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Today's Topics:
1. FCC may drop plan allowing cell calls in-flight (Greg Williams)
2. HP to hack its customers (Greg Williams)
3. Raytheon Develops World's First Polymorphic Computer
(Greg Williams)
4. Cablevision loses network DVR court case (George Antunes)
5. New firm makes Blu-ray DVDs for indie filmmakers (George Antunes)
6. LA area Time Warner cable unit could face fine (George Antunes)
7. Hollywood's big online rival: the little guy (George Antunes)
8. Mossberg: Congress Must Make Clear Copyright Laws To Protect
Consumers (Monty Solomon)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:11:59 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] FCC may drop plan allowing cell calls in-flight
To: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
FCC may drop plan allowing cell calls in-flight
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17739316
Cites recent wireless industry comments it might disrupt ground networks
WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said
Thursday that the agency is considering dropping a proposal that would
have lifted the ban on in-flight cell phone use.
The commission began considering removal of the ban in late 2004.
FCC Chair Kevin Martin told reporters after a board meeting Thursday
that the wireless telecommunications industry indicated in recent
comments to the FCC that mobile phone calls in flying planes would
interfere with their networks on the ground.
Two agencies claim regulatory jurisdiction over the issue. The FCC is
focused on whether in-flight calling interferes with ground-based
networks, while the Federal Aviation Administration considers safety issues.
Both agencies would have to approve lifting the ban for passengers to be
able legally to make calls while in-flight, an FCC spokeswoman said.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:31:29 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] HP to hack its customers
To: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
http://software.silicon.com/security/0,39024655,39160104,00.htm
HP to hack its customers
By Tom Espiner
Published: Wednesday 5 July 2006
HP is to launch a penetration-testing service for businesses in October
but has denied reports it will unleash worms on its customers.
The company said on Tuesday it would use the same techniques as hackers
to gain access to its customers' machines. However, the exploit code it
will use will be controlled and will not propagate itself, HP said.
Richard Brown, threat management department manager at HP Labs, said:
"We use hacking techniques to gain access to the system but once we have
control we make the system safe. We don't unleash a worm - we don't use
worm-propagation techniques."
The penetration-testing service, HP Active Countermeasures (HPAC), will
use a single server and eight to 10 scanning clients per 250,000
connected devices. Each of the clients will be given a range of IP
addresses to scan, and will move through the range scanning for
particular vulnerabilities.
Brown said: "We try to exploit vulnerabilities by sending malformed
protocol messages to open ports. For example, Code Red exploited a
vulnerability in MS IIS web service software - we would exploit the same
vulnerability."
The HPAC team will use hacking techniques such as the use of malformed
code to create buffer overflows, heap overflows, and stack overflows to
gain control of clients' systems. They will use exploit code for known
vulnerabilities found on the internet, or write their own exploit code.
Brown said: "If the code is unavailable we will generate our own exploit
code."
The HPAC team won't fix problems themselves but will alert customers and
work with them if necessary until the issue is resolved.
Brown said: "If we do manage to get control of a machine, we will do
mitigating actions - supply a temporary fix until a patch can be applied
in a proper manner. We could do as little as pop up a window saying
'this machine is vulnerable to Sasser' but we can escalate the
mitigation if necessary to take the system completely offline.
"In the worst case we can shut the machine down, so it's no longer a
threat to the infrastructure."
The company has been using these techniques to test its own networks
since 2001, and has now decided to offer HPAC as a service. Within HP,
the corporate IT team already monitors bulletin boards and alerts from
computer emergency response teams and vendors.
As new threats are reported, the team will conduct a risk assessment and
investigate the most serious vulnerabilities.
Brown said: "There are thousands of vulnerabilities but in most cases
they can be dealt with through normal patch management. We're most
concerned with 'wormable' vulnerabilities - ones that can be exploited
using worms, as they have the largest impact on business."
Customers must give permission for HP to scan their systems, and can
specify that certain servers or devices are not included in the scan, if
concerned the scan will cause disruption.
