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Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom responds to backlash
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Legal, News, Social Networks,
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Instagram wants you to know that it hears your concerns and its doing its best to alleviate the symptoms of change. Accordingly, the photo-sharing service has altered the parts of its new Terms of Service.
Earlier, we reported that many people were leaving the service for Flickr and the like, because people took the new ToS to mean the community's photos would be unfairly monetized for Instagram's gain. Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, has since made it clear that is not the case. Systrom states that Instagram wants "to experiment with innovative advertising." Which according to Systrom means allowing Instagram access to people you follow, and who they follow, for businesses to use in order to better promote its business.
Systrom also claimed that users still own their content and that his company won't sell user photos to advertisers.
Read More 
| Instagram Blog
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Instagram sees massive backlash for new terms of service
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Corporate News, Legal, Social Networks,
Instagram users are flocking to greener pastures after the photo-sharing service posted new Terms of Service this week. With the new TOS, users are required to consent to allowing the Facebook-owned service license their public photos to companies, organizations and advertisers. As CNET puts it, this could make Instagram a stock photo service in itself, without paying out to photographers.
More than likely, however, the new TOS are for Instagram users would be used in promotional images, rather than as stock photos that cheat the photographers out of money. It's the fact that the latter is a possibility that is causing some users to embark on an exodus to Flickr, Hipstamatic or Twitter.
The Verge reports that searching for Instagram on Twitter brings up several instructions for how to export your Instagram pics and cancel your account. There are also several tweets spreading about which photo-sharing services make a good Instagram replacement, such as the article Fast Company posted.
The change in its Terms of Services coincides not only with the unwelcome change in photo-cropping functionality, but also as Twitter adds its own photo filters, and Flickr releases version 2.0 of its iOS client. It may be a temporary setback for Instagram, or it could spell the beginning of the end if the service doesn't do something fast to appease its users.
Read More | CNET via The Verge
WikiLeaks supporter ‘Operation Payback’ targets PayPal, Amazon
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Legal, News,
PayPal is the latest WikiLeaks opponent to be hit with a denial of service attack by anti-piracy group Operation Payback, joining the growing ranks of WikiLeaks opponents that have been targeted.
Operation Payback has also indicated that Amazon is its next target.
"The attacks slowed the Web site itself down for a short while, but did not significantly impact payments," said a PayPal spokesperson.
Last week, PayPal permanently restricted the account used by WikiLeaks "due to a violation of the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy." In a blog post on Wednesday, PayPal general counsel John Muller said that the company's "difficult decision was based on a belief that the WikiLeaks Web site was encouraging sources to release classified material, which is likely a violation of the law by the source."
Muller said PayPal will release the remaining funds to the foundation that was raising money for WikiLeaks, though the organization's account will remain restricted.
Click to continue reading WikiLeaks supporter ‘Operation Payback’ targets PayPal, Amazon
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Gnomedex 8.0: Search Life Meets Real Life with Danny Sullivan
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Business Tools, Features, Legal,
Danny Sullivan is the Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Land, here to talk about search. He talks about how we used to get info. That would be the library, friends, family, and encyclopedia (which weren’t written by everyone.) The search revolution started the information retrieval revolution, and the change from that is still underestimated. In 2000, a “Consumer Daily Question Study” was conducted, 74 people recorded all questions they sought answers to, and the majority of respondents used search engines to find the answer to their questions. Search engines were at 32%, while libraries were just 3%.
Today, 58% of people use the internet if they need an answer, while 53% turn to a professional.
Danny brought up a question - if you need the phone number of the Edgewater hotel next door, how would you find it? Most in audience would search Google, one or two would call 411, and less would use the Yellow Pages. 49% of internet users search every day. That is up 30% from 2006. Jumping off the web, location apps on the iPhone is also search, GPS is search, TV is search. These are all different ways that we are able to use search.
As more becomes searchable, and as serch becomes more used, we get collisions between real life and online life.
US Navy building in San Diego that no one really saw from the air until now, thanks to Google Maps. $600,000 will be spent to reshape the building due to concerns.
Google StreetView has some conflicts as well. There are positives and negatives, and Danny gives examples of both.
So what is the balance? Do we let anyone remove anything from Google and other search engines?
