mobile phone or device and easily get precise answers to your questions. No links. No web pages. Just text — and the information you're looking for...local business listings...driving directions...movie showtimes and theater locations of movies currently playing near you...weather conditions and 4-day forecasts...the latest stock quotes...quick answers to straightforward questions..."[Link]

    July 08, 2005
    * Advocacy Group Requests Investigation Into Online Sale of Personal Data

    From EPIC: In a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission, EPIC urged the agency to investigate online data brokers, companies that promise to sell phone calling records, the identities of people who own private mail boxes, and the identities associated with AOL Screen names, Match.com profiles, and Lavalife profiles. The complaint argues that this information cannot be obtained without violating federal law or regulations."

    July 06, 2005
    * Pervasiveness of Spyware Has Changed Behavior of Internet Users

    A press release on the new Pew Internet and American Life Project Report released this afternoon: "Spyware and the threat of unwanted programs being secretly loaded onto computers are becoming serious threats online. Nine out of ten internet users say they have adjusted their online behavior out of fear of falling victim to software intrusions. Unfortunately, many internet users' fears are grounded in experience - 43% of internet users, or about 59 million American adults, say they have had spyware or adware on their home computer. Although most do not know the source of their woes, 68% of home internet users, or about 93 million American adults, have experienced at least one computer problem in the past year that are consistent with problems caused by spyware or viruses."

  • Spyware: the threat of unwanted programs is changing the way people use the internet (23 pages, PDF)
  • July 05, 2005
    * Expanding the Reach of Online Advertising Through RSS

    This New York Times article discusses the growing interest in, and testing of, delivering adverts to consumers via RSS feeds, which may in some measure be an inevitable result of the hype the technology has been receiving from both the blogging and MSM communities. Despite a strong current of opposition in some quarters to using RSS as an e-commerce channel, this may be an unstoppable wave.

    * US SAFE WEB Act

    From the FTC: The US SAFE WEB Act - Protecting Consumers from Spam, Spyware, and Fraud, released July 1, 2005

  • A Legislative Recommendation to Congress, June 2005 (32 pages, PDF)

    Briefing Materials
  • Tab 1: Draft US SAFE WEB Act: Short title: Undertaking Span, Spyware, and Fraud Enforcement With Enforcers Beyond Borders Act (31 pages, PDF)

  • Tab 2: Summary of the US SAFE WEB Act (23 pages, PDF)

  • Tab 3: An Explanation of the Provisions of the US SAFE WEB Act (27 pages, PDF)

  • Tab 4: How the US SAFE WEB Act Would Help the FTC: A Hypothetical Spyware Case (3 pages, PDF)
  • July 04, 2005
    * Online Retailers Employ Blogs With Caution

    The pros and cons of e-tailers using blogs are reviewed in this New York Time article today.

    June 23, 2005
    * Trend Spotting and Marketing Insights Gained Through Blog Posts

    WSJ Free Content today, Marketers Scan Blogs For Brand Insights

    June 22, 2005
    * Publishers and Librarians Remain Concerned About Google Digitization Project

    As a follow-up to my June 17 posting, Details Revealed on Google Library Project at U. Michigan, from BusinessWeek.com today, A New Page in Google's Books Fight: "The newly revealed contract with the University of Michigan is stoking publishers' fears about plans to digitize library collections."

  • See also this commentary by Daniel Brandt, June 19, 2005, Google-eyed U.Michigan gives away its library
  • June 21, 2005
    * Latest Round of Data Breaches Intensifies Consumer Focus on ID Theft

    From CNN Money, ID data breaches: as rampant as it seems documents the circumstances of the most recently reported incident of hacking, called skimming, that involved the illegal acquisition and storage of credit card data, the exact impact of which still has been not fully disclosed apparently due to the ongoing investigation.

    Related references:

  • Personal data breaches in 2005

  • Black Market in Stolen Credit Card Data Thrives on Internet

  • Preventing Identity Theft for Dummies


  • June 17, 2005
    June 14, 2005
    * OECD Report on Digital Music

    The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Project on Digital Broadband Content published a new Report on Digital Music: Opportunities and challenges (132 pages, PDF):

  • "...the outlook for the music market in 2005 is positive due to rapidly increasing sales of (mobile) digital music services. Digital music is also a driver for the global technology markets. Furthermore, the new digital music value chain produces an array of new digital intermediaries (e.g., digital rights management DRM). Finally, the availability of online technologies opens up possibilities for content created by network users."

  • June 13, 2005
    * ICANN to Address Unrestricted Access to Whois Data

    ICANN Watch reports: "At the Luxembourg ICANN meeting, the US Government is organizing a 4-hour session of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) on how public display of Whois data supports "combating illegal activities on the Internet." Perhaps sensing that time is running out on unrestricted access to Whois data, the US GAC representative and US-based business/IPR interests have organized the meeting to propagandize the idea that compulsory, public display of domain name registration data and intrusive measures to enforce the accuracy of the data should be retained."

    June 03, 2005
    * Privacy Concerns Focus on Google's Retention of Internet Activity Data

    Reuters reports, via CNN, Google's long memory stirs privacy concerns.

    June 02, 2005
    * Annenburg Public Policy Center Report on Dangers of Online Shopping

    Open to Exploitation: American Shoppers Online and Offline - "Sixty-four percent of American adults do not know that it is legal for online stores to charge different people different prices at the same time of day for the same product. This groundbreaking new study (38 pages, PDF) explores this and many other shopping facts that all Americans need to know in order to protect themselves from online and offline exploitation."

    June 01, 2005
    * The Changing Landscape of Corporate Blogging

    From Wall Street Journal free features, Blogging Becomes A Corporate Job provides a general overview of how several companies, including Microsoft and Stonefield Stonyfield Farm Inc., are diversifying their marketing and corporate communications with the addition of talented bloggers to their workforce.

  • Related posting, People who underestimate weblogs, comments on the explosion in the number of blogs, as well as on the recent Pew Internet blog report, which apparently only included 40 sources as the basis of its sample survey.
  • May 31, 2005
    * Is Mainstream Embrace Around the Corner for RSS?

    What is the future for Web sites in a world of RSS? by Matt McAlister, VP & General Manager, Online, InfoWorld. [Micro Persuasion]

  • "We've all joined onto a platform, a common standard for pushing/pulling/sharing individual items. Those items might be news headlines, transaction data, persistent search queries, links to downloads, etc. And because we have a standard, we can universally identify what those things are and how to treat them...just like what HTTP and HTML once did for the World Wide Web."

  • May 23, 2005
    * Publishers Express Continued Concerns With Google Print for Libraries Program

    From BusinessWeek.com, A Google Project Pains Publishers - The major presses are raising thorny legal issues with the search giant's initiative to digitize the books of the world's great libraries.

