February 11, 2008
Volume XX, Issue 12
Welcome RightsFlow Entertainment Group
Please warmly welcome RightsFlow Entertainment Group to the DCIA.
RightsFlow Entertainment Group is a music-and-media-focused rights solutions provider. The firm assists companies, including peer-to-peer (P2P) software developers and distributors, engaged in the commercial exploitation of music and media copyrights by providing strategic planning services, creating implementation teams, and ensuring cost-effective solutions for licensing of copyrights - with a key emphasis on publishing.
RightsFlow was founded by Patrick Sullivan and Ben Cockerham, media industry veterans who previously led the licensing efforts at The Orchard and eMusic.
According to Patrick Sullivan, "With the advent of a myriad of new music industry business models, there is a striking need for clarity and guidance in the matters of creating and obtaining proper licenses as well as practically implementing those licenses."
The New York-based group also aims to assist companies in other developmental areas, including mobile operations, online retail, streaming, advertising, and branding.
The RightsFlow advisory group includes Steve D'Onofrio, President of D'Onofrio & Associates; Chris Hoerenz, Former CMO of eMusic; Mathew Dunn, Ph.D., Founder of Socratech; Cedric Deniau, CTO of eMusic; Paul Borgese, The Associated Press Digital Division; and Noreen Springstead, Director of Fundraising & Marketing at World Hunger Year (WHY).
RightsFlow also trains its clients on licensing and royalty team operations, copyright solution implementation, copyright research, marketing strategies, and standard industry procedures to leverage their assets in the competitive and complicated new media and music space.
CacheLogic Rebrands as Velocix
Velocix, provider of the world's leading Digital Asset Delivery Network (DADN), this week announced that the company has unified its company name, products, and services under the Velocix brand.
Formally know as CacheLogic, Velocix provides DADN, a new generation content delivery network (CDN) designed to meet the rich media needs of the 21st century Internet.
Velocix is relied upon globally by owners of large digital assets - including video, software, and games - to provide unparalleled quality of service and online delivery performance, with a disruptive economic model. Velocix does all this while also providing new levels of control over the global digital distribution chain to content owners.
"Rebranding as Velocix comes at a stage when the demand for digital asset delivery is seeing dramatic growth," said Phill Robinson, CEO at Velocix. "2008 is set to be a landmark year for the consumption of video, games, and software over the Internet. Velocix is working with many of the world's leading broadcasters, new media companies, games providers, telcos, and multiple system operators (MSOs) to deliver new levels of performance, quality of service (QoS), and scalability at an affordable rate for content owners and ISPs."
"Our new name and dynamic visual identity provides greater clarity while also reflecting our ambition, focus, and vision," said John Dillon, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Velocix. "Our company is Velocix; our global network is the Velocix Digital Asset Delivery Network and our delivery products are branded Velocix Video, Velocix Game, and Velocix Software."
Obama Fundraising Sets Online Record
Excerpted from TechCrunch Report by Michael Arrington
The Barack Obama Campaign has announced a record-setting month in terms of donations - $32 million in January. That's the most ever raised by a candidate during a primary race. And, his campaign said, $28 million of that was raised online.
That means Senator Obama (D-IL) raised more money in January online than Howard Dean raised in his entire 2003-2004 campaign (Dean raised a total of $27 million). Obama's $28 million in online contributions came from more than 250,000 contributors. 90% were under $100. 40% were $25 or less, and 10,000 people gave $5 or $10 to the campaign.
Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has not released her January fundraising total, which was reportedly in the $20 million range.
Obama's campaign also noted that 250,000 profiles have been created at BarackObama.com..
A roundup of TechCrunch coverage of the primaries is here.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 The DCIA proudly announces the agenda for our upcoming P2P MARKET CONFERENCE scheduled for Friday March 14th at the Princeton Club of New York.
This first-of-its-kind event will be totally focused on the state of revenue generation at all levels of our emerging industry.
Attention will be paid to the most promising of a number of diverse business models now being deployed throughout the distributed computing services marketplace.
The DCIA P2P MARKET CONFERENCE is being held in conjunction with the Media Summit New York (MSNY).
There will also be a meeting of the P4P Working Group (P4PWG) on Tuesday March 11th prior to the MSNY & P2P MARKET CONFERENCE.
Questions that will be addressed at the P2P MARKET CONFERENCE include the following.
What are current usage levels and demographics for key P2P and social networks? What genres of content are being created and consumed in this largest and fastest growing online distribution channel? How can this tremendous amount of traffic be translated into advertising inventory that agencies and sponsors can buy and measure?
Which other business models show the greatest potential? What unique characteristics of such communities of users and the technologies that connect them can yield new opportunities for interactive advertising and other innovative approaches to monetization?
What are the potential roles for content delivery networks (CDNs) and Internet service providers (ISPs) in revenue generation from P2P and social networking technologies through third-party and consumer-supported payment mechanisms? How can they add value in terms of caching, content acceleration, results measurement, and end-user validation?