HP promised "aggressive pricing" for the service, saying its fixed price
would cost "a few dollars per user per year" for those customers with
fewer than 20,000 active IP addresses.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:38:23 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Raytheon Develops World's First Polymorphic
Computer
To: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Raytheon Develops World's First Polymorphic Computer
http://www.mil-embedded.com/news/db/?5784
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., March 20, 2007 -- The world's first computers whose
architecture can adopt different forms depending on their application
have been developed by Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN).
Dubbed MONARCH (Morphable Networked Micro-Architecture) and developed to
address the large data volume of sensor systems as well as their signal
and data processing throughput requirements, it is the most adaptable
processor ever built for the Department of Defense, reducing the number
of processor types required. It performs as a single system on a chip,
resulting in a significant reduction of the number of processors
required for computing systems, and it performs in an array of chips for
teraflop throughput.
"Typically, a chip is optimally designed either for front-end signal
processing or back-end control and data processing," explained Nick
Uros, vice president for the Advanced Concepts and Technology group of
Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems. "The MONARCH micro-architecture is
unique in its ability to reconfigure itself to optimize processing on
the fly. MONARCH provides exceptional compute capacity and highly
flexible data bandwidth capability with beyond state-of-the-art power
efficiency, and it's fully programmable."
In addition to the ability to adapt its architecture for a particular
objective, the MONARCH computer is also believed to be the most power-
efficient processor available.
"In laboratory testing MONARCH outperformed the Intel quad-core Xeon
chip by a factor of 10," said Michael Vahey, the principal investigator
for the company's MONARCH technology.
MONARCH's polymorphic capability and super efficiency enable the
development of DoD systems that need very small size, low power, and in
some cases radiation tolerance for such purposes as global positioning
systems, airborne and space radar and video processing systems.
The company has begun tests on prototypes of the polymorphic MONARCH
processors to verify they'll function as designed and to establish their
maximum throughput and power efficiency. MONARCH, containing six
microprocessors and a highly interconnected reconfigurable computing
array, provides 64 gigaflops (floating point operations per second) with
more than 60 gigabytes per second of memory bandwidth and more than 43
gigabytes per second of off-chip data bandwidth.
The MONARCH processor was developed under a Defense Advanced Research
Project Agency (DARPA) polymorphous computing architecture contract from
the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. Raytheon Space and Airborne
Systems led an industry team with the Information Sciences Institute of
the University of Southern California to create the integrated
large-scale system on a chip with a suite of software development tools
for programs of high value to the Department of Defense and commercial
applications. Besides USC major subcontractors included Georgia
Institute of Technology, Mercury Computer Systems and IBM's Global
Engineering Solutions division.
Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems is the leading provider of sensor
systems giving military forces the most accurate and timely information
available for the network-centric battlefield. With 2006 revenues of
$4.3 billion and 12,000 employees, SAS is headquartered in El Segundo,
Calif. Additional facilities are in Goleta, Calif.; Forest, Miss.;
Dallas, McKinney and Plano, Texas; and several international locations.
Raytheon Company, with 2006 sales of $20.3 billion, is an industry
leader in defense and government electronics, space, information
technology, technical services, and business and special mission
aircraft. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 80,000
people worldwide.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 11:21:35 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Cablevision loses network DVR court case
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Cablevision loses network DVR court case
Reuters
Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:23AM EDT
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USN2337855720070323
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC.N: Quote, Profile,
Research) said it lost a legal battle against several Hollywood studios and
television networks to introduce a network-based digital video recorder
service to its subscribers.
The New York-based cable operator said in a statement late on Thursday it
is currently considering an appeal against the ruling by Judge Denny Chin
of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Cablevision was sued last May by several Hollywood studios and television
networks, including those owned by Time Warner Inc. (TWX.N: Quote, Profile,
Research), News Corp. (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research), CBS Corp. (CBS.N:
Quote, Profile, Research) and WaltDisney Co. (DIS.N: Quote, Profile,
Research), which charged that the planned service would violate U.S.
copyright laws.
