February 8, 2009
Volume XXV, Issue 4
P2P Thought Leaders Series Debuts with Pando's CTO
The DCIA and Interactive Media Strategies are pleased to announce the official debut of the new P2P Thought Leaders online video series with the release of the feature webcast of Laird Popkin, CTO of Pando Networks, which has now been posted to the online video portal. Please click here to view this webcast.
The video features Laird Popkin talking about Pando Networks, its innovative Pando Content Delivery Cloud, and its active leadership role in the P4P Working Group (P4PWG). This segment is part of the on-going series of webcasts now being produced by Interactive Media Strategies in conjunction with the DCIA to showcase groundbreaking technologies, examine industry best practices, and feature interviews with pioneering thought leaders in the P2P industry.
If you would like to arrange to have a feature webcast produced for your firm to be showcased in the P2P Thought Leaders video portal, please contact Paul Ritter, Vice President of Interactive Media Strategies at 508-881-7149 or ritter@interactivemediastrategies.com The DCIA has negotiated a 50% discount on feature webcast and video case study production for DCIA Member organizations through the end of March.
In addition, Interactive Media Strategies will be publishing an industry white paper entitled Winning Business Models for P2P Technologies - An Examination of Best Practices and Successful Approaches for Delivering Multimedia Content. DCIA Members are encouraged to participate, including by sponsorship of custom-branded versions of this white paper at very attractive rates. If interested, please contact Paul Ritter at Interactive Media Strategies by February 20th.
Kontiki Exec Team Reunites, Attracts New Leadership
Kontiki, the industry-leading provider of enterprise video delivery solutions, has made several key management appointments to deliver on Kontiki's vision for this emerging market category.
Kontiki President Eric Armstrong said, "We are seeing huge growth for video delivery within enterprises, mirroring the growth of video over the Internet over the last few years. Kontiki is uniquely positioned to meet this market need - we have a mature and proven set of solutions, technology leadership, and great customers. Expanding our leadership team marks our momentum as well as the significance of this fast-growing market space."
With this expansion, Kontiki welcomes back key leaders who helped build the company's success in its early days. Joseph Ghazal rejoins Kontiki as Vice President of Engineering, Christine Costa as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Wade Hennessey as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and Paul Startz as Kontiki's legal counsel.
In addition to welcoming former key players back, Kontiki has also hired Jacco Van der Kooij to be Global Vice President of Sales, and Robert Nunes as Vice President of Marketing.
Enterprise video delivery is a critical component in corporate communications, especially during times of crisis and opportunity. Historically companies have been limited to text e-mails, voice-mails, or intranet portals for employee communications.
With Kontiki's Enterprise Video Delivery Solutions, companies can communicate using live or on-demand video to all employees globally. Video communications is especially important during challenging times, and is the most effective means for management to connect with each employee in a personal way.
With several decades of combined experience, the latest management appointments position Kontiki strongly for market penetration in the enterprise video space. Originally founded in 2000 in Silicon Valley, Kontiki was acquired by VeriSign in 2006 and then was spun back out as an independent company in May 2008. Since then Kontiki has re-established its brand and continued to grow its customer portfolio.
DCINFO Editor's Note: With deepest condolences to his family, we mourn the untimely passing of Mike Homer, who founded Kontiki in 2000. Mike Homer was a true industry visionary.
ARTISTdirect Changes Cap Structure, Names New CEO
Excerpted from Digital Media Wire Report by Mark Hefflinger
ARTISTdirect, a provider of music and movie information and owner of anti-piracy firm MediaDefender, announced that it has made significant changes to its capital structure, which included paying off senior debt, converting subordinated debt to common stock, and securing a new credit facility with Pacific Business Capital Corporation.
In addition, the Los Angeles, CA based company named Chairman and interim CEO Dimitri Villard as its chief executive.
"This favorable resolution of our capital structure is the culmination of a year of hard work which at times seemed impossible to achieve. I am delighted we are able to put our problems behind us and move forward," said Villard.
"We are now positioned for significant growth and will turn our attention to growing the company organically in addition to acquiring other strategically related businesses to build the company into a diversified media technology business."
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 The questions I've been asked most often this week relate to our exciting new P3P Working Group (P3PWG) and its planning process for the development of proof-of-concept testing and market trials of advanced business models for digital music distribution on the Isle of Man.
Qualified interested parties who wish to get involved are strongly encouraged to call +1-410-476-7695 or e-mail p3pwg@dcia.info for more information and to provide input into the planning process.
There will be preliminary formative meetings in Douglas and New York during the next two weeks and your participation is more than welcome.
Global music sales have fallen nearly 55% since 2000. And despite a nearly decade-long anti-piracy campaign, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) estimates that 95% of tracks distributed over the Internet are unlicensed, generating no revenue for record labels and music publishers.
Notwithstanding these dire statistics, to attract music industry participation in a new solution, it is imperative that existing end-user customers not be displaced by a model that reduces the intrinsic value of copyrighted music.
The DCIA's priority is to foster commercial development of P2P technologies, including for music distribution. After five years, the vast majority of P2P, peer-assisted CDN, P2PTV, hybrid P2P, live P2P streaming, and other services that exploit the cost savings and enhanced quality of P2P are distributing licensed entertainment and/or serving enterprise customers that own their content.
However, an enormous amount of consumer-driven P2P traffic, generated through file-sharing applications, remains unmonetized. And it is this issue that the P3PWG seeks to address.
The Isle of Man (population 80,000) is located in the Irish Sea at the center of the British Isles. It is a self-governing 221 square-mile territory with the world's longest standing parliament and legal system. The Island has become one of the fastest growing economies in Europe in recent years, led by its international financial services sector, favorable tax structures, and sound regulatory regimes.
There is 100% broadband penetration on the Island, which is served by three Internet service providers (ISPs). In addition, many leading consumer product and services organizations conduct market research and launch trials on the Isle of Man.
Since early 2008, the sovereignty has taken an increased interest in addressing unauthorized distribution of digital music by means of P2P technologies. One of the Island's leading business advisors, Ron Berry, keynoted at both our P2P & MUSIC CONFERENCE at PopKomm and most recently at our P2P MEDIA SUMMIT at CES.
There were many reasons for moving forward with the P3PWG initiative, which culminated not only a year of preparatory work, but also more than five years of cumulative learning.
Three important ones were: 1) a positive and constructive approach focusing on commercial advancement (rather than a negative and destructive approach focused on denial of usage); 2) an emphasis on operational feasibility taking advantage of the latest technologies (rather than indulging unrealistic proposals or being limited by outdated methodologies); and 3) a proposed scale for the test-bed that is small enough and sufficiently manageable to be practical (rather than ideas that are too expansive to be implementable or involve too many parties to permit resolution of internal differences in order to take action).
The Isle of Man is ideally situated to host and lead this important effort.
The P3PWG intends to operate in an open, inclusive, and transparent way, where a number of digital music distribution models will be evaluated using comparative test cells. These will include sponsored, packaged, and a la carte options, plus a number of variations. Results can be objectively reviewed, with the goals of optimizing consumer value and profitability to rights-holders and channel participants and sharing these findings publicly.
The P3PWG does not intend to put forth a dictated, exclusive, opaque solution as a take-it-or-leave-it or one-size-fits-all answer. Many combinations and permutations are possible.
Consumers will be empowered to continue sharing music using the latest digital distribution technologies of their choice; and not thwarted, discouraged, or threatened for doing so.
Above all, ending the negative spiral of steadily increasing online music infringement by establishing a baseline for monetizing such traffic, in one or more ways that employ precise usage tracking, will be the priority. In addition, the growing number of already-licensed music models, including ad-supported, subscription, and paid download P2P services, will competitively benefit from the prospective new ISP-based tier for non-commercial music sharing.
In fact, as more and more services become licensed, in the fullness of time, exemptions could be more the norm as the digital music distribution channel matures. One of the best-and-highest uses of the P3PWG initiative may be to establish a migration path for innovative digital distribution technologies from an introductory pre-individually-licensed stage to a more advanced fully-licensed level. Share wisely, and take care.
Roper & Tolle Create Launch Pad Media Advisers
Media and entertainment industry veterans Robert Roper and Ken Tolle have formed Launch Pad Media Advisers (LPMA), a ground-breaking new law firm committed to providing fresh perspectives and finding innovative solutions to help clients achieve their business goals.
This boutique firm concentrates its practice on all aspects of media content creation and distribution, and offers clients a flexible payment model that maximizes the value of the attorney-client relationship. LPMA's client-centered economic model steps well outside the traditional law-firm mold and provides the more flexible option of flat fee-based programs coupled with incentives designed to reward the firm for its contributions to client success.
Roper has been practicing law for almost 40 years, and was most recently the chair of the media and entertainment practice for the Moye/White law firm based in Denver, CO. He has represented dozens of programming networks, ranging from start-ups to widely distributed entities, publicly traded companies, and foreign companies entering the US market for the first time.
Roper also represents independent producers, and recently served as counsel in connection with the production of the episodic reality thriller, "Whale Wars," airing on Discovery's Animal Planet network. "We look forward to the opportunity to remove the barriers that inhibit the traditional attorney-client relationship," said Roper. "Ken and I have confidence that by partnering with our clients in new and unique ways we can contribute to the diverse landscape of the media and entertainment industry."
Tolle, a seasoned media executive, was most recently of Counsel with Moye/White. He has vast experience on both the programming and distribution side of the media business, and served as VP of Programming with EchoStar Communications (DISH Network), where he was responsible for a variety of business and legal aspects of content acquisition and video product strategy for the fourth largest multi-channel video programming distributor in the United States.
"Our clients spoke and we listened," said Tolle. "We understand the need for flexibility, especially in this tough economic environment, and know that by re-aligning the cost-benefit paradigm, we can help create enduring value."
How Businesses Can Use P2P
Excerpted from ReadWriteWeb Report by Krill Pertsev
Almost every description of P2P in the context of business infrastructure starts something like this: "P2P is notorious for..." This comes from many years of people associating P2P with unauthorized downloading, to the point that the terms are now almost synonymous. Such an association is inherently unfair, however, because no one equates TCP/IP and crime, despite the fact that TCP/IP is the protocol of choice for many cyber-criminals.
Rather than resorting to out-dated and inaccurate definitions, let's start from scratch and consider the following: what is P2P, really? What is it good for? How can we use it to save and earn money?
P2P stands for "peer-to-peer." Put simply, it's one method of establishing communication between parties. Uploading information to Google Docs to share it with colleagues is not P2P, but sending the same information as an attachment to e-mail is, despite the fact that mail servers are involved.
In this context, P2P doesn't mean "serverless communication" so much as "communication that is perceived to be serverless." Like e-mail, instant messaging (IM) is considered P2P technology because even though servers are used quite extensively, there is no explicit act of uploading data to an intermediate location. With both e-mail and IM, servers are used behind the scenes, so to speak.