Can P2P distributors and social network operators partner with ISPs to streamline their offerings and improve quality of service (QoS) in ways that are valuable to sponsors, advertising agencies, content rights holders, and subscribers?
The DCIA P2P MARKET CONFERENCE will feature top P2P and social network operators, advertising agencies, sponsor companies, content providers, online ad networks, CDNs, P2P and hybrid P2P CDN solutions, and ISPs, in keynotes, panels, case studies, workshops, and more. There will be a continental breakfast, luncheon, and networking cocktail reception.
As noted, our P2P MARKET CONFERENCE is being held in conjunction with MSNY, and your registration for the full DCIA Conference Package includes that event as well.
MSNY is the premier international conference on media, broadband, advertising, television, cable and satellite, mobile, publishing, radio, magazines, news and print media, and marketing.
Keynote speakers for the March 14th DCIA P2P MARKET CONFERENCE will provide a strategic perspective on what is required and what their sector has to offer to fulfill the multi-billion dollar revenue potential of the P2P and social network channel for the distribution of entertainment content.
Case studies will provide examples of success stories and experiments now underway involving sponsorships, cross-promotion, interactive advertising, and exciting new hybrid business models for monetizing P2P traffic and entertainment content being redistributed via P2P and social networks.
Panels will feature industry participants who will drill down to find answers to outstanding issues and outline action items that will accelerate commercial development of the P2P and social network distribution channel.
The P2P MARKET CONFERENCE will highlight QTRAX among other breakthrough P2P revenue-generating efforts.
QTRAX is the "world's first free and legal P2P music service." Showcasing an innovative downloading business model that easily directs advertising and sponsorship revenue back to artists and rights holders, QTRAX will provide fans with access to a colorful and diverse catalog of high-quality, high-fidelity digital music files. Based in New York City, QTRAX is a subsidiary of Brilliant Technologies Corporation, a publicly traded global technology holding company.
Don't miss the opportunity to participate in this 2008 inaugural event. Register online or call 410-476-7964.
P2P MARKET CONFERENCE sponsors include FTI Consulting, QTRAX, and Javien Digital Payment Solutions. For sponsor packages and speaker information, please contact Karen Kaplowitz, DCIA Member Services, at 888-890-4240 or karen@dcia.info. Share wisely, and take care.
QTRAX Consumer Adoption Bodes Well
QTRAX, a division of Brilliant Technologies Corporation provided the following statistics regarding the launch of its ad-supported "free and legal P2P music service."
QTRAX is currently the no. 2 Internet site in Alexa's Movers & Shakers with a reported increase of 15,000% in traffic. Alexa's top-ten list, compiled from among all websites, is based on upward or downward movement as measured by the change in the number of users visiting the site.
On January 28th, QTRAX surpassed LimeWire in terms of numbers of visitors. While QTRAX's numbers have not been sustained at these levels, this bodes well particularly in terms of attracting new visitors to a P2P service offering licensed music.
24,833,145 ad impressions were served in six days.
The top five countries in terms of QTRAX visitors were: the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Italy.
As of midweek, approximately 60,000 users were using the application at any given moment. QTRAX is being adopted as a browser by a significant percentage of those that have downloaded it, prior to the introduction of music downloading functionality.
Bam Racing Scores Hit with QTRAX
Excerpted from PaddockTalk Report
BAM Racing team owner Beth Ann Morgenthau announced a new marketing partnership with QTRAX, an Internet site that is poised to have over 25 million songs which anyone can download freely and legally.
In development for over four years, QTRAX provides a safe alternative to Internet music piracy. QTRAX was the primary sponsor for BAM Racing's No. 49 Dodge in the Budweiser Shootout on February 9th.
It is estimated that 25% of all Americans with computers have downloaded music via the Internet; however, up until now, those downloads have been questionable if not explicitly unauthorized - and some estimates for unlicensed downloads exceed 100 billion. QTRAX's strategy is to monetize music downloads through Internet advertising.
According to QTRAX Chairman & CEO, Allan Klepfisz, "We will be engaging in a multi-faceted marketing campaign to establish our brand internationally. NASCAR is an important component of the mix. BAM Racing has a history of being dotcom-friendly and provided us with a scalable platform to advertise our service. We already have massive consumer traction even before music is available on QTRAX. Indeed, last week we achieved the status of being one of the most quickly escalating sites on the Internet in terms of reach. Everyone here is excited to see the No.49 QTRAX Dodge competing with 22 other cars on the track in this year's Budweiser Shootout. We are thrilled to be a primary sponsor on live prime-time television."
"QTRAX has the support of much of the recording industry and their artists, so we're looking at upcoming promotions involving some of the biggest names in the recording industry," added team co-owner, Tony Morgenthau. "The mix of NASCAR racing and the recording industry has already proven successful. With NASCAR's large crowds and huge television audiences, QTRAX is looking to make its website a household name."