Cablevision had hoped a network-based DVR system, called Remote Storage DVR
or RS-DVR, would have done away with the need for the deployment of
hundreds of thousands of digital set-top boxes to subscribers' homes.
This would potentially have saved Cablevision significant administration
and maintenance costs. Other cable operators had been vocal in their
support for such a system.
But the studios and TV networks argued in two suits filed at the U.S.
District Court in Manhattan that because the proposed service would allow
subscribers to store television programs on the cable operator's own
computer servers, it would be breaking copyright agreements by effectively
retransmitting the programs.
"We are disappointed by the judge's decision, and continue to believe that
remote-storage DVRs are consistent with copyright law and offer compelling
benefits for consumers - including lower costs and broader availability of
this popular technology, Cablevision said in the statement.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 11:31:43 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] New firm makes Blu-ray DVDs for indie filmmakers
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
New firm makes Blu-ray DVDs for indie filmmakers
Reuters
Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:19PM EDT
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USN2239149920070322
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A respected Hollywood movie producer and a DVD
pioneer said they have formed a company to make and distribute DVDs in the
new Blu-ray digital format for independent film and video makers.
The unveiling of Edge of Light Media by John Daly, executive producer of
movies such as "The Terminator," and Erick Hansen of Blue Ray Technologies
Inc. on Thursday marks another step forward for Blu-ray as it seeks to gain
a foothold in the home entertainment market and eclipse the current DVD format.
Blu-ray's high-definition digital technology, which is backed by Sony Corp,
offers crisper pictures and more room for special features than current
DVDs. Movies on the Blu-ray DVD format have only recently begun reaching
homes through Hollywood's major studios.
For the most part, independent filmmakers and owners of TV shows, exercise
videos or other home video products have been shut out of the emerging
high-definition market unless their producers already have distribution
deals with a major studio.
Edge of Light expects to open the Blu-ray market for the independents,
which is important because the home entertainment arena is a lucrative one
for them.
"It is a solution for indies, because they can't raise the money to have a
big Blu-ray release," Hansen told Reuters.
Edge of Light also could help broaden consumer adoption of Blu-ray DVDs,
because the titles that many consumers seek such as old movies, videos and
TV shows will now be available in the new technology.
Hansen said even these so-called "B" and "C" titles look far better on
screen in Blu-ray than the older DVDs.
"It's like a Model T versus a brand new mustang," he said.
Hansen said the company will not produce DVDs in the competing
high-definition format known as HD-DVD, which is backed by Toshiba Corp.
and which he expects will soon be transcended by the capabilities of Blu-ray.
But while Hansen sees Blu-ray as a superior technology, the two
high-definition standards continue to compete in the marketplace for
dominance, with no clear winner yet.
Edge of Light Media will be headquartered in Los Angeles and will operate a
new manufacturing and distribution facility in Spokane, Washington.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 12:15:37 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] LA area Time Warner cable unit could face fine
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-cable23mar23,1,6709132.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
Time Warner cable unit could face fine
By James S. Granelli
LA Times Staff Writer
March 23, 2007
Moorpark became the second city this week to demand that Time Warner Cable
Inc. comply with customer service standards ? and the first to threaten a
fine of as much as $25,000 or more.
Exercising its waning local control on the cable TV industry, the City
Council late Wednesday initiated a procedure that could result in fines
next month for the company's prolonged difficulty in merging pay TV and
Internet systems.
Time Warner has struggled to combine operations it acquired last summer
from Comcast Corp. and Adelphia Communications Corp.
"Time Warner either had actual knowledge of its inability to provide
adequate customer service or it completely mismanaged this merger. Either
situation is unjustifiable," Councilman Keith F. Millhouse said.
Moorpark has 7,400 Time Warner customers.
A state law that took effect this year is removing much of the control that
municipalities have in overseeing cable TV. Starting next year, cable firms
can shed local contracts after new competitors, mainly AT&T Inc. and
Verizon Communications Inc., enter their markets.
