January 18, 2010
Volume XXIX, Issue 5
Websites Lead to Donations and Rescues
Excerpted from Miami Herald Report by Laura Figueroa and Bridget Carey
Distraught by the lack of news from loved ones in Haiti, many in the Haitian-American community looked to social media websites like Twitter and Facebook to plea for updates about their loved ones, some going as far as providing specific locations where they believed relatives were trapped.
Throughout the day, many used such websites as forums to urge friends and followers to donate to the Red Cross or to list donation sites. The Red Cross reported on its Twitter site that it had raised more than $800,000 through text message donations in the span of a day.
This is the first time people had access to vast networks like Facebook and Twitter to quickly spread the word of finding loved ones and sending help following a major catastrophe.
Give On The Go, the fundraising arm of marketing company Red Fish Media, ran a text-message campaign raising nearly $400,000 in a day. Matt McKenna, President of Red Fish Media, said there were about 14,000 tweets a minute on Wednesday sent out by users. At noon, about 22,000 websites were mentioning the campaign.
The Red Cross has a similar text message fundraising system. Text the word HAITI to the number 90999 to donate $10 toward relief in Haiti. So far, as of this writing, this system has raised $8 million.
Supporters, Detractors Weigh in on FCC's Net Neutrality Principles
Excerpted from Multichannel News Report by John Eggerton
There wasn't anything neutral from the organizations expressing their opinions concerning the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) proposed codification and expansion of the four principles in its Internet policy statement.
The comments in the FCC's network-neutrality proceeding flooded the commission from every side and angle this week (comments were due midnight January 14th). Free Press, which fully backs the FCC effort, said there were 13,000 comments from the public alone.
They ranged from requests for even more regulations than the FCC proposed to arguments that the commission has not yet demonstrated a need for any new regulations.
Unions and content providers said the FCC had to explicitly protect their works as it was creating/preserving all that Internet openness, while fair-use fans said that copyright protection "should not be part of network neutrality."
Network neutrality proponents want a fairly narrow definition of acceptable network management. Comcast told the FCC late Thursday that it must compile evidence and establish statutory authority before it adopts any rules.
While Comcast maintained it shares the goal of an open Internet and applauds a fact-based approach to the rulemaking, it also said that evidence collected by the FCC for its broadband plan raises "serious concerns" that the network neutrality regulations as currently constituted "would put at risk the continued investment and innovation in broadband networks needed to meet those goals."
The nation's largest cable operator noted that rules should only be adopted based on real "not conjectural" harms and benefits, and only if addressing both outweighs the risks to innovation and investment. Comcast added, "To date, there is no such record."
Comcast also said that since there is no express grant of Congressional authority, the FCC is relying on the ancillary authority it says must be tied to specific statutory provisions, with a justification for why it is "reasonably ancillary" to that authority.
Taking a far more proactive regulatory stance was the American Cable Association, which represents over 900 smaller and medium-sized cable operators. "The proposed regulations do not go far enough."
ACA asked the FCC to extend the open Internet regulations to "all providers" of broadband content, applications, services, and devices." ACA said that all those play a key role in either shaping or distorting "the internet experience." ACA took the opportunity to continue its campaign against ESPN360, saying it was one of those content providers blocking access.
"ESPN denies consumers access to ESPN360, unless a consumer's broadband provider has a wholesale distribution agreement with ESPN," said ACA.
The FCC adopted its principles after deciding that cable-modem service, and then DSL, were information services (Title 1 of the Communications Act) exempt from mandatory access regulations, rather than telecommunications services under stricter Title II common-carrier regulations.
Some commenters suggested that if the FCC concludes there is any doubt of its authority to regulate under Title 1, reclassifying it as a telecommunications service to clarify that authority should at least be on the table. Public Knowledge, for one, made that argument.
Skype Tells the FCC to Require Net Neutrality
Excerpted from The Inquirer Report by Ed Berridge
Distributed computing industry leader Skype has been pressing its case in favor of net neutrality to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Skype, which is based on its own proprietary P2P technology, depends on net neutrality to survive. If the telcos and some ISPs get their way, Skype punters will probably be identified as file-sharers and get throttled to within an inch of their lives.
Skype told the FCC that net neutrality was "about growing the broadband ecosystem and preserving a borderless, open Internet" and that it would "promote investment, jobs, and innovation."
