Ask Jeeves Launches Sponsored Listings

Ask Jeeves, Inc. (ask.com), a provider of information retrieval technologies, brands and Internet advertising services, yesterday announced the general availability of Ask Jeeves Sponsored Listings.

Available to existing Ask Jeeves advertisers since August 1st, Ask Jeeves Sponsored Listings is a new search advertising product that allows advertisers to effectively purchase, manage and optimize campaigns on Ask Jeeves and its advertising syndication network. Ask Jeeves Sponsored Listings has replaced the company's Premier Listings product with an open-auction system that provides easier access for a diverse range of search advertisers. The company claims that advertisers will receive premier placement on Ask Jeeves above Google AdWords, which will also continue to be distributed on Ask Jeeves.

The advertisers are thus provided with features such as 'Premium' placement on Ask Jeeves and its syndication network, low spend minimum enabling large and small advertisers to purchase search advertising via a self-service system and increased visibility into campaign performance, enabling management of campaigns.

.XXX Launch halted

Internet-oversight group ICANN's Board of Directors, yesterday postponed the vote on the controversial .xxx TLD, which was intended to be reserved for online pornography, by one month. The vote was originally scheduled to take place on August 16.

The fate of the new TLD, which received the green light from ICANN back in June, will now be decided by a vote in ICANN's next meeting on September 15. This delay comes five years after the concept of the new TLD was first proposed. The decision stemmed from opposition to the TLD from the Bush administration and other national governments. Several governments are said to have approached ICANN's Government Advisory Committee (GAC) expressing concerns on the implications of creating the new TLD.

Mr Michael Gallagher, Assistant Secretary at the US Commerce Department, is said to have called on ICANN to ensure that the best interests of the Internet community as a whole are fully considered. He also stated that the department received nearly 6,000 letters and e-mails expressing concerns about the impact of pornography on families and children and objecting to setting aside a domain suffix for it.

In a letter to ICANN's Board of Directors, Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, Chairman of GAC, said, "I believe the Board should allow time for additional governmental and public policy concerns to be expressed before reaching a final decision on this TLD".