Some Ditch Social Networks to Reclaim Time, Privacy
USA Today

Facebook reports that it has 400 million active users worldwide. Make that 399,999,999. Laura LeNoir is done.

"I feel better, I feel lighter, I got my privacy back," says LeNoir, 42, an office manager at an educational software company in Birmingham, Ala., who logged off a few weeks ago. "People say, 'You'll be back.' But I read more, walk the dogs more. I'll be fine."

As the social networking train gathers momentum, some riders are getting off.

Their reasons run the gamut from being besieged by online "friends" who aren't really friends to lingering concerns over where their messages and photos might materialize. If there's a common theme to their exodus, it's the nagging sense that a time-sucking habit was taking the "real" out of life.



"When I first closed my Facebook account, I felt disconnected from the world and missed the constant updates," says Leanna Fry, 32, of Provo, Utah, who is teaching English in Erzurum, Turkey. She signed off after feeling harassed by strangers. "But I've discovered I don't have to know what hundreds of people are doing. Now I have more time for people who really matter in my life."

Even super-connected celebrities are bolting. Disney pop siren Miley Cyrus quit Twitter last fall, followed by British singer Lily Allen. Both women said the site was proving a distraction from their relationships. Allen signed off with "I am a neo-Luddite, goodbye."

That desire to unplug has made an unexpected success out of websites such as Web 2.0 Suicide Machine and Seppukoo (a play on the Japanese word for "suicide"), free sites that automate and turbocharge the otherwise laborious manual process of scrapping your online self.

Lucca, Italy-based Seppukoo helped 20,000 people erase themselves from Facebook after the site launched last fall. Two-month-old Web 2.0 Suicide Machine — where a noose dangles near a ticker tracking the digital mayhem ("181,898 friends have been unfriended, 329,908 tweets removed") — has been used by 2,600 people. Thousands more are waiting to be accommodated by the site's small server, says Walter Langelaar, 32, one of three programmers who created the "art project" for Moddr, a media lab in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

"We are not anti-social-networking," says Langelaar, noting that the program was conceived for a party the lab threw a year ago to encourage face-to-face interaction. "We do, however, feel things are getting so messy in that world that (the sites) just get in the way of people living their lives."

Facebook is not amused. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has blocked the servers of both sites and sent cease-and-desist letters stating that they violate Facebook's statement of rights and responsibilities policies by collecting user login data.

"Facebook provides the ability for (users) to use the site to deactivate their account or delete it completely," says Facebook spokesman Simon Axten.

Langelaar says Moddr has circumvented the block and counters: "We're not collecting login information; users bring their (data) to us. We are thinking of hiring our own lawyers."

Seppukoo, however, is now lifeless. "We have postponed any decisions until after our next Anti Social NotWorking art project comes out in the next weeks" is the cryptic comment from Guy McMusker of Les Liens Invisibles, a consortium of Web-focused artists responsible for the program.

Although Twitter is among the sites that programs such as Seppukoo can scour, the San Francisco-based micro-blogging venture has "no issues with people who want to leave," says spokesman Seth Garrett. "Our research shows that quite often they come back later."

Even tens of thousands of dropouts represent a fallen leaf in the forest of social networkers happily updating their status/thoughts/whereabouts at this very moment.

Facebook dominates that landscape, according to The Nielsen Co. It drew more than 110 million unique visitors in the USA in December, double its 2008 numbers. MySpace was second with nearly 60 million, a 17% drop from the previous year. Twitter pulled in nearly 20 million, and sites such as Classmates and LinkedIn had about 10 million.

Youth still rules in this domain. About 65% of kids 12 to 17 (and 37% of adults ages 18 and up) use a social networking site, according to the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. "For many, the time and energy spent putting content up means it's hard to leave," says Amanda Lenhart, Pew senior research specialist.

That said, the 24/7 tech addiction is causing even diehard social site fans to set limits, says Genevieve Bell, a cultural anthropologist with Intel. In a recent survey on mobile-device etiquette, Bell found that 69% said checking e-mail and sending texts in the company of others was unacceptable.

"This always-on lifestyle is being pushed as desirable, (but) there's a deeply rooted human need to have downtime," says Bell, director of user experience at Intel's Digital Home Group. "Perhaps tuning out of social networking is just a way of recalibrating that need for downtime."

Her recent interviews with users reveal that for some the ideal vacation spot is one without Web access. "We're starting to ask, how does all of this (technology) truly fit into our lives?" she says.

'Push back from this tide of technology'

One antidote to the always-on life is Freedom, free software that disables any Apple computer's Internet access for up to eight hours. About 100,000 Web users have downloaded Freedom since 2008, says Fred Stutzman, a graduate student in information sciences at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the program's creator.

"Freedom is a statement that it's OK to push back from this tide of technology and find some space to really think," he says.

People tuning out temporarily eventually could spell trouble for networking sites such as Facebook, says Danah Boyd, social media scholar at Microsoft Research in Boston. "A huge number of early adopters joined Facebook because they felt as though they had to, not because they were passionate about the site," she says.

Boyd cites the early networking site Friendster, which many users ditched for newcomer MySpace. "When the passion was lost, the group walked away. The folks who disengage from Facebook may not be vocal," but they're not to be ignored.

Another frequent user complaint: the barbarians at your virtual gates.

"With social media, there can be this critical moment where strangers take over," says James Fowler, co-author of Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives. "Twitter could face such a danger, because it's this enormous spam machine now."

Mark Dockendorff, 30, an investment adviser in Cincinnati, initially liked the way sites "let you get to know people through their pages, which is so much easier than talking in a bar. But now a lot of my friends are putting their pages on the back burner and just not updating."

