Interesting People mailing list archives
Verizon to Police Web Customers To Protect Disney From Piracy
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 18:04:16 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Bob Frankston <Bob2-19-0501 () bobf frankston com> Date: September 24, 2005 12:40:56 PM EDT To: dave () farber net, 'Ip Ip' <ip () v2 listbox com>Cc: Hiawatha Bray <h_bray () globe com>, 'Drew Clark' <drewclark () gmail com>, 'Dewayne Hendricks' <dewayne () warpspeed com> Subject: RE: [IP] Verizon to Police Web Customers To Protect Disney From Piracy
Apologies for too many references that require some knowledge of history -- those who don't know there is a history will get a chance to learn it this
time around. Drew Clark wrote about Verizon's complicity in today's National Journalhttp://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb- USVF1127346400334.html
It seems to be the price Verizon is willing to pay to become a contentcontroller. After all, the defining principle of the Internet denies them a
perch to creating billable events. Remember when they fought to protecttheir users -- but now, as I point out, the Internet is only 1% of the FIOS capacity -- the rest is television. Of course they might also be preparing
to sell to China. This is another reason for a connectivity utility -- will cities thatprovide broadband with TV and telephone service find themselves beholden to
Disney? Will they even try to resist reporting on their friends andneighbors? It would be un-American to resist when we pray to HUAC for the
blessings it deigns to sell us. I noticed the primary focus at this fall's http://www.von.com wascomplexity in the middle as Telcos try to create a role for themselves with
"IMS" being the center piece. (What is IMS? -- anything that creates billable events in the middle of the network.)Fear-mongering is also a crucial element and I have to chide Hiawatha for his story "Net phones vulnerable to sabotage". It's fear generated by those
who want to sell antidotes. The "real" phone network -- the PSTN is far more vulnerable to attack dialing and other threats. The National Journal article was accompanied by ads from the CableCos(NCTA) warning us about the attempts to force them to carry "many untried and untested broadcast channels". Twaddle of the worst kind. Putting aide
what "tired and tested" content means, they can just put it all on their VOD path and program the STB to "tune" into all of this. Broadcast is adead idea -- we have the capacity to do bidirectional individual streaming!
Alas, it's too easy to give up freedom if one doesn't even realize that the restrictions are self-imposed. But lest we venture too far Mickey will be
there to bring us back into line -- stay tuned for the movie version ofMaus with Mickey in black strutting along as imposes order and opiates the
masses. -----Original Message----- From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 17:11 To: Ip IpSubject: [IP] Verizon to Police Web Customers To Protect Disney From Piracy
Begin forwarded message: From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> Date: September 22, 2005 9:17:07 PM EDT To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Verizon to Police Web Customers To Protect Disney From Piracy Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com [Note: Hummh..., this deal brings new meaning to the term 'open access'! DLH] Verizon to Police Web Customers To Protect Disney From Piracy By DIONNE SEARCEY and MERISSA MARR Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL September 22, 2005; Page D4 Stepping up the battle against entertainment piracy, Verizon Communications Inc. and Walt Disney Co. have entered a long-term programming deal that calls for the phone company to send a warning to Internet users suspected of pirating Disney's content on its broadband services. Under the deal, one of the first of its kind in the television industry, Disney will contact Verizon when the company suspects a Verizon customer of illegally downloading content. Without divulging names or addresses to Disney, Verizon will then alert the customer that he or she might be violating the law. Disney will be able to identify suspicious customers through an Internet coding system. The provision was announced as part of a content deal that will provide Verizon with Disney and ESPN programming and broadband services. New York-based Verizon, one of several telephone carriers launching video services to compete against cable companies, also secured 12 Disney channels, including ESPN, ABC News Now and the Disney Channel for its new television service, Fios TV, which will start rolling out today in Texas. In a related development, News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch told a Goldman Sachs investment conference yesterday that News Corp. is "99% there" in completing a content deal with Verizon. He didn't elaborate, but that deal would likely include such networks as FX and Fox News. Verizon's deal with Disney comes as content providers are looking at more ways to deliver movies and music over the Internet while protecting copyrighted material. Verizon in the past has successfully battled the music industry in court over the issue, refusing to turn over the names and addresses of customers. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act compels Internet providers to divulge customer information regarding pirating upon subpoena. Verizon insists its deal with Disney doesn't compromise any of its past court efforts. Company officials say they want to comply with the law but also must protect subscribers' privacy. "We understand that Disney has issues of copyright but for Verizon the critical issue is privacy for our customers. We're as committed to that as we ever were," said Verizon spokesman Eric Rabe. Mr. Rabe said the company could shut off service to customers who have been repeatedly warned that they are infringing on Disney copyrights. In a presentation to the Goldman Sachs conference yesterday, Disney's CEO-elect Robert Iger described the antipiracy provisions of the deal as "breakthrough" and said "the rest of the industry should pay heed and hopefully follow." Write to Dionne Searcey at dionne.searcey () wsj com and Merissa Marr at merissa.marr () wsj com URL for this article: <http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112731531212247388,00.html> Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com> ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as BobIP () Bobf Frankston com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ipArchives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting- people/
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