Tech Daily Dose

SOTN: Tune In Tomorrow

Be sure to read Technology Daily tomorrow for more State of the Net conference coverage. Late in the afternoon, a panel of Internet experts debated international policy issues and challenges for businesses operating abroad. Speakers included Jeff Campbell from Cisco; Steve DelBianco of the Association for Competitive Technology; the State Department's David Gross; Leslie Harris of the Center for Democracy and Technology; Andrew McLaughlin of Google; and Alun Michael, a member of the U.K. Parliament.

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SOTN: More On Patent Reform

Craving more insight into the patent reform legislation process? Well, here are some juicy morsels to chew on -- direct from a panel of congressional aides who spoke at State of the Net conference.

Aaron Cooper, a staffer for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said his boss and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, will likely introduce a bill similar to the one they sponsored last year (S.3818).

But Ryan Triplette, who works for the panel's Ranking Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, said her boss wants in on the action. He was not at the negotiating table last year so "we're not as wedded to S.3818," she said. The issue is a top priority for Specter. "This is something that can get done this Congress," Triplette said.

In the House, Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Howard Berman, D-Calif., will lead the charge. Amy Levine, a staffer for Boucher, said "you will see real initiative and a real drive to get patent reform legislation through."

Branden Ritchie, who works for Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., agreed that lawmakers "moved the ball pretty far" last year through a series of hearings and legislation. "We're looking forward to doing that again this time."

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SOTN: Adobe CEO's Web 2.0 Predictions

The next-generation of the Internet known as "Web 2.0" is "nothing more than Web 1.1," said luncheon keynoter Bruce Chizen, the CEO of Adobe Systems. "It's the implementation of everything we talked about five years ago," he said. Chizen predicted that in the next few years technologies that are rolled out "will make today's Web 2.0 experience antiquated."

Places where Web users connect will also change rapidly, Chizen said. "More people will be accessing the Internet through non-PC devices than PC-devices," he forecasted. Mobile handsets, videogame systems and automobile dashboards will be the new platforms for going online.

Speaking of Web 2.0, the Pew Internet & American Life Project released a report today focused on tagging content, an emerging hallmark of the new online environment. The document includes Q&A with Web expert David Weinberger whose book on the topic is forthcoming. Because tagging is useful when dealing with lots of information, Weinberger said the practice is "truly meaningful to individuals" and will be adopted more widely.

Read more about Pew's report here.

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SOTN: 'Seamless Transition' For IP Panel

California Democrat Howard Berman, the chairman of the House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee, will continue the bipartisan effort to reform U.S. copyright laws that his predecessor, Texas Republican Lamar Smith started, panelists at a music licensing session said.

"I don't think there will be any shift in a major way. We'll have a seamless transition from one very strong defender of IP to another," said David Israelite, president of the National Music Publishers' Association.

The Consumer Electronics Association's Michael Petricone added that even though Berman counts movie studio chiefs among his constituents, he has always had an open-door policy for high-tech manufacturers.

Other panelists included Steve Marks from the Recording Industry Association of America; Walter McDonough from the Future of Music Coalition; and the Digital Music Association's Jonathan Potter.

Read more about Berman's vision for his subcommittee in Technology Daily's series on the committees of the 110th Congress.

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SOTN: Mixing & Mashing

An intellectual property panel on user-generated content started off with a chuckle-inducing video called Brokeback to the Future, a made-up movie preview that featured clips from Brokeback Mountain and Back to the Future.

The session featured Jim DeLong of the Progress & Freedom Foundation, Pam Samuelson of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and Steven Starr from Revver.com.

Here's the video:

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SOTN: Broadband Banter

After the keynote, a panel discussed "Global Broadband Rankings: Is the U.S. Falling Behind or Positioned to Leap Forward?" Speakers included George Ford of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies; Mark Lloyd of the Center for American Progress; OECD's Taylor Reynolds; Progress and Freedom Foundation's Scott Wallsten; and CompTIA's Roger Cochetti.