As is Dockendorff, who was put off by his mom friending his ex-girlfriend. "Awkward," he says.

A move to Beijing led Larissa Paschyn to leave Facebook when the site was blocked by the Chinese government. Now this "avid user" feels liberated.

"There are many other ways to meet new people and truly experience life," says Paschyn, 24, a television host for CCTV International.

She also has a confession. One of her Facebook guilty pleasures was "checking up on people who were mean to me in school so I could gloat about my life," she says. Being off social sites has "made me a better person and less self-centered."

'It was consuming my life'

When Julian Smith grew frustrated with Facebook, he got silly. His video 25 Things I Hate About Facebook, which has 1.3 million views on YouTube, shows him being literally poked by a friend (No. 2) and lamenting ads for hot singles (No. 21).

"It's the way people are using social networking sites that's lame," says Smith, 22, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker. "Sure, it's a great way for me to let people know if I have a new film clip out. But to socialize with friends? Don't think so."

Dustin Blythe was initially elated when he joined Facebook. Then the snowball grew.

"I felt compelled to update my page every hour or so, even if there really was nothing new to write or show," says Blythe, 35, who registers voters in Mishawaka, Ind. "It was like (the sci-fi movie) Logan's Run, trapped in a society I couldn't get out of."

So he went cold turkey. Blythe now blogs instead, updating friends and family on his own timetable. "I have no regrets," he says. "Now I can post what's on my mind without the perceived pressure of keeping up with the Joneses and their BlackBerrys."

Getting off Facebook was tough for Roger Williams, whose love of technology earned him the nickname "Chaplain Geek" at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Stockton, Calif., where he's a grief counselor. But his New Year's resolution was to take a break from social networking.

"I liked that I could reconnect with friends from 30 years ago, but that soon turned into all sorts of people contacting me who I really didn't want to hear from," says Williams, 52, whose alma maters and friends-with-causes hit him up for donations. "I was getting hammered for money. I thought, 'Hey, I'm not a commercial entity.' I felt used."

Another frequent complaint from social networkers is that the variety of sites is overwhelming. Joe Ross recently used Web 2.0 Suicide Machine to wipe out his existence on MySpace, because he felt the site was getting too commercial.

"It was very cool to watch," says Ross, 26, a law student who works for the Philadelphia Housing Authority. But don't write him off the scene yet.

"I'm still on Facebook, and I'm a heavy Twitter user and blogger," he says. "Most of the people I'm friends with are people I wouldn't know if it weren't for social networking."

Ah, that word again. Friends.

Jim Hennessey was an avid social networker, using MySpace and Facebook for social updates, LinkedIn for work contacts, not to mention Meebo, Geni, Jiibe, Flickr and others.

The result? "I was so busy updating my various sites that there wasn't a social desire left in my body," says Hennessy, 42, a marketing consultant from Nashville. "It was getting impersonal."

So much so that when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma last year, Hennessey didn't get much support from his online community beyond a few messages. "I knew a lot of people (online), but it was a false sense of comfort," he says.

Though not willing to commit social networking suicide just yet, Hennessey, his cancer in remission, is now more circumspect about its powers and promises. And hungry for the human touch.

"A while back I met up with someone I got to know on Facebook, which was nice," he says. "But when she introduced me, she said, 'This is my friend Jim from Facebook,' as if it were a place.

"I just want to be Jim from Nashville."

Spain's Telefonica Considers Charging Google

MADRID (AP) - Spanish telecoms operator Telefonica says it is considering charging Internet search companies like Google and Yahoo for network use.

Speaking Monday at a press conference in the northern city of Bilbao, President Cesar Alierta said companies like Google use a lot of network bandwidth for free, something which was lucky for them but not for Telefonica.

Alierta says his company, which operates in Spain and across Latin America, provides the network, product sale, customer care, installation and maintenance to search engine companies that profit from using them.

He says things had to change. Telefonica spokesman Miguel Angel Garzon told The Associated Press on Monday the ideas expressed by Alierta were not new and had been talked about by many network service providers around the world.

Ask.com Continues to Report Losses.

Senior Management Lacking Core Knowledge of Search.

Parent Company IAC Interactive led by Cable TV Mogul Barry Diller Floundering

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Internet company IAC/InterActiveCorp lost $1 billion in the fourth quarter because it wrote down the value of its search business, but the results beat expectations and offered the latest indication that the online advertising market is improving.

IAC's shares jumped 4 percent.

IAC, which is run by media billionaire Barry Diller, said Tuesday its net loss amounted to $7.94 per share in the last three months of the year. This compares with a net profit of $227.4 million, or $1.57 per share, in the year-ago quarter.

In the most recent quarter IAC took a $991.9 million impairment charge to account for decreased projections for revenue and profit growth at IAC's search properties, which include such Web sites as Ask.com and Dictionary.com.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 20 cents per share - 2 cents more than analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected.

Revenue climbed 5 percent to $367.2 million, beating analyst expectations for $339.6 million.

Even as IAC wrote down the value of its search business, overall the company appeared to be reversing some downward trends.

Revenue from IAC's core search business, which includes the Ask search engine and online city guide Citysearch and makes money from ads, rose 3 percent to $185.4 million. Revenue had dropped in the first nine months of the year.

The turnaround is consistent with recent results from IAC's peers that signal that the online advertising market is improving. Online ad leader Google Inc. reported fourth-quarter ad revenue grew 17 percent. Yahoo Inc. reported a 4 percent drop and AOL Inc. an 8 percent drop, but those declines were less than those logged during the first three quarters of the year.

