January 2, 2006
Volume 11, Issue 10
Firefox P2P File-Sharing Extension
Excerpted from WebProNews Report by Jason Lee Miller
A new Firefox extension has debuted that incorporates peer-to-peer (P2P) capabilities into the browser via a sidebar. AllPeers "combines the strength of Firefox and the efficiency of BitTorrent" to add media sharing to the long list of available extensions.
Created by British-American-Czech software developer Matthew Gertner, the AllPeers extension uses a task-panel approach rather than a dialogue box.
"The heart of AllPeers is the Navigator, a sidebar that provides rapid access to all the information managed by AllPeers. Since AllPeers is by nature an extensible platform, the Navigator needs to be extensible as well. That's why you see the buttons at the bottom for changing the view ('My Peers' and 'My Media')," reads the AllPeers website.
Screenshots of the new functionality can be found here.
Kuro P2P Service Debuts MP3 Player
Excerpted from DigiTimes Report by Esther Lam
Taiwan-based MP3 file-sharing service Kuro has introduced its Kuro Neo MP3 player for use with its P2P file-sharing network.
The MP3 player comes with 512 MB of flash memory, while also featuring an SD memory card slot so users can expand their storage capacities without having to upgrade the entire device. The company stated that the Neo can also serve as a USB drive and card reader for SD memory cards and does not require any driver installation.
Lite-On Technology Corporation (LTC) is the OEM manufacturer of the Neo, Kuro stated.
Targeting the 400,000 subscribers to its file-sharing network, Kuro aims to sell about 20,000 Neo MP3 players in 2006. The MP3 player will retail for $117, and the company is marketing it bundled with a similarly priced one-year subscription to its file-sharing network.
Kuro does not rule out the possibility of partnering with other vendors for MP3 product rollouts next year, according to product manager Eric Yang. The company also has MP3-equipped handsets on its roadmap, he added.
Kuro mainly focuses on Chinese-language songs with its P2P network, and like many other file-sharing services, the company has seen its share of legal troubles. The company lost a lawsuit last year filed by the local Taiwan International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for copyright infringement. Despite losing the case, the service remains active and Kuro stated that it is currently negotiating a settlement for the lawsuit.
Openera Brings P2P Video to 3G
Excerpted from Sify Report
You whip out the gizmo, connect to kid sister in Bangalore, aim, and stream. The "oohs and aahs" at the other end are proof that both of you have enjoyed the beauty across borders, but in real time.
That's not too far off, according to Jawad Ayaz, Founder and CTO, Openera. The scenario will soon be possible when 3G, the next generation of telecom network, is set up in India. Already telco integrators such as Lucent, Japan-based NEC, and Alcatel are investing millions in these applications, he added.
Indian-owned Openera works on IP multimedia subsystem client applications (software that will reside in your mobile). The new P2P video sharing application by the company allows mobile users to launch a synchronous audio-video session with a caller.
P2P video sharing can also be used while shopping. And at an affordable cost, said Ayaz. The charge is calculated similar to Internet connection, per MB.
Openera also offers the active phone book, which includes presence awareness. This enables users to check people's availability (office, home, car, or "busy"). The address book gives information on the status of your contacts on a real-time basis. Based on that information, you can connect to them via their preferred communications mode - through e-mail, SMS or a call.
While such a system is available in instant messengers, their implementation in mobile phones needs faster broadband at the telecom infrastructure level. Once 3G is established, mobile users will have access to such exciting new applications.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 As we enter 2006, the DCIA commends our Members and other participants in the DCIA-sponsored Consumer Disclosures Working Group (CDWG) for their implementation of peer-to-peer (P2P) user safety measures.
Their responsible industry leadership through voluntary self-regulation augurs well for 2006 to be the year that legal challenges from the entertainment sector at last also will be resolved. This, in turn, will make it possible for commercial development of P2P as a licensed mainstream distribution channel finally to proceed apace.
Indeed, the principal requirement for accelerated revenue growth in the distributed computing industry this January continues to be content authorization from major music labels and movie studios for open file-sharing programs.
Industry participants, especially content rights holders and P2P software distributors, are invited to share in a New Year's Resolution: LICENSE!
