Anyhow, here is what Skyword CEO Tom Gerace tells us about Skyword. He says it is not a platform for content farming, but…

It is quite the opposite – we allow high quality content producers to compete with content farms by efficiently producing quality content that is optimized for search and the social web.

I guess in this case, quality is the differentiator. He continued:

Skyword operates a content production platform that is used by some of the best recognized media companies and brands to produce their digital content. In most cases, Skyword clients (which include The Wall Street Journal Digital, education.com, ImpreMedia) use Skyword to manage their own editors and writers. In other cases, Skyword assists with writer recruitment and management as well as editorial services.

Skyword’s platform integrates with client CMS systems, allowing Skyword clients to manage their content production, optimize their content for search and the social web and track the performance of their content in reaching and engaging audiences. Skyword analytics then allow their clients to better understand what content their customers are consuming to improve the performance of their content over time.

Original Article: Skyword announced that it has raised $6 million through an investment from Cox Media, indicating that companies still see value in the content farm model.

Skyword has been labeled a content farm, but it is a bit different than a lot of the other sites commonly referred to as such. It doesn’t flood the search engines with pages from Skyword.com or its own properties.

Skyword labels itself “The Leader in Search-driven media”. It’s actually more a platform for “content farming” than a content farm itself. Rather, it pairs its writers with brands who need content. Here’s what it tells writers:

Writers, use your talent and creativity as a Skywriter to create content for the websites of leading consumer brands and media companies. Learn the latest digital media skills, including cutting edge methods to drive traffic to their content from search and the social web. Expand your resume and build your online writing portfolio by contributing to some of the top brands and media sites on the web. Apply to become a Skywriter where you can share your perspective on popular topics or current news events across a variety of writing programs.

Here’s what it tells brands:

Brands and media companies spend $18B annually on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to reach consumers when they search. By creating quality content that matches consumer search queries precisely, we help enable brands to reach the same searchers on the exact same searches through natural search—at half the price.

“Brands are becoming publishers at an increasing rate, with many making moves into the digital publishing space for the first time. The investment from Cox Media Group positions Skyword to capitalize on the continued growth of the $41B content marketing space, while further enhancing our ability to deliver strong results to our customers while they create exceptional content for theirs,” said Skyword CEO Tom Gerace.

“Cox is very excited to be investing in Skyword. Our hope is that our long history and their entrepreneurial spirit will make for a great combination and we will both learn more about this rapidly evolving market,” said Cox EVP Alex Taylor. “Skyword’s unique digital content platform allows brands and media companies to not only reach their customers directly with quality content, but to also interact with them like never before. Most importantly, their leadership team is passionate and impressive, and I know they will make a big impact on their customers.”

In addition to the Cox investment, an undisclosed representative from Cox will join the Skyword Board of Directors, which is currently made up of Jim Manzi, former CEO of Lotus Development Corporation and current chairman of Thermo Fisher, Former Senator Bill Bradley, currently of Allen & Company, Bill Kling, founder and President Emeritus of American Public Media Group, and Gerace.

NCC is jointly owned by three of the largest cable companies – Comcast Cable, Cox Communications, and Time Warner Cable. This makes up a good-sized chunk of television advertising in the US.

"Through Mixpo, national and regional TV advertisers can now run their existing TV ads in quality display inventory on cable operator ISP Web sites, and make them highly interactive on the Web," says Joe Grisafi, NCC’s vice president of digital media and advanced advertising strategies.

"Local advertising isn’t only about small and medium sized businesses.  It’s also about national and regional brands driving local response," says Anupam Gupta, president and CEO of Mixpo. "NCC has the largest Spot Cable advertising sales force in the U.S. and now also represents one of the largest locally targeted online ad networks. It just makes perfect sense to bring together this cross-platform advertising solution to their national and regional clients."    

The news of major cable providers taking their advertisers’ ads to the web shows that display ads are still a significant element in not just online advertising, but the big picture. AdWeek, citing data from Adify, says that the display ad market is stabilizing, at least in some categories, after being hit by the economy.

"Though it cannot claim comprehensive insight into pricing trends for the entire display marketplace — for example, it lacks data from many top publishers as well as the largest portals and search engines — Adify does have unique visibility into the online advertising ecosystem," says AdWeek’s Mike Shields of a report from Adify. "The Cox TMI-owned firm manages over 200 networks, representing inventory on 12,000 sites which reach nearly 70 million U.S. users."

An independent test conducted by Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Software Systems showed that Comcast and Cox are both currently interfering with BitTorrent despite recent public and regulatory outrage.

Guess Comcast meant it when they said the FCC couldn’t do anything about it. They also said, though, that they only interfered during times of heavy traffic. According to Max Planck, that’s not really true. As shown by a test running between March and today, neither company cares which time of day they block BitTorrent. In fact, they do it all day every day.

