News for the Week of June 26, 2005

All eyes (at least those of kid-tech analysts) were on the Supreme Court this week as it decided on a crucial file-sharing case, MGM v. Grokster...

P2P services can be sued too- not just individual file-sharers, it turns out. The Supreme Court sent a strong (unanimous) message to the file-sharing services Monday: that they actually are responsible for their users' infringement of copyright law, certainly if they promote it as a way to get free music (and other media files. The decision "won't immediately shut down access to the trading networks, however," CNET reports. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower courts to review the evidence in light of this decision, CNET adds. There was an element of practicality in the decision: In writing the Court's opinion, Justice David Souter "notes that, despite offsetting considerations about creativity and technological innovation, when there was such widespread infringement 'it may be impossible to enforce rights in the protected work effectively against all direct infringers'," the Christian Science Monitor points out. Justice Souter wrote that "the only practical alternative is to hold the device's distributor responsible under a theory of secondary liability." The entertainment industry estimates that 2.6 billion illegal downloads occur each month, the Monitor adds.

But the key factor in the decision was the services' promotion of infringement. "We hold," Justice Souter wrote, "that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright ... is liable for the resulting acts of infringement".

As for the long term, the decision is probably the beginning of the end of the P2P free-for-all era. The pay-per-tune services like iTunes and Napster will be the early winners (and will get more flexible and innovative), the high-profile free services will either die out or "go legit" (some are right now in the process), and free file-sharing will go further and further underground. As for users, Good Morning Silicon Valley asserts the decision "will really do little to influence the behavior of the hundreds of millions of individuals who already use file-sharing networks. Entertainment industry attorneys could pound StreamCast and Grokster into a fine white dust tomorrow ... but that will do little to curb the behavior of [file-sharers]." Here's the view from the pro-innovation, copy-leftist Electronic Freedom Foundation and a pro-innovation, anti-litigation commentary at Forbes. And CNET's round-up.

In Other News...

  • Windows Update update - something all family PC owners will want to get: Microsoft Update, which replaces the old Windows Update system. If you're using Windows XP or XP Professional, you may've already gotten a prompt to install it, the Washington Post reports. Here's where you can read about it at Microsoft.
  • Google adds video. The search giant just added another medium to its mix. As with most search engines, people can submit their own work to Video.Google.com. The good news is, the amateur videographer's work can now be as accessible as that of giant media companies - like garage bands on the file-sharing networks. The potential downside is what types of videos become as accessible to children as to anyone else. Surfing around the site, I was glad to find video policies saying that not only is Google not accepting illegal content, such as child pornography. It's also not accepting legal pornography or obscenity.
  • Email hoaxes as teaching tools. In this age when critical thinking is a precious commodity, sitting down at a computer with our kids and checking out a much-forwarded email like the one about the lethal properties of NutraSweet or spiders under toilet seats (true!) at sites like Hoaxbusters.org or Snopes.com can turn hoaxes into teaching tools.
  • PlayStation in the classroom? Yup. For "exertainment" not "infotainment," in this case. The Redlands, Calif., school district is sweetening PE classes with exercise-promoting videogames, Wired News reports. "The classes would see elementary-school children getting their daily workout through popular video games like Konami Digital Entertainment's 'Dance Dance Revolution' [dance-pad game] and Sony's 'EyeToy: Play' that include active, physical elements."
  • Scotland's new anti-grooming law. The Scottish Parliament passed a tough new law to protect online kids. Among other things, the Protection of Children Bill "will make it an offence to set up meetings with under-16s via Internet chatrooms and carry a maximum 10-year sentence," the BBC reports. An interesting piece of it is the Risk of Sexual Harm Order, which courts can impose "to curb the activities of those suspected of being a danger to children." The order can be issued "even if the individual has not been convicted of an offence," according to the BBC.