As committed in our March letter to the FTC, CDWG participants implemented consumer disclosures from prominent links on the home-pages of their open P2P websites, featuring headlines about using their respective P2P software programs safely. Copy beneath these headlines includes hyperlinks to more information on this important subject such as:
"The following information is provided as a public service by this participating P2P application provider (by name). Please also read the important Consumer Alert concerning P2P software from the US Federal Trade Commission.
(Below are typical current) P2P Software User Advisories.
Copyright Infringement Liability - P2P technology makes it possible to share all kinds of information. Some information is protected by copyright, which means that you generally need the copyright owner's permission before you make it available to other P2P users. Popular music, movies, games, and software are often protected by copyright.
Copyright infringement can result in significant monetary damages, fines and even criminal penalties. Some copyright owners have filed civil lawsuits against individuals that they believe unlawfully distributed large numbers of copyrighted songs.
Click here for information about how to use this P2P software program to minimize or avoid copyright infringement.
Data Security - P2P software programs let users share information with other users around the globe. They allow users to view the contents of each others' 'shared folders.' If you have personal information in your shared folder, anyone else using the same P2P software has access to it. Another user could use that information to commit identity theft, or to embarrass you. Please pay attention to the files that you place in, or download to, your shared folder. Don't put information in your shared folder that you aren't comfortable sharing with strangers.
In particular, do not put tax, medical, banking, correspondence, or any other sensitive personal files in the same folder as files that are shared via your P2P software program.
Click here for information about how to use this P2P software program to minimize or avoid these data security problems. To report identity theft, or for more information about identity theft, please consult the US Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft Clearinghouse.
Unwanted Exposure to Pornography - P2P software may give users, including children, access to pornography. Some files containing pornography may be deliberately mislabeled to attract young or otherwise unsuspecting viewers. Distributing illegal pornography is a serious crime. Users whose shared folders contain illegal pornographic material, particularly child pornography, could be subject to criminal prosecution.
Click here for information about how to use this P2P software program to minimize or avoid inadvertent exposure to pornography or the illegal redistribution of such materials.
This P2P software provider believes strongly that we all must stamp out child pornography. Click here to report suspected child pornography or pornographers to US law enforcement.
Spyware - Files downloaded from the Internet (including those obtained via P2P software) may contain other software. While some such programs, such as 'adware,' may send you advertising, including pop-up ads, other software, such as 'spyware' can track your Internet activities and report them to a third party. Spyware can even be used to take control of your computer.
Click here for information about how to use this P2P software program to minimize or avoid spyware and for information about the differences between legitimate adware and spyware.
Viruses - This P2P software program includes built-in virus protection (where applicable). Some files downloaded from the Internet (including those obtained via P2P software) may contain viruses that can infect your computer. These files typically are mislabeled to disguise their true purpose. You may also want to install separate anti-virus software, and keep it up-to-date.
Click here for information about how to use this P2P software program to minimize or avoid computer viruses.
The preceding information has been provided as a public service by this P2P software program developer and distributor (by name)."
Industry-leading P2P software providers have also added notifications prominently displayed in message-boxes each time new users download their applications that state: "The use of this software for illegal activities, including uploading or downloading games, movies, music, or software without authorization, is strictly forbidden, and may be subject to civil and/or criminal penalties."
They have also removed statements that may have seemed confusing to consumers about differences between the legality of having P2P software and abusing it in ways that may infringe copyright.
Hopefully, settlement of alleged past liabilities for acts of infringement by abusers will also be completed early in 2006, and licensing and marketing campaign execution will replace litigation as the principal activities between content providers and P2P software developers and distributors.
The DCIA and all our Members look forward to fully supporting commercial expansion with robust new business models and related solutions for the three "Fs" (file-protection, filtering, and forensics) recommended for successful exploitation of the steadily growing number of very exciting and continually improving P2P file-sharing technologies. Share wisely, and take care.
CES Will Focus on Internet Media
Excerpted from MediaPost Report
The massive Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held in Las Vegas at the beginning of every year, has long been thought of as a weather vane for the year ahead in sexy consumer gizmos and gadgets, but increasingly – and particularly this year if you have a look at the session line-up – Internet media is making headlines.
