Digital Discourse / Policy

Intellectual Property Roundup

August 22, 2013 By

Enforcement News

IRS May Be Breaking Software Copyright Laws, Audit Finds (The Washington Times)
A new audit found the IRS is handling its software licenses poorly and may be in violation of copyright laws.

Will Copyright Be Extended 20 More Years? An Old Debate Returns (GigaOM)
In 1998, Congress agreed to grant another 20 years of copyright protection to every film, book and song in the land. Now, the laws are under review once again, raising the question whether another extension will take place.

3-D Printing Pitting Fans Vs. Copyright (San Francisco Chronicle)
As 3-D printing is becoming more ubiquitous, corporations are having to balance protection of their copyrights vs. the potential backlash of taking their fans to court. So far, 3-D printing disputes have been playing out as cease-and-desist orders — no lawsuits have yet been filed.

EBook Sellers Strike Deal To Share Customer Details With Anti-Piracy Outfit (Torrent Freak)
A new digital distribution deal for eBook merchants will see them ‘watermark’ unique codes into the digital eBooks they sell, which will identify a specific transaction number that will be linked directly to a specific customer account.

IP Policy News

Lower House To Consider Public Petition Against ‘Russian SOPA’ (RT)
A top Russian Lower House MP has promised to consider a public petition against the recently passed anti-piracy law which permits web-sites allegedly posting pirated content to be blocked without a court order.

Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.2

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Policy, Policy - Intellectual Property

Serious Business Challenges Posed by NSA Surveillance Revelations

August 20, 2013 By

Recent revelations about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance efforts have clearly changed the privacy landscape for the remainder of 2013, if not much longer. This is a complex policy issue with very broad implications.

Importantly for SIIA members, it is one that poses the following serious business challenges:  (1) enhanced privacy concerns among customers around the world, (2) policymakers around the world seeking to restrict the cross-border flow of data and enact technology localization requirements, and (3) conflation of private sector data collection with government surveillance as an inseparable public-private partnership that necessitates strict new commercial privacy legislation or regulations—FTC Commission Julie Brill has recently made this connection in an op-ed, which has also come from influential thought-leaders such as former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta.

As a preliminary assessment, the Information Technology Innovation Foundation (ITIF) estimates that the U.S. cloud computing industry alone could lose up to $35 billion over the next three years if foreign customers decide the risks of storing data with a U.S. company outweigh the benefits.

SIIA has been very engaged in policy debates surrounding this issue for several months, and we expect to remain highly engaged to combat these challenges for months to come.  Recently, SIIA President Ken Wash was invited to a meeting at the White House in early August, which was one of several consultations leading up to the President’s call for reforms to NSA programs on August 9.

As a follow-up to the discussion with Administration officials and the SIIA this week joined with other leading technology trade associations in sending a letter to Administration officials urging that discussions about national security must be kept separate from conversations about commercial privacy issues, as the policy considerations in these two areas are distinct. In the letter, SIIA and industry partner organizations made the following recommendations for action that are likely to frame our priorities for the remainder of 2013:

  1. Implement transparency with respect to national security programs – in order to separate fact from fiction regarding the intersection of private sector IT companies and the U.S. Government, it is critical that the Administration enhance transparency and enable companies to share information publicly about the scope and frequency of Government inquiries;
  2. Promote policies that allow for unimpeded cross-border data flows such as the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework – We are already seeing that longstanding and effective cross-border data mechanisms are being questioned in light of the recent disclosures about the U.S. government surveillance programs. For instance, recent statements by government officials in the EU indicate a lack of “trust” in the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor framework, which allows for the transfer of information from the EU to the U.S. for participating companies. This is one of many critical policies that facilitate digital trade for U.S. companies, and it is critical that U.S. government must vigorously engage with the international community to promote cross-border data flows while addressing privacy and civil liberties concerns; and
  3. Support reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to enhance privacy in law enforcement investigations – SIIA has been a leading supporter of ECPA, seeking to update the outdated statue by correcting the double-standard that inappropriately provides for a lower level of privacy for communications stored remotely, or “in the cloud.” Currently, the law provides for a challenging legal environment for industry and a disincentive for customers to embrace hosted information and communications technology solutions as an alternative to on-premise solutions.

