I had the pleasure of attending an interesting conference yesterday hosted by the Institute for Policy Innovation on broadband policy, a timely topic here in D.C. You can watch most of it on this C-SPAN recording; in an obvious conspiracy, the one panel C-SPAN chose not to videotape was the first one, in which I [...]

LOS ANGELES, CA – How I wish some of the bloggers who are so convinced the future of creative production requires reduction or abandonment of artists’ rights could travel in my circle and meet creators and promoters of creators who are in it for the love but also want to ensure they can keep sharing [...]

Earlier this week the Future of Music Coalition (FOM) hosted their 2009 Future of Music Policy Summit. The three-day conference was held on the Georgetown University campus in Washington DC, and boasted a variety of music-related events, panel discussions, and keynote speeches. Through my internship with the Copyright Alliance, I was fortunate enough to attend [...]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been conducting a series of workshops in order to solicit the public’s opinion about the development of a National Broadband Plan that will connect Americans through increased broadband (high-speed internet) availability. Today’s event focused specifically on the role of content in the broadband ecosystem. The nine person panel brought [...]

Rapid advances in technology have been occurring since the Renaissance, and yet sometimes the greatest advocates of advancement fail to predict where science will go. In the 19th Century Lord Kelvin was a father of modern physics, identifying absolute zero, naming kinetic energy, and setting in motion the identification of the second law of thermodynamics. [...]

Today the Senate Commerce Committee voted 24-1 to approve Julius Genachowski as the next Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission; recently Mr. Genachowski gave a very strong statement to that Committee on the importance of copyright enforcement and how he at the FCC would respect the rights of creators. The full US Senate is expected [...]

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA –A warning, fair readers, this entry will address the issue of network neutrality. Those who think too much digital ink has been spilled on that topic are free to move on. For the rest of you, before we get to the main course let me serve up an appetizer involving artists. It [...]

How many times have we seen this before? A federal policymaker speaks on copyright and makes several cogent and reasonable remarks about the cost of piracy and steps by the private sector to reduce that threat and provide more legal alternatives to consumers. An online critic of copyright generates hits by providing his like-minded readers [...]

Yesterday we at the Copyright Alliance praised FCC Chairman Kevin Martin in a statement for stating what cannot be said often enough; that it is appropriate to make distinctions between legal and infringing content online. Here are Martin's remarks before the Senate Commerce Committee, discussing enforcement of the FCC's policy principles on network management adopted in 2005:

HOLLYWOOD, Cal. — Two keynoters at the Tech Policy Summit here are familiar faces in Washington, and both had positive things to say about copyright and artists' rights.