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A coalition of universities, educators and online activists persuaded Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to soften his approach to legislation dealing with file-sharing on campus. As a result of the work done by the group, led by EDUCAUSE, Reid dropped his idea to require colleges to implement technological deterrents to illegal file-sharing. Instead, his amendment to an education bill only requires that colleges send their students information on copyright laws and on university policies on infringement.
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Nate Anderson at Ars Technica gives an extensive introduction to Deep Packet Inspection. High-end DPI programs (which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars) claim to be able to inspect every packet on a network of some 10 million users in real time at speeds of 10+ Mbps, blocking p2p traffic, VoIP, and torrent services. These services are able to do so because the look beyond the identifiers of each packet to the actual data in them and try to determine what applications are sending or receiving the data. Such technology, if effective, enables ISPs to create a non-neutral Internet, prioritizing certain users or content providers over their networks.
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Harold Feld offers a play-by-play of the House's FCC oversight hearing. At the meeting Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) was the most enthusiastic supporter of wholesale access in the 700 MHz spectrum auction, while Republicans (Chip Pickering of Mississippi excepted) slammed Chairman Martin for supporting even device open-access. According to Harold:
Martin now must try to play the Dems against McDowell. If the Dems hold out for wholesale, Martin can try to get McDowell togo along with the large C Block by removing any conditions. While something of a defeat for Martin, who has put a great deal of personal prestige on the line by pushing for device open access, Martin can blame the Dems for being too greedy and insisting on wholesale despite a complete lack of Congressional support for such an idea.
The FCC commissioners are set to consider Martin's proposal for the spectrum auction on July 31st
- Techdirt reports that last month the LA Times axed an editorial on saving the record industry. Among those suggestions: follow Prince's lead and regularly distribute CD's in newspapers (the musician gets money from a sponsor, the sponsor gets ads in the newspaper, and the newspaper becomes a cultural tastemaker). Well, the editorial never ran, but you can read the leaked version here:
“Giving music away doesn't mean it has lost its value, just that its value is no longer moored to the price of a CD. Like it or not, the CD is dying, as is the culture of newsprint. People want their music — and their news — in new ways. It's time we embraced change instead of always worrying if some brash new idea — like giving away music — would tarnish our sober minded image. When businesses are faced with radical change, they are usually forced to ask — is it a threat or an opportunity? Guess which choice is the right answer.”
- To commemorate the 5-year anniversary of the Sony/BMG rootkit disaster, Toronto recording artist Brian Joseph Davis has set that infamous End User License Agreement to choral music. You can read about the performance here and here