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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Zune update will pose problems

The Spokesman-Review

If you use BitTorrent to find and download episodes of “Heroes” or other NBC shows, think twice before buying a Microsoft Zune to watch them.

A future software update for Microsoft’s portable media player will likely include a feature that blocks unauthorized copies of copyrighted videos from playing.

Microsoft announced last week it would sell video for the Zune, mainly TV shows. These include programs from NBC Universal, which has pulled its shows off Apple’s iTunes.

NBC, like some other studios, has had problems with Apple’s approach to pricing. Apple insists that all TV shows have an identical wholesale price so that it can sell them at $1.99. NBC wants to sell its programs for any price it chooses.

And Apple has refused to build filters into its iPod player to remove pirated movies and videos. Microsoft has accepted NBC’s price plan and will work to develop a copyright “cop” to be installed on its devices.

Proposal takes aim at ads about diseases

If you have AIDS, cancer or erectile dysfunction, a group of big advertising networks are going to promise not to remember that you read sites about those topics and then pop up ads related to your condition as you surf the Web.

But if you have Parkinson’s disease, congestive heart failure or warts, the ad companies have decided it may well be acceptable to keep track of your interest in medical subjects and fill your browser with ads for helpful products from pharmaceutical companies.

This distinction between diseases is one of the compromises in a new proposal by the Network Advertising Initiative, a trade association of companies like AOL’s Advertising.com and Google’s Doubleclick that place advertising on other companies’ Web sites.

The group recently released proposed guidelines for its members to follow when engaging in behavioral targeting — keeping track of what Internet users do in order to show them ads for products in which they may be interested.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission proposed its own rules for behavioral targeting. The N.A.I. hopes its approach to self-regulation will head off stricter government mandates.

Groups urge dismissal of Zango lawsuit

A coalition of technology groups last week asked a federal appeals court to toss out a lawsuit that a Bellevue adware maker continues pursuing against computer security vendor Kaspersky Lab, arguing that to do otherwise would harm consumers and the future of the security software market.

In May 2007, Bellevue-based Zango — which makes software to serve pop-up ads and tracks users’ activities on behalf of online marketers — sued Kaspersky, charging that the company interfered with its business by removing its “adware” without first alerting the user.

A recent Washington Post story recounted the backdrop of the case. In August 2007, the judge assigned to the case dismissed Zango’s suit, saying Kaspersky’s actions were shielded by the federal Communications Decency Act (CDA). Earlier this year, Zango took the case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, saying Kaspersky’s software should be labeled “badware” because it disabled Zango’s software without customer consent.

In a friend of the court brief filed with the appeals court, several technology groups rallied behind Kaspersky in support of preserving the lower court ruling. Signatories to the brief include the Business Software Alliance, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, McAfee, Sunbelt Software and the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT).