Court order on YouTube user data fans privacy fears
A U.S. judge’s order to Google Inc to turn over YouTube user data to Viacom Inc sparked an outcry on Thursday from privacy advocates in the midst of a legal showdown over video piracy.Viacom, owner of movie studio Paramount and MTV Networks, requested the information as part of its $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against […]
Google in deal with Brazil to fight child porn
Internet search company Google signed an agreement with Brazilian public prosecutors on Wednesday to help combat child pornography on its social networking site Orkut, an accord that the company believes is the first of its kind internationally. Under the agreement, Google will use filters to remove and prevent illegal content on Orkut, which has about […]
Microsoft seeks allies for new Yahoo move: report
Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) is preparing a new bid for Yahoo Inc’s (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) search business and has approached other media companies about joining it in a deal that would effectively lead to Yahoo’s breakup, the Wall Street Journal said. Microsoft has already held talks with Time […]
Rhapsody to challenge iTunes by embracing the iPod
Digital music seller Rhapsody is launching a $50 million marketing assault on Apple’s iTunes, offering songs online and via partners including Yahoo Inc and Verizon Wireless, Rhapsody said on Monday.The songs will be sold in MP3 format, which means users of the Rhapsody service will be able to play them on iPods.
Before now Rhapsody, jointly […]
Get ready for .smith, .sports or .love on the Web
Internet regulators on Thursday voted to relax rules on domain names like .com or .edu, which could pave the way for companies or individuals to create an array of new addresses for the Web.The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, also approved measures that will allow top-level domain names to be written […]
EBay to let outside software work inside its site
EBay Inc on Monday unveiled plans to let outside software programs work inside the world’s largest e-commerce site, joining a trend toward openness that fueled the popularity of the social network website Facebook.At the online auction leader’s annual conference for software developers in Chicago, eBay is laying out Project Echo, a plan to give independent […]
MySpace plans redesign for next week
News Corp’s MySpace plans a global redesign next week in an attempt to widen its demographics and boost user engagement on the site, the social networking site said on Friday.In what it said would be the largest scale relaunch of a website of its size, MySpace will change its home page, navigation, profile editing, search, […]
Time Warner scraps Weather Channel bid
Time Warner Inc (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) withdrew its bid to buy the Weather Channel after refusing to raise its offer, leaving NBC Universal and its partners in exclusive talks with the network’s owner, Landmark Communications.“The consortium made up of NBC Universal and the private equity firms of Blackstone and Bain has been […]
Microsoft offered $9 bln for Yahoo stake, search deal
When Yahoo Inc turned down the latest offer from Microsoft Corp this week, it walked away from $9 billion in cash and $1 billion a year in additional operating profit, Microsoft said on Friday.In an e-mail to employees, Microsoft platforms and services division president Kevin Johnson said it had offered $8 billion for a 16 […]
Shareholders seek prompt trial in Yahoo lawsuit
Shareholders suing Yahoo Inc’s board of directors are seeking a trial before the company’s August 1 annual meeting to challenge an employee severance plan they contend is an obstacle to a merger with Microsoft Corp.Lawyers representing two Detroit pension funds suing the Internet company over its rebuff of a $47.5 billion buyout offer from software […]