Policy Blog
Updates and this week's PK In The Know Podcast: DVD Ripping, Boxee, Spectrum, and the Open Design Engine
The PK in the Know podcast has been off for the past few weeks so that we could make technical changes to the back end. This will result in a better feed, but unfortunately it also means that the feeds have changed. Please update your feeds by clicking here to subscribe via iTunes, and clicking here to subscribe via other readers.
But now, on to this week's podcast!
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Mr. Sherman's Magical Thinking
I am always impressed with the utter unwillingness of the Entertainment industry to acknowledge the world as it actually is, rather than the world as they want it to be. Perhaps it is a side effect of being in the business of ‘selling dreams.’ In any event, I could not help but marvel at Carey Sherman’s recent New York Times Op Ed “What Wikipedia Won’t Tell You.” Mr. Sherman, the CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and one of the chief lobbyists behind the push for PIPA and SOPA, just cannot believe that anyone could find flaws in the most perfect bill he and his fellow Hollywood lobbyists wrote – especially when they tried so hard to keep balanced and respect the opinions of others! Happily, Mr. Sherman knows who is really responsible for this travesty – that wicked pair of Internet troublemakers Google and Wikipedia!
Who Really Engaged in Misinformation?
In a blatant act of hypocrisy, Cary Sherman the chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as his allies, are claiming that the public was misinformed about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP (PIPA) when they opposed those bills. As Sherman said, “misinformation may be a dirty trick, but it works.” His organization would know given that for more than a year the RIAA, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and other pro-SOPA and pro-PIPA allies actively engaged in misinforming Congress on the implications of the SOPA and PIPA.
Put an End to Sports Blackouts
The following is a guest post from Brian Frederick, Executive Director of Sports Fans Coalition and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Public Knowledge works with the Sports Fans Coalition against sports blackouts because we think that the FCC should not have rules that keep fans from watching games.
Even if you’re not a sports fan, you should be concerned about how professional sports owners are manipulating the system to take in massive public subsidies and privatize the profits. Sports leagues receive benefits from the public that no other businesses do, such as the right to collectively negotiate their broadcast contracts. In the case of the National Football League (NFL), those contracts will earn the league $6 billion per year starting in 2015. Owners are then able to use this monopolistic power to force cities to build expensive stadiums that are horrible wastes of taxpayer dollars.
What's Actually in the TPP?
The blogosphere is abuzz with speculation that the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is much worse than SOPA. Is this true? Since the text is currently top secret, there is no way to tell. Of course, that’s part of the problem. But, after tracking international intellectual property (IP) issues here a PK for a number of years, I can try to make an educated guess about what may be in TPP’s IP chapter and how it may affect you.
Prison Phones: Making Millions by Draining Families
It is cheaper to call Singapore at 12 cents a minute from your Verizon cell phone than it would be to speak to someone in prison in this country. The burden of having a family member or loved one in prison is already heavy, making matters worse is the reality that families are continuously wrung dry by expensive calls which include profitable “kickbacks” to the prisons themselves.
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