March 2011

Media Matters boot camp readies liberal policy wonks for the camera’s close-up

Since its inception in August 2009, the Progressive Talent Initiative, or PTI, has trained nearly 100 pundits who have appeared 800 times on television and radio. Media Matters For America uses that metric to pitch donors for more contributions, but its leadership believes that the surge of camera-ready liberals has recaptured lost ground in the media wars against conservatives.

“There was a chronic imbalance,” said David Brock, the founder of Media Matters, which picks up the entire cost of the course. “We didn't just want to accept that this is the way it is.” Brock is a former conservative writer at the American Spectator who was instrumental in efforts to discredit Anita Hill and to oust Bill Clinton, and who made a sharp left turn a decade ago. The primary mission of Media Matters, he said, is to obsessively monitor Fox News and call attention to its distortions. But now it’s moving into the operational phase, transforming from observers to shock troops. The organization, he said, had to “professionalize the training and booking” of a left-leaning counterpoise.

Are you an online tax cheat?

[Commentary] Some California Democrats are trying again to get Internet retailers such as Amazon to tack state sales taxes onto the price of online purchases, and some California Republicans are again warning that collecting these longstanding and lawful taxes will have disastrous consequences. We'd like to see the millions -- perhaps billions -- of dollars in sales and use taxes owed by sometimes unaware California shoppers get collected, and we're tired of arguments by supposed law-and-order conservatives against collecting lawfully owed taxes.

At issue is proposed legislation by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, a Democrat representing Berkeley and other East Bay communities. Skinner's bill, much like a 2009 predecessor vetoed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, would require online retailers to collect taxes and remit them to the state in many cases just like their brick-and-mortar competitors do. And why not? Contrary to popular lore, retail sales of books, shoes, clothing or anything else do not magically become tax-free just because the transaction takes place on a laptop or a smart phone. If you have to pay 9.75% in sales tax when you buy a pair of designer shoes at Discount Shoe Warehouse on Ventura Boulevard, you have to pay the same 9.75% when you buy the same shoes online from Nevada-based (and Amazon-owned) Zappos. It's only fair, and more to the point, it's the law.

Web piracy showdown due in court

Broadband providers and content owners will square off in the High Court on March 23 in a judicial review of the UK government’s attempts to control piracy online.

BT and TalkTalk are challenging the legitimacy of parts of the Digital Economy Act, which was passed in the dying days of the Labour government. Four of their five complaints over the legislation relate to legal technicalities over whether the law breaches European telecoms, privacy and e-commerce directives. However, the heart of the legal battle will be fought over whether the act’s provisions against piracy are proportionate – allowing both sides of this highly polarized debate to air well-rehearsed arguments about the potential harm to telecom companies and their customers or the content industry and its employees. As part of the hearings, trade bodies representing rights holders such as television producers, sports groups, record labels and movie studios are expected to intervene to defend the act’s long-sought measures to send warning letters and use other tactics against people caught downloading content illicitly.

Inflation to dictate BBC squeeze, says Thompson

The BBC has placed the profits of its commercial arm at the center of plans set out on March 23 to cope with the squeeze on its spending power.

Mark Thompson, director-general, said that inflation was the critical and unpredictable element that would dictate how the BBC adjusted to a freeze in its £145.50-a-household licence fee income. In an agreement reached with the government last October, the BBC agreed to a cut of 16 per cent in real terms to its £3.5bn licence fee income. It also agreed to take on additional costs, including the running of the World Service, that would add £340m to its budget, but Mr Thompson said on Tuesday that he believed this would be covered by an increase in the number of households paying the licence fee, more efficient collection and existing savings. That left inflation as the main threat, he explained. “We think there is significant room for further increases in commercial revenue,” he said.

Tear down the great firewall

[Commentary] The Chinese leadership’s reaction to the Arab spring has so far been more pronounced than that of its people. Although there have been few outpourings of democratic longing, the authorities have crushed any whiff of protest – and even the means by which dissent may be expressed.

This week, Google accused Beijing of disrupting its e-mail service inside the country. Google claims the crackdown was covert, designed to look like an internal error. This episode reflects the Chinese authorities’ attitude to the Internet: they are both dazzled by its economic possibilities and fearful of its political consequences. The ongoing campaign to censor online expression will ultimately prove counterproductive. At present, the Chinese are broadly pliant, accepting prosperity without political liberalization. But tension between economic achievement and the right to exercise political choice can be resolved only by greater freedom. Tampering with Google is certainly a sophisticated means to curtail web freedom. But technical strength is not enough to maintain a regime – such an act ultimately betrays Beijing’s political vulnerability.