Thus, "P2P" is as much a social term as a technical one. It connotes a grid or cloud of devices that are more or less equal, rather than a constellation of star-like servers with clusters of clients surrounding them. But from the purely technical point of view, there is a distinct difference between true P2P (in which data is not relayed through a server) and perceived P2P (in which data is relayed through a server, but we don't see it happen).
As currently implemented, "cloud computing" is really just a new name for old-school client-server computing, except that the servers pretend to be redundant. Clients have little or no actual control over this redundancy and cannot even verify its existence. When a cloud-based service tells you that your data is stored securely, you have no choice but to trust it... or not.
Compare that with a P2P file-sharing network. On a P2P network, every peer can tell who has complete or partial copies of a given file, what percentage of the file is stored locally, as well as many other details. Doesn't that seem like a better example of cloud storage? If not, then what is?
Even better, with this set-up, you can easily control the level of redundancy: just add another client instance, have it share the same file, and you've increased your redundancy by one. However, you can't reduce redundancy beyond the peers under your influence. If all peers don't agree to remove a given file, no one can. There have been many ideas about implementing a kind of "delete button" for the web, but the closer we move towards cloud computing, the less likely such a scenario becomes.
Cloud services are chosen for their convenience (being accessible from everywhere with simple tools) and reliability (with redundant storage in stable data centers). P2P technologies increase both factors: they increase convenience because there is no uploading or downloading to-and-from the cloud, and they provide directly controllable redundancy and, thus, cost control.
In most cases, more reliability means higher prices, and not all data deserves the same level of service. With P2P platforms behind cloud services, developers can implement applications that allow multiple storage and processing schemes without much hassle. This is not always good for service providers, because flexible cost control means that customers can scale up-and-down freely as business and economic conditions demand. But for the industry as a whole, it is definitely a good thing because it stiffens competition and enables customers to better survive.
What is perhaps more significant about introducing P2P technology into cloud computing is that the P2P cloud truly becomes a cloud, not just a 15-year-old client-server technology with a new sticker. If you are inviting us into the cloud, then let us truly be a part of it, instead of remaining a client that we can neither see nor control.
The traditional Internet (Web 1.0) was built mostly like a television network. Websites were controlled by a small group of content producers (editors, media teams, individual owners, etc.), and millions of users were consumers of that content. The barrier to entry was far lower than it was in the television industry, but it was still mainly a one-way road from the website to the user. The Internet's infrastructure reflected this: data centers, thick pipes that connected them, and subscriber lines that could download much faster than upload.
Then Web 2.0 came along, and everything started to change. Today, many popular sites were created by ordinary users who care less about owning content than about sharing it with others. Developers have created ecosystems and given users tools to track each other and exchange content, and sites have become service providers instead of content sources.
What happened to the Internet's infrastructure, then? Nothing. Imagine YouTube going out of business: the entire infrastructure for that video would disappear in a day, but the videos themselves would still exist, scattered among computers of individual users, stuck on cell-phones, caught in caches, etc.
Now take that one step further: instead of YouTube, we have a P2P network, full of videos and convenient tools to watch and upload them. Nobody can close this network or put it out of business. Sufficiently large P2P networks are invincible; if you don't believe that, just ask the MPAA and RIAA.
Web 2.0 is P2P (in a social sense), done with Web 1.0 tools and old infrastructure. To unlock a box with a whole set of new services, we need to upgrade the infrastructure. Just as Gopher was replaced by WWW, and UUCP was replaced by SMTP, the current star-shaped web infrastructure will be replaced by a mesh-shaped cloud network. Data centers will still exist, but instead of providing bandwidth and servers, they will provide reliability and accessibility. (And a system of measurement will need to be established for both.)
We can call this a "social Internet infrastructure:" an infrastructure that reflects new social behavior, that allows anyone to connect and share content with anyone else, while still enjoying sufficient privacy and security. It's not so much a revolution as an evolution: another step in a process that has been occurring for some time already. It happened to the telephone system - does anyone remember having to call a phone station to be put through to another person? I've only read about it in books. It will happen to the Internet eventually, too.
What is P2P good for, then? To answer that, let's look at the potential benefits of an "ideal" P2P implementation, benefits that a business could use for competitive advantage or to implement an entirely new service.
The most talked-about advantage of P2P is its ability to cut bandwidth bills. Imagine how much money companies like Dell, Logitech, and Microsoft spend on downloads of products and services? Logitech's generic mouse driver is over 30 MB in size, and the number of its mice being used around the world is countless. A Microsoft Windows service pack can be as big as 300 MB. Now think of how many computers run Windows.
There are also media distribution companies, web accelerators, distributed back-ups, the list goes on. And every one of these companies could dramatically reduce its bandwidth bill by using P2P. Properly implementing P2P content distribution isn't easy; but when our industry had (almost) more money than it could spend, nobody cared to try it. Today, money isn't just an issue; it's the issue.
Look at Skype. For it, implementing P2P was not optional but mandatory. Creating a free multimedia service for millions of people without spending tens of millions of dollars on "free" infrastructure wasn't (and still isn't) possible. With P2P, Skype was able to provide free phone access without actually subsidizing users (this is not 100% accurate, but accurate enough for this example). All the money it collects from paid users is profit.
Another benefit of P2P is that it requires zero configuration. Skype is probably not the best IP phone around, nor was it the first; but you don't have to be a telecommunications engineer to use it. You download the installer, run it, register yourself as a user, and off you go, from nothing to brilliant conversation in a few minutes.
