A loophole in federal law treats some forms of online copyright infringement far more leniently than others, hurting both producers and consumers of music, movies, TV shows, and other creative content. Under current law, downloading copyright-infringing digital material is a federal felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while […]
The Death of Aereo?
Yesterday, the Supreme Court wisely decided that popular New York startup media company Aereo is violating the law by providing users access to free over-the-air programming from local networks. The 6-3 decision could be the end for the Barry Diller backed startup, and has consumers all over New York City, Baltimore, Atlanta, and 9 other cities […]
For Whom the Patent Trolls
This week, representatives from a few startup tech companies made their way to Capitol Hill and the White House to show firsthand to lawmakers the detrimental effect that patent trolls can bring to small businesses and startups trying to make their way. Their goal—show how these patent trolls are, in President Obama’s words, “extorting” money […]
Pay That Tune
Internet and digital radio, once an afterthought in the Internet startup ecosystem, is now a booming business. There is satellite radio, cable TV radio, Pandora, Spotify, and even iRadio, a new streaming music service from Apple. SiriusXM has boomed, with revenue of $897 million in the first quarter of this year and increasing its subscriber […]
Copyright Reform is Needed
The House Republican Study Committee (RSC) released a policy paper on the topic of copyright law last month. The paper was a call for reform for what many see as a bloated system that favors big businesses to the detriment of small players hoping to create and innovate. It looked to be a great victory […]
ITIF on How Better Copyright Enforcement Would Help Consumers
Daniel Castro of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation wrote an interesting piece that outlines how consumers would be better off with more aggressive law enforcement against online piracy. The piece discusses the newly introduced Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act that looks to add protections covering software, video games, movies, music, books, photos and other […]
Consumer Concerns about the Google Online Book Settlement Agreement
Considerable attention has in recent years been focused on consumer choice regarding platforms and conditions for accessing various kinds of content via the Internet. The main focus has been on the supply of Internet access networks – cable, wireline telco, satellite, wireless – from which consumers can choose as means to get to the content […]