Revenue from IAC's media and other business, which includes entertainment site CollegeHumor and online retailer ShoeBuy.com, climbed 6 percent to $63.5 million. IAC said the unit benefited from healthy holiday sales.

In IAC's Match business, which consists of dating sites like Match.com and Chemistry.com, revenue dropped 6 percent to $83.3 million. IAC said the decline was due to absence of Match Europe, which was sold last June. Match's number of paid subscribers rose 3 percent from a year earlier to 1.4 million.

For the full year, IAC reported a loss of $978.8 million, or $7.06 per share, compared with a loss of $156.2 million, or $1.08 per share, in 2008.

Revenue declined 5 percent to $1.38 billion in 2009, from $1.45 billion a year earlier.

IAC shares rose 88 cents to $22.04 in morning trading.

Google Search Gets Answers, Events
Information Week
Two search relevancy improvements make it easier than ever to get answers using Google.

Google on Friday introduced two improvements in its search technology that further the company's conversion of its search results page from point of departure to a destination.

Various Google competitors over the years have suggested that search results lists don't go far enough to present users with the answers they're seeking and have offered a variety of ostensible improvements.

Microsoft's Bing, for example, answers the query "london flights" with specific travel deals and prices from Bing Travel at the top of its search results list. A Google search returns links to Web sites related to travel, requiring at least an extra click, if not more, to see ticket prices.

It's an issue Google is aware of and has been working to address by providing more structured information for certain types of queries. A search for "shriekback," for example, returns links to the band's songs rather than links to Web pages that may host song links.

Google's latest search improvements build upon Google Squared and Rich Snippets, search technologies introduced last May.

Google Squared takes a search query like "jazz trumpet players" and formats the results in a table of rows and columns. The result is a better search experience through better presentation.

Rich Snippets provide an expanded set of information for certain types of searches having to do with reviews or people. For a restaurant, a snippet might include the rating information, the number of reviews, and a phone number.

Google has used this technology to implement "answer highlighting" in its general search results and to expand Rich Snippets to include events.

Thanks to technology borrowed from Google Squared, a query like "empire state height" now includes highlighted information that more directly answers the query in the search result. In this specific query, the search result now incorporates the landmark's height, 1250 ft.

Or so Google claims: At the time this article was filed, a Google search for those keywords returned the old format rather than the new, more informative one shown in Google's blog post on the changes. This may be because Google SEO service alterations can take a few hours to become widely available across all Google servers.

The expansion of Rich Snippets to include event information isn't a first for the search market -- Bing already surfaces event information -- but it should be welcomed by users nonetheless.

Whether these changes are welcomed by Web site owners is another matter. By making its search results more informative, Google may reduce the incentive to click through to the Web sites it indexes.

A Bidding Frenzy for Search Engine Keywords During Super Bowl

LA Times

Advertisers will vie for the top 'sponsored links,' bidding on terms they think lots of fans will be seeking as they watch the game.

When New Orleans takes on Indianapolis at the Super Bowl on Sunday, Brandon Nohara will be sprawled in front of his big-screen TV like millions of others across the nation, drinking beer as friends pack into his apartment.

But Nohara, a marketing analyst for the Bay Area online retailer CafePress, will also be on the job.

He'll be simultaneously watching the game, listening to his guests and monitoring his laptop, on the hunt for the trendiest phrases of the day, in an effort to win a very different contest: the battle of the search engine keywords.

Nationwide, his competitors will be doing the same -- either manually, like Nohara, or with computer programs. They'll be bidding on terms they think large numbers of fans will be entering into search engines such as Google or Bing during the game and its aftermath.

Perhaps "pizza delivery" or "Miami weather" or the name of a bench-warming player who comes out of nowhere to be a hero. Nohara, for example, plans to bid on "New Orleans T-shirt."

The search engines host the auctions. At any given moment, the highest bidder on the word, name or phrase wins the top search engine placement spot among sponsored links when search results for that term are displayed.

Victory can be fleeting. As soon as someone places a higher bid, he or she gets that top spot.

No matter who wins, the search engines will probably be economic victors.

Search engine advertising is a bright spot in a marketing landscape that has suffered in the recession.

The U.S. advertising market overall was down nearly 14% in 2009, and online advertising was flat, according to data compiled by investment bank Barclays Capital. But search-related spending was up 8%.

Events such as the Super Bowl are gaining importance in that search-advertising marketplace because advertisers can take advantage of weeks of anticipation as consumers prepare for parties or seek stats on their favorite teams.

Super Bowl-related searches are up 40% over this time last year, according to Google advertising-sales executive April Anderson.

And at a time when CBS, the network airing the game, took months to sell its limited inventory of spots in what is one of the most important advertising events of the year, Google and other search engines said their sales are moving at a surprising clip.

"It's hard to shell out money for 30 seconds for an audience that might be TiVo-ing the thing or walking away from it somehow," said Nina Lentini, editor of the trade publication Marketing Daily. "TV is not the end-all and be-all anymore."

Ad prices are set by the advertisers in the bidding process. They pay the search engine only if people actually click on their messages.

The price for each click varies widely, typically from as low as 5 cents to $25 or more, depending on how high the bidding goes.

The pay-as-you-go nature of the business makes it particularly appealing to companies during slow economic times. And unlike television ads, which don't always translate directly into sales, search marketing campaigns show their results in real time.

"We can look at the campaign after it's been running for three hours, and if it's not meeting our goals we can tweak it," said Sumant Sridharan, head of online acquisitions for CafePress. "We have a team of analysts who are constantly monitoring performance."

