mytrip brings us a story from news.com about an FBI operation in which agents posted hyperlinks which advertised child pornography, recorded the IP addresses of people who clicked the links, and then tracked them down and raided their homes. The article contains a fairly detailed description of how the operation progressed, and it raises questions about the legality and reliability of getting people to click “unlawful” hyperlinks. Quoting: “With the logs revealing those allegedly incriminating IP addresses in hand, the FBI sent administrative subpoenas to the relevant World wide web service provider to learn the identity of the person whose name was on the account–and then obtained search warrants for dawn raids. The search warrants authorized FBI agents to seize and remove any “computer-related” equipment, utility bills, telephone bills, any “addressed correspondence” sent through the U.S. mail, video gear, camera equipment, checkbooks, bank statements, and credit card statements. While it might seem that merely clicking on a link wouldn’t be enough to justify a search warrant, courts have ruled otherwise. On March 6, U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt in Nevada agreed with a magistrate judge that the hyperlink-sting operation constituted adequate probable cause to justify giving the FBI its search warrant.”

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Ian Lamont writes “The chair of Yale’s CS department and Connecticut’s former consumer protection commissioner are calling for the creation of a robust biometric authentication system on a national scale. They state the system would safeguard privacy and people’s personal data far more effectively than paper-based IDs. They also reference the troubled Real ID program, saying that the debate has centered around forms of ID rather than the central issue of authentication. The authors further suggest that the debate has led to confusion between anonymity and privacy: ‘Outside our homes, we have always lived in a public space where our open acts are no longer private. Anonymity has not changed that, but has provided an illusion of privacy and security. … In public space, we engage in open acts where we have no expectation of privacy, as well as private acts that can’t take place within our homes and therefore require authenticating identity to carve a sphere of privacy.’ The authors do not provide any recommendations for specific biometric technologies, nor do they discuss the role of the government in such a system. What do you think of a national or international biometrics-based authentication scheme? Is it feasible? How would it work? What safeguards need to be put in place?”

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Filed under: World wide web, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Diigo is a social bookmarking service which we covered briefly while it was in private beta. But the service is out of beta, and has launched a new set of tools that make it easy to mark up web pages, save pages to your account, and search through your bookmarks and those of other users.

The service has also added a recommendation engine. Since users are constantly saving and tagging web content, Diigo has a big database of web pages that might feature similar content. So if you like pages about Windows freeware, Diigo probably knows that and when you click on the recommendations feed you should be able to find pages that you’ll like.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

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Filed under: Deals, Competitive strategy, Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP)

PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) did a tiny buying in the marketplace this day. No, I’m not talking about share buybacks — I’m speaking about an acquisition in Russia.

PepsiCo teamed up with Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG) to take on a majority position in Russia’s largest juice business, JSC Lebedyansky. The price tag was significant — $1.4 billion (890 million euro). This AP news item indicates that it is the largest transaction for the beverage maker since its buy of Quaker Oats.

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), watch out, because this is all about being competitive in the world marketplace, which means it’s all about being competitive against you! It’s also about hedging against the challenging growth rates in case volumes seen in the domestic marketplace, as well as taking on international exposure to gain the benefit of a weaker dollar. Consumer companies know that it’s smart to think globally these days, so acquisitions like these take on major importance. Plus, PepsiCo cannot live on carbonated sodas alone, so any chance to broaden its portfolio base beyond its flagship brand is a welcome strategy (Coke knows this to be true, too).

It’s difficult to argue that this is anything but a cool move — I’d like to argue, since I own shares of Coca-Cola, but alas, I can’t find a proper contrarian angle. So, nice move, Pepsi, you did good today, you got a decent asset in a growing international territory, and the price tag won’t break the bank. But don’t worry, my bubbly friend — I’m sure Coke is taking note of this, seeing what it needs to do to remain competitive against you (at least, I hope that’s what the brains in Atlanta are doing).

Disclosure: I own shares of Coca-Cola; positions can change at any time.

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Filed under: Management, Competitive strategy

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Roger Penske, Jr., should take up the reigns of Penske, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

Roger Penske is as much a fixture of the auto racing world as any person could claim to be. At 70 years old, he’s still an effective if not brilliant leader, with his hands on the wheel of a carefully built, racing world success. You’ve to wonder though, if Roger Penske is getting ready to step aside and let some new talent slip into the driver’s seat. If a change in leadership fits into his immediate or mid-range plans, who might his replacement be?