  • "In [this] letter, the Association of American University Presses' Peter Givler takes issue with Google's Print for Libraries program." [Link]
  • See also related postings on Google Print
  • May 16, 2005
    * New York Times Announces New Online Fee-Based Service

    Press release: "The New York Times announced today a new online offering called TimesSelect, which for a modest fee will provide exclusive access to Op-Ed and news columnists on NYTimes.com, easy and in-depth access to The Times's online archives [initially, the archives will go back only to 1980 but eventually to 1851], early access to select articles on the site, as well as other exciting features. While most of the news, features and multi-media on NYTimes.com will remain free and available to users, the work of Op-Ed columnists and some of the best known voices from the news side of The Times and The International Herald Tribune (IHT) will be available only to TimesSelect subscribers beginning in September. Home-delivery subscribers will automatically receive TimesSelect as part of their benefits. TimesSelect will be priced at $49.95 for an annual subscription."

    May 04, 2005
    * Launch of New Job Search Engine

    From the Work.com Blog: "Business.com, the leading business-focused search engine and directory has launched Work.com, the only job search engine dedicated to directly connecting job seekers with premium employers. Work.com is the company's latest offering and provides an easy-to-use, customizable interface that gives job seekers the ability to refine and filter job results with one click, and then apply for jobs directly on the employer’s career site instead of applying through the job boards."

    May 02, 2005
    * The Many Facets of Web Search: From Marketing to Fact Finding, The Future is Wide Open

    How "search" is redefining the Web — and our lives

  • Related reference: Google searches for quality not quantity
  • April 30, 2005
    * Companies at the forefront of technology innovation

    The Wired 40 "They're masters of technology and innovation. They're global thinkers driven by strategic vision. They're nimbler than Martha Stewart's PR team. They're The Wired 40."

    April 28, 2005
    * NY AG Sues Net Marketer For Installing Spyware on Millions of PCs

    Press release: "Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today sued one of the nation's leading internet marketing companies, alleging that the firm was the source of "spyware" and "adware" that has been secretly installed on millions of home computers. The suit against Los Angeles-based Intermix Media, Inc. is the most sweeping case to date involving programs that redirect web addresses, add toolbars and deliver pop-up ads. "Spyware and adware are more than an annoyance," Spitzer said. "These fraudulent programs foul machines, undermine productivity and in many cases frustrate consumers' efforts to remove them from their computers. These issues can serve to be a hindrance to the growth of e-commerce."

  • Intermix Media, Inc.Verified Petition (11 pages, PDF)

  • Brookman Affirmation [Assistant Attorney General], (33 pages, PDF)
  • April 21, 2005
    * Future of Free Access to Net Weather Data In Jeopardy From Proposed Legislation

    Press release, April 14, 2005: U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today introduced the National Weather Services Duties Act of 2005 (S. 786) to clarify the duties and responsibilities of the National Weather Service (NWS) within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

  • from the text of the bill: ...The National Weather Service shall not provide, or assist other entities in providing, a service or product (other than the preparation and issuance of severe weather warnings and forecasts designed for the protection of life and property of the general public) that is or could be provided by the private sector...


  • Related reference:
  • Feds' weather information could go dark, Palm Beach Post, April 21, 2005 [via Hot Links]

  • April 19, 2005
    * Google Seeks to Shut Down Froogles

    Various sources have reported on Google's trademark infringement lawsuit against Froogles.com, and a copy of the complaint (68 pages, PDF), filed April 8, in District Court for the Eastern District of New York, is available courtesy of Search Engine Watch Blog.

    April 13, 2005
    * Commentary Proposes Ways to Regulate Internet Related Activity

    The Promise of Internet Intermediary Liability, by Ronald J. Mann and Seth R. Belzley, William and Mary Law Review, Vol. 47, October 2005.

  • "This Essay starts from the realist assumption that government regulation of the internet is inevitable. Thus, instead of focusing on the naïve question of whether the internet should be regulated, it discusses how to regulate internet-related activity in a way that is consistent with approaches to analogous offline conduct. The Essay also assumes that the most salient characteristic of the internet is that it inserts intermediaries into relationships that could be, and previously would have been, conducted directly in an offline environment. Existing liability schemes generally join traditional fault-based liability rules to broad internet-specific liability exemptions. Those exemptions are supported by the premise that in many cases the conduct of the intermediaries is so wholly passive as to make liability inappropriate."


  • April 12, 2005
    * Websites That Offer Consumers Safe Harbor

    Jay Cline reviews a range of popular e-commerce websites that offer consumers a defined list of privacy protections and provides general scores for those that implement portions of the European privacy principles.

    April 11, 2005
    * Launch of Expansive New Shopping Engine

    Become.com Goes Live with Web's Largest Search Engine for U.S. Shopping Information [Link]

  • "...a search engine that helps people find product reviews and relevant buying information, today announced the launch of a new 3.2 billion page shopping index, registration-free access to its search engine, and the introduction of product-focused spell checking."
  • April 06, 2005
    * Hearing on Digital Music and Interoperability

    Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Oversight Hearing on Digital Music Interoperability and Availability, April 6, 2005.

  • Link to Chairman's Statement and Witness Statements
  • * New Report on PR Impact of Blogs

    Press release: "A newly published white paper on blogs from Edelman, the world's largest independent public relations firm, and Intelliseek, a marketing intelligence firm and provider of one of the Internet's leading blog portals, explores the importance of the blogging phenomenon for public relations and marketers and provides a first-of-its-kind directory of influential bloggers, segmented by industry."

  • Trust MEdia…How Real People Are Finally Being Heard (22 pages, PDF)
  • April 04, 2005
    * Personal Data Remains Widely Available on Net

    From the Washington Post, via truthout, Net Aids Access to Sensitive ID Data addresses how it continues to be easy and inexpensive to obtain personal data on the web from a variety of sources, despite the escalating controversy focused on a range of recent ID theft scams launched against large database aggregators.

    March 28, 2005
    * New Domains: .JOBS and .TRAVEL

    ICANN Completes Negotiations with Applicants for .JOBS and .TRAVEL: "ICANN has completed negotiations with the applicants for the .JOBS and .TRAVEL sponsored top-level domains. The .JOBS and .TRAVEL sponsored TLD registry agreements have been posted on the ICANN website and submitted to the ICANN Board for approval."

