March 24, 2008
Volume XXI, Issue 6
LimeWire Store Launches Beta
Excerpted from Techtree Report
Reported to have been under development for the last six months, the LimeWire Store has launched with 500,000 songs for sale - provided by such progressive leaders of the music industry as Iris Distribution and Nettwerk Productions, both indie-label distributors. Nettwerk is home to the Barenaked Ladies, Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, and Paul Van Dyk, among others.
The home-page of the LimeWire Store beta very interestingly notes that its songs will be playable on iPods: "Our DRM-free MP3s are compatible with all standard MP3 players - even those from another fruit company."
The tracks will be of 256 kbps quality. Later, 'Buy' links will be added alongside 'Download' links in the LimeWire peer-to-peer (P2P) application interface.
This is in the hope that users will choose to buy high-quality tracks rather than download low-quality versions for free. Similar to Apple's iTunes pricing, songs will be priced at 99 cents per track and as low as 27 cents within monthly subscription packages.
Reports suggest that the growing trend of P2P service providers offering licensed song downloads may give rise to a new order in the music industry, where smaller bands and indie labels no longer need to depend solely on big studios and large corporate distributors to get paid for their music.
In the long run, this might even prove beneficial to listeners who'll get to access a wider variety of music at affordable prices.
While unauthorized MP3 downloads too have helped indie labels and small bands to gain publicity, it will now be possible for them to get paid by fans choosing to 'buy' a song instead of merely 'download' it.
The DCIA Welcomes Solid State Networks
Please warmly welcome Solid State Networks to the Platform Group. We look forward to providing valuable services to this newest DCIA Member Company and supporting its contributions to commercial development of the distributed computing industry.
Solid State Networks first announced its entrance into the market in March 2006, which is when it began actively working to increase the awareness and understanding of the benefits that may be derived through the pairing of P2P technologies with content delivery networks (CDNs).
Since that time, the company has seen its message validated as media coverage has significantly expanded in this area, reflecting the adoption of Solid State Networks' software and services by forward-thinking customers, as well as the introduction of other "hybrid" content delivery variants by new market entrants.
However, Solid State Networks believes there is still much work to be done in educating content publishers, distributors, and CDNs about the dramatic impact that this emerging technology can have on their businesses.
At the company's website, you will find details about what makes Solid State Networks different: its unique technological approach, its insistence on creating the highest quality user experience, and how and why it believes that is changing the economics of content delivery.
Solid State Networks is a customer-driven organization. Its focus is on delivering solutions for its customers that are far above anything offered by its competition, and backing up that focus with a strong commitment to providing outstanding customer service.
The company loves the fact that it is creating great new technology, but the personal satisfaction of its employees is driven by making its technology accessible to its customers in ways that will significantly impact their businesses.
In short, Solid State Networks is about empowering its customers to "Deliver at the Speed of Demand."
The company is constantly talking to its customers and is continuously incorporating their input into its products and services. The feedback it gets from its customers is the greatest source of Solid State Networks' inspiration and innovation.
CEO Rick Buonincontri and team look forward to learning about your business and doing their part to help make it successful. To find out how Solid State Networks can assist you in achieving your company's objectives, please click here.
PeerApp & MediaMerx Partner for Broadband Video
PeerApp, a leading provider of intelligent media caching and delivery solutions to Internet service providers (ISPs) worldwide, and MediaMerx, a leader in delivering premium syndicated digital video to global markets, are partnering to accelerate the distribution of aggregated digital content to ISPs around the world.
By integrating their technologies, PeerApp and MediaMerx will enable ISPs to obtain the types of content their subscribers want, deliver it to them at wire speeds, and generate revenue by creating new, differentiated services. Latin American, Eastern European, Asian, and African service providers have more than 100 million broadband users with their traffic growing more than 100%/year.
The partnership integrates PeerApp's infrastructure for accelerating multimedia content over broadband with MediaMerx web video tools and multi-channel player. Using the combined solutions, ISPs will be able to develop and deliver compelling content services that scale with subscriber demand and business growth.
The integrated technologies will also let media companies efficiently and economically distribute their content to multiple network operators. Moreover, global service providers can aggregate content efficiently from content sources, overcoming licensing and transaction challenges.