It wants the Commission to focus on preserving an open Internet and strongly supports the FCC's suggested framework pertaining to broadband and wireless networks and issues of network neutrality.
Skype claims that carriers have the ability to harm innovation in the real-time communications applications market, such as that made possible by Skype, either by blocking or more subtle forms of discrimination. Because these applications offer consumers additional choice and savings, they should not be delayed, obstructed, or throttled by broadband access providers.
Skype said that the FCC should keep mobile broadband networks open much like fixed-line broadband networks, but it understood the need for some sort of network management when it comes to wireless networks. However, it also wants the FCC to make sure that Internet telephony providers like itself are allowed to offer their services over all kinds of networks.
There is no reason why any network operator, including wireless network operators, need to block, throttle, or degrade particular applications without regard to the network capacity such applications actually are consuming, Skype said.
It pointed out that not all video or P2P applications consume the same amount of bandwidth or place the same demands on network capacity. Its own service optimizes its software to adapt to network congestion and consumes very few network resources, it claimed.
There's more about this available here.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 On Thursday, January 14th, the DCIA submitted our comments to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the matters of Preserving the Open Internet (GN Docket No. 09-191) and Broadband Internet Practices (WC Docket No. 07-52).
The DCIA has sponsored and facilitated the P4P Working Group (P4PWG) since July 2007.
P4P is defined as a set of business practices and integrated network topology awareness models designed to optimize Internet service provider (ISP) network resources and enable peer-to-peer (P2P) based content payload acceleration.
DCIA Member companies are engaged in developing and deploying competitive commercial services that use P2P and related technologies, including cloud computing, downloadable file sharing, live P2P streaming, swarming, caching, torrenting, content acceleration, peer-to-peer television (P2PTV), and hybrid P2P content delivery network (CDN) offerings, among others.
DCIA Member companies are also engaged in creating, aggregating, and delivering content, representing music, video, games, and software categories.
And finally, DCIA Member companies are engaged in providing and supporting Internet access services, including the most rapidly expanding and highest value area within the telecommunications sector, broadband or high-speed offerings.
DCIA Member companies and other competitive distributed computing applications and services represent the technologically most advanced and fastest growing segment for delivery of digital content over the Internet.
The DCIA strongly supports the FCC's principles that emphasize the importance of an open Internet as a vehicle for empowering consumers, putting users at the forefront of deliberations as to whether broadband networks are operating appropriately, without discriminating against institutional users of network resources; and whether such applications and services, as well as content providers themselves are operating appropriately, without abusing these network resources.
Our concern is that the uncertainty associated with the Commission's current rulemaking process has caused US-based industry participants to curtail their participation in the P4PWG, an important and effective process, which had been addressing key areas of broadband network resource utilization and related P2P software functionality, and to reduce their involvement to a wait-and-see status until this can be clarified.
P4P has been successfully field-tested by AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon Communications, for example, working with Pando Networks and Yale University; and key results of these trials have been published.
As is clearly illustrated by the contrast in the 2007-through-2008 versus the 2009 track record of accomplishments of the P4PWG, which was very active with US-based field trials, sub-group expansion, standards-setting activities, and related steps demonstrating substantial progress during the former period, these efforts have essentially moved offshore during the latter period.
The FCC has an important role to play in ensuring that the Internet continues to develop to its fullest potential as an open, competitive environment for innovative services that will benefit consumers.
The intention of establishing the P4PWG was to formulate an approach to P2P network traffic management as a joint optimization problem. The objective of certain participating ISPs, for example, was to minimize network resource utilization by P2P services. The objective of certain participating P2P software firms, conversely, was to maximize throughput. The joint objective of both ISPs and P2P software developers was to protect and improve their customers' experience.
2007 marked a turning point for the emerging P2P industry, with P2P beginning to become part of the content delivery infrastructure in large scale deployments, and content owners increasingly indicating a preference for integrated P2P and CDN solutions. Major content and CDN players started to select P2P technology partners to enhance their service offerings.
Meanwhile, Internet traffic between the years of 2000 and 2007 saw P2P grow from virtually non-existent to representing as much as 50-65% of downstream traffic and 70-80% of upstream traffic in many locales.
At its highest level, the P4PWG represents the opportunity for partnerships among ISPs and P2P networks to address this. There are currently more than 50 active participating companies in the P4PWG representing ISPs, P2P software distributors, researchers, and service-and-support companies. In addition, there are now approximately 50 observers, representing vendors, cable multiple system operators (MSOs), content providers, and other interested parties.
