MicroHoo-Ying Eyeing Global Reach, What About Ask?

There's a report from Reuters this morning that Microsoft and Yahoo are considering expanding the scope of their search deal "outside the United States": Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday the company could look to extend its search engine partnership with Yahoo outside the United States, if it gets regulatory approval. Wasn't that already the intention? I thought it was a global deal already. European regulators wouldn't be considering it if it didn't apply to their markets; they wouldn't have jurisdiction. So I guess I'm a bit confused I guess. Regardless, if [...]

Filed in: Ask: General, Legal: General, Microsoft: Bing, Microsoft: Outside US, Microsoft: Partnerships, Yahoo: Outside US


Facebook Wins Big Anti-Spam Judgment

Facebook has been in an ongoing fight against spam and yesterday announced a significant victory in court. The company said it had obtained an eye-popping $711 million judgment against Spam King Sanford Wallace who had had posted unwanted messages on Facebook users' Walls. Wallace, who is reportedly bankrupt may also face time in the big house. According to the Facebook blog: While we don't expect to receive the vast majority of the award, we hope that this will act as a continued deterrent against these criminals. Most notably, the judge referred Wallace to the U.S. Attorney's Office with a [...]

Filed in: Facebook, Legal: General


Report: Most People Don’t Want Online Tracking Even If It Means Relevant Ads Or Savings

Get ready marketers: a credible new report with sweeping implications from the University of Pennsylvania and UC Berkeley is likely to be the nail in the coffin of self regulation of online advertising. Specifically I'm talking about behavioral targeting, which largely concerns online display advertising but does marginally touch search at Yahoo and Google. The NY Times discussed the report, released today: The study’s authors hired a survey company to conduct interviews with 1,000 adult Internet users. The interview, which lasted about 20 minutes, included questions like “Please tell [...]

Filed in: Google: Legal, Google: Web History & Search History, Legal: General, Legal: Privacy, Search Ads: Behavioral Targeting, Yahoo: Legal


MicroHoo Search Deal Faces DOJ Scrutiny, CEO Bartz Would Have Let MSFT Buy All Of Yahoo

Bloomberg is reporting this morning that the US Department of Justice has decided to look more closely at the MicroHoo search deal. Microsoft and Yahoo are to provide more information on their "ad pricing and product plans, a person familiar with the matter said." This is not a surprise. The companies must convince regulators that the deal will not harm competition or adversely affect SEM pricing. They must also do a similar dance in Europe, where a parallel process will take place. In the end, however, it's likely the deal will be approved given broad US and EU concerns about Google's mark [...]

Filed in: Legal: General, Microsoft: Bing, Yahoo: Business Issues, Yahoo: Legal, Yahoo: Outside US, Yahoo: Partnerships


Yahoo Wins In Lawsuit Over Search Descriptions

Eric Goldman updated us on a case where Yahoo was sued for showing spam and porn pages for a search on a person's name. Beverly Stayart was upset that when you searched for her name on Yahoo, Yahoo returned some results that were not to her liking. So she sued Yahoo but the court wouldn't have it. Goldman explained that the court rejected her suit on three different levels. She sued Yahoo for Lanham Act false endorsement and it was denied by the court, as expected. The reason it was rejected? Goldman sums it up as follows: The court denies Various' 230 defense because its associatio [...]

Filed in: Legal: Crawling & Indexing, Legal: General, Yahoo: Legal


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