Once it receives a formal notice from Moorpark, Time Warner will "respond
accordingly" and will "work with the city to resolve the issues
satisfactorily," spokeswoman Patricia Rockenwagner said. "Moorpark started
a formal process, but there are no fines and no findings yet," she said.
On Monday, the city of Los Angeles asked Time Warner to explain what went
wrong and how and when it would solve the problems.
Cities in the company's five-county service region, and Time Warner itself,
have been inundated with complaints since October when work on integrating
the systems began.
The merger propelled the company from one of the smallest operations in
Southern California to the region's dominant cable firm, with 1.9 million
customers. But complaints nearly tripled in Los Angeles alone as customers
cited service outages, long wait times, shabby customer service, channel
lineup changes and pressure to buy higher-priced digital service. The
company lost more than 10,000 subscribers.
At Wednesday night's Moorpark council meeting, Benjamin Hall of neighboring
Simi Valley told the council members that to get the same channels he had
with Adelphia, he said, he paid Time Warner about $20 more a month because
he had to move from analog to digital service and get a new device that
lets him record the way his old videocassette recorder did.
Millhouse, the councilman, said he waited on hold an hour for a Time Warner
agent last month. He said a fine could total $200 a day for every incident.
He said he hoped Moorpark would spur other Southern California cities to
take action against the company.
As part of its contract with Moorpark, Adelphia set up a $25,000 line of
credit that the city could tap to collect fines for such breaches as poor
customer service. Once that money is gone, the cable company, now Time
Warner, is required to replenish the credit line.
Rockenwagner said few cities had similar terms.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 12:19:10 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Hollywood's big online rival: the little guy
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-calco23mar23,1,5197214.column?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
Hollywood's big online rival: the little guy
Rick Wartzman
LA Times
March 23, 2007
The latest brouhaha over alleged copyright infringement on the Internet has
pitted some of the biggest names in corporate America against each other:
Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone versus Google Inc. Chief Executive
Eric Schmidt.
But you'd be wise to keep your eyes on two other guys who, in a small way,
are helping to transform the media landscape: Christopher Allan Smith and
Ryan Neisz.
They're the creators and co-stars of an online comedy series called
"Snowmen Hunters," which was nominated this week by Google's YouTube
website for one of its inaugural video awards, which seek to honor
user-generated content.
It's tempting to dismiss these awards as promotional fluff. And their
announcement obviously pales in importance to last week's news that Viacom
was suing Google for $1 billion, contending that YouTube hadn't tried hard
enough to stop people from posting unauthorized clips of TV shows and
movies owned by the Hollywood giant, including "SpongeBob SquarePants" and
"Mean Girls."
Yet if I were running Viacom, I'd be nearly as concerned about shows such
as "Snowmen Hunters" as I'd be about ensuring that my own stuff wasn't
misappropriated.
In the long term ? which in Web time means, like, five years ? these sorts
of amateur offerings could wind up playing their own significant role in
squeezing profits of the leading TV and film studios. "I don't think
there's any doubt," says Mike McGuire, an analyst at technology research
firm Gartner Inc., that such material "is shaking things up."
This is not to suggest that the top entertainment companies are suddenly
going to disappear. What's more, these conglomerates are all feverishly
pursuing their own Web strategies ? in some cases by partnering with
YouTube, in others by challenging it.
On Thursday, News Corp. and NBC Universal, with the help of some of
Google's main rivals, said they were launching an online video site stocked
with TV shows and movies, plus clips that users can modify and share with
friends. They're confident that a slick, professionally produced collection
will win out over "Snowmen Hunters" and other shows like it.
But I don't buy that it's going to be so easy to roll over this form of
competition.
Already, McGuire notes, there's a generation of online watchers who are
inclined to spend the evening in front of the computer, clicking on one
two-minute video after another ? part of a wider phenomenon that Wired
magazine recently dubbed "snack-o-tainment."
"Ultimately, it's a matter of time share," McGuire says. In other words,
the more that somebody is glued to a skit on the merits of folding toilet
paper instead of crumpling it, the less their eyeballs are fixed to CBS or MTV.
