FCC to Decide in Battle for TV Spectrum

The Wall Street Journal -- After eight months of testing, a plan to employ unused TV channels to provide cheap, high-speed wireless Internet networks still faces determined opposition and an uncertain future.

The Federal Communications Commission will have the final say in the battle between the broadcasters -- which fear interference on the airwaves they'll still be using -- and the companies including Google Inc. and Motorola Inc. that want to share the television airwaves, using them for high-speed wireless service that could spur the development of new wireless gadgets.
[Kevin Martin]

In September, the FCC is expected to report its findings on tests of prototype "smart radios" that can pinpoint which local broadcast channels are being used and then avoid them. Shortly after that, its five commissioners are expected to take up the issue of whether those TV airwaves can be shared, with an eye to setting rules for their use by year end. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121902086259648443.html?mod=hps_us_at_glance_technology

Pirates Poised To Win Round In Filing-Sharing Case

Wall Street Journal - A coming federal-court decision holds consequences for the Recording Industry Association of America and the thousands of people it is suing over shared music files.

Last year, a jury in federal district court in Duluth, Minn., found Jammie Thomas liable for copyright infringement based on songs the RIAA said it found in her computer. Ms. Thomas was told to pay up, to the tune of $222,000.

But the judge in the case, Michael Davis, says his instructions to the jury might have been wrong.Judge Davis told the jury that making songs available online for distribution to others was copyright violation and that the record companies did not have to prove distribution took place. He has since learned of a federal district-court case in Phoenix that ruled that making songs available was not copyright violation. He is weighing granting Ms. Thomas a new trial.

If one is granted, one outcome could be a higher bar for what record labels need to prove to demonstrate that copyrights have been violated. For example, evidence that more than a handful of songs on a shared file folder were distributed to others may be needed.

Ruling Could Ease Restrictions on DVR Recording

New York Times - Television recording — and the ad skipping that comes along with it — may have just become a whole lot easier to do.

In a ruling on Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York approved a plan by Cablevision to introduce “remote storage DVR” for its customers. Most digital video recorders rely on an internal hard drive to record and preserve television episodes. But the ones in Cablevision’s system — also referred to as network DVRs — record programs on the company’s centralized servers. The consumer still decides what to record, when to watch it and whether to skip the ads.

The court essentially ruled that network DVRs are no different from the standalone DVRs that exist in the living rooms and bedrooms of nearly 25 percent of American households. Craig Moffett, an analyst for Bernstein, called the ruling a “huge win for cable operators” and said it could have “seismic implications across the media landscape.http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/court-ruling-could-make-dvrs-more-pervasive/

F.B.I.’s Use of Phone Records Shows Need to Protect the Press, Senators Say

WASHINGTON — Two leading senators said Monday that they were troubled by the F.B.I.’s collection of the phone records of four reporters at The New York Times and The Washington Post and that the episode showed a “pressing need” for legislation pending in the Senate that would provide greater legal protection for journalists.

Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation disclosed to the two newspapers that it had improperly obtained the phone records of reporters in their Indonesian bureaus in 2004 by using emergency records demands from telephone providers as part of an investigation. Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the bureau, made personal calls to Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times, and Leonard Downie Jr., executive editor of The Post, to apologize. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/us/12fbi.html?ex=1376280000&en=03ad57490c69b496&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Web Privacy on the Radar in Congress

The New York Times - As advertisers grow more sophisticated about behavioral targeting, and as online privacy standards vary, regulators and privacy advocates are becoming concerned. Questions about data collection and privacy policies are attracting the attention of Congress. There is no broad privacy legislation governing advertising on the Internet. And even some in the government admit that they do not have a clear grasp of what companies are able to do with the wealth of data now available to themhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/technology/11privacy.html?ex=1376193600&en=168e6617d4fa7591&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Media Shield BIll Is Put Aside, For Now

Wall Street Journal - WASHINGTON -- A bill that would let reporters protect the identities of confidential sources was blocked in the Senate, with supporters hoping to take it up again later this year. The Senate fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed to move to debate on the bill, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.). The measure would allow reporters to protect sources' identities with exceptions for national security or preventing death or bodily harm. Republicans said Wednesday that they voted against the bill in order to keep the Senate's focus on energy legislation. Democratic and Republican leaders have been unable to come to an agreement on how to proceed on the energy issue, forcing an impasse on nearly every other issue before the body.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121746902203199495.html