The 463: Inside Tech Policy

It's a Cinderella Story

The Hollywood Reporter's visionary Washington Bureau Chief Brooks Boliek makes a compelling argument that "Caddyshack" be added to the National Film Registry.

In his view, the film clearly fits the library's criteria as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and at least 10 years old. He's launched a campaign to get this epic its rightful place in the pantheon of screen glory.

We at 463 heartily support this effort and encourage all those who care about decency, the American way and gopher jokes to join us in writing the keeper of the National Film Registry, Steve Leggett, to urge him to support this cause. E-mail Mr. Leggett your nomination of "Caddyshack" at sleg@loc.gov.

Remember, could Al Qaeda have produced Caddyshack? We think not.

eWeek Cover Piece on Tech Policy

463's client TechNet was the lead in a recent eWeek feature on the convergence between technology and politics....

 

Until this month, Lezlee Westine answered directly to President Bush's top adviser, Karl Rove, but as of next week, she will answer to CEOs Craig Barrett, of Intel Corp.; John Chambers, of Cisco System Inc.; Stratton Sclavos, of VeriSign Inc.; and 14 other IT luminaries.

The newest face of the IT industry here, Westine is leaving her job as director of public liaison and deputy assistant to Bush to become CEO of TechNet, a political network of CEOs. She will open the first Washington office for the association, which, until now, has operated out of its base in Palo Alto, Calif.

TechNet's growing presence here and its placement of a well-connected administration insider at its helm mirror a larger trend in the industry. Having once shunned politicking—in keeping with a West Coast, independent, free-spirited image—IT is fast becoming one of the country's highest-profile groups seeking to influence Capitol Hill, the White House and federal agencies.

Picturing Legislation

When considering the future of converged devices, much policy consideration is deservedly placed on the distribution of entertainment content.  However, there are seedlings of legislation that indicate that user-created content will see its fair share of regulatory debate.  So far, much of this has focused on applications of camera phones.

For, example, last year Congress passed a bill that makes photo/video voyeurism illegal on federal property.  Voyeurism is defined as taking unauthorized photos of naked and partially dressed people.  This rule was primarly created with military facilities in mind.

A more extreme example comes from New Jersey...

Wireless P2P: Coming Soon?

Bill Gates’ suggestion last week that the mobile phone will render the iPod extinct was so March.  After all, BusinessWeek ran an April cover story on mobile phone digital music convergence called:  “iPod Killers".

The 463 is less interested in what the ultimate device will be. Indeed, Apple could add phone functions to the next generation iPod. We’re interested in how the convergence of wireless, IP and entertainment inside this device is going to create the next generation of tech policy (see our bits about the “pPod” and the coming battles between the content creators and distributors).

Let’s consider wireless P2P.  In March, a Billboard analysis written by a mobile industry expert said:

The Most Prescient Grokster Brief (pPod)

This is a first in a series of posts focused on the previously discussed concept of the "pPod", or Policy Pod -- a massively converged, multi-purpose device that, at the very least, symbolically represents where both technology and policy are headed in coming years.

It's becoming increasingly apparent to the wireless carriers that they will soon be major players in the business of distributing entertainment content.  The early, shocking revenues garnered from ringtones clearly accelerated this thinking.

And, while their heads were not completely around content policy issues as recently as last summer, the mobile industry is used to the business of regulation and policymaking and quickly began formulating its positions.

One major forcing function was the Grokster Supreme Court case.  The mobile phone industry's trade and lobbying group CTIA quietly filed a Grokster amicus brief in support of Grokster, et al. Other telecom heavyweights including USTA, AT&T, Bell South, SBC, MCI, and Verizon, joined CTIA. (You can download the brief here).  Surprisingly, this brief received little mainstream media or blog attention.  It's also notable that the amici could have filed a brief in support of neither party (like the Digital Media Association), but decided to take the stronger stand.

To us, this brief spotlights some neon writing on the wall:   Two of the biggest, most powerful industries (telecom and entertainment) -- both who are used to and expect to get their way in policy circles are about to enter into a long, protracted cold war over who has the upper hand:  The distributors or the creators? 

During this cold war, there will be many treaties (deals) with each other along the way; considerable nods to the great power and accomplishments of the other; and, even perhaps an eventual unified approach to dealing with the common enemy of revenue-damaging piracy (via DRM and/or focused legislation).  However, when you get two super powers in the same room trying to get more pieces of the same pie, it's inevitable that territories will be marked and back-room battles fought.

