While Greenspan didn’t plead guilty in the matter, Spitzer’s team of investigators believe Greenspan told his company to bundle adware with other benevolent software and to embed it deeply so as to be difficult to find.

Intermix, recently purchased by News Corp because of their popular MySpace site, settled the case previously, agreeing to pay $7.5 million in fines. The agreement spread the $7.5 million out over three years and Intermix had to agree to stop distributing adware. Greenspan claimed the adware problems came after he left the company.

The Associate Press quoted Greenspan’s statement, “My departure from Intermix in 2003 preceded the focus of the New York attorney general’s investigation on Intermix’ practices beginning in late 2004,” he said. “During my tenure at the company, the adware division was a small part of the business.”

There never-ending battle to stop spyware and adware continues on. The real problems will arise as major corporations like News Corp continue to scoop up smaller operations like Intermix, will the adware be slowed down or will the larger companies with more power and more money be able to send out a new wave of adware to run through one’s computer?

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

MySpace: The Online Hangout Destination of Choice

Editor’s Note:  Internet social networks make the Web a smaller, more manageable world for users. Youngsters, especially, are embracing the far-reaching arms of these networks as they arise. Will the success or insight provided by social networks like MySpace.com influence your e-business practices? Tell us about it at WebProWorld.

Though News Corp. vowed not to make any changes to this beloved online hangout, the move drew tremendous criticism not only from MySpace.com members, who feared corporate influence and monetization, but even from former Intermix CEO Brad Greenspan. Greenspan rallied a group of investors to offer Intermix $13.50 per share for MySpace, $1.50 per share more than News Corp.’s offer. The offer was rejected.

Tom Anderson created MySpace.com in late 2003 to offer up a place for aspiring musicians and bands to share their music and concert locations. By the end of summer 2005, 32 million socially networked users, most of whom are under 22, were logging in at an average of twice a week, with a peer network consisting of an average of 68 friends. MySpace.com is the fourth most visited domain on the Internet, trailing only Yahoo!, MSN, and eBay.

MySpace’s Dani Dudeck tells WebProNews that up to 130,000 new members join the site every day, totaling 3 million new members per month. Offering advertisers 9.5 billion page views in June, the site recently helped launch music album world premieres from bands like Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, Audioslave, and Black Eyed Peas. The Nine Inch Nails release alone resulted in a half million user streams in one week.

You can see why MySpace.com has garnered some attention. A new world has evolved providing nearly limitless insight into the motivations of one of the most profitable consumer groups as well as pulse reading for the future of online and tech trends.

MySpace.com has replaced the shopping mall, the CD store, the local Subway, as a hangout. The current generation of young people are turning to computer screens, cell phones, instant messaging, and online social networking for support and sharing common interests. In fact, it is reflective of a culture that doesn’t trust big media, big business, or authority. The youngsters throwing themselves into this online culture, simply put, trust each other.

The website has gotten even more attention recently due to the tragic murder of 17-year-old Taylor Behl. Behl, who regularly blogged about her life at her MySpace.com personal website, disappeared during her first week of college. Her community of online friends have wished her (spirit) and her family well in a string of comments after her last entry announcing her move to Richmond, Virginia, to begin college life.

While MySpace and sites like it are common knowledge to the world’s youth, today’s adults are as clueless about these realms as our parents were about Twisted Sister and Hammer pants. Even E-business pros are surprised at what the youth are telling them.

After last week’s Web 2.0 conference, a few bloggers have noted that one of the more interesting sessions involved a small panel of teens assembled for questioning to better understand “What Teens Want.”

The crowd was surprised to find out that while teens typically won’t pay for music, they will pay up to $50 per month for ringtones. This is consistent with information from a Guardian article reporting that teens spend about that much in the UK.

Teens are checking multiple news sources for information (a supposed reflection of an inherent distrust of sources), and are equally as vigilant when it comes to comparison shopping, often checking several sites before making a purchase decision.

These same teens may also be indicative of future trends. When asked about how they’d go about searching for CD player information, the blogger consensus on the matter is that these teens answered with blank faces.