Max Planck’s map of ISPs blocking BitTorrent traffic is disturbing. They mark where this occurs in red, which makes the US look decidedly bloody. Every other country in the world is without any scarlet markings, except for a spot or two way over in Singapore, where gum-chewing is prohibited and bamboo caning is an acceptable punishment for vandals.

"Consumers have no reason left to trust their cable company," said Benn Scott, policy director of Free Press, in a statement. He called the research "unimpeachable."

"This research proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that consumers, Congress and the FCC must urgently pursue the complaints against network providers. Now is the time to send a clear signal to the market that blocking consumers’ access to the lawful Internet content of their choice is out of bounds."
 

The same person to bust Comcast’s blocking of BitTorrent traffic was called upon to test Cox’s system, and sure enough, he concluded with "conclusive proof" that eDonkey was getting the same treatment.

Cox issued a statement, describing it not as "discrimination" against traffic, but "management":

To ensure the best possible online experience for our customers, Cox actively manages network traffic through a variety of methods including traffic prioritization and protocol filtering. Cox does not prohibit the use of file-sharing services for uploads or downloads, or discriminate against any specific services in any way.

Nevertheless, Net Neutrality advocates will be filing the incident away in their arsenal to support the necessity of regulation of telecommunication and cable companies to prevent them from interfering with the public’s open use of the Internet. 

I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t start off the week with another piece about the content debacle that is Digital Rights Management.

Alan Cox, developer of the Linux Kernel, has filed a patent application seeking to obtain ownership of DRM, and all the technologies surrounding it. Taken from the patent abstract, Cox asserts the origins of DRM and outlines the practice in detail:

Hold on just a second, though. We’re talking about Alan Cox here, right? He’s been a stalwart defender of open source software for such a long time. Why would he suddenly look to patent the rights (no pun intended) to rights management technology?

A Linux Questions forum post speculates on the nature of the filing:

So the hope here is that Cox will obtain rights to license the technology, and then stick it to anyone currently making use of it in an attempt to destroy the ridiculous practice altogether.

Now that’s music to my ears.

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Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

When the network providers, the telecoms and the cable companies, haven’t been chanting their dedication to an open Internet, they have been funding lobbyists to encourage Congressmen to ignore the calls for net neutrality.

Silicon Valley Watcher’s Tom Foremski blogged about one example of a network blocking a site in a market where it has a vested interest. Craigslist has been blocked by Cox (motto: “Your Friend in the Digital Age”) since February.

Foremski happens to live near the Craigslist HQ, and wandered over there to chat with CEO Jim Buckmaster. They did indeed know of the problem. It had been going on since February, and Cox was blaming the Authentium security company for the problem.

Authentium has confirmed its software is blocking Craigslist, according to Foremski. Uninstalling the Authentium software, called the Cox Security Suite, has worked for some customers.

Of course that leaves the customer without a security suite in place, but there are a few very good firewall, antivirus, and anti-spyware packages available for free or a low fee.

Then Foremski slips a little fireball into the conversation with Buckmaster, asking if he was aware Cox had a classified service that competed with Craigslist. Buckmaster wasn’t aware of that and responded, “That changes things.”

Indeed. However, before organizing the torches and pitchforks for a trip to Cox headquarters, it should be noted that IP Democracy writer Cynthia Brumfield has indicated the problem could be just a simple screw-up instead of Cox acting with malice aforethought.

That may be the case, as it was suggested in Broadband Reports, which cited a routing issue with BellSouth that left customers unable to reach YouTube or MySpace briefly.

The problem with this explanation, and the length of time Authentium has taken in not resolving the issue, should prompt our readers who work with access-lists on routers and firewalls to regard the screw-up theory with skepticism.

As Foremski noted with some disbelief, over three months is a long time to “delete some text from their blacklist.” We’ll go a step further and say three minutes is plenty of time to update a single entry in an access list.

Whatever the explanation, it’s going to be difficult for anyone at Cox or Authentium to explain the issue now, and be met with head-nodding acceptance.

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President Bush has nominated 52-year-old Republican California Representative Christopher Cox, to fill Donaldson’s position making many business leaders happy. He does still need Senate confirmation, however.

“This is the first head of the SEC who is coming in with a pretty much firsthand knowledge of the high-tech industry,” said head of electronics industry trade group AeA, Bill Archey.

Cox has a history of opposing new accounting rules for stock options and taxes on Internet commerce. Many are hoping that he will continue this stance.

Investors are not too thrilled with Bush’s choice for SEC chairman. Cox supported a bill that made it harder for investors to sue their companies. This obviously isn’t the way investors want to see companies policed.

“I fear that if Congressman Cox is confirmed, it will spell the death knell for reform efforts such as granting shareholders, the true owners of companies, the basic right to nominate candidates for corporate boards of directors,” said California State Treasurer Phil Angelides. “I hope the US Senate rejects Congressman Cox and tells President Bush to appoint an SEC Chair who will fight for real reform.”

