15
June
2007
|
05:19 AM
America/Los_Angeles

Newswatch 6.15.07: eBay, GOOG spat getting nasty

eBay, GOOG fighting over payments plans

[AP] A spat that erupted this week between eBay Inc. and Google Inc. after Google tried to siphon attention from the online auctioneer's grand user celebration might presage more tension in one of the Internet's most interesting new rivalries.

eBay pulls ads from GOOG after spat

[AFP] EBay and Google have turned from ardent partners to nettled adversaries, with the renowned online auction site yanking it ads from the world's most popular Internet search engine.

Apple iPhone sighting?

1 million downloads of WinSafari

[AP] Apple Inc. said Thursday that users have downloaded more than 1 million copies of the Windows version of its Safari Internet browser in the first 48 hours it was available.


Are private MySpace postings subject to discovery?

[Mashable] A teenager was sexually assaulted in 2003 by another middle schooler, who was convicted. In defending against her suit, the board of education wants to look at her private MySpace and Facebook posts to check her claims of emotional distress. Can Facebook and MySpace be forced to grant access to the teenager’s personal accounts? (Koman's take: Yes, since she is bringing the suit and the posts are "reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence" they should be discoverable.)

MSFT says GOOG's Vista complaint is baseless

[Computerworld] Google maintains that a feature built into the Windows Vista operating system that allows users to search a computer's hard drive did not leave room for competition from other desktop search applications.

Linux leaders plan counterattack on MSFT

[Computerworld] Leaders in the open-source software field congregated at Google headquarters this week to debate the future of the movement and face down recent patent threats by Microsoft.

Avvo.com responds to lawyer class-action suit

[Avvo.com] This lawsuit is an effort to censor and to chill Avvo’s analysis, commentary and opinion in order to protect attorneys who have disciplinary actions in their backgrounds. It seems to reflect a belief, on behalf of the lawyers bringing this lawsuit, that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to the dissemination of opinions and information about them.

Moore's 'Sicko' pirated online

[AdAge] Michael Moore's new documentary "Sicko" has been pirated and is now widely available for download on peer-to-peer content sites like www.thepiratebay.org.

GOOG hard at work on video ID

[Google Blog] We are beginning tests on an automated system to identify and match specific videos. The technology extracts key visual aspects of uploaded videos and compares that information against reference material provided by copyright holders. Achieving the accuracy to drive automated policy decisions is difficult, and requires a highly tuned system.