November 2012

Google presses fair use case in book scanning appeal

Google renewed its claim that scanning 20 million books counts as a “fair use” under copyright law, and asked a federal appeals court to throw out a May ruling that let the Authors Guild go forward with a long-running class action case. In a brief filed Nov 9 in New York, Google argued that a class action trial would deny it an opportunity to argue on a book-by-book basis that its scanning was a so-called “transformative” use that falls outside of copyright.

This “fair use” argument received a boost in October when a judge dismissed a similar case that the Authors Guild brought against a group of university libraries over a digital collection known as the Hathi Trust. The new filing by Google is just the latest twist in a case that began in 2005 when publishers and the Authors Guild sued the search giant over its ambitious plan to scan the world’s libraries. The parties eventually reached a settlement that would have created a market for millions of forgotten, out-of-print books but US Judge Denny Chin blew up the deal in 2011 after critics warned it would create a monopoly. The publishers recently dropped their lawsuit against Google but the Authors Guild is pressing on with demands for $750 per book. While the search giant has scanned more than 20 million books, only a relative handful would qualify for compensation under the lawsuit due to legal technicalities.

Gmail's Location Data Led to the Discovery of the Petraeus Affair

More details about the Petraeus affair emerged. FBI investigators -- in a twist of irony fit for either a crime drama or a soap opera -- discovered the CIA director's infidelity by accident: An acquaintance of the Petraeuses, a social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, where the military's Central Command and Special Operations Command are located, seems to have unknowingly triggered the series of events that would lead to CIA director's resignation. And, even more ironically, it was the particulars of the ubiquitous system Petraeus used to communicate with Paula Broadwell -- email (in this case, Gmail) -- that would lead investigators to discover information that they weren't actually seeking to find. Sometime in May, The New York Times reports, Broadwell apparently began sending emails to Jill Kelley, the Petraeus acquaintance (her precise connection to the family isn't yet fully clear) -- and those emails were "harassing," according to Kelley. The messages were apparently sent from an anonymous (or, at least, pseudonymous) account. Kelley reported those emails to the FBI, which launched an investigation -- not into Petraeus, but into the harassing emails. From there, the dominoes began to fall.

With Digital Trail, an End to the Hushed Affair

There would seem to be nothing new about the weakness of otherwise powerful Washington figures in the face of temptation. But that is not precisely true: the difference these days is that it is virtually impossible to get away with it. In a digital era when the details of even average citizens are cached for public view, the odds of exposure have become exponentially greater.

Telecom firms, prisons team to gouge callers, group charges

US prisons, immigration detention centers and telecommunications carriers are charging "exorbitant" rates on collect calls made by inmates, and the Federal Communications Commission should step in to set rates, a coalition of 110 human rights groups, lawyers, and professors said.

The expensive collect-call charges make it difficult for immigrants in detention to contact their families, legal counsel and human rights organizations, the groups said in a letter sent last week to the FCC. Problems with prison phone rates are "well documented" by past media and government reports, said the letter, organized by Holly Cooper, associate director of the University of California Davis Immigration Law Clinic. A request for the FCC to address prison phone rates has been pending since 2003, Cooper noted.

The FCC is again ignoring nation’s diversity

[Commentary] A bad idea persists. The Federal Communications Commission is once again expected to seek a weakening of media-ownership rules in the nation’s 20 largest markets. Allowing the consolidation of newspapers and television stations or radio stations ignores the diversity of America — a grievous mistake, as politicians have learned. Putting local journalism into a few hands and limiting the access to local media are bad for democracy. Our political system thrives on independent news gathering, viewpoints and opportunities for women and minorities. The FCC is apparently ignoring the courts and the lessons of the recent presidential campaign. America’s diversity must be acknowledged and respected.

Leadership Conference Urges FCC Not to Rush to Media Ownership Order

The Federal Communications Commission is getting some pushback from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights after reports that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is trying to vote on a media ownership order before the end of the year.

The FCC is reviewing its media ownership rules per a congressionally mandated quadrennial review and a remand from the Third Circuit Court of appeals. In a Nov 9 letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the group "urged" the commission to reconsider the decision to "permit additional consolidation of the broadcast media without the court-ordered data analyzing [of] the impact of media consolidation on communities of color and women. As we have previously stated to the Commission, any change in media ownership rules should take place only after the Commission collects, releases, and subjects to public comment complete data and analysis of broadcast ownership data," said the group. "It is a grave disservice to the constituencies represented by The Leadership Conference to attempt to push through a change in media ownership rules at the last minute without an opportunity for our members to sift through the data and engage in substantive debate about its import.

How four companies took over the Internet

There are four tech companies controlling the industry's direction: Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook.

Will they still be ruling the tech field in a decade? "At least three have established very deep moats," meaning that it's almost impossible for newer rivals to overtake them, Internet analyst Mark Mahaney (formerly of Citigroup) said during a panel discussion at the Techonomy conference in Tucson (AZ). "Probably Apple, too." Google and Facebook have the richest data sets on their users, but Amazon's data graph is probably the most valuable, Mahaney believes, because it tracks where customers are actually spending their money. Apple -- the company with the highest market capitalization in the world -- has the hardest position to defend, several of the panelists said. It can't maintain its stratospheric growth without constantly pulling new rabbits out of its hat, and rivals like Samsung are chipping away at its market.

AT&T’s Biggest Problems Aren’t Emboldened Rivals, Chief Says

With two potential mergers that could strengthen long-lagging competitors — AT&T is under pressure to respond.

The telecom giant set aside $14 billion to overhaul its networks, including an upgrade to the latest cellphone data standard. But the company’s chief, Randall Stephenson, contends that a newly emboldened Sprint Nextel, which recently struck a major deal with SoftBank, didn’t prompt the move. Rather, it was motivated by AT&T’s failed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA. He faces other worries, too. Stephenson argued that the uncertainty over the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts and the potential reduction in government spending that could stem from automatic budget cuts set for year-end — was a bigger threat to his business and his customers.

Military Cyber Range Moves from Laboratory to Deployment

A test range for Defense personnel to hone computer attack capabilities is slated to receive a multimillion dollar boost as the system transitions from the Pentagon research wing’s laboratories into deployment.

The platform, created under a program called the National Cyber Range, is providing infrastructure for the Pentagon to advance its drive to develop more offensive tools that will hunt down intruders and thwart computer attacks. Defense intends to award $80 million to Lockheed Martin Corp. for five years to support operations at the facility, contract databases indicate. The range, housed in a “specially architected sensitive compartmented information facility with appropriate security protocols,” is equipped with custom-configured government and Lockheed Martin-owned hardware and software, federal databases reveal. The test lab, a mini-model of the public Internet and other institutional networks, “provides for the modeling of cyberattacks,” a special notice reveals.

UN's civil aviation body recommends cybersecurity task force

The United Nations' civil aviation body will recommend creating a cybersecurity task force at a meeting next week in Canada, as new technologies introduced into aviation systems are increasing the risk of cyberattacks. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said a task force is needed due to an increasing reliance on interconnected IT systems with operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Linux, and protocols such as IPv6 and Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX), according to a working paper.

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