Tuesday, September 18, 2007

ThemBid.com » Blog Archive » Facebook Founder Announces 10 Million Dollar Grant Fund

ThemBid.com » Blog Archive » Facebook Founder Announces 10 Million Dollar Grant Fund

Mark Zuckerberg has announced today, at the Tech Crunch 40, that the investors at Facebook have created a 10 million dollar fund to support companies that develop on the FaceBook platform. The fund is open for application to existing developers as well as start ups. They are looking for ideas that are innovative and disruptive. No formal web site exists; however, you can pitch your idea directly at platform@facebook.com. They do not require re-payment; however, they want first right of refusal upon obtainment of VC capital. The will fund between 25K and 250K.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Volkswagen 'Nazi' Subpoena Points Up Social-Networking Privacy Policies

Volkswagen 'Nazi' Subpoena Points Up Social-Networking Privacy Policies

A legal spat between YouTube and Volkswagen is throwing light on the increasing copyright surveillance of social networking sites. Volkswagen has filed a subpoena seeking the identity of a YouTube user who posted a Nazi-themed parody of a recent VW Golf commercial.

Volkswagen's move underscores the privacy risks to a blossoming community of users on sites like YouTube and Yahoo Video, and social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Copyright holders and their agents have long been monitoring activity on file-sharing networks such as BitTorrent and Gnutella. Now they're turning their attention to the social networks.

'The social networking sites have definitely become a new focal point,' said Evan Cox, a San Francisco copyright attorney who, with his colleagues, issue thousands of takedown notices a year. 'As a consequence, they've gotten more focus from copyright owners.'

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