PayPal
a bit too zealous in fighting fraud?
Federal and state investigators are examining whether
online payment service PayPal violated consumer-protection laws in its
fight against online fraud. PayPal sometimes freezes customer accounts
while it investigates suspicious transactions. This practice by parent
company eBay has caused some user complaints. The company’s annual
report said, "If PayPal's processes are found to violate federal or
state law on consumer protection and unfair business practices, it could
be subject to an enforcement action or fines." PayPal handled more
than $12.2 billion in transactions in 2003 and has 40 million customer
accounts, according to the annual report. eBay said the rate of fraudulent
PayPal transactions is less than one-half of one percent.
Yahoo:
Online ads boost offline branding
No big shocker here: Getting your brand name online is a
good way of amping up public awareness. A new study from Yahoo and Dynamic
Logic found that online advertising improved brand strength 6 to 42
percent among five metrics: brand awareness, ad awareness, message
association, brand favorability and purchase intent. A campaign with the
Treasury Department publicizing the new $20 bill, for example, showed big
gains in recognition. Not surprisingly, the Yahoo study also found that
Yahoo advertising scored 30 to 37 percent better than campaigns on the
internet as a whole. The study used third quarter 2003 data.
EU
crackdown on web copyright infringement
Music fans and fake Dolce dealers may have to think twice
about trading music over the net and selling knock-offs. If a proposed EU
law passes before the European Parliament today, violators could have
their property seized and bank accounts frozen. It would be one of the
toughest measures yet to protect companies' intellectual property rights
in Europe. The EU hopes it will minimize the growing unauthorized trade of
counterfeit products. EDRi and various civil liberties groups organized
protests against the directive. If approved, the law would go before the
European Council of Ministers for a potential ratifying vote later this
week. Critics compare the directive to the controversial the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the United States. With this law, music
companies have sued individual song-swappers.
Quarter
of surfers log on outside home or work
People are surfing more frequently away from the home
or office. A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project
finds that 25 percent of internet users have logged on away from those
traditional places, with most citing a friend’s home, school or library.
Internet cafes, relatives’ homes and churches were also cited, though
not as frequently. The biggest discrepancy in where users log on was
financial. Just 3 percent overall said they log on from a location other
than work or home, but among those who earn $30,000 or less, that number
jumped to 28 percent. Age is also a factor; half of 18-24s log on from
outside home or school.
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