Web Shorts

Sweden overtakes U.S. as most connected
The United States is no longer the world's most connected nation. Sweden now has that distinction, according to a new survey by The Economist and International Business Machines. The U.S., the former No. 1, actually dropped to third, behind Sweden and Denmark. The gap between the top 14 countries was very small, with the Netherlands and Britain also placing in the top five. The countries were scored on internet connections, legal and government web frameworks, software and technical support, and citizen interest in the internet. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan finished last out of 60 countries. The study authors said that North America, Northwest Europe and Australia all led at similar levels. More southern European countries, such as Italy and France, lagged a bit behind. South Korea, which has the highest percentage of broadband households, went from 21 to 16.

Cost-cutting AOL slashes additional 420 jobs
America Online is making more staff cuts. The internet service provider slashed 420 jobs at customer call centers across the country, almost doubling the total number of layoffs under CEO Jon Miller, who’s been on the job less than a year. AOL is looking for any possible way to save money, with subscriber levels falling and parent company AOL Time Warner bleeding money, too. The layoffs occurred in Oklahoma City, Tucson, Columbus, Ohio, and Ogden, Utah. AOL also got some more bad news this week. An agreement through which AOL sold internet advertising on the eBay site has been nixed by the online auction site. It’s been rumored that eBay felt threatened by a new AOL advertising strategy, although eBay simply claimed that internet advertising had become less important.

PayPal accused of accepting criminal money
In more eBay news, the company’s PayPal unit, the online payment arm, has been accused of violating a 2001 anti-terror law. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri claims that by providing online gambling companies with payment services, PayPal violated a federal money laundering law enacted under the USA Patriot Act. According to the act, money known to have been made via criminal offenses cannot be transmitted. Though PayPal is not connected to the sites, it could be criminally liable under this law by accepting gambling money. EBay claims that PayPal has acted in good faith. When eBay bought PayPal last fall it stopped allowing gambling merchants, who had made up about 6 percent of last year’s revenues, to use the services.

Oslo's 'DVD Jon' being retried in copyright case
The Oslo teenager who became a cult hero for his DVD copying program will be retried after an earlier acquittal. Jon Johansen was acquitted in January of charges that his program enabled massive copying of DVDs. Hollywood studios were enraged by Johansen’s software and accused him of posting it on the internet, thereby allowing copyrighted material to be pirated. The industry claims that $3 billion in sales per year is lost because of piracy. The court ruled that Johansen did not violate any laws by copying legally purchased DVDs and said that prosecutors did not prove that Johansen allowed the program to be used illegally. Duplication of copyrighted material is not illegal in Norway, although it is in the U.S. The appeal trial will be held in early December.

Win pennies through Amazon trivia questions
Go to buy something on Amazon.com and you just might net a windfall. The e-commerce site has begun posting trivia questions at its online store and promises to pay virtual cash for correct answers. Winning totals reach only 25 cents per day, or 5 cents for each correct true-or-false or multiple-choice question. But the accumulated winnings can go to pay for up to 10 percent of an item bought at Amazon. The company says that the program was launched to encourage customers to explore other areas of the site with which they might not be familiar. Most of the questions, which pop up periodically throughout the day, focus on areas of the store not associated with its most popular products, books, music and video.

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