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Governments have learned a cheap new way to improve people’s lives. Here is the basic recipe: Take data that you and I have already paid a government agency to collect, and post it online in a way that computer programmers can easily use. Then wait a few months. Voilà! The private sector gets busy, creating Web sites and smartphone apps that reformat the information in ways that are helpful to consumers, workers and companies.

Not surprisingly, San Francisco, with its proximity to Silicon Valley, has been a pioneer in these efforts. For some years, Bay Area transit systems had been tracking the locations of their trains and buses via onboard GPS. Then someone got the bright idea to post that information in real time. Thus the delightful app Routesy was born. Install it on a smartphone and the app can tell you that your bus is stuck in traffic and will be 10 minutes late — or it can help you realize that you are standing on the wrong street, dummy. It gives consumers a great new way to find out when and where the bus is coming, and all at minimal government expense.

While much attention in the pay TV/broadcaster world has recently been focused on the Federal Communications Commission’s inquiry into possible changes to the retransmission consent process, a separate proceeding is cranking up over at the Copyright Office that could eventually lead to far more fundamental changes to the must-carry/retransmission system. The Copyright Office is exploring the possible elimination of the compulsory copyright licenses that form the core of the system that determines how, and by whom, over-the-air broadcast programming can be retransmitted. So while the FCC may be contemplating various changes, significant or otherwise, within the existing box, the Copyright Office is not just thinking outside that box; rather, it’s contemplating a situation in which that box no longer exists at all.

The alternatives suggested by the Copyright Office include:

1. Sublicensing ­ Instead of a compulsory license allowing an MVPD operator to carry a broadcast signal in its entirety, this approach would move the rights clearance process further down the chain.
2. Private Licensing ­ This allows a cable system or satellite carrier to negotiate with the copyright owner of a specific program for the right to perform the work. Of course, this market-driven process would appear to benefit the program producers to the detriment of the actual stations.
3. Collective Licensing ­ This involves copyright owners getting one or more third party organizations to represent them en masse.

In Lalonde v. Lalonde, a mother sought appellate review of the lower court’s order that awarded primary physical custody of her daughter to the child’s father. The mother argued, among other things, that the court improperly considered Facebook photos showing her drinking. This was not good because her psychologist had testified that alcohol would have an adverse effect on the medication she was taking for bipolar disorder. The court rejected the mother’s assertion that the photos should not be considered as evidence. She argued that because Facebook allows anyone to post pictures and then “tag” or identify the people in the pictures, she never gave permission for the photographs to be published in this manner. The court held that “[t]here is nothing within the law that requires [one's] permission when someone takes a picture and posts it on a Facebook page. There is nothing that requires [one's] permission when she [is] “tagged” or identified as a person in those pictures.”

In December 2010, Members of Congress wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski with concerns about phantom traffic and traffic pumping. They wrote, "We believe the record is complete on phantom traffic and traffic pumping, and the time to act is now." They conclude: "By moving forward on these two issues and clarifying the status of IP traffic when it accesses traditional phone networks, incentives and certainty would be created for incumbent carriers to continue to invest in broadband and meet the goals established in the National Broadband Plan. More importantly, taking immediate action in these areas will provide the momentum and building blocks necessary for comprehensive intercarrier compensation reform that can benefit consumers for decades to come."

On February 22, Chairman Genachowski replied noting that on Feb 8 the FCC a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to comprehensively reform intercarrier compensation and the universal service fund. In particular, the Notice puts forward near-term measures for addressing intercarrier compensation issues, including proposed rules to address phantom traffic and traffic pumping.