As with content distribution, implementing a P2P network that requires no configuration isn't an easy task, but it dramatically reduces the number of users who drop off from being intimidated by the technology or feeling they lack the necessary skill. For many services, this is the difference between 100,000 users and 10 million users, or between going out of business as soon as venture money dries up and being profitable within a year.
Zero-configuration P2P has to do with more than just P2P, though. It also implies being able to fully network with zero configuration: the ability to connect any device anywhere using any available connection. Unattended sensors, medical IT devices, military computers - none of these should require in-field configuration. The people who use them generally don't have time to read instruction manuals. They should be able to open the box, insert batteries, and have a workable device within seconds. This is what zero configuration gives users: a choice, not just between high and low profitability, but between life and death.
Even in the case of lower-profile applications, zero-configuration P2P can cut deployment costs tremendously - and well-implemented P2P platforms can reduce those costs to almost nothing. On such a platform, for example, setting up a new message-processing server for a financial system would be as easy as opening the box, throwing the server on the rack, plugging in the ethernet and power cables, and nothing else.
Ubiquitous connectivity simplifies development costs. Message-passing platforms don't need to account for different types of hosts, relays, connectivity fall-backs, and so on. You simply confirm that the peer is up and then send it a message. Done. Think of how many networked hosts out there are actually "gateways" between e-mail and text messages, between Internet and intranets, between X and Y technologies. When one networked device can securely connect with any other, many problems simply evaporate.
Before TCP/IP took the world by storm, gazillions of networking technologies existed. No one remembers their names, not because they were inadequate, but because TCP/IP was everywhere, and it's much easier to speak the common language than to teach others a "better" one.
All of these factors are hopefully pushing cloud networking technologies towards commoditization, which will expand markets, decrease infrastructure costs, and allow companies to deliver better products more cheaply.
Cloud Computing Needs to Aid Device Migration
Excerpted from Online Spin Report by Max Kalehoff
David Churbuck, a blogger and marketing exec, said that cloud computing - aka the cloud - needs to alleviate the "nasty, stupid experience" of migrating from an old PC to a new one.
Electronic devices are near disposable, but the data and apps they carry - and we rely on - are not. We need data and apps to freely flow among devices, with proper security and management controls, of course. And when I say devices, I mean far more than just laptops. We need the cloud to further empower and alleviate the pain of mobile devices as well.
Here's one example of why: During my recent visit to a Sprint retail shop to replace a damaged BlackBerry battery casing, the technicians were unable to locate a replacement part and declared the device a casualty.
And there began the problem: I'm a heavy user of Gmail, Google Maps, and TwitterBerry, among other BlackBerry apps. I also maintain a large personal contact database, which syncs with my Mac's e-mail client. Those are all private databases, customized add-ons, and configurations. Downloading and reinstalling all the apps again, as well as reinstalling all my personal contacts, was a big hassle.
It directly consumed many hours and disrupted my workflow and ability to communicate for two days. Oh, yeah, then there was all the basic user reconfiguration for the Blackberry - a painful experience because the navigation system seems to get more cryptic as your settings requirements become more detailed.
I'm talking about things like syncing my device with my company's Microsoft Exchange e-mail server, speed dialing, security settings - and much, much more.
Sure, there's plenty of hype and optimism that cloud computing might one day severely reduce the number of apps, computing power, and storage a device needs to hold in order to be useful.
Theoretically, that would eliminate many of my mobile migration problems noted above, in the first place. But the reality is that the BlackBerry - and most devices - still requires sizable apps and local storage to achieve the functionality and performance we all expect.
But in the interim, it would be nice if cloud computing could alleviate the pain by enabling one-click removals and reinstalls of applications, databases, and settings. It's enough that our mobile devices are often lost, stolen, broken, corrupted, or become obsolete. Therefore, the fate of our data, user experience, and productivity should not be held hostage to those devices.
P2PTV Leader Veoh Unveils iPhone App
Excerpted from Appscout Report
Industry leading peer-to-peer television (P2PTV) service Veoh is now available on the iPhone and iPod Touch, the company announced Tuesday.
"Many of our most popular hosted videos - from Sports Illustrated to the latest crazy infomercial parody - are now available for viewing whenever you're on the go, right at your fingertips," Veoh wrote in a blog post.
To access it, navigate to veoh.com on the iPhone or iPod Touch and Veoh will automatically reroute you to the web application.
For best performance, Veoh recommends that you have the latest 2.2 update.
In November, SanDisk launched the simply-named Veoh Web Player for SanDisk. Available solely for SanDisk Cruzer USB drives, the app lets users browse and download content from Veoh.
Babelgum Rolls-Out Second Festival
Excerpted from Variety Report by Nick Vivarelli
The Babelgum Online Film Festival is kicking off its second edition with more than 600 professionally produced short films viewable via both fixed and mobile broadband.
The youth-skewed free P2PTV platform offering quality full-screen programming and positioning itself as closely tied to the indie film and festival worlds is dishing out $127,000 in prizes awarded by a jury headed by Spike Lee.
Seattle Film Festival topper Carl Spence, Annecy Animated Film Festival managing director Tiziana Loschi, and US indie distribution consultant Richard Abramowitz, are among this year's other Babelgum fest jurors. In tandem with the web fest's audience, they will sift through the entries and pick winners in four categories: short film, animation, mini masterpiece (for more edgy fare), and documentary.
"Filmmakers need to go where their potential audience is, and Babelgum provides the perfect platform to do so," boasted Babelgum CEO Valerio Zingarelli.
Winners of the Babelgum Online Film Festival, which claims to be the first film fest available for viewing and voting via a computer and a cell-phone, will be announced in April.
