Because of a copyright violation, the UK Cabinet Office, Britain's "head office," was forced to yank a public service video from YouTube. But the complaint came from an unlikely place - from an agency within.

Will Sturgeon at Silicon.com reports the video was called "Transformational Government," and was replaced on YouTube with a red-lettered notice reading:

This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner COI Television because its content was used without permission.
For you fellow Americans, for whom the ways of the British are, um, foreign to them, COI stands for Central Office of Information, a government agency whose chief executive reports to the Minister for the Cabinet Office.

And we thought it was hard to get fired in France.

A little over a week and a half ago, Sturgeon, who presented the UK government's move into user-generated video marketing as an end to its "backwards" understanding of tech issues, gave the video a tepid review.

This week, he calls it a "blunder."

And we, in America, are still quite confused about how a federal government agency can violate the copyrights of an underling federal agency.

But then again, we don't have those raucous Parliamentary debates, either. C-Span on YouTube, anyone?

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Mixed martial arts events like the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and the slick and savvy World Wrestling Entertainment bouts, draw more attention from the younger male fanbase than boxing does.

Boxing writer and podcaster Eddie Goldman posted that boxing is stuck in the past. "Most of boxing is still in an era of ink-stained, cigarette-smoking, fedora-wearing drunks banging away on manual typewriters," he wrote.

The kids aren't going backward, but forward. Social media and networking are all the rage, with MySpace receiving plenty of press for its growth and role in that arena. It's with this in mind that Goldman approached boxing promoter Lou DiBella after the Ike Quartey/Vernon Forrest junior middleweight bout, which DiBella's fighter Quartey lost by decision in ten rounds.

Goldman wrote that he asked DiBella, "Why don't you get on MySpace?" Quite a few boxers have made their online homes on the site, and after some back and forth DiBella agreed to get a profile on the site for his company.

DiBella knows plenty about the power of promotion, considering his eleven-year run at HBO Sports. During that time boxing became a big draw for the cable network, as did HBO's lucrative pay-per-view programming.

His profile is picking up friends on MySpace from among boxers and fight fans. It's a small number right now, with no limits or guarantees on how far it can rise. Any fans boxing can gain will be welcome in the sport.

Growing fanbases can lend some competitiveness outside of the ring. With DiBella's "Broadway Boxing" coming up later in September, and a pair of his fighters on the card, the ideal viral marketing result would come from fans spreading the word themselves about the junior welterweights and their opponents.

Of course boxing still has to do its part, by developing more fighters like middleweight champ Jermain Taylor who younger fans will want to follow. Just like websites that need quality content to keep their visitors coming back, DiBella and other promoters have to offer that too.

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Tags: MySpace, Boxing

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As the morning news shows led their programs regaling the audience about nothing happening in Florida (you have to get Michelle Kosinski on camera somehow), disaster domain scammers were probably quite busy taking advantage of ICANN's five-day return policy.

TechWeb reports that on the eve of the not-a-hurricane Ernesto's Florida landfall, 19 Ernesto-related domain names had been registered, including ernestohurricane.com," "ernestodamage.com," and "ernestoweather.com," most of them registered to the same person.

This is reminiscent of Katrina, as heartless ne'er-do-wells looked to make a quick advertising buck off the frantic clickity-clack of anxious information seekers. A definite pattern is emerging whereby opportunists register domains in advance of impending doom, looking to cash in once Mother Nature exacts her vengeance. After Katrina, the Department of Justice made it quite clear this type of fraudulent behavior was unwelcome, setting up a task force to combat it.

But as TechDirt's Mike Masnick points out, ICANN's five-day money-back guarantee nearly removes any monetary risk or barrier to creating scam domains. In May, Mike predicted the trend of registering large blocks of domains, parking them for clicks, and then returning them to the registrars as "the next evolution of typosquatting obsession."

He cites Go Daddy chief Bob Parson's report that over 93 percent of domains registered in April were, like a poor girl's prom dress, worn once and returned to the store. Parsons calls it "domain snapping."

But a more sinister plot, says Parson, is registrar participation in "domain kiting," where squatters buy blocks of domain names, "pimp them up with pay-per-click terms," collect some cash and return the domain before the grace period is up. And then they do it again.

Apply, rinse, repeat.

From Email Battles:

The registrar benefits by holding the buyer's cash between the purchase and return. By continually recycling the arrangement, participating registrars enjoy a nice books-sweetening float.
Problem is, ICANN is cut out of its income, and millions of legitimate domain name users (who can't buy desirable domain names) are left holding the bag.

So don't be surprised when every time you hear Al Roker mention a tropical storm with hurricane aspirations, a cluster of domain names appears including the names Florence, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, and Joyce. Heck, they're probably in rotation now.

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Microsoft received a swift punch to the gut from an Indian state government looking to lower education costs by encouraging its school system to switch to Linux-based computers.

M.A. Baby, the education minister of the communist state of Kerala, located on the southwestern edge of the subcontinent, also expressed concern about monopolistic and imperialistic practices of multinational corporations.

Baby encouraged the 12,500 schools in Kerala, which is home to over 31 million people, to provide training on free and open-source software, including but not limited to Linux. The choice between Linux and Windows, however is left up to teachers and students.