During the Q&A, Public Knowledge's Art Brodsky asked: "What is it about the U.K. and some OECD countries that appear to produce better results" with regard to broadband availability and pricing?

Reynolds responded: "The U.S. has taken a different path than most OECD countries. [But] it all boils down to competition." How do we improve competition in the U.S.? Look to European and Asian models, he suggested.

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SOTN: Boucher On 'Net Neutrality'

Congressional Internet crusader Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., kicked off the summit this morning. He spoke about universal service reform, updating the federal patent system and the hotly debated "net neutrality" controversy. You can read all about the first two issues in our P.M. edition later today.

He had some interesting, albeit brief, thoughts on the proposed mandate for equal treatment of high-speed Internet content. Boucher said he wants to ensure that the Web remains open but also "doesn’t want to do anything in terms of a legislative remedy that has the effect of hobbling innovation inside the network."

Boucher fears that without net neutrality legislation, start-up Internet companies "may not be able to pay fast-lane fees" that he said broadband network providers may impose in the future. Stuck in the slow lane, the fledgling firms "won't become the next Yahoo or the next Google."

Until net neutrality is resolved, "every positive agenda item the broadband providers bring to Congress is going to be similarly blocked," the Congressional Internet Caucus co-chair warned. Those companies have not been lobbying on Capitol Hill so far this year, he said. For issues like video franchise reform, they are focusing on state-based changes -- "a longer, more tedious process," he quipped.

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State Of The Net

The third annual State of the Net conference, a bountiful feast for Internet policy professionals from government and industry, is being held today in Washington. The event also marks the tenth anniversary of the Congressional Internet Caucus.

Summit organizers have a jam-packed day planned. Sessions cover a variety of topics including intellectual property rights, privacy and security, patents and broadband. I'll be blogging here and there in addition to the stories I file for Technology Daily's P.M. edition.

But first, some delicious data…

A new poll conducted by Zogby on behalf of caucus showed nine out of 10 Americans believe the Internet has changed our expectations of privacy. Differences exist between what 18-24 year-olds believe is an invasion of privacy and what other respondents consider to be an intrusion.

About 35 percent of 18-24 year-olds consider someone posting a picture of them in a swimsuit to be an invasion of their privacy, compared to 65 percent of other respondents. Roughly 19 percent of the younger group said a publicly posted dating profile is an invasion of privacy, compared to 54 percent of others.

Meanwhile, 45 percent of younger respondents said they, or someone they know, has broken up with someone using e-mail or a text message. That contrasts with about 7 percent of all the other age groups polled.
More poll results can be found here.

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Open Access To Government-Funded Research

As reported in yesterday afternoon's Technology Daily:

Action on legislation to open access to government-funded research is likely in the 110th Congress, a key observer said Monday.

Heather Joseph, executive director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, said in an interview that free, online access to research normally only available in expensive journals would allow cash-strapped institutes and scientists to get the most cutting-edge research.

"It's a competitive advantage. It builds innovation," she said, adding that bipartisan competitiveness initiatives could fuel passage of the legislation.

Another factor in favor of action now is that one of the sponsors of the bill, independent Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, now chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. His previous proposal would have directed agencies that spend more than $100 million annually in funding outside research to publicly post electronic manuscripts of peer-reviewed articles within six months of original publication.

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Elvis Lives (At CES)

(Photo Credit: Andrew Noyes)

Did you really think I would make it through a trip to Las Vegas without an Elvis sighting? Pictured above is the King of Rock 'n' Roll clutching a coffee maker that also gives the weather forecast. Ingenious!

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Martin Makes The Rounds In Vegas

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin made a pit-stop on his way to CES this morning to speak to a Citigroup media conference here. He talked about network neutrality, the a la carte cable controversy and his agency's focus in the coming months.

(Photo Credit: Andrew Noyes)

Later in the day, he sat down for a one-on-one interview with Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro. Read more about Martin's Citigroup speech in today's Technology Daily P.M. Edition and come back tomorrow for details from his CES appearance.

