Vogel Internet, Information Technology and e-Discovery Blog : Texas Internet, Information Technology, eCommerce & E-Discovery Lawyer & Attorney Peter S. Vogel : Gardere Wynne Sewell Law Firm : Dallas TX

Google is always making news, but the report that the Google Apps have new features to compete with Microsoft Office is interesting as more users rely on free Google Apps. It’s hard to fathom that Wikipedia could be used as a news source, but Google is trying that out since so many users rely on Wikipedia as a source of reliable information. Without question Google continues to grow and evolve in interesting directions, clearly something we all have to watch.

Google vs. Microsoft (including Free Windows 7)

Notwithstanding the ongoing search engine wars between Google and the universe, Google Apps are apparently improving at time with Microsoft users are unhappy with the additional features in Office 2007 which causes new complications for users. Specifically the new features in Google spreadsheet are an improvement over Excel, and with the general unhappiness of Microsoft Vista clearly many users are awaiting Windows 7. So Microsoft’s original game-plan to move the PC world from XP to an new operating system, and of course related revenue from upgrades to the Office Suite, got a major stall since Vista has been such a major dud. So it’s not much of a surprise that Microsoft has revealed that users can get Windows 7 free or very low cost when released later this year if they buy a new computer now with the upgrade.

Wikipedia As A News Source?

Often Wikipedia shows up at the top of many Google searches and as result users tend to rely on Wikipedia has grown to over 2.9 articles. But recently Google News has also been including Wikipedia links so that users can read more about topics. Interestingly enough no one at Google asked Wikipedia and the folks at Wikipedia learned of the new Google News service use of Wikipedia by reading the Nieman Journalism Lab. With this evolution Google News has positioned the collaborative written source Wikipedia in direct competition with the New York Times, Washington Post, AOL, CNN, and other news sources.

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A Minneapolis jury awarded a number of recording companies damages for willful infringement of 24 songs in the only trial for file-sharing by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) of the estimated 30,000 lawsuits they filed before ceasing litigation last year. The RIAA settled most lawsuits for about $3,500 and now the RIAA stopped filing suits and is working with ISPs to stop file-sharing.

Second Trial

The first jury trial in 2007 resulted in a verdict of $222,000 but the federal judge vacated the verdict as result of improper jury instructions. Apparently the second jury was also convinced that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully infringed 24 songs by file-sharing and awarded damages of $80,000 per song. Ms. Thomas-Rasset, a single mother of four, asserts that she cannot pay these damages.

Willful Infringement

Under the 1976 Copyright Act damages for willful infringement damages could be as high as $150,000. So in both of Ms. Thomas-Rasset’s trials the juries concluded that she was a willful infringer. The fact that the RIAA stopped filing lawsuits was based on the large number of alleged infringers bespeaks volumes about the fact that file-sharing is a very large problem on the Internet, and litigation may not be the best way to solve the problem.

Apple to the Rescue

In 2001 when the 9th Circuit upheld infringement claims for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement against Napster under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) there were many requests for the US Congress to reform the Copyright Act and the DMCA since that the Internet had changed the way people listen to music, however neither the Copyright Act nor DMCA were changed. Actually Apple solved the problem by introducing the iPod and allowing people to inexpensively downloading music, tv shows, and movies. Not only did the iPod solve this copyright problem it also improved Apple’s financial circumstances and market share.

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Behavior Advertising

A recent privacy blog discussed the February 2009 Federal Trade Commission Staff Report entitled “Self-Regulatory Principles For Online Behavioral Advertising,” and the opt-out questions posed by Congress are at the heart of whether new Internet privacy laws are required. The Internet economy, and certainly Google is chief example, are dependent upon the current behavioral advertising model and surely will be impacted by a change in the privacy laws in the US.

eMail Surveillance

Most US citizens believe that their emails are private. However employee privacy regarding emails in the workplace (not personal webmail) may be misplaced since in the US emails are private to employers and in the EU, Canada, and other countries emails are private to the employees. Nevertheless there are more questions being asked in Congress about how many e-mails are being collected in the name of security. The recent report that National Security Agency exceed its authority by intercepting emails and phone calls continues to be debated in Congress. Given President Obama’s cybersecurity agenda it will be interesting to see how the US congress can reconcile the expectation of personal privacy and need for Internet security. These debates will continue as the Internet evolves. Stay tuned for more.
 

