John Eggerton at Broadcasting and Cable has this excellent piece that prognosticates on just where the leading presidential candidates will likely stand on free speech matters, specifically as they relate to the electronic media. Expect Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to “pump up the volume” on TV violence and indecency, emergency communications, media ownership, food and drug marketing, and campaign-finance reform, Eggerton writes.
With the next president set to take office four weeks before the massive switch-over from analog to digital TV, expect the government’s DTV converter program (never heard of that? It’s a program that will subsidize the cost of digital tuners for people who don’t have digital TV sets and can’t afford to purchase the digital boxes) to also become a campaign issue.
Clinton, as Eggerton notes, has never been a big fan of the media, and is particularly concerned about the effects of media exposure on children. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who could — in some alternative universe, I might add — emerge as a candidate, wants to revive, of all things, the Fairness Doctrine, which used to force broadcasters to present “balanced” views on matters of public importance. (The prospect of a Fairness Doctrine revival has my former boss, Patrick Maines of The Media Institute, in a state of near-rage, as an internal memo obtained by Eggerton attests.)
Like Clinton, Obama has banged on the bad-for-children drum, and is in favor of stronger parental controls and better TV ratings. He also tilts toward stronger public interest obligations for broadcasters.
McCain is no friend to cable and wants a la carte programming, while Guiliani is, well, it’s not clear from Eggerton’s piece where Guiliani might land on the spectrum of First Amendment issues as they affect the electronic media.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:14 PM | Print | Comments (1)The annual 3GSM World Congress is kicking off today in Barcelona and as is the case with other giant industry trade shows, the event has become a massive venue for hundreds of new product, technology and product announcements. But this year’s 3GSM has a decidedly mobile content-oriented theme, in comparison to the VoIP-focused developments of the past two or three 3GSM shows.
Siphoning through the hundreds of press releases and articles, a few announcements, or groups of announcements, at 3GSM stand out as big news. Among these are:
—Microsoft Unleashes New Windows Mobile Platform:
The Redmond, WA-based software giant announced Windows Mobile 6, the newest
version of its mobile software platform. Mobile 6 adds support for
Microsoft features previously only available on PCs, such as Outlook, Word,
Excel and PowerPoint and supports multimedia functions such as HTML
formatted. The new mobile platform also includes Windows Live for Windows
Mobile, which provides users with the ability to send files or images,
record and send live voices and represent themselves in phone conversations
with animated images. Particularly compelling might be a new software
client application for Windows Mobile called Live Search. Live Search
provides customers with fast access to ad-supported local listings and maps,
and even allows for viewing of satellite imagery and GPS navigation. The
company has lined up most major wireless carriers around the globe to deploy
Windows Mobile 6, ioncluding Orange in Europe, SoftBank in Japan, T-Mobile,
AT&T Verizon and Verizon Wireless in the U.S.
—-AT&T Teams with Qualcomm’s MediaFLO for Mobile
Entertainment: The largest U.S. mobile carrier AT&T and broadband
mobile tech provider MediaFLO, an arm of Qualcomm, announced a new deal
under which AT&T will tap MediaFLO for mobile entertainment and information
services. Beginning in late-2007, AT&T plans to launch mobile TV services
using MediaFLO’s technology. Among the offerings the wireless phone company
has on the drawing board are a multicast video clip distribution service and
a datacasting applicatios for the realtime delivery of information and audio
services.
—Yahoo! Launches Gamma Version of Yahoo! Go for
Mobile 2.0: Things started looking up for troubled online service
provider Yahoo! last month when the company unveiled the beta version of its
Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0 application. At 3GSM today, Yahoo! unveiled what
it calls the gamma version of the technology, which includes intent-based
search surrounded by relevant content (as opposed to traditional search
results that feature merely links to sites) and personalized news, sports,
weather, entertainment and photo content from Yahoo! services. Yahoo!
claims that Go for Mobile 2.0 has generated more than 400,000 requests for
downloads since the company unveiled the beta version last month. Yahoo Go
for Mobile also got a boost by a deal with handset maker LG Electronics,
which has agreed to distribute Yahoo!’s mobile services on tens of millions
of LG mobile phones.
