Tech Daily Dose

Happy Birthday, America!

Technology Daily and Tech Daily Dose will not publish Monday, July 2 through Wednesday, July 4 due to the Independence Day holiday. We will resume publication on Thursday, July 5. To celebrate, take a look at JibJab's latest video, a remixed version of the Star Spangled Banner. Enjoy!

Posted by Andrew at 04:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Updated: SoundExchange Offer To Web Radio

Technology Daily broke the news in Thursday's PM Edition that royalty collector SoundExchange was planning to extend what it sees as an olive branch to large Internet radio providers who are worried that a forthcoming fee hike could harm their industry.

On Friday, SoundExchange made the offer official in a press release that proposed a cap on minimum fees charged against royalties for sound recordings played by webcasters like America Online, Pandora and Live365. The $2,500 ceiling would apply to regulations (due to take effect July 15) that requires services to pay a $500 minimum fee “per station or channel” regardless of the overall number of stations or channels they stream.

There was plenty of confusion over how the minimum fee set by the Copyright Royalty Board would apply, said John Simson, the group's executive director. "We certainly don’t want anybody to get unduly hurt by the minimum fee, but there is a value to music and a cost to administering the digital royalty program, and we wanted to ensure that everyone was treated fairly – artists, webcasters and record labels," he said.

SoundExchange reached out to the Digital Media Association this week to discuss the offer but DiMA has not formally responded. Simson's organization is also negotiating with small and noncommericial webcasters such as public radio and college stations to provide below-market rates for what they will pay to artists and record labels.

"We are in this together," Simson said. "We want to see artists and labels fairly paid for the music they provide and we want to see Internet radio grow and flourish."

*UPDATE* DiMA responds to SoundExchange

DiMA Executive Director Jonathan Potter said his group would agree to a $2,500 per-service cap for the entire term of the royalty board ruling (through 2010), but not the partial-offer presented to us in writing, which would terminate in 2008.

"Any offer that doesn't cover the full term is simply a stay of execution for Internet radio," he said in a statement. "The looming 2009 billion-dollar threat is destabilizing and inhibits investment and growth." Potter added that he was "disappointed to have to issue this statement" because he would rather negotiate important issues "directly with our counterparts rather than through press releases.”

Posted by Andrew at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ICANN Fueled By Rum?

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers wrapped up its conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Friday with a board meeting and a briefing with reporters. ICANN President Paul Twomey said this meeting was "very intense" and "very busy," thanks in part to the tropical surroundings.

"People were more relaxed and they got more done," he said on an afternoon conference call. ICANN Board Chairman Vint Cerf joked that the group's good spirits could be attributed to one of the U.S. territory's most important economic engines -- rum.

"I can't confirm that, but I still can't remember what happened last night," Twomey laughed, hinting that the potent alcoholic beverage was prominently featured at after-hours social gatherings.

Meanwhile, ICANN made progress this week on the issue of domain name "tasting" and "kiting." Read more in Technology Daily's PM Edition.

Posted by Andrew at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

iPhone Fans Line Up Early

Some die-hard techies in Washington camped outside of AT&T stores, hoping to get first dibs on Apple's new iPhone, which goes on sale Friday at 6 p.m. Several local TV stations ran stories on their morning news about the frenzy. At the AT&T store in Chevy Chase, some people had been in line since midnight.

"We have phones here, we don't discuss quantities of phones at our locations," AT&T Sales Manager Colin Martin told NBC 4. Some VIPs, like lawmakers and professional athletes, tried to get early access to the iPhones but they were told to get in line like everyone else.

Here's coverage from NBC 4 and Fox 5 News.

Posted by Andrew at 01:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rep. Miller Breaks New 'Web 2.0' Ground

Cross-posted at Beltway Blogroll

Rep. George Miller is getting some bipartisan blog love for a new interactive campaign against the Iraq war that is engaging voters via blogs, online social networks, podcasts and Web video.

Both Republican new media strategist David All and self-avowed "lefty" Colin Delany of e.politics mentioned the effort, as did the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet.

Technology Daily is on top of the story, too, thanks to our e-government/Web 2.0 expert, Aliya Sternstein. You can read her story from yesterday PM Edition in the extended entry.

Rep. Miller Starts Interactive Web Campaign On Iraq
By Aliya Sternstein

Online social networks have become virtual mouthpieces for candidates this year but have rarely been used by elected officials to follow through on promises once elected -- that is until now.

The technology shop at the House currently lets all members use Facebook, a social network popular among young voters, for official work. Californian George Miller, who is chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, recently received permission from the office of the House chief administrative officer to start an Internet "campaign" against the Iraq war using Facebook, video-sharing Web sites, blogs and a video podcast, among other new media platforms.

The "Ask George" initiative, which officially began Wednesday, is a multi-network, multi-platform, virtual town hall. Miller's office is collecting all questions submitted to the so-called Web 2.0 sites that are tagged with the subject "askgeorge." The keyword lets staffers easily retrieve questions from across the Web universe with one search query.

Miller, who also chairs the Education and Labor Committee, plans to respond weekly, through his video podcast "MillerTV," to questions and comments about what actions the Democrats are taking to end the war.

Separately, Miller's office has designed a video player for Facebook that the site's members can add to their profiles and share with friends. The "MillerTV" player will carry the latest "AskGeorge" videos.

Before Ask George went live, Miller's staff and the CAO ensured that all aspects of Miller's Web onslaught would comply with House requirements for Web use.

The House's main Web dictum is "security and availability," CAO Communications Director Jeff Ventura said. "All we ask is that we're allowed to evaluate any software that is interfaced with our architecture to determine that it poses no security threat and has scalability."

The office wants all members to be able to partake in the benefits of innovations created by other members, he said. "It really is equal opportunity computing."

That said, "Creating a really sexy Web site's difficult for them," Ventura said. "It's our estimation that less than 3 percent of members' offices are doing things as robust as what Miller's team is trying to do."

Leslie Harris, the Center for Democracy and Technology's executive director, said she hopes other members, committees and Congress as a whole will follow in Miller's footprints online to create more transparency. "You are encouraging civic dialogue," she said. "I think that's critically important as well."

Miller Chief of Staff Daniel Weiss said some people already have responded by e-mail to address policy issues besides Iraq. "And some people have responded to say they disagree with the congressman's position on Iraq," he added.

Steven Clift, chairman of E-Democracy.org, said: "Any candidate for Congress that wins using interactive tools must represent using those tools. Today, most politicians turn off real online interactivity the moment they gain power. That must change or they will be changed."

Posted by Danny at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wikipedia, YouTube: A Left-Wing Conspiracy?

