HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

Last Tuesday, U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011 which is intended to “establish a regulatory framework for the comprehensive protection of personal data for individuals under the aegis of the Federal Trade Commission.”  According to the bill, current laws at the state and federal level provide inadequate privacy protection for individuals and the Federal Government has “eschewed general commercial privacy laws in favor of industry self-regulation” which has largely been unenforceable and has provided insufficient privacy protections.  Continue Reading »

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act celebrated its 10^th anniversary this week.  That milestone provides us with an excuse to take a brief look at the statute and some ways it has affected the digital marketplace.

The DMCA was initially intended as the US implementation of two treaties adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1996 to establish rules for two evolving forms of digital media: music and computer software and databases.  However, as the legislation was introduced in Congress, additional provisions were added in response to lobbying efforts by two distinct constituencies.  

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