Through these distribution arrangements, content owners and network operators in global markets can generate new revenue from monetizing content.
"MediaMerx is the pioneer in distributing premium content to global markets," said Robert Mayer, PeerApp's CEO. "Its success in developing ISP-based distribution and leading technology for premium broadband video content positions our companies for significant growth in these markets."
"PeerApp has a strong following in global markets, where it gives ISPs a competitive edge by being able to cost-effectively deliver video content with superior quality of experience," said Tejpaul Bhatia, CEO of MediaMerx. "We are looking forward to the reach PeerApp will provide into these network operators, as well as to satisfying the demand for our combined solutions as operators are turning to video for differentiating their services."
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 We thank all who are currently working with the DCIA on a voluntary best practices regime to be implemented by P2P file-sharing software developers to protect users against inadvertent redistribution of personal or sensitive data.
We also salute the Strategic Alliance Cyber Crime Working Group and pledge our full support for its important work.
A principal goal of our endeavor, which is progressing well, is to eliminate the possibility that an open-P2P application user could ever share a file in error.
This effort is a good example of the industry taking steps proactively to ensure that P2P service offerings are among the safest on the Internet for all consumers.
The final product is expected to include a combination of elements ranging from default settings to feature enablement/disablement functions to user communications.
While this work is ongoing, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in cooperation with other federal agencies, has also added a new module to OnGuard Online that more broadly addresses using P2P file-sharing programs safely.
The DCIA and DCIA Member companies are in the process of adding links to this posting from their consumer-facing websites (e.g., P2P Safety is now the lead item in the left-hand column of permanent links on the DCIA home-page).
DCINFO readers, including those that already have links on their websites to FTC materials, may wish to update their sites to link to OnGuard Online as well, which features direct links to other cyber-safety information - such as modules that address malware and phishing - and generally provides a comprehensive and dynamic resource for consumers.
The P2P section includes a video from I-SAFE for use by teachers and a quiz-game P2P Three-Play. "Quick Facts" included in the module are as follows.
"Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing allows users to share files online through an informal network of computers running the same software. File-sharing can give you access to a wealth of information, but it also has a number of risks. You could download copyright-protected material, pornography, or viruses without meaning to. Or you could mistakenly allow other people to copy files you don't mean to share.
If you're considering P2P file-sharing: Install file-sharing software carefully, so that you know what's being shared. Changes you make to the default settings of the 'save' or 'shared' folder might cause you to share folders and subfolders you don't want to share. Check the proper settings so that other users of the file-sharing network won't have access to your private files, folders, or sub-folders.
Use a security program from a vendor you know and trust; keep that software and your operating system up-to-date. Some file-sharing software may install malware or adware, and some files may include unwanted content.
You may want to adjust the file-sharing program's controls so that it is not connected to the P2P network all the time. Some file-sharing programs automatically open every time you turn on your computer and continue to operate even when you 'close' them.
Consider setting up separate user accounts, in addition to the administrator's account, if your computer has multiple users. Limiting rights on user accounts may help protect your computer from unwanted software and your data from unwelcome sharing.
Back up data you don't want to lose in case of a computer crash, and use a password to protect any files that contain sensitive information."
OnGuard Online goes on to provide detailed suggestions to help users in each of these areas and to "Talk with your family about file-sharing."
Indeed, that last point bears repeating. "If you're a parent, ask your children whether they've downloaded file-sharing software, and if they've exchanged games, videos, music, or other material. Talk to your kids about the security and other risks involved with file-sharing and how to install the software correctly... If you're a teen or tween interested in file-sharing, talk with your parents before downloading software or exchanging files." And if you have additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact us at info@dcia.info.
To learn more about all aspects of the emerging global P2P industry, plan now to attend the third annual P2P MEDIA SUMMIT LA, the DCIA's flagship conference, on May 5th, held in conjunction with Digital Hollywood Spring. Share wisely, and take care.
P4P: Faster, Smarter P2P
Excerpted from ZDNet Report by Robin Harris
The P4P Working Group (P4PWG) has demonstrated higher P2P download speeds with 1/6th the inter-metro hops that soak up expensive, long-distance network bandwidth.
