Archive for November, 2007

France to Downloaders: Stop Infringing or Lose Internet Access

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

Internet users in France who use their connections to violate copyright law may lose their connections under a new policy announced this week. In a three-way deal between internet service providers, the French government, and copyright holders, those accused of infringement will receive warnings from their ISPs. If they are identified ...

Music Exec Bemoans “Inadvertent” War on Consumers

Sunday, November 18th, 2007

In a speech to the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Macau, Warner Music chief Edgar Bronfman warned the mobile industry not to make the music industry's mistakes in failing to satisfy consumer wishes: "We used to fool ourselves,' he said. "We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as ...

House Rebuffs Immunity for Spying Telecoms

Saturday, November 17th, 2007

On Thursday, the US House passed a FISA reform bill without granting immunity to telecommunications companies accused of assisting illegal eavesdropping on US citizens. As we noted last month, the White House and telecoms pressed for retroactive immunity. This pressure has not worked--at least not yet--despite Bush's threat of a veto.

Bill Requiring DRM for Colleges Passes Committee

Friday, November 16th, 2007

As we reported earlier, Section 494 of the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 (pdf) would turn colleges into copyright cops. Now, the bill is in front of the full House thanks to a unanimous committee vote in its favor. The section (on pp. 411-413 of the draft above) requires ...

Telecom Immunity Still Unsettled in Senate

Friday, November 16th, 2007

As reported by CNet, telecommunication companies may still get retroactive immunity (for helping the NSA's illegal spying) as part of the FISA reform working its way through the Senate.

Google Policy Fellowship

Thursday, November 15th, 2007

Do you or somebody you know have deep interest in new media policy and a summer to burn? Are you interested in a summer in San Francisco or DC with one of several groups, including EFF, CDT, or Public Knowledge? Would $7000 accelerate your decision-making? If so, you should apply for ...

Dems to Colleges: Police Copyright or Lose Funding

Saturday, November 10th, 2007

Two Democratic chairs of key House committees introduced a bill yesterday that would require colleges to police copyright and pay off the entertainment industry. Buried on pages 411 and 412 of the 747-page bill, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 (pdf), is the following: Each eligible institution participating in any ...

U of Oregon Fights RIAA Subpoena

Friday, November 9th, 2007

Earlier this month, the Oregon State Attorney General, on behalf of the University of Orgegon, filed to quash an RIAA subpoena seeking the names of 17 users accused of copyright infringement. Oregon argues the subpoena represents an undue burden on the school. The RIAA only knows IP addresses, and making the ...

Canadian Study: P2P Users Buy Slightly More Music

Monday, November 5th, 2007

The Canadian government commissioned a study of the effects of peer-to-peer MP3 trading on music sales, and it found downloading to be slightly correlated with buying more music. From my very limited reading, the effect size was small and did not hold for those aged 15 and older. This study is ...