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Gutierrez: 'Picking Winners' Not A Government Job

Countries "need to allow market forces to take their course," Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told CES attendees Tuesday. He said governments "should not be involved in designing business models nor should they be involved in picking winners and losers." Too many communications policies "are rooted in decades past," Gutierrez said. Structuring policies with "tech neutrality," which he said rewards innovation, is "the best way forward."

Read more about his speech in today's Technology Daily P.M. Edition.

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Davis On Data Breach Bill

Rep. Tom Davis, the ranking Republican on the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, told a CES session via webcam today that passing a data breach bill should be a priority for lawmakers. Davis, who spoke in person here earlier this week, said a string of leaks experienced by government agencies and private sector entities point to the need for such a law. Data breach legislation failed last year despite progress on a handful of competing bills. Davis said he is already working to make such a mandate a reality for the 110th Congress.

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On The Floor

After two days of covering high-tech policy sessions, I finally ventured into the exhibition hall! The blogging continues tomorrow.

(Photo Credit: Andrew Noyes)

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Shooting For The Moon[ves]

CBS is evolving from a one-way distribution service to "an audience company," CEO Leslie Moonves said in a CES keynote today. He gave a host of examples of how the network is embracing new interactive platforms -- and invited a few special guests on stage to help out.

Jennifer Beals, star of the Showtime series "The L Word," YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian and radio shock jocks Opie and Anthony took part in the hour-long event.

CBS has signed deals with Google, YouTube, Apple, Verizon and more in the past year alone, Moonves said. His company is attempting to satisfy "the exploding demand for high-quality interactive content" through these pioneering partnerships.

"Whether it's CSI or C++ we're all playing on same big digital field," Moonves said. CSI is the name of the network's highest rated show franchise and C++ is a computer programming language.

Moonves and others in the video business are learning from the music industry's early resistance to the changing marketplace. Record labels "suffered a lot from not initially listening," he said, but now they are "coming back digitally." The moral of Moonves's story: "Those who don’t get in front of the parade, end up marching behind it."

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Dell Plants Trees

Computer visionary Michael Dell unveiled a global carbon-neutral initiative Tuesday at CES that plants trees for customers to offset the impact of electricity required to power their systems. The "Plant a Tree for Me" program and Dell's recycling efforts "empower our customers to participate with us in making a difference," he said.

A customer donation of $2 for a notebook and $6 for a desktop will go toward the planting of trees that will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, he said. The initiative is available now to Dell's U.S. consumer customers and will go global in April.

Dell also launched a new Web site Monday, which highlights the breadth of the firm's environmental responsibility programs.

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DRM Dispute

(Photo Credit: Andrew Noyes)

XM Satellite's Jeff Blattner; Avevenu CEO Richard French; "music futurist" Gerd Leonhard; Recording Industry Association of America's Steven Marks; Public Knowledge's Gigi Sohn; and TiVO General Counsel Matthew Zinn debated the future of digital rights management at CES on Tuesday.

Learn what they had to say in today's Technology Daily P.M. Edition.

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Porter Scared Of Laptop-Toting Osama

Republican Rep. Jon Porter of Nevada shared a scary scenario during a Monday discussion about securing the government's information technology. "My biggest fear is that Osama bin Laden is sitting with a laptop at a Four Seasons somewhere" and can shut down the United States' power grid with a mouse-click, he said.

Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif., also spoke about securing federal computer networks. Davis said he was worried about "terrorists logging onto our system and causing a cyber Pearl Harbor" while Issa advocated for lesser dependence on Social Security Numbers as universal identifiers. "Social Security Numbers should no longer be the trigger for you being able to steal my ID," he said.

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YouTube Filtering To Fail?

YouTube's efforts to filter unauthorized copyrighted content will ultimately fall short, predicted Joe Fleischer, co-founder of online media measurement firm BigChampagne, at a CES panel on Monday. The video sharing site, which was bought by Google last year for $1.65 billion, has not yet faced major legal challenges from intellectual property owners.