P4P is designed to enable better ISP and P2P coexistence with a win/win solution: better performance for users and less network overhead for ISPs.
P4P speeds up P2P downloads by localizing network traffic. Standard P2P traffic gets spread all over the globe, so a single packet may go through a half-dozen costly high-end routers and thousands of miles of scarce ocean-floor fiber on its way to your PC. Metro-area routing is both cheaper for ISPs and faster for the users.
Today's P2P is often network oblivious: peers are selected without regard to network topology. One stream may be coming from Flagstaff while the next is coming from Cape Town.
P4P is an open standard for delivering network awareness to P2P networks. One way it can work - and there is more than one - is to add a peer-tracker (pTracker) and an Internet-tracker (iTracker).
The peer queries the pTracker for nearby peers. If the pTracker knows where the right bytes are in the local metro area, it returns that info to the peer. But if the inventory isn't locally available, the pTracker could then go to the iTracker for peering suggestions that take into account network topology and costs.
The pTracker then selects a set of active peers and returns that list to the peer that initiated the request.
The pTracker is run by the P2P system - say BitTorrent or Pando - while the iTracker can be run by trusted 3rd parties, P2P networks, or ISPs.
As the volume of video content rises, the demand for P2P will only grow. With P4P it appears a substantial portion of the ISP community will make its peace with P2P content distribution. This is a Very Good Thing.
Coming P2P Advances for Windows 7
Excerpted from BetaNews Report by Jacqueline Emigh
Windows Vista already includes a P2P-enabling technology known as Teredo. But for the forthcoming Windows 7, Microsoft is contemplating adding such features as metered connections, distributed hash tables (DHT), and something called "green P2P."
For the Xbox 360 game "Halo 3," P2P technology is "key to the whole experience," said See-Mong Tan, Microsoft's Director of P2P Networking.
Now, Tan tells us, the company is pursuing more options that could bring new legitimacy to a technology that is still berated today for its heritage in anonymous file-sharing.
P2P technologies now being considered for the next edition of Windows include "Green P2P," metered connections, and DHT, Tan said in a talk at the DCIA's P2P MARKET CONFERENCE last Friday.
Tan told attendees at the conference in New York that many websites today offer "P2P experiences" even without relying on P2P technologies.
On Wikipedia, for instance, "everyone can either edit or read." On YouTube, "anybody can post or watch videos."
But P2P technology, on the other hand, calls for the use of "computer sharing across a whole community grid," he said.
Initially, P2P was used for distributing free music over networks such as Napster, and then for unlicensed sharing of movies over eDonkey.
"Now we're going to use it to sell movies," according to Tan. "The next thing goes to trying to sell bandwidth at a much cheaper rate than content delivery networks (CDNs)."
Also on the near horizon is the use of P2P networks as an advertising platform, said Tan.
Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 is already "one of the most successful" P2P platforms out there today, according to Microsoft's Director of P2P Networks. "'Halo 3' is actually one of the most compelling P2P games," he contended.
In "Halo 3," he said, the XBox 360 platform works as a "broker" to match up players in ways intended to ensure high quality of service (QoS). "Players communicate in P2P," said Tan. "P2P is actually key to the whole experience."
Xbox 360 communication among players takes place over the Xbox Live network, which has connections with Windows Live services. Microsoft also "continues to invest" in P2P technologies for Windows, Tan added.
Microsoft is "letting protocols in Windows do the heavy lifting" for P2P.
Teredo was designed in 2003, and later implemented in Vista, as a novel approach for moving network traffic where packets use IPv6 protocol and addresses, across a firewall that uses an IPv4 network address translator (NAT). NAT is the most common method for any firewall to mask computers within a subnet. Each of those computers is given an IPv4 link-local address, usually beginning with the prefix 192.168.
But with Windows Server 2008, which premiered late last month, utilizing IPv6 as a default alternative addressing scheme for the first time, Vista had to be ready to support it as well. So rather than tunnel underneath the firewall, Teredo builds a kind of for-the-nonce P2P bridge over it, while still letting the NAT do the job of forwarding packets to their final IPv4 link-local destinations.
Another of the new technologies being considered for Windows 7 is given the timely name "Green P2P." It's a power management system for letting "PCs go to sleep and wake up only when addressed" over a P2P network.
