October 2010

The Department of Commerce's Internet Policy Task Force is conducting a comprehensive review of the relationship between the availability and protection of online copyrighted works and innovation in the Internet economy.

The Department, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) seek public comment from all interested stakeholders, including rights holders, Internet service providers, and consumers on the challenges of protecting copyrighted works online and the relationship between copyright law and innovation in the Internet economy. After analyzing the comments submitted in response to this Notice, the Internet Policy Task Force intends to issue a report that will contribute to the Administration's domestic policy and international engagement in the area of online copyright protection and innovation.

Comments are due on or before November 19, 2010.

From Press release:

The initiative on Copyright Policy, Creativity and Innovation in the Internet economy seeks to identify policies that will:

1) Generate benefits for rights holders of creative works accessible online and make recommendations with respect to those who infringe on those rights;
2) Enable the robust and free flow of information to facilitate innovation and growth of the Internet economy; and
3) Ensure transparency and due process in cooperative efforts to build confidence in the Internet as a means of distributing copyrighted works.

Google's new, streamlined privacy policy, which went into effect on Monday, will effectively "diminish privacy protections for users of Google services," a coalition of advocates argues in a letter to CEO Eric Schmidt.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center and other critics assert in the letter, dated Friday, that Google's new policy is problematic because the company can now treat users' data "as part of an integrated platform." They argue that in the past, people could "selectively reveal information to Google for the use of a particular service, such as email, document management, or mapping." The new policy, they say, gives Google the right to transfer data from one service to another without seeking people's consent. The advocates are asking Schmidt to withdraw the new policy. Signatories include representatives from the American Library Association, Consumer Federation of America, Center for Digital Democracy and the World Privacy Forum. A Google spokesperson says the new document is meant to be "more transparent and understandable."

Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn encouraged academics to study the effectiveness of broadband stimulus grants allocated by the Commerce Department in support of broadband deployment. "As the commission retrofits its policies to further encourage broadband deployment—both wireless and wired—feedback on the wholesale impact on our nation will be valuable," she said. Emphasizing that academia has a role in shaping American broadband policies, Commissioner Clyburn said the FCC staff conducted dozens of workshops with notable academics as it shaped the National Broadband Plan. "They did obtain a significant amount of information from industry and consumer groups," she said, but "they also received input from academia." "As a result of your work and participation, we have an incredibly well-adapted plan," she said.

Some day soon, Congress may pass the Local Community Radio Act, a piece of legislation that will allow a couple thousand new low-power FM radio stations to go on the air.

The new broadcasters would be much smaller than the stations that dominate the market now, and by law, they'd be noncommercial. Low-power FM (LPFM) transmitters operate at 100 watts or less (drawing about as much power as an incandescent lightbulb), which means they reach only a few miles and are truly local in scope. This means these stations have the potential to occupy a very different niche from large-scale networked broadcasting. Mom-and-pop LPFM stations range widely in terms of programming. KAQU-LP in Sitka, Alaska, broadcasts whale sounds from an underwater mic; various school districts and churches have LPFMs, covering religious, municipal and highly local topics like school board meetings; and other stations provide the sorts of arts and culture programming that have been drowned out in the wave of homogenized content brought about by consolidation of for-profit media companies.

Part of what is so interesting about media made by community members is its potential to challenge what we think radio "is." Our present-day understanding of radio has to a great degree crystallized around the massive network configuration -- both commercial and noncommercial, like National Public Radio. Yet LPFM shows that technology's contours can shift over time based on ongoing renegotiation between players like regulators, corporations, advocates and everyday citizens. Far from being a moribund medium, radio can have an alternate future -- one that actually reawakens long-forgotten debates that were "settled" shortly after the dawn of broadcasting.

In fact, radio provides a somewhat rare opportunity to think about technological change over time, and in many ways the issues surrounding it now are not so different from those present at the dawn of broadcasting in the 1920s. Then as now, a large part of what defined the technology was decided through heated contestation between groups with competing visions for its use: Should radio stations be networked and strive to reach a wide and dispersed audience? Should they be commercial and profitable, or operate on a non-profit or community-subsidy model? Should they serve the "public interest", whatever that is construed to be? Should certain forms of content be privileged over others? Should radio be made by professional elites or by neighbors and community members? And the question that hovers above them all: Who gets to decide?