Internet

Yahoo is taking Facebook to court for violating approximately ten patents related to Internet advertising systems. It's the first patent showdown between these two web companies. The lawsuit has been filed in a San Jose, California federal court. ... Yahoo is reportedly represented by the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart ... (view more)

A new industry insider report suggests Yahoo may be preparing for a major corporate overhaul that could result in thousands of employees losing their jobs, possibly before the end of March, 2012. Right now the company employs more than 14,000 people ... worldwide. While the report has received no official confirmation from Yahoo, analysts familiar with the company believe the rumor probably contains more truth than fiction. The report comes from "AllThingsD", an online publication that "specializes in technology and startup company news, analysis and coverage." (Source: ... (view more)

Facebook has announced it will step up the amount of advertising displayed to users. It plans to include ads within news feeds and, for the first time, on mobile devices. Advertising makes up the vast majority of Facebook's revenue, the remainder ... coming from revenue associated with applications, like Farmville. However, to date Facebook has not followed the traditional model of offering advertisers a variety of different ad sizes and spaces at different prices. Instead, it has concentrated on its ability to target ads at users who meet a specific description set by the advertiser. That's ... (view more)

Microsoft has accused Google of ignoring the privacy settings on browsers. Google says it's all a misunderstanding, but politicians have suggested there could be legal consequences. The dispute centers on web browser cookies, which are small text ... files a website sends to a user's computer, intended to provide information to various sites for customizing the user's online experiences. However, cookies can also be used to track a web user's online activity. To prevent this, most browsers allow users to limit the acceptance of cookies. For Apple's Safari, the default setting accepts cookies only ... (view more)

British business tycoon Richard Branson has prevailed in one of the first high-profile test cases of the new triple-x website address system. A US tribunal ruled that Australian Sean Truman acted in bad faith registering the richardbranson.xxx ... domain name, and ordered it be turned over to Branson immediately. (Source: adrforum.com ) Notably, Branson had not protected his name under the rules governing the new top-level domain. His victory may therefore lead more people challenging similar unwanted registrations. After a lengthy, controversial debate, the red-light domains debuted last year . ... (view more)

A woman accused of pirating an adult-oriented film says the United States Constitution prevents such movies from being copyrighted. Liuxia Wong received a letter last year from Hard Drive Productions, claiming she illegally shared a copy of "Amateur ... Allure Jen" through the BitTorrent file-sharing system. The company then threatened to sue Wong for $150,000 damages -- the maximum for a single copyright infringement -- unless she immediately paid $3,400 in compensation. Accused Woman Strikes Back Wong refused to pay, and instead filed for declaratory relief. A declaratory relief is a ... (view more)

Microsoft has released a customized edition of its popular Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) web browser, this one intended for use by children. In addition to adding links to online safety sites, the new version includes content protection that is switched ... on, by default. The new children's edition of IE9 has been developed with the help of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), a British organization that includes police officers, government officials and representatives from some major tech firms, including Microsoft. Bookmarks, Tabs Bring Safety to Forefront The updated ... (view more)

Both Facebook and Google have removed online material alleged to pose a risk of social unrest in India, following legal threats to block the sites completely. The two companies are among 21 firms hit with a civil lawsuit regarding offensive content. ... The lawsuit, brought by a private citizen, claims the material involves religious issues that could provoke unrest. Google's problems appear tied to its sites Blogger and YouTube. Google says it has taken down the material pursuant to a court request, its standard policy regarding legal issues, regardless of country. The material has been removed ... (view more)

If you've developed an application capable of spying on users of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would probably like to have a chat with you. But don't worry -- it would appear they're more ... likely to use your app than putting you in prison for it. In a recent post on the site FedBizOpps.gov, the FBI's Strategic Information and Operations Center (SIOC) openly admits it's looking for an app that will allow the investigative organization to go behind the scenes in social media sites and news networks. According to the post, the much-wanted ... (view more)

For years, analysts have expected Facebook to become publicly traded. Now, the company confirms it will be offering at least $5 billion worth of shares, making the entire company worth as much as $100 billion. It's not yet known when those shares ... will be made available, but Facebook has formally registered the move with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The $5 billion is a preliminary figure put forward to determine the registration fee the company must pay. The actual public offering may vary, depending on whether Facebook's financial advisors believe that setting a higher initial ... (view more)