NASCAR veteran driver Ken Schrader was behind the wheel of the BAM Racing Dodges starting at Daytona. The team intends to compete with the veteran Schrader for the entire 2008 season. The Budweiser Shootout is a specialty race for the Bud Pole Award winners from the previous year.
As winner of the Budweiser Shootout in 1989 and 1990, Schrader is automatically eligible to compete. David Hyder, crew chief for BAM Racing says the team is looking forward to the extra track time, "The way that qualifying works at Daytona, if you're not one of the three fastest cars outside of the top 35 in points, you have to race your way into the 500. Running the Shootout will help us fine-tune our car and be our best heading into Thursday's Duel 150s."
Send Huge Files with Pando
Excerpted from Wired News Report by Michael Calore
Sending a few photos to your friends is a snap. We've all done it - just drop the pictures in an e-mail and hit send. But what if you want to send a 25 megabyte audio file? Or a package of hi-res photos that tops 80MB? Or a 690MB video file?
Pando is an innovative and free P2P application that lets you send large files to your friends over e-mail. It doesn't use e-mail for the actual file delivery (that part is handled by a simple, downloadable client) but your friends are notified that you want to share with them over e-mail, and they get a small e-mail attachment they can click on to launch the client and initiate the transfer.
To share a file, you must have the Pando client (a free download for Mac OS X, Windows 2000, XP and Vista) installed. Open the client, drag and drop the file or folders you want to share and enter the e-mail addresses of your friends you want to deliver it to. Pando sends e-mails to your group of friends inviting them to share with a small .pando file attached. They click on the file and (presuming they have the free client as well) Pando launches and the sharing begins.
There are also add-ons for Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL and Hotmail. Users can send attachments normally or as Pando-ized attachments without leaving their regular e-mail client.
Pando uses BitTorrent for the P2P sharing, but its interface is simple enough to be perfect for people who have less-than-working knowledge of how to set up and share trackerless torrents. You also get BT's blazing-fast speeds when there are multiple clients sharing the same set of files at once.
The only barriers are the fact that the client needs to be installed on both ends to work, and the free version of the client displays ads along the bottom.
You can use Pando's free service to share any files up to 1GB. Pando complies with DMCA takedown notices if it receives them.
Pando's e-mail service is its bread and butter - and rightly so, since most of us still get away with sending e-mail attachments whenever we can, only resorting to other methods when our attachments are rejected for being too big - but the company also has tools for sending files to friends over IM and by little links that can be embedded in web pages.
We've written about Pando before. See the Wired News story about the P4P Working Group to read how the company is using edge-networking concepts to ease the bandwidth crunch created by sharing large files.
Verizon Rejects Call to Piracy Fight
Excerpted from NY Times Report by Saul Hansell
More often than not companies in similar positions have similar views. But when Hollywood asked the two big phone companies to help with its fight against piracy, they responded in opposite ways. AT&T is talking about developing a system that would identify and block illicitly copied material being sent over its broadband network.
Verizon, however, opposes the concept. I spoke to Tom Tauke, Verizon's Executive Vice President for Public Affairs, on the subject. He said the company's view combines a concern for the privacy of its customers with self interest. It may be costly for it to get into the business of policing the traffic on its network. Indeed, phone companies have largely spent a century trying not to be liable for what people say over their lines.
"We generally are reluctant to get into the business of examining content that flows across our networks and taking some action as a result of that content," he said.
Mr. Tauke offered at least three objections to the concept:
1) The slippery slope. Once you start going down the path of looking at the information going down the network, there are many that want you to play the role of policeman. Stop illegal gambling offshore. Stop pornography. Stop a whole array of other kinds of activities that some may think inappropriate.
2) It opens up potential liability for failing to block copyrighted work. When you look back at the history of copyright legislation, there has been an effort by Hollywood to pin the liability for copyright violations on the network that transmits the material. It is no secret they think we have deeper pockets than others and we are easy-to-find targets.
3) Privacy. Anything we do has to balance the need of copyright protection with the desire of customers for privacy.
Mr. Tauke also downplayed the argument put forward by Hollywood and AT&T that illegal sharing of video is a burden on the network.
We see substantial increases in the volume of traffic. Generally we see that as a good thing. We have more customers paying for more services we provide.
Mr. Tauke added that the company would need to invest more money in capacity as usage grows, and this may encourage the company to replace unlimited-use broadband plans with plans tied to bandwidth use, as Time Warner Cable is considering.
Verizon is also wary of the sort of "traffic shaping" system adopted by Comcast that is apparently meant to slow down the exchange of files using the BitTorrent protocol, although the details aren't fully known.
It may be that what they did is appropriate. It may be it is inappropriate. Some have suggested that Comcast sent false signals to computers in order to have computers reject the BitTorrent session. If they are in essence altering data to alter the message, that again starts you down a path you don't want to go down.