This year's Super Bowl is expected to be an especially rich opportunity for Google search engine optimization. "We expect as more advertisers take their campaigns online this year -- whether it's to save money from advertising on game day or to extend the reach and exposure to an ad during the game -- we'll see an even higher return for search ads," said Robin Domeniconi, Microsoft's vice president for U.S. advertising sales.

Denny's Corp., which is airing three TV commercials during the Super Bowl, has also bought up keywords "Grand Slam," "Dennys" and others. Indeed, a Google search on "free breakfast" brings up a top sponsored link promoting the restaurant's post-Super Bowl offer.

The company added online advertising to its Super Bowl ad campaign last year, and it worked so well that it expanded the Google SEO effort for 2010, said John Dillon, vice president of marketing for the restaurant chain.

Denny's is also significantly increasing its presence on social media, including Facebook, Dillon said.

Companies are stepping up efforts to measure the effectiveness of their ads -- analysis that often breaks in favor of the search market, said Wes Nichols, chief executive of the consulting firm Marketshare Partners. He said his company has been hired to track the effectiveness of Super Bowl advertising -- online and on television -- for several of the event's big sponsors. The result, he said, could be a smaller television buy or larger online presence for next year's game.

"Marketers are spending an inordinate amount of money on the Super Bowl and they're constantly questioning whether it makes sense," Nichols said. "That's one of the things that we will be measuring for them."

Playboy Surfers Targeted for VW Polos in Web Video Ads
Bloomberg

Christian Baudis has profiled the perfect target for Volkswagen Polo online video advertisements in Germany: a man aged 25 to 39 who watches soccer matches, checks out the Playboy site and reads Der Spiegel magazine.

So the European head of New York-based Tremor Media Inc., an advertising network, knows which Web sites to market to the German carmaker’s ad agency.

“We go to them and say here are 150 sites with video content that is attractive to that target group,” said Baudis, who works with Volkswagen’s ad agency, Mediacom, a unit of WPP Plc, the world’s biggest advertising company. “Targeted advertising is more efficient. It costs less money to reach the target. That’s the beauty of it.”

Online video ads are the fastest-growing piece of the advertising industry, aided by their ability to show off products in a feature-rich medium and, increasingly, to zero in on a target audience. Volkswagen and HSBC Holdings Plc are among European companies using online video ads to reach potential customers as television audiences shrink.

In Europe, spending on online video ads could triple between 2009 and 2013 to about 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion), said Nate Elliott, an analyst in London for Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Forrester Research Inc. In the U.S., the online video ad market could grow to $3.01 billion in 2014 from $879 million in 2009, according to Forrester. Such ads currently account for just 1.6 percent of what’s spent on TV commercials, says New York-based research firm eMarketer Inc.

Still Young

HSBC’s two video ads on Web sites including those of the British Broadcasting Corp. and National Geographic, were among the bank’s “best-performing campaigns we ran last year,” said Ceren Dogany, digital account director at Mindshare Worldwide, a WPP unit. “We received a massive number of clicks and a really high click-through rate.”

Targeted advertising is in its infancy, Baudis said. Information on consumer preferences is drawn through “cookies,” or a small piece of text stored on a user’s computer by a Web browser. Ad agencies can then post ads based on consumers’ browsing habits. The system relies on consumers accepting the cookies and may be capped by privacy concerns.

“Consumers do appreciate targeted advertising, although it will take some time to develop, to convince them because of privacy issues,” he said. “Normally, targeted advertising will mean that you get better ads.”

The ads are inserted in a video program on a Web site or occupy space on an Internet page. Program developers in Europe are scrambling to capture this new revenue.

‘Huge Opportunity’

“Welt der Wunder,” a German producer of science, technology and educational shows that gets no ad revenue for programs aired on TV, sought the aid of Tremor, which pools several Web sites to make it worthwhile for advertisers.

“I liked the idea right away,” said Hendrik Hey, a producer for “Welt der Wunder.” “As a production company it’s hard to set up your own marketing division.”

Tremor, which aggregates Web sites for advertisers and provides them technology to place their ads, is among new players spawned by the online video ad trend. It is banking on Europe following a trajectory similar to the U.S.

At about 25 million euros, online video ad spending in Germany is miniscule compared with the 3.9 billion euros spent on TV ads, said Baudis. Online video advertising in Germany alone could grow six-fold by the end of 2012, he said.

SAP Ventures, an investment arm of SAP AG, the world’s largest maker of software for businesses, last year invested an undisclosed amount in Tremor.

‘Ubiquitous’

“We felt that growth in online video advertising would be one of the strongest online advertising sub-segments,” said David Hartwig, a SAP Ventures partner in Palo Alto, California. “Online video is going to start encroaching on some traditional TV viewing and it’s going to start to pull from TV advertising, making it a really huge opportunity.”

Other companies capitalizing on the trend include Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Brightcove Inc., with a platform that publishers use to manage video content. Its investors include General Electric Co. and Hearst Corp., and it manages video content on the Web sites of The New York Times, Conde Nast Publications and Universal Music Group.

“Video will become as ubiquitous and pervasive as text on the Web, and if you’re an organization, a corporation, a media company, you’re going to make video a much more central part of how you market, communicate, educate and entertain,” said Jeremy Allaire, its founder and chief executive officer.

TV Decline

Most online videos, into which ads can be inserted, are between three and five minutes long. Microsoft Corp. recently established MSNmovies in Germany with 200 movies into which it inserts ads in every chapter.

“It’s on demand, for free and a continuous experience to the consumer, like on TV,” said Marc Adam, marketing director of Microsoft’s MSN.com.

