March 1, 2010
Volume XXIX, Issue 11
Last Chance to Save on P2PCMC and MSNY
This Tuesday, March 2nd, is the last day to sign-up for the P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE, being held next Tuesday, March 9th, and Media Summit New York (MSNY), taking place on March 10th-11th, and save $479 with special pre-registration rates.
The P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE, at the Cornell Club of New York, will explore marketing strategies, business models, case studies, and future opportunities related to peer-to-peer (P2P) and cloud based commercial offerings.
MSNY, at the nearby McGraw-Hill Building, is the premier international conference on media, broadband, advertising, television, cable and satellite, mobile, publishing, radio, magazines, news and print media and marketing.
If you already plan to attend the P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE, this means you can add MSNY for $596. Or if you already plan to attend MSNY, it means you can add the P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE for only $120.
Either way, you can register at the deeply discounted rate of just $995 for both of these outstanding events by clicking here or calling 410-476-7964 by Tuesday March 2nd.
This cost includes the continental breakfast, conference luncheon, refreshment breaks, and VIP networking cocktail reception as well as all keynotes and panel sessions at the P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE - in addition to all events and amenities at MSNY.
With this very attractive pre-registration combined-conference discount, you can advance your knowledge of new developments in the media marketplace and the most-cutting edge technologies that are being adopted for it.
Oversi Scores First Video Cache Win in Australasia
Oversi, the global leader in high-performance Internet video and P2P cache solutions, announced this week that Slingshot New Zealand has deployed Oversi's video cache multi-service platform (MSP) to optimize the Internet experience for its subscribers. The OverCache MSP enables Slingshot to accelerate over-the-top (OTT) content, including P2P, video streaming, and other media applications, while generating significant bandwidth savings for the operator.
Slingshot, part of the CallPlus group, is the first Internet service provider (ISP) in the Australasian region to deploy Oversi cache technology, securing its position as one of the leading operators in New Zealand. The investment has paid off - Slingshot has been ranked as the top broadband provider by independent body Epitiro and won the TUANZ Telecommunications Carrier of the Year for 2009.
General Manager of Slingshot, Mark Callander said, "Oversi is a world leader in providing caching solutions and this partnership enables us to continue providing our customers with the best Internet experience in NZ. With Oversi's experience working with major network operators all over the world and the guaranteed improvement in speed for our customers, the decision to partner with Oversi meant we would continue to lead the market."
Callander continued, "The deployment of the cache was a natural step given increasing customer demand for streaming international content. This demand combined with the high cost of international bandwidth capacity meant that the caching was a great solution. Not only have large downloads been accelerated, but P2P and streaming as well - including high-definition (HD) content. This enables customers to make the most of free downloading periods offered by Slingshot, and ensures that they can have a positive experience during peak times. During the implementation phase we have worked closely with selected customers and closely monitored feedback, and they just love the increased speeds."
David Tolub, Oversi's President & CEO, said, "We are proud to work with visionary companies, such as Slingshot, and are committed to help them maintain their leadership edge."
OverCache MSP offers a "one-stop-shop" caching and video acceleration solution for online media content delivery. The out-of-band platform is highly scalable and integrates easily with an operator's existing network topology, with no risk to network reliability.
DCIA Supports US Federal Trade Commission on Data Security
The Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) supports the statement made by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday, not only with words but also with its actions. The Inadvertent Sharing Protection Working Group (ISPG) is a DCIA-sponsored industry-wide program introduced in July 2008 that has been working with the private sector and FTC staff to address the issues Chairman Leibowitz spoke about in his statement.
Compliance reports began to be compiled and submitted one year ago from top brands representing implementations of P2P technologies ranging from downloading to live-streaming, from open consumer file-sharing environments to secure corporate intranet deployments, and from user-generated to professionally produced content.
Representative examples of these are BitTorrent and LimeWire. In the case of BitTorrent and software programs that use BitTorrent, it is unlikely that a user can inadvertently share data because of the multiple intentional steps involved in converting a file to a .torrent format, uploading it to a tracker, etc. In the case of LimeWire, the company literally rebuilt its software to protect users from accidentally sharing their personal or sensitive data.
The distributed computing industry takes the safety of consumers very seriously. Once this concern was recognized, it responded proactively.
The fact remains, however, that the amount of confidential data that is in distribution on the Internet is cumulative. Material that was accidentally disclosed years ago is still floating around. And more recently leaked data is also accessible. The entire focus of ISPG so far has been to shore up the sources of such unintended file uploads in the first place. Removing items that are already in circulation on the web is a problem of a different order of magnitude and one that this group is just starting to investigate.
