Blog Archives

Strong-Arm Tactics Revive Yahoo Deal and Regulatory Concern

July 8th 2008

On the day Microsoft announced its plan to acquire Yahoo back in February, I posted my doubts that Microhoo would be established within a year, which was then the media and company line. While supporting Carl Icahn’s proxy fight and pressuring Yahoo’s board may get a Yahoo deal on the table, this will also underscore the anti-competitive […]

Hooah – Blawg Review Salutes Useful Arts

July 8th 2008

Jonathan Frieden celebrated July 4th by giving this week’s Blawg Review a distinctly patriotic theme. His approach,  “50 Stars of the Blawgosphere” recognizes an influential legal blog from each state, in the order it ratified the US Constitution.   Thanks to John Adams, Massachusetts and our forum is sixth in line.  I’m sure Thomas Paine had in mind persons like the […]

Reminder: New CAN-SPAM Rules Start Today

July 7th 2008

Back in May, the FTC issued a modest set of clarified definitions and additional new CAN-SPAM rules.  Today, July 7th, 2008, those additional rules go in to effect. If you’re a conscientious email marketer and already on the right side on the full body of federal CAN-SPAM rules, then there’s likely little more you’ll need to do. […]

The Videos You Watch Aren’t So Private – But Google’s Code Is

July 4th 2008

In its $1 billion copyright lawsuit, Viacom sought to force Google to turn over what many would consider to be trade secrets and private user records as part of discovery. Yesterday, US District Judge Louis L. Stanton agreed with Google that requiring it to disclose its search algorithms would unnecessarily put its trade secrets at […]

Life on Earth to Continue Despite ICANN

July 3rd 2008

There has been commentary, criticism, and even worry about ICANN’s proposed laissez-faire policy to allow a broad range of top-level domains. Our friends at Circle ID try to calm the waters by reminding us that ICANN’s byzantine committee structure, and its tendency to avoid both conflict and even the clearest paths of action, can make […]

Obama Wants to Establish a US Chief Technical Officer

July 2nd 2008

Back in November, Ars Technica provided an overview of the Obama plan for technology and innovation. In it, the campaign describes a role responsible for network integrity, coordination between agency CTOs, system interoperability, and increased government transparency. As it happens, I’ve worked with several state CTOs on most of these issues. Given authority over capital […]

China Jousts with Microsoft Over Open Markets

June 30th 2008

China’s announcement that it is not preparing to investigate Microsoft seems more like a warning shot than reassurance. Hats off to Computerworld’s Preston Gralla, who points out the strangeness of communist governments complaining about monopolies. Hypocrisy and gamesmanship are likely to be reoccuring themes in the two giants’ relationship.

Nike Sues EMS Over Keyword Advertising

June 29th 2008

Nike has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS) in the Federal District Court for the District of Oregon over the use of the term “Dri-FIT.” Dri-FIT is a trademark of Nike.

ICANN Approves Sweeping gTLD Expansion

June 28th 2008

On Thursday the board of The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved the biggest ever expansion of the scheme for having Generic Top Level Domains (GTLDs). So instead of being limited to gTLDs which describe the purpose of traffic on the domain, such as .gov, .edu, end users could apply for their own […]

Tech Exuberance Leads to Presidential Twitter “Debate”

June 26th 2008

NPR suspended its skepticism and asked Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, how can Twitter change the presidential debate? Well gosh. Here’s a short list of ways Twitter might change political debate in America. It will delay the real political change that only debate in Haiku can provide. Twitter abbreviations such as “They […]