Frustrated by an alleged liberal bias on YouTube and Wikipedia, Republicans have teamed up to launch conservative alternatives to the popular sites.

But the GOP-friendly QubeTV and Conservapedia haven't exactly impressed comedian Lewis Black. In a guest spot on "The Daily Show" this week, Black blasted the idea that YouTube and Wikipedia, sites that accept contributions from anyone, are part of a vast liberal conspiracy.

To make his point, he noted that nearly all of the videos on QubeTV, including one comparing Democratic Sen. Barack Obama to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, are also on YouTube. "In other words, the conservative alternative to YouTube is YouTube," Black said.

The disrespect is mutual, apparently. The entry for "The Daily Show" at Conservapedia says the comedians "show a liberal bias" and notes that "some believe" that host Jon Stewart demeans conservative positions on gun rights, abortion and Christianity. It also claims that Stewart "often mocks" the war in Iraq -- an accusation that surely isn't a laughing matter. -- Michael Martinez

Posted by Andrew at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hill Panel Examines 'State Of American Freedoms'

Civil liberties and high-tech watchdogs spoke about "the state of American freedoms" on Thursday at a Capitol Hill forum organized by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers. The Michigan Democrat said the event, which may become an annual affair, was appropriately scheduled days before the Fourth of July.

Greg Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology argued that as technologies advance, citizens need "more and not fewer privacy protections." When the Constitution was written, there were no telephones or e-mail, he pointed out, and the Internet age has changed everything.

"E-mail lives on," Nojeim said. "The thing that you thought was a private thing, the thing that you wrote that was a private thought, is living out of your control and that's something that you have to come to grips with." Federal laws also need to reflect that reality, he said.

But the current White House has not trended in that direction, Nojeim said. "While more privacy protections are being called for, the administration wants Congress to move in the opposite direction." He was referring indirectly to Bush's hope that lawmakers will revamp a 1978 intelligence law in ways that worry privacy and civil liberties advocates.

Meanwhile, this week's unveiling of the CIA's so-called "family jewels," 703 pages of documents that the agency fought to keep secret for three decades, underscores the need for greater safeguards, he said. When left to their own devices, law enforcement and intelligence officials "do what they think is appropriate for them to carry out their mission, which is not necessarily thinking about and protecting civil rights," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union's top lobbyist Caroline Frederickson added that "the state of our freedom is fragile." She pointed to the administration's "obsessive and relentless quest for secrecy," which was recently evidenced by Vice President Dick Cheney's claim that he is not part of the executive branch when it comes to a review of his handling of classified documents.

Other panelists included: Marcus Raskin, co-founder of the Institute for Policy Studies; the NAACP's Hilary Shelton; and Mark Mauer of the Sentencing Project.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., spoke out about the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program, saying that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act "wasn't enacted to protect against hypothetical abuses."

Lee vowed to help "bring back some accountability" in that arena. Fellow committee member Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, added that "terrorism flourishes" when civil liberties are suppressed.

Posted by Andrew at 03:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Conservatives Bash Patent Bill

Sixteen leading conservative groups sent a letter to Senate and House leaders on Thursday condemning a pair of patent bills currently moving through the chambers.

Signatories included Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum; Kevin Kearns, president of the U.S. Business and Industry Council; J. William Lauderback of the American Conservative Union; Jim Backlin of the Christian Coalition of America and others.

The bills, H.R. 1908 and S. 1145, will "severely hamper U.S. competitiveness and threaten American businesses -- along with the jobs they create -- by undermining intellectual property rights," they wrote. The measures "will cripple most of America's smaller inventors and even the larger industrial firms that depend on patents, as well as research universities."

Overseas interests, which are "trying to slow America's innovation engine… will be happy with the proposed changes," they said. That’s why, for example, Chinese computer giant Lenovo, backs the bill, the letter stated.

No word on whether major liberal organzations are getting fired up over this legislation...

Posted by Andrew at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Turning Web Radio Lemons Into Lemonade

On Thursday morning, the House Small Business Committee held a hearing on the heated debate over a forthcoming Internet radio royalty hike and -- surprise -- the most interesting exchange revolved around lemonade. It's a hot, humid day in Washington and Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., couldn't help but work in a tortured metaphor.

For the purposes of this blog post, record labels and artists produce the citrus-flavored beverage. Webcasters manufacture the bottles and packaging. So, here we go…

Johnson said everyone loves lemonade on a hot day but you can get that lemonade from a glass or bottle or jug (a variety of sources) -- it's the lemonade that matters. "Why shouldn’t a person who produced the lemonade get paid as opposed to those who put together the packaging the lemonade is in?" he asked.

Children's musician Cathy Fink, who supports the fee increase, said: "I want to get paid for my lemonade because it costs me something." Country artist Joey Allcorn, who sides with webcasters, retorted: "If you put the people who made the cup out of business, what are you going to put your lemonade in?" Fink snapped back that if she didn’t make the lemonade, the bottler wouldn’t exist.

Read more about the great lemonade… er… Internet radio debate in Technology Daily's PM Edition.

Posted by Andrew at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Tonight: Concert For Digital Freedom

The Digital Freedom campaign, led by the Consumer Electronics Association, New America Foundation, Public Knowledge and others, is looking to spread its message of protecting consumer rights in the digital age by holding a pre-Independence Day celebration on Thursday night.

The invitation-only event will include music from live bands and is expected to be well attended by policymakers, media and industry representatives. The campaign also announced Thursday that it will offer its first digital rights management-free download on DigitalFreedom.org. The group, which has been routinely criticized by content creators, recently expanded its online presence.

The following bands will be performing at the Digital Freedom showcase: Jonathan Coulton, Baumer and Exit Clov. The question remains: Were the invitations to the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America lost in the mail?

Posted by Andrew at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

EU Official Reacts To New Data Deal

Following news Thursday that European negotiators had reached a provisional deal with the United States on how to share information about trans-Atlantic air passengers that Washington says is necessary to fight terrorism, the European Union released a statement on what has transpired.

The EU said the U.S. has addressed its members' data protection concerns and set conditions concerning the handling of personal data originating from the European Union.

European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini welcomed the move. "The EU and its most important strategic partner in the fight against terrorism, the USA, have to join forces in this fight… These activities should be done in full respect of fundamental rights, including notably data protection rights and the right to privacy of EU citizens," he said.
-- Winter Casey

Clarification: The quote from Franco Frattini below was included in a release concerning a separate deal the European Union made with Washington for using bank-transfer data in terrorism investigations. However, an EU spokesman said Frattini's comment would apply to how he views the passenger agreement, too.