    March 23, 2005
    * Advocacy Group Report Counters Assault on P2P Technology

    From the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), the following documents:

  • New Report Presents First Analysis of Critical Role of Peer-to-Peer in Technological Innovation, Economic Growth and Consumer Benefits

  • Statement of Mark Cooper on the release of Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music

  • The full report, 79 pages, PDF: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music - The Political, Social and Economic Benefits of Peer-to-Peer Communications Networks

  • March 11, 2005
    * New Services Respond to Growing Consumer Concern With ID Theft

    From Internetnews.com, this article on soon to be released fee-based products providing consumers with tracking and alert services on fraudulent activities associated with their personal data.

    * Proposal to Better Regulate Information Privacy

    A Model Regime of Privacy Protection, by Daniel J. Solove, George Washington University Law School, and Chris Jay Hoofnagle, EPIC, March 10, 2005 (14 pages, PDF).

  • "Privacy protection in the United States has often been criticized, but critics have too infrequently suggested proposals for reform. Recently, there has been significant legislative interest at both the federal and state levels in addressing the privacy of personal information. This was sparked when ChoicePoint, one of the largest data brokers in the United States with records on almost every adult American citizen, sold data on about 145,000 people to fraudulent businesses set up by identity thieves..This Model Regime incorporates many of those practices and applies them specifically to the context of commercial data brokers such as Choicepoint. We hope that this will provide useful guidance to legislators and policymakers in crafting laws and regulations. We also intend this to be a work-in-progress in which we collaborate with others..."

  • March 09, 2005
    February 25, 2005
    * Commentary on WSJ's Subscriber Strategy

    From Wired, a critique of the Wall Street Journals' adherence to a fee based subscription strategy that prevents search engine indexing of their extensive, authoritative, and highly regarded content. This in turn results in very limited linking to their articles by a ever expanding community of bloggers and website publishers. The debate should and will continue about fee vs. free content, but what really resonates is the bigger picture: those who interpret web search results as an accurate cross section of facts and commentary on specific events and issues (and this number is growing exponentially) may not even be cognizant of the amazing volume of relevant information they do not have the opportunity to assess.

    February 17, 2005
    * New York Times Buys About.com

    From the New York Times press release today: "Our core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and disseminating high-quality news, information and entertainment. We do this at all of our properties and the same is true of About. Ranking in the top 15 most frequently visited sites, About.com is one of the Web's most popular destinations. Its network of nearly 500 experts, known as guides, create Web sites on thousands of topics – from personal finance to consumer electronics, to history and geography."

    * White Paper Critical of High Tech End User License Agreements

    Press release: "Today the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released a white paper (Dangerous Terms – A User's Guide to EULAs) warning consumers about how they can be harmed by end user license agreements (EULAs) for consumer electronics and online services. Many EULAs contain terms that damage consumer interests, including invitations for vendors to snoop on users' computers, prohibitions on publicly criticizing the product in question, and bans on customizing or even repairing purchased devices."

    February 07, 2005
    * PR Battle Escalates in Anticipation of P2P Antipiracy Case Before Supreme Court

    As Piracy Battle Nears Supreme Court, the Messages Grow Manic

  • Legal documents related to the case.
  • February 03, 2005
    * NY Times Articles Will be Featured in Topix.net Search Results

    AP reports that the New York Times has a sponsorship agreement with Topix.net to prominently feature its articles on the news aggregator's site.

    January 27, 2005
    * Business.com Now Offers People Search

    Press release: "Business.com... announced the addition of "People Search" to its core business search capabilities. "People Search" allows business professionals to easily locate and learn about sales prospects, potential business partners, and job candidates on the Web by searching summaries of 24 million business people via a database... (that) continually scans millions of corporate websites, press releases, electronic news services, SEC filings and other online sources so the information provided is always up-to-date and accurate."

    January 19, 2005
    * Washington Post Examines Data Aggregator ChoicePoint

    In Age of Security, Firm Mines Wealth Of Personal Data (reg. req'd): the Post provides an overview of ChoicePoint, described as a "little-known information industry giant." However, many librarians and researchers are well acquainted with the company's products, and it has been in the bulls-eye of privacy advocates for selling its vast databases of personal data to the government. Also in the Post, see this associated chart of ChoicePoint's services and clients.

  • The article's author, Robert O'Harrow, recently published a new book on homeland security issues, No Place to Hide: Behind the Scenes of Our Emerging Surveillance Society.

  • Related references about the company's activities have been the topic of past postings on beSpacific, dating back to April 2003.
  • January 10, 2005
    * Report Examines Digital Business Models and Copyright Implications

    From Harvard's Digital Media Project, a new report, Assessing the Impact of Policy Choices on Potential Online Business Models in the Music and Film Industries (83 pages, PDF):

  • "To prevent unauthorized copying of their works, copyright holders have traditionally relied on practical barriers as well as their legal exclusive rights to control reproduction and distribution. The new technologies vitiating those practical barriers - peer-to-peer (P2P) services, digital compression technologies, and others - are demonstrating just how empty those legal rights may be and how poorly matched they may be with cultural norms and practice. Consumers are exploiting the exciting potential for greater interactivity and involvement with content, but also the opportunity to acquire content illicitly, and are thus finding themselves in conflict with many of those who make content possible."
  • January 07, 2005
    * Will New York Times on Web Remain Free?

    From Reuters, via Yahoo News: New York Times Mulls Charging Web Readers and from Business Week, this extensive review of the paper's business plan.

    * Industry Launches Initiative to Address E-Waste

    Learn how to safely dispose of, donate, sell or reuse PCs and tech gadgets, from this new website, the Rethink Initiative, co-sponsored by eBay, Intel and other industry leaders.

    Related Resources:

  • From the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition survey, "...only 15 percent of Americans are aware that electronic items can be recycled," and from Gartner research via AP, "U.S. consumers retire or replace roughly 133,000 personal computers per day."
  • Computer TakeBack Campaign and Freecycle.

  • Federal Gov't Creates Program to Recycle Old Computers
  • January 04, 2005
    * List of Top 100 Digital Content Providers

    "The fourth annual EContent 100 - our list of companies that matter most in the digital content industry."

    January 03, 2005
    * Google Examined By 60 Minutes

    CBS News 60 Minutes, January 2, 2005: Defining Google:

  • "What began as a school project is now worth about as much as Ford and General Motors combined, thanks to a stock that has roughly doubled in price since the company went public last August. And for the first time since then, Google has opened its doors, to let "60 Minutes" Google them.
  • December 29, 2004
    * Desperately Seeking Customer Support

    Having recently been caught on a treadmill to nowhere in my quest for "customer care" and "technical support" from two major vendors for hardware issues, this New York Times article hits home. It describes the frustrations of trying to locate a support telephone contact number on the websites of a range of product websites. This impediment is often accompanied by the hurdles placed in the way of consumers endeavoring to speak with a human being about a product or service related problem. Read on!

