1. geolocat.html     The Rise of Internet Borders
as gambling, commerce, copyright and speech. But critics fear that the barriers will create an Internet that's balkanized. And civil rights groups warn that freedom of speech will suffer, that the technology will make it easier for oppressive governments to stifle nonconformist viewpoints, and that people's privacy will be eroded, especially because some technologies can pinpoint one's location. "It's likely that the Internet of tomorrow will look radically different from different parts of the world," said Lee Tien, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. Already legislatures and court systems around the world have been attempting to assert their country's authority over the World Wide Web. Hong Kong's government, for instance, has been debating whether to pass a law that would make it a crime for any overseas gambling site to offer services to its residents. A court in Genoa, Italy, recently found the operator of a Web site in another country guilty of libel. A French judge has ordered Yahoo to stop selling Nazi paraphernalia because a law there bans such practices.

2. geolocat.html     The Rise of Internet Borders
Yahoo declined on principle and sued in U.S. District Court in San Jose to make the order unenforceable because a foreign judge could not impose such conditions on a U.S.-based company. U.S. Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled Nov. 7 that the First Amendment trumps overseas laws when they pertain to content produced by U.S. companies. An appeals court upheld the decision but the French groups have appealed again and have vowed to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. The attorney for the French groups, Ronald Katz, argues that the issue is not about free speech but about national sovereignty. "Yahoo wants to use the court decision as a sort of megaphone to say the U.S. controls the Internet," he said.

3. gmail.html     Gmail is too creepy
We don't use Gmail, but it is safe to assume that the ad matching is no better in Gmail, than it is in news articles that use contextual ad feeds from Google. Here's a screen shot that shows an inappropriate placement of Google ads in a news article. We also read about a lawyer who is experimenting with Gmail. He sent himself a message, and discovered that the law practice footer he uses at the bottom of all of his email triggered an ad for a competing law firm. Another example is seen in the Google ads at the bottom of this story about Brandon Mayfield. There are two ads. One mentions sexual assault charges (sex has nothing to do with the story), and the other is about anti-terrorism. The entire point of this article, as well as a New York Times piece on May 8, 2004, is that a lawyer has had his career ruined due to overreaction by the FBI, based on disputed evidence. He was arrested as a material witness and his home and office were searched. The NYT (page A12) says that "Mr. Mayfield was arrested before investigators had fully examined his phone records, before they knew if he had ever met with any of the bombing suspects, before they knew if he had ever traveled to Spain or elsewhere overseas. His relatives said he had not been out of the United States for 10 years." The only evidence is a single fingerprint on a plastic bag, and some FBI officials have raised questions about whether this print is a match. While Mr. Mayfield will get his day in court, it appears that Google's ads have already convicted him, and for good measure added some bogus sexual assault charges as well. Would Mr. Mayfield be well-advised

4. goog-s3.html     Form S-3
Table of Contents Because our business is changing and evolving, our historical operating results may not be useful to you in predicting our future operating results. In addition, advertising spending has historically been cyclical in nature, reflecting overall economic conditions as well as budgeting and buying patterns. For example, in 1999, advertisers spent heavily on Internet advertising. This was followed by a lengthy downturn in ad spending on the web. Also, user traffic tends to be seasonal. Our rapid growth has masked the cyclicality and seasonality of our business. As our growth has slowed, the cyclicality and seasonality in our business has become more pronounced and will in the future cause our operating results to fluctuate.   STYLE="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px; text-indent:4%">If we do not continue to innovate and provide products and services that are useful to users, we may not remain competitive, and our revenues and operating results could suffer.   Our success depends on providing products and services that people use for a high quality Internet experience. Our competitors are constantly developing innovations in web search, online advertising and providing information to people. As a result, we must continue to invest significant resources in research and development in order to enhance our web search technology and our existing products and services and introduce new high-quality products and services that people can easily and effectively use. If we are

5. pharms.html     Drugstore.com battles web ads for drug imports
Google's Mr. Page couldn't confirm that the company had received AOL's request. In a statement, Yahoo's Overture division, which runs the company's sponsored links program, said it's currently evaluating a service from another company that will help it "identify legitimate online pharmacy advertisers that are appropriate for Overture's marketplace." While Yahoo has been talking to Drugstore.com about the matter, a company spokeswoman said the search for a method to remove questionable pharmacy advertisers began prior to those discussions. Lisa Gurry, a group product manager at Microsoft's MSN site, said the company is working with Overture, which supplies sponsored Web sites to MSN, and "others in the industry to ensure any concerns regarding online pharmacies are addressed." The rules surrounding online pharmacy practices are complicated, with some gray areas. Pharmacies are regulated by states, and must be licens