Mr. Tauke added that Verizon may feel less pressure in this direction than others because it has already invested in its FiOS system that strings high-capacity fiber-optic cables to homes. And in any case, he said, the company won't mitigate its costs by trying to restrict what can be sent through its system.
"We don't want to solve any network congestion issues by restricting the flow of certain kinds of traffic," he said.
PeerBox Expands into Australia & Ukraine
PeerBox by Nareos, a popular mobile social networking service, has established a firm presence in Australia by partnering with Information Dialing Services (IDS), a leading Australian telecommunication company, and has expanded to the Ukraine through a deal with leading wireless application service provider, Polygon Integration Ukraine (PIU), owner of the popular HitOn and HitBox brands.
"I am glad to be able to offer our exciting service in the Australian market," said Alexander Lazovsky, CEO of Nareos. "By partnering with IDS, we are bringing the best of user-generated content (UGC) and social networking to the mobile devices of Australian customers. They will now be able to enjoy content shared by our global user community, share their own videos and images, and socialize right on their mobile phones."
Bridget Holland, General Manager of IDS, said, "We are thrilled to be the first to bring on-the-go entertainment and social networking to Australian mobile users. We are excited about the PeerBox Mobile technology and the opportunity to exploit it in our market. PeerBox is a great addition at the cutting edge of existing SMS-based consumer offerings."
IDS will promote PeerBox through marketing partners including Global Distribution Networks (GDN), and expects to enroll thousands of new users every month.
Meanwhile, the PeerBox agreement with PIU will enable its hundreds of thousands of users in the Ukraine access to the large catalog of music, ring-tones, videos, other licensed material, and UGC available on PeerBox Mobile.
Through the PeerBox-PIU partnership, Ukrainian mobile phone users will be able to legally access all music and video content that is available on the global mobile content platform, PeerBox. Users will also be able to watch, upload, and share their own pictures and videos through PeerBox, to see other users' content and to even earn money using the joint PeerBox-PIU service.
"This partnership brings our vision of allowing mobile users, across the world, to access and share unlimited content - one step closer to fruition," said Alexander Lazovsky, CEO of Nareos. "Through this partnership, we introduce Ukrainian mobile users to the world of PeerBox, providing users with new, interesting content that has never before been available on their mobile phones."
PIU will be promoting the service through its advertising channels, and expects to bring over 100,000 registered users during the first six months.
Evgeny Grabov, CEO of PIU said, "As the premier wireless content provider to the Ukraine, we've identified PeerBox as the ideal partner to bring our users a unique and exciting mobile value added service."
The Ukraine and Australia partnerships come on the heels of the recently announced PeerBox partnership with Metacafe, the world's leading online entertainment site.
Babelgum Extends Festival Entry Deadline
Excerpted from Digital Arts Online Report
Babelgum, the free-to-view global peer-to-peer television (P2PTV) network, has extended the deadline for entries to the Babelgum Online Film festival to March 1st with screening to start on March 3rd.
The upload deadline has been extended in response to the unprecedented demand from filmmakers around the world to enter content in one or more of the seven festival categories, each of which has a first prize of 20,000 euros. Of the 1,500 responses received, 500 entries have been submitted to date.
The Babelgum Online Film Festival has proved particularly popular in the United States, which has seen the highest number of entrants, followed by the UK and Italy.
Film makers that haven't yet entered still have until February 15th to register their intention in one or more of the following categories.
The Babelgum Looking for Genius Award will be awarded to new or emerging talent who display clear and outstanding achievement through direction.
The Babelgum Short Film Award will be awarded to the best short film (under 20 minutes) that presents a clear, concise and original vision using the short film genre.
The Babelgum Documentary Award will be warded to the documentary that best presents its subject in a truthful and fair manner while being original and thought provoking.
The Babelgum Animation Award will be awarded to the film that best displays story and the craft of animation.
The Babelgum Social/Environment Award will be awarded to the best film that effectively addresses an issue impacting the world today.
The Babelgum Spot/Advertising Award will be awarded to the most creative advertising spot highlighting a certain product.
The Babelgum Music Video Award will be awarded for innovation and creativity in the genre. The public can vote on each film via Babelgum, and then submissions will be judged by the festival jury, led by Spike Lee. Other jurors include film experts from across the globe including the directors of established film festivals, film schools and film industry associations.
Spike Lee said "The standard of the entries we've received thus far has been outstanding. It just goes to show there is a wealth of talent out there that wouldn't usually get recognition or exposure if it wasn't for festivals such as this.
He continued, "The Babelgum Online Film Festival is offering independent filmmakers the chance to be seen, known and appreciated. I used to be a struggling independent filmmaker myself and so I understand the importance of a forum like this. With such opportunities now available, a good filmmaker who doesn't get his films seen has only himself to blame."
