The House bill was prompted by a series of embarrassing leaks of government-held data on everything from nuclear facilities to Army officers’ Social Security numbers to confidential congressional ethics investigations.  Those ethics panel leaks were labeled by the Recording Industry Association of America as “a powerful catalyst to enact real reforms to protect consumers.”  A recent report revealing the troubling degree of insecurity in federal government file transfers will probably only add urgency to the debate on the Senate bill.  The study, titled “Why Encrypt? Federal File Transfer Report,” was released on May 11, 2010 by MeriTalk, a government IT network, in conjunction with Axway, a company specializing in business-to-business integration software.  The report surveyed 200 federal IT and information security professionals.  It found that an alarming number of these personnel use unsafe file-transfer methods, including physical media (66%), FTP (60%), and personal email accounts like Gmail or Yahoo (52%).  Although 80% claimed their agency had adequate transfer-security policies, only 58% said employees were aware of those policies, and just 42% said such policies were consistently followed. 

It will be worth staying tuned to see whether these damning statistics will convince the entire Senate to bolster federal file-transfer security — and raise awareness about the issue — by passing the Secure Federal File Sharing Act.  One might also wonder whether these legislative developments would influence private-sector policymakers — in corporations and other institutions — to follow the federal government’s lead in banning P2P software use. 

In any event, P2P security initiatives in the private sector may get a direct boost from the federal government through “The P2P Cyber Protection and Informed User Act”, introduced by Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). 

If the Secure Federal File Sharing Act seeks to protect the government and the public alike from the dangers of data leaks within federal networks, the Thune-Klobuchar legislation seeks to protect all individual users of P2P software from inadvertently exposing their own private files to the public.  Thune saidhis bill will take aim at “the privacy and security threats associated with” P2P file-sharing.  Klobuchar explained to the Minneapolis Star Tribune that “without proper precautions, P2P software can allow anyone on the network to gain access to all the files on your computer, not just the ones you intend to share.”  She said that because such software often “allow[s] access to private financial or family records, it’s an invitation to identity thieves and sexual predators.” 

The Klobuchar-Thune bill, whose companion legislation has already been passed in the House as the “Informed P2P User Act” (H.R. 1319), includes two major components.  First, it would require all P2P software to provide a user with “clear and conspicuous” notice of the program’s function, and obtain the user’s consent, before the software is downloaded or installed.  Second, the bill would make it illegal to prevent a user from blocking, disabling, or removing P2P software.  The bill would bestow enforcement authority upon the FTC, which in February 2010 notified about 100 private and public organizations that they had suffered P2P-based data breaches.    

It would be worth speculating on whether this wider regulation of P2P software could ultimately have a chilling effect on the general public’s use of programs like uTorrent, Shareaza, Ares, Limewire, and BitComet.  If so, one might imagine that content owners may get behind the bill in an effort to stem the losses from P2P-based infringement.  The bill has received support from the RIAA, the Direct Marketing Association, Stop Child Predators, and 41 state attorneys general.     

Stay tuned.

**  Nathaniel Fintz, a summer associate with the Firm, assisted in the preparation of this post.

The keynote speaker will be Stanley Pierre-Louis, VP and Associate General Counsel for IP and Content Protection at Viacom.  Dan will be moderating a panel with executives from MTV Networks, Giant Steps Technology Services, Interpret LLC and County Analytics.

The complete agenda is available here.  Registration information is here.

Conference Materials

Final Agenda

Speakers’ Bios

Presentations

• Content Protection As A Business Imperative – Stanley Pierre-Louis
• Digital Watermarking Applications and Business Drivers – Bruce Davis
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
• Content Security and Tracking – Tom Miller
• Watermarking for Monitoring – John Utley

Articles

• Congress Should Amend the Copyright Act to Protect Transactional Watermarking – Matt Williams
• Content Identification Technologies – Bill Rosenblatt
• Ongoing Innovation in Digital Watermarking – Rajan Samtani

White Papers

• Digital Serial Numbers and Piracy Deterrence – Digital Watermarking Alliance
• Digital Watermark Technologies-Applications in P2P Networks – Distributed Computing Industry Association
• Orphan Works – Digital Watermarking Alliance
• Privacy Principles for Digital Watermarking – Center for Democracy & Technology

Other Materials

• Digital Watermarking Alliance Brochure
• Digital Watermarking Alliance Information

Advances over the last decade in the media, entertainment and technology industries have been unparalleled. The new media landscape is dynamically shifting in real time and all businesses must anticipate and react to innovations in technology in order to seize new opportunities and develop unique business models.

