Using the contents of images or videos to target Web ads could improve click-through. Web ads help subsidize free content and services, and have made Google into the behemoth it is today. But the software used to tailor them to a user’s interests can only do this by analyzing the words on a webpage.

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Ads that Match a Web Page’s Images

Search engines get smarter at predicting when we’ll respond to a pitch. Bing users might not notice, but the Microsoft search engine tends to show fewer advertisements alongside search results than its rivals do. The reason might be that advertisers are drawn more to Google, but Microsoft says the difference also comes from an artificial-intelligence technique that aims to deliver only the most relevant ads.

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Fewer Ads, More Clicks

Microsoft’s Danah Boyd on social networking. Earlier this month, Facebook sought to increase its reach by connecting with other sites across the Web. The Open Graph Protocol, announced at Facebook’s f8 Developers Conference , makes it easier for outside sites to share information with Facebook when visitors want to recommend a page. But Facebook has come under increasing scrutiny for making users’ data more public and available to search engines and for making changes to the terms of its privacy policy, which some users have been unaware of.

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The Changing Nature of Privacy on Facebook

Senator Durbin promises legislation that would force companies to protect human rights. Yesterday a leading member of Congress put pressure on Internet companies to support human rights and Internet freedom abroad. U.S. Senator Richard Durbin, the Democratic representative from Illinois and the Senate majority whip, said he plans to introduce legislation “that would require Internet companies to take reasonable steps to protect human rights or face civil or criminal liability.” An aide later said the proposed legislation had not been written, but would likely be based on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act .

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Internet Industry Told to Respect Human Rights Abroad

Distributing a search engine’s index around the world could make it faster and more efficient, researchers say.

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Splitting Up Search