Microsoft is also thinking about adding metered connections so as to reduce network "chattiness" over P2P links.
As another improvement, Microsoft is contemplating DHT, both for enterprise data centers and broad Internet use, said Tan. DHTs are aimed at supporting scalability on P2P and CDN networks to very large numbers of nodes.
Since P2P networks are decentralized by design, what appears to any one peer to be a catalog of all the accessible files in those networks are actually piecemeal composites of the pieces of shared directories from all the peers put together. When one peer goes down unexpectedly, the integrity of that entire patchwork can be jeopardized.
A DHT can remedy that problem by building hash tables that contain remnant data from the entire catalog, and then broadcast those tables among multiple peers, so in the case of one peer going down, the catalog can more easily be reconstructed.
Other technologies now being contemplated for Windows 7 would help to maintain QoS and reduce network delays in media streaming delivery, according to the Microsoft exec.
High-Definition Television Requires P2P
Excerpted from TMCnet Report by Gary Kim
Nobody yet knows what the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ultimately will decide to do about traffic shaping. But it seems fairly clear that no matter what it decides to do, ISPs are simply going to have to make their peace with P2P applications and content streaming.
For starters, consumers, content owners, and service providers are starting to recognize that video content - especially high-definition (HD) content, cannot be delivered economically any other way.
Using standard techniques, HDTV content will cost application providers roughly four times more than standard definition video in 640 by 480 format (rows and columns of picture elements on a display).
That's one reason application and service providers are interested in managed P2P that is network aware and can assemble a P2P event using local servers to the greatest extent possible.
A standard definition, two-minute movie trailer might represent something like 47 to 78 megabytes. An HDTV version of that same movie trailer might require 126 megabytes.
A two-hour movie in standard definition might require about three gigabytes, while the HDTV version of the same two-hour movie might require 7.6 gigabytes.
P4P: The Future of Downloading
Excerpted from Bit-Tech Net Report by Gareth Halfacree
If HD downloads are ever to become commonplace, ISPs need technology like P4P.
US ISP Verizon has decided on an interesting approach to the increased transit costs P2P file-sharing users create: improve the software.
Verizon has become a founding member of the Distributed Computing Industry Association's (DCIA) P4P Working Group (P4PWG), which is looking into creating a standard protocol for carrier-grade P2P file-transfer systems. The news is good for both the carrier and the end-user, too: tests indicate that both the performance of the file download and the congestion on the network were improved.
The idea is to create a system whereby ISPs are able to communicate information regarding network conditions to the client P2P application in order to improve performance and lower network congestion. By giving the client software information about P2P users that are close in terms of network routing, the software is able to choose seeds in a way which maximizes routing efficiency.
This system relies on gathering as much data as possible about the network conditions around all users of a particular torrent, so the group is keen to see its technology adopted as an official standard. Much like BitTorrent, the idea is that the more ISPs use the system the more efficient it'll be.
CBC Wows with TV Show on BitTorrent
Excerpted from Marketing News Report
My, how the battle between music/video content producers and online download sites has taken a drastic turn. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) just announced that it will be offering the TV show "Canada's Next Great Prime Minister" for free download via BitTorrent technology.
There will be no DRM restrictions on the digital content, which means that downloaders can save the file to their PC, burn it to a DVD, and even transfer it to a portable device for viewing on the go.
This is a far cry from a few years back when content producers were doing everything in their power to prevent the distribution of their programming and music online. This included, in many cases, lawsuits against websites and technologies like BitTorrent or YouTube.
We then saw many producers take a lousy step forward with DRM-laden, pay-per-use content that virtually prevented downloaders from being able to fully enjoy what they just purchased. This move represents not so much defeat as it does the eventual understanding of the current state of the industry.
According to the CBC website, it's an experimental move, prompted by the knowledge that the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp. is doing something similar. "Do you think this is a good/bad idea?" CBC asks its website visitors. "Would you like to see more shows distributed this way?"
If all goes well, more popular CBC programming will be distributed this way.
Congratulations to CBC on making this move. Hopefully it will prompt others to follow suit, and indeed it looks like the majority of content producers are finally "getting it."