MSN.de in Germany sold all movie ad space for months to come and may now put in two or more ads per chapter, he said.

Tremor’s Baudis said advertisers don’t understand the technology and still place the bulk of their marketing dollars in TV. That may change as companies including Ford Motor Co., Mars Inc., and Citibank Inc. earmark a portion of their ad budgets for online media.

TV is already feeling the pain. According to Forrester, 2009 was “the worst advertising year since 2001” for broadcasters. Reasons it cites include a shift to online advertising, a shrinking audience share during prime time and increased competition from digital media among younger viewers.

Higher Engagement

“A lot of big brand advertisers are taking us as if we were a TV station,” Baudis said. Tremor has more than 3,500 Web sites globally where it can stream ads.

Advertisers online know exactly how many viewers they’ve reached, unlike with TV, said Brightcove’s Allaire.

On TV, it’s a “brand impression,” he said. “On the Internet, a video ad comes up and it’s designed as a call to action for the user and they can click it, taking them to the marketing Web site.”

Advertisers can target age groups and gender by analyzing browsing habits.

“If Tremor has a client, a big pharma company like Bayer or Novartis, they will come to us and ask what programs we have on health or medicine that can be put on our Web site, with the ad from the company running with it,” Welt der Wunder’s Hey said.

On TV and in newspapers, such targeting is harder.

“The more it’s targeted, the more advertising becomes information, and the more it becomes information, the higher the engagement and interest in the ad,” Microsoft’s Adam said. “That’s what can happen online.”

DOJ Deems Amended Google Book Search Deal Anticompetitive

eWeek

The Department of Justice Feb. 4 urged a New York District Court not to bless Google's amended Google Book Search deal with authors and publishers, citing copyright and antitrust issues that render the deal anticompetitive. The DOJ said the deal would let Google be the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute many works in multiple formats. The DOJ further agreed to work with Google, authors and publishers on a viable, fair solution. District Court Judge Denny Chin will hold a hearing on the amended settlement agreement Feb. 18.

The Department of Justice said copyright and antitrust concerns continue to make Google's amended settlement agreement for its Google Book Search project anticompetitive, suggesting the court presiding over the case shouldn't bless the deal.

Acknowledging that Google and authors and publishers have made considerable progress in their agreement to digitize books and offer them to readers through Google's  search engine, the DOJ told the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Feb. 4:

"Although the United States believes the parties have approached this effort in good faith and the amended settlement agreement is more circumscribed in its sweep than the original proposed settlement, the amended settlement agreement suffers from the same core problem as the original agreement: it is an attempt to use the class action mechanism to implement forward-looking business arrangements that go far beyond the dispute before the court in this litigation."

Google and the Author's Guild and the Association of American Publishers in October 2008  struck their Google Book Search deal, a plan in which Google would scan millions of orphan books, or those works for whom authors can't be found or are unknown. Google would then let users search for them and pay to use the works, with authors and publishers taking 63 percent of the sales and Google taking the remaining 37 percent. 

The DOJ and Google's search rivals opposed the deal, arguing that it would give Google too much control over orphan works in an increasingly competitive space. Privacy advocates complained that Google wasn't taking the necessary precautions to protect readers' privacy.

Google, authors and publishers in November 2009 revised the settlement, which has been picked over and commented on by opponents and proponents while the District Court reviews the deal.

In a 31-page filing to presiding District Court Judge Denny Chin, the DOJ acknowledged the parties in the deal made "substantial progress" over such concerns as: enabling rivals to access orphan works; imposing limitations on provisions for future licensing; eliminating potential conflicts among class members; providing more protections for orphan works; and addressing the concerns of foreign authors and publishers.

However, the DOJ claimed the deal still affords Google "anticompetitive advantages." Specifically, the DOJ said the deal would let Google be the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute many works in multiple formats. The DOJ further agreed to work with Google, authors and publishers on a viable, fair solution.

Google's response to the DOJ's filing ignored the negative conclusion, playing up the positive. A Google spokesperson told eWEEK:

    "The Department of Justice's filing recognizes the progress made with the revised settlement, and it once again reinforces the value the agreement can provide in unlocking access to millions of books in the U.S.

    We look forward to Judge Chin's review of the statement of interest from the Department and the comments from the many supporters who have filed submissions with the court in the last months. If approved by the court, the settlement will significantly expand online access to works through Google Books, while giving authors and publishers new ways to distribute their works."

Despite Google's positive spin, experts have said they would be surprised if Chin disagreed with the DOJ and approved the amended settlement agreement, which comes almost five years after authors and publishers filed a copyright infringement suit versus Google.

Chin, who has received reams of documentation from opponents and proponents of the deal in the last few weeks, will hold a hearing on the amended settlement agreement Feb. 18.

Google Plans Store for Online Business Software

The Wall Street Journal

Google Inc. is preparing to launch a store selling online business software that integrates with its Web services, according to people briefed by the company, enlisting software developers in its battle against Microsoft Corp.

These people said the store will sell business software designed by outside developers to integrate and add capabilities to Google Apps, such as enhanced security features or the ability to import contacts. Google Apps provides Web-based email, word-processing and spreadsheet functions. Google could announce the new store—a revamped version of its Solutions Marketplace site that features third-party programs—as soon as March, they said.

Google eventually plans to allow customers to purchase its partners' software through the site, taking a cut for itself and sharing some revenue with the developers, these people said. Google will allow users to quickly access their purchased applications through the menu at the top of their screens within Gmail or Google Docs, they said.