SIIA believes that these are critical steps to ensuring that concerns about U.S. Government surveillance do not impose an unnecessary impediment to U.S. information technology businesses.  We are also closely monitoring a range of proposals in Congress that would seek to enhance transparency surrounding U.S. Government surveilance.  The  Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013 (S.1452) was introduced by Senator Al Franken on August 1st, 2013, and the Surveillance Order Reporting Act of 2013 (H.R.3035) was introduced by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren on August 2nd, 2013.  SIIA has not endorsed any bill at this point, but the Lofgren-Franken approach goes in the right direction by allowing companies to reveal how many national security requests they have received, how many they have complied with and how many users or accounts are affected.

We will continue to focus heavily on this critical issue to promote the ability of U.S. businesses to thrive in the U.S. and markets around the world.  To that end, we will provide further updates regarding new developments.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

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Filed Under: Content, Education, Education Policy, Policy, Policy - Privacy, PSIG, Software Tagged With: , ,

Public Sector Innovation Roundup

August 19, 2013 By

DOD aiming for 30-day approval for mobile devices: The Department of Defense announced this week that it is overhauling its process for approving mobile phones, tablets and apps aiming to get new technologies in the hands of personnel quicker. Under the new policy, DOD hopes to be able to approve new technologies within 30 days. To speed the process DOD is working with industry to ensure that devices are built to DOD standards. This action follows the awarding of a mobile device management contract in June. DOD expects the process to be fully operational by April. Federal Times has a report.

DHS adds 18 to EAGLE II: DHS announced this week it has added 18 new companies to the EAGLE II contract, 11 for business and technical management and 7 for service delivery. Each EAGLE II contract comes with a 5 year base period of performance with 2 options years. Overall EAGLE II is expected to be worth approximately $22 billion over the life of the contract. See GovConWire for more.

OASIS RFP Protested: In procurement news, there have been two protests related to the release of the GSA OASIS RFP a couple of weeks ago, one filed with GAO challenging the terms of the solicitation and another filed at the agency level challenging the evaluation criteria. GAO said it will rule on the protest by October 18th and under the FAR agency-level protests must be dealt with in 35 days. Questions on the RFP are due August 20th and responses due September 17th. FedNewsRadio reports.

DHS awards continuous monitoring BPA: DHS award 17 companies a spot on the new continuous monitoring and diagnostics contract, which could be worth up to $6 billion. Under the terms of the award companies can provide tools, hardware and software, designed to implement continuous monitoring as a service (CMaaS) at civilian agencies. See FedNewsRadio for more, including a list of BPA winners.

MyUSA.gov moving forward: MyUSA.gov, a personalized web services portal for citizen interaction with government moved closer to reality as GSA released a notice in the Federal Register seeking comments regarding information collection related to the program. The program itself is being developed by the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program and was included in a July 8th speech by President Obama announcing his plans for a new management agenda, designed to leverage technology to drive government innovation. See the Federal Register Notice here.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG. Sign up for the Public Sector Innovation Roundup email newsletter for weekly updates.

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Filed Under: Policy, PSIG Tagged With: ,

Intellectual Property Roundup

August 7, 2013 By

German News Sites Opt For Google Exposure For Now (ABC News)
Major German publishers gave Google permission to keep using their content on its news page as tighter online copyright rules came into force, but insist their dispute over payment for content isn’t over.

Copyright Policy, Creativity and Innovation in the Digital Economy (U.S. Patent & Trademark Office)
The U.S. Department of Commerce released a green paper on Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy. The paper is a comprehensive analysis of digital copyright policy intended to advance discussion on the issue. Read the full report here.

SOPA Died in 2012, But Obama Administration Wants to Revive Part of It (The Washington Post)
The report on digital copyright policy issued by the Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force endorsed one piece of the controversial SOPA proposal – making the streaming of copyrighted works a felony.

