There have been a few interesting articles this week about instant messaging. Here's a sample from each.

• Companions or Commercials?
  "It's called SmarterChild.com, and it's ready to deliver a whole troop of buddy bots to your family's computer desktop. We're talking about bots who can simulate human interaction just well enough to fool — or at least confuse — our kids. And we're talking about a bot technology that may soon be as flexible and intuitive as it is alarming and intrusive." [ABC News, via Slashdot]
   
• Instant Messages Aren't Always Fleeting
  "Just like e-mail or Web traffic, instant messages can be monitored by corporate network administrators -- whether those messages are sent to colleagues using a company's own software or flashed to friends across oceans using freely available programs from America Online, Yahoo! or Microsoft. Privacy advocates say they know of no major incidents so far of disciplinary action for IM abuse. But it may be just a matter of time." [CNN, via Library Stuff]
   
• Youngsters Targeted by Digital Bullies
  "More than one in four youngsters in the UK has been threatened via their computers or mobile phones, according to a survey.... Of the 856 people aged between 11 and 19 asked, 16% had received bullying or threatening text messages, 7% had been harassed in internet chatrooms and 4% by e-mail." [BBCNews]

Digital Music Downloading 'Bigger Than Napster' - Study (note: all emphasis in the story is mine)

"According to a study released today by market research firm Odyssey, 31 percent of online users over the age of 16 - which translates to over 40 million U.S. consumers - have downloaded or transferred music online in the past six months.

Odyssey said respondents reported an average of 11 downloads or file transfers per week....

Fifty-three percent of online users under 30 said they have transferred or downloaded music in the past six months. However, because 20 percent of online users over 30 and 14 percent of those over 45 said they also have swapped music in the past six months, Odyssey said such behavior, 'is not something that this large base of young consumers is likely to outgrow over time....'

Odyssey said the recording industry should offer services that allow consumers to create their own "play lists" of songs, and transfer ("burn") the music to their preferred format. The firm said 60 percent of U.S. households have some interest in subscribing to such a service.

'The industry has taken so long to respond that an entirely new set of expectations has been created,' Nick Donatiello, president and CEO of Odyssey said in a written statement. 'Now record labels will have to climb walls that they are allowing to be built.'

The study said the music services offered by the record companies, such as MusicNet and Pressplay, do not meet the needs of consumers. Odyssey dismissed those services as something that solves the industry's problems, but does not meet consumers' needs.

What people want, the firm said, is to own, control and customize their music....

'We're seeing a sea change, and from the consumer perspective it looks as if the industry is still out shopping for boats,' Baenen added." [NewsBytes]