by
29 Comments

Court Orders Google to Hand Over Your YouTube Personal Data

posted on July 3, 2008

Just yesterday, I had a conversation, agreeing that the only thing that could topple Google, would be privacy. The same day, a judge presiding over the Google/Viacom case issued a court order requiring Google to turn over your personal data.

The EFF reports the order requires Google to hand over YouTube’s Logging database. What’s in YouTube’s logging database?

…for each instance a video is watched, the unique “login ID” of the user who watched it, the time when the user started to watch the video, the internet protocol address other devices connected to the internet use to identify the user’s computer (“IP address”), and the identifier for the video.

I’ve bolded the entire text, because this is serious Pilgrims! If Google complies, potentially millions of YouTube users will have their private details handed to Viacom!

by
7 Comments

Last Chance for Discounted Registration to My Reputation Management Workshop

posted on July 2, 2008

You have only until the end of day tomorrow to register for my Online Reputation Management Workshop and get the heavily discounted rate of just $797. After July 3rd, the rate goes up!

Whether you work for an online marketing/PR firm, or handle the branding for your employer, you’ll want to attend the workshop.

Heck, if you’re an SEO, you should attend if only to learn how to manage a client’s Google reputation. If you’re not offering Google reputation management services, you’re missing out!

I hope you’ll join me on August 7th, in Raleigh, NC!

by
19 Comments

Is the Long Tail Short on Proof?

posted on July 2, 2008

By Frank Reed.

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal by Lee Gomes the Long Tail theory popularized by Chris Anderson’s book “The Long Tail” in 2006 there is now a pretty prominent player saying “Wait a minute now…..is this for real?” The Harvard Business Review has published a study that questions whether this theory actually holds water. Anita Elberse, is a marketing professor at Harvard Business School and in her writing she doesn’t seem as comfortable with handing the mantle of all future economic models to the long tail theory.

by
8 Comments

Linky Goodness, July 2

posted on July 2, 2008

It’s the first linky goodness of a new month. Hurray!

by
12 Comments

Microsoft Planning Another Yahoo Run

posted on July 2, 2008

Sometimes we just can’t let dead horses lie. That’s okay, neither can Microsoft. After months of more drama than a daytime soap (ahem) with the attempted merger/acquisition of Yahoo, Microsoft pulled their offer back in May.

And now they’re saying, “Whoopsiedoodle. On second thought . . . we will be coming back fighting.” The Wall Street Journal reports today that Microsoft is planning another run at Yahoo—and this time they won’t be going it alone. They’re actively looking for partners to dismantle Yahoo. Current candidates include News Corp. (aka Nick on Y&P) and Time Warner (we may call him . . . Tim. He’s Alan (AOL)’s dad).

This isn’t exactly good news for already-beleaguered Yahoo chief, Jerry Yang. But the WSJ article presents a very different image of Yang than the one portrayed in recent lawsuits and power plays at the company.

by
8 Comments

RIP, Ask City

posted on July 2, 2008

First IAC took itself apart, now Ask is slowly dismantling its cool features, too. Chris Pendleton, a Virtual Earth evangelist, has posted that Ask has dropped its own mapping features—Ask Maps, AskCity and map results integrated into their SERPs—in favor of Live Virtual Earth (Microsoft’s maps product).

In some regions, the change is even more drastic. As Barry Schwartz reports, Ask UK’s map site is offline (and their title element is misspelled: “Unavailabe”?):

Dear Ask Maps user,

We are sorry, but our maps service is no longer available. Please re-enter your query in the search box above to use our main web search service.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. If you have any comments or questions about our service please contact us.

by
29 Comments

China in Tricky Get Bloggers*

posted on July 2, 2008

By Frank Reed.

Leave it to bloggers to find a way around censorship.

On the heels of the Olympic Games in Beijing riots broke out in the Guizhou province of China over the death of a teenager according to the Wall Street Journal. While the Chinese government worked hard to prevent this from becoming a political and PR black eye before they parade themselves on the world stage that is the Olympic Games bloggers appear to have gotten the best of them.

In order to beat China’s Internet censors, which often are employees of commercial ISP’s (take that free Internet proponents!) bloggers have started to post in ways that cannot be easily tracked like writing their posts backwards. Nice move!