Musician Uploads Album to P2P Networks
Excerpted from Afterdawn Report by Andre Yoskowitz
Benn Jordan, better known as The Flashbulb, has uploaded digital copies of his new album "Soundtrack to a Vacant Life" to What.cd and The Pirate Bay as well as other public trackers in an effort to bypass the traditional distribution methods for a new CD.
The digital download, which comes with an NFO file, starts with, "Hello listener... downloader... pirate... pseudo-criminal..." and continues, "if you can read this, then you've more than likely downloaded this album from a P2P network or torrent. You probably expect the rest of this message to tell you that you're hurting musicians and breaking just about every copyright law in the book. Well, it won't tell you that."
Jordan continues on to debate why anyone would even buy CDs anymore now that the world has moved on to a digital age. He believes the only reason is that fans still want to support their favorite artists but aren't given the proper options to do so.
"Want to buy a CD just to show your support? If you don't particularly like CDs, don't bother. Retailers like Best Buy and Amazon spike the price so high that their cut is often 8 times higher than the artist's. Besides, most CDs are made out of un-recyclable plastic and leave a nasty footprint in your environment."
Jordan goes on to say that he encourages file-sharing fans to donate instead of purchasing a CD and possibly buy albums as lossless FLAC downloads directly from artist's websites. Jordan also goes on to say what many have said for years, that the music industry is not moving forward and that its outdated business models are actually increasing piracy.
"Record labels aren't meeting the demands of their customers. That's why music piracy is destroying the music industry. No matter how many people you sue, how many torrent sites you take down, or how many idiotic methods you come up with to protect the data, people will always prevail at doing what they want to do. At some point the industry needs to come to grips with that fact that their business model is changing, and they have to devise new business plans inside the parameters of the situation. I don't think donation is the long-term answer, but it is hell of a lot better than pretending 85% of your audience doesn't exist."
Lawyers Seek To KO File-Sharing Lawsuits
Excerpted from MediaPost Report
For five years, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has relied on the company MediaSentry to gather evidence for lawsuits against alleged online unauthorized file sharers. But now MediaSentry's tactics are being called into question by defense lawyers, who argue that courts should bar key evidence or quash subpoenas based on allegedly improper investigations.
In at least three cases now pending across the country - in New York, Oregon, and Massachusetts - lawyers have alleged that MediaSentry is not a licensed private investigator in the states where the lawsuits were brought. Therefore, they argue, the RIAA should not be allowed to use information gathered by the company in court.
"I'm asking the judge to exclude anything obtained by MediaSentry on the basis that they didn't have a license," said Richard Altman, who represents the defendant in a case pending in federal district court in White Plains, NY.
The RIAA counters that MediaSentry is not an "investigator" as that term is defined by statute. "Any evidence collected from MediaSentry for our program would not be precluded from our complaint," the organization said.
Faced with declining music sales, which the record industry attributed to online piracy, the labels in 2003 began suing individuals for allegedly uploading unlicensed tracks to P2P networks. Since then, the RIAA has targeted at least 20,000 people. Many have agreed to pay around $3,000 to settle the cases, but some have fought back in court.
The RIAA has typically identified defendants by issuing subpoenas to network operators based on information provided by MediaSentry, which compiles IP addresses of alleged unauthorized uploaders to P2P services.
Because cases can drag for months, if not years, US courts are just now beginning to consider some of the issues posed by the investigative tactics. "This is not something that comes up very often," Altman says. "There aren't a lot of cases on the subject of whether illegally obtained evidence is admissible in a civil case."
Altman's client, Rolando Amurao, was accused of uploading more than 500 files to LimeWire. Last week, Altman filed papers asking the court to exclude the MediaSentry evidence because the company does not have a New York state private investigator's license.
The RIAA recently asked to drop the lawsuit against Amurao, but has stated in court papers that it now believes Amurao's adult daughter is the infringer, leaving open the possibility that it will sue her. The judge in that lawsuit is slated to hear further arguments later this month.
In Massachusetts, a Boston University student last month raised the "illegal investigations" of the RIAA as a reason to quash a subpoena. The student's legal papers in that case included the allegation that the state police have sent MediaSentry a cease-and-desist letter for conducting private investigations without a license.
Likewise in Oregon, where the RIAA is seeking to learn the identities of students at the University of Oregon, the state attorney general also is opposing the subpoena based on MediaSentry's tactics. In that case, the attorney general wrote in court papers that MediaSentry might be committing a misdemeanor in the state.
Italy Passes Law Allowing P2P Music
Excerpted from Daily Tech Report by Nirav Sanghani
Just when they thought they were a step closer to halting the sharing of music, the Italian Parliament passed a new copyright law in both houses that would allow citizens to share "non-commercial and degraded music" over the Internet freely.
It turns out all music sold on most download sites is "degraded." MP3 and AAC files at 192kbps and 128kbps, respectively, fit in the downgraded category.
