HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

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• The FCC announced plans to impose more than $12 million in fines on 600 telecoms that failed to file paperwork last year detailing how they are going to protect the privacy of their customers.  The FCC is seeking the fines because many of the phone companies, internet telephone service providers and calling-card companies that are supposed to make the detailed annual reports are not complying with the current rules. 
• In a week where we’ve read so much about newspapers becoming obsolete, a new survey by The Rosen Group has found that the majority of Americans still consider print to be a vital source for their news and entertainment even though a third of us consider websites to be our number one source of information. 
• According to a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, internet gambling, which was banned in 2006, could bring in over $52 billion in tax revenue over 10 years.  That may be one of the factors driving a decision to reintroduce legislation in Congress to overturn the ban. 
• A two-year old lawsuit filed by Eminem’s production company against Universal Music Group seeking about $1.3 million in unpaid digital music royalties finally went to court this week and its outcome could have a profound effect on the digital music business.  The issue is whether digital music downloads fall under “distribution” or “licensing” agreements — the latter giving artists a 50% take on royalties earned. 

There are lots of ways to track our Internet use these days – and its scary to think that each and every piece of information related to such use, including the sites we visit and the products we purchase, are “fair game” for advertisers.  In particular, behavioral targeting, which essentially tracks our use of the web so that advertisers can push ads to us that are specifically tailored to our interests, gives a lot of people pause.  In its recently released report, the FTC made recommendations which seek to balance the potential benefits of behavioral advertising against privacy concerns and encourage privacy protections while maintaining a competitive marketplace.  Continue Reading »

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• While we haven’t quite figured out if there is a direct link, as the economic news got worse at the end of 2008, online video activity increased.  According to comScore, online viewing reached a record high with U.S. Internet users watching 14.3 billion videos in December.  This was a 13% increase from November.  comScore found that 150 million U.S. users watched an average of 96 videos each and spent more than five hours watching online video during the month.  Read here about how the big video sites split the market.
• While there is little public information available about the negotiations over the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the proposed multi-national treaty to assist in the enforcement of global IP rights, some leaked language is causing concern.  More information here.  
• The GOP appears to be following in the White House’s footsteps by overhauling its website to be more open and accessible to its Internet-using citizens.  The new site makes it easy to get the latest news, contact representatives through e-mail and even has an API in which developers can create applications that pull data from the site and format it in a number of ways.  Read more here.
• The watchdog group Privacy International has raised concerns about Google’s new phone tracking system, Latitude, which was unveiled this week.  The system allows users to track other people via smartphone.  And while it does have some built-in privacy protections, there are some potential gaps, including the possibility that the phone’s tracking settings could be changed without its owner’s knowledge.  More here.
• In a closely-watched case, defunct BitTorrent search site TorrentSpy has asked a federal appellate court to reverse a judge’s decision ordering the site to pay movie studios $111 million for copyright infringement in which they were trying to protect users’ privacy by purging the records of visitors’ IP addresses.  Read here for more on the ruling and TorrentSpy’s appeal.

Capitol Hill will likely become a battleground this year in a contentious debate between musicians and record labels on one side and radio broadcasters on the other. The Performance Rights Act–which would require radio stations to pay royalties to artists and labels for songs they broadcast–will be reintroduced in Congress this week according to this article on Billboard.com. Continue Reading »

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• The New York Times, owners of Boston.com, and GateHouse Media agreed on the eve of trial to settle their copyright lawsuit.  As part of the settlement, the complete details of which aren’t available, the headlines and first sentences from GateHouse articles will be removed from listings on Boston.com, although Boston.com will continue to link to GateHouse.  While the settlement appears to be a victory for GateHouse, some are questioning whether GateHouse’s objections to the content in the links made business sense as Boston.com was sending traffic to GateHouse.  The new restrictions may cause Boston.com to think twice about doing that in the future.  Other smaller media and content sites may want to consider these ramifications in raising similar issues.  Read here for more on the dispute.
• Controversy is already brewing at the President’s virtual home regarding privacy issues.  In what some called a “YouTube exemption” to the privacy policy at WhiteHouse.gov, YouTube was apparently permitted to plant tracking cookies on the computers of visitors to the White House site.  When objections were raised, the policy was quickly amended to limit the placement of cookies only on machines that actually click on the video.  The debate seems to point to the tricky nature of balancing the optimal privacy policy with the transparency of the actual terms of that policy.   More on the issue is here.
• In what may be the first of its kind corporate policy, Ireland’s largest ISP, Eircom, has agreed to implement a “three strikes and you’re shut down” policy for P2P file sharers.  The policy is the result of a settlement in a lawsuit against Eircom that was broght by the Irish branches of EMI, Warner, Universal and Sony.  While the concept of a graduated response has been debated before (it was actually specifically rejected by the European Parliament last year), Eircom now appears to be set to be the first ISP in the world to voluntarily cut off P2P users without court orders.    For more on this issue, read here.
• North Carolina joins a list of states now considering charging sales tax on digital downloads to help raise revenue for the state – a move that could deter customers who are already facing tough times.  More details here.
• In a move that is being widely criticized, Cox Communications, the third-largest cable company, has announced plans to test a system to manage Internet congestion by rating traffic based on its urgency and importance.   Coincidentally, Google released a new set of tools to enable users to find out if their ISPs are hindering traffic.  Read here for more.