P4P can provide the way to solve a pending bandwidth crisis before it becomes a serious threat and provide a means to collaboratively and cooperatively address future capacity concerns. There is the potential to have carrier-grade P2P with P4P, which in turn can open opportunities for innovative new services, once it has been established that the fastest path from point A to point B on a network is via P4P-enhanced P2P.
Benefits to consumers will include faster downloads, higher quality of service (QoS), and potential assurances of not being subject to service interruptions or degradation.
In short, P4P can enable content delivery that is more efficient for both the consumer and the network operator compared to alternative architectures.
To that end, the DCIA recommends that the Commission encourage network operators, Internet companies, content rights holders, consumer groups, and other interested parties to discuss a variety of reasonable network management practices using private sector forums such as the P4PWG as well as public platforms.
It would not be inappropriate for ISPs to receive appropriate compensation from content providers using P2P for the services and delivery enhancements that ISPs may offer to them through capabilities like P4P. Alternate, flexible financial arrangements may assist ISPs by providing the appropriate financial incentives to add significant capacity for such services in better alignment with traffic demands.
The DCIA recognizes that, given the inherent dynamism and rapid growth of the Internet, flexibility is a critical component of network management. Therefore, the Commission should avoid adopting strict network management rules that could preclude new opportunities for collaboration and new business models between ISPs and application providers that would help to improve the experience of end-users accessing the applications and content of their choice over the Internet.
In light of the rapid growth in this area, the scope of its impact on important consumer services and the commercial value of the offerings thereby represented, and the potential impact of this area of activity on other vital Internet services, the FCC should seek to provide consumers, ISPs, and applications, services, and content providers with clarity regarding what to expect with respect to broadband network management practices.
Uncertainty associated with the Commission's current rulemaking process in this area has caused US-based industry participants to temporarily reduce their active involvement is an important and effective process, which had been addressing key areas of broadband network resource utilization and related P2P software functionality under the auspices of a voluntary private sector initiative, and to slow the pace of progress.
The accomplishments of US firms contributing to the P4PWG from 2007 through 2008 far exceeded their successes in 2009. US-based field trials, sub-group expansion, standards-setting, and related activities demonstrating genuine productivity have essentially moved offshore.
We respectfully request that the FCC act to provide the needed certainty and offer the required clarity. Share wisely, and take care
Does the FCC Have the Authority to Issue Neutrality Regulations?
Excerpted from Daily Online Examiner Report by Wendy Davis
The digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) helped expose one of the biggest net neutrality violations to date - a deliberate throttling of peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic.
But that doesn't mean the EFF supports the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) efforts to craft neutrality rules. In comments filed Thursday, the civil rights organization said the FCC lacks authority to issue neutrality regulations that would ban Internet service providers (ISPs) from discriminating against content.
"Congress has not deputized the FCC to be a free roving regulator of the Internet," the group argues. "So while EFF strongly endorses the goals of this commission, a limitless notion of ancillary jurisdiction would stand as an open invitation to future commissions to promulgate 'policy statements,' issue regulations, and conduct adjudications detrimental to the Internet."
The EFF has warned of this prospect before. The day before the FCC proposed rules to ban ISPs from discriminating - similar to the common-carrier rules that govern telephone services - the EFF sounded the alarm about a government "power grab that would leave the Internet subject to the regulatory whims of the FCC long after Chairman Genachowski leaves his post."
Meanwhile, a coalition of other advocacy groups including Public Knowledge, Media Access Project, New America Foundation, and Center for Media Justice and Consumers Union, is arguing the exact opposite.
Those organizations say the FCC currently has authority to ban ISPs from discriminating. But they also argue that the FCC could end any doubt about the issue by simply reclassifying Internet access as a common-carrier service - as had been the case until 2005. "A reclassification would not include a return to full price-regulation, but would protect consumers and allow for increased competition, among other benefits," the groups argued in a statement issued Thursday afternoon.
Should the FCC go ahead and enact neutrality rules, cable and telecom companies are certain to ask a court to invalidate those regulations on the ground that the commission lacked jurisdiction for them.
