Online ad

To promote his recent campaign for mayor of St. Petersburg, Fla., Scott Wagman bought an ad that popped up online when anyone ran a Google search for his opponents' names.

He was hardly the first to employ the tactic, which didn't stop a rival campaign from complaining the ad did not have a "paid for by" disclaimer. The Florida Elections Commission ordered Wagman to remove it and pay a $250 fine, even though the required disclaimer was longer than the 68 characters allowed in the text of the ad, which wasn't "paid for" until someone clicked on it.

Two serial entrepreneurs are poised to launch an online marketplace for brand-name household items that boldly aims to compete not only with the likes of Amazon and drugstore.com, but mega-retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, and CVS Caremark as well. It's also up against something else that might be just as powerful: memories of past online consumer-goods debacles.

Microsoft has acted to stop what it says is an illegal family advertising scheme. The software giant filed suit in U.S. District Court for Western Washington against three Canadian family members, accusing the trio of massive click fraud.

Click fraud is committed when a person, computer program, or automated script imitates a Web surfer by clicking on an online ad to get a fraudulent "charge per click" without any interest in the ad's link, according to Tim Cranston, Microsoft's associate general counsel for Microsoft Internet Safety Enforcement.

Microsoft has acted to stop what it says is an illegal family advertising scheme. The software giant filed suit in U.S. District Court for Western Washington against three Canadian family members, accusing the trio of massive click fraud.

Click fraud is committed when a person, computer program, or automated script imitates a Web surfer by clicking on an online ad to get a fraudulent "charge per click" without any interest in the ad's link, according to Tim Cranton, Microsoft's associate general counsel for Microsoft Internet Safety Enforcement.

In the wake of news that Google is introducing behavioral targeting of advertisements, a Democratic congressman from Virginia is renewing his suggestion that new consumer-protection legislation may be needed to rein in data collection.

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) said he is working with Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), to craft a bill to require online companies to notify consumers of tracking activity. All three congressmen are members of the Internet subcommittee in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which Boucher chairs.

A Recycled Proposal

The Bakersfield Californian is an anomaly in the newspaper business. While other papers are shutting their doors and filing for bankruptcy, it's expanding. The reason is the paper's 2005 launch of an online social network, called Bakotopia.com, aimed at reaching nonreaders, especially the young people in this city of nearly 329,000.

Online ad company NebuAd faced tough questions from U.S. senators on Wednesday. Privacy advocates have complained that the company's technology is too intrusive and may be breaking laws.

NebuAd is insisting its privacy protections are comprehensive. It also is offering new tools, such as customer notification and new opt-out technology, to empower Internet service providers.

"NebuAd is committed to driving innovation in online advertising while pioneering industry-leading privacy practices," said NebuAd CEO Bob Dykes.

Does Ad Targeting Break the Law?

Cable TV, phone and Internet service provider Charter Communications drew concern Friday from two congressmen and a privacy advocate over its plan to experiment with tracking its customers' Web use in collaboration with an online advertising firm.

Charter has told its high-speed Internet customers in four markets about the pilot, which will produce enough information for Web advertisers to target online advertising for individual customers based on their habits.

Cable TV, phone and Internet service provider Charter Communications drew concern Friday from two congressmen and a privacy advocate over its plan to experiment with tracking its customers' Web use in collaboration with an online advertising firm.

Charter has told its high-speed Internet customers in four markets about the pilot, which will produce enough information for Web advertisers to target online advertising for individual customers based on their habits.