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Beijing Censors Taken to Task in Party Circles — BEIJING, Feb. 14 — A dozen former Communist Party officials and senior scholars, including a onetime secretary to Mao, a party propaganda chief and the retired bosses of some of the country's most powerful newspapers, have denounced …
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IP Democracy
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House Member Criticizes Internet Companies for Practices in China — WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 — In a crowded House hearing room, Representative Christopher H. Smith, Republican of New Jersey, unleashed a scathing condemnation of four American Internet and technology companies — Google, Yahoo …

ContentAds the name of MSN contextual ad program with a 2006 launch date — You may have noticed I will be speaking at Mix06 next month (I list upcoming conferences I am speaking at on the right side of my blog), and I was taking some time to check out the speakers of the other sessions …

Microsoft Launches Beta Program for Microsoft Office Live Services — Internet-based services include free Web site, domain name and e-mail accounts. — REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 15, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the beta availability of Microsoft® Office Live (http …
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Oracle tried to buy open-source MySQL — SAN FRANCISCO—Oracle tried to acquire open-source database maker MySQL, an indication of the profound changes the software giant is willing to make as it adapts to the increasingly significant collaborative programming philosophy.

Campfire — Our friends at 37signals just launched Campfire, their latest product (following on Basecamp and Backpack). I've been testing this product with them and think it's a great one — a fantastic tool for distributed teams (which is perhaps not surprising since they used to be an international company).

Blockbuster Follows Netflix, Again — By Rick Aristotle Munarriz (TMFBreakerRick) — Earlier this week, I looked at the throttling going on at Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX). Now that the popular DVD-by-mail company is handicapping hyperactive accounts with slower delivery times and poorer …

Yahoo on NSA surveillance: No comment — Under cross-examination during a congressional hearing, Yahoo's top lawyer refused on Wednesday to say whether the company opens its records for government surveillance without a court order. — Michael Callahan, Yahoo's senior vice president and general counsel …

Customers to Receive Better Solutions and More Product Options With 2007 Microsoft Office Release — New and improved programs, servers and services will give customers unparalleled flexibility. — REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 15, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the lineup …

RIAA Says Ripping CDs to Your iPod is NOT Fair Use — It is no secret that the entertainment oligopolists are not happy about space-shifting and format-shifting. But surely ripping your own CDs to your own iPod passes muster, right? In fact, didn't they admit as much in front …

Search Engines Here to Convert You — Hunting for something on America Online's search site? Beware. You may be converted. — And it's not a religious thing, although advertisers do seem to see it that way. "Conversion" in marketing speak refers to people who start off as window shoppers and are transformed into customers.
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Techdirt

The Art of Creating a Community — I admit it: I'm a user-group junkie. I got my first taste of user groups when I worked for Apple—speaking at their meetings was one of my great pleasures. Their members were unpaid, raging, inexorable thunderlizard evangelists for Macintosh and Apple II.

United States Patent & Trademark Office Issues 7 Millionth Patent — Patent Assigned to DuPont for Novel Fibers — WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Department of Commerce's United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today issued patent No. 7 million to DuPont senior researcher John P. O'Brien for …

How do you know if something is Web 2.0? — Web 2.0 is on the tips of fingers and lips of influentierati across the web. But how do you know if you, a product of yours, an investment of yours or a service you use is Web 2.0? This handy reference sheet will help guide you.

Bill Gates interview transcript — The FT's Richard Waters talks to Bill Gates at the RSA Security Conference 2006 in San Jose about Microsoft strategies on computer security, as well as the issue of censorship in China during the RSA Security Conference 2006 in San Jose.

The flattening of the press world — A dirty little secret about PR: they give certain press "exclusives" to try to get the story out better. This still goes on all the time. Why does Walt Mossberg or Steven Levy write about something before everyone else does?