The ISPG's best advice now - to parents and children alike - is similar to that given by other Internet software distributors: PLEASE UPGRADE TO THE LATEST VERSION FOR THE BEST PERFORMANCE AND THE SAFEST EXPERIENCE.
For public and private sector institutions that require workers to handle classified information: PLEASE DISCONNECT YOUR COMPUTER FROM THE INTERNET WHILE WORKING ON HIGH-SECURITY PROJECTS AND REMOVE SENSITIVE DATA FROM YOUR DEVICE BEFORE RECONNECTING.
Also, along with actively participating in this program, summarized here, the DCIA encourages file-sharing software distributors to direct users to the Onguard Online website pages dedicated to File-Sharing Safety.
The DCIA was less enthusiastic about news that Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Thune (R-SD) misguidedly introduced legislation on Wednesday "to inform Internet users of the privacy and security risks associated with file-sharing software programs."
Such measures tend to be technologically outdated before they can be finalized and signed into law, result in unintended consequences that stifle commercial innovation, and prove to be unenforceable given that the Internet is a global medium.
The industry has moved to address inadvertent uploading of sensitive data by shoring up the entry points in file-sharing software.
This issue has moved now to institutional policies for managing data securely and to the removal of confidential data already in circulation. Nevertheless, the DCIA will engage with Senate staff to minimize collateral damage.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 Congratulations to Ned and Tinzar Sherman and the entire Digital Media Wire (DMW) team for a very provocative tenth annual Digital Music Forum East (DMFE) in New York, NY this week.
Our MUSIC IN THE CLOUD session at DMFE sought to answer strategically important questions, such as, "In the ten years from Napster to Spotify, how have distributed computing technologies for music delivery evolved from file-sharing to P2P downloading and streaming, and now the cloud?"
We are very grateful to our panelists Nicholas Butterworth, CEO, HD Cloud; Jason Herskowitz, VP of Product Management, LimeWire; and Steve Lerner, Practice Manager, RampRate for a very informative discussion.
Meanwhile, we look forward to continuing and expanding this dialog at the upcoming P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE.
This DCIA-hosted special event is scheduled for Tuesday March 9th at the Cornell Club of New York in conjunction with Media Summit New York (MSNY).
The P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE will explore marketing strategies, business models, case studies, and future opportunities related to P2P and cloud based commercial offerings.
Our keynotes will include John Waclawsky, Member Services, DCIA; Rick Kurnit, Partner, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz; Mike Saxon, SVP, Technology, Media and Telecom, Harris Interactive; Zeeshan Zaidi, COO, LimeWire; Kumar Subramanian, CEO, MediaMelon; Michael Papish, CEO, MediaUnbound; Nicholas Longano, CEO, MusicMogul; Robert Levitan, CEO, Pando Networks; and Gary Greenstein, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE early registration rates, which offer substantial savings, end this Tuesday March 2nd. For more information, please visit www.dcia.info/activities.
The day-long Tuesday March 9, 2010 conference features keynotes and panels of industry leaders from the forefront of innovation. There will be a continental breakfast, conference luncheon, and VIP networking cocktail reception.
P2P & CLOUD MARKET STRATEGIES will address questions such as how are the market strategies different for using P2P or cloud computing to distribute consumer entertainment and corporate enterprise data? What characteristics are required for software companies to succeed in key market segments? Should software companies concurrently pursue multiple strategies? How do live P2P streaming and wide-area cloud deployments impact major market segments? What unique market attributes can yield new opportunities for monetization?
Panelists will include Simon Applebaum, Host & Producer, Tomorrow Will be Televised; Ian Donahue, President, RedThorne Media; Jason Henderson, Games Product Manager, Verizon Communications; Mark Mackenzie, VP, Digital Media Ventures, Alliance Bernstein; Rajan Samtani, former Sr. Director of Business Development, Digimarc; and Mike Tedesco, VP, Product Development and Technology, World Wrestling Entertainment.
P2P & CLOUD BUSINESS MODELS will zero in on such issues as has as any alternative business model - paid-download, subscription, or advertising-supported - yet proven to be the most promising in the consumer sector? Have any more innovative approaches been attempted? What are the most advanced approaches for P2P content protection? What wholesale content and enterprise business models are coming into play? How can users, both at the consumer and corporate levels, navigate among P2P and cloud service offerings?
Panelists Will include Mick Bass, VP, Alliance Management, Ascent Media; Vincent Hsieh, CEO, Aleric; Steve Lerner, Practice Director, CDNs & Management, RampRate; Dan Schnapp, Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed; and Greg Stephens, Director/VP, Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC).