A Google spokesman said the company is "constantly working with our partners to deliver more solutions to businesses, but we have nothing to announce at this time."

Google's goal is to jump-start the growth of its online-software businesses, which it hopes will be a future sales engine for the company as its advertising business matures. The new store represents its latest attempt to get customers to switch to its online offerings and away from Microsoft programs.

The approach has its risks. Third-party software could be less reliable than Google's, leading to customer-service complaints. And how much time and effort developers will invest in new services remains unclear.

Google sells a suite of services such as task management software to businesses for $50 a user per year. While it has landed some high-profile customers such as Motorola Inc. and Genentech Inc., many large corporations have been reluctant to migrate from Microsoft for reasons ranging from concerns about storing data online to complaints of missing features.

Google says more than two million businesses are using the paid or free version of Google Apps. There are around 500 million users of Microsoft Office, according to Microsoft.

Google is turning to developers to help fill the holes and develop features its online software lacks, such as specialized editing software or tools to access online files offline.

The new store borrows a page from other technology companies including Apple Inc. and Salesforce.com Inc., which have tried to broaden the appeal of devices and software by opening up to outside developers. Salesforce operates AppExchange, which links to software that extends the functionality of its customer relationship management software.

Google Working With NSA to Investigate Cyber Attack

The Wall Street Journal

Officials at the National Security Agency have been working with Google Inc. to investigate the cyber attacks that Google announced publicly last month, according to people familiar with the investigation.

A Google spokeswoman declined to comment. NSA didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The partnership began weeks ago, as the Internet company shared details about the attack – which it said it believed originated in China and affected more than 20 companies – with various government agencies.

In response, Google said it would stop censoring its search results in China – a move it has yet to take as it continues discussions with Chinese officials about how it can continue to operate in the country. In recent weeks, Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt has said the Internet company doesn't want to back out of China but wants to be there on "different terms."

Companies have been more reluctant to work with the NSA in the wake of the debate over domestic surveillance in Washington because they fear being seen as aiding intelligence agencies in a way that would undermine the trust of customers. Addressing this private-sector anxiety is one of the largest challenges facing the White House's new cyber chief Howard Schmidt.

NSA officials had only heard rumors about the Google attack until the company announced it publicly, said one person familiar with the investigation.

While the Federal Bureau of Investigation could begin immediately on its criminal investigation, the NSA had to draft a legal agreement to begin sharing share information with Google.

The NSA's general counsel began drafting what's known as a cooperative research and development agreement the day Google announced the breach, according to a people familiar with the investigation. The agreement was finalized within 24 hours, but the flow of information was still limited, according to a person familiar with the investigation. It allowed the NSA to examine some of the data related to the intrusion into Google's systems.

Both the FBI and NSA dispatched officials to work directly with Google. Most of the information shared with NSA officials has been about the nature of the data that was stolen from Google, a person familiar with the investigation said.

As a result, some intelligence officers attempting to get a better understanding of the nature and scope of the attack resorted to tapping their own backchannel contacts and twisting arms to get information, said a person familiar with the investigation.

Yahoo, AP Reach Licensing Deal

The Wall Street Journal

The Associated Press and Yahoo Inc. have reached a new licensing agreement that will allow the Web portal to continue to host AP articles, the two parties said Monday.

The agreement could help define a core issue facing news organizations: How to deal with the Internet portals that help distribute their material but that some publishers say unfairly profit from their work.

The pact now shifts the focus to Google Inc., which has been the primary target of publishers unhappy with the way search engines use their material. Google's contract with the AP was set to expire last week. Google earlier had stopped hosting new AP articles on its news site, in case no new deal was reached.

Both Yahoo and AP declined to comment on the terms of the new deal. A Yahoo spokeswoman said Yahoo "will continue to enforce the strictest standards for AP's licensed content." AP said in a statement, "AP looks forward to deepening its partnership with Yahoo! as we and our members explore new opportunities and new ways to engage with audiences."

AP has been negotiating with Yahoo, Google and Microsoft Corp. to extend agreements under new terms that address some of news organizations' chief concerns. For example, AP has been developing a system to track how and where its articles, and its members' articles, are republished online, and it wants its Web partners to support that tracking system, according to people familiar with the talks.

AP also is seeking better financial terms from its Web partners, particularly as revenue from its member newspapers has shrunk, with more people seeking out news on the Internet and newspaper advertising down sharply.

People familiar with the talks said Yahoo had agreed to abide by certain guidelines for protecting content.

With some 1,500 U.S. newspapers as members, AP has considerable organizing powers in a fragmented industry. It is leading the effort to control how and where its members' material appears on the Internet, both on the portals' own news sites and in search results that send readers to AP articles on its members' Web sites.

AP has said it is trying to correct earlier agreements that gave Web portals access to a wide range of its online articles in a relatively inexpensive package. Those deals helped make the material ubiquitous, but AP executives say they also diluted the value of the offerings.

Apple’s Steve Jobs: Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Mantra is ‘Bullshit,’ Adobe Is Lazy
Wired

After a big public announcement of the sort Apple had this week for the iPad CEO Steve Jobs often takes time in the day or two afterwards to have a Town Hall at One Infinite Loop, making himself available for questions from employees bold enough to stand up and take one right between the eyes.

This time, the big topics included Google and Adobe — no surprises there. Google recently unveiled its own Android-powered handset, the Nexus One, whose release Jan. 5 prompted Jobs to perhaps over-react by announcing on the same day that the iTunes store had served up three billion apps and that “… we see no signs of the competition catching up any time soon.” Apple’s billionth iPhone app download was greeted with great fanfare, but the two billionth not so much, so it felt a tad like Jobs was feeling some heat.