Nine Inch Nails Makes $1.6 Million on BitTorrent
Excerpted by NEWS.com Report
Industrial band Nine Inch Nails has made $1.6 million from an album offered as a free download and deliberately leaked to file-sharing websites.
The band released its sixth studio album, "Ghosts I-IV," online on March 2nd. Fans could download the album for free, an extended version in high-quality for $5 or order a copy on CD for $10. Two "deluxe" versions of the instrumental album featuring a Blu-ray disc and book of photography were available for $75 and $300.
Representatives of the band said on Friday that sales of all versions of the album had generated more than $1.6 million in the first week. In that time almost 800,000 people either bought the album or downloaded it for free.
Singer Trent Reznor said he was amazed at how popular the band's first instrumental album had been.
"We believe BitTorrent is a revolutionary digital distribution method, and we believe in finding ways to utilize new technologies instead of fighting them," Reznor said.
Web-Based Version of Joost Coming
Excerpted from CNET News Report
Could a browser-based version of its peer-to-peer television (P2PTV) software be in the works for Joost, the heavily hyped video start-up founded by the creators of Skype and Kazaa?
Portfolio's Kevin Maney wrote about this potential future development: "This year, viewers will be able to watch Joost videos in a browser window."
Right now, Joost requires a software download (Once installed, just go to Joost's website, click on shows like Seth Green's edgy "Robot Chicken" or an old "Rocky and Bullwinkle" episode and you can watch them as easily as you'd watch a video on YouTube).
Once touted as a "YouTube killer" that would address rampant online video piracy by offering professional content creators access to a high-quality video platform and revenue from top-notch advertisers, enticing competitors have since sprung up - including Hulu, the video joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp.
Recently, CBS Interactive President Quincy Smith, whose company counts Joost among the partners in its "Audience Network" of online video outlets, said that CEO Mike Volpi "knows what he's doing."
While the web-based Joost remains in the future, the company has been making other moves: experimenting with live TV programming, for one, starting with the NCAA basketball championship.
It's a good PR move, as the availability of "March Madness" games has put Joost back into the vocabulary of web users - and onto the computer screens of procrastinators.
Vudu Adds Automation Partners
Excerpted from SmartBrief Report by Rachel Cericola
How does a peer-to-peer television (P2PTV) set-top box (STB) compete in the entertainment world? Get some muscle.
The latest incarnation of the on-demand video box is getting backing by the kings of control.
P2PTV STB distributor and network operator Vudu just announced deals with Control 4, Crestron, Logitech, NetStreams, Philips, Universal Electronics, and Universal Remote Control (URC) to push its $999 Vudu XL product.
With 1TB of storage, the Vudu XL is only distributed through high-end A/V retailers, custom installers, and resellers.
Each one of the control companies will start to integrate various products with Vudu. Not all of those products were announced, but control codes will be made available in programming tools and databases for Logitech Harmony Advanced remotes, Philips Prestigo and Pronto lines, Universal's Nevo Controllers, and URC's Custom Professional products.
Not that they don't have love for the regular Vudu box, but because the XL is only available through authorized dealers, the deal makes sense.
Vudu XL offers more than 5,000 standard-def and 100 high-def movies on-demand. It also offers 1,000 TV shows. The movies are available for rent or purchase.
Myka Vows Torrent-Based Rival to Apple TV
Excerpted from Electronista Report
Myka is offering a self-titled media hub it says is a viable alternative for those who want most of the features of the Apple TV but a less restricted environment.
Rather than depend on a closed download system such as iTunes, the Myka depends chiefly on BitTorrent downloads to accomplish its download goals.
The peer sharing format not only reduces dependence on any one server for content but also theoretically allows downloads of content beyond the typical music and videos, according to the company. The system is designed to simplify the experience and also includes web access so the owner can queue up content away from home.
Appropriately, the hub not only plays established video formats such as DivX, H.264, MPEG-4, and WMV but also formats normally reserved for stand-alone movie discs, including MPEG-2 and VC-1; HDMI provides HD video output up to 1080i while RCA and S-video handle analog sources.
The device also supports playback of most common audio formats and includes a USB port for future expansion.
Myka is currently taking pre-orders for the device in 80GB ($299), 160GB ($349), and 500GB ($479) models, which are set to ship in the future.