—Mobile Content Services and Handsets Are Ubiquitous:
Apple set the standard for mobile devices in January when it unveiled its
stylish and multi-faceted iPhone. Consumer electronics makers have been in
full tilt mode since then to debut their own iPhone-like services in advance
of Apple’s mid-2007 rollout of its genre-busting device.. British mobile
music company Omniphone unveiled in Barcelona a new service that aims not to
rival the iPhone but to swipe Apple’s iTunes business away. Called
MusicStation, the service will allow unlimited music downloads to mobile
devices for a price of approximately $3.99 per week. Omniphone has deals in
place today with 23 mobile network operators in 40 countries. Although the
service won’t initially launch in the U.S., Omniphone hopes to eventually
launch MusicStation here. Nokia unveiled a line of new devices in
Barcelona, each of which aims to improve mobile content connectivity. One
of the new handsets, the Nokia 6100 Navigator, features integrated GPS
functionality allowing customers to access 3D and audio-enhanced maps and
directions. The Nokia N77 is a mobile device, aimed at Europe, that
supports DVB-H TV channels. Nokia also launched the Nokia Video Center, an
application that aggregates all the sources of mobile video offered by the
cell phone maker, including two new sources of video: YouTube and Reuters.
—Video Content Makers Aim for the Third Screen:
The news at 3GSM today wasn’t all about gadgets and technology. Content
providers showed up in full force to pitch their wares to carriers and gear
makers alike. The Sundance Institute and GSM Association unveiled the five
original “made for mobile” short films they commissioned as part of the
Sundance Film Festival Global Short Film Project. Mobile carriers will
begin distributing the films starting February 15. Austin, TX-based
ExpertVillage.com, which provides Internet-based how-to videos, announced a
new service called Expert Village Mobile. The 117 videos offered provided
visual instruction on how to jump a car batter to how to deliver a baby in
the back seat of a taxi. Mobile media company ShoZu announced a
distribution deal with U.S. mobile entertainment company Amp’d Mobile for
its Share-It uploading service, which will allow Amp’d customers to transmit
photos and video clips to nearly two dozen media sharing sites on the
Internet. CBS launched three new sites aimed at mobile users, available at
online site “CBS Mobile Store” (www.cbsmobile.com).
One of the stores offers games, wallpapers and voicetones, including “live
wallpapers,” which feature scenes from CBS reality shows and other options
such as mobile video alerts from David Letterman, called “Dave TV.” Content
at this site is available for a one-time purchase charge or on an annual
subscription basis. The other two sites include a special mobile version of
CBS SportsLine (wap.CBSSportsLine.com) and a special version of CBS News (wap.CBSNews.com).
(Article reprinted from today’s issue of IP Media Monitor.)
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 5:43 PM | Print | Comments (0)
The New York Times’ Robert Levine whet my appetite to find out more about a new online site, Techpresident.com, which promises to cover the online aspects of the coming presidential campaign. But, either a giant screw-up occurred over at techpresident.com or the site’s servers have been flooded by traffic.
Here’s the message I get at the techpresident.com URL:
This account has been suspended.
Either the domain has been overused, or the reseller ran out of resources.
In any event, when the site is up and running again, you’ll supposedly find a group blog run by twelve contributors that provides information and analysis for the political professional on how to make use of the growing array of Internet technologies. The site’s an extension of the Personal Democracy Forum, (note: the same technical afflictions that have shut down techpresident.com have also shut down personaldemocracy.com) with Micah Sifry the editor of both sites and Internet entrepreneur Andrew Rasiej backing both sites.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 10:10 AM | Print | Comments (1)Like a double-edged sword, YouTube can be used for both good and evil. It can expose human rights abuses and foster positive political communication, or it can be used as clearinghouse for videos made by violent extremists. This AP piece deals with the rise of YouTube-distributed videos by Islamic militants.
The videos show bombings, sniper attacks and more. Last week, prosecutors in Britain charged six suspects in an alleged plot to kidnap and kill a British soldier. The conspirators planned to post video of the kidnapping and murder online.
It’s difficult for authorities to discover and remove the videos. YouTube has a policy of taking down patently offensive videos, but it has to be notified of their existence first.
“YouTube has clear terms and conditions which prohibit, amongst other things, hateful content,” the company said in a statement. “Our community has been highly effective in policing the site, and YouTube removes videos if our community flags them as inappropriate.”
Sometimes, however, YouTube can go too far in reacting to reports of “offensive” videos. The site is facing some heat today for yanking down video from a relatively thoughtful atheist, Nick Gisburne, who posted a slide-show containing violent quotes from the Koran.
The slide-show features nothing but quotes and contains no commentary, no calls for action, no denigrating statements. Not only did YouTube yank the video based on complaints, it also cancelled all of the guy’s accounts. John Battelle has the run-down here, along with a video from Gisburne, who seems genuinely surprised and stricken by YouTube’s action.
