A recent OECD study says they cannot find a causal connection between music downloading and reduced music sales. The report suggests that the industry needs to reevaluate consumer desires and their need for copyright protection. That reinforces what many of us have been suggesting all along.

Of course the music industry instantly trashed the report.

I can’t say it any better than Techdirt:

Here’s what’s odd… If you’re really in business and there are an awful lot of studies saying that what you’re doing is a mistake, shouldn’t you at least listen before absolutely condemning each study? It’s as if the recording industry has made up its mind that file sharing must be bad, and any study to the contrary has to be wrong — even the ones that tell the industry there’s a huge opportunity in embracing file sharing.

Techdirt has links to a Wired article, and to the OECD report.

Read the Techdirt post

DAVID CANTON – For the London Free Press – June 11, 2005

Read this on Canoe

On May 6, 2005, the U.S. Federal Appeals Court held that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) acted beyond its authority when it adopted a “flag order.”

The FCC had required manufacturers of consumer-electronics devices capable of receiving digital television signals to install hardware components that restrict consumer’s ability to redistribute recorded broadcasts.

Essentially, the court decided the FCC does not have the authority to decide what consumers do with television shows once they have been received.

(more…)

Info Tech Research Group’s Info Tech Advisor newsletter runs a good article about tracking employees with GPS and RFID technology. It talks about why an employer might want to do that, and morale and privacy issues.

As it is a paid subscription newsletter, I have reproduced it here (with permission of course).

Take a look at the Info Tech Web site

The Benefits and Pitfalls of Employee Tracking

Global Positioning System (GPS) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking technology offer employers unprecedented ability to monitor employee behavior, which can result in increased efficiency and productivity, improved customer satisfaction, and greater corporate security. But it can also lead to plummeting staff morale, employee backlash, and potential lawsuits. Weigh the pros and cons of employee monitoring before investing.

Tracking Devices Are On the Rise

It’s not uncommon for enterprises to monitor employee e-mail and Internet usage, and security cameras are commonplace. As employers increasingly turn to GPS technology and RFID badges to keep track of their mobile workers, employees are starting to resent the “Big Brother” effect of these technologies.

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Some have expressed doubt that the 40 year old Moore’s Law (the number of devices on a computer chip doubles every 24 months) will continue. So far, there always seems to be a breakthrough that keeps the law alive.

Wired News has an article entitled Honey, I Shrunk the PC, that talks about 2 recent breakthoughs. (Its a good read as it explains them in a simple manner.) Both deal with ways to make single molecule transistors. If they can be commercialized, it would shrink chips, and hence anything using them, dramatically.

Imagine the power of a supercomputer in a cell phone. And combine that with upcoming display technologies that will give them full size displays. Typing on that tiny keyboard would be a challenge, but that’s just another wrinkle to be ironed out on the way.

Where do I sign up for the beta test?

Read the Wired News article

Please forgive this shameless self-promotion.

eLegal Canton is one of 5 blogs that are currently tied for first place in the “Technolawyer” award vote for “Favorite Practice Area Blog”

If any readers wish to vote for my blog, please go to the Technolawyer site using the link below. Vote by sending an email as described in section #5, saying “#5 Favorite Practice Area Blog – eLegal Canton”

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With more corporations either encouraging or tolerating employee blogging, and the various incidents where employees have been fired for inapropriate blogging – it was inevitable that businesses would adopt blogging policies.

To some extent, it is an evolution or extension of technology use policies (the approach I prefer rather than separate email, computer use, and other policies).

They are useful for making the ground rules between employer and employee clear.

The Between Lawyers blog has a good entry on blogging policies that compares the policies of several major corporations.

Read the Between Lawyers post

MSNBC reports that a new US Federal law is now in place that requires those with other people’s information to dispose it in a way that it is rendered useless. In other words – shred your paper, and wipe those hard drives.

While this addresses part of the issue, it is only one way in which information gets abused or made public. I don’t understand why the US has not enacted generally applicable federal privacy legislation. The Canadian PIPEDA has its issues, but at least it offers a national standard and clear overall principles.

Read the MSNBC report

DAVID CANTON – For the London Free Press – May 4, 2005

Read this on Canoe

The United States recently released the Special 301 Report on the state of global intellectual property protections. This report places countries deemed to have insufficient protections on a “watch list.” The list includes Canada.

The Internet and digitization have made it easier than ever to copy and share things like music and video. Concerns of the music, move, and television industry about this ability have led to requests for more stringent copyright laws.

This has the potential to affect all of us. Digital copyright reform would affect our ability to download and share music, but could also affect our use of the Internet.

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VoIP (Voice over IP) phones are becoming more common for both business and consumer use, and are poised to make a significant dent in POTS (plain old telephone service) use.

VoIP has many advantages over normal phone lines, including lower cost, more flexibility, and more services.

For example, Canada is working on a “do not call” registry (ie a list where one can add their name if they don’t want to be phoned by telemarketers), but recent comments suggest it may be watered down to be ineffective.

Rob Hyndman refers in his blog to the possibility that VoIP service could employ call filters similar to spam filters on our email.

That raises 2 points to ponder.

1. – Perhaps technology will work here where the law may not.

2. – Once the VoIP 911 issue gets under control (I’ll boldly predict by this fall), there are so many advantages to VoIP that people will stay with POTS only if they don’t understand VoIP or are resistant to change.

Read Rob Hyndman’s post
Read an earlier article of mine on VoIP

There have been many reports over the last few months about the FBI’s multi-million $ loss on a failed computer system inplementation. They eventually decided to scrap it and start over.

A ZDnet blog posting suggests that the replacement system is destined for failure for the same reason, ie that “they hired the people and bought the hardware before figuring out what the software was supposed to do“.

I can’t comment on whether that is the issue here, but that is certainly the wrong approach. The right way is to start with what you want to accomplish, then sort out the software, then the systems to support it. It all has to be sorted out before any investment is made.

Otherwise it is like buying a fleet of dump trucks and hiring drivers, only later to decide that you want to deliver redi-mix concrete.

Read the ZDnet post