Nov 11, 2008 at 2:23pm ET by Matt McGee

In response to court orders, Yahoo and Google are censoring search results in Argentina about a variety of celebrities, including public officials, models, actors, and sports stars. According to an in depth article on OpenNet Initiative, this has been going on since 2006 and more than 100 people have succeeded in getting Google and Yahoo to filter search results in Argentina. Astonishingly, a search on Yahoo Argentina for [Diego Maradona] -- one of the world's most well known soccer stars and the current national team head coach -- produces zero results, along with a message from Yahoo [...]

India Sues Google, Yahoo & Microsoft For Allowing Sex Selection Search Ads

Aug 14, 2008 at 9:10am ET by Barry Schwartz

India's National Newspaper reports that India's Supreme Court is suing Google, Yahoo and Microsoft for allowing "sex selection" ads. India has a law that does not allow the sale or advertisement of services that allow people to pick the sex of their unborn child. India has virtually stopped all advertisements on TV, newsprint and radio, and are now trying to ban the ads online. India's "The Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act" disallows ads for services or products that aid in the selection of an unborn child's sex. Chief Justice K.G. Balakri [...]

Yahoo To Enable Opt Out Feature For Customized Ads

Aug 8, 2008 at 1:01pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo has announced that they will begin giving their users the ability to opt-out of customized advertising on Yahoo.com. The feature will be added to the Yahoo privacy center by the end of August. This is an expansion of Yahoo's opt-out program for third-party networks. This was done in response to the inquiry by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. You can read a bit more about that over here. [...]

Yahoo Advertiser Sues Over Click Fraud For $1 Million

Apr 17, 2008 at 8:50am ET by Barry Schwartz

Internet retailer sues Yahoo for $1 million from ComputerWorld reports Bigreds.com has sued Yahoo for over $1 million for click fraud. The online retailer of collectibles claims Yahoo has charged them over $936,000 between 2002 and 2006 for clicks received via Yahoo/Overture affiliates. Bigred is seeking over $1 million in damages and penalties. The bulk of the retailer's issue is that he is not happy that he received clicks from Overture affiliate sites. These sites are typically parked domains that contain ads from Yahoo or, back then, Overture. The retailer claims the source of the cli [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Legal: Clickfraud | Yahoo: Legal | Yahoo: Search Ads

Yahoo, You’re Not Off The Hook Over The Chinese Dissidents Case Says New Lawsuit

Feb 25, 2008 at 8:39am ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo Sued Again for Assisting the Persecution of Chinese Dissidents from the Epoch Times reports Yahoo is being sued once again for allegedly leaking personal information and aiding the Chinese Communist Party in Internet censorship and the persecution of dissidents. The China Democratic Party, China Social Democratic Party and the New People's Party filed suit against Yahoo in San Francisco Federal Court a couple days ago. The suit named Wang Xiaoning and Guo Quan as being persecuted by the CCP because of Yahoo. Although Yahoo has settled with two Chinese dissidents, they are said not to [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Legal: Privacy | Yahoo: Legal

Porn Company Wants Google & Yahoo To Protect Kids From Pornography

Feb 15, 2008 at 8:35am ET by Barry Schwartz

Porn studio wants Google, Yahoo to protect kids from adult video from the AFP reports Steven Hirsch, the co-founder of Vivid Entertainment, a pornography company, wants Google and Yahoo to do more in protecting children from accessing pornographic content. Steven Hirsch said: None of the search engines and portals, but particularly Yahoo and Google, has taken any significant steps in this direction. This is not about First Amendment rights, it is about protecting children. Hirsch will be addressing Yale's School of Management on February 16, during the Ivy League university's "Sex Week," [...]

