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Amazon's Massive Distribution Network Kicks Into Holiday Gear

Written By Bersemangat on Jumat, 30 November 2012 | 14.22

Matt Cardy/Getty Images News

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[More from Mashable: Amazon Says Kindle Sales Set a New Record on Cyber Monday]

From late November on, Amazon's network of 80 global distribution centers kick into overdrive. There, a portion of the company's 69,000 employees plus another 50,000 seasonal workers load orders from giant conveyor belts. The facilities run 24/7 and stocks everything from soccer balls to tablecloths, according to ABC News.

The work conditions can be brutal, but Corporate VP Craig Berman told ABC, "We are a company of constant improvement so these jobs are very, very safe jobs, and our wages, they're very well-paying jobs." Amazon doesn't say how many items it moves during the holiday season, but some 17 million items traveled through its warehouses on Cyber Monday 2011. Every one of those items has a bar code, which helps the company keep track of its massive inventory.

[More from Mashable: 15 Sweet Cyber Monday Deals from Amazon]

The pics above, taken on Nov. 24, 2011 at an 800,000 square foot fulfillment center in Swansea, Wales, show how such scale is possible.

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Apple's iPhone 5 gets final approval for China release

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Apple Inc's latest iPhone has received final clearance from Chinese regulators, paving the way for a December debut in a highly competitive market where the lack of a new model had severely eroded its share of product sales.

China is Apple's second-largest market and its Chinese fans are eagerly awaiting the latest model of its smartphone, the iPhone 5, which was released in the United States in September.

Apple has said that the iPhone 5 will be released in China in December, but the long wait caused Apple's smartphone market share to halve to 10 percent in the second quarter as users switch brands or hold out for the latest model, data from industry research firm IDC showed in August.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority, under China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, showed two iPhone 5 models on its website that received approval on Thursday. The two are the A1429, a WCDMA model that runs on China Unicom's network, and the A1442, a CDMA model that runs on China Telecom Corp's network.

The chairman of China Unicom, the country's second-largest mobile carrier, said early this month that it expected to start selling the iPhone 5 this year as it aims for a major boost in 3G users to 100 million by the year-end, up from 67 million in the first nine months.

Many users on Sina Corp's Weibo, China's most popular microblogging platform, cheered the imminent arrival of the latest iPhone. "I'm all ready! The iPhone 5 is coming!" said one.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Edmund Klamann)


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Insight: How a desperate HP suspended disbelief for Autonomy deal

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - For Leo Apotheker, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, a July 2011 meeting with Autonomy founder Mike Lynch at a chic seaside resort in France was pivotal to his effort to remake a storied technology giant.

In the nine months since taking the helm at HP, Apotheker had tried furiously to find a way to move the lumbering company away from its low-margin computer hardware business and into the lucrative corporate software and services arena. Apotheker was looking for a big, transformative acquisition, two people familiar with the situation said, and after overtures to several companies went nowhere, he set his sights on Autonomy.

After two months of negotiations on what was known at HP as "Project Tesla," Apotheker sat down with Lynch at a hotel in Deauville on the Normandy coast - and shook hands on what would become an $11.1 billion deal.

The Autonomy takeover was indeed a bombshell - but not in the way that Apotheker had hoped. When it was announced in August 2011, HP's stock plummeted amid withering criticism of the price tag. Within weeks, Apotheker was out of a job. Within months, Lynch and his new masters at HP were at war.

Inside a year, Lynch had been forced out and HP was investigating allegations of major accounting irregularities at Autonomy. That culminated in HP saying last week it was writing off more than three-quarters of the value of Autonomy, and telling U.S. and UK regulators about alleged accounting fraud.

The implosion of the Autonomy deal has raised questions about how HP and its army of lawyers, accountants and investment bankers could have overlooked warning signs and gone ahead with the acquisition.

Reuters spoke with close to a dozen people directly connected with the deal or the accounting investigation. The picture that emerges is of a company so desperate to plot a new course that it may have been far too accepting of Autonomy's published and audited accounts.

It has also cast a shadow over Lynch, widely regarded as a brilliant but difficult executive; he left HP in May and has flatly rejected the company's claims of accounting shenanigans or that HP had been deliberately deceived.

CEO'S ROCKY REIGN

Apotheker's appointment as CEO of HP in November 2010 was greeted even at the time with head-scratching - and criticism. A veteran of the German corporate software maker SAP, he had no obvious qualifications to run HP - a company with sales several times SAP's - especially given his lack of experience in the computer hardware business.

But the U.S. company was reeling from a series of boardroom imbroglios that culminated in the firing of then-CEO Mark Hurd in a sexual harassment scandal in August 2010.

Apotheker went on the acquisition trail almost immediately, even though previous HP takeovers like Compaq and Palm had not worked out well. He was given the mandate of moving HP in a new direction - software seemed logical given the decline in HP's traditional computer business - and felt the need for a transformative acquisition to do that, according to one of the sources.

He "knocked on a number of doors," according to another of the sources, looking as far and wide as the telecom software companies Comverse Technology and Amdocs, and corporate software maker Tibco Software.

It's not clear how far talks with those three progressed. According to one of the sources, HP backed off from Comverse because the company was not current with its published accounts and because of previously disclosed involvement in an options accounting scandal. HP could not agree on a price with Tibco, and Amdocs rebuffed it, saying the time wasn't right for a deal.

Spokespeople for Amdocs and Comverse declined to comment. Tibco did not respond to requests for comment.

Apotheker then set his sights on Autonomy. It was a pioneer in the up-and-coming field of "big data" - software that can separate the wheat from the chaff in huge mountains of corporate data - and could serve as a centerpiece for the new strategy.

This time, Apotheker was determined not to miss out.

He was "not being able to really have anybody dance with him at the right price," said the source with direct knowledge of the deal. "What happened is he talked to Autonomy and they got into a dialogue and he told the board that we have to do something," this person said. "It was out of frustration and desperation to a large degree."

HP began looking at Autonomy in earnest around May last year, bringing in investment bank Barclays as adviser. Boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners had already been hired to look at ways of restructuring HP's businesses.

In early July of 2011 the board met to do a two-day review of the rationale behind the acquisition. During that process, the board set guidelines for the deal, including the price, and agreed on a process to do due diligence, two people familiar with the process said. It voted to enter into negotiations at the end of the two days.

DEALMAKER

Throughout the process, Apotheker remained in direct contact and consulted with HP Chairman Ray Lane, the person said, adding that Lane - a former top executive at software giant Oracle - encouraged management to proceed with the deal.

By the end of July, Apotheker and Lynch - who were previously acquainted because HP was an Autonomy customer - narrowed down financial terms at the hotel in Deauville, though didn't finalize the price.

Also present was then HP chief strategy officer Shane Robison, who has been credited by HP with being the main architect of many of HP's larger deals, including another troubled acquisition - its purchase of technology services firm EDS. Robison was pushed out of HP shortly after Apotheker left last year.

At the meeting, Apotheker presented HP's view about putting the companies together - with Robison chipping in when needed, one source said. Robison, who has not spoken publicly about Autonomy's accounting issues, did not respond to requests for comment sent to representatives at Fusion-io and Altera Corp, companies where he is a board member.

For some weeks, both sides went back and forth on the price, with Robison playing a pivotal role in pitching the deal internally, and getting it finalized. Inside HP, it was seen as Apotheker's and Robison's deal, the sources said.

In the end, uber-dealmaker Frank Quattrone, whose Qatalyst Partners was representing Autonomy, proved instrumental in securing for its shareholders the lofty price tag, according to another source familiar with the negotiations.

While the price haggling was going on, a large due diligence team numbering in the hundreds, including internal HP staff from all relevant departments like finance, poured over Autonomy's books, examined contracts, and interviewed Autonomy's top executives, sources said. External experts involved in the process included accounting firm KPMG, law firms and bankers.

Due diligence was seen being straightforward as Autonomy had been filing its accounts publicly and they had been audited. One source said the month-long process was extensive and meticulous but nothing special.

SHORT SELLER

During this time, HP posed a litany of questions to Lynch and Autonomy Chief Financial Officer Sushovan Hussain about accounting rumors surrounding the company, one of the sources knowledgeable with the deal said. But Autonomy executives provided explanations for all of them, this person said.

HP would not elaborate on the specific issues it raised. But questions about Autonomy's books had surfaced as early as 2009, when renowned short seller Jim Chanos identified Autonomy's shares as a shorting opportunity based on concerns such as how reported margins of around 50 percent did not seem to translate proportionately into cash flow.

His other concern was how it could report double-digit growth in software license revenue while rivals battled shrinking sales, according to a source familiar with his views.

Asked on CNBC last week about whether the board had discussed with Apotheker the speculation about Autonomy's books, HP's current CEO Meg Whitman said: "Not when I was on the board. What I do know is that after we announced the acquisition there were a number of blogs that came to the fore about potential issues at Autonomy. The former management team ran that to ground and came up with the conclusion that there was nothing there."

HP officials now say they were deceived.

Apotheker said last week he was "stunned and disappointed" to learn of Autonomy's alleged accounting issues. He declined to be interviewed for this story through a spokesperson.

As the deal was being considered, HP CFO Cathie Lesjak did raise questions about HP's ability to pay such a high price and whether it could integrate Autonomy well, sources said.

Lane said the board approved the deal based on the recommendation of management. "That recommendation was based on misleading audited financial statements and misrepresentations made by Autonomy's executives," he said in an email. "In hindsight, we shouldn't have done the Autonomy deal at such a high price. We were lied to and as a result, we got it wrong."

By the time the deal was agreed, though, Apotheker was already running out of time. He had wanted to sell HP's personal computer business but was unable to complete a deal. He announced a strategic review of the division - to the horror of many employees and the consternation of some of its customers.

