HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

In a previous post, we discussed “The Secure Federal File Sharing Act” (H.R. 4098), a bill introduced in the House that was aimed to improve security in federal computing by barring federal employees and contractors from downloading, installing, or using peer-to-peer (P2P) software absent prior official approval.  The House ultimately passed this bill on March 24, 2010.  On June 14, 2010, Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Robert F. Bennett (R-UT) introduced a companion bill under the same name in the Senate (S. 3484).  This bill has been referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.  Continue Reading »

Dan will be speaking at the DCIA’s inaugural P2P and Cloud Media Summit in Santa Monica on May 6th. The summit is being held in conjunction with Digital Hollywood, one of the premier entertainment and technology industry conferences.

Dan will be part of a panel entitled “Global Perspective – Changing Rules for P2P and Cloud Computing”, which will discuss the key laws and regulations that P2P and cloud computing software developers and distributors need to comply with, the changes taking place in the regulatory environment affecting P2P and cloud-computing technologies, the impact of recent actions and rulings and other issues in the legal and policy arenas that might foster investment and commercial development of P2P and cloud computing. More information on registration is available on the DCIA’s website.

On a related note, the video from the DCIA’s March 9 conference has been posted.  At that conference, Dan participated in a  panel discussing the various business models utilized by P2P and cloud computing providers, including ad-supported, subscription, paid download and other innovative strategies.

As part of the Distributed Computing Association’s inaugural P2P market conference, Dan will be participating on a panel on P2P and Cloud Business Models.  The conference is being held on Tuesday, March 9 at the Cornell Club of New York in conjunction with Media.Summit 2010.  Registration information is available on DCIA’s site.

A highly classified house ethics committee report outlining inquiries involving dozens of members of Congress was recently leaked over the Internet after a junior committee staff member saved it on the hard drive of his home computer, on which he happened to have peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software installed.  There is no evidence the staffer intended the report, which detailed investigations that included financial dealings, travel and campaign donations, to be shared with other P2P software users around the world.  But in an official attempt to combat such leaks, US Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), an avid critic of self-regulation of P2P software use, recently introduced a new bill titled The Secure Federal File Sharing Act.  Continue Reading »

UPDATE (4/14/09, 12:14 pm):  The court found the Pirate Bay defendants guilty and sentenced them to 1 year in prison and ordered them to pay $3.6 million in damages to several record labels.

Tomorrow a Swedish court is expected to announce it’s ruling in a criminal case that has been closely watched by nearly everyone with a stake-financial or otherwise-in the free-wheeling world of P2P file swapping.  At its core, the ruling will determine whether the operators of the Pirate Bay, the popular torrent search and indexing site, are guilty of violating Sweden’s copyright law.  A conviction-which many observers expect-could lead to imprisonment and a possible fine, as well as a shut-down of the site.  However, despite the potential immediate impact on the Pirate Bay and its operators, the broader implications of a guilty verdict, including whether or not it will serve as a deterrent against unauthorized file-sharing, are a little less certain. Continue Reading »