The global music market achieved a “key milestone” in 2015 as digital became the “primary revenue stream” for recorded music, overtaking sales of physical formats for the first time, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in its annual state of the industry report, as it sought copyright-policy changes. By the end of 2015, digital sales generated 45 percent of total revenue, vs. 39 percent for physical formats, said the report released Tuesday. RIAA recently reported that in 2015, for the first year ever, streaming was the largest component of music revenue, slightly higher than downloads (see 1603220061), and said tech companies aren't paying their share of royalties.

The global music market achieved a “key milestone” in 2015 as digital became the “primary revenue stream” for recorded music, overtaking sales of physical formats for the first time, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in its annual state of the industry report, as it sought copyright-policy changes. By the end of 2015, digital sales generated 45 percent of total revenue, vs. 39 percent for physical formats, said the report released Tuesday. RIAA recently reported that in 2015, for the first year ever, streaming was the largest component of music revenue, slightly higher than downloads (see 1603220061), and said tech companies aren't paying their share of royalties.

A last-minute campaign by Fight for the Future raised the public profile of the Copyright Office’s study of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s Section 512 ahead of Friday night's deadline for public feedback on the study. CO reported Monday that it collected more than 91,000 comments. Fight for the Future claimed credit Monday for generating more than 86,000 of the Section 512 comments via users who used its TakeDownAbuse.org website, which the digital rights group said had affected the performance of the federal government’s Regulations.gov website. Fight for the Future is planning to send the CO an additional 11,000 Section 512 comments collected after the filing deadline via a petition. The CO didn’t comment Monday.

A last-minute campaign by Fight for the Future raised the public profile of the Copyright Office’s study of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s Section 512 ahead of Friday night's deadline for public feedback on the study. CO reported Monday that it collected more than 91,000 comments. Fight for the Future claimed credit Monday for generating more than 86,000 of the Section 512 comments via users who used its TakeDownAbuse.org website, which the digital rights group said had affected the performance of the federal government’s Regulations.gov website. Fight for the Future is planning to send the CO an additional 11,000 Section 512 comments collected after the filing deadline via a petition. The CO didn’t comment Monday.

Law enforcement is seeing real problems as advanced encrypted technologies prevent the government from gaining access to people's communications devices during investigations, and trade-offs do need to be made, a top DOJ official said Thursday. David Bitkower, principal deputy assistant attorney general, spoke during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) panel discussion on the encryption issue that pitted him against five others, whom he described jokingly as ranging from "extremely opposed to the government's position to really extremely opposed to the government's position."

Law enforcement is seeing real problems as advanced encrypted technologies prevent the government from gaining access to people's communications devices during investigations, and trade-offs do need to be made, a top DOJ official said Thursday. David Bitkower, principal deputy assistant attorney general, spoke during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) panel discussion on the encryption issue that pitted him against five others, whom he described jokingly as ranging from "extremely opposed to the government's position to really extremely opposed to the government's position."

Law enforcement is seeing real problems as advanced encrypted technologies prevent the government from gaining access to people's communications devices during investigations, and trade-offs do need to be made, a top DOJ official said Thursday. David Bitkower, principal deputy assistant attorney general, spoke during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) panel discussion on the encryption issue that pitted him against five others, whom he described jokingly as ranging from "extremely opposed to the government's position to really extremely opposed to the government's position."

One big area of contention as the FCC moves forward on an NPRM on ISP privacy rules, set for a vote Thursday, is how well the FCC is positioned to take on the issue, especially relative to the FTC. The FCC has had long-standing rules on carrier protection of customer proprietary network information (CPNI), but critics questioned the level of FCC expertise on the highly technical issues of privacy.

One big area of contention as the FCC moves forward on an NPRM on ISP privacy rules, set for a vote Thursday, is how well the FCC is positioned to take on the issue, especially relative to the FTC. The FCC has had long-standing rules on carrier protection of customer proprietary network information (CPNI), but critics questioned the level of FCC expertise on the highly technical issues of privacy.

Attempts to weaken or restrict encryption would have a damaging impact on the overall digital economy, including undermining systems, increasing consumer costs, and diminishing America's global competitiveness, said the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in a report released Monday (see 1603040023). ITIF authors Daniel Castro and Alan McQuinn said the U.S. government should promote better cybersecurity practices around the world, "in part by encouraging continued innovation in encryption." They said the government can rebuild trust in the domestic technology sector through strong data security practices in the U.S. Congress should prohibit NSA from "intentionally weakening encryption standards" and improve transparency of the cryptographic standards-setting process, they said. It should also pass legislation to ban efforts to install back doors into products and services and preempt any similar actions by state governments, plus oppose other governments' initiatives to introduce back doors into products and services or weaken encryption, they wrote. Castro and McQuinn said Congress should set "clear rules for how and when law enforcement can hack into private systems, and how and when law enforcement can compel companies to assist in investigations." And it should provide more resources to law enforcement in investigations and analysis of digital evidence, they said.