Cox graduated from Harvard Law School, and has been a member of Congress since 1988. He served as the first chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and as a counsel to former President Reagan.

Cox supported the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and according to AP has also been a longtime advocate of repealing taxes on capital gains as well as on dividends.

“Donaldson has been a far stronger advocate for investors than we had any reason to expect in an administration that makes no secret of its support for limits on the role of government regulation,” said the Consumer Federation of America’s director of investor protection, Barbara Roper. “A new chairman could be far more sympathetic to corporate whining.”

President Bush originally selected Donaldson as the SEC’s in order to restore confidence to the stock market as it was plagued by scandals. Donaldson is resigning with two years left in his term. He told President Bush, “The time has come for me to step down and return to the private sector and my family.”

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

52-year-old Republican California Representative Christopher Cox has been nominated by President Bush to fill Donaldson’s position making many business leaders happy. He does still need Senate confirmation, however.

“This is the first head of the SEC who is coming in with a pretty much firsthand knowledge of the high-tech industry,” said head of electronics industry trade group AeA, Bill Archey.

Cox has a history of opposing new accounting rules for stock options and taxes on Internet commerce. Many are hoping that he will continue this stance.

Investors are not too thrilled with Bush’s choice for SEC chairman. Cox supported a bill that made it harder for investors to sue their companies. This obviously isn’t the way investors want to see companies policed.

“I fear that if Congressman Cox is confirmed, it will spell the death knell for reform efforts such as granting shareholders, the true owners of companies, the basic right to nominate candidates for corporate boards of directors,” said California State Treasurer Phil Angelides. “I hope the US Senate rejects Congressman Cox and tells President Bush to appoint an SEC Chair who will fight for real reform.”

Cox graduated from Harvard Law School, and has been a member of Congress since 1988. He served as the first chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and as a counsel to former President Reagan.

Cox supported the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and according to AP has also been a longtime advocate of repealing taxes on capital gains as well as on dividends.

“Donaldson has been a far stronger advocate for investors than we had any reason to expect in an administration that makes no secret of its support for limits on the role of government regulation,” said the Consumer Federation of America’s director of investor protection, Barbara Roper. “A new chairman could be far more sympathetic to corporate whining.”

President Bush originally selected Donaldson as the SEC’s in order to restore confidence to the stock market as it was plagued by scandals. Donaldson is resigning with two years left in his term. He told President Bush, “The time has come for me to step down and return to the private sector and my family.”

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

Bush’s new selection for the role of SEC chairman is Republican California Representative Christopher Cox. Cox, who is 52 years old, must still win Senate confirmation for the position.

Cox graduated from Harvard Law School, and has been a member of Congress since 1988. He served as the first chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and as a counsel to former President Reagan.

Cox supported the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and according to AP has also been a longtime advocate of repealing taxes on capital gains as well as on dividends.

Mr. Donaldson told President Bush, “The time has come for me to step down and return to the private sector and my family.” Today is his 74th birthday.

President Bush originally selected Donaldson as the SEC’s in order to restore confidence to the stock market as it was plagued by scandals. Reuters explains a little about Donaldson’s career with the SEC:

Donaldson was known for his strong enforcement agenda at the agency and his resignation has raised doubts about whether the agency’s tougher post-Enron stance on corporate misconduct will be sustained. During his tenure he pushed through new rules affecting mutual fund governance, hedge fund advisers and stock market trading and pricing.

Some of Donaldson’s initiatives angered business executives and their allies in the Bush administration, who said they raised the costs of doing business and discouraged risk taking.

“Donaldson has been a far stronger advocate for investors than we had any reason to expect in an administration that makes no secret of its support for limits on the role of government regulation,” said the Consumer Federation of America’s director of investor protection, Barbara Roper. “A new chairman could be far more sympathetic to corporate whining.”

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

Assuming Cox, 52, survives the nomination process, he would be giving up a lengthy tenure in Congress, first elected in 1988 and serving for 16 years. Cox was also a senior member of White House counsel during the Reagan administration.

“Chris understands how markets work, and he knows the need for transparency in financial exchanges and in the halls of business,” Bush said in his address. “He proved that he can bring people together of diverse opinions to get things done. That kind of leadership will be invaluable as the chairman of the SEC.”

Cox’s job will be tough though. Right now, many corporations are under close scrutiny of their business practices. After the Enron and Arthur Andesen debacles as well as Tyco and Healthsouth, Cox and his SEC will have a difficult task.

“The rule of law that the SEC enforces has given America the most dynamic and vibrant capital markets in the world,” Cox said at the news conference. “The unprecedented sharing of information about every productive part of our free enterprise economy is only made possible by clear and consistently enforced rules. And those rules have to govern every market participant equally — big and small.

With the recent corporate scandals and the Sarbanes-Oxley act being put through its trials, investors and companies will see what type of SEC chief Cox will be.

John Stith is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.