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.”

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]

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."

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.

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

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.

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."

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."

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)."

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

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."

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."

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.

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."

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

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."

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]

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."

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.

"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."

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

"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."

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.

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.

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."

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."

"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."

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."

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."

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."

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)

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."

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."

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..."

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."

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."

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."

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.

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."

• Top 25 Government Domains Report Card
  
• Internet Retailer 300 Report Card
  
• OTA email authentication resources

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."

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."

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."

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."

"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."

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)."

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."

"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."

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."

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."

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."

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."

"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."

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."

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..."

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 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."

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

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."

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."

"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]"

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."

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."

OECD Ministerial Meeting -- The Future of the Internet Economy, Seoul, Korea, 17-18 June 2008. Shaping Policies for Creativity, Confidence and Convergence in the Digital World

• The Seoul Declaration for the Future of the Internet Economy
  
• Chair's Summary
  
• Shaping policies for the future of the Internet economy
  
• Shaping policies for the future of the Internet economy: Annexes
  (including Recommendations and Guidances)

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."

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."

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.

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."

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."

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."

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

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: "...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."

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."

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."

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."

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."

"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."

Your Guide to Online Privacy, by Mark Glaser

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%."

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

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%)."

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."

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."

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."

"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.

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."

"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."

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."

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."

• Proposed Acquisition of Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners V, LP, (Click Holding Company) By Google Inc., File No. 071 0170


• Statement of the Commission


• Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Harbour


• Concurring Statement of Commissioner Leibowitz


• Closing Letter to Counsel for Google Inc.


• Closing Letter to Counsel for Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners V, LP


• Online Behavioral Advertising: Moving the Discussion Forward to Possible Self-Regulatory Principles: Statement of the Bureau of Consumer Protection Proposing Governing Principles For Online Behavioral Advertising and Requesting Comment - Text of Staff Statement


• EPIC and CDD have raised far-reaching objections to the merger. EPIC Statement.


• European Consumers' Organisation: Google/DoubleClick: Consumers' privacy is at stake >>Press release >>Letter to Commissioner Kroes
  Permanent Link

"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."

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."

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."

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.)"

"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."

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

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."

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."

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

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."

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?

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."

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),

"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."

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."

"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."

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..."

"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."

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

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."

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."

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."

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."

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."

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."

"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."

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."

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

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 & 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."

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

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%."

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."

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

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."

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

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."

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"

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.

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."

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

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

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

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."

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

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.

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."

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."

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."

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."

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."

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]

Eyetracking points the way to effective news article design:

"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."

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

"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."

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."

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]

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."

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

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

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."

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."

"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."

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."

"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."

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).

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."

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.

WSJ free feature: Revisiting the Early Net - A Slate of Predictions Made for 1995 Reveal What Has and Hasn't Changed

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."

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."

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.

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

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."

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."

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.

"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."

Follow up to September 18, 2006 - posting Belgian Court Rules Against Google in Copyright Dispute:

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

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

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."

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 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."

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"

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."

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."

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.

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."

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

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.

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."

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.

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)."

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.

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]

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."

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.

WSJ free feature: Homing In on Lower Airfares - Web Sites Offer New Features To Help Users Time Purchases To Get a Better Travel Deal

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.

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).

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."

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."

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."

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

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

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 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]

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

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.

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

The Three Factors for a Successful Online Banking Site

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."

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

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.

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

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."

"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."

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.

Newsweek: Why Privacy Won't Matter Google, Yahoo and Microsoft desperately want to know every last thing about what you do, say and buy. Here's how they'll do it—and why we'll let them.

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.

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."

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."

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.)

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

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."

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

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:

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.

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

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).

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:

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.)"

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:

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:

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

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.

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..."

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:

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."

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."

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."

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.

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.

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.

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

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: "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."

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

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.

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.

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."

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

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

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."

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."

New York Times: Googling Literature: The Debate Goes Public

Related references:

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.

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."

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

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

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:

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

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."

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.

More charges for L.A. man in ChoicePoint ID theft - Oluwatunji Oluwatosin now faces 22 more charges, L.A. prosecutors say.

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.

"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]

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."

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:

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.

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."

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.

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

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."

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.

Reading Between the Lines of Used Book Sales.

Related references from the article:

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

"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 includes recommendations on more than 3,000 websites and blogs, on topics that include investing, health, e-commerce, management, travel and careers.

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."

"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]

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."

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."

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.

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

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

WSJ Free Content today, Marketers Scan Blogs For Brand Insights

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."

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:

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):

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."

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

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."

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.

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

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.

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."

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."

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

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."

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."

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).

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.

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

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.

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

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

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."

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.

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."

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

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.

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).

Look Who's Blogging - How five executives got blog religion and are using it to their professional and personal advantage.

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.

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."

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."

As Piracy Battle Nears Supreme Court, the Messages Grow Manic

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.

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."

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.

Survey: Web Sites Building Better Brand Loyalty Than Physical Stores

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):

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.

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:

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

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

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 EPIC, Top Ten Consumer Privacy Resolutions.

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.

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.

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

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.

"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]

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.

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].

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

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."

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.

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

"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]

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]

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:

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

Barbarians at the Digital Gate

"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]

Amazon Gets Top Marks For Customer Satisfaction In Study

From the Internet Pharmacy and Online Pharmacies Verification website:

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."

Paid Listings Complicate Search for Quality Lawyers Online:

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)

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

Company Plugs RSS as Alternate to E-Mail Marketing

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.

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."

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."

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.

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.

Car Dealers Feel Net Effect

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?"

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

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

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."

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

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."

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.

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.

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.

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."

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

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."

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

Want to compare prices and find deals for online merchandise? We tell you which Web sites do the job--and which don't.

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.

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]

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."

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.

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.

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.

Companies Alter Privacy Policies:

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.

From ConsumerWeb Watch, a report issued December 8, Booking and Bidding in the Blind: An In-Depth Examination of Opaque Travel Web Sites

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.

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]

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.

The Tax Relief Extension Act of 2003 (H.R. 3521 and S. 1896) will expire on December 31, 2003.

Online Search Engines Rev Up for Holidays: Links to search engines and meta-sites to facilitate online comparison pricing for consumer goods.

A new report from the Pew Internet Project, released November 23, 2003:

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.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, E-Commerce and Development Report 2003 (228 pages, pdf).

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.

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.

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003: Real Reform or Political Pork? by Neil J. Squillante:

From PrivacyRights.org, Position Statement on the Use of RFID on Consumer Products:

From BusinessWeek.com: The Web Smart 50: Areas evaluated include collaboration, customer service, customization, streamlining, management and cutting edge applications.

New worm variant targets identity data:

Dipping into books online: Is it stealing?:

FTC "Surf" of 51 Internet Retailers Designed to Strengthen Consumer Confidence in Online Shopping:

From Ben Edelman, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School:

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.

Online Drug Pharmacy Shuttered:

In Amazon's Text-Search, a Field Day for Book Browsers:

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.

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.

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.

New on LLRX.com this week:

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.

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."

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]

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:

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.

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."

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 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]