P2P & CLOUD CASE STUDIES will ask what techniques have proven best so far in terms of monetizing the enormous traffic that P2P generates? What successes in cloud computing have been achieved in the wholesale entertainment and enterprise categories? What has been the relative worth of the different formats and interactivity that this channel supports? What case studies from related businesses can be applied to P2P and cloud computing and how?
Panelists will include Melike Amjarv, Independent Producer; Tom Chernaik, Principal, DigComm; Norman Henderson, VP of Business Development, Asankya; Steve Mannel, Media & Communications Industry Director, Salesforce.com; and Chuck Stormon, VP, Strategic Accounts & Alliances, PacketExchange.
P2P & CLOUD FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES question what can the industry do to ensure that the benefits of P4P and similar mechanisms are applied to the distribution of copyrighted works? How can participants at various levels of this channel gain support of rights holders? Which identification techniques (e.g., watermarking and/or fingerprinting) should be used to protect content and enhance the ecosystem? What new solutions will impact P2P and cloud computing software developers and distributors to the greatest degree?
Panelists will include Scott Campbell, CEO, Virtually Atomic; Lawrence Low, VP of Product Management & Strategy, BayTSP; Rich Moreno, Principal, Sivoo; Graham Oakes, Chairman, Digital Watermarking Alliance (DWA); Neerav Shah, VP of Business Development, Verimatrix; and David Ulmer, Senior Director, Multimedia, Motorola.
Registration can be done online here or by calling 410-476-7965. For sponsor packages and speaker information, please contact Karen Kaplowitz, DCIA Member Services, at 888-890-4240. Share wisely and take care.
Sony's Hesse Encouraging on P2P Music Streaming Spotify in US
Excerpted from PaidContent / Digital Music News Report
At the Digital Music Forum East (DMFE) in New York, Thomas Hesse, President of Global Digital Business, US Sales & Corporate Strategy at Sony Music Entertainment was the keynote interview, and he gave a lot of details on the company, state of the industry, and how he sees the market shaping up with services like P2P music streaming service Spotify, Mog etc.
The market has declined, and lower growth rates in digital should be acknowledged, although there are different businesses in digital that are showing different growth rates. Overall, the value growth in digital downloads continues to be strong.
Hesse bucked the traditional thinking on ring-tones, saying there's still "quite a bit of growth ahead in the ring-tone business," based on improvements in presentation, experience, platforms, packaging, etc. But ring-tones declined 30% last year, per Hesse.
Digital is a "portfolio of different businesses that perform differently." As the "s-curve of innovation has flattened out," Sony's challenge is to get "a new s-curve growing."
In the US, traditional subscription services "in the aggregate" saw "no growth." This is "principally an issue that we've had for a while," but "it has exacerbated over time. There hasn't really been a great device-service component to these services."
Referenced indirectly as the $5-per-month unlimited streaming service, MOG "doesn't work on the iPod," and it's "PC only," according to Hesse.
Subscription development in the US may be flat, but newer services are coming out - bundled, with carriers, and with other services, like Spotify, you could see, "100,000s of subscribers developing quite rapidly."
Why no Spotify yet in the US? Hesse vaguely pointed to licensing issues, though a major theme for Hesse is the connection between service and device. Also, for these services to be successful, presentation is critical. "We've got some services that have got that down."
When asked if he would bet $10 for or against Spotify launching in the US, "I would bet $10 for Spotify launching in the US." They "have a lot going for them."
Regarding "Music in the Cloud," Hesse opined that the "next innovation in music" will be "about creating a service environment that works regardless of the machine you're using," meaning PC, cell-phone, TV, stereo, etc. "All of the devices play in the cloud," so when a playlist changes on one device, "by miracle," it changes on all devices "as if by magic."
Wal-Mart Adds Its Clout to P2P Movie Streaming
Excerpted from NY Times Report by Brad Stone
Sure, you took the plunge and bought that expensive high-definition (HD) television. But does it connect to the Internet?
Analysts estimate that fewer than 5% of the HDTVs sold in the United States last year can go online to pull in movies and television shows, bypassing traditional cable and satellite TV service. Now, however, the idea of an Internet-ready home entertainment setup has a powerful new backer: Wal-Mart.
The retail giant said on Monday that it had agreed to buy Vudu, a Silicon Valley start-up whose three-year-old online movie service is being built into an increasing number of televisions and Blu-ray players.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but a person briefed on the deal said the price for the company, which raised $60 million in capital, was over $100 million.
Other companies, including Best Buy, Amazon.com, Comcast and the satellite company EchoStar, had also expressed interest in acquiring Vudu, according to this person, who asked for anonymity because the terms of the deal were private.
The two companies began informing Hollywood studios and television manufacturers of the deal on Monday, and Wal-Mart said it was expected to close within a few weeks.
