The Next Generation Of Anti-Piracy Legislation Goes To School

from the beware-the-precedents-you-set dept

As discussed a few months ago by Tom Lee, misguided anti-piracy requirements for universities found their way into the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007. Mostly, the nearly 800-page bill rehashes existing legislation regarding federal financial aid. However, a section titled "Campus-based Digital Theft Prevention" provides an unfortunate glimpse at what could be the new wave of legislation related to network filtering of copyrighted material inside and outside the academic domain, that’s waiting in the wings.

The bill, in its current form, outlines that eligible institutions "develop a plan for offering alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property as well as a plan to explore technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity." While advocates emphasize that the only requirement is to plan, the wording leaves the door to state mandated copyright protections in exchange for federal funding wide open... a truly backwards and illogical arrangement. In this case, congressional requirements will most likely take the form of industry-sanctioned DRM initiatives, in addition to network detection/filtering techniques laden with privacy risks and prone to the inevitable backlash of technological countermeasures.

The link between failing to draft plans and eligibility for at least some student financial aid programs is most troubling because it does not address the inherently complex nature of piracy and copyright infringement in the 21^st century. Instead it seeks to place the onus on university administrators, who are already in the midst of coming to grips with effective digital threat prevention. Introducing this type of government intervention does nothing to stimulate the desperately needed innovative solutions for the issues at hand. Also, from a policy perspective, the networks on campuses across the country differ mainly in scale from those governed by the likes of the Verizon and Comcast, meaning that a disconcerting and inappropriate model for anti-piracy legislative action is being shaped.

In the same way that universities provide an environment where some of the leading minds of the tomorrow’s society are shaped, specious legislative action that effects their rights as downloaders will impact their expectations of how privacy and civil liberties should be transposed to an increasingly digital world. It shouldn’t be left for the conspiracy theorists to suggest that this will begin the prying open of a Pandora’s Box of well-meaning public policy that falls short due to short-sighted intentions and narrow perspectives on the matters at hand.

Yet, in spite of these frightening possibilities combined with the fact that electronic piracy is fast on its way to becoming a hot-button issue, Congress doesn't appear to have any clue about the inappropriateness of these measures. That means, unfortunately, that it is unlikely they will support any sustained effort to remove the aberrant mandate. There are options that don't resemble placing economic sanctions on institutions of higher learning -- but it doesn't appear Congress is interested in pursuing them any time soon.

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Verizon Wireless' Triple [Open] Play

from the competitive-pressures-at-work dept

The recent announcement that Verizon Wireless will support Android, Google’s new software platform for mobile devices, is an early warning sign that the traditional network operator model is fast becoming obsolete. To some this move seems to contradict a widely held presumption that two previous announcements (the choice of LTE with Vodafone and the inclusion of non-Verizon phones on the Verizon Wireless network) were a competitive strike at Google’s position in the upcoming 700 mHz auction. In conjunction, these three publicly declared commitments to openness are indicators that fundamental changes to the Verizon Wireless business model are set to occur over the next 3 – 5 years.

Verizon Wireless is preparing to compete in an industry that will resemble more of a free-for-all where innovation and customer value are the rule of the day. Verizon can no longer afford to maintain strict boundaries between the devices and applications “inside” and “outside” their networks. By embracing openness on several different fronts the company is seeking to offload a large chunk of the costs associated with developing devices to a wider ecosystem of participants. Inclusive device policies will retain the same effect that outsourcing the development and support costs for new phones would. It is no longer tenable to develop devices and support customer issues for every single customer on its network, so the company is looking to basically exchange network access for ownership of support issues, with a larger group of handset and application providers.

Particularly, the Android move is to ensure that an assortment of niche devices powered by Google’s platform will have a home on the Verizon Wireless network. The company should begin to feature an increasing number of programs and incentives for an increasing number of handset makers and wireless application developers. Meanwhile Verizon will begin to slash the high costs associated with developing phones with the Samsung and LG types. As a result, the number of phone models actually supported by the company (currently at around 50) is set to drop significantly by 2012 even as the total number of models running on the network will escalate.