  • From the article, note this reference to the GSA's Consumer Action Website of the Federal Consumer Information Center. "This section lists the names and addresses of more than 650 corporate headquarters and, in many cases, the name of the person to contact. Many listings also include toll free numbers and TDD (Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf) numbers."
  • December 24, 2004
    * Advocacy Group Lists Privacy Resolutions

    From EPIC, Top Ten Consumer Privacy Resolutions.

    December 22, 2004
    * Survey Documents Significant Privacy Issues in 2005

    This InfoWorld commentary details previous consumer data compiled for the Ponemon Institute's Privacy Trust Surveys on e-commerce and government related developments. From this data, the author concludes that in 2005, major privacy issues will be ID authentication technology, phishing, net advertising, the collection of airline passenger data, and earning consumer trust.

    December 20, 2004
    * Recommendations For Recently Launched Law-Related Websites

    Robert J. Ambrogi highlights 13 websites, launched this past year, that merit your review, including an online legal bookstore, an e-discovery resource, a new meta-search engine, and a collection of historical documents on the civil rights movement.

    December 16, 2004
    * FTC Issues Final Rule Defining Email Spam

    Press release: FTC Issues Final Rule Defining What Constitutes a "Commercial Electronic Mail Message"

  • "The Federal Trade Commission today issued final regulations (81 pages, PDF) to facilitate the determination of whether an e-mail message has a commercial primary purpose and is subject to the provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act. The CAN-SPAM Act, which took effect January 1, 2004, requires the Commission to issue regulations “defining the relevant criteria to facilitate the determination of the primary purpose of an electronic mail message."

  • December 07, 2004
    * Global Manufacturer To Implement Website Privacy Protection Software

    Consumer product manufacturer Procter & Gamble plans to implement data privacy protection software on its websites (numbering in the hundreds) to meet compliance requirements in Europe, which after testing, will be followed by rollouts in the U.S. and other countries.

    December 02, 2004
    * Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs Will Launch on Dec. 9

    "On Dec. 9, Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, will be launching Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs, an innovative public education project that will help you find prescription drugs that fit your budget—especially if you are a senior or have no prescription drug coverage. Visitors to the Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs website will be able to view the latest findings about the comparative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of many widely used prescription drugs. We will tell you what you need to know when you talk to your doctor about switching to more cost-effective medications." [Link]

    November 29, 2004
    * Survey of How Top Companies Rate in Online Transactions With Consumers

    The current Online Customer Respect Study, conducted by the Customer Respect Group, provides data on how prominent firms in the U.S. are rated in their online interactions with consumers.

  • "...more than 50 percent of sites say they share personal data without users' explicit permission. This should concern high-tech firms greatly, since research shows that more than half of Americans state that protecting personal information is their greatest concern when online. This concern, as the biggest single issue, jumps to fully two-thirds of Web users when they are considering making an online purchase. Clearly the practice of sharing data without permission will increasingly have a major impact on online revenue."

  • * Survey Rates Best Global Websites

    An useful addition to a compendium of competitive intelligence resources, the The Web Globalization Report Card 2005 ($$) "...identifies those companies that have developed Web sites that combine global reach with local usability. In all, this report rates the Web sites of 200 companies across 16 industries." [Link to press release and website].

  • "The top 10 global Web sites are as follows: Google, HP, American Express, Philips, Skype, Ericsson, Procter & Gamble, Cisco Systems, IBM and E*TRADE."

  • * Consumer Reports' Survey on Int'l Travel Website Fares

    A Cross-Border Examination of 20 Travel Web Sites - Selling International Airline Tickets in the United States and Six Western European Countries:

  • "The flight and fare data provided by sister travel sites — such as the Expedia, Travelocity and Opodo brands — varied widely from country to country, completely dispelling any notions that these sites are identical except for home pages and translations. In fact, each sister site clearly obtained its own inventory of airfares."

  • November 09, 2004
    * Reminder That Online WSJ Access is Free This Week

    And to take a look at this article on how companies large and small are cutting technology costs by using open source applications, VoIP, scaling back on hardware purchases. In addition, there is less corporate focus on next "killer app."

  • See also Paid Placements Hit Travel Booking Sites
  • November 05, 2004
    * Yahoo Enhances Shopping Site

    For those who are beginning holiday shopping, or others who are working on gadgets presentations (this one is for you b.f.), take a look at the new features available on Yahoo! Shopping.

    October 21, 2004
    * WSJ Posts Transcripts of Google and Amazon Earnings Conference Calls

    If you are a subscriber, this data, available in PDF format, is linked on the WSJ Technology homepage.

    October 11, 2004
    * Pew Internet Study on Purchasing Prescription Drugs Online

    "Prescription Drugs Online: One in four Americans have looked online for drug information, but few have ventured into the online drug marketplace." [Link to press release]

  • Precription Drugs Online (17 pages, PDF)
  • October 06, 2004
    * Leading Scientific Publisher Plans to Digitize Content Dating Back 100 Yrs.

    From Reuters: "German science publisher Springer Science + Business Media will start in January to put all back issues of its 1,250 scientific journals on the Internet, some of which date back to 1886, it said on Wednesday." [Link]

    * Google Launches Feature to Read Book Excerpts and Links to Purchase

    This news may remind readers of Amazon's Search Inside the Book service, launched last October. But this time the source is Google, who announced that their Google Print service is no longer in testing mode: "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Since a lot of the world's information isn't yet online, we're helping to get it there. Google Print puts the content of books where you can find it most easily; right in Google search results." [Link]
    Related information and reference:

  • Google Print FAQ

  • Promote your books on Google - for free.

  • Search Wars: Google, Snap, Amazon Arm for Battle and from the October 8, 2004 New York Times: New Google Service May Strain Old Ties in Bookselling
  • September 29, 2004
    * Consumer Reports' Surveys Competition in Online International Airfares

    Global Concerns: An In-Depth Examination of Travel Web Sites Selling International Airline Tickets

  • "Consumer WebWatch wanted to determine if competition was more or less intense in the international market. The conclusion of this test is that online
    competition within the international airfare arena is indeed robust. Despite relatively high ticket prices, many of the sites tested closely or exactly matched
    their competitors' fares repeatedly throughout."
  • September 18, 2004
    * Spyware and Adware Present Challenges and E-Commerce Opportunities

    Barbarians at the Digital Gate

    August 20, 2004
    * Consumer Reports Adds E-Ratings

    "ConsumerReports.org e-Ratings were developed to help consumers navigate the web efficiently, effectively, and with confidence. Based on a systematic review of specific features on selected web sites in various categories, our exclusive e-Ratings are ongoing, with new product, service, and information categories added regularly." [Link]

