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Unlike what countless horror movies have suggested, the dead are less interested in eating our brains than in supporting Microsoft. At least, that appears to be the case after the Utah Attorney General's office received two letters from dead people asking the office to take it easy on Microsoft in its antitrust case. The letters are part of a larger effort by Americans for Technology Leadership and Citizens Against Government Waste to create grass-roots support for defeating the government's attempts to break up Microsoft, from which they obtain some funding. But the groups weren't so slick in their methods. While members of ATL sent varying letters and envelopes to supporters of their cause to send to state and national politicians, Citizens Against Government Waste sent identical letters. Some family members crossed out the names of dead relatives and replaced them with their own, but because the letters were all the same and some return addresses were wrong or just didn't exist, the Attorney General's office quickly became suspicious.
Yahoo battles Sex.com over link
Would-be visitors to yahoo.sex.com these days are getting automatically bumped to Sex.com. Yahoo, understandably unhappy that its adult traffic is being diverted, has written a stern letter to Sex.com’s proprietor, Grant Media. Yahoo argues that Grant Media’s practice of redirecting traffic dilutes the Yahoo brand and is equivalent to trademark infringement. Grant Media has turned right around and sued Yahoo, because it wants a judge to declare that it isn’t violating trademarks. Sex.com is using something called wildcard domain technology, which in this case bounces users to Sex.com whenever they type in a domain name that ends in “.sex.com.” Wildcard domain technology, which is in widespread use, usually refers people to the sites they’re seeking even if they have misspelled the address. Grant’s suit persuaded Yahoo to back away. The portal has since let Grant Media know that it didn’t realize that Sex.com was using wildcard domain technology and that it won’t attack the company for trademark violations. Grant Media’s suit, however, is still in place.
NCAA sues domain usurper
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is suing a Phoenix-based online retailer for copyright violations. The retailer apparently is using the NCAA name without permission to sell tickets to collegiate championship games and tournaments. The retailer, alias Western States Ticket Service and Northwest States Ticket Services, uses more than 10 domain names that may breach NCAA trademarks. Additionally, the company is accused of selling the tickets at inflated prices, a practice that the NCAA says violates its policies. Previously this year the NCAA resolved or outright won lawsuits against other companies that were using its trademarks. Those companies were tying the NCAA name to their internet casinos.
Online shoppers spent $4 billion in July
People spent $3.98 billion shopping online in July, according to a recent survey carried out by Forrester Research and Greenfield Online. That’s down slightly from the amount spent shopping online in July 2000, $4.03 billion. Still it represents a 24 percent increase over June 2001, when shoppers dropped a comparatively modest $3.2 billion online. The number of households participating in online shopping increased a healthy 12.2 percent in July over June, to 14.7 million from 13.1 million. Each of those households spent about $270 online in July, compared to $247 in June. Given that overall consumer spending in the U.S. is growing at a slower pace than this, Forrester’s findings bode well for the e-commerce sector.
James Bond fan site posts leaked details
Intrigue surrounds an apparent online leak of the script for the latest James Bond film, which will be released in November 2002. Bond20.com, so named because that’s the flick’s working title, claims that it has gotten its hands on plot details, several pages of the actual script and the movie’s introductory sequence. Eon Productions, the company that is producing the Bond movie, claims that Bond20.com got some of the details wrong. Bond20.com, for its part, admits that the information it has is based on a very early draft dating back to early last year and may no longer be accurate. Some of the plot details: James Bond goes off in search of his father, who also bore the 007 moniker and might not be dead as previously believed. Bond drowns but is resuscitated, and he meets Agent 008, who happens to be an attractive woman. Cyberterrorism comes into play somehow as well.
August 24, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
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