Nov 19 - Beatles Dominate iTunes Top 200 Lists; Senate Anti-Piracy Bill Provokes Battle
Industry Spotlight
Beatles Dominate iTunes Top 200 Lists
November 18, 2010 – PC Magazine
Live365 Debuts Female-Targeted Network
November 17, 2010 – Radio Ink
Amazon Launches Film Production Website
November 17, 2010 – New York Times
Google’s Web Calling Application Approved for IPhone
November 16, 2010 - Bloomberg
Best Buy Joins Free Shipping Fray
November 17, 2010 – The Wall Street Journal
Facebook Like-buttons MySpace
November 18, 2010 3:25 PM – Fortune (blog)
Politics & Policy
I. Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeiters Act (S. 3804)
Senate Anti-piracy Bill Provokes Battle Between Hollywood and Web Giants
Authored by Cecilia Kang on November 18, 2010 – Washington Post
The controversial legislation has attracted powerful supporters and detractors who have ramped up lobbying campaigns around the bill this week.
On one side, the music, movie and television industries have supported the bill, saying that counterfeiting of their products won't cease unless there are stronger sanctions in place. They say that existing rules have done little to curb counterfeiting and piracy.
On the other side, Internet networking engineers and privacy advocates such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation argue that the takedown of domain names could destabilize the structure of the Web.
They are joined in opposing the measure by companies such as eBay, Amazon.com, Bloomberg, Google and Wikipedia, who wrote Leahy on Monday, cautioning against provisions in the bill that they say would give federal law enforcement too much power to police infringing activity.
Senate Panel Approves Domain Name Seizure Bill
Authored by Declan McCullagh on November 18, 2010 - CNET
A controversial proposal allowing the government to pull the plug on Web sites accused of aiding piracy is closer to becoming a federal law.
After a flurry of last-minute lobbying from representatives of content providers including the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a Senate committee approved the measure today by a unanimous vote.
II. Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement
US Trade Agency Releases Final Text of ACTA
Authored by Grant Gross on November 15, 2010 – PC World
Negotiators working on a controversial international copyright-enforcement agreement have finalized the language in the proposed pact, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Monday.
The final language of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is available at the USTR's website. The proposed agreement, encompassing the U.S., U.K., Japan, the European Union and several other nations, would require signing nations to include border searches in their copyright enforcement measures.
ACTA would also require nations to include injunctions and fines as part of their copyright enforcement laws, as well as seizure of equipment used in copyright infringement activities. ACTA would also require participating nations to take steps to stem online infringement of works protected by copyright.
III. Network Neutrality
Net Neutrality Groups Push for FCC Action to Buck GOP Tide
Authored by Sam Gustin on November 16, 2010 - Wired News (blog)
With the patience of his natural allies wearing thin, and a hostile new Congress taking over in January, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski is under intense pressure to make good on his and President Obama’s pledge to force fairness rules on the nation’s ISPs.
But to do so, Genachowski will have to buck a Republican-controlled House and unilaterally move to undo Bush-era deregulation. He has few options in order to restore and extend so-called net neutrality — the principle that internet providers shouldn’t pick favorites on the web, control what software people use, or discriminate against rival content.
IV. Online Privacy
Studies Find Success in Use of Privacy Icons
Authored by Tanzina Vega on November 16, 2010 - The New York Times
One of the biggest areas of contention in the online privacy debate is whether online advertisers have the ability to regulate themselves sufficiently. Privacy advocates claim that privacy policies are not enough to inform consumers about an advertiser’s data collection practices because they are complex documents that users don’t read.
The advertising industry recently announced the details of a self-regulatory program that includes the use of an icon that would give users information about an ad and the option to opt-out of having their data collected for targeted advertising. And now, just ahead of two reports that are expected to be issued by the Commerce Department and the Federal Trade Commission on online privacy, two recent studies are trying to prove that icons are effective.