In fact, a court might decide that issue before the FCC even finishes with its rulemaking. Last week, a federal appeals court indicated that it was considering whether to vacate an FCC order sanctioning a major ISP for interfering with P2P traffic on the ground that the FCC had no authority to regulate the web.
Of course, even that wouldn't end the debate over whether ISPs should have to follow neutrality rules - but it would shift the discussion to Congress. So far Congress has shown no inclination to enact neutrality legislation. That might change, however, if courts rule that the FCC can't create neutrality rules without an assist from elected officials.
Cloud Markets on Big Apple Agenda
Excerpted from Music Week Report by Jonny Garrett
Profiting from P2P and cloud markets will be two of the main issues on the agenda of the P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE being held in conjunction with Media Summit New York (MSNY) in March.
The Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) is working in conjunction with Digital Hollywood, which is holding MSNY at the McGraw-Hill Building, to present the P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE at the nearby Princeton Club of New York on Tuesday March 9th.
The focus will be on generating revenue from online sharing platforms, including innovative business models, commercial advancement, as well as monetization of cloud computing and P2P for all types of content distribution.
MSNY expects to attract more than 1,000 industry executives from the music, media, and publishing worlds.
The line-up of speakers and sponsors for the P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE is yet to be announced. Interested parties should express interest in participating at info@dcia.info at their earliest convenience.
Vuze Upgrades Client to Version 4.3
Excerpted from Techtree Report
Vuze is a free BitTorrent client used to transfer files via the BitTorrent protocol. Vuze is written in Java, and uses the Azureus Engine. Vuze offers multiple torrent downloads, queuing/priority systems on torrents and files, start/stop seeding options, and instant access to numerous pieces of information about your torrents.
In addition to torrenting, Vuze allows you to view, publish, and share original DVD and high-definition (HD) quality video content. You can see content through channels and categories containing TV shows, music videos, movies, videogames, and more.
If you publish your own original content through Vuze, you can charge for it and make money.
Please note: You must have Java installed to be able to run Vuze. Download from here.
Ignite Technologies Announces Launch of EMEA Office
Ignite Technologies, the provider of secure and scalable Enterprise Content Delivery Solutions, announced the expansion of sales operations into Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). The new office, located in Zurich, Switzerland, will provide the service and support required for the growing demand of enterprise video and rich media.
"Over the past four years the level of global inquiry regarding enterprise rich media, including video, has risen 700%," said Joe Skorupa, Research VP, Gartner. "Not even the economic downturn has slowed these trends."
"We are very excited to announce the opening of our new office in Zurich, as well as the appointment of Eric Grotefeld as Vice President of Operations for EMEA," said Jim Janicki, President & CEO at Ignite. "The new location expands our worldwide reach significantly, and Eric brings extensive experience in establishing EMEA sales and operations.
Science Applications to Buy CloudShield
Excerpted from Business Week Report
Defense technology company Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) said Thursday that it will buy cyber-security company CloudShield Technologies.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
CloudShield Technologies will become part of Science Applications' intelligence and information division once the deal is completed. The company's deep packet inspection (DPI) and applications technology allow customers to inspect, analyze, and control all network traffic.
Science Applications works with all branches of the military as well as the Department of Homeland Security and foreign governments.
The acquisition is likely to close by mid-February.
Venture Capitalists are Bullish on the Future of Game Funding
Excerpted from VentureBeat Report by Rean Takahashi
Game investing is still going strong, even though it did take a hit during the recession. We calculated that game companies raised $600.5 million in 2009, down 36% from the year before.
But game-savvy venture capitalists are still bullish on games. We did a roundtable Q&A with some of the best-known investors, in conjunction with the launch of Interactive Age, a new magazine focused on the business of games. The magazine is edited by Evan Van Zelfden, who has written for us, and will debut around the time of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in March.
Here's the transcript of our talk with Bing Gordon from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Tim Chang from Norwest Venture Partners, Jeremy Liew from Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Greg Richardson from Elevation Partners.
Bing Gordon: The high number of entrepreneurs starting game companies has certainly surprised me. Of course, I probably see most of them, given my background. I am actually more interested in entrepreneurs who are focused on the "video-gamification" of other lines of business from education to e-commerce, advertising to health. These areas seem less obvious, but offer more room for innovation.
