DMW Daily, April 11, 2008

 Top Stories
Brussels - Members of the European Parliament voted 314 to 297 this week to approve a measure that asks member nations not to enact laws whose penalties would interrupt users' Internet access, such as France's recent policy that compels ISPs to disconnect the accounts of repeat file-swappers. [more..]
Washington - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has levied a total of $6 million in fines against many of the top electronics retailers in the U.S., for violating rules on labeling analog televisions they sell to inform consumers the devices will not be able to receive digital signals after the switch to digital broadcasting next February. [more..]
Minneapolis - While a majority of U.S. teens still use illicit file-sharing services to download music, their numbers decreased slightly over the past year, with 61% reporting they download music illegally, compare with 64% a year ago, according to a recent survey from Piper Jaffray. [more..]
Lanham, Md. - Looking to further broaden its focus outside of radio, Radio One, a radio broadcasting company that primarily targets African-American and urban listeners, said that it has paid $38 million to acquire New York-based Community Connect Inc. (CCI), an operator of several niche social networking websites. [more..]
Los Angeles - Uber, a social networking start-up co-founded by former Friendster CEO and NBC Entertainment president Scott Sassa, has received $5.5 million of a $7.6 million second round of venture capital financing, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing. [more..]
San Mateo, Calif. - Qik, a platform for streaming live video via mobile phones, announced this week that it has raised a $3 million second round of venture capital financing. [more..]
New York - Someecards, a provider of irreverent, humorous online greeting cards, has raised $350,000 in seed financing from Betaworks and angel investor Chris Sacca, VentureBeat reported. [more..]
 Opinion & Analysis
Paul Sweeting blogs about the recent vote in the European Parliament against ISP Policing subscribers' Internet usage. [more..]
 Briefly Noted
Jakarta, Indonesia - Following complaints from Web users, Internet service providers in Indonesia have lifted a ban on YouTube and other sites, enacted earlier this week to block a controversial Dutch film about Islam, the Associated Press reported. [more..]
Pasadena, Calif. - Sony BMG's Epic/Legacy Recordings on Friday announced a promotion for the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album, in the form of a video mashup that will let users insert themselves as Jackson in the legendary music video to the title track. [more..]
Shanghai - Chinese online game operator The9 said on Friday that Blizzard Entertainment's "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online game has achieved a record of 1 million concurrent players in China. [more..]
Redmond, Wash. - Nintendo of America on Friday announced plans to release "Mario Super Sluggers" for the Wii later this year. [more..]