Owned by Italo new media mogul Silvio Scaglia, Babelgum last year launched its Music Video Awards with Gallic helmer and vidmaker Michel Gondry topping that jury.
The four-year old P2P start-up with offices in London, Dublin, Milan, Nice, and New York, also recently commissioned its first fully-financed shows, which include "Extinction Sucks," a six-part wildlife skein made with the World Wildlife Fund.
CNN Relies on P2P for Live Streams
Excerpted from Beet Report by Andy Plesser
In keeping up with the unprecedented demand for bandwidth for streaming the Inauguration of Barack Obama, CNN.com relied on a P2P program in a substantial way, according to a report in NewTeeVee.
Quoting a Turner executive, Janko Roettgers reports that more than half of the simultaneous streams were delivered through a P2P network of users who downloaded a program from Octoshape, a web plug-in for Adobe Flash.
By using the P2P program, individual computers became part of the distribution system.
This is not new to online distribution of mainstream fare. We have reported previously on Pando Networks' work with NBC Universal.
The reality is that P2P will become an increasingly important component of online video distribution as demand continues to rise.
Linux Shows Us Bright Side of P2P
Excerpted from Tom's Guide Report by Devin Connors
More often than not, big media companies cast torrent tracking and P2P sharing in a negative light. Whether it's the EU trying to take down The Pirate Bay (TPB) or the RIAA and MPAA bringing everybody under the sun to court, file sharing is constantly given a bad rap.
Despite this, P2P has a number of positive qualities, many of which are brought out thanks to Linux. A sea of operating systems based on the open-source kernel are online, available for download, or are sent to consumers via CD in the mail.
However, thanks to P2P, many Linux users can grab the OS of their choice via torrents. How? Meet Linuxtracker. Founded in 2005 by Mark Angeli, the tracker listing site is free, open-source, and a hot destination for Linux distros.
With the motto "We track tux so you don't have to," Linuxtracker has recently celebrated a major milestone. Over the last 12 months, Linuxtracker has distributed over 180 terabytes of Linux-based OS. Starting with Slx, and now covering a myriad of different distros, the site sees better than average seed/leech ratios, and does not require users to register.
"I was getting into the BitTorrent 'movement,' downloading the shows I missed at night while at work," Angeli said to TorrentFreak. "At this time, I was also trying out new Linux distributions on a fairly regular basis and, while I had decent download speeds, I wanted to find a better way to download and share Linux. Some of the bigger distributions were beginning to use BitTorrent as a means of distribution, but the smaller ones were having a hard time. I wanted to make it easy for them."
Sure, downloading a free OS by means of torrents is a far stretch from downloading unlicensed movies and music, but what's most important here is focus. Any number of arguments can be made about downloading copyrighted material, for and against. However, attacking the technology behind P2P is not the answer.
In other P2P news, a Brazilian anti-piracy group's website was taken hostage by hackers earlier this week. The move was in retaliation for the site going after a popular tracker site called legendas.tv.
Hackers invaded the website belonging to the Antipirataria Association Cinema and Musica (APCM), and inserted links that led to torrents listed on MiniNova. On the site, the message "Live for Downloads" was left for all to see. While the legendas.tv site is already back up, APCM's website is still down for "maintenance."
Vuze Asks FCC to Examine Cox's Traffic Plan
Excerpted from Online Media Daily Report by Wendy Davis
Industry leading P2PTV service Vuze is joining Free Press in calling for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take a close look at Cox Communications' new plan to manage traffic.
"We're watching with growing concern recent announcements by Cox Cable that they'll be taking steps to classify different types of Internet traffic as 'time-sensitive' and 'non-time-sensitive,' and may 'delay' certain traffic deemed to be 'non-time-sensitive,'" General Counsel Jay Monahan wrote on the Vuze blog.
Cox recently said it would test a plan to manage congestion by treating traffic differently, depending on whether it's time-sensitive. The company will prioritize the time-sensitive traffic - including e-mail, instant messaging (IM), games, and website visits - while occasionally slowing down other traffic, including P2P.
The news drew sharp criticism from net neutrality advocates, who say that Cox shouldn't discriminate between lawful applications.
Vuze relies on P2P technology to transmit video, which means its content could be downgraded under Cox's blueprint.
"When you're downloading Vuze content using Vuze, whether it's a PBS documentary, the latest episode of 'Pink' or some great user published content, it will automatically be classified as 'non-time-sensitive,' and thus may be subject to delay at Cox's sole discretion," Monahan wrote.
"Suffice it to say, our 10 million users who access over a petabyte of Vuze HD network content every month care about 'delay' of their content."
Vuze complained to the FCC last year about another cable operator ISP, which also slowed P2P traffic as part of a congestion management plan. While under investigation, that MSO said it would move to a protocol-agnostic traffic-shaping system. The FCC in August voted 3-2 to sanction it for having violated net neutrality principles by singling out P2P traffic.
Germany Says No to Three-Strikes Infringement Plan
Excerpted from Ars Technica Report by Jacqui Cheng
While some countries are eager to implement a "three-strikes" Internet infringement law, others are slowly backing away into the dugout.
German lawmakers sat down privately with ISPs to talk about a proposed P2P policy that would take repeat file-sharing offenders offline, but both sides agreed that the policy's methods would be at odds with the country's privacy laws.
Specific details of the meeting between the German Department of Justice and the ISPs are unknown, but Heise Online claims that the two parties walked away agreeing that such an invasive system would run into legal trouble.