Kerala boasts a literacy rate of 91 percent, the highest in the country, which means they can probably read a balance sheet as well. Kerala is allotted about $1.86 million annually to promote computer literacy among one million students. Microsoft has countered by saying the company strives to keep licensing costs low, around $25-$30 per computer.

But Linux is free.

It's not just the price, says Baby, it's an opposition to monopolies.

"Naturally, being a democratic and progressive government, we want to encourage the spread of free software," the communist education minister told the New York Times.
"We have great respect for the contribution made by the United States and its European allies in the fields of art and literature and culture,'' he continued.

"At the same time we are not happy with the monopolistic and imperialistic moves, both in political and economic spheres, made by these nations."

Though Baby is encouraging the switch, the ministry will stop short of banning the use of the software altogether.

"There may eventually be a few individuals at the margins who still choose to use Microsoft, but the majority should be free of this hardship," he told India Daily. "We have not banned Microsoft but we are against monopolies in any field and will vigorously encourage free software."

The same education ministry recently banned the sale of Coke and Pepsi, after environmental groups said soft drinks bottled locally had high levels of pesticides.

Linux has been a thorn in Microsoft's side for quite some time, especially as more and more government agencies choose open source platforms. In September 2005, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts decided to switch over to open standard software.

In Europe, Microsoft barely skirted losing licensing fees in Munich, Germany and Paris, France. Paris cited the cost of training municipal employees to use the new system, while Munich temporarily suspended switching its 14,000 computers to open source after patent issues arose. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer even interrupted a ski trip in Switzerland to try and talk Munich's mayor out of the switch.

Patent infringement concerns could be a trump card Microsoft has yet to use against its open source rival. According to ZDNet, Linux potentially infringes upon 283 patents, including 27 that belong to Microsoft. Many of the others are owned by Linux allies like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel-all of whom seem to have distanced themselves from Linux, perhaps after pressure from Microsoft.

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Visitors to Google Book Search will have the opportunity to download and print classic titles from the service.

Sometime today, Google Book Search should open its virtual doors to literary fans and allow them to download PDF copies of certain titles, and to print them. Current Google policy only permits out-of-copyright books to be read online.

AP noted how the variety of books available in this manner will only come from the public domain. Copyrighted books will not be enabled for download.

Those copyrighted works have stirred up anger against Google from publishers and authors. Both fear losing control of books and have filed a couple of lawsuits against Google for copyright infringement due to Google's book-scanning and archive initiative.

Google has long argued its scanning of texts from libraries and the usage of snippets of text from them in its Book Search comprise a fair use of those works.

Also, since millions of books are no longer in print, a search could expose a reader to a book he never knew existed and prompt interest in purchasing it. Google monetizes Book Search now with its ubiquitous contextual ads, and has tools in place to enable it to turn interest in a book into a sale for a publisher.

Google's scanning, and a new agreement it has reached with the University of California system to archive its books, has prompted some concerns about so much work being under the auspices of a single private company.

Brewster Kahle, co-founder of the Internet Archive, said by telephone that Google's work would be even better if it were part of an effort like the Open Content Alliance, of which he is also a part. Yahoo and Microsoft along with other companies are OCA members.

OCA's operations have been working with publishers to ensure it does not run into the same issues Google has encountered. Kahle thinks Google would do well to "play nice with others" when it comes to scanning and opening content, and keeping it open, for all to enjoy.

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Tag: Google Book Search

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It isn't the company's massive revenue generator, the Office productivity suite, that has been leaked, but a pair of training videos for Microsoft's in-house usage created by Ricky Gervais, who developed "The Office" TV series.

The training videos are still available here and here on Google Video, which unlike YouTube has not taken them off the site. Microsoft has been chasing down whoever posted them online.

The videos were never intended for public distribution, but now that they have been online for a few days, Microsoft may as well have posted them with a "Come grab these!" banner on the Internet.

Few topics are left unaddressed as Gervais and Merchant spoof their way through the workday at Microsoft. Even the company's ultra-wealthy founder, Bill Gates, gets poked by the duo.

Reuters cited a Microsoft spokesperson who confirmed the videos were made for the company in 2004. The videos feature Gervais in his "David Brent" persona, and "The Office" series co-writer Stephen Merchant.

Whoever chose to share these videos should know that vengeance is coming from Microsoft:

"We are actively working to investigate how and why they have appeared now," the spokeswoman said.
She refused to say why the company opposed the airing of the clips on the video-sharing sites.
Gervais is reportedly very unhappy about the release. A CNet UK article on the now-playing-online videos claimed that part of the agreement with Microsoft included a provision that the videos not be made public.

Oops.

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Tags: Microsoft, The Office, Ricky Gervais

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The young male demographic may be found in concentration among the gamers in the world, and a new initiative by AOL and Super Computer International (SCI) makes features available to them via PlayLinc.

AOL said the PlayLinc service places the tools and services online gamers need for more control of their multiplayer gaming. The announcement follows AOL's acquisition of GameDaily, a gaming news and reviews site.

