Internet

Several Internet Service Providers (ISPs), along with "NebuAd," the company responsible for a controversial marketing technology that delivers "more relevant ads" while you surf the Internet are facing a class action lawsuit. The suit was filed in ... the U.S. District Court in San Francisco and alleges violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, California's Invasion of Privacy Act and California's Computer Crime Law, as well as aiding and abetting, civil conspiracy and unjust enrichment. Earlier this year, NebuAd made the news when ... (view more)

After a year and a half atop one of the web's most powerful search companies, Jerry Yang has decided to step down as chief executive of Yahoo. The co-founder of the number two search engine has in the last year unsuccessfully attempted financial ... agreements with competitors Microsoft and Google, and the company remains in tatters heading into 2009. Yang, 40, won't completely abandon the company he helped found, however. Although he'll no longer assume the duties of chief executive, Yang plans on returning to his previous position as "chief Yahoo", or corporate strategist. Thus, he'll remain on ... (view more)

Think the Internet is all about freedom of speech? Not Facebook. After a number of complaints from mostly European sources, the popular social networking site has pulled and banned several Neo-Nazi groups. The European Parliament lodged the most ... significant complaint with the California-based Facebook. Martin Schulz, Socialist leader within the EP, told the media, "The existence of these groups is repulsive." Officially, Facebook removed the sites because they conflicted with its terms of use. Although the site "supports the free flow of information," representatives felt that the Neo-Nazi ... (view more)

The classifieds site Craigslist is changing its rules on advertisements by skin-trade workers following pressure from state governments. Escorts will still be able to advertise, but must provide details which could make prosecution easier where they ... break local laws in doing so. The crackdown follows complaints by Connecticut's attorney general Richard Blumenthal who contacted the site in March 2008, highlighting advertisements which gave specific details about certain services for offer and the rates the prostitutes charged. This was deemed illegal under the state's law and one woman was ... (view more)

AT&T is reportedly considering limiting the bandwidth that subscribers are entitled to use each month, beginning with Reno, NV. Internet providers across the country are are limiting bandwidth to curb a small number of "bandwidth hogs" who use a ... lot of the network capacity. According to an AT ... (view more)

Those of you who feel that the merger of the web's two largest search engines is a flagrant violation of antitrust legislation will be happy to hear that an analyst studying Yahoo and Google's recent advertising deal believes it may very well fail. ... Jeffrey Lindsay, analyst for Sanford Bernstein, recently called the attempted merger a "desperate gambit" and highly unlikely to pass the Justice Department. Lindsay expects a decision will be deferred until next year, with the expectation that a prolonged period of indecision will lead to the deal's eventual and perhaps inevitable ... (view more)

An online music company is launching a new take on the MP3 business model: it's offering unlimited listening (from any Internet-enabled device) to a track for 10 cents. For LaLa, the group offering the deal, this is the third different method it's ... tried. LaLa, which launched in 2006, began as a music business based on members trading physical CDs (originals, not copies), with LaLa charging a dollar to both parties as middleman. Last year it changed the focus to online music, with streaming music available with permission of the publishers (though this feature didn't last long) and the ability ... (view more)

Trivia time: which was the first U.S. city to offer area-wide broadband access? We now have an answer for you -- Baltimore, Maryland. When visiting the storied metropolis you won't need to be on the lookout for "WiFi available here" signs anymore, ... because the entire city has become one enormous hot spot. Mobile WiFi is a fourth-generation (4G) wireless technology also known as WiMax, short for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. Wireless telecommunications giant Sprint has teamed with Seattle-based carrier Clearwire to offer WiMax service to thousands of potential consumers. ... (view more)

Telecommunications reforms could bring broadband service to even more American rural areas, but there are fears the changes could also mean nationwide increases in phone charges. The Federal Communications Commission is proposing changes to two ... existing systems: one, the 'intercarrier compensation' scheme, governs how telephone companies split the call revenues when one firm's customer phones somebody in another firm's region. The other is the Universal Service Fund, under which a portion of long-distance phone call revenues is used to pay some of the costs of phone and Internet services in ... (view more)

Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the World Wide Web, says there may be a need for independent labelling of websites to distinguish between reliable and bogus scientific information. He told the BBC such a system could be useful in combating the ... unchecked spreading of rumours which have plagued both the Large Hadron Collider scheme and the distribution of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine to children. He added that it's probably not appropriate to score sites for credibility; rather that sites with a proven record of accuracy could get a seal of approval. The interview came as ... (view more)