Posted by Andrew at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Countdown To iPhone Mania

No big surprise here. Online analytics firm Hitwise reported this week that the volume of U.S. searches for the term “iphone” increased 583 percent in the past four weeks leading up to the June 29 launch date. The market share of U.S. visits to the Apple iPhone Web site increased 185 percent in the same time period, officials said. The most popular queries containing the term were focused on price, recent news, reviews and the release date.

Meanwhile, “iphone” was the 131st most searched for term sending traffic to all U.S. Web sites for the four weeks ending June 23, Hitwise said. The term was the fifth most popular search term sending visits to the AT&T Wireless Web site. AT&T will be the exclusive service provider for the long-awaited gadget. Read more here.

Posted by Andrew at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Reax To FTC Broadband Report

The FTC on Wednesday urged caution on imposing so-called network neutrality regulations designed to prevent high-speed Internet providers from potentially acting as content gatekeepers. A 170-page report states that some proprietary deals and data prioritization could actually benefit consumers.

There are more details in Technology Daily’s PM Edition. But for now, let’s focus on the reactions that flooded our inboxes shortly after the document was released...

Mike McCurry and Christopher Wolf, co-chairs of the Hands Off the Internet coalition, said: “Once again, independent experts have looked at the net neutrality issue and asked, ‘Where’s the beef? There’s an explosion in broadband deployment in America now, which is creating jobs and making high-speed connections more affordable.”

Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, said the report “wisely recommends continued cautious monitoring of broadband development in the U.S.” and suggests that policymakers should consider unintended consequences of regulation on broadband services.

Steve Largent, president of the wireless trade group CTIA, said: “The Internet regulation scheme has forever been built on a hypothetical, ‘what-if’ scenario and today this flimsy theory has met yet another round of cold, hard, real-world facts that render it unworthy of our nation’s attention and resources. The facts about this debate have never been more clear. When it comes to the competitive and innovative broadband marketplace the consumer sits in the driver’s seat.”

U.S. Telecom Association President and CEO Walter McCormick Jr. said: “The FTC found what consumers already know – that they have a variety of competitive choices from cable, DSL, wireless, satellite and other alternative providers for high-speed Internet services, and there is no problem that requires regulation of the Internet.”

Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said the report fell short in its analysis of a competitive market and the related issue of net neutrality. “Despite the fervent wishes of the FTC staff, there is not a competitive market for high-speed Internet services. New technologies, particularly wireless technologies, are not soon going to have the same robust qualities or market penetration as the duopoly cable and telephone-company services.”

S. Derek Turner, Free Press research director said: "While the FTC rightly acknowledges that consumers strongly prefer the free and open Internet the way it is, much of the agency's lengthy new report largely ignores our broadband reality. The FTC has an explicit duty to protect consumers. Yet this study includes no empirical research on competition in the local broadband market."

The Open Internet Coalition said that “given the well-documented desire by executives from the cable and telephone companies to discriminate among content providers on the Internet, we continue to urge Congress and the FCC to enact measures that preserve the open Internet.” The FTC report “once again shows that this is what today’s Internet consumers have come to expect and demand.”

Posted by Andrew at 07:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

CIA's 'Family Jewels' On Comedy Central

National Security Archive Director Tom Blanton will appear on "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central Wednesday night to talk about the CIA's recently publicized "family jewels." It will be "national security discourse like you have never seen it before," an archive spokeswoman said in an e-mail. The humorous news program airs at 11:30 p.m. ET.

The CIA fought to keep the intelligence records -- nicknamed "the family jewels" -- secret for more than three decades but released hundreds of them on Tuesday. The papers show intelligence abuses of the Cold War, including assassination plots against foreign leaders and illegal efforts to spy on Americans.

Blanton's archive made the full 703-page collection available as a searchable PDF document on its Web site. Happy reading!

Posted by Andrew at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ICANN Draws New Global Attendees

This week's Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico drew 33 more international voices than previous gatherings, thanks to the group's trial global fellowships program.

The fellows were chosen from 125 applicants (65 percent of the fellows and 68 percent of applicants had never attended an ICANN meeting), the group said in a press release. Ten more fellows were approved but opted to take part in ICANN's upcoming Los Angeles meeting instead.

Fellows have their hotel rooms and airfare to the meeting paid for, as well as a $300 stipend to cover incidental expenses. According to ICANN, the cost of the fellowship project for San Juan was roughly $95,000 -- but I'm sure the opportunity to witness Internet policy being shaped was priceless.

Posted by Andrew at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

'Day Of Silence' Follow-Up

Reprinted from June 26 PM Edition of National Journal's Technology Daily

Thousands of Internet radio providers that silenced their audio streams Tuesday to draw attention to a recently proposed hike in music royalties got what they wanted -- an outpouring of support from listeners. The online advocacy platform that lets visitors to the grassroots group SaveNetRadio access contact information for their congressmen could barely handle the flood of hits received.

According to a SaveNetRadio spokesman, Web traffic reported by Capitol Advantage's Capwiz program by late morning was "far more" than the back-end service provider had ever experienced in a single day. The firm reportedly was "diverting all the resources they have to handle this traffic," the official said.

Capwiz is considered one of the most robust Web-based advocacy services in Washington and works with about 1,500 organizations. "It's definitely the highest traffic we've seen in a long time for any sort of single issue," said Mark West of Capitol Advantage.

Posted by Andrew at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

SoundExchange Reacts To 'Day Of Silence'

Not surprisingly, digital royalty rights collector SoundExchange had some serious heartburn on Tuesday over the Internet radio "day of silence," during which thousands of webcasters turned off their music streams to protest the Copyright Royalty Board's recent decision to hike fees paid to artists and record labels.

Richard Ades, a spokesman for the organization that supports the board's ruling, told Technology Daily that he listened to some of the special programming being played in between pockets of dead air. "It's pretty amazing that they talk about how much they love music and how important it is to stream music, but you don’t hear them talk about the people who create the music," he said.

On one webcast, Ades heard someone claim that legislation, introduced in the House and Senate to stop the fee increase, is fair to artists. "The bill on the Hill would not only vacate CRB decision but would cut rates by 75 percent from what the old rate was. That’s their idea to fairness to artists? That's an insult," he said.

"If there's no music, then there will be no radio stations. It’s the artists and labels that create the music and there will be no music for them to build their businesses on," Ades said. "Why they don’t want their musicians and recording artists to have a fair share of the pie is mind boggling."

Posted by Andrew at 02:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Scientist: U.S. Nanotech Policy Needs Improvement

Current U.S. government policy on managing the potential health and safety risks of nanotechnologies, which are created from the manipulation of matter at the atomic and molecular levels, is not advancing with the speed of advancements in technology, a scientist said Monday.