"This is not really a technological plausibility -- not in the way they want it to function," he said of the popular site's content filtering system. "The other shoe on YouTube will drop when the filtering fails," he said. Alternatively, the site could set up blanket licenses for content, much like the current regime in the music sector involving performing rights organizations, Fleischer said.

Read more about the session in Tuesday's Technology Daily P.M. Edition.

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Shapiro's "What If" Zinger

Kudos to Consumer Electronics Association chief Gary Shapiro for asking an A-list panel of executives what might have been one of the most intriguing questions of the day: "If you could change one law currently on the books, what would it be?"

(Photo Credit: Andrew Noyes)

Some answered more candidly than others:

Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt said "we've been consistently in favor of less regulation" and having a level playing field across areas in which he does business. Charlie Ergen, CEO of EchoStar Communications, said he would reverse the FCC's 2002 decision to block his company from merging with competitor DirecTV.

Cox Communications President Patrick Esser said his answer depends on what regulators are focusing on at any given time. "Today, it's retransmission consent because David's sitting here," he joked. He was referring to David Barrett, president of Hearst-Argyle Television, and the current law that allows broadcasters to seek compensation for the consent to retransmit signals on cable television.

Verizon's Virginia Ruesterholz tossed out "voice regulation" as her pet peeve. "We have a lot of competition and we'd be looking for less regulation on that. More regulation is just the opposite of what's happening in industry."

Read more about the session in Tuesday's Technology Daily P.M. Edition.

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Disney Goes 'XD'

Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger told CES today that his company is committed to working with the consumer electronics sector as the entertainment empire evolves. "We are witnessing an explosion of media and Disney is both reaping the benefits of that explosion and acting as a catalyst by taking a technology-friendly approach," he said.

Iger gave his audience a sneak peak at the newly redesigned and intensely interactive Disney.com, which will launch later this month. The existing site gets 24.8 million unique monthly visitors, according to comScore MediaMetrix.

Disney Xtreme Digital (Disney XD), the broadband centerpiece of the new site, will let users personalize their experience as well as watch and share videos, listen to music and play games, he said.

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Rep. Davis on New Ethics Rules

Virginian Tom Davis, the ranking Republican on the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, had some interesting thoughts today on the forthcoming ban on lobbyist-funded travel.

He said the prohibition will have a major impact on lawmakers' ability to converse with key players in the high-tech sector and understand issues important to them. "We're only as good as the information we have," Davis said, and the new rules cut off "a line of communication that I think can be very important."

The rules have "thrown the baby out with the bathwater," Davis quipped. "There's a better way to stop these Abramoff trips," he said, alluding to the disgraced lobbyist who was convicted of giving elaborate trips and gifts to legislators.

He said one way to skirt the ban is by turning certain destinations into political action committee-affiliated excursions but groups that do not have PACs will be left out. International trips, many of which are sponsored by nonprofits who lobby, will also change, Davis said.

In the future, the State Department or Defense Department will be fully in charge of congressional delegations' itineraries and will completely control where lawmakers go and who they see when they travel overseas, he said.

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Lawmakers Talk Tech

Republican Reps. Jon Porter of Nevada, Tom Davis of Virginia and Darrell Issa of California talk about Internet gaming and other high-tech issues of interest on Capitol Hill.

(Photo Credit: Andrew Noyes)

Read the full story in today's Technology Daily P.M. Edition.

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Zander's 'Personal Connection'

During this morning's keynote, Motorola Chairman Ed Zander promised "you ain't seen nothing yet" in the mobile communications world. His talk was accompanied by a slideshow that pointed out: "It's no longer the personal computer, it's the personal connection."

Anyone who paid attention to 2006's major newsmakers -- YouTube and MySpace -- and the rapid evolution of portable audio and video already knew that.