    August 17, 2004
    * New Study Ranks Customer Satisfaction With Online Retailers

    Amazon Gets Top Marks For Customer Satisfaction In Study

    August 12, 2004
    * Website That Verifies Legitimate Online Pharmacies

    From the Internet Pharmacy and Online Pharmacies Verification website:

  • "To be VIPPS certified, a pharmacy must comply with the licensing and inspection requirements of their state and each state to which they dispense pharmaceuticals. In addition, pharmacies displaying the VIPPS seal have demonstrated to NABP compliance with VIPPS criteria including patient rights to privacy, authentication and security of prescription orders, adherence to a recognized quality assurance policy, and provision of meaningful consultation between patients and pharmacists." [reference from Washington Post article, Web Pharmacies Can Endanger Your Health and Wallet]

  • July 28, 2004
    * Amazon Changes Policy For Online Product Reviews

    Amazon Prods Reviewers To Stop Hiding Behind Fake Names (WSJ, $$):
    "Amazon changed its rules to end anonymous customer critiques in a bid to bring greater integrity to its rating system."

  • From Amazon: Frequently Asked Questions about Real Names

  • * Privacy Issues and Searching for Lawyers Online

    Paid Listings Complicate Search for Quality Lawyers Online:

  • "Consumers searching for a local lawyer, especially a specialist, may find little more than advertising-based listings and nothing resembling thoughtful advice online. More troubling: While some sites, like FindLaw.com, are legitimate, ad-supported directories, others – such as The BestLegalServices.com – collect personal information and fail to disclose who they are or where they're sending your data."
  • July 22, 2004
    * Part II of Hearing on Purchasing Pharmaceuticals Over the Internet

    Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations - Buyer Beware: The Danger of Purchasing Pharmaceuticals over the Internet - Day 2, Federal and Private Sector Responses, July 22, 2004. (Day One)

  • Link to Member Statements and Witness Testimony
  • July 13, 2004
    * Online Used Book Market Bypassing Royalty Fees

    Online used-book sales concern some publishers: "Is Amazon.com becoming the Napster of the book business?"

    July 05, 2004
    * E-Marketing Looks to RSS to Bypass Spam

    Company Plugs RSS as Alternate to E-Mail Marketing

    June 28, 2004
    * Study Released Today Rates How Sites Respect Customers

    The 2004 Online Customer Respect Study of the Top 100 U. S. Companies ($$) evaluates "corporate performance from an online customer's perspective," according to the aggregate ratings for the following criteria: ease of navigation, quick and thorough responses to inquiries, respecting customer privacy, open and honest policies, values and respecting customer data. The top five companies are: Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Bank of America, and Medco Health Solutions.

    * Launch of New Anti-Spyware Resource

    PestControl, a PC security company, today launched the Center for Pest Research, offering consumers a range of resources to assist in the effort to combat spyware. The site offers updated spyware analysis, whitepapers, how-to guides to identify, locate and eliminate "pests," and an searchable Alphabetical Index to 21,109 Pest Descriptions."

    * VeriSign Announces Anti-Phishing Business Solutions

    From VeriSign's press release today: "VeriSign's Anti-Phishing Solution protects enterprises through a five-tiered solution that helps prevent, detect and respond to attacks, thereby mitigating and eliminating identity theft and email fraud attempts."

    June 17, 2004
    * Senate Hearing Focuses on Internet Pharmacies

    U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, hearing June 17, Title: Buyer Beware: The Danger of Purchasing Pharmaceuticals Over The Internet.

  • Links to Member Statements and Witness Testimony

  • Also presented today at the hearing, the following GAO report: Internet Pharmacies: Some Poses Safety Risks for Consumers and Are Unreliable in Their Business Practices, by Marcia Crosse, director, health care-public health and military health care issues, and Robert Cramer, director, Office of Special Investigations.
  • June 14, 2004
    * Online Newspapers Increasingly Require User Registration

    As Web Registration Spreads, Does It Deliver? The economics of publishing high quality, timely, comprehensive information resources contributes to the collection of user data by online newspapers, with growing speculation that this will lead to the imposition of fees down the road.

  • For reference, take a look at BugMeNot.com (FAQ), a work-around some website registrations.
  • June 11, 2004
    * Car Buyers Increasingly Leveraging Online Data

    Car Dealers Feel Net Effect

  • For reference, see Autobytel.com, Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds.com.
  • * Personalized Search Services and Privacy

    Commentary: Privacy tradeoffs and the search wars: "...are consumers being asked to give up too much personal information in exchange for more relevant search results?"

    * Pop-Up Ad Company Challenges Utah Spyware Control Act

    N.Y. company wants Utah's Spyware Control Act blocked.

  • For reference: See H.B. 323, Spyware Control Act, signed by Utah's Governor Olene S. Walker on 3/23/2004. Additional information on pop-up ads
  • .

    June 07, 2004
    * Are Law Firms Ready to Embrace Offshore Outsourcing?

    Via Law.com, news that Hildebrandt International announced a joint venture to provide outsourced "professional support services" to American law firms.

  • See also this New York Times article, June 6: Does Outsourcing Cost More Than It Saves?
  • * Thomson to Sell 54 Business Publications

    News reports today that Thomson Corp. is seeking a buyer for its Media Group, comprising 54 business publications, including American Banker, The Bond Buyer and Investment Dealers’ Digest. The company is continuing a transition to a focus on "electronic information businesses."

    June 04, 2004
    * Pop-Up Ad Blockers Waging a Losing Battle?

    From News.com, this article explains the increased appearance of pop-up ads that appear to be circumventing already installed blocking applications.

    May 31, 2004
    * Security Survey of Financial Institutions Around the World

    From Deloitte, the 2004 Global Security Survey (36 pages, pdf). "The goal of [the survey] is to help participants assess the state of information security within their organization relative to other comparible financial institutions around the world..." Areas covered include: governance, investment, value, risk, responsiveness, use of security technologies, quality of operations, and privacy. Respondents include: "31 of the top global financial institutions ranked by 2002 assets; 23 of the top global banks ranked by 2002 tier-1 capital; 10 to the top 50 global insurers ranked by 2002 assets."

  • 83% of respondents indicated they had experienced security breaches this year, up from 33% in 2003.
  • * New Approaches May Secure Online Password Log-Ins

    Swedish bank Nordea PLC has implemented a new method of password authentication to secure online customer transactions. Account log-in requires the use of an individual's national ID number, a password, and a code chosen from a group supplied to users in batches of 50.

    May 27, 2004
    * CA Bill Restricting Google's Gmail Passes Senate

    From ZDNet: "The California state Senate on Thursday approved a bill that takes aim at Google's new Gmail service, placing strict limits on e-mail providers seeking to scan customer messages for advertising and other purposes." See SB 1822.