Jeremy Liew: I think it's hard to answer the question without addressing categories. 2005-to-2007 was mostly about virtual worlds: largely social environments, with some lightweight game play incorporated. There were also some folks trying to build World-of-Warcraft-killers: AAA heavyweight client based MMOs. Mostly big swing against big visions, with $5-to-$15 million put into development before you see a product, and success predicated on a single game or world being awesome (Turbine, Second Life, Habbo, Red5, Trion, etc). 2007-to-2009 has mostly been about smaller swings and faster iteration against what users tell you. Call it the "Web 2.0-ification" of the games industry - launch fast in beta, iterate based on user behavior. This applies to both the folks importing Asian MMOs and the "social gaming" companies. In each case less than $1 million gets you a shot on goal and you get multiple shots on goal with a venture round. Success is predicated on repeatedly putting out games that have a shot at making millions versus tens-of-millions (Zynga, Playdom, Playfish, Outspark, K2, etc).
Greg Richardson: Our perspective will likely be a bit different as we don't look at early stage opportunities. What's changed in our view is the shift away from retail publishing and development which has matured as a business and slowed in growth. The movement towards digital content and publishing models is creating investment opportunities. To Jeremy's point, there is a further shift away from hardcore-focused companies and games which are capital intensive to more mass market content offerings with lower capital requirements. The big question is how you build scale against the digital opportunity? What are the barriers to entry for the more successful startups on the digital side?
Tim Chang: Historically, Gaming 1.0 has been a challenging investment area for VCs because of the "hit content risk." Hence, new publishing, distribution, and service-oriented models around new platforms tended to garner the most attention. Pitches tend to arise along the lines of "we want to be the EA of fill-in-the-blank (mobile, MMO, social games, etc.)" whenever new platforms arise. Studios and tools deals abound, but these types of companies typically have less interesting exit outcomes from a VC perspective. When retail-based distribution of Gaming 1.0 was dominant, friction to market entry was at its highest, and hence content/hit-risk was extreme.
Please click here for the full report.
RightsFlow Names Michael Kauffman VP of Sales & Marketing
Excerpted from Billboard Business News Report by Chris Walsh
Mechanical licensing and royalty services provider RightsFlow added Michael Kauffman as VP of Sales & Marketing. Kauffman most recently led account management, marketing and social media strategy at the HiFive Group in New York. Prior to that he held senior sales and management positions with the Verve Music Group and Windham Hill Records.
"We are extremely excited to welcome Michael to our senior management team," Patrick Sullivan, RightsFlow's CEO, said. "His addition significantly impacts our ability to deliver B2B and B2C campaigns and initiatives that will fuel both company growth and client satisfaction."
"RightsFlow has an extremely compelling solution for the challenging mechanical licensing needs of both rights owners and content creators," added Kauffman. "I look forward to building plans, tools, drivers and community channels to generate conversation, understanding, value and revenue."
DDEX Publishes White Paper on Transaction Processing for Digital Media
Digital Data Exchange (DDEX) was set-up in May 2006 with three initial objectives: 1) to design XML message format standards (for voluntary adoption) to improve efficiency in the exchange of metadata along the digital media supply chain; 2) to develop common protocols for the automated communication and management of messages along that supply chain; and 3) to originate material to promote its standards and assist licensees in their implementations.
Since May 2006 DDEX has primarily focused on the first of these objectives and has developed extensive supporting documentation as envisaged by the third. As a consequence, DDEX has produced a number of message suite and related standards, which are now being widely adopted. The standards have so far focused on the communications of metadata required in the digital music supply chain. However, it has become increasingly apparent that standardizing only the messages will not be sufficient to enable the highly automated transaction processing of metadata and its associated content needed to improve efficiency and radically reduce costs in the digital media supply chain.
With this scenario in mind, DDEX has now published a white paper entitled Standardization for an Automated Transaction Processing Environment in the Digital Media Supply Chain. The white paper sets out key components that DDEX believes require standardization if an automated transaction processing environment for digital media is to be achieved.
DDEX is of the view that such a standardization effort can only be achieved through extensive co-operation and consensus among all stakeholders. This can take the form of comments logged through the DDEX website or more formal dialogue through arranged meetings, whether physical or virtual. DDEX hopes that through this dialogue some clear pathways for collaboration and cooperation can be identified which will eventually result in a highly automated transaction-processing environment throughout the digital media supply chain.
