President Bush is asking Congress to bolster anti-piracy laws, seeking to stiffen the penalities for trafficking in unauthorized content. In a speech that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gave to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Gonzales said the Department of Justice sent to Congress a comprehensive legislative package, called the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2005, that “would strengthen penalties for repeat copyright criminals, expand criminal intellectual property protection, and add critical investigative tools for both criminal and civil enforcement.”
I’ve been following Sony’s big PR and corporate behavior disaster that centers on its incorporation of rootkit DRM technology in CDs, all designed to help the company’s record division, Sony BMG Music, track potential copyright abusers. The move was a disaster of both corporate judgment and communications response (Sony didn’t follow Professor Ed Felten’s advice) in the wake of the rootkit’s discovery.
Now, it seems, the move might also be the grounds for litigation. The EFF is collecting stories from users affected by the impossible-to-remove, undoubtedly “spyware” technology in the hopes of mounting a lawsuit against the Japanese entertainment, music and electronics giant.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 11:07 AM | Print | Comments (0)
The New York Times has a scoop…the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will announce next week the creation of a new Emmy award category — best content created for computers, cellphones and other hand-held devices. The award will premiere in only one category, sports, but will expand to other genres such as news and documentary, business and financial reporting and daytime television.
But don’t look for the dramatic “envelope please” presentation on the annual national broadcast of the Emmy awards. That show and those awards are managed by a sister organization and the non-TV awards won’t be part of that awards presentation.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 10:54 AM | Print | Comments (0)
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