  • See also Google Responds To Email Privacy Concerns

  • May 25, 2004
    * Amendments to CA Bill on Gmail Lessen Restrictions to the Service

    On May 25, California State Senator Liz Figueroa offered an amended version of SB 1822 which struck language that would have presented substantial obstacles to Gmail's operation in the state.

    May 21, 2004
    * FTC Seeks Comments for Workshop on RFID

    Public Workshop: Radio Frequency Identification - Applications and Implications for Consumers, to be held June 21, 2004. "The workshop will address both current and anticipated uses of RFID tags and their impact on the marketplace."

  • Federal Register notice: extension of public comment period on RFID issues.
  • May 10, 2004
    * Disposable Credit Cards Used to Fight ID Theft

    Single-use credit cards fight fraud. A number of companies are offering disposable credit card numbers for online purchase transactions.

    May 07, 2004
    * Database Nation: Privacy, E-Commerce & Gov't Info Mining

    From the June 2004 issue of Reason magazine, take the time to read this article (10 pages, pdf), Database Nation, The upside of "zero" privacy, by Declan McCullagh: "Focusing on government power would keep intact the advantages of databasifcation - such as lower prices and cheaper mortgages - while limiting possible abuses by law enforcement. We should retain the benefts of living in a database nation while preventing it from devolving into a police state."

    May 06, 2004
    * Survey Reports Rising Concern With E-Mail Fraud

    An online survey conducted in April indicates "that 75% of accountholders are less likely to respond to email from their banks, and over 65% said they were less likely to sign-up or continue to use their bank’s online services." These results reflect growing consumer concern with phishing and email fraud, occurrences of which are increasingly the focus of news articles.

    May 04, 2004
    * Google's Future Plans

    Google may be heading deep into Microsoft's territory"...Google intends to extend information-searching in many directions: Mobile applications for wireless gadgets, more effective online shopping and social networking are all obvious applications of its technology."

    April 26, 2004
    * Review of Online Mortgage Websites

    Consumer Reports has published a review of six national mortgage loan websites that includes caveats about privacy issues and evaluations of respective service levels and value as compared to local bank rates.

    April 19, 2004
    * Getting the Best Web Fares Requires Diligence

    Digging Up Low Web Fares: Useful tips on how to locate competitive air fares online, with some work, persistence and flexibility in your choice of travel dates.

    April 14, 2004
    * Privacy Concerns May Result in Changes to Gmail

    As reported today by the WSJ, as well as via AP, privacy concerns raised in the U.S. and abroad about Google's new Gmail, still in beta, have resulted in the company considering alowing users to opt-in/opt-out of being served targeted ads, currently a component of the free email service.

  • Update on this issue from April 15: Google Downplays Report of Possible Gmail Changes
  • April 08, 2004
    * Heightened Focus on Gmail by Privacy Advocates

    From the World Privacy forum, this press release and letter (pdf) on behalf of a coalition of over two dozen privacy and advocacy groups, addressing Google's new webmail service, Gmail, specific to the retention and repurposing of user data for e-commerce and law enforcement applications.

  • Screenshots of Gmail from a beta tester, here and here.
  • March 09, 2004
    March 04, 2004
    * Amazon Now Delivers Product Info Via RSS Feeds

    Amazon.com Syndicated Content now provides users with the option of receiving product updates in hundreds of categories on "the top 10 bestsellers in that category," via RSS feeds.

    * With New Acquisition, Ask Jeeves Raises Stakes in Search Engine Competition

    Ask Jeeves today announced the purchase, for $150 million in cash in addition to stock, of Interactive Search Holdings, owner of "Web properties and businesses [that] include My Way, My Search, My Web Search, iWon, Excite and the MaxOnline advertising network." [thanks Donna]

  • For background, see this Information Week article and Smartmoney.com's financial analysis of the deal.
  • February 12, 2004
    * Vivisimo Launches eBay Search Tool

    The Vivisimo eBay search tool provides users with search results clustered according to the following categories: "auction titles and descriptions, price ranges, time left, and number of bids on item."

    February 05, 2004
    * New Data Mining Application Allows Users to Create Extensive, Targeted Online Libraries

    Mercury News reported on IBM's WebFountain Advanced Text Analytic Solutions, which according to this IBM overview, "enables access to multi-terabyte data stores of unstructured and semi-structured data. This includes internet data, weblogs, bulletin boards, enterprise data, legacy data, licensed content, newspapers, magazines and trade journals." The article states that the application is currently gathering data from 250 million web pages each week, and has been licensed for enterprise wide applications by clients such as Factiva.

    February 04, 2004
    * Washingtonpost.com To Require More Reader Info

    The Washington Post announced that through a section-by-section introdution over the next month, readers of washingtonpost.com will have to provide additional information beyond the familiar triad of zip code, age and gender (this information is referred to as "ZAG"). Joining other major national newspapers including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, the Post will require readers to provide "job title, a description of their primary responsibility, the size of their company and the industry in which they work." Links to the Washington Post and Dow Jones Business News articles.

    January 06, 2004
    * Yahoo to Part Ways With Google

    Yahoo Gets Set to Give Google Run for Money. The search engine competition is prepared to heat-up in 2004 with the hyping of a Google IPO, and rival Yahoo is reportedly planning their own enhancements in the arenas of paid inclusion and search features.

    January 05, 2004
    * E-Commerce Websites Modify Privacy Policies

    Companies Alter Privacy Policies:

  • "As online marketing matures, many companies are finding privacy policies that once seemed acceptable as constricting as clothing that has been outgrown and, like a too-tight suit, must be altered."
  • * Site Auctions Property Seized by Police

    As I previously posted December 9, hundreds of cities and localities around the country are turning to the web to auction unclaimed property using eBay. The New York Times reported on January 4 that New York City has chosen to auction a vast array of items from its property rooms using an online auction site co-founded by a former NYPD officer.

    December 30, 2003
    * Recent Research Report on Travel Websites

    From ConsumerWeb Watch, a report issued December 8, Booking and Bidding in the Blind: An In-Depth Examination of Opaque Travel Web Sites

  • From the Executive Summary: "Booking travel can be complicated, but the complexities increase tremendously when a consumer books through an "opaque" travel Web site such as Hotwire or Priceline that does not reveal key aspects of the itinerary — including the name of the airline, hotel property, or car rental firm — until after the non-refundable reservation has been made. Further, that process can be even more complex if the opaque site requires the consumer to bid for the travel product, as Priceline does."
  • December 29, 2003
    * Robotic Book Scanning a Tool for Preservation and E-Commerce

    This past May, I posted on a digital book scanning project underway at the Stanford University Libraries. As a follow-up, the USA Today reports on automated digital scanning hardware and software from Kirtas Technologies, Inc. that facilitates the "digitization of massive document libraries, fully automating the scanning of bound documents (emphasis added) at a capture rate of 1200 pages per hour." The Library of Congress has an Information Technology Services (ITS) scanning team, and Amazon has undertaken a program to scan millions of books for its Search Inside the Book application.