For Big Media, the real threat will emerge as more and more advertisers,
attracted by the millions of viewers who genuinely enjoy this homespun
programming, gravitate toward the sites hosting these productions and, in
turn, more and more money starts finding its way to the talent behind them.
Already, a handful of companies are venturing down this path, including
Revver Inc., a Los Angeles-based enterprise that will attach a targeted
advertisement to your video and then split the revenue with you, 50-50. Its
slogan: "What if creativity could pay the rent?"
Of course, most folks who fancy themselves the next Steven Spielberg or
J.J. Abrams are looking for more than a way to make rent. They want a
mansion in Bel-Air, with a pool out back and a Jag in the driveway. And
it's this impulse, some believe, that will keep the very best of the lot
coming Hollywood's way.
"Many of these people are just auditioning to be pros," says Jupiter
Research analyst David Card. YouTube counts at least nine acts that have
gone on to mainstream success thanks to their exposure on the website,
including comedian Lisa Donovan (a.k.a. Lisa Nova) and musician Terra Naomi.
But others, such as Smith and Neisz, insist that they're not so eager to
make the leap.
The two were arranging plans this week to meet with agents in L.A., and
they certainly wouldn't spurn an offer from one of the major networks. What
gets them most excited, though, is the notion that they might be able to
earn a decent living from "Snowmen Hunters" or some other program they've
put together all on their own, operating completely outside the traditional
Hollywood system.
"We're not doing this just to make a bank shot into a studio writing job,"
Smith says. "We'd love to have YouTube figure out an alternative model"
that pays well.
Smith grew up in Concord, Calif., and Neisz in Merced. The cousins would
spend their school vacations making videos ? "silly, little films," Neisz
says, involving Lego building blocks, GI Joes and setting things on fire.
Eventually, they landed in Los Angeles, where they tried to break in as
screenwriters, but that didn't pan out. Today, each runs a modest video
production business ? the 35-year-old Smith in Chico, the 31-year-old Neisz
in Burbank ? that cranks out 30-second spots for local colleges and other
banal fare.
They reserve their real passion for "Snowmen Hunters." The show, which I
watched for the first time this week and found amusing in a sick and
twisted sort of way, features the exploits of a psychotic beer guzzler
named Sherman Rance (Neisz) and his moronic sidekick Everett Van der Sloot
(Smith) as they gun down, machete, strangle and otherwise assassinate every
snowman they can find.
The show debuted last September, and so far they've produced 24 episodes,
ranging from 2 1/2 minutes to nearly 10 minutes in length. The production
values are pretty decent ? better than a lot of what you see on YouTube ?
because they're able to use the equipment from their day jobs. That also
helps keep costs to a bare minimum.
Smith says "Snowmen Hunters" has been viewed about 1.7 million times ? not
an astronomical number, but enough to qualify as a cult hit. And "our
audience grows every week," Neisz notes.
Only a year ago, most producers of homemade entertainment "had a goal to
cross over" into a regular Hollywood gig, says Jamie Byrne, YouTube's head
of product marketing. But increasingly, "their vision is to stay on
YouTube" and to continue to develop short-form programs right there.
YouTube has said that it expects to introduce a payment formula sometime
this year to compensate its content creators. Just how it will work ? and
how much of the advertising pie will actually be shared ? is unclear.
YouTube also needs to be careful: Depending on how future ads are
integrated into the site, it could turn off its loyal fans.
Smith, for one, is cautiously optimistic. "We're betting that videos like
'Snowmen Hunters' will still be on the Net when the real money comes
calling," he says. Wednesday's introduction of Apple Inc.'s
online-video-to-TV device, he adds, should only help.
No doubt. Things are moving so fast, he and Neisz may very well be blowing
away Frosty and his friends today and taking on Comedy Central tomorrow.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:32:41 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Mossberg: Congress Must Make Clear Copyright Laws
To Protect Consumers
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20070322.html
March 22, 2007
Congress Must Make
Clear Copyright Laws
To Protect Consumers
By Walter S. Mossberg
Here comes another in the long line of lawsuits between media
companies and Internet companies over who gets to distribute content.