That misstep, along with series of missed financial targets, led to Apotheker's firing in September 2011 - before the Autonomy deal had even closed. Board member Whitman - who had voted in favor of buying Autonomy - then took over as CEO. The acquisition still went ahead - and quickly went south.

BRUTAL CULTURE CLASH

The clash between HP's polite, slow-moving bureaucracy and Autonomy's in-your-face sales culture could not have been starker. Lynch also chafed at his new, subordinate position, according to the sources. He routinely shut HP management out of key decisions and - true to his company's name - resisted full integration with HP. He complained constantly about red tape.

After he was forced out in May of this year, Lynch returned to HP in June to discuss severance. But he found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of questions about Autonomy's accounting, sources briefed on the investigation told Reuters.

HP General Counsel John Schultz quizzed Lynch specifically on a range of accounting items, including at least three sales deals from a couple of years before, one of the sources said. Lynch's reply to most questions was that Deloitte, its auditor, signed off on various items, or he could not remember specifics.

"If there were no problems, he could have explained it," one of the sources said. "He simply refused to have the conversation."

But Lynch was caught unaware: Hence he did not have information about those deals at hand, said a source familiar with his version of events. Lynch's spokeswoman said that the allegations HP made last week "were not put to him in June."

The legal struggle has only just begun. HP has handed documents over to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the UK Serious Fraud Office, and the U.S. Department of Justice is also involved, a source told Reuters last week.

HP also on Tuesday threatened legal action against parties involved, though stopped short of naming targets. HP has challenged Lynch to answer questions under penalty of perjury.

"He ran this company like a small private company, he was involved in all facets of the company, he was extremely hands on," said a source close to the matter who knew the former Autonomy CEO. "For Lynch not to know about this, if it is truly happening, would be far-fetched."

(Additional reporting by Anjuli Davies in London and Soyoung Kim in New York; Editing by Edwin Chan, Jonathan Weber, Steve Orlofsky and Martin Howell)


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Exclusive: Philippines fixer paid $30 million by Okada's Universal - sources

TOKYO/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada's Universal Entertainment funneled at least $30 million to an ex-consultant for the Philippines gaming authority who is now at the center of a bribery investigation, according to sources and company records.

The sum is six times the amount initially confirmed by Reuters and could, if found to be bribery, result in Okada being stripped of his firm's casino license in the Philippines and also jeopardize his gaming license in Las Vegas.

A Hong Kong firm established by Okada's Universal sent the money to Manila-based consultant Rodolfo Soriano in a series of payments in the first half of 2010, according to a review of company records and interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees and people familiar with the investigation.

Soriano, who has close ties to key members of the administration of former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, received the payments as Universal was lobbying for tax and other government concessions to boost the profitability of a $2 billion casino it was developing on Manila Bay.

Soriano is now under investigation by the Philippine Department of Justice which has created an inquiry panel on the payments with a target to submit findings within the next month.

Universal, a Tokyo-based maker of gaming machines majority owned by an Okada family trust, had no comment through its lawyer, Yuki Arai. Soriano could not be reached for comment.

In addition to the investigation in the Philippines, the Universal payments are being probed by U.S. gaming regulators, with the Nevada Gaming Control Board likely to call the 70-year-old billionaire to give evidence at a closed-door investigative hearing, people familiar with the matter said.

Soriano's powerful connections included Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel, with whom he had travelled to Las Vegas in 2009.

Soriano was an early partner in Okada's Philippine project, and Universal documents describe him as the "personal secretary" to Efraim Genuino, former head of gambling regulator the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).

Jose Miguel Arroyo, a lawyer by training, could not be reached for comment. His spokesman, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, said he was unaware of any business dealings between Jose Miguel Arroyo and Soriano. "We are denying reports linking Attorney Arroyo to that bribery case," Topacio said.

Genuino's lawyers did not respond to calls seeking comment. PAGCOR has said it has no knowledge of the Soriano payments but is cooperating with the Philippine bribery investigation.

The Universal payments to Soriano in 2010 were described at a company meeting as a "completion bonus" for his help in clearing remaining hurdles for the casino, including an exemption from corporate tax and foreign ownership restrictions, people involved in the project said.

Philippine authorities have already threatened to strip Okada's operating company of its casino license if investigators find evidence of bribery. Nevada regulators could also impose sanctions, including a suspension of Okada's Las Vegas license.

Either outcome would represent a major setback for Okada, who has vowed to bounce back from a costly legal fight with American casino magnate Steve Wynn to turn Universal into Asia's leading operator of high-end casino resorts.

In the United States, the FBI has also taken statements from those involved in the Soriano payments, according to people familiar with that inquiry. The bureau declined to comment on the state of its inquiry.

LUCRATIVE CONCESSIONS

The Nevada Gaming Control Board's investigation has been underway since at least August and is gathering momentum.

"We are continuing our work," board chairman A.G. Burnett said, declining to comment on the agency's next moves or the likely conclusion of its investigation. "We're about in the middle stage of our investigation."

Hearings could help the board's three-member investigative panel decide whether to bring a formal complaint against Okada or his company, the people familiar with the investigation said.

Investigators were particularly concerned about fund transfers to Soriano-controlled Subic Leisure and Management, registered in the British Virgin Islands, because that jurisdiction allows firms to conceal the identity of directors and investors.

"He's going to have some interesting explaining to do," one of those with knowledge of the investigation said of Okada.

Universal has maintained that at least some of the payments to Soriano were not approved. It has sued three of its own former executives in Tokyo District Court, claiming they made $15 million in payments to entities controlled by Soriano without authorization by Okada or the Universal board.

A review of company records and interviews with sources shows that a total of $40 million was sent by Universal to Soriano-controlled firms. The money was sent to Hong Kong firm Future Fortune, set up as an investment vehicle for the Philippines project. Of the total, $10 million was routed back immediately to Universal for internal accounting reasons, leaving Soriano with a net $30 million.

It is not clear how that money was invested or disbursed.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's government gave Universal a corporate tax exemption in March 2010, leaving the casino liable only for a 23.5 percent gaming tax. That exemption was key to the projected profitability of the casino, which had been given a provisional license in 2008.

As a result of the tax concessions and low labor costs in the Philippines, Okada told investors and analysts last year that the Manila casino would be more profitable than gaming in Macau or Las Vegas, markets where Wynn has built his resorts.

The investigation of the payments to Soriano threatens to complicate Okada's efforts to recover from a costly falling-out with U.S. casino tycoon Wynn.

Okada was Wynn's largest investor until the American accused him this year of improperly paying $110,000 in entertainment and other expenses for gaming regulators from the Philippines and Korea, where Okada is also looking to build a casino.

As a result of the disclosures, Wynn forced Okada to redeem his 20 percent stake in Wynn Resorts for $1.9 billion, a 30 percent discount to the market value.

Okada has sued to reverse the redemption, saying Wynn forced him out for questioning Wynn Resorts' dealings in Macau.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has been separately investigating Wynn Resorts on allegations made by Okada that Wynn's company sought to influence Macau officials through a donation to the University of Macau, the people close to the matter said.

However, this probe was likely to be resolved without an investigative hearing, they said, signaling that Wynn Resorts was less likely to be subject to a major disciplinary action.

(Additional reporting by Taro Fuse, Kevin Krolicki and Takeaki Ueno in Tokyo, Manuel Mogato in Manila, Sue Zeidler in Los Angeles and Farah Master in Hong Kong; Editing by Mark Bendeich)


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Ermahgerd! The 12 Best Memes of 2012

Written By Bersemangat on Kamis, 29 November 2012 | 14.22

12. Photobombing Stingray

Five years ago, three college girls on a Caribbean vacation got a serious case of the heebeejeebies when a stingray photobombed their "say cheese" moment. The hilarious photograph could have ended up as just a fond vacay memory if it weren't for a friend, who shared the image on Reddit in September of this year.

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: 10 Free Facebook Cover Photos Full of Holiday Cheer]

Holy smokes, Internet, you treated us to a bucket of laughs this year. High-profile events like the Summer Olympics and U.S. presidential election provided an abundance of meme-able moments. But not every highly shareable piece of web culture debuted on a big stage.

[More from Mashable: Samsung Galaxy Camera Is a Game Changer [REVIEW]]

Curators like Reddit surfaced the Internet's hidden gems, and Tumblr shined the spotlight on bits of hilarity that may have gone ignored elsewhere.

After consulting a jury of highly respected cats and corgis, we put together a list of picks for the top 12 memes of 2012. If our selections make you ermahgerd in disbelief, tell us your favorites in the comments below.

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Audit firms sued in HP's Autonomy acquisition

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new shareholder lawsuit over Hewlett-Packard's acquisition of British software firm Autonomy has named Big Four audit firms Deloitte and KPMG as defendants, alleging they missed numerous red flags about Autonomy's accounting.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in federal court in San Jose, California, also named HP's board of directors, officers, and former executives, alleging breach of duty and negligence for their role in HP's acquisition Autonomy.

HP is expected to face a barrage of lawsuits by investors seeking to recoup losses. Its shares fell 12 percent to a 10-year low last week after it announced an $8.8 billion write-down on its acquisition of Autonomy.

HP Chief Executive Meg Whitman has repeatedly said that the company relied on audits of Autonomy, done by the UK arm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, when it paid $11.1 billion for Autonomy last year.

HP last week blamed the majority of its $8.8 billion write-down on improper accounting at Autonomy.

Whitman also said HP relied on KPMG's audits of Deloitte's work.