The government has been “approaching 21st century technologies with a 20th century mindset," said Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies Chief Scientist Andrew Maynard before the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Maynard would like the government to develop a goal-driven risk research strategy to provide decision-makers -- including regulators, industry and consumers -- with scientific information on how to handle nanotechnologies as safely as possible, according to a statement from the Woodrow Wilson International Center. He is also seeking an increase in research funding for agencies responsible for oversight and related research, more government coordination and an increase in government-industry cooperation.

The agencies include: the Environmental Protection Agency, Food & Drug Administration, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. -- Winter Casey

Posted by Andrew at 09:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Sound Of Silence?

(Source: KCRW)

"This will give Americans a small taste of what could happen if we don't pass legislation or have the parties negotiate a solution. It'll be a bitter pill that the 70 million Internet-radio listeners won't want to swallow."
-- Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., sponsor of the Internet Radio Equality Act

"Jilting consumers by shutting down their businesses for a day does nothing to change the fact that artists and labels should be fairly paid by webcasters who build their businesses on the hard labor of artists."
-- SoundExchange spokesman

For more about the protest, click here. For a partial list of participants compiled by SaveNetRadio, follow the jump.

Yahoo!
Live365 stations,
Rhapsody,
MTV Online,
AccuRadio,
KCRW (Santa Moncia, CA),
Pandora,
Radioio,
DigitallyImported,
RadioParadise,
3WK,
myMVY,
Wizard Radio,
Born Again Radio,
Pearadio.com,
Ear.fm,
WGLI (Bablylon, NY),
WMUK (Kalamazoo, MI),
Head-On Radio Network,
Zecom/Gemz Radio,
monkeygrip music cafe,
KFCF (Fresno, CA),
LuckySevenRadio.com,
Blue Power/Guitar Speak,
WPNA (Oak Park, IL),
60's Chicks Radio/Seasons & Celebrations Radio,
STAR 107.9,
WRPS/WebRadioPugetSound,
Puregold Rock 'N Roll,
NeverEndingWonder Radio,
RadioMilwaukee,
BAGeL Radio,
Gotradio/100hitz,
KDUN (Reedsport, OR),
GDRadio.net,
KQLZ (Los Angeles, CA),
KXPR/KXJZ (Sacramento, CA),
NiceNoise.Net,
BlackLight Radio,
Pure Pop 24/7,
Smooth Jazz and More,
Reggae Nostalgia,
WCH Radio/The Wave,
WYGS Southern Gospel Radio Network,
BluegrassCountry.org/WAMU.org,
WRAJ Internet Radio
KPBX - Spokane Public Radio http://www.kpbx.org/
Vault Radio http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com
KALW (San Francisco, CA) www.kalw.org
The Miz Radio http://www.live365.com/stations/misterconnections?site=pro
GalaxyStorm Radio http://www.radio.galaxystorm.com
MaxMarch Radio http://radio.maxmarch.com\
KRUA 88.1 http://krua.uaa.alaska.edu
Radio Odyssey http://www.radioodyssey.com
Indie Airplay http://www.indieairplay.com
Digitally Imported Radio http://www.di.fm
SKY.fm http://www.sky.fm
Grooveradio.com
LastCall-Radio http://www.lastcall-radio.com/
Melted Metal Web Radio http://www.meltedmetal.com/
The Hot Cakes and Sausage Morning Show
KVMR-FM, Nevada City CA (Sacramento market) http://kvmr.org
OutboundMusic http://outboundmusic.com/
radiokeneally.com
Ozone Radio www.theozoneradio.com
Zimmer Radio, Joplin, MO Kissin 92.5/Kix 102.5/1310 KZRG/Big Dog 97.9
http://www.ksyn925.com/
Loud City http://community.loudcity.com/
Power Radio International www.powerradioint.com
WEOS, Geneva, NY www.weos.org
WCPR Castle Point Radio, Hoboken, NJ http://www.stevens.edu/wcpr/
KHPZ Radio Network (Los Angeles, CA) www.myspace.com/khpzradionetwork
Italian Graffiati www.italiangraffiati.com
Radio Skipper www.radioskipper.com
Whitedove Gospel Internet Radio http://www.whitedoveradio.com
Kansas City Online Radio www.KCOnlineRadio.com
RoadsEndRadio www.RoadsEndRadio.com
All About Country - AllAboutCountry.com
RadioNC Online Internet Radio - http://radionc.com
WNYC New York Public Radio - www.wnyc.org
PowerHitRadio - http://www.thepowerhits.com\All Memphis Music -
www.AllMemphisMusic.com
Radio X Network – http://Radio X Network.com
KUIW Radio San Antonio, Texas - http://www.kuiw.org
PopFusion Radio - www.popfusionradio.com
WPRY AM 1400 Perry, FL http://www.wpry.com/
525 Power Tracks www.525.com
Wild West Radio - Wildwestradio.com
Jazz Radio 24/7 http://JazzRadio247.com
Barcelona Jazz Radio www.barcelonajazzradio.com
RadioZX www.RadioZX.com
WOXY www.woxy.com
WAjP Net Radio Network, Paintsville, Kentucky http://phsaa.org/
TheRockHD - TheRockHD.com
YHotHD - YHotHD.com ZRadio - zradio.com
WDYN - Dynamic Independent Radio 100.1 FM Rochester, NY WDYN.net
My Flex Radio – www.MyFlexRadio.com
Christian Rock.net – www.ChristianRock.Net
Wxfb.com
Variety-FM Gold – http://www.variety-fm.com
Mix Utah - www.mixutah.com
KCWU-FM 88.1, Ellensburg, WA (Central Washington University) -
http://www.881theburg.com/
Japan-A-Radio – http://www.japanaradio.com/
Radio Underground - http://www.radiounderground.net/
The Geek Radio – http://thegeekradio.com

Posted by Andrew at 07:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ICANN $$$ Update

Doug Brent, chief operating officer for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, shared some impressive budget statistics at the group's meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Monday.

He said ICANN has net revenue of $46.6 million and expenses of $41 million -- but it looks as if revenue will actually be more like $50 million, ICANN board member Susan Crawford pointed out on her blog. Click here to see Brent's presentation.

But what's driving spending? About $1.6 million on new generic top-level domains; $1 million on the At-Large Advisory Committee and outreach; almost $1 million on internationalized domain names; roughly $800,000 on compliance; $700,000 on legal; $530,000 on registrar data escrow; $400,000 on economic assistance, Crawford wrote.

Posted by Andrew at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last.fm Won't Be Silenced

Internet radio provider Last.fm, which was recently acquired by CBS, will not take part in Tuesday's webcaster "day of silence." Thousands of online music streams will be switched off to protest a recent royalty rate hike.