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Apparently the US Justice Department is investigating anticompetitive behavior concerning among others Google, Yahoo! , and Apple since many Internet companies restrict recruiting and hiring of one another’s employees. Since anticompetitive employment agreements in the technology industry are the norm it’s particularly interesting that the Justice Department is pursuing these companies. Internet and IT companies rely of these non-competition provisions to protect trade secrets and Intellectual Property so it will be interesting to see how this develops.

EU Unhappy with Microsoft for Not Distributing a Browser

Following the antitrust dispute in the EU regarding Microsoft’s alleged monopolization of the browser market, Microsoft recently announced that when it distributes Windows 7 there not be any browser. The EU regulators are unhappy with this solution, even though on the surface it does seem that the complaining browser companies (Google, Mozilla, and Opera) should be pleased since they claimed that Microsoft’s embedded Internet Explorer violates antitrust laws.

Are Antitrust Laws Out of Touch with the Internet?

Since antitrust laws evolved from the need to try control monopolies in the 1800’s how much sense does it make to still use these concepts in the Internet world of 2009? Microsoft’s deployment of its operations systems took over the PC market was great for the users since before Microsoft there was no operating system standard on PCs. My Internet Third Big Bang was the 1981 advent of the PC, not just because IBM and Microsoft got into the market, but as result of the PC Clones using Microsoft operating systems a de facto standard developed on Microsof. As a result users could depend on continuity and consistency between software and applications. So maybe the US and EU should re-evaluate antitrust laws for the Internet and IT world that we live with today and in the future.

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No surprise that the Chinese government blocked social networking on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown at Tiananmen Square. As a matter of fact just before the Olympic Games began in August 2008 China limited Internet access as the government wanted control over information before and during the Games. Many people from the West were surprised since China was hosting the international Games, but it seems logical that a totalitarian government would not change its behavior in such a circumstance.

More Social Networking

It’s about time that smaller businesses got the clue that they need to use social networking to promote their activities, so it’s no surprise to read reports that small businesses are directing their efforts to attract traffic with social networks. Targeted advertising works even better on the Internet, but learning how to identify potential customers has always been a primary goal of marketing.

In February 2009 the Federal Trade Commission issued its FTC Staff Report entitled “Self-Regulatory Principles For Online Behavioral Advertising” following public hearings and “sixty-three comments on the Principles from eighty-seven stakeholders, including individual companies, business groups, academics, consumer and privacy advocates.” Since the US relies on self-regulation of privacy these comments were all considered before releasing the Principles. One need merely review Google’s Analytics site to how much information about is captured about our activity on the Internet. The fact that this monetized is one thing, but the potential loss of privacy has many alarmed.

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When President Obama spoke about cybersecurity last week the Whitehouse also released a 40 page “Cyberspace Policy Review” that included a thorough analysis concluding that the world’s economy is dependence on the Internet. The Cyberspace Policy Review reinforced my Five Big Bang Theory of the Internet and is detailed in an Appendix (see chart below) which includes a reminder to the US about the October 1957 launch of Sputnik got the US started on its space race. Sputnik led President Kennedy to his 1961 promise to put a person 'on the moon by the end of the decade.’ President Kennedy’s promise directly led to funding of DARPA in 1962 that started to the Internet.

How Secure is the Internet?

Recent blogs questioning the state of Internet security and how well the US manages cybersecurity reinforce the need for an improvement in cybersecurity not only by the US, but other countries around the world. To improve cybersecurity countries around the world will have to unite, it is not possible for the US to succeed without partnerships with its allies which is stressed in the Cyberspace Policy Review. Last year there were reports that the Russian Business Network hijacked the websites of the Georgian government, and there continue to be headlines in that vein with militants and countries with political unrest.

Partnerships Required

The Cyberspace Policy Review makes the point that partnerships of all sorts are required between federal, state, and local governments, as well as private enterprise. Ironically enough the Cyberspace Policy Review points out that most of the Internet infrastructure is owned by private enterprise for commercial reasons. Accordingly if the new cybersecurity plans are to be successful surely all the players will have to work together as partners. Appointing a Cybersecurity Czar will not solve the problems identified in the Cyberspace Policy Review, rather hopefully the Cybersecurity Czar will allow the US to focus energies to help protect the Internet and its infrastructure.

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