Zander helped Yahoo Senior Vice President Marco Boerries introduce a beta version of the search giant's new mobile platform, which will soon be pre-loaded on select Motorola phones. "Today we are changing the game by putting the full power of the open Internet into consumers' pockets," Boerries said.

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VeriSign, Adobe Ink Deal

There's big news in the digital video world today as VeriSign and Adobe Systems announce they will jointly develop new technologies to help media and entertainment companies put content online. Adobe will pair its Flash technologies with VeriSign’s peer-to-peer content distribution platform. Specific product and service announcements will come later in 2007.

VeriSign also announced that it will work with Open Media Network to make videos downloaded from omn.org viewable on consumers' television sets. Users of OMN's public broadcasting library will be among the first able to download high-quality programming from the Internet and watch it on intelligent TVs via set top boxes.

I'll sit down with VeriSign's vice president for broadband services, Todd Johnson, later today to talk about his ambitious plans for the year ahead. He's a Silicon Valley veteran and founder of P2P firm Kontiki, which VeriSign acquired last year.

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Ga-Ga for Gates

The main event on "CES Eve" was undoubtedly the keynote by Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft and unrivaled high-tech heavyweight. The frenzied fanfare that preceded his speech on Sunday night was impressive (at least for this CES first-timer).

When he took the stage, Gates had a simple message: "The digital decade is happening." Greater Internet adoption and connectivity and higher Web penetration worldwide are transforming the consumer electronics experience, he said. Meanwhile, young people spend more time on the computer than they spend watching television and portable devices are proliferating like never before.

After a short talk, Gates summoned a colleague to demonstrate some groundbreaking features of the Windows Vista computer-operating system. Ohs, ahs and rounds of applause emanated from the massive crowd. The platform debuts in 22 days.

Meanwhile, Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro extended a special welcome to the handful of lawmakers in attendance at this year's conference -- Republican Reps. Cliff Stearns of Florida, Tom Davis of Virginia and Darrell Issa of California.

The trio will discuss Capitol Hill's interest in technology and innovation during a Monday morning session. Be sure to check out our P.M. Edition for the full story.

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Early Bird = Worm

CES doesn't officially kick off until tomorrow, but Verizon Communications got a head-start this afternoon by unveiling the next generation of its fiber-optic television service. Bob Ingalls, the company's chief marketing officer, promised his Las Vegas audience that the latest iteration of FiOS is anything but "old-fashioned TV."

The new FiOS pulls together content from broadcast TV, the Internet and users' own music and photo collections. Customers in New Jersey will be the first to receive the expanded service, officials said. By mid-year, all FiOS subscribers in the 10 states where it is currently available should be on board.

Verizon's new president Denny Strigl also raised the curtain on VCast Mobile TV, which the company calls the "first true mobile TV service in the nation." It is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2007. "Don't think of us as a traditional telecommunications provider," Ingalls said. "Think of us as a key to the growth of the entertainment industry."

Update: I had the opportunity to test drive VCast Mobile TV at a swanky Verizon reception on Sunday night. My first impression -- it would make chaotic commutes on the bus and/or subway much, much more manageable.

The picture quality is astonishingly good and the navigational controls are simple and efficient. There are still a few uncertainties -- like the initial seven-channel lineup and the ambiguous price point -- that make me wonder how quickly consumers will embrace the offering.

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Coming Soon… From Las Vegas

I'll be buzzing around the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week bringing you all the news that’s fit to print from one of the most exciting trade shows in the world. Be sure to read Technology Daily's P.M. Edition and our Tech Daily Dose blog for the latest updates.

(Photo Credit: CES)

This is the 40th anniversary of the show, which has grown eight-fold since 1967. The event now hosts 2,700 exhibitors and more than 150,000 attendees. Groundbreaking technologies are unveiled to the world every year.

In 2005, Internet-based television made its debut and 1998 saw the introduction of high-definition TV. The camcorder and compact disc player debuted at CES in 1981 and conventioneers ogled over the videocassette recorder in 1970.

What will wow visitors in 2007? We'll have to wait and see.

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