Gates Speaks on Search, Blogs, Games
"Microsoft’s chairman is setting the company on a course to provide software and tools that will allow different forms of entertainment to blend. Messaging will become a crucial part of Xenon, the code name for the next Xbox. Microsoft will also work with television outlets like the Discovery Channel and MTV Networks to create tools for delivering content, as well as advertising, into the home.
"Its eyes ever set on the competition, Microsoft will continue to raise the stakes against Apple Computer in the music industry and against Google and Yahoo in search.
"Gates spoke with CNET News.com on the eve of his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas about Microsoft’s consumer plans, the convergence of entertainment technologies–and why he hasn’t done a blog yet."
Michael Kanellos. Gates Taking a Seat in Your Den. News.com. Jan. 5, 2005.
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Software Industry Seeks Greater Copyright Protection Via DMCA
"Several of the world’s largest high-tech corporations, many who are members of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), plan to urge Congress today to force Internet service providers to crack down more aggressively on their users who swap copyrighted software, music or video files online.
"The move is a significant escalation in the campaign by the software and entertainment industries to squelch widespread file sharing by millions of users through services such as Kazaa, Grokster and Morpheus. If successful, it could reshape a long legal tradition of shielding phone, cable and other communications companies from liability for the actions of their customers.
"BSA officials want Congress to secure the cooperation of Internet service providers by amending the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was designed to address potential copyright violations in the electronic age."
Jonathan Krim. Tech Firms Aim to Change Copyright Act. WashingtonPost.com. Jan. 6, 2004.
See also:
Declan McCullagh. Software Firms Want Copyright Law Rewrite. News.com. Jan. 7, 2004.
Business Software Alliance. Intellectual Property in the 21st Century. (.pdf) Jan. 2005.
(Editor�s Note: The Post allows free access to their stories on the Web for 14 days before sending the stories to the paper�s fee-based Archives.)
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Entertainment Industry Sees Piracy as Major Threat
"People working in the entertainment industry see digital piracy as a major threat to their businesses, according to a new study by In-Stat/MDR.
"In a survey of film and TV industry workers, nearly half said illegal theft of entertainment content threatened their bottom lines, In-Stat said Tuesday. About 27 percent of those surveyed said they had already lost revenue because of piracy. The survey was taken by 1,806 people working in the variety, broadcasting, cable and news sectors.
"The entertainment industry is trying to grapple with illegal downloading of music from the Internet, as well as file sharing and the use of peer-to-peer software. These efforts got a boost last month, when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on whether companies that produce file-sharing software can be held legally responsible when people use their products to swap copyrighted material.
Dinesh C. Sharma. Piracy Hits Hollywood in the Wallet. News.com. Jan. 4, 2004.
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
Information Today Analyzes Google’s Digitization Project
"Librarians, academicians, journalists, information industry pundits, and real people continue to ring in with comments, concerns, quarrels, and commendations for Google’s new library program. ‘This is the day the world changes,’ said John Wilkin, a University of Michigan librarian working with Google. ‘It will be disruptive because some people will worry that this is the beginning of the end of libraries. But this is something we have to do to revitalize the profession and make it more meaningful.’
"When asked whether Google is building the library to replace all other libraries, Google representatives—after saluting the role of librarians—said they had ‘no such plans at the moment. There was too much work to do.’
"Here is a roundup of some of the questions asked and answers posited."
Barbara Quint. Google’s Library Project: Questions, Questions, Questions. InformationToday.com. Dec. 27, 2004.
See also:
Mary Minow. Google-Watchers – Want Privacy Guarantees Before Handing Over Library Books for Google Digitization. LibraryLaw Blog. Dec. 16, 2004.
Gary Price. Google Partners with Oxford, Harvard & Others to Digitize Libraries. Search Engine Watch. Dec. 14, 2004.
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LokiTorrent Fights Back at MPAA
"The latest peer-to-peer site to come into the legal crosshairs of the motion-picture industry promised this week to fight, and put out a virtual hat to finance its legal fund.
"LokiTorrent, a Web site and index of files available through a peer-to-peer technology known as BitTorrent, posted a letter from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) on its site on Tuesday. The letter states that the MPAA has filed suit in district court in Texas against the site and demands that Loki Torrent cease linking to video files that could infringe on studios’ copyrights.
"LokiTorrent is the latest file-sharing site to run into the legal guns of the motion picture industry. Several peer-to-peer sites disappeared from the Internet earlier this month, after the MPAA filed suits against them."
Robert Lemos. LokiTorrent Fights MPAA Legal Attack. News.com. Dec. 30, 2004.
See also:
Jim Wagner. BitTorrent Operator Bites Back at MPAA. InternetNews.com. Dec. 30, 2004.
SNTReport.com™ Covering the Intersection of Collaboration and Technology. A Seso Group™ Venture.
EMI, Sony BMG Partner for New Music Formats
"In a bold move to pave the way for more widespread licensing of music publishing rights, EMI Music Publishing and Sony BMG Music Entertainment have entered an umbrella agreement that sets working guidelines for clearing rights to new digital music delivery opportunities on phones, PCs, digital cable systems and emerging physical configurations.
The pact, announced Dec. 17, which pairs the world’s top publishing house and the second-largest record company globally, promises to drive the clearance of thousands of copyrighted works for new distribution formats.
"The deal covers North American rights for master ring tones and ringbacks; DualDisc, the new two-sided music format that combines CD and DVD functionality; digital video distribution, including video-on-demand services and video downloads; multi-session audio discs like copy-protected CDs; and ‘locked’ content for hard drives and storage media that consumers may ‘unlock’ by purchasing the tracks or albums online."
Reuters. EMI, Sony BMG Ink Digital Music Pact. News.com. Dec. 20, 2004.
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
GuruNet Launches Answers.com
"GuruNet–a reference service that bypasses search engines to yield succinct information on terms in any document–launched a new Web site Monday that it insists will not compete with Google.
"GuruNet, a New York-based, publicly traded company with a research and development unit in Jerusalem, gained attention in 1999 for its desktop application that made any word in a document searchable with a single click.
"Now, after an unsuccessful foray into the enterprise search market, the company has returned to its consumer roots by retiring its subscription service in favor of an ad-supported revenue model and launching Answers.com, a Web site that will allow people to access its information warehouse without downloading the GuruNet application."
Paul Festa. GuruNet Launches New Search Service. News.com. Jan. 3, 2005.
See also:
Gary Price. GuruNet Becomes Answers.com and Is Now Available Free!. Search Engine Watch. Jan. 3, 2005.
Walter S. Mossberg. GuruNet as a Reference Tool Goes Beyond Search Engines. WSJ.com. March 6, 2003.
SNTReport.com™ The Online Journal for Social Software, Digital Collaboration & Information Policy. A Seso Group™ Venture.
COPYCENSE 
