Public Knowledge
July 23, 2010
15:29
No matter how many times the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says he has no intention of “regulating the Internet,” there will always be politicians using the talking points of the big telecommunications empires to attack him for wanting to “regulate the Internet.” read more
15:29
No matter how many times the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says he has no intention of “regulating the Internet,” there will always be politicians using the talking points of the big telecommunications empires to attack him for wanting to “regulate the Internet.” read more
12:07
What do printer cartridges, garage door openers, and universal power supply calibrations have in common? They all use copyrighted code, they all feature technological impediments to unauthorized execution of their code — and now they’ve all been the focus of appellate litigation under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
One of the most-litigated and most-argued provisions of the DMCA is section 1201, the “anti-circumvention” provision which forbids breaking or bypassing certain technological measures that protect copyrighted works. Broadly speaking, section 1201(a) deals with technological measures that restrict access to a copyrighted work, and 1201(b) deals with copy controls and other measures that restrict not your access to a work but what you can do with the work after accessing it. Section 1201(a) forbids both trafficking in circumvention tools and the act of circumvention itself; 1201(b) covers only trafficking. An ongoing source of controversy is whether and how closely ‘access’ under 1201(a) must be tied to an underlying act of copyright infringement before circumvention liability will attach. To put it another way, is what you were going to do with a work once you accessed it relevant to the question of whether you’re allowed to grant yourself access? Different appellate courts have come down on opposite sides of this issue, and another circuit court just waded into the mix. read more
12:07
What do printer cartridges, garage door openers, and universal power supply calibrations have in common? They all use copyrighted code, they all feature technological impediments to unauthorized execution of their code — and now they’ve all been the focus of appellate litigation under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
One of the most-litigated and most-argued provisions of the DMCA is section 1201, the “anti-circumvention” provision which forbids breaking or bypassing certain technological measures that protect copyrighted works. Broadly speaking, section 1201(a) deals with technological measures that restrict access to a copyrighted work, and 1201(b) deals with copy controls and other measures that restrict not your access to a work but what you can do with the work after accessing it. Section 1201(a) forbids both trafficking in circumvention tools and the act of circumvention itself; 1201(b) covers only trafficking. An ongoing source of controversy is whether and how closely ‘access’ under 1201(a) must be tied to an underlying act of copyright infringement before circumvention liability will attach. To put it another way, is what you were going to do with a work once you accessed it relevant to the question of whether you’re allowed to grant yourself access? Different appellate courts have come down on opposite sides of this issue, and another circuit court just waded into the mix. read more
July 22, 2010
09:16
I hope someone made a videotape of my debate with Ray Gifford at NARUC. For my money, it provided the most succinct and straightforward framework for arguing about FCC broadband authority and where we ought to go from here. Ray framed it quite well as a conflict in vision between a classic Progressive Era philosophy and “economic analytics.” While I’m willing to debate in the economic analytics world (the two are not mutually exclusive, and economics informs progressive philosophy as much as concerns about public safety and consumer protection inform economic analytics), I think this makes a fairly good framework for how to approach these issues. Indeed, as a result of framing this as a difference in worldview, we avoided a lot of the acrimony and repetition that usually defines these debates. I hope Ray posts his opening remarks somewhere. I present mine below. read more
09:16
I hope someone made a videotape of my debate with Ray Gifford at NARUC. For my money, it provided the most succinct and straightforward framework for arguing about FCC broadband authority and where we ought to go from here. Ray framed it quite well as a conflict in vision between a classic Progressive Era philosophy and “economic analytics.” While I’m willing to debate in the economic analytics world (the two are not mutually exclusive, and economics informs progressive philosophy as much as concerns about public safety and consumer protection inform economic analytics), I think this makes a fairly good framework for how to approach these issues. Indeed, as a result of framing this as a difference in worldview, we avoided a lot of the acrimony and repetition that usually defines these debates.
read more
08:59
The Associated Press brings us the news that both house of Congress have passed parallel bills to ban the use of cell phones and other wireless devices in federal prisons. The bill, S. 1749, was introduced to curb the illicit use of cell phones within prisons to conduct criminal business from inside prisons.
