News written by Rich Fiscus (September, 2009)

In a presentation today at a Washington DC think tank today FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined a his vision for a more proactive approach to net neutrality. In his prepared remarks he unveiled a proposal to amend his agency's official stance on internet regulation.

The FCC's current guidelines were outlined in a 2005 policy statement and consist of four basic principles.

• 1 To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice.


• 2 To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement.


• 3 To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network.


• 4 To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.

Google has released the full text of their letter to the FCC regarding Apple's App Store rejection policies. It directly contradicts a claim Apple made last month that the Google Voice app wasn't rejected, but is in fact still being considered.

According to the letter Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller personally informed Google's Alan Eustace on April 10 that the Google Voice app had been rejected.

The FCC's investigation originally seemed to be focused on AT&T's role in rejecting apps. Had they been behind the decision it would clearly have been within the scope of FCC authority.

Having determined that it was solely Apple's decision to reject the Google Voice app, it's not even clear that the agency has any jurisdiction over the matter.

What may be more interesting is what, if any, affect the facts uncovered might have on the DMCA rulemaking process by the Library of Congress. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is asking for an anti-circumvention exemption on jailbreaking mobile phones.

One of EFF's primary arguments is the anti-competitive nature of the App Store rejection process. The Google Voice decision would seem to underscore that point.

ASCAP and BMI, the two major US agencies that collect music performance royalties, are pushing to establish new royalties from online music and video stores. They want to begin collecting a performance royalty for downloads of songs and videos that include music.

The proposed new royalties are intended to address the trend of reduced public performances, such as radio and television broadcasts.

Of course it's not as though songwriters aren't already getting paid for downloads. They receive a mechanical royalty each time a song is downloaded and a synchronization fee if their composition is used in a TV show or movie.

In other words it works like CD and DVD sales.

The added royalties would essentially charge consumers twice. Once to cover the distribution and then again for the right to play the file.

John Potter, Executive Director of the Digital Media Association (DiMA) told CNet "This is a turf battle. They are saying, 'The songwriters aren't getting paid.' Baloney. Songwriters are getting paid. They're paid sync rights and (mechanical) rights. They aren't getting paid for the public performance in a download because there is no public performance in a download."

New accounting rules being considered by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) would allow Apple to stop charging for major revisions to the iPod Touch's OS. The FASB sets guidelines for Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP) on behalf of the US Securities and Echange Commission.

The two major OS updates released so far, coinciding with the introduction of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, have been free for the iPhone but not the iPod Touch. This is a result of how revenue for each is recorded on Apple's books.

Income from iPhone sales is currently spread across a two year period. This is due to a GAAP requirement that revenue from new features must coincide with the time they are delivered.

Because the revenue from iPod Touch sales are recorded all at once they are forced to charge a minimal fee for them. Despite the low price, paying anything for a product that's free for other customers has upset a lot of iPod owners.

After this year's update it has also left App Store developers with the dilemma of writing apps either for the latest OS version or the largest potential customer base.

Owners of LG HDTVs with NetCast Entertainment Access now have access to another source of online video. LG announced an automatic update which adds the Vudu video rental (and purchase) service to LCD models .42LH50, 47LH50 and 55LH50 and plasma models 50PS80 and 60PS80.

If you have one of these TVs (and it is connected to the internet) you should see a VUDU option in the Netcast Interface. LG broadband HDTVs were announced at this year's CES and began selling in June with support for Netflix's Watch Instantly streaming video service already available.

Unlike Netflix, which packages streaming video with online DVD rentals, VUDU uses a pay as you go model. They also give you access to more new movies on the same day they are released on DVD and give you the option to purchase them.