With four sons and one daughter, Roger has no shortage of Penske offspring who might be considered for stepping into the racing patriarch’s formidable shoes. The question is, are any of them fit for the job? We might have gotten just a glimmer of what’s to be expected by the recent stepping down of Roger Penske, Jr., from his position as president of Penske Automotive Group Inc. (NYSE: PAG). Roger, Jr., is reported by Crain’s Detroit Business to be retiring from Penske Automotive and purchasing four California auto dealerships from Penske Corp. Is this change to facilitate his being groomed to step into his dad’s position? No source I’ve seen appears to be sure if that is the case.

Roger, Jr.’s buy of Penske dealerships may lighten the workload for his brother Greg. As president of Penske Motor Group, Greg W. Penske might also be a natural choice to be his dad’s replacement. However, when given the Penske Racing tradition of promoting from within, would putting one of the sons at the helm of Penske Racing be too huge a departure from the norm? Central to the matter are two significant dynamics. First, we can believe that Roger Penske shall conduct personnel adjustments in the best long-term interests of Penske Racing. Second, we have the ability to be certain that Mr. Penske considers taking care of business as an essential precursor to taking care of family.

Roger Penske doesn’t toss around idle speculation. He also doesn’t disclose details before their time. If there is a plan to hand the Penske Racing baton to his offspring, with the exception of Roger, Jr.’s current career adjustments, the tale is being kept well concealed. For now, it’s my best bet that Roger, Jr., will be taking over his father’s responsibilities at Penske Racing some time down the road. As always in the world of auto racing, we won’t know the final standings until the finish line is crossed.

Also be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

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Filed under: Bad news, Competitive strategy

Toshiba Corp. (OTC: TOSBF) will take a beating after admitting defeat in the recent next-generation DVD wars and pulling out of HD DVD. Japan’s largest chipmaker, as a result, sliced its full-year profit forecast by a staggering 31% this week to account for the HD DVD defeat as well as falling flash memory costs. It has its hands in both pots and both are going to kill a good chunk of profits this year.

In addition to writing down its HD DVD assets, the market for flash memory has already become brutal this year for Toshiba as well as for the competition like Samsung Electronics and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC). It’s facing its first annual profit drop in over six years based on these two factors, as the company anticipates its flash memory prices to decline by 50% in its current fiscal year alone. Combine that will the wind-down of HD DVD (yes, there’s still hardware inventory in stores), and Toshiba’s in for a ride this year.

Let this be a lesson to the Japanese electronics giant: don’t participate in risky format wars and minimize your exposure to a volatile market like flash memory (well, if you can). The ridiculous Blu-ray vs. HD DVD wars that existed for years finally came to an end this year, but now one of the celebrations will lose its shirt — Toshiba. Sure, licensing revenue would have been great — just ask Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) about this — but you’ve to have a compelling reason to win. Toshiba apparently didn’t.

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Filed under: Competitive strategy, Dell (DELL), Wal-Mart (WMT), China

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) is going to spend a boat-load of money in China this year. According to Reuters, the massive Personal computer company will spend $23 billion on components from the large Asian country up 28% from last year.

The question is, does Dell have to buy every one of those parts in China, or would it like the government and consumers there to think the firm is “China friendly”?

A number of companies doing huge amounts of business in China, like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) also buy a significant amount of their products there.

What Dell does not talk about, at least when it is in China, is how much of its component budget goes to Taiwan, either directly or though the purchase of chips, which are wholesaled from there by firms that supply the Personal computer company with processors.

Why offend the Chinese? Taiwan isn’t a very massive Personal computer market.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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buzzardsbay writes “We all know the complaints about young employees. They depend too much on their parents’ money, they need constant hand-holding, they have no job loyalty, they demand more than they’re worth, they disrespect older employees, and they’re naive about corporate culture. But despite this conventional wisdom, there’s growing evidence that the different working styles of Gen Y workers might be causing fundamental — and beneficial — changes in the way enterprises run, especially when it comes to IT. For example, they may show superior judgment when making tech purchases and are often superior with green IT initiatives This is a nice counterpoint to a previous story (and resulting incendiary comments) that dubbed young tech workers a risk to corporate networks.”

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eweekhickins writes “A public interest group is saying that a consulting firm hired to help the government hand over the D-block spectrum might have acted improperly and discouraged potential bidders by suggesting that any winning bid would have to pay $50 million in annual fees, in addition to the auction price. Any wonder the D-block didn’t meet the reserve price?”

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