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| Friday, September 27, 2002 |
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Thank you, Mr. Sensenbrenner 
| | Wonder if this means we'll have KPIG back? |
Turn on, load down, turn in
| | Copyright law is changed from time to time to reflect the emergence of new information technologies and the changing ways in which our culture uses information. The DMCA was the first re-write of the copyright law in decades, and was intended to address what was perceived by the Congress (with the generous help of record companies and movie studios) as a growing problem of digital piracy. I'm not saying there is a problem of digital piracy, Congress says there is a problem. |
| | Copyright law will probably change again. In last week's column, Mark Ishikawa (not me) speculated that the law might get another rework in eight or nine years. So the key to changing the DMCA is to get that next rewrite to happen sooner. And the only way to ensure that happens is through massive civil disobedience. |
Attached earlobes to follow
| | The last natural blondes will die out within 200 years, scientists believe. |
Now hear these
Action on the bored level
| | A global study conducted by KPMG, in association with the Economist Intelligence Unit, revealed that media companies, in an effort to stop piracy, are spending far too much time on encryption and other defense technologies while losing billions in revenues each year. Companies are failing to develop proactive strategies to recognize and leverage their online intellectual property assets. A full 57 percent of media execs say their firms do not even have a process for classifying online intellectual property. |
| | (Aside: What's a "full" 57 percent? Why not call it "partial" or something?) |
| | The study, in the form of a .pdf file, adds this: |
| | Responses indicate that the media industry has yet to find its footing in the digital age. Rather than embracing the Internet as an inexpensive means of delivering top-quality creative content to the consumer in a highly customized format, industry executives remain mesmerized by the destructive potential of online piracy. Rather than go on the offensive, the industry has hunkered down in a defensive stance. |
| | ...The bottom line is that media companies need to shift their focus from a circle-the-wagons defense of digital intellectual property to innovative strategies for managing online content as a core revenue source. To achieve this shift, digital intellectual property needs to be valued properly, just like other assets on the balance sheet. Also, its protection needs to be treated as a key issue of corporate governance and given sustained and dedicated board-level attention. |
| | More from the Reuters piece: |
| | "What we don't see is a real questioning of business models," said Ashley Steel, a partner in KPMG's Information, Communications and Entertainment practice. |
| | "They complain about the Napsters," she said, referring to the bankrupt music swap site that was found to violate US copyright laws. "But why do the Napsters exist, because the marketplace wants them." |
| | Steel said that if the issue "is not on boardroom table... then that boardroom has problems". |
| | But KPMG is calling for something like a sex change for the entire industry. It ain't gonna happen. |
| | It was clear to me at Digital Hollywood this week that Hollywood — at least at the top level — has no clues about what the Net is, much less about how to exploit its nature, which puts demand in direct contact with supply and gives both equal power to work things out. Together. |
| | One non-Hollywood panelist said something like "When old industries meet new technologies, they always come up with wrong answers." Which is why we're probably not going to see better answers coming from boards than we are from levels below. |
| | These companies are used to treating their markets like fish in a tank, hungry to consume whatever gets sprinkled on the surface. That worked as long as "consumers" swam around in the old media environment. But when consumers got a chance to swim in the Net as well, they suddenly grew lungs and legs, crawled ashore, started walking upright and evolved into that superhuman race we call "customers." |
| | In aggregate, they're what we call "markets." Until Hollywood finds ways to satisfy them, they're going to go ahead and satisfy themselves. |
| | Thanks to Hanan for the links. |
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