April 2012

Hollywood Studios Lose Australia Lawsuit Over Downloads

Walt Disney and Viacom’s Paramount Pictures are among Hollywood’s biggest movie studios that lost a piracy lawsuit in Australia as the country’s top court upheld rulings that a local Internet provider wasn’t responsible for customers illegally downloading films.

Iinet Ltd., based in Perth, didn’t authorize the infringement when customers illegally downloaded pirated copies of movies, the High Court of Australia ruled, according to a summary of the decision released on the court’s website. Village Roadshow Ltd.’s Roadshow Films led the companies trying to stop iiNet customers from using BitTorrent software to illegally download copyrighted films, in a precedent-setting case for Internet providers in Australia. The studios were appealing earlier court decisions vindicating iiNet, and seeking damages that they said could include royalties on illegally downloaded movies.

FCC Seeks Comment on Lifeline Petitions for Reconsideration

In this document, Petitions for Reconsideration have been filed in the Federal Communications Commission’s Rulemaking proceeding concerning rules that comprehensively reform and modernize the Lifeline program to strengthen protections against waste, fraud and abuse; improve program administration and accountability; improve enrollment and consumer disclosures; initiate modernization of the program for broadband; and constrain the growth of the program.

Oppositions to the Petitions must be filed by May 7, 2012. Replies to an opposition must be filed May 15, 2012.

Chairman Upton Outlines House Commerce Committee Accomplishments in Quarterly Report to Members

House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) released a comprehensive report to members on the panel’s work in the first quarter of the second session of the 112th Congress. Similar reports were issued throughout 2011, with the updates provided to committee members and the House Republican leadership. Producing a record of job-focused accomplishments, the committee’s efforts through hearings, legislation, and oversight helped the committee concentrate on three overarching goals:

Supporting job creation and economic growth: Bills within the energy, health care, and telecommunications sectors remove bureaucratic red tape while protecting taxpayer dollars and promoting American innovation. For example, spectrum auctions developed in the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will free up airwaves to support development of next-generation broadband networks.
Standing up for taxpayers by reducing the size and scope of the federal government
Protecting individuals, families and communities: The committee has worked collaboratively, beginning last year and continuing in earnest in the first quarter of this year, to understand rapidly evolving technological advancements and to craft appropriate responses that will promote continued innovation while protecting individual liberty and our national security. Members of the Energy and Commerce Committee served on the House Cybersecurity Task Force, and the Communications and Technology Subcommittee formed a bipartisan Cybersecurity Working Group to examine the current landscape and lay the foundation for the efforts to address cybersecurity. Already, our committee is pursuing solutions to protect consumer data with Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Mary Bono Mack’s SAFE Data Act. Chairman Bono Mack has also taken a leading role in finding an effective private-sector solution to online privacy while preserving Internet innovation and growth.

ICANN Explains Domain Name Database Glitch; Outage Continues

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers said it is trying to make sure it has completely solved a technical glitch that shut down a database for applicants wanting to register new top-level domain names. The database was shut down after users noticed they could see information from other applicants. That was due to a problem in the way files were being deleted and shutting down the whole system was the most prudent action.

Americans Watching Billions Of Video Ads, Content Monthly

Whetting the appetites of marketers, consumers are watching more online video advertising than ever. Breaking all previous records, Americans viewed more than 8.3 billion video ads in March, according to new data from comScore.

Delivering another record month, Hulu recorded more than 1.7 billion video ad views in March, while Google Sites, i.e. YouTube, ranked second with more than 1.2 billion video ads. The BrightRoll video network came in third with 953 million, followed by Adap.tv with 892 million, and Specific Media with more than 775 million. Time spent watching video ads totaled 3.5 billion minutes, with Hulu delivering the highest duration of video ads at 690 million minutes, according to comScore. Video ads reached 51% of the total U.S. population, an average of 53 times during the month, while Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 51, followed by ESPN, which delivered an average of 26 ads per viewer. Overall, 181 million US Internet users watched nearly 37 billion online content videos in March, while video ads topped 8 billion for the first time on record.