In a statement, KPMG said it was not engaged to do any audit work or oversee the Deloitte audit work being questioned. KPMG provided limited services not related to Autonomy's audit and "we can say with confidence that we acted responsibly and with integrity," the firm said.

Deloitte said it had nothing to add to its statement last week that it was not responsible for due diligence on the Autonomy acquisition. Deloitte also denied last week that it had any knowledge of any accounting improprieties or misrepresentations in Autonomy's financial statements.

It said its last audit opinion on Autonomy was for the year ended December 2010.

Tuesday's lawsuit also named as defendants Whitman, HP Chief Financial Officer Catherine Lesjak, and former HP CEO Leo Apotheker.

It said the defendants' inadequate due diligence caused billions of dollars of damages to HP and resulted in HP "grossly" overpaying for Autonomy.

A spokesman for HP declined to comment.

The lawsuit was filed by Philip Ricciardi, an HP shareholder since 2007.

The case is Philip Ricciardi, derivatively on behalf of Hewlett-Packard Co, v. various defendants, U.S. District court for the Northern District of California, San Jose, No. 12-6003

(Reporting by Dena Aubin; Editing by Howard Goller and Tim Dobbyn)


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Amazon's cloud chief targets "old guard" tech giants

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's cloud computing division is going after big corporate customers, a new focus that will put the fast-growing unit into direct competition with some of the world's largest technology companies.

Andy Jassy, head of Amazon Web Services or AWS, criticized the hefty profit margins of what he called "old guard" tech companies on Wednesday and unveiled a new data warehousing service that he said will cost about a tenth of existing solutions.

"The old world of technology has a pricing model which is to charge as much as customers can pay. Customers are tired of it," Jassy said, during AWS's first conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, where more than 6,000 people attended.

He is banking on the division to take direct aim at tech stalwarts Oracle Corp, International Business Machines Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co, among others.

Shares of Teradata Corp., a leading independent provider of data warehouse services, fell 3.7 percent to $59.27 on Wednesday on concern about competition from AWS.

"A new competitor is entering the space with significantly lower price points," said Derrick Wood, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group. "That's the essence of the concern."

AWS, which Amazon started more than six years ago, provides data storage, computing power and other technology services from remote locations, making it a pioneer in what is now known as cloud computing.

AWS has grown fast because its services are cheap, relatively easy to use and can be shut off or ramped up quickly, depending on companies' needs. Evercore analyst Ken Sena expects AWS revenue to jump 45 percent a year, from about $2 billion this year to $20 billion in 2018.

The division has traditionally been used by start-up tech companies and other smaller businesses. Large corporations, known as enterprises in the tech world, have dabbled with AWS, but most shun cloud-based services for mission critical applications. Jassy said on Wednesday that is changing.

"We expect enterprises to migrate their applications to AWS," he added. "The question isn't if anymore, it's how fast it's going to move and which ones will move first."

Netflix, Royal Dutch Shell, Samsung and InterContinental Hotels Group are a few companies now using AWS, along with more than 300 government agencies and over 1,500 academic organizations, Jassy noted.

"It's increasingly less accurate to say only small companies use AWS," said Bernard Golden, Vice President, Enterprise Solutions for enStratus Networks, a cloud management software company.

AWS is targeting its new data warehouse service, called Redshift, at small businesses and large enterprises.

Companies typically pay between $19,000 and $25,000 per terabyte of storage per year for data warehouse solutions, Jassy said.

Redshift, which launches in early 2013, will cost as little as $1,000 per terabyte per year for companies that reserve the service for long periods, such as a year or more. They can also use it on-demand, which costs more, Jassy said.

Software tools that IT departments in big companies currently use to analyze data in their warehouses will work on the new Redshift service, potentially making it easier to switch, Golden said.

"All that will change will be the pricing," he added. "Teradata will be effected and Oracle, IBM and HP too - although this will impact a very small portion of the revenue for the bigger players."

Jassy said on Wednesday that AWS has the potential to be Amazon's biggest business, out-growing its original online retail operation.

AWS will do this by taking the same low-margin, high-volume approach that has turned Amazon into the world's largest Internet retailer, Jassy said.

Amazon does not disclose financial details of AWS, however, Evercore's Sena estimates profit margins below 10 percent on a net income basis. Sena forecasts margins of 22 percent, based on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.

In contrast, Teradata has gross profit margins of about 70 percent on its data warehouse products, according to Susquehanna analyst Wood.

"The economics of what we're doing are extremely disruptive for old guard technology companies," Jassy said. "These are companies that have lived on 60 to 80 percent margins for years."

Jassy showed quotations on big screens behind the conference stage on Wednesday from executives at Oracle, IBM and Hewlett-Packard all talking about their high-margin businesses.

"The vast majority of businesses will be moving to the cloud in the next ten years," Jassy said. "We think it's a high-volume, low-margin business."

(Reporting By Alistair Barr; Editing by Bernard Orr)


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Samsung takes aim at Japanese rivals with Android camera

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co is taking aim at its Japanese rivals with an Android-powered digital camera that allows users to swiftly and wirelessly upload pictures to social networking sites.

The Galaxy camera lets users connect to a mobile network or Wi-Fi to share photographs and video without having to hook up the camera to a computer.

While it's not the first to the market, Samsung's financial and marketing clout suggest it could be the biggest threat to Japanese domination of a digital camera industry which research firm Lucintel sees growing to $46 billion by 2017 and where big brands include Canon Inc, Sony Corp, Panasonic Corp, Nikon Corp and Olympus Corp.

"Samsung has a tough row to hoe against the likes of Canon and Nikon in the camera brand equity landscape," said Liz Cutting, senior imaging analyst at research firm NPD Group. "Yet as a brand known more in the connected electronic device arena, Samsung has a unique opportunity to transfer strength from adjacent categories into the dedicated camera world."

The Korean group, battling for mobile gadget supremacy against Apple Inc, is already a global market leader in televisions, smartphones and memory chips.

Samsung last year brought its camera and digital imaging business - one of its smallest - under the supervision of JK Shin, who heads a mobile business that generated 70 percent of Samsung's $7.4 billion third-quarter profit.

"Our camera business is quickly evolving ... and I think it will be able to set a new landmark for Samsung," Shin said on Thursday at a launch event in Seoul. "The product will open a new chapter in communications - visual communications," he said, noting good reviews for the Samsung Galaxy camera which went on sale in Europe and the United States earlier this month.

AIMING AT 'PRO-SUMERS'

The Galaxy camera, which sells in the United States for $499.99 through AT&T with various monthly data plans, features a 4.8-inch LCD touchscreen and a 21x optical zoom lens. Users can send photos instantly to other mobile devices via a 4G network, access the Internet, email and social network sites, edit photos and play games.

The easy-to-use camera, and the quality of the pictures, is aimed at mid-market 'pro-sumers' - not quite professional photographers but those who don't mind paying a premium for user options not yet available on a smartphone - such as an optical, rather than digital, zoom, better flash, and image stabilization.

The appeal of high picture quality cameras with wireless connection has grown as social media services such as Facebook Inc drive a boom in rapid shoot-and-share photos.

"At a price point higher than some entry-level interchangeable-lens cameras, the Galaxy camera should appeal to a consumer willing to pay an initial and ongoing premium for 24/7 creative interactivity," said Cutting.

Traditional digital camera makers are responding.

Canon, considered a leader in profitability in corporate Japan with its aggressive cost cutting, saw its compact camera sales eroded in the most recent quarter by smartphones, and has just introduced its first mirrorless camera to tap into a growing market for small, interchangeable-lens cameras that rival Nikon entered last year.

Nikon has also recently introduced an Android-embedded Wi-Fi only camera.

($1 = 1086.4000 Korean won)

(This story fixes typing error in paragraph 9)

(Additional reporting by Dhanya Skariachan in NEW YORK; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)


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How to Stop the Next Viral Facebook Post Outbreak

Written By Bersemangat on Rabu, 28 November 2012 | 14.22

[wp_scm_op_ed]

[More from Mashable: Man Who Sued Facebook and Zuckerberg Indicted for Fraud]

Citizens of Internetland: we are at war, and the enemy is a virus. Not the kind we're used to hearing about, one that spreads via suspicious emails and turns our machines into mindless zombies for massive denial of service attacks, but one that is passed by human contact -- specifically, posts on Facebook -- and turns us into mindless zombies.

Monday's outbreak of a fake privacy notice, one that urged users to claim back the copyright on their Facebook posts by making a declaration, was the last straw. Not only because it should have been blindingly obvious that this pseudo-legal babble was nonsense, but because the fake notice had done the rounds once already this year, back in July.

[More from Mashable: Facebook App Sends Stella Artois Girl to Your Doorstep]

Luckily this one wasn't a dangerous scam, like the Facebook post that claimed to offer free flights on Southwest but actually spammed your entire friend list, or the offer of a free iPad mini that got you to install a dubious app, or the "you're tagged in a photo" honey trap. It was more of a chain letter, like the Facebook pricing scam.

Still, this has to stop. We need a centralized system to alert and control these outbreaks before they take over everyone's Timeline -- a kind of Centers for Disease Control of the Internet. Until that happens, we all have to take responsibility for prevention and containment. If you're not involved, if you sit back and let scams spread from Timeline to Timeline, you're part of the problem. Here's how the CDC would handle it:

1. Early detection. If something reads like a chain letter, it probably is one. The purpose of a chain letter and the purpose of a virus are one and the same: to propagate itself as widely as possible. Be suspicious, especially of legal wording or conventions you've never heard of. Look for typos. Be alert for anything with a bovine whiff.

Snopes is your friend; the site lives to destroy urban legends. Wikipedia is your friend, though you might want to get a second source. Even Google is your friend, if you're pushed for time. If your pals put their name to something that mentions the Rome Statute, say, it's worth taking five seconds to find out what that treaty does (it allows for the prosecution of war crimes).