Judge Says Patent Lawyers Have Right to Science Articles Under ‘Fair Use’ (GigaOM)
In a case between patent lawyers and copyright lawyers over the scientific articles submitted as part of most patent applications, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Keyes sided with the patent lawyers, ruling that the reason they made unlicensed copies of the articles was to comply with the law for submitting applications to the patent office, not to compete within the market for scientific journals.

Search Engines Not Seen as a Major Player in Music Piracy (The Verge)
A new report from the nonprofit Computer and Communications Industry Association claims that “the solutions to online infringement have little to do with search,” and removing “undesirable” search results would not substantially alter or prevent piracy. Read the full report here.

‘Russian SOPA’ Anti-Piracy Law’s First Day Full of Protests and a Failed Lawsuit (International Business Times)
Russia’s new anti-piracy law went into effect on July 31, and was met with criticism and a failed lawsuit. More than 1,700 sites went dark in a SOPA-style protest.

First Content Ban Imposed Under Anti-Piracy Law (The Moscow Times)
TV channel TNT has become the first company to successfully file claims against illegal distributors of their content under new anti-piracy legislation in Russia.

Comcast Developing Anti-Piracy Alternative to ‘Six Strikes’ (Variety)
Comcast has begun preliminary discussions with both film and TV studios and other leading Internet service providers about employing technology that would provide offending users with opportunities to access legal versions of copyright-infringing videos as they’re being downloaded.

Music Publishers File Copyright Suit Against Big YouTube Channel Operator (The Verge)
A group of music publishers and songwriters have claimed in a copyright lawsuit that Fullscreen, which operates a network of popular YouTube channels, is including unlicensed music in its videos.

Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.2

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Policy, Policy - Intellectual Property

SIIA Digital Policy Roundup: Commerce Dept. Publishes Copyright Paper, House Commerce Committee Establishes Privacy Working Group, and Patent Litigation Reform Efforts will Resume After Recess

August 7, 2013 By

Commerce Dept. Publishes Long-Awaited Copyright Paper:

On July 31st, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (DOC) Internet Policy Task Force (IPTF) published a green paper, titled “Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy,” that discusses the availability, protection, and enforcement of copyrighted works in the online environment. The purpose of the green paper is to review the development of copyright policy in the face of new technologies, assess the current challenges facing copyright law, and provide a set of recommendations to address some of those challenges. With a few minor exceptions, the green paper does not propose any specific legislative changes or any other specific actions.

However, the Paper does set forth a comprehensive plan for conducting future studies in several areas, including studies relating to: (1) accessing the applicability of the first sale doctrine in the digital environment. (numerous licensing issues are identified in the paper, including the increasing tendency of content owners to “structure the transaction as a license rather than a sale, avoiding application of the first sale doctrine.”); (2) improving the operation of the notice-and-takedown system under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; (3) applying statutory damages to individual file sharers as opposed to large-scale infringers; and (4) determining the appropriate role for the government, if any, to help improve the online licensing environment, including access to comprehensive public and private databases of rights information.

House Commerce Committee Establishes Privacy Working Group

Just prior to adjourning for August recess, House Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Lee Terry (R-NE) and Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) launched a bipartisan Privacy Working Group to examine online privacy concerns and issues. The established goal of the Group is to “examine the complex issues with a balanced approach that recognizes the need to protect personal information online in a manner that preserves growth and innovation.” While it is unlikely that this Group will push legislation in the limited time remaining this session, it remains to be seen whether any bipartisan consensus emerges following months of information gathering.

Patent Litigation Reform Efforts will Resume After Recess

At the outset of the summer, we anticipated that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) would release a revised version of his patent litigation abuse discussion draft prior to the August recess and that the draft might possibly be introduced as a bill just prior to the recess. But like many summer blockbusters, this release date too has been pushed back. While this delay should not be considered a step back in the effort to get legislation passed, it is an indication that Chairman Goodlatte plans to proceed more methodically in an effort to ensure that any legislation in this area strikes the right balance and addresses the patent troll problem in an effective and meaningful way without the need to seek additional legislation in the future.

