Last week the Italian tax office posted the names, addresses, income and tax status of every single Italian citizen on a public website. No kidding. They performed this public service just days before the outgoing centre-left Prodi government was due to leave office.

Tax officials explained this was “to allow the free circulation of information in a framework of transparency,” and was “in line with privacy guidelines.” Citizens jammed the agency’s servers looking up the incomes of neighbors, politicians, and sports stars. Newspapers republished the most juicy information. Italia Oggi has planned a series of special supplements with more details and analysis of the data.

Continued

Three months ago, on the day when this offer was announced, I made the post Microsoft Purchase of Yahoo Won’t Happen as Predicted.  

Over the weekend, Steve Ballmer withdrew MSFT’s offer. Yahoo stock is trading about 20% below where it closed Friday; Microsoft is up.

The Wall Street Journal’s Deal Blog dissects Ballmer’s letter to Yang line by line.  Microhoo could happen in the future, but it sure didn’t happen as most of the US media said it would when they echoed Microsoft’s press release.