New generic top-level domain (gTLD) .organic entered general availability Tuesday, said domain registry Afilias in a news release (http://bit.ly/1s5doUl). The gTLD can “only be used by companies and organizations that are certified or otherwise meet stringent eligibility requirements,” it said. “Authentic organic organizations can now rise above the dotcom confusion with an Internet address that sets them apart as organic,” said Roland LaPlante, Afilias chief marketing officer.
Criticism of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Section 1201 will be displayed in Wednesday’s House Judiciary IP Subcommittee hearing on copyright protection and management systems (http://1.usa.gov/1uzxrYP), based on prepared testimony. The section “impedes competition and innovation,” said Corynne McSherry, Electronic Frontier Foundation intellectual property director (http://1.usa.gov/1ARhdez). She cited the DMCA’s prohibition on cellphone unlocking (WID Aug 26 p9) as an example of the act’s crippling of consumer innovation, saying such prohibitions have “nothing to do with preventing infringement.” Section 1201 also “chills free expression,” “scientific research” and “jeopardizes fair use,” she said. Congress should “fix the problems with section 1201 of the DMCA by limiting violations of the circumvention prohibitions to cases where there is a nexus with actual copyright infringement,” said Mark Richert, American Foundation for the Blind public policy director (http://1.usa.gov/1qUSm8w). Section 1201 isn’t “without flaws,” but has “proven effective and flexible enough to provide for and deal with continued innovation in the tech sector,” said Jonathan Zuck, Association for Competitive Technology president (http://1.usa.gov/1pijhG8). Congress should be “wary of dismantling” Section 1201, he said. The DMCA “carefully balances prohibitions with exceptions and includes the ’safety valve’ of the triennial review process,” said Christian Genetski, Entertainment Software Association general counsel (http://1.usa.gov/ZoeDRU), calling the DMCA “fundamentally sound.” The DMCA’s “anti-circumvention provisions have served the statute’s intended purposes well,” he said. Technological protection measures in the DMCA have “played a pivotal role in reducing piracy” in the gaming industry, said Genetski. The hearing is at 10 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn.
Inmarsat launched IsatHub, a global connectivity service for smartphones and tablets. It offers standard IP data up to 240/384 kbps, Inmarsat said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1u37LlM). The service lets users surf the Internet, access apps and text, and use other functions “when they are hundreds of miles outside a terrestrial fixed or mobile network,” Inmarsat said. IsatHub is accessed using Inmarsat’s small Wideye iSavi terminal, it said.
Dish Network and Scripps Networks renewed a deal that expands Dish subscriber access to the programmer’s entire content portfolio. It includes over-the-top multistream rights for live and VOD content, Dish said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1qc8PQs). It also expands Dish’s distribution of authenticated live and VOD Scripps programming on Internet-connected devices, it said. “With this capability, the content will be available to an untapped segment of customers that is seeking a flexible, content-driven, Internet-accessible service.”
Clear Channel changed its name to iHeartMedia, said the owner of streaming radio service iHeartRadio in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1t861tA). It said Clear Channel Outdoor, owned by iHeartMedia, will retain its name. The new name “reflects both the success and the cultural impact of the iHeartRadio business formed three years ago and the evolution of the company’s major local radio station brands and franchises to include mobile, social and events,” it said. IHeartRadio has become “the dominant national consumer brand among the company’s assets” with “record-breaking digital growth,” said iHeartMedia. It said the new name took effect Tuesday, while its over-the-counter bulletin board new stock ticker symbol, which it didn’t identify, will be used starting Wednesday.