In fact, as Ad Age points out, branding figures to be a hot topic at this year's show, as more and more marketers look into branded entertainment and high-tech marketing.
This year's sessions include: "Advertising and Games: From In-Game Advertising to Cross Promotion and Custom Brand Extension;" "Internet Video, Advertising & Marketing: The Next Generation of Consumer Reach;" and "Mobile Media, Advertising, and Brand Marketing."
A show that has never really been thought of as a marketing showcase this year will feature such Internet advertising heavyweights as Google co-founder Larry Page and Yahoo CEO Terry Semel as speakers. The show is expected to draw a record-breaking crowd of more than 140,000 attendees from 110 countries January 5th-8th.
The DCIA will be moderating the "Next Generation P2P" panel as part of Digital Hollywood at CES on January 7th.
2006: Year of Behavioral Marketing
Excerpted from Report by Jean-Philippe Maheu
Online behavioral marketing is an increasingly important, fast-evolving arena that can serve consumers' best interests, and 2006 is shaping up to be a watershed year for the industry. Behavioral marketing delivers positive, measurable results for publishers (higher eCPMs on their run-of-network inventory), advertisers (larger reach of their target audience) as well as many benefits to consumers (free content, free applications, and more relevant ads).
While companies like Tacoda, Revenue Science, Claria, and Direct Revenue have been focused on this market for some time, the large established online media companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have recently announced plans (and for some, preliminary results from early tests) to incorporate behavioral targeting into their advertising offerings. Without a doubt, behavioral marketing is here to stay.
Regardless of the methods (tracking cookies or downloadable applications), behavioral marketing requires some knowledge of users' computer and Web usage. This brings up a couple of interesting questions.
Do users know that their web surfing behavior is tracked – and should they know?
Users should be aware that their Web surfing behavior is tracked, but what most people don't realize is that when they visit the Wall Street Journal Web site, there is a high probability that they will receive some ads based on their surfing behavior over the past few days.
Clearly, more transparency is needed – and this should be an industry-wide effort, with large, reputable online media companies having a role to play. The New York Times recently published an editorial entitled "What Google Should Roll Out Next: A Privacy Upgrade," describing how Google keeps records of every search on its site and collects information about its users' activities online. Google, with its resources and public trust, could play a hugely positive role in engaging and driving this debate with consumers.
More transparency is also required from the anti-spyware software vendors. To that effect, the work of the Anti-Spyware Coalition to bring more consistency and clarity around the messages its members provide to their users after their scans is very important.
Increased transparency needs to be supported by consumer education around the topic of "what's in it for me." Consumers need to understand the following:
1. Innovation on the Web is primarily fueled by advertising dollars.
2. Behavioral targeting provides higher returns and a larger inventory for advertisers which, in turn, accelerates the transfer of ad dollars from offline to online.
3. Additional advertising dollars further fuel innovation, and with it the development of a multitude of compelling new free content, services and applications online.
Should online behavioral marketing providers get users' consent before they download something on users' computers?
The recent announcement by TRUSTe describing recommended practices for downloading software on users' machines is a great step forward. It provides a clear set of guidelines – guidelines that will ensure clear user notice and consent prior to any download. These guidelines will apply to any downloadable software including toolbars, desktop search software, monitoring software, and advertising software.
There is still a debate around tracking cookies, another technology that can be used to provide behavioral marketing services. I do not believe that tracking cookies are bad for users (hence I do not understand the ad campaign from one of our competitors with the tag line "No tracking cookies"); however, I do believe companies that use tracking cookies need to be more transparent with consumers about the fact that they do track online behavior.
Behavioral marketing has developed quickly over the past few years; consumer education and awareness efforts have not. A great deal of research exists demonstrating that, while our ability to better serve the consumer grows more and more effective, consumers are growing more and more suspicious of our efforts.
This erosion of trust in the medium, should it continue, represents a serious threat to the online behavioral marketing industry – a threat that can stanch the industry's growth potential. It is up to us to draw back the curtain and inform the public just what it is that we do, and how consumers benefit from our efforts.