Google, AOL, Yahoo, & Digg Sued For Playing Online Solitaire

Jan 7, 2008 at 9:47am ET by Barry Schwartz

Digg And Others Sued For Infringing Infamous Computer Solitaire Patent from Techdirt reports Google, Yahoo, AOL, and even Digg were all sued by Sheldon F. Goldberg for patent infringement of US Patent 6,264,560. The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls Sheldon a wanted person who has crimes against the public domain for threatening small online gaming websites and claiming to own basic online gaming architecture. He has been using these patents to threaten many companies but has now actually filed lawsuits against Google, Yahoo, AOL, and even Digg. The patent covers playing games like solit [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Legal | Legal: Patents | Yahoo: Legal

Yahoo China Loses Case On Linking To Unlicensed Music

Dec 21, 2007 at 9:04am ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo! Found Guilty of Mass Copyright Infringement from TorrentFreak reports Yahoo China lost the case over linking to unlicensed music in China. Didn't they already lose the case? Well, in April they were ordered to remove those links and ordered to pay 200,000 yuan. But they then appealed that ruling in November. Now the Beijing Court rejected that appeal and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is victorious. What confuses a lot of people is that Baidu was sued for a similar issue and they won the case against the music labels back in November of 2006. Joh [...]

Google, Yahoo, & Microsoft To Pay $31.5M For Illegal Gambling Ads

Dec 20, 2007 at 9:18am ET by Barry Schwartz

Microsoft, Google, Yahoo to Pay $31.5M Over Illegal Gambling Ads from ABC News reports the big three search engine companies settled with the US Justice Department to pay $31.5 million to educate that online gambling is illegal in the United States. Microsoft is paying the most with $21 million, followed by Yahoo shelling out $7.5 million and Google paying $3 million. The money will go into a government backed fund used to air public service announcements. Microsoft is also paying $9 million to International Center for Missing and Exploited Children as part of this settlement. For more cov [...]

Yahoo China Appeals Ruling To Remove Links To Unlicensed Music

Nov 16, 2007 at 9:26am ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo China Appeals 'Deep Link' Ruling from Billboard reports Yahoo China is appealing the [...]

Yahoo Settles Lawsuit With Chinese Dissidents

Nov 13, 2007 at 1:32pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo Settles With Chinese Dissidents from the Wall Street Journal reports Yahoo has settled the lawsuit brought to them over the two Chinese dissidents who were jailed illegally due to Yahoo handing over evidence to the Chinese government. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but we do know Yahoo has agreed to pay the legal fees of those who sued the company. More coverage is also coming out from other sources; see Techmeme for a full recap. Yahoo's CEO and General Counsel were recently grilled by Congress over this case. Yahoo's executive vice president and general counsel, Ca [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Legal: Privacy | Yahoo: Legal

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang Grilled By Congress On China, Offers Apology

Nov 6, 2007 at 3:52pm ET by Barry Schwartz

News.com has live blogging of the "Yahoo! Inc.'s Provision of False Information" hearing by the US House Of Representatives today. Jerry Yang, Yahoo's CEO, and Michael Callahan, Yahoo's General Counsel, stood before congress to give answers on the information the company provided to China that lead to the jailing of journalist Shi Tao imprisonment. Yang offered a personal apology to Tao's family today, saying: I want to take a moment to recognize the families of the dissidents sitting behind me. I want to say we are committed to doing what we can to secure their freedom. And I want to perso [...]

Yahoo’s Executive Apologizes Over Imprisonment Of Chinese Dissident

Nov 2, 2007 at 8:55am ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo Executive Offers Apology to Lawmakers from the Wall Street Journal reports Michael Callahan, executive vice president and general counsel of Yahoo, issued a statement apologizing for providing incorrect information to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs over the jailed Chinese reporter. Part of the statement read: I neglected to directly alert the committee of this new information and that oversight led to a misunderstanding that I deeply regret and have apologized to the Committee for creating It is alleged that Yahoo's actions have lead to the imprisonment of a dissident in Chin [...]