Deluge Launches New Version of BitTorrent Client
Excerpted from Techie Buzz Report by Chinmoy Kanjilal
Deluge, the popular Bit Torrent client has just released its version 1.2.0. Deluge is completely written in Python and uses GTK+ for the front-end. It is specially made for the XCFE and Gnome desktop environments. Deluge offers fast torrent downloads and has support for multiple trackers. The best thing about Deluge is that it is cross-platform, free licensed under the GPL and has a smooth UI. Deluge also works equally well for many other desktop environments including KDE and is not just restricted to Gnome.
Deluge has some awesome features making it one of the best torrent software programs for Linux: Deluge has support for a web UI, a console UI and a GTK+ based UI; it supports proxy connections; it has support for uTorrent Peer Exchange; it allows private torrents; it has an amazing plug-in support allowing adding more features; it allows bandwidth distribution among downloads, allowing speed management; it allows password protecting torrent downloads.
You can try out Deluge at the official download page. Ubuntu users can get the download of their .deb package at this page.
Another popular torrent client to try out in Linux is Transmission which is a built-in client. Deluge has many added features over Transmission and the package download for Ubuntu given above is specifically for Ubuntu 9.04 and above.
paidContent: 2010 Announces Speakers
The team at paidContent has been busy crafting a real-time line-up for paidContent:2010 and is pleased to announce the latest additions, led by a Q&A with Hilary Schneider, Yahoo's EVP for North America. Schneider's responsibilities include advertising sales, partnerships, and programming as well as the company's global mobile business. Schneider, the former CEO of Knight Ridder Digital, was integral in launching the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium, partnerships with publishers to expand Yahoo's local reach and their online revenues - one of the subjects she'll discuss at the meeting on February 19th at TheTimesCenter in New York, NY.
The new panelists bring a mix of experience and perspectives from cable, mobile gaming, search, and large-scale online publishing: Bruce Campbell, President, Digital Media and Corporate Development, Discovery Communications;; Josh Cohen, senior business product manager, Google News; Shawn Colo, Co-Founder of Demand Media; Bart Decrem, Co-Founder and CEO, Tapulous; KC Estenson, General Manager, CNN.com; and Marty Moe, SVP-AOLMedia. Here is the full list of speakers confirmed so far. Areas of focus will include:
The truth about the subscription business: Digital subscriptions are all the rage now, but the idea is far from new-and far from a sure thing. How do companies evolve the idea that worked for newspapers and magazines for so long?
The rise of content super-distributors: Are content-generating machines like Demand Media, Associated Content, Mahalo and About.com - driven largely by SEO and Google - the future for a big subsector of the content industry?
The age of the big-media JV: What lessons can be learned from past failures, and what happens when companies that haven't been able to crack the code on their own, band together for scale, reach and sales power?
Parsing the mobile/e-reader boom: Is the hybrid model (premium+ads) the answer, or are there more promising models still in the works?
Register today for the special early bird rate of $885.
New DRM Market Report Now Available
DRM Market Analysis - Future Directions provides extensive research and objective analysis on the digital rights management (DRM) market at global level, sorted by applications of the technology.
This new report will help clients to analyze the leading-edge opportunities critical to the success of DRM industry.
Detailed data and analysis will help potential investors to navigate through the evolving market of DRM Technology and also help in examining the key application areas of DRM in different industries like financial services, healthcare, education, software, etc.
The report gives a comprehensive overview of the future of the global DRM industry. Financial and mobile content industries remain the major DRM application areas while health care and education industries are among the upcoming application areas for the technology.
The mobile content industry, which includes gaming and music, is expected to be the major revenue generator for the global DRM industry. But lack of consensus among the content development industry and end-users remains the major hurdle for the growth of DRM industry. Key findings include:
Lack of consensus and standards remain the major problem that should be taken care of for the mass adoption of DRM.
Growth of DRM largely depends upon the balance between fair compensation for the creators of digital content and the rights of end-users to access and use the information they need.
Premium mobile content, which includes music, gaming and other content, remains the major opportunity area for the global DRM industry.
Key issue and facts analyzed include: What are the potential application areas of DRM? Who are the key competitors in the global DRM industry? What opportunities exist for the DRM technology? What will be the major driving forces for the industry? What are the major barriers in Digital Right Management?
Key players currently operating in the DRM market are covered, including Adobe, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sony Corporation, RealNetworks, VeriSign, Philips Electronics, and Thomson Corporation.
