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Acquisitions: A Facebook application, “Where I’ve Been,” …
August 17th, 2007 at 2:09 pmSource:Valleywag
Patricia Santangelo made headlines as the first person to go to court with the RIAA instead of timidly settling charges of copyright infringement. In April, her lawsuit was dismissed. But instead of quietly forgetting the entanglement, the RIAA decided to go after Patricia’s children, Michelle and Robert, for alleged illegal file-sharing. Now for the fun twist. The Santangelos are looking to name Kazaa operator Sharman Networks and AOL, the family’s Internet service provider, as third-party defendants in the case Elektra v. Santangelo.
The Santangelo family, in other words, is essentially blaming Kazaa and AOL for their file-sharing legal woes. The motion claims Kazaa “‘operates in the background of one’s computer’ while ‘recklessly disregarding copyright law’ in order to ensnare ‘unsuspecting users into unintended sharing.’” AOL is held accountable for its failure to protect the children by preventing known file-sharing. Even if Robert Santangelo’s best friend hadn’t ratted him out, it’s hard to believe that the kids, who were 15 and 11 at the time, didn’t realize what was going on. “Free” music is the whole point of Kazaa. In this case, ignorance of the law is not just no excuse — it’s downright pathetic. (Photo by Chaz Larson)
Source:Valleywag
After an outage that’s starting on its second day, Skype, the eBay-owned Internet calling service, continues to reassure its users through its Heartbeat status blog that, although significant login problems persist, Skype’s programmers are making progress and that many Asian and European users are now able to use, once again, their computers as telephones. However, the periodic updates do little to clarify the situation.
While Skype has dispelled rumors of a system crash, a cyberattack, and problems with a planned billing upgrade (”We love our customers too much to let that happen, ” Skype claims), what was initially defined as a “software issue” has only been clarified as “a deficiency in an algorithm within Skype networking software.” How a “deficient algorithm” disrupts a service that was working fine two days ago or how they can identify the problem but only make it “slightly better” remains a mystery.
Why is it that Skype loves its users enough to protect them from outside attackers and acts of God, but not their own “deficient” software? And why would its loved ones ever accept such a lame excuse? Shareholders have already shaved $1 billion off of eBay’s market cap, apparently as punishment. Now that’s the kind of tough love Skype needs to see.
Source:Valleywag
A Facebook application, “Where I’ve Been,” reportedly sells to TripAdvisor, a division of online travel agency Expedia, for $3 million. This proves the strength of Facebook’s so-called “platform” as a vehicle for flipping cheap, trivial ideas to gullible big companies, something everyone in the Valley has been longing for. Update: TripAdvisor is denying some or all of the report, dashing everyone’s dreams of Facebook-app millions. [Inside Facebook]
