March 19, 2024

Archives for July 2012

The Decline of DVD-by-Mail, or Further Thoughts on the Digital Death of Copyright's First Sale Doctrine

Netflix reported a second-quarter profit last week as customer demand continues to drive a transition in the company’s primary delivery model from DVD-by-mail to Internet streaming. According to The New York Times, “[t]he company’s net losses among DVD-by-mail subscriptions outpaced its gains in net streaming subscriptions in the United States, reflecting the continued challenge of […]

Open Internet Advisory Committee kick-off

Last Friday, we had the first meeting of the Open Internet Advisory Committee (OIAC), called for by the FCC in the recent Open Internet Order. The members of the OIAC  consist of a mix of folks from venture capital firms, ISPs, governance organizations, community organizations, and academics like myself.  The OIAC’s mission is to “track and evaluate […]

Firefox Changes its HTTPS User Interface… Again

A year and a half ago, I wrote about major changes to the way that Firefox indicates whether the connection to a web site is encrypted. I noted that, especially with the emergence of mobile browsers, the traditional “padlock icon” of standard SSL-secured connections and the “green glow” of Extended Validation was being implemented in […]

I Tell the FCC to End In-Home Video Encryption

In my last post, I asked “Who Killed the Open Set-Top-Box?.” There were some great comments on that post, which inspired me to write up my thoughts and send them to the FCC. The FCC has long tried and failed to mandate that cable companies make their systems more interoperable with third-party consumer devices. Nevertheless, […]