The ISPs reportedly described the meeting as "successful" and are working on a joint venture with content providers that would allow for more straightforward licensing terms along with better legal download options.
The three-strikes concept, also known as "graduated response," was first seriously entertained by France in 2007. The idea is that Internet users who are caught downloading copyrighted files without authorization would receive a warning from their ISPs upon the first offense, a temporary account suspension upon the second offense, and have their Internet access completely revoked after the third infraction.
The idea quickly spread to the UK, with parliament considering implementing similar legislation (but without actual disconnections) thanks to heavy lobbying from content owners. And New Zealand is on-track to implement a graduated response scheme (with disconnections) by the end of this month. The largest ISP in Ireland has also agreed to graduated response, and various US ISPs are exploring it on a voluntary basis.
Unsurprisingly, the global music trade group IFPI has applauded these efforts, saying that "good things are beginning to come to pass" because of them. ISPs are almost universally against having to boot paying customers without a judge's order, as end-users tend to respond vocally to such plans.
In the worst cases, the ISPs have no legal protection from either "big content" or customers if either feels the ISP is doing a shoddy job at enforcement, as exemplified by the situation in New Zealand.
Germany, however, is moving in the other direction. In addition to the information conveyed by Heise's sources, Spreeblick managed to get comments on the three-strikes proposal right from the horse's mouth: Germany's Secretary of Justice, Brigitte Zypries.
Zypries said that she doesn't believe the three-strikes model is fitting for Germany, or even the rest of Europe.
She described the system as "highly problematic" because of constitutional and political considerations, and said that "once the first disconnects start to happen in France, we will be hearing the outcry all the way to Berlin."
UMG Slapped Down Again in Veoh Case
Excerpted from Techdirt Report
The ongoing lawsuit between Universal Music Group (UMG) and P2PTV leader Veoh is seen by many as a precursor to the various lawsuits against YouTube (or, more specifically, the "big" lawsuit from Viacom).
So far, it's not going well for the content companies. In another lawsuit, filed by an adult video company, Veoh won easily.
In the UMG case, the judge has already shot down UMG's arguments for why Veoh shouldn't get DMCA safe harbor protection.
The latest news is that the judge has also dismissed UMG's attempt to include Veoh's investors as a part of the lawsuit.
UMG's attempt to do this matched its decision to sue Bertelsmann, a competitor that was also an investor in Napster. This made little sense at the time.
Making an investor liable for the actions of a company it invests in seems to open up a Pandora's box of problems. Think of all the "shareholder lawsuits" you now see against management for corporate misdeeds, and then turn that around, whereby anyone hurt by a company's actions could sue all of its investors.
If investors were liable for a company's misdeeds, then suddenly it would become a huge liability to invest in anything.
Big Newspapers, Conglomerates Side Against RIAA
Excerpted from Digital Music News Report
A consortium of major news organizations is now siding against the RIAA. The group is supporting the webcast of legal proceedings against an accused file-swapper, a case involving Harvard University.
News of the consortium was shared by the Associated Press, just one of fourteen members. The case pits the RIAA against accused file swapper Joel Tenenbaum, a battle that unexpectedly attracted the involvement of Harvard Law School Professor Charles Nesson.
Nesson and students initially won court approval of the broadcast, though the RIAA is now battling the matter through an appeals court. Among the arguments in its appeal, the RIAA noted that video could easily be manipulated. Indeed, video is highly viral, though the consortium noted that other forms of courtroom reporting - including transcripts - can also be doctored.
"It is hard to imagine a hearing more deserving of public scrutiny through the same technological medium that is at the heart of this litigation," the news groups stated in their brief.
Others in the consortium include the New York Times, Courtroom Television Network, Dow Jones, Gannett, Hearst, Incisive Media, National Public Radio, NBC Universal, Radio Television News Directors Association, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, EW Scripps, Tribune, and Washington Post Digital.
The Pirate Bay Plans to Sue IFPI
Excerpted from TorrentFreak Report
Earlier this week, a Danish court decided that all ISPs have to block access to The Pirate Bay (TPB). In response to the judgment, three ISPs have already announced that they will take the case to the Supreme Court. In addition, TPB itself now says it will sue the anti-piracy outfit IFPI, if the ISPs fail to overturn the ruling.
The decision to block TPB has once again ignited a debate on Internet filtering, the responsibilities of Internet providers, and the legal status of BitTorrent sites.
TPB Co-Founder Peter Sunde said that TPB is seriously considering suing IFPI for unfair competition. "They have had a monopoly on distribution and we're breaking that monopoly, and, in turn, they sue people that allow access to our distribution method," he said.
Meanwhile, all other BitTorrent sites are still accessible in Denmark, and, thus far, IFPI hasn't announced it will go after any of them. This makes IFPI's legal strategy look like a personal vendetta against TPB, instead of an effective measure against infringement.
Before TPB takes action against IFPI, it will first await the outcome of the Supreme Court appeal that the three ISPs - DC, Telia and Telenor - announced earlier this week. If that appeal is unsuccessful, TPB will sue IFPI.
IFPI seems to be looking forward to yet another confrontation. "Peter Sunde is welcome to sue us," Jesper Bay, head of the Danish IFPI told Comon.dk in a response to the news. Ironically, one of the websites explaining how to get around the Danish blockade carries Jesper Bay's name.
TorrentSpy Asks Court to Reverse $111M Verdict
Excerpted from MediaPost Report
In a closely watched case, the defunct BitTorrent search site TorrentSpy has asked a federal appellate court to reverse a judge's decision ordering the site to pay movie studios $111 million for copyright infringement.