Jerry Yang & Friends Called To Testify On Chinese Dissidents Case

Oct 17, 2007 at 7:50am ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo execs called to testify about 'false information' from MarketWatch reports that Yahoo's Jerry Yang and general counsel Michael Callahan were told by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to testify on November 6th about Yahoo's involvement in giving information in the jailed Chinese dissidents case. The statement released by Chairman Tom Lantos said they want the two to discuss: How the Internet company gave false information to Congress about its role in a human rights case in China that sent a journalist to jail for a decade. Yahoo released the following statement: The decision to s [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Legal: Privacy | Yahoo: Legal

AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo Sued Over Competitive Bidding Patent

Oct 3, 2007 at 9:49am ET by Barry Schwartz

AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo Sued Over Competitive Bidding Patent from InformationWeek reports Performance Pricing filed a patent lawsuit (PDF document) against AOL, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo over how they use competitive bidding within their search ad marketplace. The patent, named Systems and methods for transacting business over a global communications, was granted in 2005, and covers actives such as "video games, electronic board games, crossword puzzles or other word games, sports betting, card games, or any other activity or combination of activities," InformationWeek reports. The [...]

Yahoo Sued Over Public Art Modification

Oct 3, 2007 at 9:30am ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo Company Art Exhibit Stirs Up Controversy from ABC reports that Sharon Louden, the artist Yahoo hired to provide art around their campus, has sued them over changing the landscape around the art. The art installed is named Reflective Tips and consists of clusters of wires with reflectors spread out along the Yahoo campus, looking like they are growing out of the grass. Originally, the grass around the installation was long. Then Yahoo cut the grass, after someone complained to the city that Yahoo wasn't maintaining its landscape properly. But Louden says long grass is part of the instal [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Yahoo: Legal

Yahoo Asks Court To Dismiss Jailed Chinese Reporter Case

Aug 28, 2007 at 8:56am ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo to Court: Dismiss Torture Case from the New York Times blog reports that Yahoo is requesting that the court dismiss the lawsuit brought by jailed Chinese reporter. Chinese reporter Shi Tao was jailed and allegedly tortured by the Chinese government after Yahoo provided evidence against the reporter to the Chinese government. He then sued Yahoo over its involvement in the case and others. Yahoo, in its filing, argued that this case "has no place in the American courts:" This is a lawsuit by citizens of China imprisoned for using the Internet in China to express political views in viol [...]

Yahoo China & MSN China Sign Controversial “Self-Discipline Pact” With China

Aug 27, 2007 at 10:13am ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo!, Microsoft ink web pact with Chinese government from The Register reports Yahoo China and MSN China have signed a pact with the Chinese government that "encourages" rather than requires bloggers to identify themselves to the companies with real names, contact details and for the companies to censor material. Reporters Without Borders claims the new "self-discipline pact" from the Internet Society of China will make it easier for the Chinese government to crack down on bloggers. This decision will have grave consequences for the Chinese blogosphere and marks the end of anonymous blogg [...]

Qihoo Wins Unfair Competition Suit Against Yahoo China

Aug 16, 2007 at 9:05am ET by Barry Schwartz

Qihoo lawsuit win closes chapter in dispute with China Yahoo from Interfax reports Qihoo has won an unfair competition lawsuit against Yahoo China. Yahoo China has to pay Qihoo $9,210 and post an apology on their home page. This news comes after Yahoo China Wins Suit Against Hongyi's Qihoo For Unfair Competition over Qihoo's 360safe software, claimed to have been a form of malware. There is a lot of history between the two companies and management. The article has a nice summary of that history: The ruling should signal an end to the long-running battle of attrition between Qihoo and Chi [...]

Yahoo & Others Form Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse

Jul 25, 2007 at 9:12am ET by Barry Schwartz

Brand Owners on Web Offensive from Red Herring reports that Yahoo, Dell, Coca Cola, Hilton and others have joined together to fight cybersquatting. The companies formed a collation against cybersquatters named Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse. Cybersquatters purchase domain names that are similar to trademark names, such as yahooemail.com and hilt0n.com. Some use that traffic to earn an affiliate commission on sales from the trademark owners, but others may use it for criminal activities, such as phishing for passwords, bank account details and other personal information. CADNA Preside [...]

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