This time it's Viacom, the enormously rich owner of properties like
Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central, suing Google, the enormously
rich owner of YouTube.
The issue: Viacom wants to get paid more than Google wants to pay it
for all of those fuzzy, two-minute clips from programs like "The
Daily Show" that users post to YouTube. The companies tried to
negotiate a deal, but the talks failed, so Viacom is suing for $1
billion.
I am not a lawyer, and I have no idea how this lawsuit will wind up.
I suspect it is mainly a bargaining tactic by Viacom. But I know one
thing: This fight isn't primarily about consumers and their rights,
and its outcome won't necessarily make things better for Internet
users.
Consumers won't be a party to this case any more than they were in
the room when the latest major copyright law was passed by Congress.
That law, the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, was enacted at
the behest of record labels and movie studios. Their purpose was to
stop people from using computers and the Internet to distribute
digital copies of material to which they didn't hold either the
copyright or a distribution license.
That idea makes sense. Unlike some Internet zealots, I believe that
intellectual property is real and that some form of copyright is
appropriate to protect it. I am against the unlicensed copying of
DVDs for sale on street corners, or the mass uploading of songs to
so-called sharing sites.
The Internet and technology companies managed to insert a clause in
the DMCA sparing them from penalties for carrying copyright content
on grounds they were just innocent conduits. That will be a big issue
in the Viacom case. But consumers got no such get-out-of-jail-free
card.
In fact, the DMCA, and other recent laws and regulations passed under
pressure from media companies, are pretty hostile when it comes to
consumers. They turn essentially innocent actions into unlawful
behavior, because they define copyright infringement too broadly.
They have given rise to a technology called Digital Rights Management
that causes too many hassles for honest people and discriminates
against the new digital forms of distribution.
Even Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who created a DRM system for music that
actually has worked, recently called for an end to copy protection of
legally sold music, mainly because the record labels apply that
protection only to online sales, not to physical compact discs.
Most honest people wouldn't consider it piracy to buy a CD, copy it
to a computer and email one of the song files to a spouse or friend.
But the record industry, backed by the laws it essentially wrote,
does. Most honest people wouldn't think that uploading to YouTube a
two-minute TV clip, which they paid their cable company to receive,
is piracy. But Viacom, backed by the laws its industry essentially
wrote, is demanding that Google remove all such clips.
To be fair, Viacom, unlike the misguided record labels, isn't suing
the actual consumers who posted these clips. It's suing Google
because it claims Google is making money from them and refusing to
pay for that privilege.
Google isn't blameless here, either. It does make money, at least
indirectly, from other companies' copyright material, for which it
didn't pay, even though it has negotiated some paid deals and says it
is willing to negotiate others. And while Google says it diligently
removes all copyright clips for which it hasn't secured paid rights,
every YouTube visitor knows that this system is, at best, imperfect.
As a nonlawyer, I think these clips seem like "fair use," an old
copyright concept that seems to have weakened under the advent of the
new laws. Under fair use, as most nonlawyers have understood it, you
could quote this sentence in another publication without permission,
though you'd need the permission of the newspaper to reprint the
entire column or a large part of it. A two-minute portion of a
30-minute TV show seems like the same thing to me.
But why should I have to guess about that? What consumers need is
real clarity on the whole issue of what is or isn't permissible use
of the digital content they have legally obtained. And that can come
only from Congress. Congress is the real villain here, for having
failed to pass a modern copyright law that protects average
consumers, not just big content companies.
We need a new digital copyright law that would draw a line between
modest sharing of a few songs or video clips and the real piracy of
mass distribution. We need a new law that would define fair use for
the digital era and lay out clearly the rights of consumers who pay
for digital content, as well as the rights and responsibilities of
Internet companies.
If you don't like all of the restrictions on the use of digital
content, the solution isn't to steal the stuff. A better course is to
pressure Congress to pass a new copyright law, one that protects the
little guy and the Internet itself.
Email me at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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End of Medianews Digest, Vol 212, Issue 1
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