The company is in discussion with major movie studios and other providers to supply official content in BitTorrent form, but also notes that it will allow downloads from other sources.
The Google of Peer-to-Peer
Excerpted from Information Week Report by John Foley
Tiversa, a five-year-old company based in Pittsburgh, PA, specializes in knowing what kind of content is being shared over P2P networks. Until now, it's concentrated on helping businesses find and fix data leaks caused by file-sharing users. But Tiversa's got other plans for its technology, including working with advertisers to understand and respond to user activity on P2P networks.
P2P networks have long suffered a bad rap, going back to the troubles of Napster seven or eight years ago. They can be a hornet's nest of copyright violation, ill-intended searches, and leaked data. As Information Week reported earlier this week, P2P networks are rife with sensitive business documents and personal information, often the result of users inadvertently storing those documents in their music folders or otherwise misconfiguring the file-sharing application during installation.
Tiversa helps businesses get the data leak problem under control, and it turns out that its technology can be used in other ways, too. The company has begun working with unnamed advertisers to see if the information it culls from P2P activity - primarily search terms and search matches - might be used for market intelligence or even targeted ad campaigns.
How might that work? Say someone is looking for a copy of the 2007 movie "Beowulf." Tiversa's real-time monitoring system might respond to the search with an offer of a licensed copy of the movie or a related game. These are somewhat murky waters given that P2P networks have served as a distribution channel for unlicensed music and movies, but it could be another step toward commercializing and legitimizing file sharing.
Just last week, the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) , a trade group for the P2P industry, held a conference devoted to P2P advertising and new business models.
Tiversa's technology could ultimately turn up in browsers. Tiversa COO Chris Gormley says incorporating P2P search into a browser tool bar would be a "no brainer." The company has been in discussions with a major web portal, though it won't disclose names.
"They could use our technology to create a whole different search engine," he says. "They could be become the Google of P2P."
Don't scoff. Tiversa says 1.5 billion searches a day take place on P2P networks, several times the volume handled by Google. If accurate, it's only a matter of time before mainstream advertisers get serious about the file-sharing crowd.
P4P Working Group Addresses Challenge
Excerpted from eSchool News Report
At the DCIA P2P MARKET CONFERENCE in New York last week, the P4P Working Group (P4PWG) presented test results showing that when an ISP cooperates with a file-sharing software maker, it can speed downloads an average of 60 percent - and collaboration boosted some downloads six-fold on fast Internet connections.
"This test signifies a turning point in the history of P2P technology and ISPs," said Robert Levitan, chief executive of file-sharing company Pando Networks. "It will definitely show ISPs that the problem is not P2P technology, the problem is how you deploy it. It is possible to deploy P2P to their advantage."
In P2P systems, users download files from one another, often at the same time they're uploading files to other users. The original Napster was a P2P system, as are the Kazaa and BitTorrent systems in current use.
One of the problems for ISPs has been that file-sharing networks connect users more or less at random around the globe - so a file sharer in the United States might simultaneously download files from Greece and Japan and upload to users in Belgium and Argentina, for example. This long-distance carriage is expensive for ISPs.
Verizon Communications shared details about the structure of its network with the researchers and Pando in the P4PWG, created last summer, and together they created a system that connects users not randomly, but to other users close by.
In a traditional P2P network, if a Verizon customer downloads a file, only 6.3% of the data will come from another Verizon customer in the same city, said Doug Pasko, Senior Technologist at the company. In the P4P trial, 58% of the data came from nearby Verizon users, vastly reducing the company's cost of carrying the traffic.
Levitan said the technology might be ready for use by next month, when NBC makes available free downloads of its TV shows using Pando's software. The shows will be financed by advertising, and P2P technology will be an essential way for NBC to cut costs.
Distributing an hour-long TV show in high-definition (HD) using traditional delivery systems would cost the network about $1. With P2P technology, that cost can be cut by 75-to-90%.
"The Internet is quickly transforming into a media-distribution platform, and there are people who say: 'It will break. It's not built to move music and movies and games and software,'" said Levitan.
"New technologies are needed, and this is one of those technologies."
