Big Internet brands including Google and Facebook have lined up oppose the new Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill that is being debated in Congress. Some of the Internet’s biggest names are threatening to leave the US Chamber of Commerce over a bill that would make Web companies liable for pirated content that appears on […]
The BBC World News channel has been banned from buying certain programmes and accepting some sponsorship deals, after an investigation found serious breaches of the corporation’s editorial guidelines in shows about subjects including Malaysia and carbon trading. A full investigation was launched by the BBC Trust into programming on BBC World News after it found […]
The European Commission has made a clear call to Member States to put in place procedures to promote coexistence between new and existing services to achieve the Digital Agenda. But the latest text of the new Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (RSPP) falls short of capitalising upon efficient use of spectrum if new services interfere with […]
The US Senate has voted to keep in place the Federal Communications Commission’s rules aimed at preserving open Internet access. Republicans were attempting to overturn the so-called net neutrality rules, and a resolution to do so failed 52-46 in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The White House had earlier threatened to veto the action if the Senate […]
The White House has warned that President Obama would veto a resolution introduced in the Senate that seeks to overturn “net neutrality” rules aimed at ensuring an open Internet. The House of Representatives approved a Republican resolution in April that seeks to block the rules approved in December last year by the Federal Communications Commission […]
Iran’s state broadcaster has transmitted an interview with the country’s police commander warning companies, businesses and private individuals that they must not advertise on “foreign satellite TV networks”. Officially, watching satellite TV in Iran is illegal and dishes and receiving equipment can be – and often is – confiscated. However, a growing number of channels […]
A coalition of companies and trade bodies within the creative industries led by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has formally requested that BT block The Pirate Bay, one of the largest filesharing websites in the world, after winning a landmark high-court ruling designed to enforce UK copyright law. The BPI has written to BT, asking […]
Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) President and CEO Gary Shapiro has reacted strongly to a Motion Picture Association of America blog on intellectual property legislation under consideration in Congress which suggests that Shapiro is alarmist about the threat to technology companies of the proposed measures. “On behalf of 2,000 of the nation’s leading technology companies, CEA […]
Copyright holders should back off attempts to make Internet service providers (ISPs) across the globe enforce copyright on their behalf, according to network vendor Ericsson. As New Zealand begins enforcing its three-strikes copyright-infringement policy, with ISPs dishing out the first warning notices to customers, Ericsson has this week released a discussion paper on copyright-enforcement approaches […]
The US House of Representatives is backing new regulations which, if passed, would make it easier for satellite operators to launch their satellites free of restrictions currently in place on certain components. The USA’s ITAR rules treat satellite components as ‘munitions’ (the International Traffic in Arms Regulations) and which mean that non-US satellites cannot use […]