The acquisition adds a forceful player to what is already a crowded field of companies aiming to deliver streamed entertainment to the living room.
Microsoft, Sony, Amazon, Netflix, Blockbuster and Roxio CinemaNow, a division of Sonic Solutions, all offer online movie stores for Internet-connected devices like HDTVs, Blu-ray players, or video game consoles.
Apple sells movies and TV shows alongside music in its iTunes store. But iTunes is accessible only from computers and Apple's own mobile devices, as well as on televisions through the Apple TV set-top box, which has not sold well and which the company has referred to as a "hobby."
"It's getting increasingly cheap to put Internet connections into televisions, and there are definitely financial opportunities to doing it," said Riddhi Patel, an analyst at the research firm iSuppli, which estimates that over 60% of high-definition televisions will connect to the Internet by 2013.
This shift could shake up the television business, analysts say. Consumers will have more reasons to watch entertainment from sources other than their cable or satellite company, potentially motivating a greater fraction of them to cancel those monthly subscriptions.
Movie stores like Vudu's also compete directly with the video-on-demand (VOD) services of the cable companies, and generally have better selection, more high-definition content, friendlier menus and fuller descriptions of the programs.
More immediately, if Wal-Mart puts its marketing power behind the Vudu service, it could give a lift to sales of Internet-ready televisions and disc players, which generally cost a few hundred dollars more than devices without such capabilities.
Wal-Mart stocks fewer such televisions than its rivals Best Buy and Amazon, according to James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research. "At the very least this shows Wal-Mart understands that has to change, because the DVD is eventually going away," Mr. McQuivey said. "They are making a bet on connected devices."
Wal-Mart has so far lacked a way to deliver movies digitally to people's homes - but it hasn't been for lack of trying. In 2007, Wal-Mart started a movie and TV show download service with the help of Hewlett-Packard. But customers never embraced it, and Wal-Mart shuttered the site the following year after HP closed the division that was providing the technology.
Wal-Mart introduced a digital music download store in 2004, but the effort has badly lagged behind iTunes and even Amazon's MP3 store.
Vudu, based in Santa Clara, CA, and backed by the Silicon Valley venture capital firms Benchmark Capital and Greylock Partners, has not turned a profit. It first emerged in 2007 pushing a sleek black set-top box (STB), which people connected to their TVs to gain access to thousands of Hollywood films distributed using a P2P-based distribution technology.
But like other Silicon Valley companies including TiVo and Roku, Vudu found it a challenge to persuade mainstream consumers to connect yet another box to their already cable-snaked televisions.
In 2008, Vudu's chief executive left the company and was replaced by Alain Rossmann, a co-founder who was an early Apple executive and a pioneer in making the web accessible from cell-phones. Last year, Vudu stopped making hardware and instead began offering its movie store and simple interactive service as a feature that the largest consumer electronics manufacturers could build into their devices.
That effort has gained visible traction over the last few months. At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, Vudu announced deals to put its service into devices made by Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, and Toshiba and said it was expanding its older relationships with LG Electronics, Vizio, and Mitsubishi.
Panasonic and Sony are the only major manufacturers that have not yet added the Vudu service to their devices. With Wal-Mart, one of their biggest retailers, taking it over, manufacturers will now have another reason to include Vudu.
Vudu competitors like Netflix, of course, are cutting similar deals with manufacturers, who are happy to build multiple services into their devices and make them more versatile.
Vudu has sought to distinguish itself from its rivals by bragging about its large catalog of high-definition movies, its simple user interface and its integration of other Internet services like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and Pandora.
The Vudu deal could allow Wal-Mart to one day sell a variety of other merchandise through people's televisions via the Vudu service. One person who has been briefed on Wal-Mart's thinking said that the retailer would keep the Vudu brand.
But the retailer will make one change. Vudu also has a plentiful selection of pornographic movies available to its customers. A person briefed on the Wal-Mart deal said the retailer would close down that category "immediately."
DCINFO Editor's Note: See also Wal-Mart Buys Vudu, Becoming a Disruptive P2P Video Provider by John Bergmayer.
Verizon-Skype Deal Underscores Wireless P2P Evolution
Excerpted from Wall Street Journal Report by Jeffry Bartash
The deal struck by Verizon Wireless (VZW) with the P2P-industry-leading Internet telephony service Skype last week reflects an evolution in the mobile-phone business toward the openness that already exists on the Internet.
For consumers, the wireless industry's shift away from closed networks is a bonanza. They'll eventually be able download all sorts of software on their phones to inform or entertain themselves in every way imaginable.
The freedom to use their phones like portable computers, however, won't come cheap, at least not soon. Even when phone companies allow money-saving software like Skype, they have no intention of conceding a portion of their own profits.
