LONDON -- Opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) has been nothing short of “hysterical,” said Frances Moore, CEO of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the recording industry trade group, at a media briefing Monday to announce release of the group’s annual Digital Music Report. SOPA and PIPA opponents “constantly say ‘no, no, no,’ without more helpfully saying what they would support,” Moore said. “It’s always just ‘no.'"
LONDON -- Opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) has been nothing short of “hysterical,” said Frances Moore, CEO of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the recording industry trade group, at a media briefing Monday to announce release of the group’s annual Digital Music Report. SOPA and PIPA opponents “constantly say ‘no, no, no,’ without more helpfully saying what they would support,” Moore said. “It’s always just ‘no.'"
Harman International’s Aha unit will add three more car maker partners this year in addition to the partnerships it announced at CES with Subaru and Honda, Robert Acker, general manager of Aha, told Consumer Electronics Daily.
LAS VEGAS - Dish Network took the wraps off its Hopper satellite/receiver DVR that boasts a two terabyte hard drive and three satellite tuners as part of a brand-building campaign to raise its profile, CEO Joe Clayton said at CES.
The FCC approved AT&T’s buy of Qualcomm spectrum 3-1 over a dissent by Commissioner Michael Copps. The vote was a positive development for AT&T, which last week dropped its move to buy T-Mobile after the FCC and Department of Justice both lambasted that deal as bad for competition. The buy gives AT&T six MHz of unpaired 700 MHz spectrum nationwide and another six MHz in five major metropolitan markets. The order imposes two sets of conditions, addressing data roaming and interference.
Though lawmakers won’t resume their markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act until 2012, opponents of the legislation continue voicing their objections to the bill, and particularly its provision to allow domain name system (DNS) blocking. So far, more than 40 major technology companies have announced their opposition to SOPA, and even the Future of Music Coalition, a content industry group, said it’s “fundamentally concerned” with security implications of the legislation.
Though lawmakers won’t resume their markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act until 2012, opponents of the legislation continue voicing their objections to the bill, and particularly its provision to allow domain name system (DNS) blocking. So far, more than 40 major technology companies have announced their opposition to SOPA, and even the Future of Music Coalition, a content industry group, said it’s “fundamentally concerned” with security implications of the legislation.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., will seek middle ground with the House on spectrum legislation, including reducing his proposal for funding a national public safety network, Rockefeller told reporters Tuesday after Democrats’ weekly policy lunch. The House-proposed figure of $6.5 billion comes “close” to what’s needed for the network, but $7 billion or $7.5 billion would be “a whole lot better,” the Senate Commerce Committee chairman said. The extra money could make the difference on whether the network gets built, Rockefeller said.
The House Commerce Committee hit the pause button on spectrum legislation after House leaders said they're discussing adding spectrum auction authority to a larger spending package that may be voted this week on the House floor (CD Dec 5 p7), a GOP committee aide said Monday. The committee had considered marking up the spectrum bill by Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., this week. “House Leadership has indicated they want to include spectrum in an end of the year package, so at the moment we are waiting to see how things develop on that end,” the committee aide said. Auctions would be used as one way to pay for a payroll tax cut extension, the yearly pay correction for doctors serving Medicare patients and other items in the package.
British receiver manufacturer Roberts has begun selling what radio listeners have been clamoring for since VCRs were launched in the 1970s -- an easy way to time-shift radio. “RecordR” was shown in prototype form in the summer, and is now on the market for about $150. It records FM or European DAB onto an SD card, with the length of the recording limited only by the capacity of the card. Unattended recording is set by entering the date, time and station pre-set. Up to four timer events can be set. “Pause plus” and “Rewind” allow live radio to be paused for up to 60 minutes. DAB recording is in MP2 at whatever data rate is native to the broadcast. Recording from FM is in the WAV format at 256 kbps.