Indeed, the CTIA amicus brief offers an olive branch while it draws a significant line that will mark likely future legislative battles:

Hilary Rosen + Her iPod = Great Publicity

We love the Hilary Rosen controversy sweeping the Web as we type.  Good Morning Silicon Valley's new (and appreciated) blog sums up the self-satisfied outrage:

"Fair-use advocates were likely choking on their cornflakes this morning after reading former RIAA President Hilary Rosen's first post to Arianna Huffington's new celebrity blog. In it, Rosen criticizes Apple's digital rights management scheme. “The new iPod my girlfriend gave me is a trap. Yeah, it is great looking and I really love the baby blue leather case but when, oh when, will Steve Jobs let me buy music from somewhere other than the Apple iTunes store and put it on my iPod? ... Of course the irony, the hysterical irony, of this is that Rosen was once one of DRM's biggest proponents, as Ernest Miller points out in this acerbic post to Corante."

People.  Did anyone stop and notice that Rosen's blog posting came on the very FIRST day that Huffington's new site went live?  (Helpfully, the sub-head of the "The Huffington Post" is "Delivering News and Opinion Since May 9, 2005")

The math is easy:  Mix the two biggest tech-cultural phenomena (blogging + iPods).  Add pinches of irony, celebrity and controversy.  Poof!  Internet marketing genius.

Let a million "did ya hear" links bloom..... 

Bass-Ackward Tech Policy

A couple of weeks after Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates lambasted U.S. immigration policy as being overly restrictive in allowing educated, skilled workers into the the U.S., Intel's current CEO and soon-to-be Chairman went on an even stronger rant.  From a Reuters interview with Craig Barrett:

Turning away educated people who want to emigrate to the  United States "has to be the dumbest thing in the world," he  said....

Introducing the pPod

The 463 has had something deep on its mind in recent weeks.  Or perhaps it's simply just obvious.  You be the judge....

It seems to us that we're moving towards a day when we have a single, hand-held device that is a phone (3+G, WiFi, landline); a portable entertainment player (games, music, movies); a TV; a radio (Podcasts, satellite, terrestrial); a camera; a GPS system; a RFID enabled wallet and product reader; a node on an advanced eHealth network; and, of course, an access point to the Internet.

And, while it's easy to poke holes in why this all-in-one device might not happen anytime soon - if ever (size, complexity, fear of theft), it's even easier to imagine how many of the elements above will converge on a device or devices as we move beyond the iPod/Camera Phone Era 1.O.

And, if things do progress as we expect, our minds reel even more at the thought of all the policy issues that will both symbolically and directly converge around this device that we call the Policy Pod, or pPod, for groans.  (Other ideas:  ePod for everythingPod or, more expansively, ebtksPod for EveryButTheKitchenSinkPod)

Indeed, you don't even need to look into the future for the policies swirling around mobile, content-rich devices.  They're happening now in all corners of the globe.  And, they will have profound impact on the shape of the development of the pPod.

The 463 will be closely following these issues in the weeks and months to come.

(illustration above is from the iPod Lounge iPod Concept Gallery)

Spitzing on Spyware

Eliot Spitzer, NY state AG and 2006 gubernatorial candidate, is shifting his target from Wall Street evil doers to purveyors of spyware and adware.  And, while the average computer user may rejoice, the investors of some mainstream Internet companies aren't so pleased.

From an AP article:

"People are fed up with adware and spyware," he said. "They feel as though they've lost control of their computers and they want something to be done.... Hopefully, technology will provide a comprehensive solution at some point but until that time, there needs to be a cop in cyberspace who will stop the most egregious abuses."

One company's stock price has already taken a hit on rumors that it's being investigated....   

Broadcast Flag at Half Mast

Today, a federal appeals court quashed the FCC's plans to enforce their "broadcast flag" regulation on July 1.  More from CNET's story:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday that the Federal Communications Commission did not have the authority to prohibit the manufacture of computer and video hardware without copy protection technology known as the "broadcast flag." The FCC's regulations, which it created in November 2003, had been intended to limit unauthorized Internet redistribution of TV broadcasts....

Under the FCC rules, starting in July digital TV tuners manufactured would have had to include copy-protection technology--called the broadcast flag--that's backed by the Motion Picture Association of America. The broadcast flag limits the TV recipient's ability to redistribute video clips made from the recorded over-the-air broadcasts.

Barring a reversal on appeal, this fight will likely move to Congress soon.  More background on the broadcast flag rule is here.