The 463: Inside Tech Policy

Around the Horn: The OK, Go Edition

Another trip around the diamond just in time for Labor Day Weekend...

• What does it mean when:  "In the 50's, 62% of the nation could be found snuggled in front of their television sets for Lucy; in the 80's, still 51% saw the Cosby Show; but today, only 25% sit to watch a top-rated show like CSI."  (HeeHaw Marketing)

• Is SpiralFrog the love child of Pavement's Spiral Stairs and Jamster's Crazy Frog?  Don't know.  There's lots that we don't know about this yet-to-be launched online music site that will compete with music subscription services and iTunes by offering free tracks with the support of at least one big label.  Yet, it seems to be clear that the music will be ad supported and DRM'd.  How much so is the question of the hour.  One industry analyst is quoted saying each track will begin with 90 seconds of audio advertising.   The LA Times' Jon Healey has the more reasonable report that the 90 second ad will be a video shown on actual download of the track. Healey also is brave enough to say:  "Now for the non-obvious point: SpiralFrog's service is made possible by digital rights management technology, and that's a good thing."  Back to the haters:  One industry watcher wonders whether by making the tracks "promotional", the labels won't have to pay royalty payments to artists.  Others are hearing that the music "expires" after six months.

• From a National Journal Tech Daily review of Silicon Valley political giving:

Bloody Brilliant

Just last week the UK Cabinet Office posted a couple videos to YouTube in an effort be at once hip and informative.  Despite the less than enthusiastic reviews of the content, the mere act of posting the videos was called "ground-breaking and one other governments might well follow" in Silicon.com.

Today, in an act straight out of the "The Office" (OG), different folks from a different part of the very same governmental entity requested YouTube to take down the videos "because its content was used without permission."

Silicon.com follows-up...

Bush to Make Major Clean Tech Push?

Just a guess. From the blog of Time Magazine's White House correspondent:

Previewing the final quarter of Bush's presidency, officials disclosed to Time that the Administration is formulating a huge energy initiative designed to "change the whole nature of the discussion" and challenge the g.o.p., Democrats, the oil and electricity industries, and environmentalists. An adviser said Bush's views about global warming have evolved. "Only Nixon could go to China, and only Bush and Cheney--two oilmen--can bring all these parties kicking and screaming to the table," the adviser said."

Excuse Me, My Pipeline for Perversion is Ringing

The Australian legislative bid to regulate mobile content similar to broadcast TV rules has new momentum. The impetus is the case of "an 11-year-old student in Castle Hill who was suspended after he downloaded nude photos onto an internet-capable phone outside school hours, and then brought them to school to show classmates." (Sidney Morning Herald).

The reaction from Australia's Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan:

"Like the Internet, increasingly sophisticated hardware such as mobile phones can be a vital communications tool, but in inexperienced hands they can become a pipeline for perversion."

Actually, the priceless "pipelines for perversion" line is a slight oldie, but goodie. It was first used back in June when Coonan announced the planned legislation. Here's a link to the full speech and a relevant excerpt follows after the jump.

Again, we whole heartedly agree with the prediction that social regulation will drive communications rules in the near future. As Australia goes, so goes....?

PFF Aspen Summit Videos

We wrapped up the event here, but check it out for yourself.  PFF has kindly posted video of the event.

See the FTC's Deborah Platt Majoras get engaged on Net Neutrality; watch Disney President Anne Sweeney tell folks how Steve Jobs sold an iTunes partnership; and, learn from Sumner Redstone why he thinks variable pricing for digital content is the way to sell the Long Tail.

Also, check out the panel run by Patrick Ross with key policymakers and staffers that wraps up the Summit with a free-ranging perspective of the key DC folks.  We had to miss it in Aspen, but were very grateful to view it this morning.

And, if you want a three-minute video review of Aspen, VONosphere's Paul Kapustka, has one here.

The Unbearable Lightness of Darknets

About 16 months ago, a music publisher had this to say about a "friend to friend" file-sharing service meant for sharing between small-ish groups of people:

"I'm not so sure that I see a big distinction between this and, say, Grokster because you're at 30 people. Where are you going to draw the line at what constitutes unlicensed use of copyrighted music?"