Hughes Hubbard and Reed’s New Media, Entertainment and Technology group recognizes the pace at which these advancements are affecting the day-to-day operations of our clients. We specialize in helping clients exploit such developments to stay ahead of the curve by understanding the way technology influences business. It is not merely the convergence of the media, entertainment and technology industries, but the impact of such convergence on the global consumer, which drives the marketplace forward. We combine the resources and experience of a traditional law firm with an understanding and passion for today’s cutting-edge technologies to assist our clients in navigating the new realities and challenges arising from this shifting landscape.

Digital Media and Internet

• Digital audio-visual content licensing, distribution and syndication initiatives on all new media platforms including wireless, broadband, satellite radio and IPTV
• Online social networking services, virtual reality communities, blogging, massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs)
• Mergers & acquisitions, strategic alliances, online sponsorships/promotional collaborations and joint ventures
• Embeddable media player development, deployment and syndication
• Electronic publishing and distribution
• Integrated marketing, contextual advertising and brand management
• Viral marketing and Internet based “word of mouth” campaigns
• Ad serving, syndication, publication, targeting and tracking
• User-generated content ingestion, distribution, syndication and liability-related issues
• Digital content screening, moderation and filtering
• Online gaming, sweepstakes, contests and promotion compliance
• Digital Millennium Copyright Act – safe harbors and anti-circumvention issues
• Adoption and content of website Terms of Use agreements

Entertainment

• Development and production matters for motion picture and television productions, including writer, producer and director arrangements, guild issues, special effects agreements, location agreements, and other production related matters and documentation
• Domestic and international motion picture distribution in all media, including output deals and ancillary exploitation
• Cable and television broadcast, syndication and other distribution
• Motion picture and television finance, including single- and multi-project finance and all forms of debt, equity and mezzanine financing
• Strategic alliances and motion picture and television co-production and co-financing arrangements
• Major record label sound recording, publishing and associated rights clearances
• Independent music recording, publishing and licensing
• Video game development, publishing ,distribution and licensing for all platforms, including console, handheld ,wireless and online games
• Professional sports league television licensing and retransmission
• Professional athlete employment contracts and talent agreements, including spokesperson, appearance and sponsorship agreements
• Literary and other underlying rights acquisition and licensing
• Rights clearance for motion pictures, television productions and video games
• Product, character and technology merchandising and licensing
• Television format licensing
• Overall and housekeeping deals with talent elements and production companies
• Motion picture and television library acquisitions and dispositions
• Network, cable system and satellite affiliation and carriage agreements
• Product placement and commercial tie-ins
• Motion picture and television marketing agreements and arrangements
• Registration and licensing of patents, trademarks and copyrights
• Litigation concerning the interpretation of recording, film and distribution contracts
• Theme park, gaming and hotel operation

Technology and Information Security

• Privacy, data and information security compliance
• Information technology, business process, call center and manufacturing outsourcing transactions
• Website development, hosting and colocation arrangements
• Electronic commerce, publishing and distribution
• Technology and data export compliance
• Record retention and disaster recovery/contingency planning compliance
• Wireless device and network applications
• Software/hardware and intellectual property procurement, development, licensing and distribution
• Micropayment, contactless payment, smart cards and other alternative electronic payment technology implementations
• Technology transfers and acquisitions
• Technology service and maintenance agreements
• Domain name disputes

New Media, Entertainment and Technology Attorneys

• Dan Schnapp
• Rita Haeusler
• Wayne Josel
• Peter M. Langenberg
• Lindsay Orosz
• Matthew Syrkin
• Other Attorneys