For other ISPs to reap the benefits Verizon realized in the test, they too will have to share information about their networks with file-sharing companies - information they normally keep guarded.
"That's one of the objectives we have to solve - how are we going to consolidate this information and distribute it?" Pasko said, adding that the results of the test give ISPs plenty of incentive to collaborate.
Understanding the Peer-to-Peer Revolution
Excerpted from All Media Report by Michael Bauwens
Because of the increasingly distributed nature of production technology, not just for non-material production but for physical production as well, it is increasingly possible to imagine modes of social life which combine re-localized production with global open-design communities.
How can we move away from a world that is based on a false notion that the natural world is abundant, and on an equally false notion that we need to impede the free sharing of social innovations through the creation of artificial scarcities in the digital world?
The answer may be a reliance on the emerging P2P dynamic, and the emergence of peer production, peer governance, and peer property formats as alternative ways of organizing social life.
The increasingly global availability of social cooperation technologies is empowering and enabling the creation of global-local communities that are able to directly create social value, through new types of for-benefit institutions.
This new mode of production creates new business models, and could be enabled and empowered by new partner state-based approaches involving public authorities at all levels.
Net Neutrality Hampers Anti-Piracy
Excerpted from Online Minute Report by Wendy Davis
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) head Dan Glickman recently went on record against net neutrality, arguing that a law banning ISPs from discriminating against certain types of lawful applications would hurt anti-piracy efforts.
Net neutrality laws, he said, would "impair the ability of broadband providers to address the serious and rampant piracy problems occurring over their networks today."
"Technology," Glickman continued, "is handing us the opportunity to deal the first real body blow to online piracy, to begin to reach toward the day when we might be able to take it off the table and debug the system."
But Glickman is mistaken to equate P2P services with copyright infringement. Obviously some content shared on P2P services is infringing. But an increasing amount is not. Companies like QTRAX, Joost, and Vuze, to name just a few, rely on P2P technology to lawfully distribute music and video.
What's more, Glickman's comments seem to stem from a larger desire to turn ISPs into copyright police. Hollywood studios not only want networks to be able to interfere with traffic on P2P services, but also apparently want them to filter out transmission of copyrighted material.
Doing so is virtually impossible. Some pirates have already figured out how to encrypt material to evade filters. At the same time, people are legally entitled to make fair use of copyrighted material, but filters don't know whether particular uses are lawful or not.
Glickman may speak for the major studios, but independent filmmakers are irked by his remarks.
"The Internet offers the only truly open opportunity for independents (whether or not commercially oriented) to reach consumers because both free and cable television have been foreclosed in the wake of massive industry consolidation," Jean Prewitt, President & CEO of the Independent Film & Television Alliance, wrote to Glickman in a letter dated Friday.
"The issue is not whether government should regulate the Internet, but whether there will be effective oversight to prevent a handful of corporate giants from imposing their own version of private regulation to the public's detriment," Prewitt wrote.
Coming Events of Interest
AdMonsters Leadership Forum - April 22nd at the Digital Sandbox, New York, NY. The forum brings together senior members of the online ad operations community for a day of workshops, member-led presentations, and peer-certified best practice recommendations. This is truly a meeting of the minds for those leading operations online. David Clark, EVP of Joost, will keynote.
P2P MEDIA SUMMIT LA - May 5th 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 6th-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.
Advertising 2.0 New York - June 4th-5th in New York, NY. A new kind of event being developed as a partnership of Advertising Age and Digital Hollywood. The DCIA is fully supporting this important inaugural effort and encourages DCINFO readers to plan now to attend.
P2P MEDIA SUMMIT SV - August 4th in San Jose, CA. The first-ever P2P MEDIA SUMMIT in Silicon Valley. 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.
Building Blocks 2008 - August 5th-7th in San Jose, CA. The premier event for transforming entertainment, consumer electronics, social media & web application technologies & the global communications network: TV, cable, telco, consumer electronics, mobile, broadband, search, games and the digital home.
International Broadcasting Convention - September 11th-16th in Amsterdam, Holland. IBC is committed to providing the world's best event for everyone involved in the creation, management, and delivery of content for the entertainment industry. Uniquely, the key executives and committees who control the convention are drawn from the industry, bringing with them experience and expertise in all aspects.
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