Innovation Policy Post

Two current stories are worth noting on the copyright term extension front.  First, several weeks ago, the EU adopted a resolution that extended the copyright term for sound recordings by 20 years.  While this extension was supported by record companies and collection agencies, it was not favored by artists, even though the Council of the European Union said in a statement issued after the vote that “[t]he main reason for such an extension is to allow performers to receive income for their recorded performances over a longer period than has so far been the case."

The reason for the artist opposition is because the actual owners of the copyrights are not often the artists, due to contractual terms.  Extensions of copyright terms are defensible only financially. These works are already created, so the typical incentivization-to-create argument does not stand, leaving only the further-exploitation argument.

The advertising industry has drafted a self-regulatory framework this year to meet legal requirements regarding the placement of cookies on Internet users’ machines for the purpose of online behavioral advertising. This framework, drafted in response to legal requirements, is based on an opt-out approach. The approach would enable Internet users to obtain relevant information about the purpose of data collection, and then have the possibility to opt out of behavioral advertising schemes, if requested. 

Ahh, the co-ordinated effects possible between two giant duopolists.

CCIA has been deeply involved for a long time in efforts to convince Congress to give the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) the attention it deserves. ECPA, written in 1986, dictates under what circumstances the government may demand a person’s information when it is stored online. The law predates much of what we know as the Internet today, such as social networking, cloud computing, and mobile technology. While Congress did the best it could with what was known at the time, the law is now showing its age in serious ways.

Top experts on search engines told Capitol Hill staffers at an event organized by CCIA Tuesday that there is healthy competition among search engines.

Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of Search Engine Land, a website that reports on the online search market, said that it has never been unusual for businesses or advertisers to complain about where they come up in search results. What is new here he said is that businesses are arguing that their low rankings are an antitrust issue for the government to fix. 

The tech industry helped launch the push for patent reform six years ago, but it was not among those cheering the passage of the bill yesterday. Those applauding the loudest were those who originally fought patent reform, and instead managed to get the bill so watered down that it no longer promised real reforms.

The past week has seen two different federal court decisions that have a bearing on the privacy of your location, particularly information that can be gleaned from the use of an average cell phone. 

This information, usually called "cell-site location" data, is gathered and stored by cell phone service providers in the course of their business, and it reflects which cell towers your phone uses to send and receive phone calls. Depending on the density of cell towers in a location, the accuracy of this information can range from within miles down to a city block or smaller. In the current Electronic Communciations Privacy Act, the standards for when the government may demand this information from the phone companies is not at all clear, and a mishmash of standards has arisen, mostly driven by the Department of Justice's own interpretation of the law, which requires a minimum of judicial oversight.

A study performed by University of California at Irvine professor of economics David Neumark and released today confirms that AT&T's proposed take-over of T-Mobile, if approved, would cost the American economy tens-of-thousands of jobs.  The study shows that AT&T would shed jobs to eliminate redundancy and overlap in the merged company and reduce overall network investment.  Professor Neumark's work debunks the unsubstantiated claims AT&T has made to sell the merger to policymakers and regulators - namely that acquiring T-Mobile will lead to an increase in jobs.