Though the law limits file sharing to "educational or scientific" use, there will be more difficulty in prosecuting those who use it for other purposes. The law adds a broad definition of what is considered legal and illegal in this context.
Andrea Monte, who specializes in copyright law, stated that the legislature "does not know that MP3 falls within the concept of degraded music." Monte is one of the first lawyers to be assigned to study the law at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, according to La Repubblica.
The current law, passed through the Chamber and Senate, needs only to be published in the Official Journal before becoming a fully fledged law.
Because of this, the law is no longer able to be edited. For now, Societa Italiana degli Autori ed Editori (SIAE), Italy's RIAA counterpart, will have to deal with the situation and possibly help mold a new law.
College Funding Bill's P2P Proviso
Excerpted from Ars Technica Report by Nate Anderson
Despite the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) recent admission that its collegiate file-swapping numbers were wildly inaccurate, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (COAA) sailed through the House this week by a 354-58 margin with its controversial intellectual property (IP) provisions still in place.
COAA makes a host of changes to the higher education landscape in the US, but the most interesting was the requirement that schools make plans to offer some form of legal alternative to P2P file swapping and that they also make plans to implement network filtering. Not making such plans would carry no consequences, however, and we're told by House staffers that no one's federal financial aid is in danger.
Still, the requirement that schools plan for filters and for legal music options is one that universities largely oppose. EDUCAUSE, which represents IT managers at more than 2,000 US universities, has consistently opposed the provisions on the grounds that schools aren't in the business of pushing commercial music services to students. When it comes to filtering, schools don't like to block services with legal uses.
Intense opposition has also come from groups that believe the measure would cut federal funding to schools that don't comply (please see this Santa Clara University newspaper article for example).
While Congressional staffers insist this isn't true, others in Congress have gone so far as to offer amendments spelling it out explicitly. Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced and then pulled such an amendment this week, with his staff telling reporters that Cohen wanted to offer the amendment himself; when that proved impossible due to his travel schedule, he apparently decided to pull it. It's an odd explanation, but it's the only one were getting right now.
The White House yesterday also issued a "Statement of Administration Policy" that laid out its own objections to COAA. Most of these have little to do with technology (the Administration opposes any support for explicit racial quotas, for instance), though the document does say that the Administration will "work to address other concerns with the legislation."
These other concerns include "addressing the information policy and technology requirements throughout the bill to ensure they are consistent with current Administration policies, and not duplicative of existing federal programs."
Opponents of the bill's IP provisions had hoped that the MPAA's inaccurate numbers might derail that section of the legislation, but that does not appear to have happened. For the last several years, the MPAA has claimed that college students are responsible for 44% of film piracy "losses" in the US; after reviewing the numbers recently, though, the MPAA realized that a mistake had been made. The numbers have since been revised downward by nearly two-thirds.
WSU's Outdated Policy Fails File Sharing
Excerpted from The Daily Evergreen Report by Jonathan Li
I'm a criminal, and you likely are as well. Regardless of whether you tried Kazaa once to hear the latest Kelly Clarkson single or you keep your sharing ratio high with a private tracker, you and I are guilty by the standards of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
But as the RIAA scrambles to file lawsuits against file sharers in an attempt to alienate consumers - I mean "hunt down terrible criminals" - maybe it's time we evaluate the youth mindset today and adjust industrial business models to reflect the new digital era.
I like to think of pirating music as a modern day library. You download, or borrow, the music you may be interested in. If you enjoy the product, you support the artist by spreading their talents via word of mouth, pay exorbitant fees to attend live concerts, purchase merchandise or buy a higher quality version of their work. If you don't enjoy it, that's the last time you give those guys a spin.
As we see their homes on shows such as "MTV Cribs," it becomes difficult to feel empathy and remorse about stealing artists' music. We often perceive temporary artists as "rich enough" and feel they produce a low quality of music. Music has simply gone downhill. I'm sorry, but if you think you can squeeze another $16.99 out of me by telling me to crank, super soak or superman "dat ho" for four straight minutes, you are sadly mistaken.
The newest iPod classic has 160 gigabyte storage capacity. That's nearly 40,000 songs, or $40,000 if you use iTunes to purchase music. But the music purchased there is crippled by digital rights management (DRM) - meaning it has a relatively low bit-rate and can only be stored on one iPod and five platforms. The contents found on OiNK and other torrent sites are studio quality, play on any platform and - most importantly - are free.
It does not take a genius to realize the route the average competent consumer will choose - legally correct or not.
The public has made its choice on file sharing clear and I only wish WSU would reflect this new standard. Schools such as the University of Washington inactively monitor file-sharing traffic, but do not vilify individuals who elect to file share, according to the UW file-sharing website.
In fact, programs such as DC++ run actively on the university's bandwidth, almost encouraging file sharing. Users get in trouble if the RIAA sends a pre-settlement copyright infringement letter, but UW only forwards the letters when the accused are "reasonably identifiable." Only 15 letters have been passed to students to date, according to the website.
