I still have no idea how Google decides which news sources are among the 4,500 indexed in Google News. Google News’ FAQ has the following: “What if I don’t see my favorite news source in Google News? We’re as shocked…

Who owns the letter “Q” in connection with autos? Nissan claims it does and Audi doesn’t. Update: Detroit Free Press story (quoting Schwimmer) [but I’m pretty sure that Apple does not own the prefix “i”, so I’ll chalk that up…

Anthony Greco, allegedly the first person arrested for spim/instant message spam (but it was really just email), pleaded guilty for his deeds. Not clear exactly what crimes he was charged with—there were a number of good contenders.

Ridiculous article in BBC lamenting that 1/3 of email users have responded to spam and 10% have bought products from spam. The article portrays this as “bad e-mail behaviour” because, as every anti-spam scaremonger is quick to assert, responding to…

AP story recapping AFP v. Google, quoting Zittrain and von Lohmann (among others). Contrary to some popular press reports, it appears that AFP is pressing on with the lawsuit despite Google’s redoubled efforts to kick them out of Google News….

Burns and Wyden have reintroduced the SPY BLOCK Act in the Senate (S 687). Initial text here. This is the Senate complement to the SPY Act in the House (HR 29).

Last week, the Utah governor signed HB 104, the amendment to Utah’s Spyware Control Act. The amendment is, in fact, a nearly complete rewrite of the prior law. I blogged on the proposed law last month, and since then further…

Not a surprise, but today the Utah governor signed HB 260, the ridiculous Internet service provider-as-filterer law. See my earlier critique (I think there are other objectionable aspects of the bill; I tried to control myself). Anyone want to make…

Just-launched ZoomInfo aggregates web information about individuals into a single profile. The business model is a little opaque. The website offers a subscription service for “recruiting, sales intelligence and other markets”, and the article says that “the free “people search”…

The ACLU has put together a humorous (?) look at the possible consequences of a National ID number and widespread data sharing. But the satire partially backfires; I actually wish that vendors offered some of the depicted services! And if…

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