Marketing Pilgrim's "Legal" Channel

Sponsor Marketing Pilgrim's Legal Channel today! Get in front of some of the most influential readers in the Internet and social media marketing industry. Contact us today!
by
8 Comments

Will New Tax Laws End Amazon’s Affiliate Program?

posted on March 16, 2011

On Tax Day (ironically, or maybe intentionally), Amazon will sever all ties with affiliates in the great state of Illinois, including (also ironically) film critic Roger Ebert.

Back in January, Ebert took some flack from Twitter followers who didn’t think it was right that he Tweet Amazon links. The critic explained in an interview with ClickZ that the small amount of income he made from the links went to keeping his website free for all to read and I agreed. A few ads and a few clicks is a small price to pay in order to keep reading articles such as his half-star review of Battle: Los Angeles. Now, we find the fight was for naught, thanks to a new law signed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.

by
3 Comments

Google Instant Search Under Attack

posted on March 11, 2011

Just a quick update.

After speculating that Google’s instant search would be the target of a patent lawsuit from MasterObjects–just as soon as they had finished with Amazon–it looks like the company’s not going to hang around for an outcome.

It appears that the company is ready to go after Google right now:

I asked Masterobjects why they waited until now to sue Amazon.com, which started offering ‘search suggestions’ (using technology which Masterobjects alleges infringes it patent) back in 2008. I also asked why they singled out Amazon specifically.

In a brief response, the company tells me that they will not comment on either this case or the complaint they’ve just filed against Google, revealing that the search giant is effectively already under legal attack by the software maker.

by
3 Comments

Amazon Faces Patent Lawsuit Over Instant Search; Google Next?

posted on March 10, 2011

TechCrunch picks up on an interesting lawsuit just filed.

It appears that MasterObjects is suing Amazon for patent infringement over its use of instant search results. You know what they are; you start typing your search query and then Amazon suggests what you may be trying to find. It looks like this:

Anyway, what’s interesting is that MasterObjects names only Amazon as a defendant. Interesting, because Google, Bing and many others offer instant search results like this. So why aren’t they being named in this lawsuit?

Well, we don’t have official word, and MasterObjects may not want to tip their hand, but I have a theory.

<Queue conspiracy music>

by
4 Comments

European e-Privacy Directive Could Make Sites Toss Their Cookies

posted on March 9, 2011

The European governing bodies continue to put severe pressure on web sites to protect the privacy of web users. In a move that will seem harsh to many, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is putting together laws that will require sites to let users opt in so that the site can use cookies to track them.

The BBC reports

From 25 May, European laws dictate that “explicit consent” must be gathered from web users who are being tracked via text files called “cookies”.

The section of the directive dealing with cookies was drawn up in an attempt to protect privacy and, in particular, limit how much use could be made of behavioural advertising.

How are businesses responding? This tweet from Tweetmeme’s CEO Nick Halstead says it all.

by
5 Comments

Looking to Get Out of Jury Duty? Be a Social Media Dimwit

posted on February 22, 2011

As is the case in many things in life, just because a lot of people have something it doesn’t mean they know how to use it. Back in the Stone Age of video everyone had a VCR but no one could program the darn thing.

We are now seeing the same happen with social media. There are a lot of people with accounts or profiles or whatever in the social media space but that doesn’t mean they can harness the power of the medium or even understand much beyond updating a status.

One area that is getting more aggressive in its use of social media channels is the law. It is already fairly well known that divorce lawyers are using social media outlets to catch opposing spouses in compromising social media positions. Now lawyers are turning to social media to help clean up the jury pool before they go to trial.

by
0 Comments

Behavorial Advertising Takes Another Hit from Washington

posted on February 14, 2011

This morning, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) was named chairman of a new Judiciary subcommittee for Privacy, Technology and the Law. The list of activities that the committee will oversee is a long one and it includes the collection of information for behavioral advertising and privacy in social networks.

Says Franken:

“The boom of new technologies over the last several years has made it easier to keep in touch with family, organize a community and start a business. It has also put an unprecedented amount of personal information into the hands of large companies that are unknown and unaccountable to the American public. As chairman of this new subcommittee, I will try to make sure that we can reap the rewards of new technology while also protecting Americans’ right to privacy.”

by
4 Comments

Consumer Product Safety Board Puts Complaints Online

posted on January 24, 2011

If you routinely scan social media for complaints about your business or product, come March you’ll need to add another site to the list. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is now beta testing a new website that will allow consumers to list their complaints publicly. The site is called SaferProducts.gov and AdAge calls it “Yelp with the imprimatur of government authority.”

The site will focus only on product safety issues and complaints will be screened before they go live, but don’t expect too many of the posts to get tossed. The CPSC says, all comments “that meet the minimum requirements for publication in the Database will be disclosed in the Database.” The legalese that follows is pretty extensive but it all boils down to what the screener considers to be reasonable. Which means, unless a consumer sends in a blatantly outrageous claim, it’s likely to get published.