The Piracy Debate: Is Copy Protection Taking A New Turn?

Posted by Eriq Gardner

As Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu and NBC Universal general counsel Rick Cotton participate in a New York Times-sponsored debate on the pros and cons of copy protection like anti-piracy technologies, we were pretty surprised to learn that Apple has just introduced a new MacBook laptop with no CD/DVD drive. Our tech-inclined, early-adopter friends tell us it's a must-grab.

If this new MacBook Air even approaches iPod-type adoption or signals the wave of the future for computer hardware makers, perhaps the debate over digital rights management is largely a moot one. Consumers may transition fully to getting their movies and music over the Internet where digital watermarking becomes way more important than the walking corpse of DRM.

More interesting, perhaps, is Day 2 of the Wu-Cotton debate or Wu's new column up on Slate that signals a slight shift in the war against piracy. Nowadays, the big hullabaloo is over how ISPs like AT&T and Comcast are monitoring Internet traffic for IP infringement and what they might do to crack down on piracy.

Actually, this is no longer an academic exercise. The Wu-Cotton debate dovetails nicely with the fierce lobbying campaign emanating from tech circles to prod the FCC to punish Comcast for blocking BitTorrent traffic and allegedly disobeying net neutrality rules. These rules were originally designed and promoted by tech companies like Google so that ISPs couldn't discriminate between content providers and charge a premium tax on better service, but has quickly evolved into a panicked stab at protecting a lot more.

FCC Chairman Promises Comcast Investigation

Posted by Eriq Gardner

The FCC's embrace of "Net Neutrality," the notion that ISPs should treat all traffic equally, is about to get its first test. A coalition of consumer groups and legal scholars is pushing the FCC to investigate complaints that Comcast Corp. actively interferes with Internet traffic as its subscribers try to share files online via BitTorrent.

At the Consumer Electronics Show yesterday in Las Vegas, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin responded with a somewhat unenthusiastic affirmative to a question posed by an audience member wondering if the agency will indeed investigate Comcast.

Those complaining about Comcast's actions want the company fined $195,000 for every affected subscriber.

Martin had much more to say yesterday on other topics, including approval of the proposed XM-Sirius merger, consumers’ fair use rights, and the digital TV transformation. Here's coverage of his speech.

FCC to Apartment-Dwellers: Pick Your TV Poison

Posted by Matthew Belloni

Finally, some non-expletive-related news from the FCC. Commissioner Kevin Martin (pictured) took a break from his crusade against indecency on TV to announce a ban on apartment owners making exclusive deals with cable providers that leave tenants with no choice about who get their cable TV from. Here's the THR story.

The decision makes illegal the common practice of big-city building owners making deals with cable companies to serve entire apartment buildings. From the story:

Advocates of the rule, which overturns a 2003 decision by the panel, say that it has kept phone companies, satellite TV providers and others from gaining access to those customers who are particularly important in cities like New York.

"People that live in apartment buildings deserve to have the same choices as people that live in the suburbs," FCC chairman Kevin Martin said before the vote. "In today's item, the commission found that people who live in apartment buildings often have no choice of companies when it comes to their video service provider. This is because building owners often strike exclusive deals with one cable operator to serve the entire building, eliminating competition."

The cable companies argue new rule will lead to higher prices because big apartment building owners were able to cut sweetheart deals to grant a monopoly over their tenants. And at least according to a spokeswoman for Comcast, the whole thing might end up in court over the FCC's voiding of thousands of existing contracts. Stay tuned.