The information has been sourced from authentic and reliable sources like books, newspapers, trade journals, and white papers, industry portals, government agencies, trade associations, monitoring industry news and developments, and access to more than 3,000 paid databases.
US Court Revives Online Music Pricing Case
Excerpted from Litigation Daily Report by Alison Frankel
Here at the Litigation Daily, we love a case that lets us talk about both the pleading standards demanded by the US Supreme Court in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly and the prospect of cheap music downloads for our iPod. So Wednesday's ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Starr v. Sony pretty much makes our day.
The three-judge Second Circuit panel revived an anti-trust class action by consumers who accuse Sony, Bertelsmann, Time Warner, and several other record companies of conspiring to fix online record prices. The plaintiffs, represented by lead counsel Lovell Stewart Halebian, claim that the record labels engaged in illegal parallel conduct by forming joint ventures that set artificially high prices and forcing online music retailers to contract with all of the labels on the same terms.
Manhattan federal district court judge Loretta Preska dismissed the case in October 2008. She found that under Twombly standards, parallel conduct didn't mean illegal conduct. The plaintiffs' "bald allegation that the joint ventures were shams is conclusory and implausible," Judge Preska found.
The Second Circuit disagreed. Writing for all three judges on the panel, Judge Robert Katzmann cited seven plaintiffs' allegations of collusion among the record companies. "The present complaint succeeds where Twombly's failed because the complaint alleges specific facts sufficient to plausibly suggest that the parallel conduct alleged was the result of an agreement among the defendants," the opinion says.
It's easy to forget, in the months since the notorious Iqbal ruling expanded the Supreme Court's Twombly pleading standard into a broad swath of civil litigation, that Twombly was an anti-trust case. And that's why the Second Circuit's ruling in Starr is important, said Gary Jacobson of Lovell Stewart, who argued for the plaintiffs.
"There's been much uncertainty in the wake of Twombly on pleading standards in anti-trust cases," he said. "Twombly said allegations of parallel conduct are not sufficient by themselves. The Second Circuit has begun to clarify what further allegations you need to include to get over that bar."
But what about online music prices? Are we finally going to get to pay less than 99 cents for a song? "We're a long way from talking about that," Jacobson said. "But yes, that's the idea."
Kenneth Logan of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, who represents Sony and several other labels, argued at the Second Circuit for the defendants. Howrey represents Bertelsmann in the litigation. Cravath, Swaine & Moore represents Time Warner. "We're each reading and digesting the opinion," Logan told us. "Eventually we'll huddle up and decide what to do next."
CES 2010: Conversation with Tom Mennecke
Excerpted from Zeropaid Report by Bruce Lidl
While CES is primarily an occasion to see new gadgets and new software, it is also a gathering of hundreds of thousands of technology enthusiasts, both professional and hobbyist.
Visitors come from all over the US and the world, and it can often make for some great conversations about the devices we love and sometimes hate. At this year's CES, I had the pleasure of meeting one of the longest-serving and most knowledgeable observers of the file-sharing scene around, Tom Mennecke of slyck.com.
Surrounded as we were by thousands of flat-screen TV's and Internet connected media gadgets, we couldn't help but have a conversation about the content that will likely fuel many, if not most of those devices, that is, files obtained by file-sharing networks, from BitTorrent to Usenet to direct download sites. It was, I think, a somewhat unusual discussion for this year's CES 2010, as there was little to no open acknowledgement of the overwhelming presence of unauthorized content on the Internet and the hard drives of the likely consumers of all that new hardware.
Even after all these years (slyck.com went online in August 2000, called slyway.com at first) Mennecke still finds the file-sharing community to be endlessly fascinating.
As Mennecke says "we've come a long way from the days of Napster and Gnutella," and new "big things" keep coming up, even as BitTorrent continues to dominate after all these years.
Mennecke thinks the big developments in the near future will inevitably be centered around the proposed movement of ISP's into copyright enforcement, as has started in some European countries and could spread to the US as well.
If ISPs step in with deep packet inspection (DPI), filtering, or graduated response aka "3 strikes" policies, Mennecke expects rapid responses from the file-sharing community.
"The sheer brute force that the community can marshall in numbers" against any new technological barriers to file-sharing guarantees in Mennecke's mind that the ISP-centered plans will fare no better than the mass lawsuits of the RIAA/MPAA, or the attempted fake file floods of companies like MediaDefender, did against the rising popularity of file-sharing online.
