December 2014

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood (D-MS) is "calling a time out" in his feud with Google regarding the company’s take down policy for ads and search results regarding illegal drugs or pirated content.

AG Hood said he hoped "cooler heads" would prevail, adding that he would reach out to the company to "negotiate a peaceful resolution" to the issues. However, AG Hood chastised the Google, saying, "we expect more from one of the wealthiest corporations in the world." "Now, feeling emboldened with its billions of dollars, media prowess and political power, some of its more excitable people have sued trying to stop the state of Mississippi for daring to ask some questions," AG Hood said.

The National Association of Broadcasters' point man on incentive auctions, Rick Kaplan, says the AWS-3 success should bring a relaxed Federal Communications Commission timetable and rules.

“The FCC has the responsibility to take a step back and assess what the world looks like now that the AWS-3 auction has raised so much money,” said Rick Kaplan. “It’s probably time to stop conducting the incentive auction like it is going to be a failure” or to adopt a variable band plan “because of an irrational fear of not raising enough money.” Kaplan added that the FCC should rethink its approach to unlicensed spectrum now that everything is “paid for in spades,” making a little more room for them rather than trying to “shoehorn” them in. He also said it should mean the FCC does not have to hold the auction in early 2016. “Most people would say that if you want to raise as much money as possible, you would not want to have the next auction only a year later.”

Fair use rules involve courts balancing the rights of the copyright owner against the interest of the public. And in the case of The Interview, the public interest case for showing the movie is enormous, given the awful precedent that this piece of censorship is setting. Of the four factors used to test if fair use rules apply, on two really matter: the reason someone is using the copyrighted work, and the effect that his use will have on the market.

The market factor tilts heavily in favor of anyone showing The Interview since, right now, there is no market for the film. And as for the other major fair use factor (known as “the purpose of the use”), there is a good argument that showing the film counts as a so-called transformative use. Unlike Sony’s original intention for the movie, which was as a lowbrow form of entertainment, others who show it would be making a powerful political statement. Does this mean that the fair use case for showing The Interview is open-and-shut? No, it’s not. But the case is strong and, anyway, would Sony really double down by filing copyright lawsuits over a movie that it was too cowardly to release in the first place?

In 2014, the largest school technology expansion in the country stalled in the Los Angeles Unified School District. It became a magnet for controversy and was a factor in the resignation of Superintendent John Deasy in October.

The iPads arrived in schools before Wi-Fi, officials didn't include keyboards with the tablets, and students found ways to bypass online protection software and access Facebook and Twitter. In December, in a surprising move, the FBI seized 20 boxes of documents related to a $500 million iPad contract with Apple and Pearson, the company that provided the software loaded on many of the iPads. The investigation is housed in the agency's office of public corruption.