In Verizon's case, for example, customers who want to use Skype would have to upgrade to a smart-phone and add monthly data service to their voice plan. Data plans start at $30 and the least costly voice plan is $40.
The result: more revenue for Verizon, whose average customer spends $51 a month.
"You're going to have to spend at least $70 a month. I'll take that," said analyst Rick Franklin of the brokerage Edward Jones. He doubted Verizon's deal would have any negative effect on earnings.
Since the birth of the wireless industry almost three decades ago operators have tightly guarded their networks, mostly to manage limited bandwidth and to maximize profits. While they've never quite employed Soviet-style controls, carriers only allowed customers to use a limited range of software or add-on features such as ring-tones that they designed or chose themselves.
Yet independent software makers such as Google and Skype, whose P2P application allows customers to make free or cheap phone calls, were blocked from mobile networks. Carriers believed they would lose revenue if their customers used Skype on their wireless phones. They also worried about network congestion.
Yet rapid changes in the wireless market such as better phones and improved mobile networks, combined with pressure from government regulators, has persuaded the phone companies to relax their grip.
"Operators know that new technology and regulatory pressure are such that they can't avoid Internet services running on their networks. That includes Skype," said analyst Dario Talmesio of Informa Telecoms and Media in London.
In mid-2007, AT&T became the first big US carrier to move toward open networks after it won exclusive domestic rights to sell the Apple iPhone. Apple allowed thousands of software developers to make applications that would work on the iPhone and AT&T went along. Indeed, a Skype application for the iPhone was introduced last fall.
"There's nothing new here. We've already been open," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said about Verizon's decision to let Skype work on its newest smart-phones.
While AT&T certainly can claim bragging rights, there actually is something new about the Verizon deal. The company collaborated with Skype to customize a version of its software specifically for the smart-phones sold by Verizon.
"You won't see this from anyone else in the US," said John Stratton, Chief Marketing Officer of Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest mobile company with 91 million customers. Verizon Wireless is jointly owned by Verizon Communications and UK-based Vodafone Group.
A Verizon mobile customer can leave the Skype service running in the background and easily receive calls on Verizon's network. For now the Skype application for the iPhone only works when the device is connected to a nearby Wi-Fi network.
"You can make calls, but you can't take calls easily," said analyst Carl Howe of the market-research firm Yankee Group.
The reason for Verizon's newfound willingness to actively partner with companies such as Skype and Google is simple. The carrier sees a chance to sign-up more customers, increase revenue and gain a marketing advantage over rivals.
Skype has more than 500 million users worldwide and many foreign-born people who live in the US call home frequently. Using Skype's cheap International calling rates on their wireless phones would give them a chance to save a bundle or call more often. International calls on regular wireless or landline service tend to be quite expensive.
"If they didn't partner with Skype, they would lose out on a big market opportunity," said Vanessa Alvarez, a Boston-based analyst for Frost & Sullivan. Verizon's Stratton agreed: "We naturally are going to attract a large share of those users to our network."
The deal with Skype also reflects an accelerating shift in the wireless industry that mirrors the dramatic change in the traditional landline phone business. Phone calls generate less and less revenue. Just last month, Verizon slashed its most expensive unlimited voice plan to $69 from $99 a month in response to price cuts by rivals.
The real money - and future profits - lies in data: Internet access, email, text, music downloads, video-streaming, satellite-location services and so forth.
"Voice is not the cash cow it used to be," Howe said. "Data is the new revenue stream."
The move toward openness, moreover, might reflect Verizon's desire to get ahead of regulators. The White House, Congress, and the Democrat-controlled Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have been pressuring carriers to open their networks.
Analyst Pat Comack of Zachary Research Group points out that Verizon recently bought spectrum for its next-generation mobile network that includes a so-called open-access requirement, part of which explains the Skype deal. He believes the FCC will eventually make open access a requirement for every wireless network in the US.
"All spectrum will probably be open someday," Comack said. "Verizon is thinking several steps ahead."
FTC Delivers Warning About Data on the Loose
Excerpted from TechNewsWorld Report by Mike Pearson
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is getting proactive in trying to reduce the risk of data breaches due to file-sharing programs, notifying nearly 100 organizations of data breaches it discovered on such networks.
The FTC did not identify the organizations, but said they ranged in size from small businesses to publicly held corporations with tens of thousands of employees. It warned all of the organizations that it was their responsibility to secure their data against theft, noting that in some cases, it was the agency's responsibility to enforce laws mandating data security.
The FTC told businesses to "take a hard look" at their networks to ensure unauthorized file-sharing programs were not installed, and that those that were authorized were properly configured.
