American Idol iTunes sales to benefit Japan; Obama "IP czar" wants felony charges for illegal Web streaming
Industry Spotlight
American Idol: iTunes Top 12 compilation sales to benefit Japan
March 17, 2011 - DigitalJournal.com
Japanese student learns family is alive thanks to YouTube video
March 17, 2011– MSNBC.com
MTV brings back '120 Minutes,' revives '90s nostalgia
March 17, 2011 – Los Angeles Times
Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 Downloaded Over 2 Million Times on Day One
March 17, 2011 – PCWorld
Amazon app store: Launchpad for mobile dominance
March 17, 2011 – ZDNet (blog)
Nokia debuts mobile video tagging app
March 16, 2011 – TG Daily
Politics & Policy
I. Intellectual Property Enforcement
Obama "IP czar" wants felony charges for illegal Web streaming
Authored by Nate Anderson on March 15, 2011 – Ars Technica
The Obama administration wants to make sure that the illegal streaming of music and movies over the Internet is a felony, and it also wants to give the federal government wiretap authority in copyright cases.
Espinel, the Obama administration's IP Enforcement Coordinator, today released her long-awaited wish list of intellectual property law changes. Most focus on counterfeit drugs and economic espionage, but the list does contain three suggestions more likely to have some effect on home Internet users.
Streaming: The government wants to make sure that, as online piracy moves increasingly to streaming, the law keeps up with the activity. Currently, "reproducing" and "distributing" copyrighted works are felony charges, and they cover peer-to-peer file-sharing. But streaming seems more like a "public performance"—and holding a public performance without a proper license is not a felony.
Congress told that Internet data caps will discourage piracy
Authored by Nate Anderson on March 15, 2011 - Ars Technica
Internet data caps aren't just good at stopping congestion; they can also be useful tools for curtailing piracy.
That was one of the points made by Daniel Castro, an analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) think tank in Washington DC. Castro testified yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee about the problem of “parasite” websites, saying that usage-based billing and monthly data caps were both good ways to discourage piracy, and that the government shouldn't do anything to stand in their way.
The government should allow "pricing structures and usage caps that discourage online piracy," he wrote, which comes pretty close to suggesting that heavy data use implies piracy and should be limited.
II. Online Privacy
The White House Gets Behind New Internet Privacy Efforts
Authored by Steven Gray on March 16, 2011 - TIME
On Wednesday, the Obama administration went very public about online privacy.
President Barack Obama's top advisor on communications and information policy, Lawrence E. Strickling, told the Senate Commerce Committee that the administration now backs enforcement of a new "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights" by the Federal Trade Commission. The endorsement comes months after the President's Internet Policy Task Force issued a paper that set a rough framework for navigating the tricky balance between consumer privacy interests and commerce. It also comes after a series of House bills on the issue, and as Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat, crafts a bill that would ultimately lead to new protections for consumers.
III. Network Neutrality
Berners-Lee Calls for Net Neutrality at Govt Roundtable
Authored by Carrie-Ann Skinner on March 17, 2011 -PCWorld
Creator of the web Sir Tim Berners-Lee called for net neutrality at a roundtable event hosted by Ed Vaizey, the government minister for culture, communications and creative industries.
The event, which took place in London yesterday and was also attended by ISPs, mobile networks, content providers, broadcasters and Ofcom, was designed to tackle the issues surrounding managing traffic on the web and protecting the open internet.
"While transparency about traffic management policy is a good thing, best practices should also include the neutrality of the net," Berners-Lee said.
"The web has grown so fast precisely because we have had two independent markets, one for connectivity, and the other for content and applications."
@ SXSW: Net neutrality debate cites flurry of voices
Authored by Marc Speir on March 15, 2011 – RCR Unplugged
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said he will introduce antitrust legislation to curb the influence of telecommunications lobbyists, but that effort will ultimately fail without the support of artists involved in online technology.
Franken, who kicked off a number of panels debating network-neutrality issues during the Interaction portion of the South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival, showed appreciation for the Austin community’s willingness to assist artists and help them thrive in the hill country of central Texas. Notes from Franken’s presentation include how musicians leverage the Internet for marketing purposes but are in danger of paying tiered services for content, which he says would limit the size and scope of bandwidth capabilities for independent business.