2. Rapid response. Once you've identified a post as fake, or even if you're not sure about its veracity, get into the comments section every time you see it pop up. Don't be afraid to show your friend some tough love. If they're unwittingly helping to spread a scam, they'll want to know about it, even at the risk of a few blushes.

Remember, your goal is to make their friends think twice about posting it themselves. And if you're unsure, asking the friend to provide a second source for the information can't hurt.

3. Sound the alarm. A post of your own, warning friends of the danger, will go a long way towards containment. Enlist them as virus fighters. You are the white blood cells of the Facebook body. It's up to you. Facebook itself doesn't have the resources or the inclination to clamp down on scams, untruths or chain letters as fast as you can.

So next time you see a free offer that sounds too good to be true, or your friend posts some legalese that doesn't sound like them, don't just roll your eyes. Don't confine your skepticism to Twitter. You have it in your power to prevent an epidemic. You have, to paraphrase the hapless Todd Akin, ways to shut that whole thing down. Use them.

1. View Photos Full-Screen

You can browse Facebook photos in full-screen mode, making for a better gallery viewing experience. In an album, click on the first image, then hover over the photo. A floating menu will appear along the bottom of the image. Click on "Options" and you'll see the ability to "Enter Fullscreen." Now you can browse with a clean, black background. To return to normal mode, simply hit the Escape key or the "X" on the top-right of your display.

Click here to view this gallery.

Image courtesy iStockphoto, Raycat

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Microsoft sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in month: exec

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in the month since the launch, according to one of the new co-heads of the Windows unit, setting a faster pace than Windows 7 three years ago.

The sales number represents a solid but unspectacular start for the touch-friendly operating system designed to combat Apple Inc's and Google Inc's domination of mobile computing, which has shunted aside PCs in favor of iPads and smartphones.

Tami Reller, finance and marketing head of the Windows business, did not give a precise comparison, but sales of 40 million licenses for Windows 8, launched on October 26, appear to be ahead of Windows 7, which sold just over 60 million units in the first 10 weeks on sale at the end of 2009.

Reller did not break down the Windows 8 license sales between relatively cheap upgrades and purchases of new machines running the new software, but suggested much of the growth was coming from upgrades.

"Windows 8 upgrade momentum is outpacing that of Windows 7," said Reller, speaking at an investor conference held by Credit Suisse. Upgrading to Windows 8 costs $40, compared to $70 for the full software package or hundreds of dollars for a new PC.

The latest figure does not mean that 40 million users have adopted Windows 8. Many of the sales are to PC manufacturers, who in turn sell a large number of machines to companies, very few of which are using Windows 8 yet.

According to tech research firm StatCounter, about 1 percent of the world's 1.5 billion or so personal computers - making a total of around 15 million - are actually running Windows 8.

Reller did not disclose sales of Microsoft's new Surface tablet, its first-ever own-brand PC, designed to challenge the iPad head on.

The first Surface, based on a chip designed by ARM Holdings Plc, does not run old versions of Microsoft programs. A slightly bigger version based on an Intel Corp chip that will run the full Windows 8 Pro operating system and be fully compatible with the Office suite of applications will be available in January, Reller said.

The investor conference was the first public appearance for Reller since she was named as one of two executives to run the Windows unit after president Steven Sinofsky unexpectedly left two weeks ago. Julie Larson-Green heads the engineering side of Windows.

Reller said the Windows unit had survived Sinofsky's surprise departure.

"The team holistically is in great, great shape. And the product is in great shape," she said, responding to a question from a Credit Suisse analyst. "I think transitions are always somewhat of a challenge, but I think that timing-wise it is a reasonable time, and the team is busy."

Earlier in the day, Microsoft said it had sold more than 750,000 Xbox game consoles in the United States last week, including the day after Thanksgiving, one of the country's biggest shopping days.

That is down from 960,000 sales in the same week a year ago, in line with reduced computer game spending across the board this year, as gamers hold off on purchases in the tight economy and move toward free online games.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Gary Hill, Andre Grenon and Bernard Orr)


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FTC patent ruling might hint at how it will treat Google case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal regulators investigating Google for a range of accusations of antitrust violations took a stand this week on how to handle a type of patent similar to ones in the Google case, but also exposed a rift between regulators on how to proceed.

The disagreement focuses on whether the Federal Trade Commission can use its power to enforce rules against unfair competition in pursuing companies which ask for sales injunctions against rivals because of allegations that their so-called standard essential patents (SEP) have been infringed.

SEPs ensure interoperability, and are normally expected to be licensed on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, also known as FRAND terms.

Those following the antitrust probe into Google have been searching for any hint on how the commissioners might rule regarding the search engine giant. Some think Monday's settlement with companies that make equipment to repair auto air conditioners contained some interesting clues.

The FTC, in a majority statement by three Democratic commissioners, warned against asking for sales bans as a punishment for infringement of essential patents. Google has two such cases pending.

"Patent holders that seek injunctive relief against willing licensees of their FRAND-encumbered SEPs should understand that in appropriate cases the commission can and will challenge this conduct as an unfair method of competition," the commission majority said in statement Monday about the merger, which is unrelated to the Google probe.

But the agency, whose Chairman Jon Leibowitz prizes bipartisanship, faced opposition to the settlement from its two Republican commissioners.

One, Thomas Rosch, did not say publicly why he opposed it. The newest commissioner, Maureen Ohlhausen, dissented specifically on the patent issue, saying it was "creative yet questionable" and did not give industry meaningful guidance on the use of standard essential patents.

Ohlhausen also argued that it was unclear that the FTC had jurisdiction to issue policy statements on patent litigation between companies that are also being argued in district courts and at the International Trade Commission.

This opposition means that Ohlhausen will likely oppose any effort to go after Google on its pursuit of patent infringement cases based on standard essential patents if Google also asks for sales of products to be stopped.

"The lines are drawn here. There are three votes and probably four to go after Google on the patent part. The question is can they (the FTC) get a settlement (from Google) they can live with?" said an antitrust expert who is knowledgeable about the FTC. "Leibowitz would rather be the guy who settled with Google than the guy who litigated and lost."

The patent track of the FTC investigation of Google is just one of several.

The search giant has been accused of using its dominance to squash competitors in areas such as shopping and travel and blocking rivals' access to its Android wireless phone operating system. Google has also been criticized for asking courts to stop sales of products that it says infringe essential patents.

Complaints about Google to the FTC over standard essential patents arise from a raft of litigation between Apple Inc, Google and Microsoft Corp, which have sued each other numerous times in various countries, each alleging that their patents are being infringed upon by rivals in the highly competitive smartphone market.

Google, which declined to discuss its talks with the FTC, has settled with U.S. law enforcement agencies in the past.

For example, it settled with the FTC following privacy gaffes during the botched roll-out of its social network, Buzz. And Google paid a $500 million settlement in 2011 to the Justice Department for knowingly accepting illegal advertisements from Canadian pharmacies selling in the United States.

(Reporting By Diane Bartz)


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China's tablet market grows 63 percent in third quarter; Apple is king

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's tablet PC market grew 62.5 percent in the third quarter from the previous year, dominated by Apple Inc's iPad which snared more than two-thirds of sales, an industry report said on Wednesday.

For the quarter, 2.6 million tablet PCs were sold in China, up from 1.6 million a year ago, said technology research firm Analysys International.

Apple had 71.4 percent of the market, down a percentage point from the second quarter, ahead of Lenovo Group with 10.5 percent. Chinese firm Ereneben was third with 3.6 percent, edging out Samsung Electronics on 3.5 percent.

Tablet and smartphone sales in China have soared in recent years as prices drop and users look for cheaper gadgets to allow them access to the Internet. China has the world's largest Internet and mobile markets by number of users.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Richard Pullin)


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Wii U Sells 400,000 Units in First Week

Written By Bersemangat on Selasa, 27 November 2012 | 14.22

Nintendo's Wii U sold 400,000 units during its first week of sales, and Nintendo's president has said the console is "virtually sold out" at retailers.

[More from Mashable: YouTube-Exclusive 'Halo' Miniseries Nets 26 Million Views]

The Wii U, Nintendo's next-generation console that features a touch screen as a controller centerpiece, was released on Nov. 18 across the United States. Despite large crowds at Nintendo's flagship store in New York, users on Twitter reported there were few lines if they wanted to get their console on launch day.

The Wii U's sales on made up only of a portion of Nintendo's sales last week. Nintendo sold 300,000 Wii units last week; the console was released in 2006, but many retailers had Black Friday deals that dropped it under the $100 price point. Nintendo's 3DS and DS handheld consoles also sold well, with 275,000 and 250,000 units respectively.

[More from Mashable: Double Fine Opens Top Secret Game Brainstorm to Fans]

For context, the Wii sold 475,000 units during its first eight days in the U.S. marketplace in 2006.

CNET reports that Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Amie said significant Black Friday discounts lead to the 8-year-old Nintendo DS to outsell the newer model. According to VGChartz, the 3DS has sold about 6 million units in America since being released last year.

BONUS: First Look at the Wii U

GamePad

The Wii U GamePad has a 6.2-inch touchscreen.

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Privacy groups ask Facebook to withdraw proposed policy changes

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two privacy advocacy groups urged Facebook Inc on Monday to withdraw proposed changes to its terms of service that would allow the company to share user data with recently acquired photo-application Instagram, eliminate a user voting system and loosen email restrictions within the social network.

The changes, which Facebook unveiled on Wednesday, raise privacy risks for users and violate the company's previous commitments to its roughly 1 billion members, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy.