Danny is now calling people in the audience, whose phone numbers he pulled off of search. He then asked them about different things in their life that he was able to find using the Internet. Things like Amazon, Flickr, Google, microblogs, etc. It’s a valid point to show that you can get a lot of information about someone by just using Google. Aside from “personal” info on web, searches we make are personal. What about the issue where Viacom demanded all the searches done on YouTube in history from Google? Location apps are cool, though now more people know your location. Does Apple know all the places you go by way of your iPhone? Is there even a way to “clear” this data?
The conundrum now is that more is being made searchable, more people are searching and we’ve hardly figured out the issues.
Incorporation: Right For Your Business?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Legal, Planning,
For anyone starting up his or her own business, an understanding of business incorporation is must. While there are both pros and cons in taking this step for your business, you want to be sure that whichever side you fall down on, you are making an informed decision that will ultimately result in the flourishing of your endeavors.
The first stage in establishing any business entity is to decide the legal structure this will take. These structures range from sole proprietorship to several types of corporation, and the form you select will depend largely on your business intentions. A small business, owned by a single person, is generally run as a sole proprietorship, and though there are few tax benefits to operating in this way, there is also far less paperwork involved in establishing operations. Incorporation is most suited to larger operation, owned by two people or more, who wish to protect their personal assets, enjoy a multitude of tax benefits and find new ways to raise capital in the future.
Click to continue reading Incorporation: Right For Your Business?
If you are a blogger, or plan on getting into blogging, check out this guide recently put out by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It details all of the legal aspects of blogging, and gives you an idea of how to go about posting certain information or stories.
The difference between you and the reporter at your local newspaper is that in many cases, you may not have the benefit of training or resources to help you determine whether what you’re doing is legal. And on top of that, sometimes knowing the law doesn’t help - in many cases it was written for traditional journalists, and the courts haven’t yet decided how it applies to bloggers.
They have information on all sorts of different aspects of blogging as journalism - from securing press passes, to printing information deemed as confidential. It is definitely worth a look.
Read More 
| EFF Legal Guide for Bloggers
A partnership is ideal when two or more parties want to go into business together. Using the online business model as an example, you may have the knowledge about running a business and managing its finances, but not a clue about web design, marketing, or advertising. If you happened to know someone with strong design and marketing skills, you may choose to start a company together. It is great to enter into this kind of relationship with someone you trust and can bounce ideas off of. There are a few things to look out for when forming a partnership. Each member pays taxes based on the percentage of the company that they own. This should be clearly explained and identified before starting up. A Partnership Agreement should be drawn up and signed by all parties. This should lay the foundation for the dividing of all assets and liabilities. If no agreement is in place, then all members will be considered equally liable and/or entitled to all assets and liabilities regardless of how much more or less one person works than another.
The simplest and easiest legal formation of a company would be the Sole Proprietorship. Usually an accountant is not required, and all that one needs to do is file a simple form. The sole proprietor is the boss, the owner, and the company all in one. While this is a simple and straightforward way of doing things, you will not have the benefit of having your personal assets protected separately from those of the business. For example, if someone were to sue the business, for all intents and purposes they would be suing you.
Why would you want to go through the hassle of incorporation when a sole proprietorship is so much simpler to form and manage? It is certainly a loftier task to incorporate, and there are plenty of additional laws and regulations set by the government that you would have to adhere to. Then there is the issue of having to pay both personal and corporate taxes. At first glance, it may not sound like the preferred method of doing things – until you consider some of the advantages:
Health insurance premiums can be considered a business expense, and thusly are a deduction.
The assets of the company are owned by the company rather than an individual. This provides substantial personal protection, as the business should only lose its assets in the event of bankruptcy. Your personal assets remain intact. This is especially relevant if you plan to offer services which may be susceptible to lawsuits.
Capital can be raised by selling shares of the company.
If you believe that incorporation is the way to go for your business then you have two options. You can form a C corporation, or a subchapter S corporation. Most small businesses which choose to incorporate will go with subchapter S route.
When deciding to start a business of any type, it is key to determine how you plan on legally choosing the type of infrastructure you plan to go with. A business needs to be legally forms in one of a few ways in order to be recognized by local, state, and federal entities. Today we are going to take a closer look at the options that are available to you, and what they all mean. From becoming a sole proprietor, a limited liability company, or a full on corporation, each one has its own benefits and drawbacks.
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