  • See also, Amazon page search alarms writers of cookbooks, references...."Even with the print function disabled, authors fear recipe theft."
  • December 12, 2003
    * World's Largest Databases

    According to the Winter Corporation Top Ten Program for 2003, the organizations identified as maintaining the "world's largest and most heavily used databases" using either Windows or Linux platforms include: France Telecom, AT&T, Amazon.com, FedEx Services, and at number 4, an organization listed as "Anonymous." [Slashdot]

    December 09, 2003
    * In New Twist on E-Gov, States Sell Goods on e-Bay

    Cash-strapped states and localities nationwide are turning to eBay to sell everything from yachts to unclaimed goods in the possession of police departments, according to USA Today.

    December 08, 2003
    * Net Tax Moratorium to Expire by Year's End

    The Tax Relief Extension Act of 2003 (H.R. 3521 and S. 1896) will expire on December 31, 2003.

  • 'Net Tax Ban Renewal Hopes Fade for 2003
  • November 28, 2003
    * Using the Web for Holiday Shopping Competitive Pricing

    Online Search Engines Rev Up for Holidays: Links to search engines and meta-sites to facilitate online comparison pricing for consumer goods.

    November 24, 2003
    * Report Cites Tech Elite As Early Adopters of Gadgets and Services

    A new report from the Pew Internet Project, released November 23, 2003:

  • "Consumption of Information Goods and Services in the United States: There is a trendsetting technology elite in the U.S. who chart the course for the use of information goods and services."

  • Link to Table of Contents or download the full report in pdf (39 pages).
  • * The Real Price Associated With Free Web Applications

    When Free Isn't Really Free: Free applications may include adware, spyware, virusus, and result in copyright infringement lawsuits (music downloading). The article refers to the CDT report on spyware issued last week, about which I posted here and legislation to protect consumers against the collection of personal data via spyware, about which I posted here.

    * UN Report on the State of Global E-Commerce

    United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, E-Commerce and Development Report 2003 (228 pages, pdf).

  • From the press release: "The E-Commerce and Development Report focuses on trends in information and communications technologies (ICT), such as e-commerce and e-business, and on national and international policy and strategy options for improving the development impact of these technologies in developing countries."

  • See also, Developing Nations Begin to Embrace Internet Commerce, from the New York Times.
  • November 19, 2003
    * New Survey Indicates Growing Consumer Concern With ID Theft

    A recently conducted customer information protection survey highlights increasing consumer concerns regarding the security of their personal data in online transactions, especially in the e-tail arena. The survey identifies specific companies (including American Express, eBay and AOL) and industries (including hospitals, pharmacies and banks) in whom respondents indicated particular trust.

    * New Link to CRS Reports on First Amendment Issues

    From FAS, this link to CRS reports for Congress on First Amendment topics, from the First Amendment Center. The 16 reports were published in 2003, and address topics that include Internet privacy, freedom of press and speech, and regulation of the telemarketing industry.

    November 18, 2003
    * E-Mail Publisher's Commentary on CAN-SPAM Act

    The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003: Real Reform or Political Pork? by Neil J. Squillante:

  • "Many of my peers in the online marketing industry claim that requiring permission (opting in) would destroy email’s commercial potential. I disagree and can personally attest to the fact that permission is good for business. If companies produce outstanding email newsletters and promotional messages, people will subscribe in large numbers—especially in a spam-free world."

  • See also Clock Ticking on Spam, 'Net Access Bills' which indicates that it is unlikely the House and Senate will resolve their differences to craft an acceptable bill prior to the end of the session.

  • November 17, 2003
    * Privacy Groups Organize Opposition to ID Technology Used on Consumer Goods

    From PrivacyRights.org, Position Statement on the Use of RFID on Consumer Products:

  • "Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an item-tagging technology with profound societal implications. Used improperly, RFID has the potential to jeopardize consumer privacy, reduce or eliminate purchasing anonymity, and threaten civil liberties. As organizations and individuals committed to the protection of privacy and civil liberties, we have come together to issue this statement on the deployment of RFID in the consumer environment. In the following pages, we describe the technology and its uses, define the risks, and discuss potential public policy approaches to mitigate the problems we raise."
  • * Effective Corporate Use of the Web

    From BusinessWeek.com: The Web Smart 50: Areas evaluated include collaboration, customer service, customization, streamlining, management and cutting edge applications.

  • "Meet the masters of the Web. We've divided them into six categories and have shown how they're using the Web to benefit their customers -- and themselves."
  • November 14, 2003
    * Variant of Worm Seeks to Steal Credit Card Info

    New worm variant targets identity data:

  • A new twist has been applied to an email worm, called Mimail, that appeared this past August, and it has been harnassed specifically to steal credit card data from customers of PayPal, the online payment service, which is owned by eBay.
  • * Search Inside the Book Services Hailed and Condemned

    Dipping into books online: Is it stealing?:

  • "Amazon.com says its new 'Search Inside the Book' feature has boosted sales. But authors worry that people will read just what they need and not buy the book."
  • November 12, 2003
    * FTC Issues Advisory to Online Retailers on Shipping Claims

    FTC "Surf" of 51 Internet Retailers Designed to Strengthen Consumer Confidence in Online Shopping:

  • In an effort to ensure that holiday shoppers receive their purchases within the time frame promised on the sites of web retailers, and that their purchase are accompanied by proper warranties, the FTC has issued letters to 37 e-tailers to reinforce "the Internet as a solid retailing medium."

  • Also from the FTC, this web shopping tip sheet: Holiday shopping online? Wrap up a good buy!

  • * Two New Reports Survey Registrar Services and Market Share

    From Ben Edelman, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School:

  • Survey of Domain Registration Services - "Numerous competitive registrars offer diverse domain registration services to individuals, companies, and organizations. This site attempts to index and analyze their service offerings, facilitating analysis by other researchers and in preparation for additional analysis by the author."

  • Alternative Perspectives on Registrar Market Share - "Registrar market shares are measured in selected subsets of domain names, providing a basis for comparison with overall registrar market shares across the entire domain name market. Registrar market shares are found to vary dramatically across these subsets, with implications on the future customer retention rates of the corresponding registrars."
  • November 11, 2003
    * New Version of IE to Include Ad Blocker

    According to News.com, Microsoft will include a a pop-up blocker in the new version of Internet Explorer for Windows XP, early next year.

