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Picture This! Photographers File Class Action Lawsuit Against Google

posted on April 7, 2010

Poor Google. It takes two steps forward, one step back when trying to make progress with its book settlement.

FT.com reports a new group of content creators are not happy with the proposed deal: photographers.

They’ve filed a new class action lawsuit, because they were, apparently, left out of the one filed by the authors and publishers.

Photographers and illustrators were not allowed to join the existing class action suit, and have opted to file their own case…”Google is scanning in books and publications with visual images, which impedes the rights of the copyright holders of those images. We are seeking compensation for that,” said James McGuire, founding partner of the New York office of law firm Mishcon de Reya, who is leading the case.

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Murdoch: Paywalls and iPad Are Good, Google Not So Much

posted on April 7, 2010

We have heard this song sung by News Corps Rupert Murdoch on many occasions. If consistency counts for anything he certainly gets point for staying on message. Murdoch has again opened up his war of words around paywalls for online newspaper content and calling Google on copyright infringement. This time, though, Mr. Murdoch was able to show that at least he is hip to what is going on in the world of technology by talking about Apple’s iPad as well.

Murdoch was speaking at a National Press Club event at George Washington University and the Guardian reports

Rupert Murdoch has launched a spirited defence of putting up paywalls around his newspaper websites, while embracing the game-changing potential of Apple’s iPad. The News Corp chairman hailed the new device as a possible saviour of the newspaper industry.

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Yahoo Locates Foursquare for Purchase?

posted on April 7, 2010

When the news is slow it’s always a relief to find a good juicy rumor to pass along to the readers of Marketing Pilgrim. Heck, if it wasn’t for rumors about Internet companies and other Internet related things there would be precious little to talk about on any day.

So what’s the latest? We hear from the folks at The Business Insider that Yahoo is looking to acquire Foursquare for somewhere in the range of $100 million.

Deal-makers are deciding right now whether or not to buy super-hot location-based startup Foursquare for ~$100 million, says a source close to bankers involved in Foursquare’s current fundraising efforts.

A source close to Yahoo told us a Foursquare-owned Yahoo “would be nice.” This source told us “we’ve had discussions,” but cautioned: “We talk to everybody.”

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Want to Buy Facebook Shares? Too Bad

posted on April 6, 2010

Facebook is a hot property, in case you haven’t noticed. Rumors of an IPO have run rampant for three years, but still there’s no news on that front. Meanwhile, Facebook is trying to clamp down on secondary sales of its privately-held stock—especially by employees, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Last week, Facebook announced a new employee stock policy:

The policy says employees who sell their shares could face disciplinary action or be fired, one of these people said. The new rule also leaves room for the company to open a trading window during which employees would be allowed to sell shares in the future.

Facebook spokesman Larry Yu said the company implemented the “insider trading policy to better comply with insider trading laws and to protect the interests of the company and its employees and shareholders.”

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Mobile Gmail Now Offers Buzz Integration

posted on April 6, 2010

Google is moving forward with all things Buzz even as they try to finally put the privacy issues to rest. Today in the Google Mobile blog it is reported that Buzz is now integrated into your mobile Gmail inbox just like it is on your desktop. You even get the little Buzz icon! Here’s a picture.

Google’s version

With the latest iteration of Gmail for mobile, we’ve worked to integrate buzz with your mobile inbox. Now, you’ll see buzz in your inbox on your phone just like you do in the desktop version of Gmail, complete with the little Google Buzz icon. When you open a buzz post from your inbox, you can perform all the standard functions, such as liking the post or commenting, just as you can from the desktop Gmail inbox.

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Google Buzz’s Privacy Reset—Is It Enough?

posted on April 6, 2010

As Mashable predicted, Google Buzz issued a “privacy reset” to all users yesterday. As Mashable mentioned, Google Buzz has worked hard to make its privacy settings more legal user-friendly—but many of their changes were implemented after early adopters opted in. Present users didn’t have to go through the extended sign up process that safeguarded users’ privacy and preferences.

But now Google is changing that, for that exact reason:

But many of you started using Google Buzz before we made these changes, and we want to help you ensure that Buzz is set up the way you want. Offering everyone who uses our products transparency and control is very important to us, so if you started using Google Buzz before we changed the start-up experience, you’ll see the following confirmation page the next time you click into the Buzz tab:

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Prominent UK Politician Encourages Google Click Fraud?

posted on April 6, 2010

From what I remember of former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott–it’s been 10 years since I left England–he was a bulldog of a politician, who always liked to pick a fight.

It appears he’s still up to his old tricks and inadvertently learned a new one as well: click fraud!

In what he may have considered to be a innocuous tweet, Prescott suggests Labour Party supporters click on Google AdWords ads paid for by the rival Conservative Party.

The link actually refers to this AdWords ad:

You could argue that all is fair in love and politics–after all, the Conservative Party is pretty brazen to buy the ad in the first place–but click fraud?