Last.fm co-founder Felix Miller wrote on the company blog that "it's in no one's interest to let online radio die. But people want to make money from their music. And we want to pay artists for the music we play. It's only fair."

He pointed out that his is a social platform -- not just a radio station -- and unlike many webcasters, "people spend a lot of time using the site without ever switching on the radio." Read his entire post here. Meanwhile, Tech Crunch explains why Last.fm should participate in the protest.

Posted by Andrew at 06:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ACLU Launches 'Subpoena Watch'

The American Civil Liberties Union launched a Web page Monday to keep tabs on the Senate Judiciary Committee's investigation into the Bush administration's domestic electronic eavesdropping program. On Thursday, the panel voted to authorize the use of subpoenas to obtain documents related to the National Security Agency initiative.

The Subpoena Watch page will list items and testimony that the organization feels must be obtained and will monitor the progress of the committee's work. ACLU top lobbyist Caroline Fredrickson said the page aims to "ensure that the committee does not back down from its requests and that a full and public investigation is completed."

Subpoena Watch includes mug shots of individuals who may or may not be subpoenaed. Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller top their list. The CEOs of telecommunications firms, which have reportedly cooperated with the NSA, are also depicted with a clipart image of several suit-wearing silhouettes.

Posted by Andrew at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Maps Needed To Navigate ICANN?

Might a series of maps make the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers more transparent? The group, which oversees the administration of Web addresses announced it is in the process of illustrating some basic geographic details.

The data being mapped includes: the number of accredited registrars and the countries in which they are located; board and staff representation by nationality; country-code top-level-domain (ccTLD) agreements; the general location of root servers based on publicly available information; root zone "Whois" information; support for internationalized domain names at TLD registries and more.

"This is a further example of making information about ICANN more accessible so that people can understand clearly how, why and what we do," ICANN Vice President Paul Levins said in a press release.

The ICANN community is meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico this week. Read more in Technology Daily's PM Edition.

Posted by Andrew at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tomorrow: Webcasters' Day Of Silence

Reprinted from June 21 PM Edition of National Journal's Technology Daily

Web Radio Plans 'Day Of Silence' To Protest Rates
By Andrew Noyes

Webcasters around the country are planning to silence their audio streams Tuesday to draw attention to a recently proposed hike in music royalties that they believe could harm their industry if implemented.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based KCRW was among the first to announce its involvement in the "day of silence." The station will pre-empt its online channels to loop a one-hour special about dangers posed by the Copyright Royalty Board's March ruling, General Manager Ruth Seymour said.

The public radio station's program, called "D-Day for Webcasters," will give listeners information about the industry's fight against the rate hike, which takes effect July 15. They also will trumpet a bill introduced by Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., that would reverse the board's decision.

The protest "will give Americans a small taste of what could happen if we don't pass legislation or have the parties negotiate a solution," Inslee said. "It'll be a bitter pill that the 70 million Internet radio listeners won't want to swallow."

A spokesman for digital royalty rights collector SoundExchange, which supports the fee hike, countered that "jilting consumers by shutting down their businesses for a day does nothing to change the fact that artists and labels should be fairly paid by webcasters who build their businesses on the hard labor of artists."

KCRW's show will feature officials from popular webcasters AccuRadio, Live365, Pandora, Yahoo and the National Public Radio affiliate WAMU. They will join Seymour to describe effects that the new rates could have on their ability to reach Web audiences.

Some stations will cease all music programming and will run brief public-service announcements directing listeners to the Web site for the grassroots group SaveNetRadio. Pandora will be silent with the exception of a message from founder Tim Westergren.

Operators of some of the small commercial webcasters are planning various actions for the day. They staged a similar protest in 2002 to fight a plan to charge 14 cents per 100 listeners for each song played on Internet radio.

Radio Paradise will play low-level ambient sound between PSAs but no music, founder Bill Goldsmith said. If the board's ruling stands, consumers will be left only with foreign-based stations, pirate operations and "the bland, lowest-common-denominator offerings of their local FM stations," he said.

Radioio's Michael Roe, who helped organize the event, said he hopes the silence "will once again galvanize the Internet radio audience and the webcasting community in a powerful way."

"I have absolutely no doubt that the switchboards on the Hill will be very busy," he said.

SaveNetRadio spokesman Jake Ward said he is encouraged by the number of participating webcasters. "The diversity of size, style and geography among these webcasters is a clear reflection of the importance of the issue and reality of this threat," he said.

Posted by Andrew at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Don't Miss 'Hill People 2007'

Every four years, National Journal magazine goes behind the scenes of Capitol Hill, to examine often-anonymous but always crucial senior aides and staffers. In this year's "Hill People" issue, we feature more than 330 such profiles.

Staff members from Technology Daily as well as folks from The Almanac of American Politics, the Hotline, CongressDaily and NationalJournal.com helped produce the issue, which was unveiled Monday morning. So, take a break from your trashy romance novels and bring us along when you hit the pool or beach over the July 4 holiday. You won't regret it!

Read more about "Hill People" here.

Posted by Andrew at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

DMC: Why Can't I Clone Myself?

I missed a few concurrent early afternoon sessions at Friday's Digital Media Conference because I was busy hammering out an article from an interesting morning panel for Technology Daily's PM Edition.

Unfortunately, my company has not figured out how to clone me, so here is a rundown of the panels I could not attend:

What’s Next in Web 2.0? Innovators, creators and thought leaders look ahead at what consumers can expect in the years to come. KickApps Senior Vice President Mike Sommers; Electric Sheep Co. Producer Damon Taylor; and Digital Media Wire CEO Ned Sherman.

Digital Evolution of the Music Business. Pricing, online and mobile music product offerings; next generation devices; and the future of digital rights management. OneHouse LLC Managing Director Jim Griffin; ItsHipHop.Tv CEO Timmy Grins; Nettwerk Music Group's Brent Muhle; Clear Channel Radio Vice President Eric Siebert; Motorola's Dave Ulmer; and WRNR radio host Stacie Griffin.

Advertising 2.0: New Opportunities for Marketers. U.S. News Ventures CEO Eric Koefoot; Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Vice President Keith Tomatore; Swivel Media founder Erik Hauser; Clearspring Technologies CEO Christopher Marentis; and PayPerPost Vice President Randy Mountz.

Posted by Andrew at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

DMC: Webcasting Debate Heats Up

In Technology Daily's PM Edition: The battle over webcasting royalties heated up at the Digital Media Conference. Panelists included SoundExchange's Michael Huppe; AccuRadio's Kurt Hanson; Matador Records' Dick Huey; Digital Media Association Executive Director Jonathan Potter; National Public Radio Vice President Michael Riksen; and Recording Artists Coalition's Jay Rosenthal. Attorney David Oxenford, who represents small webcasters, moderated the discussion.