As he points out, "We are already seeing new innovations coming to file-sharing right now, that will make the work of the ISPs that much more difficult, including encryption, SSL, and VPN services like that now offered by Giganews."
In Mennecke's view, the resiliency of the community ensures a vigorous response to any coming corporate attack on file-sharing in the US, although as he points out, every country is different, with different laws and broadband infrastructures. "What might prove true in the US may not be the case in the EU or other countries," according to Mennecke.
We also discussed a number of other topics in the file-sharing world that continue to amaze Mennecke, notably the surprising survival of many earlier networks and protocols that seem technically outdated yet maintain robust community of users.
"eDonkey is not only going strong today with over 3 million users," according to Mennecke, "but its shift from a centralized to decentralized and non-corporate structure was a really amazing feat."
The quality of camcorder captured films is also a trend that Mennecke is impressed with, as the often-derided as virtually unwatchable in theater produced "cams" have become far more respectable, particularly for films without a lot of movement or action. "They're actually pretty decent!" Mennecke says, which is a statement I would not have expected to hear.
Slyck.com remains a pioneer in the file-sharing world after all these years, and Mennecke's obvious passion and enthusiasm ensures that it will continue to provide invaluable coverage and information for the community long into the future.
Music Industry Overwhelmed by Technological Advances
Excerpted from The Tennessean Report by Paul Schatzkin
Reading the January 10th front-page story "Music's Sales Slump Persists," I can see that there are at least three ways that the music industry still does not understand the changes that new technologies have forced upon it.
1. Fundamentally, music is no longer an "industry." The word itself is archaic if not downright obsolete, invoking 19th century systems that require concentrations of capital and control of the means of production and distribution.
That vertically integrated model no longer applies because digital technologies eliminate the need for concentrated capital.
As should be obvious by now, anybody with a MacBook can make and distribute a record.
2. When music industry leaders lament that there is "no viable business model yet to capitalize" on new technologies, they are clearly demonstrating this 19th century mindset. They're right; there is no longer a single "industrial" model. There are now as many business models as there are musicians with a MacBook.
3. Most unfortunate is the way that these captains of a sinking industry continue to "battle against people who want music for free." Truth be told, there has always been "free" music in one form or another, but only on terms dictated by the industry - radio, for instance.
The audience dictates the market now, not an obsolete "industry" - a fundamental concept these withering titans have not understood since digital technologies began to transform the delivery of art and intellectual property (IP) in the middle of the '90s.
Coming Events of Interest
MIDEM & MidemNet - January 23rd-27th in Cannes, France. MIDEM is where music professionals from across the industry meet face-to-face to do business, analyze trends and build partnerships. MIDEM brings together music leaders looking for concrete solutions and insights. MidemNet's renowned digital business conference program is now included free with your MIDEM registration.
Vator Splash Event - February 4th in San Francisco, CA. Vator, a leading platform for innovators and entrepreneurs to broadcast themselves, is holding its inaugural Vator Splash Competition to find 10 promising early-stage start-ups to present at this special event. Enter the competition today using the 25% discount code: VatorDCIA.
Cloud Computing Forum - February 10th online. Open source software developer Red Hat will host an online forum on open source cloud computing. The forum will include technical presentations from across the cloud computing industry, as well as discussions on current challenges and solutions offered by open source technologies.
paidContent 2010 - February 19th in New York, NY. Join paidContent.org for its first namesake conference with senior business leaders representing publishers, content technology companies, investors, analysts, and leading members of the press and blogging community to discuss the most pressing business issue of our day.
P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE - March 9th in New York, NY. Strategies to fulfill the multi-billion dollar revenue potential of the P2P and cloud computing 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 10th-11th in New York, NY. MSNY is the premier international conference on media, broadband, advertising, television, cable & satellite, mobile, publishing, radio, magazines, news & print media, and marketing.
Cloud Computing Congress - March 16 in London, England. A practical guide on cloud computing for business - the value proposition, and the impact on the IT function. Building and managing applications in the cloud - how to manage and control applications and resources in the cloud environment. Security, testing and management of cloud infrastructures.
Cloud Expo - April 19th-21st in New York, NY. Co-located with the 8th international Virtualization Conference & Expo at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City with more than 5,000 delegates and over 100 sponsors and exhibitors participating in the conference.
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