Publishing:

• Google's VP of product management isn't thinking about the interests of publishers, and doesn't really think he has to. To the question of whether or not the programmatic systems he's touting effectively reduce the value of premium inventory, he says it'll augment sales, not replace the direct sales. What if this has the effect of creating a media storefront with a permanent 80 percent off discount? Then, implicitly, Google thinks premium media commands too high a price, and that this will be corrected by the market.
• The Daily Mail is trying to exploit its sudden vault in online traffic by hiring in premium sales staff, swimming against the robotic buying trend.

Privacy:

• Europe continues to push unworkable privacy regimes, pushing rules against the use of information that could identify "a natural person … directly or indirectly by means likely to be used by the Data Controller… in particular by reference to an identification number, location data, online identifier…."

Ad Tech:

• Ad Age reports that recent rumors of Facebook Buying Microsoft's Atlas division are soon to come true.