Spectrum Crisis, Hyperbole or Quest for Market Control?

[Commentary] Fueled in no small part by a Congressional hearing, the need for more spectrum devoted to wireless telecommunications services was a big topic this week. AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint say they need more spectrum to meet the exploding demands for mobile data. If they don’t get more soon, they warn, mobile users will experience slower, spottier connections – and higher prices. On April 18, the New York Times examined the spectrum issue but noted that some scientists and engineers say the carriers are playing a game that is more about protecting their businesses from competitors.

Can the Phone Be Reinvented?

Just look at the array of phones being spat out by the tens of millions from production lines now. They're all the same. They're all flat glossy screens married to a flat wedge of invisible high-tech magic circuitry. There are sub-genus types, coming with keyboards, but those are looking increasingly jaded. And don't let's talk about "dumbphones," which are basically walking dinosaurs in an era where smartphone Foursquare check-ins can help redefine a neighborhood. Blame Apple, if you like. It boiled the form and function of a smartphone down to its almost ultimate essence...a screen and a barely there frame to hold that screen. You can't even open the case. Pretty much every phone maker has followed the iPhone format for smartphone design. But it's not just the physical format of the phone that has gotten boring and predictable. It's the software it runs, from Android to Bada to iOS to Windows.

How about a smartphone that, through some gestalt trick of the sum of all its interactive apps, actually engages with you, instead of merely delivering data in an endless stream on its glowing screen? Siri-meets-Watson-and-a-benevolent-HAL, if you like. It may be on the edge of the possible, but someone's got to be working on that technology. Stick it in a super-smartphone that looks like none of the current crop of clones, and we'd all actively give it even more personal information than we already jam into Facebook or Google's databanks because instead of demanding our active attention, and thus accidentally dominating our daily lives, it would actively benefit them.

In Pennsylvania Primary, Television News is Late to the Game

The battle between 10-term US Rep. Tim Holden and his Democratic primary opponent, attorney Matt Cartwright, is dominating the local television landscape in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Pointed ads from the campaigns have mixed with outside PAC spots gunning for the Blue Dog incumbent. The heavy airing has provided lots of fodder for print and public media reporters covering area races. But the beneficiaries of the significant ad buys -- local television stations -- have offered scant news coverage to cut through the clutter.

The few reports that have made it on air have come just a few days before the April 24 primary. They generally follow candidate pressers or point viewers to what each side says is true, rather than scout out the full story themselves. They also offer up voters who say -- you guessed it -- they don’t like negative ads and political analysts who say the race is close.

FCC Okays Second Area for "White Space" Operations

The Federal Communications Commission has authorized TV white space database coordinator Telcordia to offer service within Nottoway County, Virginia, a mostly rural area toward the southern part of the state.

Initial operations will include 20 sites serving rural schools and households. The action comes less than a month after the FCC approved Telcordia’s database, and four months after the first white space operations were approved for Wilmington, NC by coordinator Spectrum Bridge, Inc. Included in the Nottoway County order are special procedures for registering wireless microphones entitled to protection from white space devices.

Technology Enables Collaborative Doctor-Patient Relationships

Not very long ago, a patient’s medical chart was considered proprietary information belonging to a doctor or a hospital. But just as technology is remaking the rest of the world, it’s also contributing to remaking the relationship between your doctor and you.

More patients have access to their data now that more doctors are moving to electronic medical records. Emerging technologies are also driving change. People with diabetes might use mobile apps to keep track of blood sugar levels, for example. So, with all this data at a patient’s fingertips, how is the doctor-patient relationship changing? “Patients, when they come to the doctor seeking health care, aren’t necessarily looking for ‘raw data’ – they have already looked it up online. Instead, they are looking for meaning,” wrote Dr. Robert Rowley recently. Rowley is a family practice doctor in Hayward … but he’s also the medical director of Practice Fusion, an electronic medical record company.

Benton

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