MacMillan on RSS
Robert MacMillan at the Washington Post wrote a very good column on the joys and limitations of RSS, harping on the fact that it’s not as simple as it should be (I agree). RSS is one of those technologies where…
Economist on the Long Tail
Good article from the Economist explaining the Long Tail in a basic and understandable way. The article even addresses the thorny organizational/marketing problem implicit in the Long Tail. (Thanks to the Long Tail blog for the pointer).
LA Times on Adware Advertisers–Including 1800 Contacts?
The LA Times reports on brand name advertisers found advertising on adware, including Mercedes-Benz and Travelocity.com. As is typical in these situations, the brand names disavow any connection with the adware advertsing as soon as the press contacts them. This…
Nielsen on Searcher Mental Models
Jakob Nielsen ran a column describing user expectations about “search”—it should have a box, a search button, and a separate search results page where results are linear and prioritized. He says that user mental associations have become so strong that…
Will Spitzer Go After the Adware Industry?
In the wake of Spitzer’s action against Intermix, I’ve been seeing lots of speculation that Spitzer’s office will go after other companies as well, given Spitzer’s reputation for pursuing an entire industry. See CBS Marketwatch (registration required); Riva Richmond of…
Does AskJeeves Have a Spyware/Adware Problem? Diller Says No. I Say…
Ben Edelman leveled two charges at AskJeeves on Monday. First, Ben asserts that AskJeeves targets kids for toolbar downloads. Second, Ben asserts that an AskJeeves distributor exploits security holes to install the toolbar without consent. This follows on the heels…
Congress Mulls Mandatory Security Breach Disclosure Law
Congress is discussing a national mandatory security breach notification law. In a minor surprise, at least one legislator, Rep. Oxley, is asking the right questions. He observes: “consumers may begin to ignore those notices as just that many more pieces…
Declan Interviews Edelman
Interview here. I have a lot of issues with Ben’s positions, and I will have more to say about that later. In this interview, though, notice how Ben conflates adware and spyware. Even Declan found that confusing.
Antitrust Attack on the GPL
By John Ottaviani In the latest attack on open source software and the General Public License , Daniel Wallace, acting as his own attorney, has sued the Free Software Foundation in the United States District Court for the Southern District…
Guest Blogger–John Ottaviani
I’m pleased to introduce John Ottaviani as a guest blogger. John is a partner at Edwards & Angell in Providence, RI. John practices technology and IP law and is co-chair (along with me) of the Intellectual Property subcommittee of the…