"Facebook's proposed changes implicate the user privacy and terms of a recent settlement with the Federal Trade Commission," the groups said in a letter to Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg that was published on their websites on Monday.

By sharing information with Instagram, the letter said, Facebook could combine user profiles, ending its practice of keeping user information on the two services separate.

Facebook declined to comment on the letter.

In April, Facebook settled privacy charges with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that it had deceived consumers and forced them to share more personal information than they intended. Under the settlement, Facebook is required to get user consent for certain changes to its privacy settings and is subject to 20 years of independent audits.

Facebook, Google and other online companies have faced increasing scrutiny and enforcement from privacy regulators as consumers entrust ever-increasing amounts of information about their personal lives to Web services.

Facebook unveiled a variety of proposed changes to its terms of service and data use polices on Wednesday, including a move to scrap a 4-year old process that can allow the social network's roughly 1 billion users to vote on changes to its policies.

If proposed changes generate more than 7,000 public comments during a seven-day period, Facebook's current terms of service automatically trigger a vote by users to approve the changes. But the vote is only binding if at least 30 percent of users take part, and two prior votes never reached that threshold.

The latest proposed changes had garnered more than 17,000 comments by late Monday.

Facebook also said last week that it wanted to eliminate a setting for users to control who can contact them on the social network's email system. The company said it planned to replace the "Who can send you Facebook messages" setting with new filters for managing incoming messages.

That change is likely to increase the amount of unwanted "spam" messages that users receive, the privacy groups warned on Monday.

Facebook's potential information sharing with Instagram, a photo-sharing service for smartphone users that it bought in October, flows from proposed changes that would allow the company to share information between its own service and other businesses or affiliates it owns.

The change could open the door for Facebook to build unified profiles of its users that include people's personal data from its social network and from Instagram, similar to recent moves by Google Inc.

In January, Google said it would combine users' personal information from its various Web services - such as search, email and the Google+ social network - to provide a more customized experience. The unified data policy raised concerns among some privacy advocates and regulators, who said it was an invasion of people's privacy.

"As our company grows, we acquire businesses that become a legal part of our organization," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in an emailed statement on Monday.

"Those companies sometimes operate as affiliates. We wanted to clarify that we will share information with our affiliates and vice versa, both to help improve our services and theirs, and to take advantage of storage efficiencies," Noyes said.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Richard Pullin)


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Exclusive: Egyptian investor seeks to put stamp on Telecom Italia

DUBAI (Reuters) - Egyptian entrepreneur Naguib Sawiris aims to shake up debt-laden Telecom Italia and steer it towards expansion in Brazil if shareholders warm up to his proposal for a 3 billion euro ($3.9 billion) cash infusion.

The billionaire tycoon, who got to know Italy well when he owned the third-biggest mobile operator Wind, has put on the table a capital increase that could make him one of the biggest shareholders in Telecom Italia.

Details on the structure of the proposed transaction are scarce, but Sawiris told Reuters that he proposed that the capital increase be open to all shareholders, not just himself, and that it should be conducted around the current market price of 0.70 euros per share.

That is likely to draw the ire of other Telecom Italia shareholders, including Spain's Telefonica and the three Italian financial institutions who together own 22.4 percent via an unlisted holding company called Telco.

They value Telecom Italia at 1.50 euros per share in their accounts, and Marco Fossati, whose family's Findim Group SA owns 5 percent of the Italian operator, on Monday said 1.50 was the "correct price" for any capital increase.

Sawiris, going against a trend of retreating investment in crisis-hit southern Europe, said he might also bring in some of his old Wind associates to put Telecom Italia back on the path to growth.

"This proposal will provide a more stable financial structure for Telecom Italia going forward, more growth in Latin America and Brazil, and improved management through the infusion of people who have an excellent knowledge of the Italian market," Sawiris told Reuters.

Sawiris initially approached Telefonica and the other shareholders in Telco about the possibility of carrying out a capital increase at the holding company level. He was rebuffed, so decided to approach the Italian group directly.

"We are willing to participate in the capital increase, but shareholders have the choice not to get diluted and join in putting the money," he said.

"If they do not want to, we will come and replace them. But they will benefit from a higher stock price and a more stable company and a company that will grow."

It remains to be seen whether his vision for the group will be shared by Telecom Italia's management and core shareholders.

Telefonica, insurer Assicurazioni Generali, and banks Mediobanca and Intesa Sanpaolo had the Sawiris' offer dropped onto them as a bombshell two weeks ago, insiders have said.

"Sawiris is not a man to go in without being sure he can drive the strategy," one source familiar with the thinking of the core shareholders said.

Sawiris told Reuters he was also opposed to a current plan to spin off Telecom Italia's fixed-line network, which is backed by some core investors as a way to raise badly needed cash, and by the Italian government as a means to speed up broadband investment.

"I believe this is a catastrophe," Sawiris said. "If Telecom Italia does that, they will lose the only differentiator they have left in the telecom market in Italy."

Telecom Italia is now in talks with an Italian state-backed investment fund over such a spin-off. Under the plan, the fund would take a minority stake in the new company in exchange for Telecom Italia effectively becoming a wholesaler of broadband capacity to other companies.

Proponents of the spin-off argue the move would help Telecom Italia reduce debt while accelerating the modernization of the woeful Internet infrastructure in Europe's fourth-largest economy.

STRATEGY CROSSROAD

Telecom Italia's board will meet on December 6 to discuss the network spin-off and whether to bid for Vivendi's GVT, a broadband specialist in Brazil, to complement its TIM Brasil mobile business unit in the fast-growing market.

GVT's owner, Vivendi, is seeking up to 7 billion euros for GVT, which provides fixed telephone, broadband, and TV services in 120 Brazilian cities. Preliminary bids are due in December, sources have told Reuters.

Sawiris is waiting in the wings, though he says he has not had any direct contact from Telecom Italia since sending a letter of interest two weeks ago.

However, advisers from both sides - Lazard for Sawiris and Rothschild for Telecom Italia - have been communicating, according to people familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile, sources close to the telecom group's shareholders have complained of a lack of detail in the Sawiris proposal.

Nuno Matias, a telecoms analyst at Espirito Santo bank, said while Sawiris's arguments about seeking growth in Brazil via the GVT takeover were persuasive, the tycoon could face an uphill battle getting the board and shareholders onside.

"Sawiris isn't alone; there are controlling shareholders of Telecom Italia, and they have their own interests," he said.

"If Telecom Italia strengthens in Brazil then it sets up a conflict with Telefonica."

Sawiris pointed out that he tried talking to Telefonica.

"I met with them, but my feeling is that they are conflicted. They are happy where they are today holding Telecom Italia as a hostage and preventing it from growing into Latin America."

Telefonica and Telecom Italia are the number one and number two players in Brazilian mobile, respectively, and also compete in Argentina. The conflict means that Telefonica cannot take part in board deliberations at Telecom Italia over the Latin American units.

Telefonica's Chief Financial Officer Angel Vila said last week that the group wanted to remain a long-term shareholder in Telecom Italia, and opposed a capital increase.

Telecom Italia has made debt-cutting a priority since late 2008. Cost cuts and asset sales have trimmed net debt more than 4 billion euros to 29.5 billion at the end of September.

Morgan Stanley predicted its net debt was likely to stand at 27.8 billion euros at year-end, or 2.7 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), above sector averages and in the warning zone for rating agencies.

Sawiris, who sold Wind to Vimpelcom last year, wants to re-enter Italy by investing in the incumbent operator, betting on low valuations and turnaround potential in old-world telecoms.

"I've worked in Italy for five years and what I've learned that very few investors have the insight on what is the real story in Italy," Sawiris said.

($1 = 0.7713 euros)

(Additional reporting by Leila Abboud in Paris and Lisa Jucca in Milan; Editing by Will Waterman)


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Bitter struggle over Internet regulation to dominate global summit

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An unprecedented debate over how the global Internet is governed is set to dominate a meeting of officials in Dubai next week, with many countries pushing to give a United Nations body broad regulatory powers even as the United States and others contend such a move could mean the end of the open Internet.

The 12-day conference of the International Telecommunications Union, a 157-year-old organization that's now an arm of the United Nations, largely pits revenue-seeking developing countries and authoritarian regimes that want more control over Internet content against U.S. policymakers and private Net companies that prefer the status quo.

Many of the proposals have drawn fury from free-speech and human-rights advocates and have prompted resolutions from the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament, calling for the current decentralized system of governance to remain in place.

While specifics of some of the most contentious proposals remain secret, leaked drafts show that Russia is seeking rules giving individual countries broad permission to shape the content and structure of the Internet within their borders, while a group of Arab countries is advocating universal identification of Internet users. Some developing countries and telecom providers, meanwhile, want to make content providers pay for Internet transmission.

Fundamentally, most of the 193 countries in the ITU seem eager to enshrine the idea that the U.N. agency, rather than today's hodgepodge of private companies and nonprofit groups, should govern the Internet. The ITU meeting, which aims to update a longstanding treaty on how telecom companies interact across borders, will also tackle other topics such as extending wireless coverage into rural areas.

If a majority of the ITU countries approve U.N. dominion over the Internet along with onerous rules, a backlash could lead to battles in Western countries over whether to ratify the treaty, with tech companies rallying ordinary Internet users against it and some telecom carriers supporting it.

In fact, dozens of countries including China, Russia and some Arab states, already restrict Internet access within their own borders, but those governments would have greater leverage over Internet content and service providers if the changes were backed up by international agreement.

Amid the escalating rhetoric, search king Google last week asked users to "pledge your support for the free and open Internet" on social media, raising the specter of a grassroots outpouring of the sort that blocked American copyright legislation and a global anti-piracy treaty earlier this year.