The service he was referring to in the LA Times was Grouper. You might have heard that, Sony announced plans this week to buy it for $65 million.

Will a big media company be buying the new "F2F" service AllPeers anytime soon? Not likely.

Grouper evolved into a multi-dimensional YouTube-like service, while AllPeers looks locked and loaded on becoming the first ultra-light P2P application that runs as an extension to a browser (in this case, the open source Firefox). Jon Healey of the LA Times notes its significance while tossing out the "N" word:

What I Learned in Aspen

Just got back from another much enjoyed PFF Aspen Summit.  Here's the top-ten of what I learned:

10.  When he's not firing controversial superstars, Sumner Redstone is apparently reading New Economy business tomes.  In his speech last night, Redstone referred extensively to Chris Anderson's book "The Long Tail" and noted that "Anderson wrote his book in hopes that folks like me would pick it up."  Redstone endorsed the economic opportunity of back catalogues -- but only under a regime of strong copyright controls.

9.  If she wants it, FTC chair Deborah Platt Majoras has a long, successful political career ahead of her.  She has the one-two punch of showing smarts and a warm personality in front of a crowd and in smaller settings.  Majoras also is clearly inquisitive.  She attended most sessions and stayed for the entire conference.  Some keynoters are "wheels-up" 15 minutes after their speech.

8. "I'm wheels-up in 15 minutes" is a normal thing to say in Aspen....

FTC Gives NN Fans Altitude Sickness

More than a mile high in lovely Aspen, the impressive FTC chair Deborah Platt Majoras surprised policy wonks (at least the three I talked to after her speech) by throwing the FTC headlong into the briefly hibernating Net Neutrality debate.  A FTC release notes:

(Majoras) has formed an Internet Access Task Force to examine issues being raised by converging technologies and regulatory developments, and to educate and inform the enforcement, advocacy and education initiatives of the Commission. “I also have asked the Internet Access Task Force to address what is likely the most hotly debated issue in communications, so-called ‘network neutrality,’” she said.

“The FTC’s Internet Access Task Force is looking carefully at the issues raised by calls for network neutrality laws. . . . I urge caution in proceeding on the issue. I . . . question the starting assumption that government regulation, rather than the market itself under existing laws, will provide the best solution to a problem,” Majoras said.

The speech was today's lunch keynote at the aforementioned PFF Aspen Summit.  And, the location for announcement shouldn't come as a huge surprise.  After all, PFF's outgoing President Ray Gifford submitted testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee and advocated for the FTC's jurisdiction in policing any net neutrality violations.  Those of you following at home, of course, know that PFF has been an outspoken opponent of legislated NN protections.  Gifford wrote:

Bully for Game Politics

There's a video game (pictured above) called Bully coming out this October that has the level heads at the UK's Mirror hyperventilating...

A SKINHEAD thug wins a bloody playground fight with a classmate, before hunting down a teacher as his next victim.

This is Bully. A new video game that's been called the sickest ever, a sadistic orgy of violence where you win points for being the most vicious yob in a reform school. News of the game's release comes as research suggests that playing violent video games makes youngsters more aggressive.

There is controversy about the game aplenty in the US, too, and Wal-Mart has reacted by halting pre-orders for what the video game industry's chief-legal-burr-in-their-side calls a "Columbine simulator."

What perfect timing for a November election! Indeed, we'll be watching how this plays out and keep a eye out for video game legislation in general. As all software gets delivered as a Web service, regulating video games is just one step away from regulating the distribution of Web content. Luckily, all this will be easy to track...

YouTube Banned in China?

[Update:  See our October 22, 2007 post for more current developments]

If Europe and Australia can consider regulating online video, why not China?

Of course, China isn't dancing around the issue with niceties like consultations, studies and votes.  They are jumping in head first and going whole hog.  The same regulatory body that makes rules for TV and movies is going prevent sites from showing online videos unless the site is government approved.  So far, YouTube and Google Video are among the many not on the People's Most Favored list.  From the WSJ: