The Sydney Morning Herald's Asher Moses says that Google VP Marissa Mayer tried to tiptoe away from the company's much-maligned "Don't be Evil" motto in an interview last week. "It really wasn't like an elected, ordained motto," said Mayer, who was Google's 20th employee. "I think that 'Don't Be Evil' is a very easy thing to point at when you see Google doing something that you personally don't like. It (the motto) is good PR but really it's empty because it's questionable whether shareholders will care (whether Google is evil or not)," she said. Indeed, the quest to provide an …

Fortune's Jessi Hempel underlines the main problem facing former Google exec Sheryl Sandberg as she assumes the role of Facebook COO: "Even though Facebook is seen as the embodiment of Web 2.0, it has the quintessential Web 1.0 problem: No one has figured out how to make real money off it." That's a big, big problem for a company with a $15 billion valuation, and one heck of a task to be charged with, but if there's one thing that's Sandberg specialty, it's scaling a business. As vice president of global online sales and operations at Google, she managed the …

Broadcasters are still playing the waiting game with online video. The major networks--NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox--have extended their professionally produced shows to the Web, but audiences are still small. According to comScore Media Metrix, ABC.com led the pack in February with 8.5 million unique views of its online video lineup, followed by NBC.com with 7.9 million. By comparison, a popular TV show like CBS's "CSI" regularly reaches twice as many people in a single episode. In the meantime, the challenge for broadcasters is to make online video advertising as effective as it can be without cannibalizing on the real …

Legal experts say that a Yahoo-Google search alliance would probably run into more trouble with regulators in the U.S. and European Union than Microsoft buying the Web giant outright. Aaron Edlin, a University of California at Berkeley economics and law professor warns that you could make a greater case for a Google search monopoly if Yahoo decided to ditch its search business than you could if Microsoft were to combine the Sunnyvale, Calif. Web giant with its MSN properties. "The Justice Department would certainly want to take a serious look at that because (a Google-Yahoo alliance) would mean that …

Time Warner's AOL today landed a massive advertising deal, becoming the sole representative of Verizon Communications' online advertising inventory. The deal is a big one for AOL's fledgling advertising unit, Platform A, which combines the advertising technology and resources of Tacoda, Quigo, and other AOL ad network acquisitions with that of Advertising.com, AOL's largest third-party ad network property. According to Reuters, the Verizon deal gives Platform A the right to represent all of Verizon's advertising space on the Internet, including premium space, the companies said. Platform A will also handle the majority of Verizon's Wireless Web inventory. "We're all …

Microsoft on Friday responded to the Federal Trade Commission's request for comments about Internet privacy and self-regulation among advertising companies, saying that Web firms should adopt a five-tiered system of standards for protecting consumer privacy. The software giant said that companies that serve targeted ads based on consumers' page view history should inform users and then retain that data only for as long as it's needed to fill a legitimate business need; they should also let consumers opt out of having their information collected and compiled into a user profile; those advertisers wishing to use personally identifiable information should …