File-sharing programs work by allowing users to designate files to share with other users. Early incarnations of the programs employed a shared-folder model: any file deposited in a specific folder would be available for searching or uploading. That system allowed users to unwittingly expose entire hard drives, or even networks, to file-sharing inquiries. Newer versions require that users convert files or selectively choose files to share.
Another key solution is to keep sensitive data off connected machines, Marty Lafferty, CEO of the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA), told TechNewsWorld.
By storing sensitive information in devices that can go offline once the need to access the data is gone, such as a USB drive, the risk of inadvertent file-sharing is reduced, he said.
Just as importantly, corporations that pass sensitive data to partners and vendors have to become more aggressive in making sure those firms have vigorous policies regarding file-sharing software use in place.
Although the FTC's statement was sometimes sternly worded - reminding companies that they could be subject to legal repercussions if they didn't act to secure data from release over file-sharing networks - the agency struck just the right tone in its statement, Lafferty maintained.
The DCIA has been working with the FTC and Congress on this issue since 2007, he noted.
After all, the growing use of P2P technology to distribute games, movies, and other licensed content relies on an expectation of user safety, said Lafferty. "If file-sharing software programs are not safe, then their users will stop using the software."
File-sharing software makers have moved beyond the inadvertent sharing problem by requiring users to take proactive steps in order to share files, he noted. Now, there are also active efforts to recall confidential information that's already out there.
One idea Lafferty mentioned is software that would wrap itself around an improperly shared file and refuse to allow it further passage on file-sharing networks.
P2P Community Responds to FTC Warning
Excerpted from Internet Evolution Report by Don Reisinger
The Federal Trade Commission announced this week that it has contacted nearly 100 organizations to warn them that employee and client information has been shared on file-sharing networks. The government organization also informed those firms that they need to improve their security practices - or else.
According to the FTC, the notices were sent to both private and public organizations, ranging from schools and local governments to companies with tens of thousands of employees. The letters said the organizations should review their security practices and ensure that data doesn't continue to seep out to file-sharing networks going forward.
Failure to comply with the FTC's warnings could see those organizations face charges under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, or the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
"It is your responsibility to protect private information from unauthorized access, including taking steps to control the use of file-sharing software on your own networks and those of your service providers," the FTC wrote to the organizations. "The Commission reserves the right to take action against you based on past or future law violations; your practices also may be subject to laws enforced by other federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies."
Unfortunately, the FTC's letters stopped short of requiring companies to report that client or employee data was shared on file-sharing networks. The organization only urged those entities to identify affected people.
The P2P industry was quick to point out that it supports the FTC's statement. Marty Lafferty, CEO of the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) said that the organization has "been working with private sector and FTC staff" to address the issues outlined in the FTC's report.
Those efforts are performed through the DCIA's Inadvertent Sharing Protection Working Group (ISPG). The goal of that group, Lafferty said, is to eliminate the unintended seeping out of data via file-sharing services.
Citing LimeWire and BitTorrent, Lafferty said those technologies have safeguards built in to protect users from accidentally sharing sensitive information.
"In the case of BitTorrent and software programs that use BitTorrent, it is unlikely that a user can inadvertently share data because of the multiple intentional steps involved in converting a file to a .torrent format, uploading it to a tracker, etc.," Lafferty said. "In the case of LimeWire, the company literally turned its software inside out and rebuilt it to protect users from accidentally sharing their personal or sensitive data."
Lafferty went on to say that confidential data on the web is "cumulative" and data uploaded years ago is still "floating around." For now, the ISPG is attempting to stop unintended data leaks at their source. It plans to address removing sensitive data already in circulation next.
"Hopefully, as you can see from these examples, our industry takes the safety of consumers very seriously. Once this concern was recognized, we responded proactively."
Still, the FTC's findings are nothing to scoff at. According to FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz, the information shared on file-sharing networks would allow malicious users to easily steal another person's identity.
"Unfortunately, companies and institutions of all sizes are vulnerable to serious file-sharing-related breaches, placing consumers' sensitive information at risk. For example, we found health-related information, financial records, and drivers' license and social security numbers - the kind of information that could lead to identity theft," Leibowitz said in a statement.
The FTC did not identify the organizations that it contacted. Claudia Bourne Farrell, an agency spokeswoman, declined to comment on the reason for this, but she said, "We expect the information to be made public at a later time."
It's rather unfortunate that we don't know who's involved. If more than 100 organizations have allowed personal data to get out to the web, the American people have a right to know who they are.
Keep a close eye on this one. Anyone of us could fall victim to poor data management.
File-Sharing Networks Don't Breach Privacy, Users Do
Excerpted from Daily Online Examiner Report by Wendy Davis
Sounding an alarmist note, the FTC said Monday it has informed more than 100 schools, businesses, and local governments that sensitive data about their customers and employees has landed on file-sharing networks.
