[The explanation of the title Firehose is here.] Software Oracle, The Department of Defense and Open Source Software (March 2009): As a property rights guy, I have never been convinced that the open source model of software development is superior. Oracle, not surprisingly, agrees: “Community development approaches to building software lack the financial incentives of [...]

Authors Castro, Atkinson, and Ezell examine the rapid growth of the self-service that has occurred because of information technology. The area of self-service is any service that was previously provided by a service agent. The authors use the example of a telephone operator, for instance, to place a call for you that is now done via self-service.

Markham Erikson of the Open Internet Coalition says they want Title II “reclassification”, but he doesn’t want to go back to the days of Title II “Open Access” which required broadband operators to provide competing ISPs with access to the Broadband transport infrastructure. This diverges from Net Neutrality supporters like Public Knowledge, the Berkman Center, and Susan Crawford.

Playstation 3 is the most connected device in America, according to a Diffusion Group report on connected entertainment systems. TDG also found that of houses connected to broadband Internet connections, a third own game consoles that also are connected to the Internet.

Colin Dixon and Steve Symonds of The Diffusion Group analyze security concerns in online television delivery. They argue that it differs from cable or satellite delivery because choosing the wrong method online could leave content open to piracy.

This is a follow up to yesterday’s post on GAO’s Intellectual Property: Observations on Efforts to Quantify the Economic Effects of Counterfeit and Pirated Goods. In 2006, James McCormick at ChicagoBoyz had an excellent review of Moses Naim, Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy (2005). The review and the book [...]

The claim that the DC Circuit has somehow “stripped” the FCC of all ancillary powers and that even the National Broadband Plan is in jeopardy has no basis in reality. Two previous FCC Chairmen debunk this notion and an analysis of the DC Circuit ruling confirmed their assessment.

As Americans across the country rally today against heavy tax burdens and the prospect of more, it’s a good time to tell them about the hit they will feel in their pocketbooks if media “reformers” convince the government it needs to “save journalism.”

In October 2008, Congress directed GAO “to provide information on the quantification of the impacts of counterfeit and pirated goods.” GAO sprang into action, “interviewed officials and subject matter experts from U.S. government agencies, industry associations, nongovernmental organizations, and academic institutions, and reviewed literature and studies quantifying or discussing the economic impacts of counterfeiting and piracy on the U.S. economy, industry, government, and consumers,” and produced Intellectual Property: Observations on Efforts to Quantify the Economic Effects of Counterfeit and Pirated Goods (GAO-10-423 April 12, 2010).

Is Title II reclassification really the silver bullet that the Open Internet Coalition and others say it is? When we examine the actual history of Title II classification with regard to broadband, we see that it only applies to the transport infrastructure and never the Internet service riding on top of it.