The public's trust is a prerequisite for any free, ad-supported media environment to thrive. Restoring the public's – and advertisers' – faith in these new technologies will not be easy. It will require maturity, transparency, and cooperative dialogue from all parties, not hot rhetoric. But if public confidence is restored and the tools necessary for behavioral marketing do provide real benefits to consumers, this generation of industry leaders, on both the advocacy and business sides, will have accomplished something that will continue to pay dividends to the broader society for many decades to come. – Jean-Philippe Maheu is CEO of Direct Revenue.
Google Desktop: P2P in Sheep's Clothing
Excerpted from Publish Report by Stephen Bryant
A very small news item about Google distributing Google Desktop on USB drives caught my eye this morning. There's more to this deal than meets the eye, and it represents Google's next big search initiative.
Two years ago when Google bought Blogger, many people speculated that the search giant was building the Memex. Steven Johnson hypothesized in Slate that Google's acquisition could "help you keep track of what you've already found." Matt Webb suggested that Google understood that the truly valuable information was the interconnected trail of data, not the individual units.
But that whole Memex thing never came to fruition. A quick search for mentions of Google and Memex, or Google and Desktop and Memex, reveals that mentions of that idea pretty much ceased early in 2004.
Everybody realized that Google wasn't building the Memex, it was building an advertising empire. Blogger was the first big step. Blogger meant freshly minted Web pages at the rate of millions per year. And on those pages, freshly minted contextual advertising.
This isn't anything new. The speculation about a Memex Xanadu seems charming now. Certainly, Google has become our outboard brain. It's also become our personal billboard.
It's received wisdom that in order to keep selling advertising, Google has to continually find new stockpiles of information. Organizing the Web and selling ads on its pages was the easy part. So was plopping ads on Weblogs. And despite the legal hurdles, Book Search is pretty easy too, in a technical sense. Book publishing continues apace. All Google has to do is scan the things in.
But where is the next stockpile of information that Google can sell advertising around? All the consolidated mother lodes are gone. What's left is disparate, unconnected data waiting for a joist.
Of course, Google Base is Google's attempt to consolidate that disparate information into a centralized area. It's an ingenious idea. You give Google data and it organizes it for you, makes it searchable. Now that data is in a centralized area and has ads around it. Again, Google doesn't have to do anything but sit back and wait for the data to come to the Base.
But the problem with Google Base is that it relies on people to push data to it. The upload mechanism right now is a bit inefficient.
How can Google speed up the data transfer to Google Base? Make it possible for you to automatically publish your data to Google Base. How could Google do that? Google Desktop. How can Google get Google Desktop into the hands of non-early adopters? Lexar's USB drives.
If that sounds farfetched, consider that Lexar is one of the leading, if not the leading, flash memory manufacturers in the world. Lexar also provides flash memory devices to all the major digital camera manufacturers. What else is on Lexar's USB drives now? Picasa.
This deal with Lexar is a win for Google whether or not the company uses the applications on the USB drive to automatically upload content (with the user's permission) to Google Base. But the revenue potential increases significantly if Google leverages all that distributed content into a consolidated arena. That would drive content, eyeballs and ads on Google Base.
And as Google's desktop applications land on more and more hard drives, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Google get into the P2P space. Imagine searching, not only the Web, but also the information that other people make public on their hard drives. Next year, don't be surprised if there's a little check box during Google Desktop's installation which says, "Share my files."
eBay, Craigslist, and any other service that relies on users actually visiting a Web site and physically entering information should be very worried.
And while Google's software is proliferating on users' machines, its hardware is proliferating in server stacks.
So watch out. For better or worse, Google is about to become the embedded browser of the next information war.
FaithMobile Inspirational Portal
Good News Holdings and The Barna Group last week announced the launch of FaithMobile. The service provides faith-based content created specifically for cellular phones including Bible verses, ring-tones, and inspirational audio and video mobisodes.
FaithMobile has already signed major content partners who believe in reaching out through convergent technologies. They include: Promise Keepers, a Christian Men's organization with over 5.5 million members; Extraordinary Women with 300,000 members, and Tyndale House Publishing, which created popular "New Living Translation" of the Bible.
The service is presently available in the US and UK on Cingular and T-Mobile and is aiming to be on all US carriers early in 2006.
FaithMobile is the creation of Good News Holdings, founded by Martha Cotton, Christopher Chisholm and David Kirkpatrick, who have been producers, presidents, and founders in the arena of TV, film and new media; and of The Barna Group, the most recognized organization providing Christian data to the world.