Posted by Andrew at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

DMC: 'Outfoxed' Creator Conquers The Web

The creator of widely acclaimed yet controversial films like "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" told the Digital Media Conference on Friday that Internet distribution and online activism has forever changed the way he does business.

Filmmaker Robert Greenwald and his company Brave New Films are now creating viral video campaigns focused on sociopolitical change that are shared for free, via the Web, e-mail, by partner organizations and through earned media. He began producing the shorts in January and has distributed nine to date.

Recent productions like "Fox Attacks" and "Impeach Gonzales" attracted millions of viewers in a matter of days. Hundreds of thousands took action on the issues they addressed. Not bad for a self-admitted non-techie (who once considered using the "reply all" feature on his e-mail account a breakthrough).

Greenwald's earlier longer-format releases also benefited immensely from the Web. He previously partnered with liberal activism site MoveOn.org to publicize one of his films. He expected to sell about 2,000 copes through the site. Instead, nearly 30,000 movies were sold and $1 million was raised. "That was the first education for all of us that there was an audience and the audience could be reached," he said.

Posted by Andrew at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

DMC: Must See Sites

Executives at Friday's Digital Media Conference representing companies with a huge stake in online content revealed their favorite Web site (that isn't their own). Sadly, Tech Daily Dose was not among them. I guess we still have some outreach to do.

WashingtonPost.com Executive Editor Jim Brady loves the Internet Movie Database, best know by its acronym IMDB. So does Ted Cohen, chairman of Mobile Entertainment Forum Americas. Bruce Campbell, president of digital media for Discovery Communications, can't live without ESPN.com.

Deloitte's Product Innovation Director Ed Moran favors bargain hunting site DealNews.com and National Geographic Digital Media President Betsy Scolnik adores celebrity gossip site TMZ and video-sharing site YouTube. Moderator David Card of Jupiter Research said he turns to Wall Street Journal's Web site daily.

Posted by Andrew at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

DMC: Trends To Watch (Part II)

The "MySpace ecosystem" extends far beyond the popular social-networking site itself, high-tech analyst John Barrett told the Digital Media Conference on Friday. The interconnected Web of relationships built on MySpace also extends to Friendster, Facebook and other community sites, he said.

People that have profiles on one platform usually also have a presence on several others, said Barrett, who is research director for Parks Associates. "The MySpace thread runs through all social networks" and layered on top of that are YouTube videos and digital photos from Flickr, he said.

Barrett also spoke about how consumers, namely younger ones, are taking in media. His main message was that many are top-notch multitaskers. Individuals are increasingly on their computers while listening to music and/or watching TV. "It's no longer one screen and two eyeballs," he said.

The analyst also said the bubble will "begin to bust" for many Web 2.0 start-ups. Five to 10 million unique monthly visitors are needed for a site to have solid footing in the new Internet economy, he said. Most new sites "don't have that kind of scale."

A major difference between the dot-com boom of the late 1990s and today is that the Sarbanes Oxley Act made initial public offerings too expensive for budding Web firms, Barrett said. That's why start-ups rely on investments from venture capitalists and other "angels" to save the day, he added.

Posted by Andrew at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

DMC: Trends To Watch

The fourth annual Digital Media Conference kicked off Friday with a handful of analysts gazing into their high-tech crystal balls to predict top trends to watch in the months and years to come. Consumer Electronics Association Research Director Joe Bates had some interesting insight.

On the continuum from physical to digital, the vast majority of consumers are still purchasing content in a physical manner, Bates said. In one study, only 20 percent of respondents said they preferred to digitally download content, he said. Among early adopters, just 30 percent said they would prefer to acquire media digitally.

The convenience of buying and playing CDs and DVDs, as opposed to going online, buying music or a movie and uploading it, still wins out, Bates said. A number of consumers believe there are fewer restrictions in place with physical media, he said. Physical media is also easier to copy or share with family and friends, he added.

Bates' bottom line: "We have a long way to go. We'll continue to see growth in online distribution but it's going to be slow and it will take time."

Posted by Andrew at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Cybersquatting Petition Gains Steam

An online petition aimed at the head of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is generating some buzz on YouChoose.net, a new cause-oriented social-networking site. The letter urges ICANN President Paul Twomey to crack down on "cybersquatting." Nearly 600 users had signed the petition as of Friday morning.

The letter begins: "We, the undersigned, are concerned about domain name parking abuse and request that ICANN revisit the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and the Trademark Cyberpiracy Prevention Act to ensure that a domain names that are parked would be available for sale at a price tag that would not be considered extortion."

Read more about the campaign here. Meanwhile, ICANN will host a meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico next week. Click here for the conference site.

Posted by Andrew at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Exclusive: MTV Joins Web Radio Fight

Cable channel MTV has joined the crusade against the forthcoming Internet radio royalty hike, Tech Daily Dose has learned. The network is owned by media conglomerate Viacom and airs a variety of music, pop culture and reality shows aimed at young adults.

MTV has a prominent Web presence with news, podcasts, video clips and audio streaming services. The network's sister channels VH1 and CMT also offer online radio. Viacom owns Paramount Pictures, Comedy Central, BET and other valuable entertainment assets.

The network joins major firms like America Online, Yahoo and Microsoft; small commercial webcasters; and noncommercial giants like National Public Radio in protesting the March ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board. The rate increase will begin July 15 unless Congress or the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit block the decision.

A number of webcasters involved in SaveNetRadio, including MTV, will take part in a "day of silence" on Tuesday to protest the changes, which they say could threaten Internet radio's livelihood. Read more about that effort in Technology Daily's PM Edition.

Posted by Andrew at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wireless Power To Recharge Laptops?

Wireless power to recharge laptops and mobile phones could soon become a reality according to a U.S. team of physicists. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have shown how power can be transmitted without wires.

The scientists demonstrated the idea using copper antennas, a light bulb, and an electricity supply. They believe that "scaled-down versions of the system could be made for portable devices without sacrificing efficiency. This might also enable the design of electronic medical implants that do not need cumbersome wiring," according to the Institute of Physics.

The concept of wireless power has been entertained since the early 1900s. At that time the Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla envisioned a world of wireless power using a network of high-voltage coils and large electric fields. Tesla's idea was held back by safety concerns.

More recent proposals have transmitters emitting in all directions, which has been inefficient, and unidirectional transmitters have been impractical for most applications because they need a clear line of sight between transmitter and receiver, the institute said. Using certain electromagnetic waves that generally tend to decay quickly as they extend from an antenna could be the solution to past problems, MIT researchers noted.