The difficult balance of intellectual property

[Commentary] Intellectual property law must strike a difficult balance.

There is public benefit from the widest possible access to and use of creative output. There is also a public interest in ensuring that artists and their publishers have incentives to produce new work. There are few certainties in judging the effects of such policies, but there are some. John Lennon will never sing another song. James Joyce will never publish another novel, and Picasso will never pick up his brush again. No financial incentives can now affect the quality or quantity of their work.

Yet the US Congress and the European Commission have been much exercised in increasing the rights of the dead, or those whose creative years are long behind them. The Sonny Bono Copyright Act of 1998 extended the term of American copyright in written material and was quickly followed in Europe. Thanks to the efforts of Mr Bono and my doctors, copyright in my prize essay for excellence in Scottish literature will probably endure into the 22nd century. More recent pressure to extend copyright terms has focused on sound recordings. While this plan has been rejected several times, pressure from interest groups is relentless.

Tribune bankruptcy judge indicates he will allow state lawsuits alleging fraud in 2007 buyout

Judge Kevin Carey, a federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware, is indicating that he will allow Tribune Company's creditors to pursue fraud claims in state courts against shareholders who benefited from the media company’s 2007 leveraged buyout. Attorneys for some creditors told Judge Carey that they should be cleared to go after money that the company itself didn't try to get before a deadline expired in bankruptcy court. The court has been overseeing Tribune Co.’s operations since it filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2008.

Groupon President and COO Solomon leaving company

Groupon Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Solomon is leaving his job at the Chicago-based daily deal site.

Solomon, 44, a former executive with Yahoo Inc., held the titles for about a year. As Groupon has hurtled toward an expected IPO, Solomon's role had him racing to build the management structures and marketing strategies needed to harness its growth. Solomon decided to step down following consultation with Groupon's chief executive and founder, Andrew Mason. "I agree with Andrew that we really need a much different type of operator to take it to the next level," he said. "What we did in that one year is equivalent to what happens in five years at the best Internet companies." Mr. Solomon said that Groupon had yet to find a replacement for him, but that the company was "talking to lots of world-class COO types."

Judge Rejects Google books Settlement (updated)

US Circuit Judge Denny Chin has rejected a deal between Google and lawyers for authors and publishers to let the gigantic search engine make money presiding over the world's largest digital library, saying the creation of a universal library would benefit many but would "simply go too far" by "grant[ing] Google significant rights to exploit entire books, without permission of the copyright owners." Judge Chin said the deal gives Goggle "a significant advantage over competitors." He said the deal would be "rewarding [Google] for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission, while releasing claims well beyond those presented in the case."

Google issued a statement: "This is clearly disappointing, but we'll review the Court’s decision and consider our options. Like many others, we believe this agreement has the potential to open-up access to millions of books that are currently hard to find in the US today. Regardless of the outcome, we'll continue to work to make more of the world’s books discoverable online through Google Books and Google eBooks."

Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, said: "We are pleased that Judge Chin has rejected this settlement, even though we agree with him that there are benefits to Google’s book project. We were also pleased that the judge agreed with us in the specific issue of orphan works, as he ruled: ‘Google’s ability to deny competitors the ability to search orphan books would further entrench Google’s market power in the online search market.’ We look forward to continued discussion to work out a settlement agreeable to all along the lines Judge Chin recommended.”

Here's additional coverage:

Judge Rejects Google’s Deal to Digitize Books (NYTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/technology/23google.html?ref=todayspaper

Judge Rejects Google Books Settlement (WSJ)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870446130457621692356203334...

Judge throws out Google book deal (FT)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/f7ee4948-54bf-11e0-b1ed-00144feab49a.html

Judge rejects settlement in Google plan to digitize books (SJ Merc)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_17673453

Google plan for out-of-print archive ruled unfair (SF Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/23/BUG71IH6BB.D...

China says Google's accusations about Gmail tampering are 'unacceptable'

The Chinese government denied Google's claims that it has disrupted service and blocked features of Gmail in China. "This is an unacceptable accusation," said Jiang Yu, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

Benton

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