Yahoo!News reports that “Federal regulators tweaked recommendations for how websites should collect, save and share information about users, extending them to Internet service providers and mobile users. The Federal Trade Commission issued new guidance on Thursday for the self-regulated industry that urges websites to tell consumers that data is being collected during their searches and to allow them to opt out. This guidance recommends that mobile companies and Internet service providers also inform customers about data collection and allow users to decline.”
The Wall Street Journal has an article about how the recession is affecting start-ups in the (bio)technology sector, writing that “[t]he deepening recession is speeding up the shakeout in Silicon Valley, forcing droves of start-ups to shut down or sell themselves at fire-sale prices. Many start-ups survived last year by slashing costs and deferring development projects. But as demand for their products continues to deteriorate and funding dries up, these young firms are now running out of lifelines. Many are calling it quits, recalling the dot-com bust earlier this decade.”
Internetnews.com writes that “[w]hen Yahoo pulled the lid off its search engine in July, developers were invited to tap the Build Your Own Search Service (BOSS) API for free. That's about to change. In the next couple months, Yahoo plans to roll out a fee-based model for accessing the BOSS API. Under the new model, developers and site owners will pay a small fee for each 1,000 queries that tap into the technology underlying Yahoo's search engine, a pricing structure that mirrors the cost-per-thousand (CPM) model commonly used in online advertising. The usage-based fee structure will replace the advertising model Yahoo has attached to BOSS since its roll-out.”
The Mercury News reveals that, according to Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bernie Thompson, “Chinese government and freelance hackers are the primary culprits behind as many as several hundred daily attacks against U.S. government, electric-utility and financial computer networks. ‘Sophisticated hackers could really wreak havoc on our financial systems if they were successful,’ […] Thompson said in an interview. The threat is ‘primarily from China.’ While cyber plots to disrupt U.S. computer networks have been thwarted, significant vulnerabilities exist, said Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat.”
CNetNews.com reports that “[r]etail e-commerce posted its first quarterly decline in at least eight years, during the normally robust fourth-quarter holiday shopping season, according to a report released Thursday by ComScore. During the fourth quarter, retail e-commerce sales fell by 3 percent to $38 billion, compared with a year ago. ‘I thought things would be flat, so this was a little worse than I thought,’ said Gian Fulgoni, ComScore chairman. He attributed part of the decline to fewer post-Thanksgiving shopping days in November last year, compared with the same time in the previous year when there was nearly one full additional week.”