HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

On April 7, the Digital HHR team will be presenting “App-endectomy: Removing the Mystery from the App Ecosystem“, the next in its on-going series of live, CLE-accredited webinars.

The explosive popularity of tablets, smartphones and other Internet-connected consumer devices has ushered in a new technology ecosystem driven by Apps. These self-contained software programs have not only provided the stakeholders involved with a compelling way to exploit everything from movies and games to magazines and newspapers, but have created a thriving new marketplace poised for ongoing, accelerated growth. While the stakeholders are many, the myriad of complex business and legal issues facing them are no less staggering in number. For publishers, content creators, App developers, content distributors, aggregators, storefront operators and service providers, the successful navigation of a rapidly evolving landscape of shifting terms and conditions, privacy regulations, content restrictions and corresponding business considerations across multiple devices and platforms has proven a daunting but essential exercise for leveraging the economic opportunities available.

In this CLE-accredited webinar, the DigitalHHR team will explore the critical business and legal challenges associated with the development, publication, distribution, sale and use of Apps. We will discuss the contours of in-App purchases, subscription-based offerings, and “freemium” models, as well as in-App advertising and App-based ad networks. We will analyze the evolving privacy terms and conditions associated with the use of Apps, and the corresponding laws, regulations and case law impacting end user data collection, disclosure and ownership. We will also address the terms and requirements promulgated by the various platform operators, including Apple, RIM (Blackberry) and Google (Android), and how they impact stakeholders’ participation across the different App environments.

The webinar will be held on Thursday, April 7, 2011 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. EDT.

To register, please click here.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently opened an inquiry into Google Voice, the popular messaging and call service offered by Google, and Google’s practice of blocking certain calls.   The inquiry was prompted by complaints from AT&T to the FCC accusing Google of unfairly blocking calls to certain numbers in rural areas where local phone companies charge high connections fees.  A bipartisan group of 20 Congressional members also submitted a letter asking the FCC to open an investigation into Google’s voice application.  Continue Reading »

Since Facebook launched its Facebook Usernames initiative in mid-June, over 6 million unique individuals have registered usernames for their personal profiles, and over 15,000 usernames have been registered for Facebook Pages as well, which are commonly used by businesses and other organizations.  In many ways, the program looks like a proprietary domain name registration system.  However, when we read that Facebook is claiming ownership over every username, an assertion attributed to a company spokesman, we realized that Facebook is not acting like a domain name registrar.  We also wondered about the legal basis of such a claim.

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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.

The proliferation of Internet use by children has undoubtedly challenged online service providers and technology providers alike.  Protecting children from the various risks posed by Internet use has been, and continues to be, a major concern, as safety issues including sexual solicitation, online harassment, bullying and exposure to illegal content become more and more prevalent.

On Wednesday, the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, led by The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, issued a report entitled “Enhancing Child Safety & Online Technologies.”  The report was compiled at the request of the Multi-State Working Group on Social Networking, comprised of 50 state Attorneys General.  The task force includes representatives from several well-known Internet social network and online service providers, including Google, AOL, Facebook and MTV Networks/Viacom.  The report, which was a year in the making, sought to determine the extent to which currently-available technology could help to address online safety risks to youths in the U.S., with a primary focus on social networking. 

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