The New York Times has an article about a firm which will offer free internet phone calls in return for ads tailored to your conversation. The ads appear on your screen. The link is here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24adcol.html?ref=business

A computer picks out certain words and you get an ad geared to your conversation. Here is the part VNN is interested in concerning the owners of the firm:

"Mr. Maislos founded Pudding Media with his brother, Ruben. Each had spent several years doing intelligence work for the Israeli military. Before Pudding Media, Ariel Maislos ran a broadband company called Passave, which he sold in May 2006 to PMC-Sierra, a maker of computer chips for telecommunications equipment, for $300 million. Richard Purcell, a former chief privacy officer at Microsoft, is an adviser to Pudding Media, Ariel Maislos said."

I wonder is certain words will invite a response a bit more serious than an advertisement? Activists may not want to discuss VNN business over these "free" phones.

The Warlord