Ron at Xooglers, a blog written by ex-Googlers, takes the appropriately dim view of what seems to be an overreaction by YouTube.
This really bothers me for four reasons. First, to deem quotations from a holy text to be “inappropriate content” is outrageous on its face. Second, Gisburne was given no warning. Third, YouTube didn’t just delete the video in question, they deleted Gisburne’s entire account. And fourth, this makes a mockery of Google’s “don’t be evil” slogan. There can be no possible reason for this action other than caving to intimidation, and sanctimonious cowardice in the face of oppression is a particularly pernicious breed of evil.Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 9:15 AM | Print | Comments (2)
The Wall Street Journal has this scoop (subscription required but MarketWatch has a summary) today about a deal that will give Google-owned YouTube rights to distribute its first-ever full-length TV shows. Google has signed an agreement to post more than 4,000 hours of video content provided by Digital Music Group, an online distributor of independently owned music, TV shows and movies.
The content, which includes such classics as “Gumby” and “I Spy,” will be free to users. Digital Music will split with Google the ad revenue from the pages where the content appears. Digital Music will also be paid for its copyrighted music that appears in uploaded videos. Google will use filtering technology to find Digital Music’s content and then compensate the company, although companies have complained that YouTube has been slow in providing this promised technology.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:58 AM | Print | Comments (0)
The New York Times’ Saul Hansell has this piece today about what seems to be an impending settlement between Universal Music and online video sharing site Bolt.com. One of the most voiceferous critics of the rise of unauthorized use of copyrighted materials by online video sites, Universal has sued Bolt, Grouper and MySpace for use of the company’s music in user uploaded videos. Universal has even threatened to sue Apple and would have sued YouTube but for a last-minute deal it struck with the top video site on the eve of its acquisition by Google.
Now, it seems, Universal’s litigation strategy is paying off. Bolt has agreed to admit that the uploads were a violation of Universal’s copyrights and will pay millions in back royalties for videos uploaded prior to the settlement.
Clearly the cost of the lawsuit and settlement have broken Bolt’s back — the company has agreed to sell itself to rival GoFish.com for $30 million, presumably in order to foot the legal bills and settlement costs. Bolt CEO Aaron Cohen says that the “deal is economically painful to Bolt shareholders.”
Going forward, both Bolt and GoFish will use fingerprinting technology that scans the audio tracks of the videos uploaded to their sites to identify music by Universal, and other music labels, including Warner Music, with which Bolt and GoFish are working out deals.
Here’s what I’d really like to know: Did Bolt cave because it couldn’t handle the ongoing disruptions of litigation and the mounting legal expenses? Or, did Bolt’s attorneys decide that it wouldn’t win if the case move forward? If Bolt decided that the DMCA—which has take-down provisions that put the onus on Universal Music to request protection of its copyrights—didn’t provide the company with sufficient legal cover, then boy oh boy, expect the copyright infringement lawsuits to start flying.
The DMCA, passed in 1998, creates a safe harbor for online service providers, including ISPs, so that they are not liable for copyright infringement for content that is distributed through their services. If, however, the copyright owner finds out that its ownership rights are being infringed upon, the provider must take down the content.
Theoretically, if Bolt were covered by the DMCA, it is liable for infringement only if it fails to take down requested content. Universal had submitted no take-down requests and therefore Bolt should have been in a fairly cut-and-dried superior legal position. Bolt should never have agreed that it engaged in infringement.
Universal, however, has argued that the 1998 law was intended to cover only true ISPs, which are merely passive conduits that have no control over the content that customers access on the Internet. Video sharing sites are not ISPs and therefore can’t rely on the take-down provisions for legal protection, Universal argues.
If Bolt’s attorneys thought that Universal might win with this argument, then every single video sharing site is vulnerable to lawsuits from all kinds of copyright holders. The DMCA’s take-down provisions, in other words, are no protection at all for YouTube, MySpace, ebaumsworld, Grouper or the dozens of other video sharing sites.
Every TV or film production company and every record company will fire up its legal engines as a result of this settlement, particularly if negotiations that are currently underway (YouTube is said to be negotiating with every major entertainment company) fall apart. If close analysis leads lawyers to believe that the DMCA doesn’t apply to video sharing sites, copyright owners have a much stronger negotiation position in their talks with video sharing companies, and a much stronger legal position if negotiations fail to bear fruit.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 7:13 AM | Print | Comments (0)
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