Who’s afraid of Google?

Microsoft buys Powerset (and is apparently still interested in buying Yahoo).

And now, in what appears to be another admission that it can’t beat Google on its own, Yahoo has decided to share its search technology and data centers with other companies. Known as “Boss” - or “build your own search service” - the strategy is aimed at letting other companies build on Yahoo’s technology in return for allowing Yahoo to sell advertising on those new search engines.

Yahoo has admitted that the new strategy could cannibalize its own search business, but believes that the initiative is more likely to erode Google’s much larger share of the search market. At least two start-up companies - Me.dium and Hakia - have already signed up to use Yahoo’s search technology.

Source: Miguel Helft, “Yahoo Is Inviting Partners to Build on Its Search Power”, The New York Times, July 10, 2008

If Carl C. Icahn seizes control of the board of Yahoo, Microsoft’s purchase of the No. 2 Internet search company could be back on the agenda.

In co-ordinated statements released to the media over the weekend and on Monday respectively, Mr Icahn and Microsoft signaled that the companies would renew acquisition talks if Icahn wins his proxy fight and takes control of the board.

So what’s standing in Icahn’s way? Yahoo’s largest investors need to vote on whom they think should remain on, or join, the board. Should the vote go Icahn’s way the current board will be replaced by Mr Icahn and his supporters, while Yahoo-founder and current CEO, Jerry Yang, will be out the door.

Microsoft’s interest in buying Yahoo - or simply its search technology - coupled with its plans to purchase semantic search engine Powerset, seem only to highlight the company’s frustration with being a distant third in both the search and search advertising markets.

Source: Miguel Helft, “Microsoft Is Icahn’s Ally in Pursuit of Yahoo”, The New York Times, July 8, 2008

A U.S. federal judge, Judge Louis L. Stanton of the Southern District of New York, has ordered Google to give Viacom its records of which users watched which videos on YouTube.

Judge Stanton made the order in the course of presiding over Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit of Google, in which Viacom is alleging that Google has violated Viacom’s copyright by allowing the unlawful posting of Viacom-owned video clips to YouTube.

According to Google senior litigation counsel Catherine Lacavera, the court has refused to allow Viacom access to YouTube’s search technology or to users’ private videos.

However, there are concerns that the privacy of tens of millions of people could be compromised, with the judge ordering Google to give Viacom the login name and Internet protocol (I.P) address of every YouTube user.

Yes, that includes you and me.

Michael D. Fricklas, Viacom’s general counsel, has indicated that the information will be protected, with the order restricting access to Viacom’s external lawyers, who will only use it for the purposes of Viacom’s case against Google. Viacom partly wants the information to help it estimate the extent to which YouTube’s success has resulted from the popularity of copyrighted clips that have been unlawfully posted to the site.

Sources: Miguel Helft, “Google Told to Turn Over User Data of YouTube”, The New York Times, July 4, 2008, Kenneth Li and Eric Auchard, “Court order on YouTube user data fans privacy fears”, July 4, 2008, Reuters