“They looked at him in silent puzzlement, as if to say, why would we buy a CD player?’” recounts Jeffrey McManus. And this could be their way of saying that CD’s are going the way of the 8-track.

And then there’s a new tech-etiquette evolving. Did you know it was rude to phone a friend with something so mundane as a question about homework? It’s more socially acceptable to shoot an instant message-at least according to this telling list of teen tech-trends.

MySpace.com, and social networking sites like it that pop up, should be of extreme interest to e-marketers as they not only deliver the motivations and preferences of a hot demographic, but also serve as key indicators of growing trends, and future behaviors of whole consumer groups.

“Intermix is an important acquisition for News Corp., instantly doubling the number of visitors to our sites and providing an ideal foundation on which to meaningfully increase our internet presence,” said News Corp. Chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch.

News Corp.’s new Fox Interactive Media unit will be getting over 30 new sites from both MySpace.com and Intermix Media, which will help the doubling of News Corp.’s web traffic.

“Intermix’s brands, such as MySpace.com, are some of the web’s hottest properties and resonate with the same audiences that are most attracted to Fox’s news, sports and entertainment offerings,” said Murdoch. “We see a great opportunity to combine the popularity of Intermix’s sites, particularly MySpace, with our existing online assets to provide a richer experience for today’s internet users.”

The deal is subject to certain customary conditions including approval of the Intermix common and preferred stockholders. It is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

News Corp. has entered into a voting agreement with VantagePoint Venture Partners, the largest stockholder of Intermix, in which VantagePoint will vote in favor of the transaction.

“We are very excited to combine our unique Internet reach and assets with one of the most exciting media companies in the world. We look forward to continuing to lead the market in unique content, social networking, and analytical marketing,” said Intermix CEO Richard Rosenblatt. Mr. Rosenblatt and MySpace CEO, Chris DeWolfe will remain in their current positions after the deal is completed.

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

News Corp.’s new Fox Interactive Media unit will be getting over 30 new sites from both MySpace.com and Intermix Media, which will help the doubling of News Corp.’s web traffic.

“Intermix is an important acquisition for News Corp., instantly doubling the number of visitors to our sites and providing an ideal foundation on which to meaningfully increase our internet presence,” said News Corp. Chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch.

“Intermix’s brands, such as MySpace.com, are some of the web’s hottest properties and resonate with the same audiences that are most attracted to Fox’s news, sports and entertainment offerings,” said Murdoch. “We see a great opportunity to combine the popularity of Intermix’s sites, particularly MySpace, with our existing online assets to provide a richer experience for today’s internet users.”

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. It is subject to certain customary conditions including approval of the Intermix common and preferred stockholders. It

News Corp. has entered into a voting agreement with VantagePoint Venture Partners, the largest stockholder of Intermix, in which VantagePoint will vote in favor of the transaction.

“We are very excited to combine our unique Internet reach and assets with one of the most exciting media companies in the world. We look forward to continuing to lead the market in unique content, social networking, and analytical marketing,” said Intermix CEO Richard Rosenblatt. Mr. Rosenblatt and MySpace CEO, Chris DeWolfe will remain in their current positions after the deal is completed.

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

News Corp.’s traffic is expected to double as its new Fox Interactive Media unit gets over 30 sites from both MySpace.com and Intermix Media.

“Intermix is an important acquisition for News Corp., instantly doubling the number of visitors to our sites and providing an ideal foundation on which to meaningfully increase our internet presence,” said News Corp. Chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch.

“Intermix’s brands, such as MySpace.com, are some of the web’s hottest properties and resonate with the same audiences that are most attracted to Fox’s news, sports and entertainment offerings,” said Murdoch. “We see a great opportunity to combine the popularity of Intermix’s sites, particularly MySpace, with our existing online assets to provide a richer experience for today’s internet users.”

The deal is subject to certain customary conditions including approval of the Intermix common and preferred stockholders. It is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

News Corp. has entered into a voting agreement with VantagePoint Venture Partners, the largest stockholder of Intermix, in which VantagePoint will vote in favor of the transaction.