Google's Vint Cerf, the ordinarily diplomatic co-author of the basic protocol for Internet data, denounced the proposed new rules as hopeless efforts by some governments and state-controlled telecom authorities to assert their power.

"These persistent attempts are just evidence that this breed of dinosaurs, with their pea-sized brains, hasn't figured out that they are dead yet, because the signal hasn't traveled up their long necks," Cerf told Reuters.

The ITU's top official, Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré, sought to downplay the concerns in a separate interview, stressing to Reuters that even though updates to the treaty could be approved by a simple majority, in practice nothing will be adopted without near-unanimity.

"Voting means winners and losers. We can't afford that in the ITU," said Touré, a former satellite engineer from Mali who was educated in Russia.

Touré predicted that only "light-touch" regulation on cyber-security will emerge by "consensus," using a deliberately vague term that implies something between a majority and unanimity.

He rejected criticism that the ITU's historic role in coordinating phone carriers leaves it unfit to corral the unruly Internet, comparing the Web to a transportation system.

"Because you own the roads, you don't own the cars and especially not the goods they are transporting. But when you buy a car you don't buy the road," Touré said. "You need to know the number of cars and their size and weight so you can build the bridges and set the right number of lanes. You need light-touch regulation to set down a few traffic lights."

Because the proposals from Russia, China and others are more extreme, Touré has been able to cast mild regulation as a compromise accommodating nearly everyone.

Two leaked Russian proposals say nations should have the sovereign right "to regulate the national Internet segment." An August draft proposal from a group of 17 Arab countries called for transmission recipients to receive "identity information" about the senders, potentially endangering the anonymity of political dissidents, among others.

A U.S. State Department envoy to the gathering and Cerf agreed with Touré that there is unlikely to be any drastic change emerging from Dubai.

"The decisions are going to be by consensus," said U.S. delegation chief Terry Kramer. He said anti-anonymity measures such as mandatory Internet address tracing won't be adopted because of opposition by the United States and others.

"We're a strong voice, given a lot of the heritage," Kramer said, referring to the U.S. invention and rapid development of the Internet. "A lot of European markets are very similar, and a lot of Asian counties are supportive, except China."

Despite the reassuring words, a fresh leak over the weekend showed that the ITU's top managers viewed a badly split conference as a realistic prospect less than three months ago.

The leaked program for a "senior management retreat" for the ITU in early September included a summary discussion of the most probable outcomes from Dubai, concluding that the two likeliest scenarios involved major reworkings of the treaty that the United States would then refuse to sign. The only difference between the scenarios lay in how many other developed countries sided with the Americans.

ITU officials didn't dispute the authenticity of the document, which was published by Jerry Brito, a researcher at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University as part of a continuing series of ITU-related leaks.

TourĂ© said that because the disagreements are so vast, the conference probably will end up with something resembling the ITU's earlier formula for trying to protect children online — an agreement to cooperate more and share laws and best practices, perhaps with hotlines to head off misunderstandings.

"From Dubai, what I personally expect is to see some kind of principles saying cyberspace is a global phenomenon and it can only have global responses," Touré said. "I just intend to put down some key principles there that will lay the seeds for something in the future."

Even vague terms could be used as a pretext for more oppressive policies in various countries, though, and activists and industry leaders fear those countries might also band together by region to offer very different Internet experiences.

In some ways, the U.N. involvement reflects a reversal that has already begun.

The United States has steadily diminished its official role in Internet governance, and many nations have stepped up their filtering and surveillance. More than 40 countries now filter the Net that their citizens see, said Ronald Deibert, a University of Toronto political science professor and authority on international conflicts in cyberspace.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said this month that the Net is already on the road to Balkanization, with people in different countries getting very different experiences from the services provided by Google, Skype and others.

This month, a new law in Russia took effect that allows the federal government to order a Website offline without a court hearing. Iran recently rolled out a version of the Internet that replaced the real thing within its borders. A growing number of countries, including China and India, order sites to censor themselves for political, religious and other content.

China, which has the world's largest number of Internet users, also blocks access to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter among other sites within its borders.

The loose governance of the Net currently depends on the non-profit ICANN, which oversees the Web's address system, along with voluntary standard-setting bodies and a patchwork of national laws and regional agreements. Many countries see it as a U.S.-dominated system.

The U.S. isolation within the ITU is exacerbated by it being home to many of the biggest technology companies - and by the fact that it could have military reasons for wanting to preserve online anonymity. The Internet emerged as a critical military domain with the 2010 discovery of Stuxnet, a computer worm developed at least in part by the United States that attacked Iran's nuclear program.

Whatever the outcome in Dubai, the conference stands a good chance of becoming a historic turning point for the Internet.

"I see this as a constitutional moment for global cyberspace, where we can stand back and say, `Who should be in charge?' said Deibert. "What are the rules of the road?"

(This story corrects a typo in "fury" in the third paragraph)

(Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Jonathan Weber, Martin Howell and Ken Wills)


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Professor finds profiling in ads for personal data website

Written By Bersemangat on Senin, 26 November 2012 | 14.22

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Dr. Latisha Smith, an expert in decompression sicknesses afflicting deep sea divers, has cleared criminal background checks throughout her medical career. Yet someone searching the Web for the Washington State physician might well come across an Internet ad suggesting she may have an arrest record.

"Latisha Smith, arrested?" reads one such advertisement.

Another says: "Latisha Smith Truth... Check Latisha Smith's Arrests."

Instantcheckmate.com, which labels itself the "Internet's leading authority on background checks," placed both ads. A statistical analysis of the company's advertising has found it has disproportionately used ad copy including the word "arrested" for black-identifying names, even when a person has no arrest record.

Latanya Sweeney is a Harvard University professor of government with a doctorate in computer science. After learning that her own name had popped up in an "arrested?" ad when a colleague was searching for one of her academic publications, she ran more than 120,000 searches for names primarily given to either black or white children, testing ads delivered for 2,400 real names 50 times each. (The author of this story is a Harvard University fellow collaborating with Professor Sweeney on a book about the business of personal data.)

Ebony Jefferson, for example, often turns up an instantcheckmate.com ad reading: "Ebony Jefferson, arrested?" but an ad triggered by a search for Emily Jefferson would read: "We found Emily Jefferson." Searches for randomly chosen black-identifying names such as Deshawn Williams, Latisha Smith or Latanya Smith often produced the "arrested?" headline or ad text with the word "arrest," whereas other less ethnic-sounding first names matched with the same surnames typically did not.

"As an African-American, I'm used to profiling like that," said Dr. Smith. "I think it's horrendous that they get away with it."

Instantcheckmate.com declined to comment. The company's founder and managing partner, Kristian Kibak, did not respond to repeated emails and phone calls over a period of several months, and other employees referred calls to management. Company officials also declined to comment when visited twice at their call center in Las Vegas. Former employees said they had signed nondisclosure agreements that barred them from speaking openly about Instant Checkmate.

Instantcheckmate.com is one of many data brokers that use and sell data for a variety of purposes. The field is attracting growing attention, both from government and consumers concerned about possible abuse. Rapid advances in technology have opened up all sorts of opportunities for commercialization of data.

Anyone can set up shop and sell arrest records as long as they stay clear of U.S. legal limitations such as using the information to determine creditworthiness, insurance or job suitability.

Companies that compete with instantcheckmate.com include intelius.com and mylife.com. An examination of Internet advertising starting last March as well as Sweeney's study did not find any rival companies advertising background searches on individual names along racial lines.

WHO CAN BE TRUSTED?

In its own marketing, Instantcheckmate.com sums up its mission like this: "Parents will no longer need to wonder about whether their neighbors, friends, home day care providers, a former spouse's new love interest or preschool providers can be trusted to care for their children responsibly."

According to preliminary findings of Professor Sweeney's research, searches of names assigned primarily to black babies, such as Tyrone, Darnell, Ebony and Latisha, generated "arrest" in the instantcheckmate.com ad copy between 75 percent and 96 percent of the time. Names assigned at birth primarily to whites, such as Geoffrey, Brett, Kristen and Anne, led to more neutral copy, with the word "arrest" appearing between zero and 9 percent of the time.

A few names fell outside of these patterns: Brad, a name predominantly given to white babies, produced an ad with the word "arrest" 62 percent to 65 percent of the time. Sweeney found that ads appear regardless of whether the name has an arrest record attached to it.

Blacks make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for 28 percent of the arrests listed on the FBI's most recent annual crime statistics.

Internet advertising based on millions of name pairs has only existed in recent years, so targeting ads along racial lines raises new legal questions. Experts say the Federal Trade Commission, which this year assessed an $800,000 penalty against personal data site Spokeo.com for different reasons (related to the use of data for job-vetting purposes), would be the institution best placed to review Instant Checkmate's practices.

The FTC enforces regulations against unfair or deceptive business practices. A deceptive claim that would be more likely to get people to purchase a product than they would otherwise would be a typical reason the FTC might act against a company, said one FTC official who did not want to be identified. For example, authorities could take action against a firm that makes misleading claims suggesting a product such as records exist when they do not.

"It's disturbing," Julie Brill, an FTC commissioner, said of Instant Checkmate's advertising. "I don't know if it's illegal ... It's something that we'd need to study to see if any enforcement action is needed."

Instant Checkmate's Kibak, who is in his late 20s, works out of a San Diego office near the Pacific Ocean. The son of a California biology professor, he did not respond to repeated phone calls and emails seeking comment about his business.

"We would consider the answers to most of your questions trade secrets and therefore would not be comfortable disclosing that information," Joey Rocco, Kibak's partner according to the firm's Nevada state registration, said in an email.