This solution stands in stark contrast to one that had been shopped around not too long ago by vendors of cell blocking tech, where prisons would install jammers to block cellular signals in and around prisons. Fortunately, instead of trotting out a technological solution (with its concomitant negative effects on legitimate users) to what is a broader problem, this bill attempts to address the problem by using tools already in place within the system. read more
08:59
The Associated Press brings us the news that both house of Congress have passed parallel bills to ban the use of cell phones and other wireless devices in federal prisons. The bill, S. 1749, was introduced to curb the illicit use of cell phones within prisons to conduct criminal business from inside prisons.
This solution stands in stark contrast to one that had been shopped around not too long ago by vendors of cell blocking tech, where prisons would install jammers to block cellular signals in and around prisons. Fortunately, instead of trotting out a technological solution (with its concomitant negative effects on legitimate users) to what is a broader problem, this bill attempts to address the problem by using tools already in place within the system. read more
July 19, 2010
15:11
For Immediate Release:
July 19, 2010
Earlier today, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) introduced the Spectrum Measurement and Policy Reform Act. You can read the bill text here. The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:“We congratulate Senator Snowe and Chairman Kerry on introducing a much-needed piece of legislation which recognizes the vital role of wireless technologies in our national economy.“The bill would help the government figure out what spectrum is being used by whom, require more flexible use of spectrum through sharing and reuse and give the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) much-needed authority to free up private and public sector spectrum by sharing auction proceeds with the current holders of spectrum. read more
15:11
For Immediate Release:
July 19, 2010
Earlier today, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) introduced the Spectrum Measurement and Policy Reform Act. You can read the bill text here. The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:“We congratulate Senator Snowe and Chairman Kerry on introducing a much-needed piece of legislation which recognizes the vital role of wireless technologies in our national economy.“The bill would help the government figure out what spectrum is being used by whom, require more flexible use of spectrum through sharing and reuse and give the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) much-needed authority to free up private and public sector spectrum by sharing auction proceeds with the current holders of spectrum. read more
15:10
For Immediate Release:
July 19, 2010
The Federal Communications Commission is expected tomorrow to issue its latest findings in the deployment of broadband services.The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:“We expect tomorrow to see for the first time a realistic assessment of the state of broadband services in the United States. Until now, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued reports finding the state of broadband was acceptable, even as other nations were passing us by.“The fact that a large percentage of the population simply has access to broadband, and slow broadband at that, is not acceptable. That would be like saying that everyone has access to food if there is one grocery store in a town. read more
15:10
For Immediate Release:
July 19, 2010
The Federal Communications Commission is expected tomorrow to issue its latest findings in the deployment of broadband services.The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:“We expect tomorrow to see for the first time a realistic assessment of the state of broadband services in the United States. Until now, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued reports finding the state of broadband was acceptable, even as other nations were passing us by.“The fact that a large percentage of the population simply has access to broadband, and slow broadband at that, is not acceptable. That would be like saying that everyone has access to food if there is one grocery store in a town. read more
July 18, 2010
14:25
Rep. John Culberson is on a mission. The Texas Republican wants to prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from "regulating the Internet." Except in the instances in which he wants to regulate it, of course.
The problem is that in pursuing AT&T’s talking points while badgering FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski at a hearing, the former trial lawyer (yes, Republicans can be trial lawyers, despite their party’s dislike of them) has presented a weak case that no judge or jury would ever buy for the simple reason that both he and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski agree on the fundamental point of contention. Neither wants to regulate “the Internet.”
read more
July 16, 2010
10:34
Yesterday, Public Knowledge filed comments (PDF) / comments (Web) on the FCC’s “Third Way” proposal. Essentially, we asked the FCC to reverse its past mistake and recognize that the broadband market has come a long way since 2002. Until recently, the FCC thought that it already had figured out how to deal with broadband. However, since the court in the Comcast decision told them that they were wrong, the FCC has been working on a new way to adapt to modern reality. read more
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