“We are very excited to combine our unique Internet reach and assets with one of the most exciting media companies in the world. We look forward to continuing to lead the market in unique content, social networking, and analytical marketing,” said Intermix CEO Richard Rosenblatt. Mr. Rosenblatt and MySpace CEO, Chris DeWolfe will remain in their current positions after the deal is completed.

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

NewsCorp has been aggressive in ramping up its focus on Internet properties. After announcing a reorganization of its US web properties into a new business unit, Fox Interactive Media, the company discussed its pickup of Los Angeles-based Intermix.

“Intermix’s brands, such as MySpace.com, are some of the web’s hottest properties and resonate with the same audiences that are most attracted to Fox’s news, sports and entertainment offerings,” said News Corporation’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rupert Murdoch, in a press release.

“We see a great opportunity to combine the popularity of Intermix’s sites, particularly MySpace, with our existing online assets to provide a richer experience for today’s Internet users.”

NewsCorp seems willing to accept a risk that Microsoft reportedly avoided when the Redmond-based software giant declined to follow through on a reported purchase of behavioral marketing company Claria.

Intermix had recently settled a suit initiated by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, paying nearly $8 million USD to end the litigation. Mr. Spitzer had accused the company of false advertising and deceptive business practices in the way it distributed software. The settlement came with Intermix not admitting any wrongdoing.

While NewsCorp has been touting the MySpace.com domain and the popularity of its properties, the real key to the acquisition may be Intermix’s Alena division. Billed as its analytical optimization e-commerce division, Alena conducted Intermix’s online and traditional media campaigns.

NewsCorp expects its web traffic to now double to around 46 million unique monthly users. That presents a tremendous gain in what the company can charge for various online advertising campaigns.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

Links: NYT bought About.com and IAC bought AskJeeves and Bloglines.

Okay, so Topix.net is partially owned by Gannett, Knight Ridder and Tribune. So, okay, now News Corp buys Intermix, which is mainly MySpace.com.

Is this the future of journalism and blogging? The large entities buying blogging and ‘citizen journalism’ platforms, as well as online news platforms, to expand the advertising options across the board. And, with Google News using blogs – both its own Blogger and others – as news sources, and the launch of all the blog news aggregators – Pubsub, Technorati, et al – well, it’s become a big mess of a space.

Yes, I said mess of a space.

First, with the mainstream media buying the blogging platforms, does this open up the publishers of the platforms to libel laws? I did a post on libel, but with the media owning the platforms, it will be an interesting twist.

Second, with all the different ‘news’ sources now, the public no longer has to hear all sides of the story, but can only hear those opinions that fit their tastes. How cute, it’s the Fox affect. While I did bring this up in my interview with Dan Gillmor, he noted that the middle has always been quiet, and if there is a need for middle news, it will be filled. I’m still not so sure.

Third, what does this do for journalism? Despite claims to the contrary, bloggers are not journalists. Not all bloggers follow an internal code of ethics, but rather just blog gossip that might or might not be true. I have been told that it’s a blog – they don’t need to be fact checked. That is a travesty. There’s no codified code of ethics to be upheld, just the wild west of the blogosphere.

Fourth, what does this do for public relations? Right now, I am working with a few blogs and podcasts on review units. Now, call me part of the so-called old PR, but I am not going to send out a $1500 product without a signed loan agreement. And, with the integration of blogs into more news outfits, is this going to become more of an issue.

So, in the end, News Corp just bought a really good social blogging platform, full of tweens. It competes with Six Apart – which includes the much-loved tween LiveJournal and – which makes me wonder who is going to end up buying them to swallow into a media platform. The convergence of blogging into journalism is the new journalism, but is the new journalism really that good for the public?

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Jeremy Pepper is the CEO and founder of POP! Public Relations, a public relations firm based in Arizona, USA.

He authors the popular Musings from POP! Public Relations blog which offers Jeremy’s opinions and views – on public relations, publicity and other things.