The Commission has notified the organizations and advised them to take remedial steps, including contacting people whose data might have been exposed. The FTC additionally said it has launched a probe of other companies to determine whether they exposed private data online - which could potentially violate laws like the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act.
"Companies should take a hard look at their systems to ensure that there are no unauthorized file-sharing programs and that authorized programs are properly configured and secure," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. "Just as important, companies that distribute file-sharing programs, for their part, should ensure that their software design does not contribute to inadvertent sharing."
The FTC also directed companies to a publication urging them to implement procedures to limit the risk of data breaches.
The FTC's report - marking the first time the Commission investigated data breaches on distributed networks - comes several months after Congress probed the networks in response to reports that people were inadvertently sharing private data online.
At the time, LimeWire's CEO Mark Gorton told Congress that the company's latest software doesn't share documents by default or, for that matter, share any files without express authorization by users.
While there's no question that some people have inadvertently shared private documents on such networks, file-sharing programs have legitimate uses - including facilitating transfer of files that aren't under copyright.
Additionally - and possibly even more significantly - companies easily can and do compromise people's privacy without using file-sharing technology. In fact, some of the biggest privacy missteps have had nothing to do with file-sharing networks.
Last week, Google exposed people's address book contacts with its new Buzz service. Several months ago, Rocky Mountain Bank misdirected an e-mail with confidential account information. In 2007 Facebook's Beacon program shared information about people's retail activity with their friends; the year before AOL released search query data for 650,000 supposedly anonymized users - some of whom were identified based on their queries alone.
Yes, the FTC is right to warn companies that they are inadvertently exposing confidential data. But the problem doesn't stem from file-sharing technology but from the fact that companies don't think through the privacy ramifications of their decisions.
And that holds true regardless of whether those decisions involve launching a product like Buzz or storing confidential files on a computer system without implementing the security measures that would prevent them from ending up on file-sharing networks.
Four New Cloud Computing Favorites
Excerpted from Information Week Report by John Foley
Four start-ups have emerged as finalists in Cloud Connect's Launch Pad contest, in which the public voted for their favorite new or in-development cloud application or service. These finalists provide a good indication of what's next in the cloud.
Appirio has developed what it describes as "the world's first social services-management application for the enterprise." The app, called Social PS Enterprise, is an implementation of Salesforce.com's new Chatter collaboration functionality, and it gives professional services teams a shot of social networking capabilities, such as real-time chat. It works with Appirio's Professional Services Enterprise (PS Enterprise), which is software as a service and based on Salesforce's Force.com.
A second finalist is CloudSwitch, which makes software "appliances" that IT pros can use to move virtualized software back and forth between corporate data centers and public cloud services. Most IT departments will adopt a hybrid cloud model, rather than just private clouds or just public clouds. Tools like CloudSwitch's Explorer and Enterprise appliances make that possible.
The other two Launch Pad finalists have the word "scale" in their monikers, a reference to the fact that they scale to manage so-called big data. MaxiScale provides file serving and storage with promised scalability into the hundreds of petabytes. MaxiScale says its Flex Software Platform can grow to 50,000 nodes in one cluster. The product is aimed at Internet data centers; in other words, it can be used by service providers to deliver cloud services or by businesses to build private clouds.
There's also Drawn To Scale, a company so new that its website isn't even complete. Drawn To Scale's platform, built on the open source Hadoop framework and related HBase database technology, is aimed at letting users store, process, serve, query, and search data "of any type or size."
The above finalists, selected from dozens of entries, will present their technologies at Cloud Connect, which runs from March 15th to 18th at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA. You can view videos of the Cloud Connect Launch Pad finalists here.
Cablevision Launches Web-to-TV Service
Excerpted from Media Daily News Report by Wayne Friedman
Many Internet-to-TV services and technologies abound - and more are on the way.
Now Long Island, NY-based Cablevision Systems has announced a new wireless digital service that will seamlessly connect its consumers' computers to their TVs. Using the company's digital network, the multiple system operator (MSO) says consumers will be able to transmit any content in real-time to their big-screen TVs.
Content includes photos, home videos, and music; Internet content including streaming video and audio, such as Internet radio; applications including e-mail, documents and spreadsheets; as well as desktop applications such as widgets.
The "PC to TV Media Relay" can be activated with one push of a remote control button. The content is transferred to a dedicated channel that is accessible only by the customer.
Cablevision says the "relay" will eliminate the need to change input settings on the TV, as with most in-home networking alternatives, or to purchase and install additional equipment. A consumer only needs to download software to enable the PC to TV Media Relay service.
