Facebook Cuts Google's 'Friend Connect' Out of API Program

Facebook has banned Google's Friend Connect from its API program, reports TechCrunch. The ban occurred mere days after the near-simultaneous launches of Facebook Connect and Google's Friend Connect. Both services enable users to sync profile information across all social networks. Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly told TechCrunch that the ban is a privacy issue, not a […]

Posted: Friday, May 16th, 2008

Overstock Deserts, Amazon Sues, New York State

Amazon has filed suit against New York in response to a new law requiring online retailers to collect tax from buyers in the state. Rival Overstock took a less complex measure: it has canceled relationships with its 3,400 New York-based affiliates, reports The New York Times. "We can’t afford to have our New York affiliates up online […]

Posted: Friday, May 16th, 2008

craigslist Countersuit: eBay Stole Trade Secrets

craigslist filed a countersuit against eBay, challenging the latter’s allegations that craigslist discriminated against eBay as a shareholder, and alleging that eBay used its minority stake in craigslist to steal corporate trade secrets for the launch of Kijiji, MediaBuyerPlanner writes. The countersuit states eBay engaged in copyright infringement and used misleading ads on Google — designed […]

Posted: Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Phorm Still Has a Lot of Public Relations to Do

Despite Phorm's self-styled aggressive stance on user privacy, UK customers remain adamantly distrustful of the service, reports ISPreview. A survey of 1090 ISPreview readers found 57 percent would leave their ISP if it partnered with Phorm to serve targeted advertising. Phorm works with ISPs to track online activity, then creates unique profiles of users interests. Relevant ads […]

Posted: Monday, May 12th, 2008

Photo Retoucher Defends Integrity of Dove 'Real Beauty' Campaign

A quote from a photo retoucher for Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty has generated questions about how "real" any of the beauties actually were. In the May 12 issue of the New Yorker, Pascal Dangin — photo retoucher for Annie Leibovitz, who created the Real Beauty ads for Dove and Ogilvy — said this with regard […]

Posted: Friday, May 9th, 2008

Google Attempts to Patent Ad Consumption Behavior

Techdirt reports that Google is trying to patent targeted video advertising behaviors that compel audiences to watch a set number of TV commercials in exchange for programming. The patent for "Targeted Video Advertising" includes the following clauses: [1] 'Users may be allowed to skip particular commercials, but required to watch or accept a set number of commercials […]

Posted: Monday, May 5th, 2008

eBay Airs Dirty Legal Nappies: craigslist Suit Goes Public

eBay has released full details of its lawsuit against craigslist, an online classifieds site in which it owns a 28.4 percent stake. The suit was filed in April. According to the document, eBay "seeks equitable and legal relief against [craigslist executives] Newmark and Buckmaster, for breaching their fiduciary duties of care, loyalty and good faith by implementing […]

Posted: Friday, May 2nd, 2008

CW: Sorry Mates, No Online 'Gossip Girl' for You

Against the gospel of bigger networks like NBCU and ABC, the CW has decided to stop streaming episodes of flagship show Gossip Girl online. Executives are concerned the show's online popularity may be contributing to its weakness on TV. For while Gossip Girl is among the most downloaded shows on iTunes and a strong generator of […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Spammers Crack CAPTCHA; ReCAPTCHA to the Rescue?

SecurityLabs has written an analysis on how spammers increasingly evade Captcha to impersonate humans with bots. CAPTCHA, or "the Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart," is a common line of defense against comment spam and false registrations on websites. Last year CAPTCHA released a means to correct digitized books while checking for […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Olympics Channel Launches Amid Strikes in Beijing, Torch Trouble in Paris

The NewsMarket debuted the Beijing 2008 Olympics Channel today. The destination will provide free news content about the Beijing games in both English and Chinese. It will also include video for use by journalists and bloggers. The page went live despite drama about the pending state of internet access over the course of the Games. According […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