To get a little bit geeky, the scientists "thought that if the receiver could resonate with the transmitter, the evanescent field would instigate a current between the two. In this way, non-resonant objects placed in the field would neither interrupt the signal nor absorb much of the field's energy." -- Winter Casey

Posted by Andrew at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Onion Teases Tech

The cultural obsession with all things tech received several prods in this week's edition of The Onion. The satirical newspapers highlighted the debut of Apple's new iPhone with a rundown of its features. It snidely noted that the highly anticipated gadget includes an "exclusive link to Google Street View so you can watch yourself using your iPhone at all times."

Google got additional treatment in The Onion's weekly installment of "American Voices," which documented the reaction of three pedestrians on the recent report rating the Internet giant's privacy practices as the worst among search firms. One fictional observer quipped, "This news has definitely made me think twice about providing my credit card number along with each search query." -- Theresa Poulson

Posted by Andrew at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Conyers Launches New Site Skewering DoJ

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., unveiled a new Web page on Wednesday urging citizens to "Write Congress To Right Justice." The site was launched in response to the growing number of Justice Department career lawyers and others who have raised concerns about politicization in the agency.

The page provides a secure method for Justice employees to communicate what they know to his committee, which is investigating the issue. The panel will protect the confidentiality of those who come forward, a press release said.

Posted by Andrew at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Study: Parental Controls' Successes & Challenges

The Progress and Freedom Foundation unveiled a report Wednesday that surveys the litany of tools and methods available to protect children from content deemed objectionable (See Technology Daily's PM Edition). But a day earlier, the Kaiser Family Foundation released some statistics that shed new light on the topic.

More than 1,000 parents of children ages 2-17 were polled along with a series of six focus groups held with parents across the country. The study found that 65 percent of parents said they "closely" monitor their children's media use, while 18 percent said they "should do more."

Since 1998, the proportion of parents who said they were "very concerned" that their kids are exposed to inappropriate content has dropped, from 67 percent to 51 percent for sexual content; from 62 percent to 46 percent for violence; and from 59 percent to 41 percent for adult language, KFF reported.

According to the report, parents are particularly confident in monitoring their children's online activities. About 73 percent said they know "a lot" about what their kids are doing online. Most parents whose children surf the Web said they check their kid's instant messaging "buddy lists" (87 percent); review their kids' profiles on social networking sites (82 percent); and review what sites they have visited (76 percent).

Among parents with children age 9 or older who use the Internet at home, 41 percent said they use parental controls to block access to certain Web sites. Among those whose children use e-mail, 39 percent reported they read their child’s e-mail or look in their inbox, KFF said.

Still, respondents expressed concerns about children's exposure to inappropriate media in general. Two-thirds (65 percent) of parents said they were "very" concerned that kids in the U.S. are exposed to too much objectionable content and a similar proportion (66 percent) favor government regulations to limit TV during early evening hours, KFF said.

Minority parents expressed the most concern, the foundation reported. African American and Hispanic parents were more likely than whites to say they are "very concerned" about kids' exposure to sex, violence and adult language in the media.

"While parents are still concerned about a lot of what they see in the media, most are surprisingly confident that they've got a handle on what their own kids are seeing and doing -- even when it comes to the Internet," Kaiser Vice President Vicky Rideout said in a press release.

More details about the report, Parents, Children & Media: A Kaiser Family Foundation Survey, is available here.

Posted by Andrew at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Merger News From NXTComm?

CHICAGO -- General Electric's Bob Wright, who heads NBC Universal, took the dais at the NXTComm show here today before CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and played pretend journalist for a moment.

"I have some news," Wright said, bragging that he was scooping Bartiromo. "AT&T and Verizon are going to merge. The new company will be called AT&V."

That got a big laugh from the crowd of more than 2,000, as the CEOs of AT&T and Verizon Communications had just completed their remarks on the digital future. -- Gene J. Koprowski, for Technology Daily

Posted by Danny at 01:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A2IM Marks 'Independents Day'

The American Association of Independent Music, also known as A2IM, celebrated its second anniversary on Tuesday. The trade group, which represents independent record labels, has made some major strides since its inception.

A2IM established that independent labels collectively account for over 30 percent of the music industry’s Soundscan share. The group has been working to ensure that the sector is treated fairly with that market share in mind, officials said in a press release.

Over the past 36 months, the association has called for fair and uniform change between radio and music labels and consulted with the FCC on a proposed set of universal “rules of engagement” that were formally adopted in early 2007 with major radio companies.

“The music industry finds itself at a crossroads,” A2IM President Rich Bengloff said. “With physical sales diminishing while digital music sales grow both online and in the mobile marketplace, A2IM has become a strong voice for independent labels.”

Posted by Andrew at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

FTC Probe Prompts BurnLounge Fallout

The CEO of digital download community BurnLounge resigned this week in the wake of an FTC investigation into the company's business practices. Alex Arnold is out; Grant Johnson, a board member and entertainment industry veteran, is in.

"This change in management is a first step towards a reinforced focus on building the entertainment company we’ve always envisioned,” said BurnLounge co-founder Stephen Murray in a press release. Co-founder Ryan Dadd said Johnson is "absolutely the right addition to our team."

Earlier this month, the FTC filed a complaint in a federal court alleging that BurnLounge is operating an illegal pyramid scheme. The firm believes the filing "does not reflect the reality or substance of our business." The court denied the agency's request for a temporary restraining order and BurnLounge is working with the FTC to resolve the case.

Read more about the FTC's complaint here.

Posted by Andrew at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More From The Floor: NXTComm

(Photo Credit: Ian Martinez)

The Telecommunication Industry Association's blogging machine Ian Martinez snapped a series of photos at the NXTComm conference in Chicago of exhibition hall booths that caught his eye. There were some architecturally stunning ones to be sure, but I bet he didn't capture a shot of Elvis with a coffee maker (from my CES blogfest).

Posted by Andrew at 09:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Groups Speak Out Against Patent Bill

Key members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees received a letter on Tuesday from more than 200 national organizations and businesses that oppose portions of a pair of patent reform bills currently under consideration.

In addition to the Innovation Alliance, signers of the letter include the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Medical Device Manufacturers Association, the Small Business Technology Council and others. The letter was also endorsed by small and large businesses, venture capital firms and multiple universities.

The letter states that H.R. 1908 and S. 1145 will: "hinder innovation across the diverse sectors of the American economy we represent, including academia, agriculture, alternative energy, biotechnology, chemicals, electronics, environmental technology, financial services, information technology, life sciences, manufacturing, nanotechnology, and telecommunications."

Read more about the opposition here.