The new service can be extended to other consumer equipment, such as handheld devices and to in-home wireless networks.
Cablevision plans to begin a trial of its "PC to TV Media Relay" for the PC by June 2010.
Download of the Day: LimeWire Basic 5.4.8
Excerpted from TweakTown Report by Steve Dougherty
Our download of the day today is LimeWire Basic 5.4.8. Compatible with all major platforms and running over the Gnutella network, LimeWire's open source code, is freely available to the public and developed in part by a devoted programmer community.
LimeWire is the fastest, easiest, most advanced file-sharing program available and it's completely free of spyware, adware and any other bundled software.
Lime Wire is introducing a filtering system to encourage safer, more responsible file sharing.
It contains no bundled software of any kind, and facilitates firewall-to-firewall transfers, faster network connections, universal plug 'n play, iTunes integration, creative commons integration, a "what's new?" feature, search drill down results, proxy support, and support for international searches and international groups.
PeerPong Nabs $2.8 Million for Social Search Engine
Excerpted from Digital Media Wire Report by Mark Hefflinger
PeerPong, the developer of a social search engine service, has raised $2.8 million in funding from Doll Capital Management, First Round Capital, Charles River Ventures, and Partech International, PaidContent reported.
The start-up was founded by former RockYou Chief Revenue Officer Ro Choy, who also previously was at eBay.
The company is "building a new approach for getting answers from people who know them, building the most comprehensive community and index of expertise on the web."
GigaTribe 3.00.025 Available Now
Excerpted from Techtree Report
GigaTribe allows you develop and manage your own file-sharing network. Use it so you can exchange large files with your friends. This software is ideal for those wish to share their information and files privately.
Only the users you have invited will see the files (and folders) you share. Your friends can browse through the shared folders on your hard drive and vice-versa.
All exchanges are strongly encrypted. Interrupted exchanges automatically resume with no data loss. Users are able to define user groups to share distinct folders with distinct groups. Multi-source download is available to increase your download speed. GigaTribe can also be used to access your PC from a remote location.
Disconnections for File Sharers Ruled out by UK Government
Excerpted from Broadband Expert Report
In recent plans, the UK government said that it would disconnect broadband users that were found to engage in unauthorized file sharing. However, according to new reports, this course of action has been ruled out following a petition that was launched on the Number 10 website.
In a controversial move, the government had announced last year that it was considering measures to tackle unauthorized file sharing among broadband subscribers that would include the possible disconnection of users who were found to be engaging in online copyright infringement. This caused a lot of concern among many industry groups, Internet service providers (ISPs), and consumers, who were worried that innocent users could end up being disconnected because of activities such as people hacking into wireless networks to conduct unauthorized file sharing.
In response to the proposed measures, a petition was set-up on the Number 10 website fighting this part of the Digital Economy Bill, and urging the Prime Minister Gordon Brown to "abandon Lord Mandelson's plans to ban individuals from the Internet based on their use of file-sharing programs." The petition was signed by five hundred and fifty people, and according to recent reports may have been successful in changing the proposed regulations.
A similar petition was set-up last year by the ISP Talk Talk, and managed to accumulate over thirty-three thousand signatures. This petition called for the government to "abolish the proposed law that will see allegedly unauthorized file sharers disconnected from their broadband connections without a fair trial". However, it is thought that it is the smaller petition to which the government has responded.
It has now been reported that the government has pretty much ruled out disconnecting consumers that are found to be file sharing without authorization. The Prime Minister's office responded to the smaller petition by stating that, "The way in which cases of alleged copyright infringement are discovered involves identifying material offered to other users for download in breach of copyright, rather than any monitoring an individual's Internet account for downloads."
Coming Events of Interest
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.
DDEX Open Meeting & Workshop - March 11th-12th in Paris, France. The open meeting features an update on DDEX's standards, case studies on implementations, and an explanation of DDEX's work-plan for 2010, and the workshop focuses on "Identification Standards and Metadata in the Music Industry," and is being held with the assistance of CISAC and IFPI.
Cloud Connect - March 15th-18th at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA. The defining event that brings together the entire cloud computing community, including IT leaders, industry executives, and developers.
Cloud Computing Congress - March 16th 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.
Digital Hollywood Spring - May 3rd-6th in Santa Monica, CA. Digital Hollywood Spring (DHS) is the premier entertainment and technology conference in the country covering the convergence of entertainment, the web, television, and technology.
P2P & CLOUD MEDIA SUMMIT - May 6th in Santa Monica, CA. The DCIA presents this fifth annual seminal industry event as a conference within DHS, now expanded to include cloud computing, the most advanced and rapidly growing distributed computing technology.
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