Grokster Was a Pioneer of Sorts
Excerpted from The Ledger report by Bill Dean
So the man says to the kid (record company exec to young music consumer): "Here's a great CD, 15 tracks for $17.99. OK, eight of them are filler, four of them are so-so and three are killer. So what do you say, huh, kid?"
The young consumer, who knows far more about music than the record exec, shakes his head: "No way, dude. I only want two tunes ... and I know a cool site where I can get them free."
Let's not forget that it took the original Napster and Grokster to slap the music industry upside its unlevel head – thanks to the above scenario – to make it offer legal downloads.
Would we have ever had iTunes without Napster and Grokster? Not on your sweet, shared-disc life, we wouldn't.
Coming Events of Interest
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Digital Hollywood at CES – January 5th-7th at the Las Vegas Convention Center North Hall. The Consumer Electronics Show will have over 140,000 attendees; 2,500 exhibitors; 4,000 press representatives; and keynotes by Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft; Howard Stringer, Chairman & CEO, Sony; Paul Otellini, CEO, Intel; and Terry Semel, Chairman & CEO, Yahoo. The DCIA will moderate the "Next Generation P2P" panel on January 7th.
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Copy Protection Technical Working Group (CPTWG) Meeting – January 10th at Sheraton Four Points Hotel, Los Angeles, CA. If you are interested in offering a presentation at this meeting, please as soon as possible so that CPTWG may schedule the agenda accordingly. Presentation guidelines can be found on the CPTWG website at www.cptwg.org.
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Grokster, The Case, The Holding, The Future – The January 11th meeting of the Los Angeles Copyright Society will feature a panel discussion by Robert Schwartz, Russell Frackman and Josh Wattles regarding the recent US Supreme Court decision in the Grokster case, which addressed the issue of secondary liability for copyright infringement by companies that produce and distribute P2P file-sharing technology. Please click here for more information.
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MidemNet Forum at MIDEM – The World's Annual Forum for Digital & Mobile Music January 21st-22nd, Cannes, France. Confirmed keynotes to date are EMI Group Chairman Eric Nicoli; Ken Lombard, President of Starbucks Entertainment; Patricia Langrand, Senior EVP of Content for France Telecom and Nokia's EVP and GM of Multimedia Anssi Vanjoki. MidemNet forum will welcome the world's leading digital music experts and global authorities on mobile music.
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NATPE 2006 – The National Association of Television Program Executives conference January 24th-26th in Las Vegas is the only American market serving the worldwide television industry, whether you're looking to meet with colleagues, find new partners, learn about the burgeoning business opportunities of mobile and digital, or share ideas. Preview NATPE 2006 here.
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Digital Commerce Summit 2006 - January 31st in New York. Digital Media Wire invites you to attend this one-day executive forum for content owners, merchants, payments & technology companies, banks & financial services institutions, ISPs, MSOs, P2P vendors, and wireless & mobile companies focused on payment solutions and commerce strategies for digital content, including games, music, film, television and video products.
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Media Summit New York – February 8th-9th in NYC. The 2006 Media Summit New York is the Premier International Conference on Motion Pictures, Television, Cable & Satellite, Broadband, Wireless, Publishing, Radio, Magazines, News & Print Media, Advertising and Marketing. The DCIA will participate with the CEA and MPAA in discussing "The Piracy Freight Train: As Entertainment, The Law & Technology Collide."
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Defining the Problem, Developing Solutions – The Anti-Spyware Coalition's first public workshop to be held on February 9th at the Capitol Hyatt in Washington, DC will address the impact of spyware on businesses and individuals and will include interactive panels on public education, policy and enforcement, corporate security, and industry guidelines. Confirmed speakers include FTC Chairman Deborah Majoras, Wall Street Journal Columnist Walt Mossberg, and Pew Internet and American Life Associate Director Susannah Fox.
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New Communications Forum 2006 – March 1st, Palo Alto, CA. NCF brings together the industry's leaders from around the globe to discuss the impact of participatory communications on media, marketing, PR, and advertising. This year the conference will examine how blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other emerging tools, technologies, and modes of communication are affecting organizations.
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