And the absence of Adobe Flash support on the iPhone for three years and counting, and now on the iPad, is either celebrated by users as a poke in the eye of one of the web’s most dextrous tools, or the most over-rated and overused crutch for decent design.

Jobs, characteristically, did not mince words as he spoke to the assembled, according to a person who was there who could not be named because this person is not authorized by Apple to speak with the press.

On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s bullshit.” Audience roars.

About Adobe: They are lazy, Jobs says. They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it. They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon. Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy, he says. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.

The world, of course, includes Google, which last week in a somewhat more modest development bypassed Apple’s iPhone app blockade by unveiling an html5 version of Google Voice, which takes full advantage of mobile Safari on the iPhone. Wired.com found it to be an impressive variation of the app Apple has neither approved nor officially rejected.

And it is, of course, in keeping with Google’s stated view (Android app marketplace notwithstanding) that the future is really in web-based applications and not in mobile apps at all. Web-based applications of the sort html5 makes much more viable.

So, great work rallying the troops, Steve — but be careful what you wish for.

In a post on macrumors.com Arnold Kim adds some more details from the Town Hall, including tough talk from Jobs about a blistering pace of iPhone updates, the LaLa acquisition, the next iPhone and (ahem) another candid assessment, of Blu-Ray.)

Another member of the audience, who also requires anonymity because this person is also not authorized to speak to the media, disputes the “bullshit” quote and says Jobs actually said: “Don’t be evil is a load of crap,” as first reported by Daring Fireball. This source also asserts that Jobs had nice things to say about how Adobe, or at least how the company used to be, as John Gruber’s “little birdie” also told him first.)

Many Wired Chinese Unfazed by Possible Google Exit

AP

 

BEIJING (AP) - A world without Google? They can imagine it just fine in China. After all, it's not like losing "World of Warcraft."

The online giant's threat to pull out of China over censorship has drawn little reaction among the country's 384 million Internet users. No flood of complaints to China's consumer rights agency, like the tens of thousands received in one day when the online fantasy game "World of Warcraft" was yanked last year because of a bureaucratic turf battle. Nor has there been the type of fury that saw 32,000 indignant gamers participate in an online chat session on the "World of Warcraft."

"If Google leaves China, we'll lose one search engine. But we still have other choices," said 28-year-old Deng Zhiluo, who works in marketing in Beijing. He said while Google's search results are more "international," most of what he wants can be found on Chinese competitor Baidu. "For locals, Baidu is enough."

The indifference of many Chinese points to a telling challenge for Google in the world's most populous Internet market. The Chinese Internet world is youthful, with people under 30 making up 61.5 percent of the online population, and Google's cause isn't generating popular support among China's wired teens and 20-somethings.

"It's like in the U.S. saying, 'You can't use Yahoo search anymore'," said T.R. Harrington, CEO of Shanghai-based Darwin Marketing, which specializes in China's search engines. "What would people say? 'So what? I'll use Google more, and I'll try Bing and I might try a few other ones ... I don't care.'"

Google threatened three weeks ago to shut down its Chinese search engine, Google.cn, citing cyberattacks emanating from China plus attempts to snoop on dissidents.

Some Chinese admire the Mountain View, Calif.-based company's stand and its "don't be evil" image: A few dozen laid flowers outside Google's Beijing headquarters, and a few hundred joined a "Don't Go Google" Web site before it was shut down for unknown reasons.

The trouble Google is having generating support among Chinese underscores how successfully the communist government controls information. While authorities have set up an extensive network of Internet filters, blockades and monitoring - dubbed the "Great Firewall of China" - that's only part of the picture. China's permissible Internet universe is flooded with choice, with 3.2 million registered Web sites offering politically acceptable news coverage and loads of diversions from shopping to music downloads.

The generation of Chinese currently in their teens and 20s are known for their love of consumerism and disdain for politics. Most aren't interested in scaling the "Great Firewall" by using proxy servers or other technical subterfuges, according to Kaiser Kuo, a Beijing-based technology analyst. Their favorite online activities: listening to music, chatting with friends and playing video games.

For many sites blocked by the government - including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter - there are readily available, government-approved Chinese substitutes: Youku and Tudou for videos, Kaixinwang and Renren for social networking. Sina.com, the largest Internet portal, runs a Twitter-like microblogging site.

"Baidu does the same things as Google," said 30-year-old IT salesman Zheng Hongyi. "And if it leaves there will be more companies coming up to fill this need."

Beijing may be interested in seeking an accommodation. Google is an innovator whose presence could spur innovation by Chinese competitors. Blocking Google sites could encourage more Chinese to seek ways of getting around Internet controls. That's what happened last year when two government agencies prohibited Chinese sites from offering "World of Warcraft" while they battled over the right to regulate the lucrative online game. Local stores started selling access cards that allowed Chinese fans to play the game on Taiwanese servers.

Google's message is resonating with some Chinese. Wen Yunchao, a popular blogger who writes about social issues and the Internet, said the publicity Google touched off has raised awareness about censorship and Internet access, especially in less worldly cities.

"A lot of people might not normally feel the existence of censorship. This lets more people know, understand and like Google. I've heard in some second and third-tier cities, Google's usage is increasing dramatically," Wen said.

Outside big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, Google's brand recognition is low, said Tangos Chan of Internet and technology blog China Web Radar. When visiting his rural hometown in southeastern Fujian province a year or so ago, Chan found that some of his childhood friends "didn't really know what it was ... they just use Baidu."