TorrentSpy argues that Judge Florence-Marie Cooper in Los Angeles, CA wrongly sanctioned the company for having purged records of visitors' IP addresses rather than break a promise to protect users' privacy.
iiNet Fights Movie Piracy Case in Australia
Excerpted from Fudzilla Report by Nick Farrell
In a case which could have global repercussions, Australia's third largest ISP is defending itself against movie industry claims that it was responsible for its customers' online infringement. The movie industry is having a crack at suing the ISP for not doing enough to stop its customers from using P2P to download movies.
According to iiNet, it was like suing an electricity company because its customers do something unlawful with their power.
iiNet said that the Copyright Act and Safe Harbor provisions introduced with the US free trade agreement stipulated that ISPs were not liable for copyright infringement by customers.
Seven major movie studios and the Seven Network filed suit against iiNet for allegedly allowing its users to download unlicensed movies and TV shows using BitTorrent.
If the movie industry loses the case, its planned targeting of ISPs will have failed, and it will have to revert to going after individual file sharers. This plan cost it a lot of money and didn't deal with the situation at all.
However, if iiNet loses, all ISPs could be forced to disconnect customers identified by the movie studios as unauthorized downloaders. Lawyers for the movie studios said they provided iiNet with evidence of its customers' copyright infringement this week. However the movie industry has a history of having its technical evidence proven to be bogus.
Digital Pirates Winning Battle with Movie Studios
Excerpted from NY Times Report by Brian Stelter and Brad Stone
On the day last July when "The Dark Knight" arrived in theaters, Warner Bros. was ready with an ambitious anti-piracy campaign that involved months of planning and steps to monitor each physical copy of the film.
The campaign failed miserably. By the end of the year, unlicensed copies of the Batman movie had been downloaded more than seven million times around the world, according to the media measurement firm BigChampagne, turning it into a visible symbol of Hollywood's helplessness against the growing problem of online video infringement.
The culprits, in this case, are the anonymous users who put the film online and enabled millions of Internet users to view it. Because of widely available broadband access and a new wave of streaming sites, it has become surprisingly easy to watch unlicensed video online - a troubling development for entertainment executives and copyright lawyers.
Hollywood may at last be having its Napster moment - struggling against the video version of the digital looting that capsized the music business. Media companies say that "piracy" - some prefer to call it "digital theft" to emphasize the criminal nature of the act - is an increasingly mainstream pursuit.
At the same time, DVD sales, a huge source of revenue for film studios, are sagging. In 2008, DVD shipments dropped to their lowest levels in five years. Executives worry that the economic downturn will persuade more users to watch unauthorized shows and movies.
"Young people, in particular, conclude that if it's so easy, it can't be wrong," said Richard Cotton, the General Counsel for NBC Universal.
People have swapped unlicensed copies of songs, television shows, and movies on the Internet for years. The slow download process, often using a P2P technology called BitTorrent, required patience and a modicum of sophistication by users.
Now, users do not even have to download. Using a search engine, anyone can find free copies of movies, still in theaters, in a matter of minutes.
Classic TV, like every "Seinfeld" episode ever produced, is also free for the streaming. Some of these digital copies are derived from bootlegs, while others are replicas of the advance review videos that studios send out before a release.
TorrentFreak, a website based in Germany that tracks which shows are most downloaded, estimates that each episode of "Heroes," a series on NBC, is downloaded five million times, representing a substantial loss for the network. (On TV, "Heroes" averages 10 million American viewers each week).
A wave of streaming sites, which allow people to start watching video immediately without transferring a full copy of the movie or show to their hard drive, are making it easier than ever to watch free Hollywood content online. Many of these sites are located in countries with lackluster copyright enforcement efforts, like China, and are hard to monitor, so media companies do not have a clear sense of how much content is being infringed.
But many industry experts say the practice is becoming much more prevalent. "Streaming has gotten efficient and cheap enough and it gives users more control than downloads do. This is where online infringement is headed," said James L. McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research. "Consumers are under the impression that everything they want to watch should be easily streamable."
Some of the first fights over video infringement on the Internet involved YouTube, the Google-owned website that introduced many people to streaming. Some legal disputes between YouTube and copyright owners remain, most notably a $1 billion lawsuit filed by Viacom, but the landscape "has improved markedly," Mr. Cotton said. YouTube uses filters and digital flags to weed out unauthorized content.
But if media companies are winning the battle against unlicensed video clips, they are losing the battle over illicit copies of full-length TV episodes and films. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) says that unauthorized downloads and streams are now responsible for about 40% of the revenue the industry loses annually as a result of infringement.
"It is becoming, among some demographics, a very mainstream behavior," said Eric Garland, the chief executive of BigChampagne.
The files are surprisingly easy to find, partly because of efforts by people like Mohy Mir, the 23-year-old founder of the Toronto based video streaming site SuperNova Tube. The site, run by Mr. Mir and one other employee, allows anyone to post a video clip of any length. As the site has grown more popular, SuperNova Tube has become a repository for copyrighted content. On a recent day, the new movies "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and "Taken" could easily be found on the site by following links from other sites, called "link farms," which guide users to secret stashes of copyrighted content spread around the web.
Mr. Mir says he did not know these files were there and that his company promptly responds to any request from major rights-holders. He also says that infringement is actually his largest problem - advertisers flee when they are alerted to infringing material - and that he is constantly removing files at the request of Hollywood studios.
His reluctance is seemingly belied by his site's name, which is based on the popular SuprNova BitTorrent hub, and its slogan, "We work with uploaders, not against them."
