The international human-rights group Amnesty International has issued a critical report against Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, reports The San Francisco Chronicle, in which it accuses the Web companies of colluding with China against the rights of its citizens. By filtering information and cooperating with the Chinese government, the group says the businesses are failing to uphold their corporate principles and failing to follow international human-rights guidelines. How? Since Chinese citizens cannot express themselves freely or access free information in China, the three companies willfully abet the problem. Amnesty International has been working on this issue for some time with Google …

Yahoo has taken its first big step in trying to change the online music industry. The Web giant will sell Jessica Simpson's new single "A Public Affair" as an MP3 without piracy-protection software, reports Variety. Users will be able to share the new single as they please. They can upload it to peer-to-peer networks or burn countless CDs. Why would Yahoo do this? iPod compatibility. Apple's iPod plays MP3 files. It is perhaps ironic that illegally downloaded music is playable on an iPod, whereas users of Napster, RealNetworks' Rhapsody, and Yahoo Music are out of luck. It's no surprise that …

Kids find online games like Pop-Tart Slalom and Chips Ahoy Soccer Shootout fun. The proof is in the pudding: The traffic to game sites is huge. The Kaiser Family Foundation, a food-industry watchdog, singles out such games that make kids the subject of marketing efforts to sell food, reports the Associated Press. Marketers hope that by playing their so-called "advergames," kids will remember their brands the next time they feel like having a snack. The Kaiser Family's report didn't pass judgment on advergames, but it did raise a debate over the food industry's role in childhood obesity. "Overwhelmingly, almost exclusively, …

Straight from the horse's mouth: Eric Schmidt, king of Google castle, the capitol of the kingdom of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, told reporters yesterday that the secret to Google's success is its stupidity. "We are idiots," Schmidt said with the slightest hint of condescension in his voice. "And please write that down." Schmidt was talking about the rocky road the company suffered in silence during and immediately after its initial public offering two years ago. "Between the time we filed to go public and the time we went public," he recalls, "the press was among the most unpleasant I …

Online Auctioneer eBay "provided a modest boost to depressed shares," the San Francisco Chronicle says, when it announced earnings in line with analysts' expectations. The company grew its second-quarter revenue 30 percent to $1.41 billion and added 10 million new users to its sites, bringing its global total to 203 million. In an attempt to boost its share price--down 40 percent for the year--eBay announced it would repurchase $2 billion in stock, marking the first buy-back in the company's 11-year history. The announcement had the intended effect of boosting demand for its stock 5.6 percent in after-hours trading. CEO Meg …

Is the next level of employment services connecting job seekers and employers through a social network? Jobster, an employment startup, just added a host of new social elements last week. TechCrunch says Jobster CEO Jason Goldberg "is explicitly positioning his company as MySpace in the workplace." Job seekers can create profiles with their credentials, leave comments about their current jobs, and subscribe to RSS feeds. The company recently received $18 million in private-equity funding to add to the $32 million it raised previously. With the new cash, Jobster acquired another service called GoJobby and forged new partnerships with SixApart, Job …

A bad year for Vonage just got worse. Spyware watchdog Ben Edelman has singled out the VoIP company for serving ads through alleged spyware companies. Vonage is the Web's biggest spender, having held that position since the beginning of the year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Edelman's report, "How Vonage Funds Spyware," lists 12 examples in which the company's ads appeared in known spyware applications, in adware-served banners, and in one instance, in a banner ad that blocked another ad. Edelman made these observations during March, June, and July. Since Vonage spends so much on the Web (some $31 million …

Online advertising continues to grow at a striking pace, lifting a tepid overall ad climate, says a TNS Media Intelligence report. The research firm recently lowered its national ad spending forecast for 2006 from 5.4 percent to 4.9 percent, due to lower-than-expected spending on newspapers, magazines, and radio. Industry growth will be carried by online media and TV, which it upped from 7 percent to 8.9 percent. Media Life spoke with Jon Swallen, TNS' senior vice president of research, who points out that 5 percent industry growth isn't bad--especially when taken in the context of a weakening economy.

Robert Tur--an independent news reporter who captured key images associated with the L.A. race riots in 1992 and the O.J. Simpson freeway chase in 1994--is suing YouTube, the viral video Web site, for encouraging users to illegally distribute his copyrighted materials, reports AP. YouTube lets anyone upload and download video footage. The company's policy is not to allow users to distribute copyrighted materials, but it's nearly impossible to screen an estimated 60 million videos uploaded each day. YouTube deploys a self-policing system, encouraging users to report copyrighted postings. Tur cites the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2005 that file-sharing sites …

MTV President Judy McGrath said the company is going after YouTube, looking to either build or acquire a global service that would bring Viacom to the forefront of online video, says Ad Age. "Video is our expertise," McGrath says, alluding to the days when MTV programming was mostly a collection of music videos. YouTube is the undisputed leader in online video, which she says has marked the single biggest shift in the media landscape in the last six months. In the next few weeks, VH1, another MTV property, is set to launch a collection of broadband channels; other multi-platform deals …