    November 07, 2003
    * Court Grants FDA's Request to Close Down Canadian Rx Website

    Online Drug Pharmacy Shuttered:

  • U.S. District Judge Claire V. Eagan (Northern District, Oklahoma) shut down Rx Depot, a company based in the U.S. that allows consumers to purchase prescription medications from Canada at signifcantly reduced cost.

  • See also the FDA Statement on Rx Depot Decision
  • * Reaction Varies to Amazon's New Search Feature

    In Amazon's Text-Search, a Field Day for Book Browsers:

  • Feedback about Amazon's recently launched Search Inside the Book feature includes kudos for the keyword search capability, predictions of increased book purchases, and opinions that the tool is a novelty and time waster.
  • * Internet Tax Ban Vote Postponed

    The Senate vote on a ban on taxes for Internet services (ISPs, music and entertainment) was postponed due to lack of agreement on the time frame for the extension (either five years, or permanently). States contend that lost revenues from a permanent ban will amount to more than $20 billion per year.

  • Internet Tax Non-discrimination Act of 2003 (S. 150)

  • Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act (H.R. 49)

  • Press release: National League of Cities: Internet Bill S. 150 Will Hurt Essential Services in Cities and Towns Nationwide

  • November 06, 2003
    * FTC Obtains TRO Against Company Using Pop-Up Ad Scam Scheme

    The Federal Trade Commission issued a news release today on a temporary restraining order obtained from District Court, Northern District of Maryland against D Squared Solutions, a company that bombarded Windows Messenger service users with pop-up ads, whether or not consumers were on the web.

  • Complaint for Injunctive and Other Equitable Relief

  • Temporary Restraining Order and Order to Show Cause

  • List of Web Sites Operated by D Squared and its Licensee

  • Ready to Pop Your Top Over "Pop Up Spam?" Here's How to Make it Stop
  • November 04, 2003
    * Amazon Tinkers With Search Inside The Book Service

    Amazon's Search Inside the Book database which allows consumers the chance to search the text of books and print pages (up to 100 in some cases) prior to purchase, ran into controversy with its launch October 23. Today Wired reported that the service will no longer permit users of the service to print pages that they may view from within books, due to objections from authors.

    October 31, 2003
    * Google's IPO and Talks With Microsoft

    Today's New York Times reported that Google seems intent on pursuing an IPO in early 2004 (with an offering of 10-15% of the company's stock), and that talks with Microsoft have not resulted in any form of agreement.

    October 29, 2003
    * Google to Compete With Amazon on Searchable Book Database

    With Amazon having significantly increased the stakes in the e-commerce arena with the recent introduction of their Search Inside the Book service, news that a formidable new adversary may be actively exploring entering the same market. An article from yesterday's Publishers Weekly,The Amazoning of Google? Search Firm Looks for Book Content, indicates that "Google has said it has reached agreements that allow it to enter as many as 60,000 titles in its database and also presented extensive mock-ups to publishers of how book-relevant searches will look."

    October 28, 2003
    * Consumers of E-Publications More Web Savvy and Affluent

    According to a new Nielsen//NetRatings study (link not available, and commissioned by Newsstand), "users of so-called e-editions of print publications are shown to be more affluent, better educated and heavier users of the Internet than the average online user." [Link thanks to dc]

  • See also this pbs.org interview by Terence Smith that "examines the growing trend of electronic newsprint editions, and how newspaper publishers are working to keep pace with changing technologies."
  • October 27, 2003
    * Controversy Concerning Amazon's Inside the Book Service

    This link is to the text of an email sent by the Author's Guild to its 8,000 plus members, voicing concerns about Amazon's new Search Inside the Book database:

  • The Guild questions whether proper permissions were received from the authors of the 120,000 books in Amazon's database. In addition, the organization has deteremined that it is possible to print more than 100 consecutive pages, free, from works that include best selling books.

  • See also Amazon Offer Worries Authors
  • October 24, 2003
    * More On the New Amazon Inside the Book Service

    From the December 2003 issue of Wired Magazine, this article provides background and details about the development and implementation of Amazon's new Search Inside the Book service comprised of more than 120,000 books that have been scanned into an electronic archive.

  • "The archive is intentionally crippled. A search brings back not text, but pictures -- pictures of pages. You can find the page that responds to your query, read it on your screen, and browse a few pages backward and forward. But you cannot download, copy, or read the book from beginning to end. There is no way to link directly to any page of a book. If you want to read an extensive excerpt, you must turn to the physical volume -- which, of course, you can conveniently purchase from Amazon."
  • October 23, 2003
    * Book Buyers May Now Search Text Prior to Purchasing

    In a posting on September 10, I noted that Amazon was preparing a new service for mid-September release, called Look Inside the Book II. A press release today from Amazon announced that an expansion to the service has been launched, Search Inside the Book, that enables "customers to find books at Amazon.com based on every word inside more than 120,000 books -- more than 33 million pages of searchable text. Customers can also preview the inside text of these books. Search Inside the Book is integrated into Amazon.com's standard search and includes books from all genres."

  • See this How It Works page for screen shots and examples of the service. The Search Inside the Book FAQ page provides further details.

  • October 17, 2003
    * Minnesota Cannot Regulate Internet Telephony

    Yesterday Judge Michael J. Davis of the United States District Court of Minnesota released a 22 page decision, Vonage Holdings Corporation, Civil No. 03-5287 (MJD/JGL) Plaintiff, v. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, following his October 8 bench ruling.

  • From the Judge's summary: "Plaintiff Vonage Holdings Corporation ("Vonage") provides a service that permits voice communications over the Internet. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission ("MPUC") issued an order requiring Vonage to comply with Minnesota laws that regulate telephone companies. Vonage has asked this Court to enjoin the MPUC, arguing that it provides information services, and not telecommunications services. The Court concludes that Vonage is an information service provider."

  • From the Discussion: "The Court concludes that based on the previously-discussed congressional intent to leave Internet and information services unregulated, granting an injunction is in the public interest."
  • October 16, 2003
    * VeriSign Announces Sale of Network Solutions and Possible Re-Launch of Site Finder

    From VeriSign's press release: "VeriSign, Inc, the leading provider of critical infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to sell the Network Solutions business unit to Pivotal Private Equity. Under the terms of the agreement, VeriSign will receive approximately $100 million..." The company will retain its VeriSign Naming and Directory Services, which "is the backbone of a global .com and .net domain name infrastructure that handles over 10 billion interactions per day." [Link]

  • There is also news that VeriSign plans to relaunch their controversial web-typo service,