The infringement problem, however, does seem to weigh on him. He removed a copy of the movie "Twilight" from his site after a reporter pointed it out to him recently. "I think about getting sued every day. If that happens, it will definitely take us out of business," he said.
Mr. Mir has reason for concern. In December, the motion picture association sued three websites that it said were facilitating copyright infringement by identifying and indexing links to unlicensed material around the web.
John Malcolm, the association's Director of Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations, said that although the group does not sue individuals for watching infringing videos, other lawsuits against websites are forthcoming, and he acknowledged that the challenge is stiff.
"There are a lot of very technologically sophisticated people out there who are very good at this and very good at hiding," Mr. Malcolm said. "We have limited resources to bring to the fight."
With so much unauthorized material online, Hollywood is turning to technological solutions. Perhaps most important, media companies are learning from the music industry's mistakes and trying to avert broader adoption of infringing techniques. The No. 1 lesson: provide the video on the platform that users want it.
Mark Ishikawa, BayTSP's founder and chief executive, sees a correlation between the availability of content through traditional licensed channels and their popularity on unauthorized networks.
"When DVD releases are postponed, demand always goes up, because people don't have an authorized channel to buy," he said.
Partly in response to the infringement problem, a cornucopia of video websites now feature the latest episodes of virtually every broadcast TV show. Movie studios are experimenting with video-on-demand (VOD) releases and other ways to offer films on demand. Licensed alternatives, the companies hope, will stifle infringement.
The music industry, by comparison, waited years to provide licensed options for online listeners. "That's how you start to marginalize piracy - not just by using the stick, but by using the carrot," Mr. Garland said.
Tribler Report: The End of Copyright
Excerpted from Lawdit Commercial Solicitors Report by Michael Coyle
It may seem apocalyptic, but, according to some, in two years or so, copyright will be a thing of the past. The problem that rights-holders seem to ignore or choose to ignore is that file sharing is an attitude or a social behavior which will not go away and, no matter how you seek to criminalize individuals for file sharing, it is here to stay. It will get more sophisticated and will grow at a rapid rate. If the industries think they have a problem, watch this space.
A study by Tribler and P2P researcher Johan Pouwelse argues that, by 2010, copyright will be unenforceable.
"Our study traces the evolution of commons-based peer production by a measurement-based analysis of case studies and discusses the impact of peer production on net neutrality and copyright law. The measurements include websites such as SuprNova, YouTube, and Facebook, and the P2P systems Kazaa, BitTorrent, and Tribler.
The measurements show the two sides of peer production, the infringing side with free availability of Hollywood movies on these P2P systems, and the Samaritan side, exhibited by the quick joining of 400,000+ people in a community to organize protests against events in Burma. The telecommunications and content industry are disrupted by this way of peer production.
As a consequence, revenues of both industries are likely to suffer in the coming years. On the other hand, innovative P2P systems could win the battle on merit over classical distribution technologies.
As a result, a continuation is expected of both legal actions against P2P and possible blocking actions of P2P traffic, violating net neutrality. It is argued that this hinders innovation and causes a large discrepancy between legal and user perspectives. A reform of copyright laws is clearly needed; otherwise they will be unenforceable around 2010".
The impending doom has a lot to do with collaborative websites like YouTube, which are becoming more and more popular leading to more social sharing content and better mechanisms to filter though this content.
At the same time, the P2P networks, can feed off these improvements making their models more robust. The whole thing is moving at a terrifying pace.
Pouwelse states, "By 2010 darknets should be able to offer the same performance as traditional P2P software by exploiting social networking."
So imagine if the YouTube community was able to share movies amongst a P2P network that would be untraceable. The report thinks it's on the way and likely to be with us within the next two years.
Coming Events of Interest
Digital Music Forum East - February 25th-26th in New York, NY. Participants include top label execs, artists and reps, association heads, attorneys, investors, consumer electronics, plus technology leaders from social networks, payments companies, online retailers, mobile companies, technology start-ups, and more.
East Coast Music Awards - February 26th - March 1st in Corner Brook, NL, Canada. Live, original music during a four-day festival. Terry McBride, Co-Founder & CEO of Nettwerk Music Group, will be the keynote speaker for the conference component of the ECMA weekend.
P2P MARKET CONFERENCE - March 17th in New York, NY. Strategies to fulfill the multi-billion dollar revenue potential of the P2P and social network channel for the distribution of entertainment content. Case studies of sponsorships, cross-promotion, interactive advertising, and exciting new hybrid business models.
Media Summit New York - March 18th-19th in New York, NY. Sponsored by McGraw-Hill and Digital Hollywood, the 2009 MSNY is the premier international conference on media, broadband, advertising, television, cable & satellite, mobile, publishing, radio, magazines, news & print media, and marketing.
Future of Television West - March 24th-25th in Los Angeles, CA. A cutting-edge community of content creators, technology innovators, advertising representatives, and distributors forge relationships and share ideas about the future of television. The event is interactive.
LA Games Conference - April 28th-29th in Los Angeles, CA. Focused on business, finance and creative developments in the games industry, including mobile, online and console markets and the increasing intersection of Madison Avenue and Hollywood with the industry.
P2P MEDIA SUMMIT LA - May 4th in Santa Monica, CA. The fourth annual P2PMSLA, 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-7th in Santa Monica, 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.
Streaming Media East - May 12th-13th in New York, NY. The number-one place to see, learn, and discuss what is taking place with all forms of online video business models and technology. Content owners, viral video creators, online marketers, enterprise corporations, broadcast professionals, ad agencies, and educators.
|
