COPYCENSE

“Google has a Washington problem. Since it started hiring for its public policy team last year, the Web giant hasn’t snagged a single high-profile Republican. Indeed, Washington’s GOP ruling elite isn’t giving Google the time of day.

“The Republicans can’t seem to forgive what they see as Google’s leftward tilt. In the 2004 federal election cycle, 99% of Google employees’ campaign contributions went to Democrats. For its first lobbyist, the company last May hired Alan Davidson, a Democrat and former privacy policy wonk at the Center for Democracy & Technology think tank.

“And now Google has taken positions on two issues that rankle many on the Right: rebuffing U.S. government subpoenas to measure how many Google searches are related to pornography, while bowing to the censorship demands leveled by China’s communist government as the price of doing business in that country.”

Catherine Yang. Google’s Search for Respect in D.C. BusinessWeek Online. Feb. 9, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“One of the largest Internet service providers in Britain is teaming with the company responsible for the BitTorrent software to test a new high-speed movie download service, the companies said Friday.

“NTL, the largest broadband provider in the United Kingdom, will be testing the file-swapping service as a way to deliver video more cheaply than traditional downloads. Another company, called CacheLogic, will add its data-caching technology to improve the network’s efficiency.

“The deal is the first public step forward for BitTorrent’s hope to turn its technology, widely used for swapping illegal copies of video, into a tool used by movie studios and ISPs for legal services.”

John Borland. BitTorrent to Power ISP’s Video Service. News.com. Feb. 10, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“Google has released a revamped version of its desktop search tool which introduces the ability to search the contents of one computer from another. Previous versions of the tool indexed files on user’s PCs, but using the optional Search Across Computers facility in Google Desktop 3 temporarily stores text copies of searchable items on Google’s own servers for up to 30 days.

“Search Across Computers makes a range of files searchable from other computers. The contents of secure web pages are excluded from the list. Users would log on using their Google password can find data on files they’ve worked on regardless of which PC they used to produce them. Users can also exclude certain file types or locations from indexing.”

John Leyden. EFF Issues Google Desktop Warning. The Register. Feb. 10, 2006.

See also:

Elinor Mills. Google Desktop 3 Criticized. News.com. Feb. 10, 2006.

Electronic Frontier Foundation. Google Copies Your Hard Drive – Government Smiles in Anticipation. Feb. 9, 2006.

Tom Smith. Google Desktop: Friend Or Foe? Information Week. Feb. 9, 2006.

Declan McCullagh. FAQ: When Google Is Not Your Friend. News.com. Feb. 3, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry wireless e-mail device, said Thursday it has made good on its promise to develop a software workaround that would keep its service running if a court bars the use of its current system in a patent dispute.

“NTP Inc., a tiny Arlington, Va.-based company, has convinced a federal jury that RIM’s software infringes on its patents, and is now seeking an injunction that would shut down BlackBerry service for private-sector U.S. users. Legal observers have characterized the chance of a shutdown as slim, partly because NTP would benefit more over the long term by exacting royalties from RIM.”

MercuryNews.com. RIM Develops BlackBerry ‘Workaround’ In Event of Injunction. Feb. 9, 2006.

See also:

Heather Green. Inside the BlackBerry “Workaround.” BusinessWeek Online. Feb. 10, 2006.

Marguerite Reardon. RIM’s Workaround Revealed. News.com. Feb. 9, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“Television networks took a leap into the unknown when they started selling their shows on Apple’s iTunes online store, but even in these early days, it’s starting to look as if that faith in digital downloads was well placed.

“Apple CEO Steve Jobs welcomed Walt Disney Co. and Pixar Animation Studios content to the service in October. Now there are 40 different series, each episode of which costs a standardized $1.99 to purchase, and more are on the way.

“Ben Silverman, an executive producer of The Office, praised NBC for its willingness to ‘dive into the iTunes relationship quickly.'”

Chris Marlowe. Networks’ iTunes Gamble Paying Off. Yahoo! News. Feb. 6, 2006.

Update:

Reuters. Cable Programming Heads to iTunes. News.com. Feb. 8, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“Napster Inc., the name that launched the digital music revolution, is burning through cash and struggling to find an audience as a viable subscription service.

“The company reported a loss of $17 million for its fiscal third quarter — a smaller deficit than Wall Street had expected. Revenue soared 94% to $23.5 million. A year earlier, the company had a profit of $12.8 million, reflecting earnings from discontinued operations.

“The results underscored Napster’s difficulties in persuading music lovers to stop collecting music one song or CD at a time and to instead pay $14.95 a month for access to more than 1 million tunes.”

Dawn C. Chmielewski. Napster Posts Loss Despite Surge in Sales. LATimes.com. Feb. 9, 2006.

See also:

Joanna Glasner. Digital Music Biz Ain’t Booming. Wired News. Feb. 07, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“At a time when publishers are suing to prevent Google from putting excerpts of copyrighted books online, HarperCollins has started an advertiser-supported program that will offer a free look at the full text of selected works.

“The Harper program, announced Monday, is being launched with Bruce Judson’s “Go It Alone! The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own.” The book was published in hardcover at the end of 2004, and recently came out as a paperback. Anyone who wants to read the whole text can visit the author’s Web site.”

Hillel Italie. Publisher to Offer Book Content Online. WashingtonPost.com. Feb. 6, 2006.

See also:

CopyCense. HarperCollins Offers Digitized Catalog to Online Players. Dec. 12, 2005.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.