Posted by Andrew at 09:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Activists Describe Multi-Media Tools For Message

Grassroots activism has become a multiplatform venture, said media panelists at the 2007 Take Back America conference. Collaborations between bloggers, filmmakers, and Web sites combined with the efforts of local activists on the ground were responsible for the spring shutdowns of two presidential debates Fox News sought to host. The debates were controversial for Democrats due to arguments over whether or not Fox News could be an unbiased host, and whether it should be considered a legitimate news source, panelists said.

“The victory you just saw described could not have happened without various groups, sometimes with different agendas, coming together to fight the good fight,” said panelist Robert Greenwald, director of the film “Outfoxed” and creator of Brave New Films, which is currently focusing on the production of political viral videos that have become prominent on YouTube.

The collaboration between Greenwald’s company, MoveOn.org, African-American political organization ColorOfChange.org and Air America created “mutually reinforcing activism,” said Adam Green, communications director for MoveOn Civic Action. “This is what movement activism really is,” he said. -- Sarah Myers

Posted by Heather at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New Spyware Scam Targets FTC

Consumers, including corporate and banking executives, appear to be targets of a bogus e-mail purportedly sent by the FTC but actually sent by parties trying to install spyware, the agency said Tuesday.

The scam e-mail poses as an acknowledgment of a complaint filed by the recipient, and includes an attachment. Consumers who open the file unleash harmful software onto their PC, the FTC said in a press release.

The hoax e-mail is personalized, and contains the name of the recipient and their business. The message explains how the complaint will be used, who will have access to it and states: “Attached you will find a copy of your complaint. Please print a hard copy of the complaint for your records in the upcoming investigation.”

An FTC spokeswoman would not reveal know how the agency first became aware of the spyware scam or which law enforcement entities might be helping track down the perpetrators.

Posted by Andrew at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jokes Aplenty At The NXTComm Conference

CHICAGO -- The morning session of the NXTComm conference here today was lively and full of humor -- much of it at the expense of the presenters.

Randall Stephenson has been chairman and CEO of AT&T for just more than two weeks now, and he said he has learned a major lesson during that short period of time. "The chairman still has to take out the trash at home and feed the dog," he said. "I learned that the hard way!"

At another point in the conference, Matt Ross, the group chief technology officer at BT, polled attendees about whether they have voice-mail systems on their home telephones, personal mobile phones, work mobile phones and office phones. When nearly 2,000 folks in the audience said yes to all of the above, Ross said, "I suggest counseling."

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, meanwhile, appeared at the show by live video conference and looked quite haggard . The reason he could not make it to the prestigious event in person? His wife is expected to deliver the couple’s second child today in Washington.

Telecom executives here joked that being the dutiful dad, Martin did not want to miss the "latest rollout" in his family.
-- Gene J. Koprowski, for Technology Daily

Posted by Danny at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Celine + Hillary = Campaign Mood Music?

The voters have spoken -- and Celine Dion and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will now officially join forces.

Clinton, D-N.Y., asked the Web for help in choosing a theme song for her presidential campaign earlier this spring. After weeks of intense competition, Dion's "You and I" edged out the other tunes on the ballot, which included hits by uber-popular groups like U2 and the Dixie Chicks.

Our friends at the Hotline wisely called attention to the fact that Dion is Canadian. The ballot was actually pretty well-stocked with foreigners. U2 is famously Irish. KT Tunstall is Scottish. Smashmouth hails from California -- but their song that was up for consideration, "I'm a Believer," was originally recorded by The Monkees, another U.K. outfit.

It should also be noted that Clinton teased the announcement of the winning song with a salute to the finale of "The Sopranos." In a video posted on her campaign site, she recreated the series' final scene, complete with a star acting turn by her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

It didn’t end with the couple eating onion rings, but it did feature Journey's 1981 power ballad "Don't Stop Believin," a ditty that rocketed into the top-20 on iTunes this month thanks largely to its now-infamous role in the final moments of the show. -- Michael Martinez

Posted by Andrew at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Study: P2P Is So Five Minutes Ago

After more than four years of peer-to-peer applications dominating network bandwidth, HTTP (Web) traffic has outpaced P2P and continues to grow, according to new research from by Ellacoya Networks, which sells broadband service optimization solutions.

The firm surveyed about a million broadband subscribers in North America to find that HTTP accounts for 46 percent of all network traffic -- thanks mainly to streaming audio and video sites. P2P claimed 37 percent and newsgroups held onto 9 percent. Non-HTTP video streaming, gaming and Internet-based telephony were the next widely used applications.

The company's findings revealed that traditional Web page downloads (text and images) represent 45 percent of all Web traffic; streaming video represents 36 percent and streaming audio held onto 5 percent of all HTTP traffic. YouTube alone comprises roughly 20 percent of all HTTP traffic, Ellacoya said.

"The way people use the Internet is changing rapidly -- from browsing to real-time streaming," said Ellacoya's Fred Sammartino in a press release. "We expect to see new applications over the next year that will accelerate this trend."

Posted by Andrew at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A Healthy Dose Of Copyright Protection?

Michael Moore's next documentary could possibly be on intellectual property laws, blogger Ann Althouse speculated. Technology Daily noted in Tuesday's AM Edition that Althouse observed he may tackle IP after viewing a video of Moore saying he supports free sharing of copyright-protected material.

We wonder how Moore would feel about the recent take-down of a full-length copy of his new documentary on the healthcare industry from the video-sharing site YouTube. AP reported that administrators removed the unauthorized copy of "Sicko" Monday after Lionsgate and distributor Weinstein Co. complained.

Moore had told Reuters on Saturday that he would not prosecute those circulating the bootleg copies after the film surfaced on the Internet over the weekend. He added: "I'm happy for people to see my movie. I'm not a big fan of the copyright laws in this country."

Perhaps someone inside the Beltway could question Moore about it on Wednesday if he attends the Washington screening of the movie, to which he has invited health care industry lobbyists whom he plans to film via webcam. -- Theresa Poulson

Posted by Andrew at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Behind The Scenes At NXTcomm

If you're not in Chicago for the NXTcomm conference, Ian Martinez would be happy to show you what you're missing. The Telecommunication Industry Association spokesman posted a pretty cool video on his trade group's blog on Monday -- a behind-the-scenes peek at the exhibition hall before attendees arrive. In the self-shot video, Martinez is assisted by what he calls his "SNFATBC" or Superstar Nerd Fest All-Terrain Blogging Cart.

Conference keynoters include Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers; FCC Chairman Kevin Martin; Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg; AT&T Chairman Randall Stephenson; General Electric Vice Chairman Bob Wright; and Motorola CEO Ed Zander. Read more about NXTcomm here.

Posted by Andrew at 03:07 PM |