Center for Democracy & Technology President Nuala O'Connor prefers a more nuanced application of legal authority for net neutrality rules, involving some but not complete Title II grounding, she plans to tell Congress Wednesday. She and Robert McDowell, a former Republican FCC commissioner now at Wiley Rein, will testify on net neutrality Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. O'Connor has defended the need for net neutrality rules, while McDowell has questioned them. “I would like to discuss several proposals that draw upon, or are hybrids of, Title II and Section 706, and several implementation issues applicable to any approach,” O'Connor plans to say, according to written testimony. The real question is whether the “commercially reasonable” standard supports the concept of Internet openness, O'Connor’s testimony says. In it she proposes a potential modification of that standard to allow for rules crafted under Communications Act Section 706. She also discusses a “hybrid” authority that takes “some of the strengths of Title II and Section 706” and considers what it would mean to apply Title II reclassification to edge providers. But the FCC needs “clear rules now,” she argues. Other witnesses are Union Square Ventures Managing Partner Brad Burnham, actress Ruth Livier, and Jeff Eisenach, a visiting scholar with the American Enterprise Institute Center for Internet, Communications and Technology Policy. The hearing will be at 10:30 a.m. in 216 Hart. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., also pressed for broader discussion of net neutrality outside of Washington and stronger rules in an op-ed for The Hill Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1m8GMGM). “To make sure they get this right, the FCC should leave Washington and go on the road to hear firsthand from consumers, small-business owners, entrepreneurs, educators and other citizens who will be directly impacted by the policies put in place for the Internet,” Leahy and Matsui said, emphasizing their work to hold events outside D.C. They had partnered to introduce legislation that would ban paid prioritization deals.
Digital media analysis company Verto Analytics raised $2.4 million in a funding round, said a company news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1AR7O6H). The funding round was led by Tom Henriksson, Open Ocean Capital partner, and included Conor Venture Partners, it said. “Verto has developed a disruptive solution to capitalize on customers’ need for digital measurement that reflects today’s fast-paced business environment,” said Henriksson.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler praised Connecticut state and local officials Monday for issuing a joint request for qualifications (RFQ) seeking information from interested parties in a bid to encourage gigabit broadband development in the state. The RFQ solicits interest in developing networks in New Haven, Stamford and West Hartford, including free or discounted broadband service with a minimum 10 Mbps speed for underserved and disadvantaged Connecticut citizens (WID Sept 16 p10). “Too many Americans lack real choices for fast, affordable Internet service, which is why I'm heartened to see these leaders commit to bringing gigabit connectivity to the businesses and consumers of central Connecticut,” Wheeler said in a statement (http://fcc.us/1o0Fau4). “Today’s announcement will lead to more competitive choices for consumers and more innovation to create jobs and improve the lives across the region."
Sixty percent of U.S. consumers expect to have experienced a house that speaks or reads to them by 2025, said a study on the impact of technology commissioned by Intel’s McAfee. Seventy-seven percent of consumers think the most common device in 11 years will be a smart watch, and 70 percent believe overall wearable devices will be common personal accessories. Seventy-two percent of consumers expect connected kitchen appliances will be a household item by 2015, six in 10 expect their refrigerators to automatically add food to a running grocery list when items are running low, and 84 percent believe their home security systems will be connected to their mobile devices, McAfee said. Almost 70 percent of respondents expressed concern over the state of cybersecurity in 2025, with identity theft, monetary theft and fraud the leading issues. By 2025, 38 percent of U.S. consumers expect to unlock their mobile device by eye scan followed by a thumbprint, McAfee said. On mobile pay, a third of consumers believe they'll be able to pay for items using their fingerprint, while 22 percent expected to use their mobile device. Twenty-six percent of respondents said they planned to still pay by credit or debit card. The online survey was done Aug. 1-12 by MSI Research among 1,507 U.S. citizens ages 21-65, split evenly by age and gender.
House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., plans to outline why congressional oversight of the FCC is essential, in his opening statement to a 1 p.m. hearing Wednesday. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is testifying, and Graves will speak of how small businesses drive the U.S. economy. Graves’ goal is that the U.S. develops the right regulatory goals, he will say at the hearing, pointing to the need to ensure a free and open Internet and build out broadband networks to unserved and rural areas as well as get the right spectrum to big and small companies.