Resellers Give Vendors Poor Marks on Leads, Marketing Campaign Effectiveness

Despite billions of dollars spent on lead-generation programs and branding campaigns, a significant portion of these expenditures are not driving channel performance or product sell-through, the CMO Council reports, citing its Channel Performance Outlook Study, writes MarketingCharts. In some cases, marketing and sales activities may well be alienating the channel, reducing trust, confusing the customer […]

Posted: Monday, April 7th, 2008

Microsoft Loses Cool, Gives Yahoo Three-Week Ultimatum

Microsoft has sent Yahoo a letter stating it has three weeks to move on its $44.6 billion buyout offer. If the companies fail to form a pact by then, "we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors," […]

Posted: Monday, April 7th, 2008

Gentoo Awarded Nearly $200K for 'Net Libel Damages; Representative Demands Web Publisher Conduct Code

Gentoo Sunderland, formerly the Sunderland Housing Group, has been awarded £100,000 (about $199,434) in compensation for cyber harassment. This is the highest amount ever awarded in the UK for internet libel damages. Several years ago the firm was targeted by anonymous website Dad's Place, which made "seriously defamatory allegations ranging from corruption to nepotism and the […]

Posted: Friday, April 4th, 2008

Google Sets Shears to DoubleClick, Opts to Sell Performics

Google has begun laying off employees at DoubleClick. The search giant would not specify how many it plans to drop, but the New York Times pegs the figure at around 300. "We have been working to match and align DoubleClick employees in the US with our organizational plan for the business" since the finalization of the […]

Posted: Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

Industry Buzz & Snippets: 4/3/08

Ad Networks and Analytics: CEO Matt Sanchez admitted Videoegg will incorporate non-video ad inventory because the in-video ad market is still small. 18,000 broadband users in the UK unknowingly had their behavior tracked by BT and Phorm in '06, part of a pilot test of Phorm's controversial behavioral ad-targeting platform. The Association for Downloadable Media will use the […]

Posted: Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

600 YouTube Users See Footage of Gang Rape

This week YouTube suffered reprimands from MPs after failing to remove footage of a gang rape. VP and General Counsel Kent Walker of Google attributed the mishap to "human error," according to the Guardian. "Our reviewers review a lot of material and in some cases simply just make a mistake," he said. The rape was viewed […]

Posted: Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

Trademark Use on AdWords is an Infringement, Court Rules

Late last year, Storus Corp sued Aroa for use of a trademarked term, "smart money clips," in AdWords ad copy. The United States District Court for the Northern District of California has just ruled in Storus' favor (PDF), setting a precedent for future instances of supposed trademark violation in AdWords copy. In defense of its violation, […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

Virgin Media Considers Three-Strikes Policy for UK Piracy

UK ISP Virgin Media and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) are discussing the possibility of a "three-strikes" copyright policy, reports Ars Technica. The policy would boot copyright infringers offline after three infractions. BPI enforcement agents would detect IP numbers for users on illegal P2P networks, then alert Virgin, which will warn violators multiple times before resorting […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

EA Gives Take-Two the Courtesy of an Extension

Despite two rebuffs from the smaller gaming company, Electronic Arts (EA) is neither backing down from, nor raising, its $2 billion hostile bid for Take-Two. EA has instead opted to give Take-Two an acceptance extension to April 18, The Associated Press reports. Take-Two is reportedly receptive to a buyout, but is holding off for a higher offer […]

Posted: Monday, March 31st, 2008

'Wired Wealthy' Donors Seek Inspiration, Engagement from Non-Profit Websites

The "wired wealthy" donor donates $11,000 a year on average. More than half of them call online giving their preferred channel, but feel nonprofit websites lack inspiration, connection, and opportunity for deeper engagement, according to a recent study, MarketingCharts reports. Below, some of the findings issued from the study by Convio, Sea Change Strategies and […]

Posted: Wednesday, March 26th, 2008