Gaming has great appeal for AOL, and the potential for an advertising revenue windfall that might accompany a well-developed gaming strategy. According to analysts at Parks Associates, North America's online gaming market will increase to $4.4 billion by 2010.

"The surge in online gaming also would seem to tie in perfectly with the growing in-game advertising market," the article noted. "As more and more gamers go online with their consoles or PCs, advertisers and brand marketers are doing their best to leverage those eyeballs."

PlayLinc would tap into the online gamers among AOL Messaging's users, who number about 80 million and use AIM, ICQ, and Apple iChat. AOL touted PlayLinc and the features it will offer to gamers beyond the AIM integration.

Gamers can launch servers for free through PlayLinc. They can be made public, or private and accessible by invitation only. PlayLinc also offers a voice service to connect 32 gamers with real-time talk through the use of multiplexed VoIP, instead of conventional peer to peer VoIP used elsewhere in the industry.

PlayLinc's users can also form Gaming Clubs for themselves and their fellow gamers. Currently, PlayLinc supports game titles including Counter Strike, Counter Strike Source, Half Life 2 Deathmatch, America's Army, Battlefield 2, Quake 4, Day of Defeat, and UT2004.

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Tags: PlayLinc, AOL, AIM

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Apple today announced that Google CEO Eric Schmidt, was elected to Apple's board of directors. Schmidt adds the new position to Google's board of directors and Princeton University's board of trustees.

"Eric is obviously doing a terrific job as CEO of Google, and we look forward to his contributions as a member of Apple's board of directors," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO.

"Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric's insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead."

"Apple is one of the companies in the world that I most admire," said Eric Schmidt. "I'm really looking forward to working with Steve and Apple's board to help with all of the amazing things Apple is doing."

Apple said Schmidt's experience as an Internet strategist, entrepreneur and technologist gave him a "well-seasoned perspective" at Google, a young company where many have said Schmidt serves as "the adult."

Apple, Eric Schmidt

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Just in time for the flurry of 2006 kickoffs, AOL launched FanHouse, a football blogging community, with 75 blogs dedicated to NFL and NCAA teams.

The company has dedicated a blogger for each team, who'll be slightly higher in the social order of things than the water boy, but not quite as high on the totem pole as the cup cleaner…

An understanding of double entendres is required to get the above joke. Approach with caution.

AOL says the addition enhances its traditional sports coverage by providing a platform for fans to exchange ideas, vent, and get "the real story" off the field - like whether or not Michael Strahan really cries like a girl when snapped with a wet towel.

Please, nobody tell him I said that.

Along with the team blogs, AOL will provide fans with rosters, schedules, photos, statistics, and news feeds, player salaries, and fantasy football.

Neal Scarborough, editor and general manager of AOL Sports, said something press release-y and meaningless to the effect of "AOL rocks" in a long corporate string of buzzwords and nonsense.

The company hopes the addition of the football blogs will complement its blog-driven Internet radio show, Sports Bloggers Live, which debuted in January 2005.

In the future, AOL Sports will add the option of uploading photos, videos, and team reviews, completing the Web 2.0 user-generated list of required amenities. The football offering is the first of a number of sports to be added to FanHouse.

Two words: beach volleyball.

Make that four words: roller derby

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News of the search expert's departure from the website and conference most strongly identified with him has the search engine community buzzing with commentary.

Google's noteworthy blogger Matt Cutts described Danny Sullivan's departure from Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies as an "earthquake."

"For the search industry, this is a nine on the Richter scale and has the potential to shake the whole industry for a few months," wrote Cutts.

No kidding. Fortunately, Sullivan had a few moments at what is certainly a busy time for the man who has been associated with search engine commentary for the past decade to share some insights with our readers on his pending departure from Incisive Media.

Sullivan noted that he made the decision to leave Incisive in July. He had been negotiating with Incisive CEO Tim Weller, and Sullivan had been urged to continue to have talks with the company. Ultimately those did not prove productive.

As he noted earlier today, Sullivan is definitely leaving. He did allow that, contingent on financial terms, he could do SES shows on a case-by-case basis. "I really don't expect that to happen," he said.

Contractually, Sullivan does not have a non-compete agreement in his way as he charts out his future. About five serious offers have been made for his services as of right now, so he won't lack for opportunities, including ones he can make for himself.

On the topic of going forward from Incisive, I asked him what appealed to him the most. "Mainly being in control of my own destiny more, plus the ability to know that if I want to start a new site, I can get things going faster than with the existing development structure," he said.

Could that lead to a new version of Search Engine Watch? "Possibly. Right now, the first step for me has simply been to say goodbye to the institutions I've helped build. The next step really will be to consider what exactly I want to do going forward," he replied.

Whatever happens, followers of the search engine industry can be assured that one way or another, Danny Sullivan will continue to write, as he responded on one last question - could he see becoming a mainstream media columnist on search?

"It's very possible, and it appeals a lot. My favorite thing is taking an important issue and examining it through writing, something that I've been pulled away from more and more as the site has grown. Getting back to that, probably through a new blog or site, is something I'm very likely to do," he said.

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Tags: Danny Sullivan, SEW, SES

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