Instant Checkmate LLC maintains its official corporate headquarters at an address in an industrial zone across the highway from the Las Vegas strip. At the back of a long parking lot, the company shares a warehouse building with an auto repair shop. At one end, a large roll-up garage-style door opens to the company's call center. Workers face a gray cinder-block wall, their backs to the entrance. Staff declined to answer questions.

DATA FIRMS PROLIFERATE

Professor Sweeney's analysis found that some instantcheckmate.com ads hint at arrest records when the firm's database has no record of any arrest for that name, as is the case with her own name. In other cases, such as that of Latisha Smith, the company does have arrest records for some people by that name, although not for the doctor of hypobaric medicine in Washington State.

Laura Beatty, an Internet Marketing Inc expert in helping companies achieve prominent placement in Web searches, said instantcheckmate.com appeared to choose its ads based on combinations of thousands of different first and last names and then segment them based on the first names.

"There does look like there is some definite profiling going on here," she said. "In the searches that I looked at, it seemed like the more Midwestern- and WASP-sounding the name was, the less likely it was to have either any advertisement at all or to have something that was more geared around the arrest or criminal background."

Internet firms selling criminal records and personal data to the public have proliferated in recent years, as low-cost computing enables even modest operations to maintain large databases on millions of Americans. Such sites sell access to users for a one-time fee - $29.95 in the case of instantcheckmate.com - or via monthly subscription plans.

Instant Checkmate, first registered in Nevada in 2010, said in a recent press release posted online that the firm had attracted more than 570,000 customers since its start and counted more than 200,000 subscribers.

According to alexa.com, an Amazon.Com Inc site analyzing website traffic, instantcheckmate.com has ranged roughly between the 500th and 600th most visited U.S. site in recent weeks, making it an increasingly major player in this area.

The company is able to target its ads on an individual name basis through a program called Google AdWords. Instantcheckmate.com and others companies like it use Google AdWords to bid to place small text advertisements alongside search results on major websites triggered by the names in their data base. Such ads typically cost a company far less than a dollar, sometimes just a few pennies, each time they're clicked.

Google says it does not control what names appear in AdWords. "Advertisers select all of their keywords, and ads are triggered when someone searches for that name. We don't have any role in the advertiser's selection of unique proper names," said a Google spokesman.

Some in Congress have raised concerns about developments in the use of personal data. In October, Senator John Rockefeller IV, a Democrat from West Virginia and chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, opened a probe into leading data brokers. "Collecting, storing and selling information about Americans raises all types of questions that require careful scrutiny," he said.

(Adam Tanner is a Reuters correspondent currently on a 2012-13 fellowship at Harvard University's Department of Government.)

(Editing by Claudia Parsons and Prudence Crowther)


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Top 10 Pinterest Pins This Week

Magnetic Floating Sofa Cloud

"Magnetic floating sofa cloud concept. Everyone should have one!" Pinned From: Ricktastic Mulvay, Walk your dog daily Source: DK & Wei

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: 7 Cyber Monday Deals From Best Buy You Don't Want to Miss]

There is more to Pinterest than just weddings and recipes. Check out our 10 favorite pins from this week.

While compiling our top 10 Pinterest pins, we came across handy products, useful tips and eye-catching design concepts. In addition to keeping a close eye on our Pinterest feed, we use the Pinterest analytics tool Repinly to look through popular pins and choose 10 standouts to share in our roundup.

[More from Mashable: Facebook HQ Posters Urge Employees to Ditch iPhone for Android [PIC]]

This week, we couldn't help but be captivated by a design concept for a floating cloud sofa (sadly, it isn't a reality at this time) and a concept for a flat extension cord. Additionally, we found a few real life products that could make your life a little more convenient -- such as a playful key holder and a handy dustpan.

What were your favorite Pinterest pins this week?

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Apple seeks to add more products to Samsung patent lawsuit

(Reuters) - Apple Inc has asked a federal court to add six more products to its patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co, including the Samsung Galaxy Note II, in the latest in move in an ongoing legal war between the two companies.

The case is one of two patent infringement lawsuits pending in the U.S. District Court in San Jose by Apple against Samsung. An earlier lawsuit by Apple that related to different patents resulted in a $1.05 billion jury verdict against Samsung on August 24.

Apple is also seeking to add the Samsung Galaxy S III, running the new Android "Jelly Bean" operating system, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Wifi, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, the Samsung Rugby Pro, and the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini, to its lawsuit, according to a court filing on Friday.

"Apple has acted quickly and diligently to determine that these newly-released products do infringe many of the same claims already asserted by Apple," the company said in the filing.

Samsung representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Apple filed the second lawsuit in February, alleging that various Samsung smartphone and tablet products including the Galaxy Nexus infringed eight of its patents.

Samsung denied infringement and filed a cross-complaint alleging that Apple's iPhone and iPad infringed eight of its patents.

A U.S. judge on November 15 allowed Samsung to pursue claims the iPhone5 also infringes its patents.

The case is Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. et al, No. 12-cv-00630.

(Reporting By John McCrank; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)


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Renesas shareholders set to approve $2.4 billion bailout, shares soar

TOKYO (Reuters) - Shareholders of Japan's embattled Renesas Electronics Corp are close to approving a government-led bailout, sources familiar with the talks said, sending the firm's shares 17 percent higher on relief that the $2.4 billion rescue was being finalized.

The deal is set to keep the world's biggest maker of microcontroller chips afloat for the next few years, but analysts say that despite job cuts and planned plant closures, Renesas still faces many challenges including the restructuring of its loss-making system chip division.

The state-backed Innovation Network Corp will spend 180 billion yen ($2.2 billion) to take a two-thirds stake in Renesas, which has been hit by fierce overseas competition, production cuts by clients and fragile finances that have prevented it from upgrading infrastructure.

As part of the bailout, eight manufacturers including key clients such as Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co Ltd will provide another combined 20 billion yen.

Shareholder approval of the deal, while expected, had been delayed for several weeks and an announcement is now likely in early December, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is not public.

A Renesas spokesman said nothing had been decided.

Investors jumped to cover short positions in the stock, said Makoto Kikuchi, chief executive officer of Myojo Asset Management, noting that unlike some other troubled Japanese electronics firm such as Sharp Corp, the company's expertise in chips for cars meant it was worth investing in.

The bailout was put together to counter an earlier bid by U.S. private equity firm KKR & Co LP amid worries that the firm's technology would fall into foreign hands.

"As soon as stock investors see signs that the company is working hard to return to profit, they will be prepared to invest long-term," Kikuchi said.

Shares in Renesas closed 16.6 percent higher at a two-month high but are still down 42 percent since the beginning of April, the start of Japan's fiscal year.

Recent history has been brutal for Japan's chipmakers and Renesas, formed from the struggling chip divisions of its major shareholding companies Hitachi Ltd, Mitsubishi Electric Corp and NEC Corp, will be keen not to repeat the mistakes of now-bankrupt fellow chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc.

Elpida, formed from the merger of several big companies' DRAM chip making operations, succumbed to slumping prices and relentless competition from South Korean rivals and is being acquired by Micron Technology Inc of the United States.

Japan's tech sector has also seen the creation of Japan Display Inc, a firm formed from the divisions of three TV makers which make small liquid crystal displays and which the Innovation Network Corp has also invested in.

The bailout comes on top of 161 billion yen in syndicated loans from four Japanese banks in September, and before that a separate 97 billion yen Renesas previously received from the banks and its major shareholders.

In return, the company has slashed more than 7,000 jobs this year and pledged to sell or close eight out of its 18 domestic plants within three years.

Renesas, which competes with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and U.S.-based Freescale Semiconductor Inc, has predicted a net loss of 150 billion yen for the year to March.

The Nikkei newspaper also said on Monday that Renesas will receive an additional 1 billion yen each in support from Hitachi and NEC. Sources said the two firms will not take in Renesas employees, while Mitsubishi Electric is considering taking in some workers from the chipmaker. ($1 = 82.3700 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by Ayai Tomisawa; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)


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Sony at greater risk than Panasonic in electronics downturn: Fitch

Written By Bersemangat on Minggu, 25 November 2012 | 14.22

TOKYO (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp has a better chance than rival Sony Corp of surviving Japan's consumer electronics slump because of its unglamorous but stable appliance business of washing machines and fridges, credit rating agency Fitch said Friday.

Fitch cut Panasonic's rating by two notches to BB and Sony three notches to BB minus on Thursday, the first time one of the three major ratings agencies have put the creditworthiness of either company into junk-bond territory.

Rival agencies Moody's and S&P rate both of Japan's consumer electronic giants at the same level, just above junk status. Moody's last cut its rating on Panasonic on Tuesday.

Panasonic "has the advantage of a relatively stable consumer appliance business that is still generating positive margins", Matt Jamieson, Fitch's head of Asia-Pacific, said in a conference call on Friday to explain its ratings downgrades.

But at Sony, he added, "most of their electronic business are loss making, they appear to be overstretched."

Japan's TV industry has been bested by cheaper, more innovative models from Samsung Electronics and other foreign rivals, while tablets and smartphones built by Apple Inc have become the dominant consumer electronics devices.

Investors are focusing on the fate of Sony and Panasonic after another struggling Japanese consumer electronics firm, Sharp Corp, maker of the Aquos TV, secured a $4.6 billion bail-out by banks including Mizuho Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

Sony and Panasonic have chosen divergent survival paths.

Panasonic, maker of the Viera TV, is looking to expand its businesses in appliances, solar panels, lithium batteries and automotive components. Appliances amount to around only 6 percent of the company's sales, but they generate margins of more than 6 percent and make up a big chunk of operating profit.

Sony, creator of the Walkman, is doubling down on consumer gadgets in a bid to regain ground from Samsung and Apple in mobile devices while bolstering digital cameras and gaming.