As the most profitable U.S. cellular business, Verizon Wireless also has the most impetus to begin the process of expanding a revenue base limited to subscribers who are content to choose from 50 or so the company’s handsets. Spurred by a shrinking number of first time customers it is fast becoming critical to find ways to attract subscribers from rival carriers and open access policies are a good start towards that end. Along the same lines, the aforementioned Vodafone LTE announcement is key to the company’s strategic play for subscribers who, in the past, shunned Verizon Wireless for carriers that enable easier roaming. The goal is to extend the availability of “America’s most reliable network” to both sides of the Atlantic to boost the value proposition of becoming a Verizon wireless customer.

Verizon’s open evolution is a response to the limited growth opportunities faced by US mobile carriers in the face of market saturation (250 million across the country already have cell phones). Over the next 2-3 years what is now a rumbling from consumers will expand into smoldering demand for choices on wireless networks that reflect the nature of those provided on landlines. In effect the company realizes that it must adapt to an open-centric marketplace to compete and survive over the long haul, not just in the upcoming 700 MHz auctions. In doing so, Verizon has begun the transformation from staunch gatekeeper of a closed network into the heart of a more open wireless ecosystem.

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Is IBM Commoditizing IT? Or Kicking Off The Next Round Of IT Innovation?

from the it-still-seems-to-matter dept

For the past few years, there's been a debate going on over whether or not information technology still matters, or if it's simply become a commodity that doesn't provide any real advantage any more. Last Thursday, IBM joined this debate by announcing plans for Blue Cloud, an offering targeted at making it easier to run large-scale applications with massive databases over the Internet. Blue Cloud includes grid-computing software, Xen and PowerVM virtualized Linux operating system images and Hadoop, the open-source software platform that eases the prospect of writing and running data intensive applications. IBM is aiming to open the prospective market for companies to benefit from extreme scale of cloud computing infrastructures quickly and easily, through commoditization .

Does this signal the onset of a future where core infrastructure really doesn't matter? Not quite. In fact, IBM's ambitions in the area of cloud computing proves that IT infrastructure matters more than ever. A fact that will require Google to respond by further differentiating along a similar curve. Plus, with the distinct possibility of IBM commoditizing the "Google data center," through successful commercialization of Blue Cloud alive and well, the search giant will have to find ways to translate its edge in IT infrastructure into the domain of its increasing bevy of developer-centric plays. Efforts like OpenSocial serve as evidence that Google has already embraced the notion of the cloud on some level. Continued progress by Blue Cloud might spur the notion of a more comprehensive Google cloud that expands beyond social networking platforms, targeted at newer forms of enterprise-centric web development models and architectures. It is also very possible that Google might develop a native set of interfaces similar to those available for Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Simple Storage Service (S3) in pursuit of burgeoning market for cloud computing.

Furthermore, IBM's involvement and the potential for a Google response, does nothing but add to the momentum behind cloud computing as an evolving battleground between tech heavyweights, meaning it is undoubtedly on Microsoft's radar. Currently, the Redmond-based company finds itself in a world where virtualized, Internet-driven computing platforms like Blue Cloud are minimizing developer dependency on the operating system. A stark reality that does not bode well for its Windows and Office based hegemony. Essentially, Microsoft must explore how it to competitively respond with its Live versions of Windows and Office amongst the backdrop of a rapidly maturing cloud computing space. In the face of an ill-equipped response over the long haul, it will face mounting pressure from rapidly maturing Linux alternatives on the desktop front and cloud computing on the web end.

As the demand for Web 2.0 capabilities continues to explode over the next three to five years, companies across the globe will have to investigate if/how their current IT infrastructure will scale towards meeting that demand internally and externally. With Blue Cloud, IBM is positioning itself as a one-stop shop for establishing a cloud computing environment ready to test and prototype Web 2.0 applications within enterprise environments. Still, IBM must better express the value proposition for cloud computing including illustrating how seamlessly cloud-enabled applications can/will integrate with existing IT infrastructure. This entails addressing the plethora of questions regarding security, privacy and reliability. A critical part of easing the learning curve associated with any new model. In general, Blue Cloud's impact stands to affect the overall acceptance of the entire cloud computing paradigm. The reality moving forward is that cloud computing for the enterprise will remain a good idea in concept, until a strong association can be made with a common set of business problems and/or industry standards.

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