November 2009

Hulu is starting to show signs of why it's not easy to run a joint venture between competitors. Recently, the popular video site's various parents have sent mixed messages about Hulu's future business model—and whether or not it will erect some sort of paid subscription wall. Now, reports are bubbling up about an increasing level of discord between Hulu's own ad sales staff and the staffs of each of the site's broadcast partners: ABC, NBC and Fox. Observers predict that the already complicated arrangement is likely to become more so, particularly given the prospect that NBC Universal may be sold to Comcast—which already operates its own online video site (Fancast) and has a markedly different philosophy regarding just how free TV content should be on the Internet.

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Julie Brill and Edith Ramirez to serve as commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission.

Julie Brill became the Senior Deputy Attorney General and Chief of Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the North Carolina Department of Justice in February 2009. A resident of North Carolina and Vermont, Brill is also a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia University's School of Law. Prior to her leadership at the North Carolina Department of Justice, Brill was an Assistant Attorney General for Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the State of Vermont for over 20 years (1988-2009). Brill has also served as a Vice-Chair of the Consumer Protection Committee of the American Bar Association Antitrust Section since 2004. Prior to her career in law enforcement, Brill was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York from 1987 to 1988, and she clerked for Vermont Federal District Court Judge Franklin S. Billings Jr. from 1985 to 1986. Brill graduated, magna cum laude, from Princeton University in 1981 and from New York University School of Law in 1985, where she received a Root-Tilden Scholarship for her commitment to public service.

Edith Ramirez is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP where she specializes in intellectual property and complex litigation matters. She has a broad range of experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in copyright, trademark, antitrust, business tort, and other general business litigation cases. Ms. Ramirez has also been active throughout her career in a variety of professional and community activities. Ms. Ramirez graduated magna cum laude from Harvard-Radcliffe in 1989. She obtained her law degree from Harvard Law School in 1992, where she served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Following graduation, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Alfred T. Goodwin, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In a new report, McAfee says the global cyberarms race has moved from fiction to reality. The report found that politically motivated cyberattacks have increased and five countries - the United States, Russia, France, Israel and China - are now armed with cyberweapons. The Virtual Criminology Report includes insights from more than two dozen of the world's leading experts in international relations, including Dr. Jamie Saunders, counselor at the British Embassy in Washington D.C. and security experts with experience at the U.S. National Security Agency and the Australian Attorney-General's Department. Former White House advisor Paul Kurtz compiled the report on McAfee's behalf. The report for the first time provides a model to define cyberwar, identifies the countries involved in developing cyberoffenses and cyberdefenses, dissects examples of politically-motivated cyberattacks and reveals how the private sector will get caught in the crossfire. Government disclosure is also a major issue, as cyber initiatives and information are often classified by the government, hindering cybercrime defense in the public and private sector. Experts call for a clear definition and an open debate on cyberwarfare. Without an open discussion among the government, private sector and the public, future cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure could be devastating. This year's report identifies the following challenges: Cyberwarfare is a Reality; Cyberweapons Are Targeting Critical Infrastructure; Cyberwar is Undefined; and Private Sector is the Most at Risk.

The mandate of interconnection rules, unbundling regulations and related policies has transformed Japan into an international broadband leader. As the Berkman study concludes, "Contrary to perceptions in the United States, there is extensive evidence to support the position, adopted almost universally by other advanced economies, that open access policies, where undertaken with serious regulatory engagement, contributed to broadband penetration, capacity, and affordability in the first generation of broadband."35 With the success of these policies in nations such as Japan, the FCC should begin to reassess its current policy framework and consider policies that address bottlenecks to robust competition in the U.S. broadband market. Beyond open access policies, Japan's grant program for rural local governments could also serve as useful tool to address our nation's rural broadband challenges.