The latest downgrades will curtail the ability of both Japanese companies to raise money in credit markets to help fund restructurings of their business portfolios.

For now, however, that impact is limited, given the support Panasonic and Sony are receiving from their banks.

In October, Panasonic, which expects to lose $10 billion in the year to March 31, secured $7.6 billion of loan commitments from banks including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ, a financing backstop it says will help it avoid having to seek capital in credit markets.

Sony, which has forecast a full-year profit of $1.63 billion helped by the sale of a chemicals business to a Japanese state bank, announced plans to raise $1.9 billion through a convertible bond before the latest rating downgrade.

Thomson Reuters' Starmine structural model, which evaluates market views of credit risk, debt levels and changes in asset values gives Panasonic and Sony an implied rating of BB minus. Sharp's implied rating is three notches lower at B minus.

Standard & Poor's rates Panasonic and Sony at BBB, the second lowest of the investment grade, while Moody's Investors Service has them on Baa3, the lowest of its high-grade category. Moody's has a negative outlook for both firms while S&P sees a stable outlook for Panasonic and a negative one for Sony.

Stock markets in Japan were closed on Friday for a national holiday.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Mark Bendeich)


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Nokia imaging chief to quit

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia's long-time imaging chief Damian Dinning has decided to leave the loss-making cellphone maker at the end of this month, the company said in a statement.

The strong imaging capabilities of the new Lumia smartphone models are a key sales argument for the former market leader, which has been burning through cash while losing share in both high-end smartphones and cheaper handsets.

Nokia's Chief Executive Stephen Elop has replaced most of the top management since he joined in late 2010 and Dinnig is the latest of several executives to leave.

Dinning did not want to move to Finland as part of the phonemakers' effort to concentrate operations and will join Jaguar Land Rover to head innovations in the field of connected cars, he said on Nokia's imaging fan site PureViewclub.com.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki, editing by William Hardy)


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10 Adorable Animals Feeding Other Animals [VIDEOS]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The father of Halle Berry's daughter is headed to court after he was arrested following a fistfight with her fiancé outside the Oscar winning actress' Los Angeles home on Thanksgiving, police said. Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, 37, was later released on $20,000 bail after being charged with misdemeanor battery following the punch-up with Berry's fiancé, French actor Olivier Martinez, 46, in the driveway of her house on Thursday. ...


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Professor finds profiling in ads for personal data website

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Dr. Latisha Smith, an expert in decompression sicknesses afflicting deep sea divers, has cleared criminal background checks throughout her medical career. Yet someone searching the Web for the Washington State physician might well come across an Internet ad suggesting she may have an arrest record.

"Latisha Smith, arrested?" reads one such advertisement.

Another says: "Latisha Smith Truth... Check Latisha Smith's Arrests."

Instantcheckmate.com, which labels itself the "Internet's leading authority on background checks," placed both ads. A statistical analysis of the company's advertising has found it has disproportionately used ad copy including the word "arrested" for black-identifying names, even when a person has no arrest record.

Latanya Sweeney is a Harvard University professor of government with a doctorate in computer science. After learning that her own name had popped up in an "arrested?" ad when a colleague was searching for one of her academic publications, she ran more than 120,000 searches for names primarily given to either black or white children, testing ads delivered for 2,400 real names 50 times each. (The author of this story is a Harvard University fellow collaborating with Professor Sweeney on a book about the business of personal data.)

Ebony Jefferson, for example, often turns up an instantcheckmate.com ad reading: "Ebony Jefferson, arrested?" but an ad triggered by a search for Emily Jefferson would read: "We found Emily Jefferson." Searches for randomly chosen black-identifying names such as Deshawn Williams, Latisha Smith or Latanya Smith often produced the "arrested?" headline or ad text with the word "arrest," whereas other less ethnic-sounding first names matched with the same surnames typically did not.

"As an African-American, I'm used to profiling like that," said Dr. Smith. "I think it's horrendous that they get away with it."

Instantcheckmate.com declined to comment. The company's founder and managing partner, Kristian Kibak, did not respond to repeated emails and phone calls over a period of several months, and other employees referred calls to management. Company officials also declined to comment when visited twice at their call center in Las Vegas. Former employees said they had signed nondisclosure agreements that barred them from speaking openly about Instant Checkmate.

Instantcheckmate.com is one of many data brokers that use and sell data for a variety of purposes. The field is attracting growing attention, both from government and consumers concerned about possible abuse. Rapid advances in technology have opened up all sorts of opportunities for commercialization of data.

Anyone can set up shop and sell arrest records as long as they stay clear of U.S. legal limitations such as using the information to determine creditworthiness, insurance or job suitability.

Companies that compete with instantcheckmate.com include intelius.com and mylife.com. An examination of Internet advertising starting last March as well as Sweeney's study did not find any rival companies advertising background searches on individual names along racial lines.

WHO CAN BE TRUSTED?

In its own marketing, Instantcheckmate.com sums up its mission like this: "Parents will no longer need to wonder about whether their neighbors, friends, home day care providers, a former spouse's new love interest or preschool providers can be trusted to care for their children responsibly."

According to preliminary findings of Professor Sweeney's research, searches of names assigned primarily to black babies, such as Tyrone, Darnell, Ebony and Latisha, generated "arrest" in the instantcheckmate.com ad copy between 75 percent and 96 percent of the time. Names assigned at birth primarily to whites, such as Geoffrey, Brett, Kristen and Anne, led to more neutral copy, with the word "arrest" appearing between zero and 9 percent of the time.

A few names fell outside of these patterns: Brad, a name predominantly given to white babies, produced an ad with the word "arrest" 62 percent to 65 percent of the time. Sweeney found that ads appear regardless of whether the name has an arrest record attached to it.

Blacks make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for 28 percent of the arrests listed on the FBI's most recent annual crime statistics.

Internet advertising based on millions of name pairs has only existed in recent years, so targeting ads along racial lines raises new legal questions. Experts say the Federal Trade Commission, which this year assessed an $800,000 penalty against personal data site Spokeo.com for different reasons (related to the use of data for job-vetting purposes), would be the institution best placed to review Instant Checkmate's practices.

The FTC enforces regulations against unfair or deceptive business practices. A deceptive claim that would be more likely to get people to purchase a product than they would otherwise would be a typical reason the FTC might act against a company, said one FTC official who did not want to be identified. For example, authorities could take action against a firm that makes misleading claims suggesting a product such as records exist when they do not.

"It's disturbing," Julie Brill, an FTC commissioner, said of Instant Checkmate's advertising. "I don't know if it's illegal ... It's something that we'd need to study to see if any enforcement action is needed."

Instant Checkmate's Kibak, who is in his late 20s, works out of a San Diego office near the Pacific Ocean. The son of a California biology professor, he did not respond to repeated phone calls and emails seeking comment about his business.

"We would consider the answers to most of your questions trade secrets and therefore would not be comfortable disclosing that information," Joey Rocco, Kibak's partner according to the firm's Nevada state registration, said in an email.

Instant Checkmate LLC maintains its official corporate headquarters at an address in an industrial zone across the highway from the Las Vegas strip. At the back of a long parking lot, the company shares a warehouse building with an auto repair shop. At one end, a large roll-up garage-style door opens to the company's call center. Workers face a gray cinder-block wall, their backs to the entrance. Staff declined to answer questions.

DATA FIRMS PROLIFERATE

Professor Sweeney's analysis found that some instantcheckmate.com ads hint at arrest records when the firm's database has no record of any arrest for that name, as is the case with her own name. In other cases, such as that of Latisha Smith, the company does have arrest records for some people by that name, although not for the doctor of hypobaric medicine in Washington State.

Laura Beatty, an Internet Marketing Inc expert in helping companies achieve prominent placement in Web searches, said instantcheckmate.com appeared to choose its ads based on combinations of thousands of different first and last names and then segment them based on the first names.

"There does look like there is some definite profiling going on here," she said. "In the searches that I looked at, it seemed like the more Midwestern- and WASP-sounding the name was, the less likely it was to have either any advertisement at all or to have something that was more geared around the arrest or criminal background."

Internet firms selling criminal records and personal data to the public have proliferated in recent years, as low-cost computing enables even modest operations to maintain large databases on millions of Americans. Such sites sell access to users for a one-time fee - $29.95 in the case of instantcheckmate.com - or via monthly subscription plans.

Instant Checkmate, first registered in Nevada in 2010, said in a recent press release posted online that the firm had attracted more than 570,000 customers since its start and counted more than 200,000 subscribers.

According to alexa.com, an Amazon.Com Inc site analyzing website traffic, instantcheckmate.com has ranged roughly between the 500th and 600th most visited U.S. site in recent weeks, making it an increasingly major player in this area.

The company is able to target its ads on an individual name basis through a program called Google AdWords. Instantcheckmate.com and others companies like it use Google AdWords to bid to place small text advertisements alongside search results on major websites triggered by the names in their data base. Such ads typically cost a company far less than a dollar, sometimes just a few pennies, each time they're clicked.

Google says it does not control what names appear in AdWords. "Advertisers select all of their keywords, and ads are triggered when someone searches for that name. We don't have any role in the advertiser's selection of unique proper names," said a Google spokesman.

Some in Congress have raised concerns about developments in the use of personal data. In October, Senator John Rockefeller IV, a Democrat from West Virginia and chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, opened a probe into leading data brokers. "Collecting, storing and selling information about Americans raises all types of questions that require careful scrutiny," he said.

(Adam Tanner is a Reuters correspondent currently on a 2012-13 fellowship at Harvard University's Department of Government.)

(Editing by Claudia Parsons and Prudence Crowther)


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