Taking a Bite of Apple
For over a year, Apple has been involved in a legal battle with Mac-clone manufacturer Psystar. Few believed Psystar would last against the mighty Apple, but the small company has recently changed legal teams. Apple is accusing the Miami-based Psystar of destroying evidence critical to Apple’s defense of its copyright. Psystar, meanwhile, maintains that Mac OSX’s copyright was improperly filed, and is moving to have the entire case thrown out.
Corporations are Peeping Tom’s in the Internet Age
For years, companies have been tracking what we look at online. This secretly collected information offers insights into our Internet habits and searching preferences. Over time this data becomes increasingly valuable to marketers and is often combined with an individual’s offline data to create detailed profiles of consumers.
But now, watchdog organizations are seeking to place limits on information collected from individuals surfing the Web. The consortium of advocacy groups has stated that this corporate driven data mining is an invasion of privacy.
In a prepared statement the group outlines that behavioral advertising, where a user’s online activity is tracked so that ads can be served based on the user’s behavior, was cited as a particular concern:
“Tracking people’s every move online is an invasion of privacy. Online behavioral tracking is even more distressing when consumers aren’t aware who is tracking them, that it’s happening, or how the information will be used. Often consumers are not asked for their consent and have no meaningful control over the collection and use of their information, often by third parties with which they have no relationships.”
eBay Sells Skype
The online auction giant eBay recently sold its controlling share of Internet phone company Skype to a group of private investors for over $1.9 billion. A good deal for eBay as it was able to sell Skype for very close to what it paid for it in 2005, and still retain a 35 percent stake in the company.
