3 posts and columns on Technology and the Internet

Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Regulatory Update: "Eh"

in News on October 7, 2009 at 7:31 am PT

Unlike the gripping back and forth of the fight over Yahoogle last year, the approval process for the search and online advertising partnership of Microsoft and Yahoo is chugging along slowly but surely as the Justice Department has deepened its investigation by reaching out to a broad range of publishers, advertisers, public interest groups and rivals for comment recently. But, so far, there is still no significant external challenge to the MicroHoo deal, even from Google, the likeliest company to try to scuttle or, at the very least, slow down the deal. In other words: Zzzzzzzzzzz…
eh_tshirt-p235991850859977178q6wh_400

Google Starts Targeting, Too. What Will Congress Do?

in Media on March 11, 2009 at 5:01 am PT

Behavioral targeting–serving up ads to Internet users based on the sites they’ve already visited–has been standard practice on the Web for a couple of years, but not at Google. That changed this morning when the search giant rolled out “interest-based advertising.” Expect to hear from Congressional critics like Rick Boucher very soon.
rick-boucher

Rep. Boucher Calls for Internet Ad Regulation

in News on February 13, 2009 at 2:35 pm PT

In an interview Friday, Rep. Rick Boucher, (D-Va.) called for Congress to take a tougher stance in regulating online ad-targeting, despite the FTC’s endorsement of industry self-regulation. “I am coming to believe (industry self-regulation) is not sufficient,” said Rep. Boucher, chairman of the House subcommittee on communications, technology and the Internet. He noted that there is a need for a set of laws that dictate parameters for how companies collect, share and use online data about their consumers.