COPYCENSE

“Given the worldwide success that Apple has had selling iPods, one would think that music stores would do whatever it takes to make their offerings iPod-compatible. Attempts at bypassing or emulating Apple’s FairPlay have not been successful, however, and FairPlay is (famously) unavailable for licensing.

“So what’s a music store to do? To eMusic, the answer was simple: you offer songs as high quality, variable bit rate MP3 files instead. DRM is removed, consumers are happy, and the vast white fields of the iPod are ready for harvest.

“It sounds like such a simple idea, but in the context of the music business, this is radical, French Revolution-type stuff. What’s perhaps even more interesting is the fact that eMusic’s decision to offer unprotected MP3 files was not an ideological one; the idea made great business sense, and has established eMusic as the #2 retailer of downloadable music behind the iTunes Music Store.”

Ars Technica. Making Money Selling Music Without DRM: The Rise of eMusic. May 22, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“Surfing the Web on a cellphone can be as difficult as surfing the ocean on a tiny board. Now, a company founded by Microsoft Corp., Google Inc., Vodafone Group PLC, Nokia Corp., and several other companies, aims to make it easier to browse the Internet on wireless devices such as cellphones or BlackBerries.

“Currently, few Web pages are designed to be accessed via mobile devices. Many sites can’t be displayed on tiny cellphone screens, and most would take a much longer time to download than on a PC.

“Mobile Top Level Domain aims to change that in part by setting up a new domain name specifically for wireless Internet Web sites called dot-mobi. Just as dot-com is the domain name for many Web pages on the wired Internet, dot-mobi will become the suffix for Web pages that are formatted for cellphones and other wireless devices, the company says.”

Li Yuan. New Domain Name — .Mobi — Could Spur Wireless Web. The Wall Street Journal Online. May 23, 2006.

Updates:

Tom Krazit. Mobile-TV Vendors Politely Jockey for Position. News.com. May 24, 2006.

Reuters. Sprint Eyes Media Options, Talks to Sling Media. News.com. May 25, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

The Bush administration plans to renew its exclusive contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the U.S.-based nonprofit group that oversees key technical matters governing how computers communicate over the Internet.

The intention to give ICANN a sole-source contract, disclosed on a federal government contracting Web site Thursday, reflects the Commerce Department’s belief that the group, based in Marina del Rey, Calif., is the only entity capable of the unglamorous but necessary responsibility of managing the Internet’s basic plumbing.

The decision may revive international debate about the Commerce Department’s role overseeing ICANN’s work, a source of resentment among countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Brazil. Even the European Union has called for phasing out the department’s oversight in favor of some model that would increase international input.

Arshad Mohammed. U.S. Renews Contract for Oversight Of Internet. WashingtonPost.com. May 20, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.

“The larger Skype’s user base grows, the less likely it is that telecom operators or regulators will successfully block the VoIP service, said the head of Skype’s European operations, during an interview at the VON Europe conference in Stockholm.

“An experience in Brazil makes a good example. About a year ago, one of the largest telecom operators in Brazil blocked Skype. The reaction from Skype users was so strong that after a week, the operator relented.

“Some operators, particularly the incumbents, may seek to block Skype because Skype’s low-cost voice service can steal market share from them and thus eat into their most significant source of revenue.”

Nancy Gohring. Skype Seeks Bulk to Avoid Blocks. PC Advisor. May 18, 2006.

See also:

Ars Technica. Skype’s Net Neutrality Gamble: We’ll Be So Big, They Can’t Stop Us. May 18, 2006.

Sara Kehaulani Goo. Skype Gives It Away. WashingtonPost.com. May 16, 2006.

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

“The larger Skype’s user base grows, the less likely it is that telecom operators or regulators will successfully block the VoIP service, said the head of Skype’s European operations, during an interview at the VON Europe conference in Stockholm.

“An experience in Brazil makes a good example. About a year ago, one of the largest telecom operators in Brazil blocked Skype. The reaction from Skype users was so strong that after a week, the operator relented.

“Some operators, particularly the incumbents, may seek to block Skype because Skype’s low-cost voice service can steal market share from them and thus eat into their most significant source of revenue.”

Nancy Gohring. Skype Seeks Bulk to Avoid Blocks. PC Advisor. May 18, 2006.

See also:

Ars Technica. Skype’s Net Neutrality Gamble: We’ll Be So Big, They Can’t Stop Us. May 18, 2006.

Sara Kehaulani Goo. Skype Gives It Away. WashingtonPost.com. May 16, 2006.

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

“A prominent Republican on Capitol Hill has prepared legislation that would rewrite Internet privacy rules by requiring that logs of Americans’ online activities be stored. The proposal comes just weeks after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Internet service providers should retain records of user activities for a ‘reasonable amount of time,’ a move that represented a dramatic shift in the Bush administration’s views on privacy.

“Wisconsin Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is proposing that ISPs be required to record information about Americans’ online activities so that police can more easily ‘conduct criminal investigations.’ Executives at companies that fail to comply would be fined and imprisoned for up to one year.”

Declan McCullagh. Congress May Make ISPs Snoop On You. News.com. May 16, 2006.

See also:

Declan McCullagh. Congress May Consider Mandatory ISP Snooping. News.com. April 28, 2006.

Anne Broache. U.S. Attorney General Calls for ‘Reasonable’ Data Retention. News.com. April 20, 2006.

Declan McCullagh. ISP Snooping Gaining Support. News.com. April 14, 2006.

Jo Best. EU Data Retention Directive Gets Final Nod. News.com. February 22, 2006.

Declan McCullagh. Your ISP As Net Watchdog. News.com. June 16, 2005.

Update:

Declan McCullagh. ISP Snooping Plans Take Backseat. News.com. May 18, 2006. (“Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has backed away from plans to rewrite Internet privacy rules by requiring that logs of Americans’ online activities be stored. Sensenbrenener said through a representative this week that he will not be introducing that legislation after all.”)

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

“The American Libraries Association is fighting congressional efforts to limit access to MySpace and other social networking tools on the Internet.

“A congressional delegation calling itself the Suburban Caucus introduced legislation last week to prevent schools and libraries from allowing minors to log onto MySpace and other social networking sites, saying they have become feeding grounds for sexual predators. The Deleting Online Predators Act is one of several bills aimed at satisfying suburban voters, who ranked child safety and gas prices high on a list of concerns in a recent poll.

“The bill would remove federal funding from schools and libraries that allowed children unsupervised access to sites that could reveal objectionable material. The restrictions would apply to all sites that feature user profiles and discussion. In other words, they would prohibit minors’ unsupervised school and library access to instant messaging, many e-mail services, chat rooms and social networking sites.

“The ALA issued a statement Monday in which its president Michael Gorman described House Rule 5319 as too broad, redundant, and unnecessary.”

K.C. Jones. Libraries Fight Limits On Networking Sites. TechWeb News. May 15, 2006.

See also:

American Library Association. ALA Opposes “Deleting Online Predators Act.” (press release) May 15, 2006.

Declan McCullagh. Congress Targets Social Network Sites. News.com. May 10, 2006.

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