In contrast, WSU's ResNet actively monitors Internet traffic looking for file sharers. If found, the offender's network access is immediately terminated, they must take a copyright class and their hard drive is thoroughly inspected. Furthermore, Student Computing Services submits violators to the Student Conduct Board or law enforcement.
I'm not saying file sharing is acceptable, but I would like to see WSU revisit their outdated, unrealistic, and cumbersome policy. Instead of wasting time inspecting and clearing hard drives, it may be more beneficial to perform other tasks, such as solving student computer issues in a more timely fashion.
Public opinions on file sharing have changed, and it's time we see the industry and WSU reflect and accommodate this change.
Comcast Changes Terms of Service
Excerpted from MacDailyNews Report
"Months after third parties were able to demonstrate that Comcast was throttling some BitTorrent and Lotus Notes traffic, the cable giant has quietly changed its terms of service (ToS). Comcast updated its ToS on January 25th - the first update in two years, according to company spokesperson Charlie Douglas - to more explicitly spell out its policies on traffic management," Eric Bangeman reports for Ars Technica.
"According to Section III of the revised ToS, Comcast 'uses reasonable network management practices that are consistent with industry standards,'" Bangeman reports. "Not long after Comcast's traffic management practices came to light, the company was hit with a class-action lawsuit by a disgruntled subscriber.
Peer-to-peer television (P2PTV) provider Vuze complained to the FCC, and the Commission officially opened its investigation of the cable company in mid-January," Bangeman reports.
"Since the investigation began, the FCC has been bombarded with comments from angry users. 'If you so much as open a BitTorrent client on a computer on the Comcast network, your entire connection drops to almost a crawl,' says one comment," Bangeman reports. "Comcast has denied throttling BitTorrent traffic, saying that the ISP just "delays" or "postpones" it on occasion," Bangeman reports.
Leading Cable Operators and P2P
Excerpted from NewTeeVee Report by Janko Roettgers
Comcast, which underwent heavy criticism last year for blocking file-sharing services like BitTorrent, reportedly has been caught quietly changing its Terms of Service (ToS). Although Comcast has denied that it interferes with P2P, even in light of mounting evidence of the contrary, the new ToS notably acknowledges the use of "reasonable network management practices that are consistent with industry standards."
Industry standards. A phrase like that makes you wonder what other ISPs are doing. We examined the ToS of several of Comcast's biggest competitors and found that provisions allowing interference with P2P traffic seems to be a standard part of ISPs' legal boilerplate these days. And unlike Comcast, the competition is not shy about describing exactly what they want to do to stop P2P on their networks.
Comcast has been in the spotlight since reports about its interference with BitTorrent traffic first surfaced last summer. The company keeps denying any wrongdoing, but multiple tests have shown that it is in fact messing with its subscribers' BitTorrent traffic. Other ISPs have been a little more forthcoming about the subject all along.
Fellow cable ISP Cox Communications Cox Communications, for example, has made no secret of the fact that it's blocking P2P traffic as well, with this abstract in the company's Subscriber Agreement: "Cox reserves the right to manage its network for the greatest benefit of the greatest number of subscribers including, without limitation, the following: rate limiting, rejection or removal of 'spam' or otherwise unsolicited bulk e-mail, anti-virus mechanisms, traffic prioritization, and protocol filtering." And no, this is not just about commercial spammers, but about interfering with your day-to-day use: "You expressly accept that such action on the part of Cox may affect the performance of the Service."
Time Warner subsidiary RoadRunner, on the other hand, hasn't been found to be messing with BitTorrent traffic yet, but it seems to be considering this option, judging by its Acceptable Use Policy: "Operator may use various tools and techniques in order to efficiently manage its networks and to ensure compliance with this Acceptable Use Policy ("Network Management Tools"). These may include detecting malicious traffic patterns and preventing the distribution of viruses or other malicious code, limiting the number of peer-to-peer sessions a user can conduct at the same time, limiting the aggregate bandwidth available for certain usage protocols such as peer-to-peer and newsgroups and such other Network Management Tools as Operator may from time to time determine appropriate."
RoadRunner must use the same law offices as fellow ISP Charter, whose Acceptable Use Policy is virtual identical, including the option of "limiting the number of peer-to-peer sessions" and "the aggregate bandwidth available for certain usage protocols such as peer-to-peer." Charter did however update its policies recently, adding a very telling sentence: "Charter may employ traffic-management technology, including but not limited to packet-reset technology, which technology may materially slow the uploading of certain files."
This "packet-reset technology" mentioned by Charter is exactly the man-in-the-middle attack Comcast has been using to disrupt BitTorrent.
Devices used by the ISP pretend to be the actual user and send a reset message to the BitTorrent clients of fellow file sharers, canceling uploads and thereby considerably slowing down download speeds. Comcast is reportedly using equipment from Sandvine to do this, and Sandvine has been claiming that "eight of the top twenty broadband service providers in the US are Sandvine customers."
