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Yahoo to implement ad-tracker opt out

Facing privacy pressure from Congress, Yahoo Inc. said Friday that it will institute a system to let consumers opt out of ads on its site that target their Web browsing behavior. Behavioral targeting is a technology that seeks to deduce consumers’ interests by tracking what sorts of Web sites they visit.

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The Justice Department’s antitrust division has begun issuing civil subpoenas as it probes further into whether a planned Google-Yahoo partnership in search advertising is anticompetitive, a person close to a company that received a subpoena confirmed on Wednesday.The subpoenas are being issued not only to Google and Yahoo, but also to Microsoft, an Internet search rival, and other companies including advertisers and media companies, said the person, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak.

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The Justice Department has opened a formal antitrust investigation into a deal struck last month that would allow the Internet titan Google to provide some search advertising for Yahoo, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

Investigators are planning to demand documents not only from Google and Yahoo, but also from other large companies in the Internet and media industries, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

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Google wants to make it easier for marketers to pick appropriate Web sites for their online ads with a new tool it announced Tuesday called Ad Planner.

The tool, first reported about by The New York Times on Monday, is aimed at advertising agencies’ media planners, whose job is to decide where to place their clients’ ads.

By feeding Ad Planner with their target audience’s demographic information, media planners will get a list of sites that should prove effective marketing vehicles.

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CANNES, France (Reuters) - The Chief Executive of Digitas, the online advertising arm of France’s Publicis, welcomed a new advertising deal between web search giants Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., saying he hoped it could be extended to areas beyond search ads. David Kenny told Reuters in an interview on Friday, on the sidelines of the Cannes Lions 2008 advertising festival, that he did not think the deal would reduce competition.

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With thousands of eBay’s most active sellers converging on its eBay Live convention in Chicago, the embattled online flea market is trying to give both sellers and buyers a little more to win back their loyalty. The key problem with eBay is that the value of what it offers has not kept up with the price it charges sellers. Between the fees to list items on eBay — essentially advertising — and the PayPal transaction fees, eBay often charges about 13 percent of each transaction.

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As Yahoo Inc. attempts to move beyond its takeover battle with Microsoft Corp., the company is planning a reorganization that is sending ripples through its executive ranks.

Yahoo executives are discussing a plan to centralize numerous product groups, such as its mail, search and homepage divisions, into a global product organization, according to people familiar with the matter. The plan is being pushed by Yahoo President Susan Decker, who has been looking to improve communication between Yahoo’s product teams and overseas sales groups, according to these people.

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In the latest in a string of acquisitions aimed at expanding its digital advertising services, Microsoft said that it was buying Navic Networks, a maker of television advertising technology. It comes as other major online advertising companies like Google, Yahoo and AOL, and start-ups like Spot Runner, are attempting to bring to television many of the qualities of online advertising: lower cost of production, better targeting and better ways to measure results.

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Yahoo announced a nonexclusive partnership Thursday under which rival Google will supply it with some search ads, a move that could increase Yahoo search revenue but that also gives Google even more power in the market.Yahoo expects the deal, which was expected, to raise revenue by $800 million in its first year and to provide an extra $250 million to $450 million in incremental operating cash flow. That’s a major potential boost, given that Yahoo reported revenue of $1.53 billion in its most recent quarter, after ad commissions are subtracted. “We see this as a good, open, flexible deal and (one that) helps Yahoo be strengthened as a good longer-term competitor,” Chief Executive Jerry Yang said in a conference call Thursday.

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Johnny Lee demos his amazing Wii Remote hacks, which transform the $40 game piece into a digital whiteboard, a touchscreen and a head-mounted 3-D viewer. A multi-ovation demo from TED2008.