While Google is generally seen in China as the go-to site for searching overseas Web sites, Baidu is known for being better at finding Web sites in Chinese, both in China and abroad. The Nasdaq-listed company also runs a popular message board, online encyclopedia and vast digital music library.

Baidu has about 60 percent of China's search engine market, compared with Google's 35 percent, according to Analysys International, a Beijing research firm.

"Baidu has more products that make it a destination for the average user in China," said Harrington, the marketing specialist.

Also hurting Google is the Chinese government's control of the country's news media. State-run media have glossed over the company's allegations about China-based hacking attacks and instead portrayed the affair as a business decision by Google. Many young Chinese believe that Google wants to leave because it's being drubbed by Baidu.

State media recently hardened their stance, accusing the U.S. government of being behind the dispute, particularly after a speech by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Jan. 21 when she called on China to investigate the attacks that led to Google's threat to pull out.

"Right now, a lot of netizens feel the American government was involved. Google's image is becoming more and more negative," said Rao Jin, an online entrepreneur who recently launched google-liar.com. "If Google leaves, we will be losing an Internet tool but we must be aware of national security threats."

Rao has been successful in tapping popular sentiment in China. He is the founder of anti-cnn.com, launched during ethnic rioting in Tibet in March 2008 and aimed at exposing alleged bias in Western media reports. It still receives 1 million page views a day.

The 25-year-old has such influence that he was among bloggers and other Chinese Internet personalities invited to round-table discussions at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing before President Barack Obama's visit in November and after Clinton's speech, in an effort by the State Department to sway Chinese public opinion.

Ironically, some of the anti-Google articles Rao posted on google-liar.com were found with the help of Google. The Internet entrepreneur and his friends even use the company's Gmail e-mail service.

Rao said he's backing up his Gmail account and preparing to switch to a Chinese e-mail provider. He said you can always find a ready Chinese substitute.

Cybersecurity Chief Confronts Google Attack, Cloud Security
Information Week

New to the job, Howard Schmidt's priorities include developing an organized response to attacks on American systems, private-public partnerships, and R&D.

The nation's new cybersecurity coordinator, Howard Schmidt, says the task of overseeing government-wide computer security has been "non-stop" in his first two weeks on the job.

Following the December announcement of his appointment by President Obama, Schmidt immediately had a cybersecurity crisis on his hands: Google's disclosure of a cyber attack on its system from within China. "I think everybody in the world who's in the security business is thinking about or working on that issue right now," Schmidt said in a brief interview at the Congressional Internet Caucus' annual State of the Net conference, where he gave his first public speech since taking office.

Since meeting with President Obama a few weeks ago, Schmidt has been working with federal CTO Aneesh Chopra and federal CIO Vivek Kundra on the requirement for secure cloud computing architectures and other issues.

Schmidt didn't offer a timeframe for when the White House would introduce a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, but he hinted at where he might be looking to affect change. Schmidt pointed to supply chain management and education as weak links in cybersecurity. His priorities include developing an organized, unified response to attacks on American systems, fostering private-public partnerships, and addressing R&D needs.

One of the main concerns expressed about Schmidt's position before he took office was that it carried no real budget authority, but Schmidt waves that aside. "I don't believe that if you don't have the budget authority, you can't affect change," he said, noting a recent groundswell of support from policy-makers for cybersecurity efforts.

Another question has been whether Schmidt has the President's ear and the authority to make policy. He reports to both the National Economic Council and the National Security Staff, rather than to the President.

"I was particularly pleased and it made me feel good that there is a direct link to the National Security Staff as well as the National Economic Council," he said in his speech. "By being dual-hatted, it gives us a much broader perspective and helps us to have balance. It's important to understand we have a foot in both camps and utilize both camps."

Schmidt said privacy would be a key component of any cybersecurity plans he helps to develop. "Privacy and security are two sides of the same coin," he said. "As I was coming into this position, I was always sure that we had the discussion about privacy."

Schmidt took over for Chris Painter, who was acting in an interim capacity. Painter kept things going forward, Schmidt said, adding that he hopes to keep him at the White House "as long as I can keep him." Schmidt has a staff of about 10 working on issues from privacy to intelligence.

Search Keywords Mean Business

Information Week

Companies spend a fortune protecting their brands. But in the context of local search advertising, keywords may matter more than trademarks.

Google claims that more people (82%) use online search engines like Google than any other medium to find local information. The number of mobile searches with a local focus is estimated to be almost 30%, according to The Kelsey Group.

And local search is only becoming more important, thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and the tech industry's focus on location-oriented data and services.

Small businesses that focus on their own brand, says Bret Fitzgerald, VP of business development for marketing services company Clearlink, are losing out on a significant amount of online traffic if they ignore generic keywords.

The reason is that far more people conduct local searches for generic terms like "pizza" or "coffee" than bother with a branded search like "Round Table Pizza" or "Peet's Coffee."

"Generally speaking, you see more searches around categorical terms than branded ones," said Kelly Hansen, local search director of operations at Clearlink.

For example, Clearlink, which manages local and map search listings for small businesses, tracked some 2,400 searches for "pizza phoenix" in the Phoenix, Arizona, area last month, but only 1,600 searches for "pizza hut phoenix" and 320 searches for "dominoes pizza phoenix."

In Austin, Texas, the preference for generic terms was even more pronounced. Clearlink saw 3,600 searches for "pizza austin," 91 searches for "pizza hut austin," and 170 searches for "dominoes pizza austin."

Fitzgerald says that it's imperative for businesses to understand that they can bring in customers if their local listings are managed properly in terms of Google SEO, so that they show up for the appropriate generic queries in Google Maps, for example.