By: Chonticha Marijne

Are you going global in your home based business? Opportunity knocked and you responded, but now you’re wondering about some new problems rearing their potentially ugly heads. Take spam laws, for instance. You have legitimate intentions, but how do you remain legal and legit?

Everybody hates spam. You really don’t want your hosting service provider to discontinue your website because they received spamming complaints, much less get into trouble with the trade commissions. But the structure of your business requires you to rely on a certain percentage of "hits" in response to your emails. What to do to stay in touch… all over the world?

In Europe and the UK, an EU "opt-in" directive is now in place and being upheld for international Internet marketers. Those who send commercial emails and mobile SMS messages without permission can now be fined thousands of dollars.

Countering the EU antispam legislation is the "CAN-SPAM Act," passed in the United States in 2003. In case you’re wondering, the anagram stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003. Known as the "opt-out" directive, this little number allows virtual spamming by placing the responsibility on the recipient to opt-out by replying to unsolicited commercial emails with a message to unsubscribe.

Yes, you read that right. Spamming is by no means illegal, provided you play by the rules. But the advice is to watch it, especially if you are in the business of global marketing via the Internet. Theoretically, U.S. citizens who break EU and UK antispam laws may be extradited, heavily fined and tried. And the possible prison penalties that came in the wake of the new Act in the U.S. aren’t anything to thumb your nose at either.

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Source: ysearchblog.com

Yahoo has introduced the new beta versions of the Yahoo! Toolbar (for IE) and Yahoo! Bookmarks.

Bookmarks first appeared on the Yahoo! Toolbar in 1999. Back then, the big virtues of online bookmarks were backup and portability - Yahoo! Bookmarks allowed people to store their favorites from across the web and get to them from any computer connected to the Internet. Fast forward to 2006, and our experiences with next-generation bookmarking have convinced us that it was time to bring Yahoo! Bookmarks users onto a new and better product.

Here’s a quick rundown of the new features on both products. Long-time users of Yahoo! Toolbar and Yahoo! Bookmarks should find that this combined release delivers a lot of what they’ve been waiting for (and we’ll be the first to admit, its about #@*! time)

New Yahoo! Toolbar Features:

• Toolbar integration with the new Yahoo! Bookmarks
• Type-ahead bookmark suggestions from the toolbar search box
• The ability to create and use new buttons, even when you aren’t signed in.

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Source: washingtonpost.com

Amazon.com rejected a request by Google Inc to provide details about its book search feature to help fight copyright infringement allegations from a group of authors and book publishers.

Amazon.com described Google’s request, which was made via a subpoena served on Oct. 6, as "overly broad and unduly burdensome" and said it would expose Amazon’s trade secrets.

Google says it needs the details to fight recently consolidated class action lawsuits filed against it by several major book publishers and The Authors Guild, which collectively allege Google didn’t get the proper approvals before making their work available to anyone with an Internet connection.

Amazon lawyers also note how Google wants "essentially all documents concerning Amazon’s sale of books on its Web sites, and all searching and indexing functions."

"Google can not show any substantial need to obtain Amazon’s proprietary information," despite Google’s promises to only use the information to defend itself against the lawsuits, Amazon’s lawyers wrote.

Google says it needs the details to battle recently consolidated class action lawsuits filed against it by several major book publishers and The Authors Guild, which collectively allege Google didn’t get the proper approvals before making their work available to anyone with an Internet connection.

Amazon’s objections were apparently the first from the group of companies Google formally asked for book searching details in early October.

It’s expected that Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and major book publishers Random House, Holtzbrinck Publishers and HarperCollins will also object.

Spread the word: bookmark it/ readit