Topic: Techdirt

Would Someone Please Explain To News Corp How Google Works?

Yet another News Corporation executive is talking about Google, and yet again, I feel like they have no concept about how Google interacts with their web pages. Which is frightening, since they’re being very vocal about how they’re supposedly wronged by Google. Please, someone, give them a search marketing 101 course. In the latest volley, […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 20, 2009

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Seeks Privacy Counsel With Gov’t Ties Google Watch points out a job posting on the Google site for “Privacy Policy Counsel” based in Washington, DC. Given that Google is under […]

Google OS Reactions: The Positive, Negative & The Paranoid

Late yesterday Google announced (or finally admitted) that it had developed an operating system, called Chrome OS, not to be confused, exactly, with the related Chrome browser. Everyone and their grandmother seems to have an opinion about it. Here’s a sampling of the reaction, positive, negative and in-between: The fans, boosters and generally positive takes: […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 8, 2009

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google To ‘Integrate’ Microblogging? While Twitter is looking at ways to be more search-ey, Google is apparently thinking about ways to be more microbloggy. Buried in a Reuters article about Google’s […]

SEO

SearchBiz: Google’s Balancing Act, Mr. Schmidt Goes To Washington (?), Yahoo’s Next CEO, Autonomy Jumps The Highway, Black Friday Mixed & The Gift Of Smut-Free Free Internet Access

There’s lots of news today and from over the US holiday weekend. Much of it concerns Yahoo and Google, as it often does in this column. The big buzz generated over the weekend was from the UK’s Times Online report that there was a tentative deal reached between Yahoo and Microsoft to buy the former’s […]

SEO

SearchBiz: Corn Farmers Oppose GoogleHoo; Online Ad Spending In Trouble?; McCain Campaign Upset With YouTube Takedowns

Roll Call this week lays out the current state of the Google-Yahoo advertising deal, and says Microsoft is exercising “its considerable political clout” in Washington, DC, against Google. The article portrays Microsoft as aggressively using its in-house and outside lobbyists to rally public and private support against the deal. And, get this, one of the […]

Who Coined The Term SEO?

Someone’s trying to trademark the term SEO, which has roiled the SEO community. The someone is named Jason Gambert, and he has filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, claiming to have coined the term “SEO” (for Search Engine Optimization). SEOMoz and others have moved to challenge Gambert’s claim. As the person (along with […]

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

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 […]

Utah Says Oops About Law Regulating Trademarks & Search Ads

Via TechDirt, High-Tech Execs Meet With Lawmakers Over Web Search Keyword Law from the Associated Press covers how Utah might not enforce its new law banning ads linked to trademark terms. The law is set to go into effect today. We covered various issues with the law earlier this month. Now Utah lawmakers appear to […]

Will Utah’s New Trademark Bill Stop Competitive Keyword Buys?

Wow. Via Techdirt, news from the EFF that the Utah legislature has passed a Trademark Protection Act law preventing people from buying ads linked to terms that are also trademarks of others. The Trademark Blog notes the law probably violates the US Constitution. Certainly it will be hard to enforce. In addition, we’ve got US […]

Google Anonymizing Search Records To Protect Privacy

Google has announced that it will now anonymize the server log data that it collects after 18 to 24 months, as a way to better protect the privacy of its users. Until now, Google has retained server log data in its original form indefinitely, which made it possible for anyone with access to those logs […]