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Changes to the Digital Economy Bill Make No Difference, Says Music Industry
A few days ago we reported the creation of a new group, The European Audiovisual Social Dialogue Committee ‘whose purpose,’ we said ‘is to lobby the European Union to reinforce its actions against illegal file sharers.’ This happened just as the controversy of the Digital Economy Bill reached a very high point. Now changes have been made to the clause 17 of the legislation which makes possible the intervention of the Secretary of State to place the copyright law under stricter parameters to increase the efficiency in fighting online piracy. It seems that Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has amended his own clause following the lobbying from major companies like Google whose concerns that they will be targeted pushed for such actions and Lib Dem Lords’ worries that the Secretary has been allowed a much too bigger liberty with too little parliamentary scrutiny.
Continue reading »Obama Appoints Former Microsoft Security Chief New Cyber Security Czar
It took seven months but President Obama has finally found someone to take the cybersecurity czar job no one wanted. Howard Schmidt, a former Microsoft security executive and a one-time cybersecurity adviser to President George W. Bush, has been appointed to the position of cybersecurity coordinator, according to a White House announcement on Tuesday.
Continue reading »MPAA Defends WH Piracy Discussion
Says critics of the meeting, which brought together leading govt officials and entertainment industry heavyweights with absolutely no presence from public interest groups, are “dead wrong,” and that other groups can have their own meeting if they wish. Earlier this week I mentioned how Vice President Joe Biden convened a piracy summit at the White House with Hollywood CEOs, music industry execs, and legal experts for what was billed as a “first of its kind” meeting to “bring together all the stakeholders to discuss ways to combat piracy in this rapidly changing technological age” ( full guest list ). Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, FBI director Robert Mueller, and the new Anti-Piracy Czar Victoria Espinel joined Sony’s Michael Lynton (the same guy who said last May that he’s a “guy who doesn’t see anything good having come from the Internet,” and more recently that CAMs are ruing the movie biz) , Warner Bros.’ Barry Meyer, Viacom’s Philippe Dauman, NBC Universal’s Jeffrey Zucker, Warner Music Group’s Edgar Bronfman, Harper Collins CEO Brian Murray, Universal Music Group’s Zachary Horowitz, MPAA’s Dan Glickman, and the RIAA’s Mitch Bainwol.
Continue reading »No 3 strikes! eBay, Facebook, Google, Yahoo
p2pnet news view Advertising | P2P | Politics:- Britain’s plans to implement the entertainment cartel three strikes and you’re off the net bidniz plan have just been doomed. “With their MPAA as the front, the major Hollywood studios have escalated their efforts to force ACTA, their secret copyright ‘initiative’, into being,” said p2pnet recently, continuing: ” ‘Our interests in a robust ACTA are broad, ranging from providing ex-officio authority for law enforcement and customs officials to securing both the legal and practical tools necessary to protect intellectual property rights online,’ says the LaLaLand enforcer. “Ex-officio authority for law enforcement?
Continue reading »Musicians dropped from Digital Britain debate
p2pnet news view P2P | Politics:- “Mystery” surrounds the decision to uninvite the Featured Artists Coalition from a Digital Economy Bill dog-and-pony-show — sorry, debate — organised by The Telegraph and Virgin Media, says MusicWeek . “A panel of digital experts, including UK Music chief executive Feargal Sharkey, shadow minister for culture Ed Vaizey and FAC acting chief Jeremy Silver, had been due to take part in an online discussion about the key issues raised by the legislation,” says the story. ISP Virgin has just has just announced it’ll introduce DPI spyware that “analyses anonymous ISP traffic data” to supply information on the total volume of file-sharing” p2pnet posted yesterday.
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