Piracy

New evidence continues to spotlight the Open Internet's growing security problem. 

• The growing catalogue of evidence from mainstream sources is getting harder and harder to ignore. See previous parts of the series:  I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII & VIII.

"Internet security threat report finds malicious activity continues to grow at a record pace -- Web based attacks evolve as hackers target end-user information; Underground economy continues to thrive." Symantec

Cracks are appearing in the foundation of the Google Book Settlement, which suggests some of it may end up crumbling under the current harsh weather of public scrutiny.

The most recent crack to appear was the Court's quick rejection of Google's preemptory proposal to extend the opt-out notice period for authors for another sixty days, and quick approval of the request by a small coalition of rights holders for four more months until September 4th.  

• This suggests that the court was not impressed with Google's effort to date to notify potentially affected authors, a key component of good faith in the proposed settlement.

An ITIF forum on the Google Book Settlement at the Library of Congress last week exposed some other big cracks in the foundation of the settlement.

High profile Internet security/safety/privacy problems continue to spotlight the Open Internet's growing security problem.

"Computer hacking attacks soar as gangs focus on financial data" -- FT

• "Computer hackers stole more sensitive records last year than in the previous four combined, with ATM cards and Pin information growing in popularity as targets, according to a study..."

"Computer Attackers target popular sites in quest for profit" IBD

• Symantec...  "found new varieties of malware rose 265% last year vs. 2007."
• "This is about fraud and theft — I don't think there's any doubt in anyone's mind," said Dean Turner, director of Symantec's global intelligence network unit. "Where this is headed is not good for anybody."

"Computer Spies Breach Fighter Jet Project" WSJ

• "...He spoke of his concerns about the vulnerability of U.S. air traffic control systems to cyber infiltration, adding "our networks are being mapped." He went on to warn of a potential situation where "a fighter pilot can't trust his radar."

"New Military Comand to Focus on Cybersecurity" WSJ

The crux of the Google Book settlement will be whether the Court effectively sanctions the creation of one de facto world digital book library, or whether it will facilitate the continued proliferation of many libraries of digital books throughout the world. 

• Put differently, will the legal settlement of the greatest alleged book theft in world history -- de facto concentrate control over access to digital books into the hands of only one entity -- Google (the alleged copyright violator)...
• Or will the settlement preserve the current longstanding competitive/cooperative system of  public, private, and academic libraries where control over access to books is dispersed among many independent and diverse organizations around the country and the world?  

The Internet Archive, a "non-profit library," recently petitioned the Court to try and ensure the diverse latter outcome and not the concentrated former outcome.

Anyone watching the Internet content marketplace closely is witnessing the formation of a critical mass of high-powered opposition to the Internet Free Culture ethos that no one should be required to ask for permission or payment to use content on the Internet.

• Something big is afoot.
• Powerful forces in the traditional scarcity economy, i.e. Big Media, are no longer rolling over anymore, but are finally pushing back against the abundance ecommony ethos that asserts that content on the Internet is common property that anyone should be able to use as they wish without permission or payment.  

The possible tipping point here is the newspaper industry's belated realization that giving away their content for free online, in return for traffic, has been an unmitigated disaster because it is not an economic or sustainable business model. 

Wow. Daily Internet traffic in Sweden immediately fell more than 40% after a new Swedish law went into force cracking down on illegal file-sharing. The new law obligates ISPs to to report the IP-addresses of suspected copyright violators to copyright owners.

• Per an AP story: "Statistics from the Netnod Internet Exchange, an organization measuring Internet traffic, suggest that daily online activity dropped more than 40 percent after the law took effect on Wednesday. Henrik Ponten of the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau welcomed the plunge in Internet traffic as a sign that file-swappers are reducing their activity for fear of getting caught. "There's no other explanation for it," he said."

Seldom is there such glaring evidence of direct cause and effect between a policy-change and behavior-change on the Internet. To the extent that this initial effect is lasting and proves applicable to other nation's circumstances, what can we learn from this Swedish precursor/example?

Lesson 1: It proves people act more responsibly on the Internet when there is an increased liklihood of getting caught and prosecuted for illegal behavior. More accountability equals more deterrence.  

Lesson 2: It may turn out to be much cheaper and more effective for the U.S. to simply enforce copyright law than to continue overbuilding bandwidth capacity in order to keep pace with the near bottomless bandwidth appetites of the very small minority of users that are serious illegal file-sharers.

The proposed seminal book settlement of the publishers/authors class action suit against Google, if ratified by Federal Court this June, has the potential to de facto legislate for the U.S. and much of the world, both the monetization mechanism and competitive trajectory of much of the digital books market -- a highly strategic segment of the world's digital knowledge base.

• The competitive stakes are high because books represent some of the highest quality searchable content available in the world.
• Moreover, the seven million books digitized by Google and covered by the settlement dwarf any other digital library in the world.
• Furthermore, the settlement would de facto grant Google exclusive control over the "orphan works" covered by the settlement, which comprise the vast majority of the seven million digitized books.

As an expert analyst on the future of Internet competition, the central question I ponder is whether the mechanism and trajectory that the Google book settlement would entrench -- is competitive or anti-competitive?

• More simply, is antitrust pertinent to the Federal court's disposition of this proposed copyright-infringement settlement?
• The facts and analysis show antitrust is highly relevant to this potential supra-constitutional, court-created, digital book marketplace.

First, the core facts suggest antitrust concerns are relevant to the ratification process of the proposed digital book settlement. 

Evidence continues to mount that the real problem on the Internet is that it is not as safe/secure as it needs to be -- not the popular neutralist myth that it is not open/neutral enough. (Parts: I, II, III)

• I would be surprised, if the succinct evidence that I have assembled below, does not deeply trouble the reader.  
• Moreover, it is also troubling that there is not more focus on the real and increasing problem of Internet safety/security because there is so much attention focused on making the Internet even more open and vulnerable than it already is.    

The Mounting Evidence of a Growing Internet Security Problem:

I am on the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) panel on technology today at 2:30 today.

The title of the panel is: "Technology and Policy, Cutting edge Conservative Thought."

I plan to talk about my new white paper: "Neutralism: Identifying the Ideology behind Net Neutrality." From the paper:

• 
  

  "Simply, neutralism is the commons ideology behind the net neutrality movement. Neutralists believe that digital information and communications networks should be a public commons, not private property requiring permission or payment to use. Neutralists believe that:

  ·           Digital technology, if unshackled from ownership restrictions and payment requirements, is a powerful means for creating a more egalitarian society;