To be fair: it's not certain whether Charter actually makes use of these techniques, but the mere fact that virtually all major US cable ISPs reserve the right to interfere with their users' access to services like Vuze, Pando, and BitTorrent could give the net neutrality debate new urgency.
Mininova Launches Music Torrent Streaming
Excerpted from TorrentFreak Report
The popular BitTorrent site Mininova just released a set of new features, including music torrent streaming. The new music streaming feature uses a Java applet developed by Bitlet, which is easy to use and compatible with all Java-enabled browsers.
With the new music streaming feature users can listen to individual music tracks, streamed from .torrent files. It is integrated in the featured torrents section, which lists all the distributors that take part in Mininova's content distribution platform.
To stream music torrents that are not listed in the featured section, use the Bitlet website. The service currently supports MP3 and ogg/vorbis files.
BitTorrent streaming is not restricted to music files, and indeed, Mininova is currently looking into the possibility of video streaming via BitTorrent as well. Mininova will start a private beta test of the BitTorrent video streaming integration in a few weeks.
Together with the music streaming capability, Mininova published other new features including comment tracking, which gives users an overview of all comments recently made. Another new feature is the manual refresh of the seeder and leecher statistics that logged-in users have.
Finally, many BitTorrent sites now have their own toolbars. Isohunt and The Pirate Bay launched theirs a few weeks ago, so Mininova couldn't stay behind. The toolbars are malware free, and generate extra revenue via the integrated search box.
The Pirate Bay Faces Piracy Charges
Excerpted from Online Minute Report by Wendy Davis
The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent tracking site that lets users search for files that are available for sharing, is facing a battle on at least two fronts. A Danish court this week ordered a Denmark Internet service provider (ISP), Tele2 Denmark, to block the site. That order came just days after four people behind the ad-supported site were arrested in Sweden for promoting copyright infringement.
But so far, neither of those moves has resulted in the site's shuttering. The four alleged site operators have declared they have no intention of shutting down despite the arrests. "In case we lose the pending trial (yeah right) there will still not be any changes to the site. The Pirate Bay will keep operating just as always. We've been here for years and we will be here many more," reads a post on the site's blog.
The operators argue that The Pirate Bay is lawful, noting that it doesn't host any copyrighted content and doesn't know which of the clips it indexes are infringing and which are legitimate. And, one of the four who was arrested, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, told Wired that the site is immune to any shutdown orders because its servers are scattered worldwide.
Additionally, even though Tele2 said it would comply with the court order, that's not expected to even make a dent in Pirate Bay's traffic. Tele2 provides service to just 4% of the country's 2 million web users, according to Reuters. What's more, historically this type of order hasn't been effective.
In 2006, a Danish court ordered an ISP to block access to the Russian-based site AllOfMP3.com, but web users figured out a way around the restrictions.
The record and movie industries obviously aren't going to stop targeting online piracy any time soon. But even the most diehard enthusiasts of copyright enforcement actions have to be asking themselves whether these types of legal moves are furthering their goals.
Coming Events of Interest
Digital Music Forum East - February 26th-27th in New York, NY. Major and indie music label executives, artists, technology and consumer electronics leaders come together for this "must attend" event. The DCIA will conduct the closing session interview with QTRAX Chairman & CEO Allan Klepfisz.
Canadian Music Week - March 5th-8th in Toronto, Canada. The 26th installment of this international festival. Conference registration includes access to performances by over 500 of the hottest global artists throughout 41 downtown venues. Register early to secure your place and save. The DCIA will moderate a P2P panel on Thursday afternoon focused on P2P and music.
P2P MARKET CONFERENCE - March 14th in New York, NY in conjunction with the Media Summit New York (MSNY). The industry's premiere marketplace focused on the unique global revenue generation opportunities available in the steadily growing universe of open and closed P2P, file-sharing, P2PTV, and social networks, as well as peer-assisted content delivery networks (CDNs).
Media Summit New York - The fifth annual MSNY, March 12th-13th in New York, NY. Jointly produced by Digital Hollywood, McGraw-Hill, Business Week, and Standard & Poor's. Keynoting this year will be Robert Iger, President & CEO, The Walt Disney Company.
P2P MEDIA SUMMIT LA - May 4th in Los Angeles, CA. The third annual P2P MEDIA SUMMIT LA. The DCIA's flagship event featuring keynotes from industry-leading P2P and social network operators; tracks on policy, technology and marketing; panel discussions covering content distribution and solutions development; valuable workshops; networking opportunities; and more.
Digital Hollywood Spring - May 5th-8th in Los Angeles, CA. With many new sessions and feature events, DHS has become the premiere digital entertainment conference and exposition. DCIA Member companies will exhibit and speak on a number of panels.
|
