InternetAmazon.com To Buy Online Bookseller AbeBooks (TechWeb)

TechWeb - InformationWeek - Amazon said it plans to have the seller of out-of-print books continue as a standalone operation based in Victoria, British Columbia.

Amazon.com on Friday said it has agreed to buy AbeBooks, an online marketplace for mostly used, rare, and out-of-print books. Financial terms were not disclosed. Privately held AbeBooks, based in British Columbia, Canada, lists books from thousands of independent sellers worldwide, Amazon said. The online marketplace has more than 110 million books for sale. "As a leader in rare and hard-to-find books, AbeBooks brings added breadth and expanded selection to our customers worldwide," Russell Grandinetti, VP of books for Amazon, said in a statement. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the fourth quarter. Amazon plans to have AbeBooks continue as a standalone operation based in Victoria, British Columbia. It will maintain all of its Web sites, including the ones in Canada with Canadian content... [ Read more on www.yahoo.com ]

InternetCongress Questions Network Data-Collection Methods (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Congress wants to know: How do search engines use your personal data? The House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent out letters on Friday to major network companies asking them, among other things, how they use personal tracking data to serve up those highly targeted ads.

InternetBruised South Korean government takes on "infodemics" (Reuters)

Reuters - South Korea's unpopular young government is having second thoughts about the benefits of running the world's most wired society.