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When the local Fox station pre-empted a NASCAR race for a Boston Red Sox game in April 2001, Michael Melo got mad. Then he got his mouse. The rabid racing fan flooded Fox Entertainment Group with more than a half-million emails of protest through Boston affiliate WFXT-TV’s site, causing the latter to shut down and Fox to take its main site offline for fear that a hacker had attacked. Last week Melo agreed to plead guilty to a federal misdemeanor for the ill-fated protest. Melo, who works in the computer industry, set up a program that sent six emails over and over and over again during late April and early May 2001. After receiving more than 530,000 messages, Fox suspended part of its site to protect it from outsiders. That action left WFXT unable to get email for several hours. Melo faces a year in prison for the prank, though his attorneys plan to ask for probation.
RealNetworks buys Listen.com for $36M
RealNetworks has acquired one of the internet’s pioneering pay-for-play sites, sparking speculation about whether the company will continue to support a competing venture that it began with several major record labels. RealNetworks will pay $36 million in cash and stocks for Listen.com, in which it already owned a minority stake. The service is one in a growing number of legitimate companies that offer non-pirated songs on a per-download or monthly fee basis. MusicNet is the one started by RealNetworks and EMI, AOL Time Warner and Bertelsmann AG. RealNetworks also owns RealOne SuperPass, a video entertainment and news programming service. Listen.com’s best-known service is Rhapsody, a music hub that offers access to more than 200,000 songs for $9.95 per month. Still, the audience hasn’t really blossomed. Listen.com executives say Rhapsody has subscriptions in the tens of thousands, a tiny slice compared to the millions who download for free from Kazaa or Morpheus.
Spam-weary surfers tire of other advertising, too
The evils of spam and pop up ads apparently are spiking consumer annoyance with just about any form of advertising. A new survey from PlanetFeedback finds that the more spam/pop ups, the angrier customers become. Most of those surveyed said they use some type of filter for web aggravations, and 13 percent said that they have ad filtering technology for their television, such as TiVo or Replay TV. Of those, 60 percent say they use the devices to block ads. PlanetFeedback also surveyed web users on their stance on regulating unsolicited email. More than a third said they advocated “do not email” regulations. Twenty-seven percent are in favor of taxes and fines for spammers and one-quarter say spam should be banned outright. Just 2 percent said no action should be taken.
Study: E-book sales showing increasing power
Although a recent study by BookBrowse.com found that the vast majority of Americans prefer paper books to electronic ones, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) reported an uptick in e-book sales for January and February. Sales rose 41 percent for the 60 publishers surveyed compared to last year. The bestselling e-categories tend to be science fiction, romance and horror, which appeal to avid readers who don’t want to clutter their shelves with more books. Although the AAP predicts that e-book sales will continue to increase this year, the group did not predict by how much.
Broadband ups home networking opportunities
The chances for home networking are expanding as more and more households sign up for broadband service and acquire more than one computer. New research from Yankee Group finds that 15 percent of homes had broadband access at the end of last year and 22 percent owned more than one PC. That combination resulted in the growth of home networks by 60 percent last year. Yankee predicts that by the end of 2007, 32.3 million U.S. homes will be networked. The biggest market for the technology will be secondary adopters, the group of people who came onto the net a bit later than early adopters but have nonetheless become huge surfers since then.
April 22, 2003© 2003 Media Life
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