For the latest key policy developments affecting the software and digital content industries, subscribe to the Digital Policy Roundup Newsletter.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

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Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Policy

Intellectual Property Roundup

July 31, 2013 By

Textbook Publishers Revamp Ebooks to Fight Used Market (4-traders)
A booming market for used college textbooks has saved students much money, but forced publishers to turn to a new, digital model of online versions of their texts.

Congress Betrays 3M to Google Over Patent Fees With Cuts (Bloomberg)
Google and 3M are among the top patent-holding companies that agreed two years ago to pay higher fees if Congress let the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office use the funds to address a work backlog and improve application scrutiny, but the companies are crying foul now that Congress has instead held back as much as $148 million in fees due to automatic federal spending cuts.

Viacom Demands New Judge in YouTube Copyright Fight (The Hollywood Reporter)
Viacom filed papers at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and made the case why its long-running dispute against YouTube deserves another chance, despite having been dismissed twice on summary judgment.

AP, Meltwater Settle Copyright Dispute (USA Today)
The Associated Press says it has settled a copyright-infringement lawsuit against digital news distributor Meltwater and that the two companies will begin developing products together.

Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.2

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Policy - Intellectual Property

SIIA Digital Policy Roundup: Mobile App Privacy Code of Conduct Approved, Cybersecurity Gets a Legislative Boost, E-Rate Expansion and Postal Reform Move Forward

July 30, 2013 By

Mobile App Privacy Code of Conduct Approved, Testing is Next Step

At the last scheduled meeting of the Department of Commerce-led multistakeholder initiative on mobile app transparency, SIIA joined a wide range of groups voting in support of the voluntary Code of Conduct, citing it as a useful model for app providers to develop short privacy statements about an apps data collection and sharing practices. After the meeting, DOC Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling lauded the effort, stating “today a diverse group of stakeholders reached a seminal milestone in the efforts to enhance consumer privacy on mobile devices,” and encouraging all the companies that participated in the discussion to move forward to test the code with their consumers. SIIA will be providing additional information in the coming weeks to educate SIIA members about the Code and how they might want to use this as a model for providing enhanced mobile app transparency.

Cybersecurity Gets a Boost from Bipartisan Senate Legislation

Bipartisan cybersecurity legislation, the Cybersecurity Act of 2013 (S. 1353), introduced recently by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Ranking Republican John Thune (R-SD), moved quickly through the Cmte. hearing and markup process, being approved today by a voice vote. SIIA supports the legislation because it would accomplish several objectives for protecting the Nation from cyber threats. Although Congress is heading into August recess next week, this legislation revitalizes hope that Congress could enact consensus cybersecurity legislation this year. Meanwhile, discussions are still ongoing among Congressional leaders regarding legislation to enhance cyber information sharing, another critical objective of SIIA that has yet to see significant bipartisan consensus. Expect cybersecurity to be a major issue through the end of the Congressional session.

SIIA Supports E-Rate Expansion as Proposal Moves Forward

Earlier this month, SIIA praised the Federal Communications Commission for approving a new rulemaking aimed at updating and enhancing the E-Rate. The vote follows President Obama’s “ConnectEd” proposal last month to enhance high-speed broadband connectivity for the nation’s schools and libraries, which calls for leveraging the Program within five years connect 99 percent of America’s students through next-generation broadband (at speeds no less than 100Mbps and with a target of 1Gbps), and high-speed wireless within, their schools and libraries. This is still the early stages of E-Rate expansion, but a critical step. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.

Postal Reform Moves Forward in House, Preserves Periodical Rate

Last week, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform voted to approve the The Postal Reform Act of 2013. Importantly for SIIA members, the Postal Reform Act of 2013 maintains the Consumer Price Index-based rate structure and also establishes a common sense timetable to evaluate rates and cost coverage for classes of periodicals and other classes of mail. SIIA hailed the Cmte. vote and legislation as the right approach to get the USPS back on the path to financial stability and to provide a reliable and sustainable delivery service for mailers. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.

For the latest key policy developments affecting the software and digital content industries, subscribe to the Digital Policy Roundup Newsletter.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

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Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Policy
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