FCC to look into firms' use of customer data - Via Privacy : Tech news from CNET :
Staff at the Federal Communications Commission are expected to recommend that it review rules on how phone and cable companies can use customer information as they try to take business from each other, an FCC official said Friday.
The FCC enforcement bureau will recommend that the commission reject a complaint by cable operators charging that Verizon Communications violated the agency's customer privacy rules by using customer information to prevent them from switching their phone service to cable, an agency official said on condition of anonymity.
Beyond that, the enforcement bureau is expected to recommend that the FCC address more broadly the issue of "customer retention activities" by both phone companies and cable operators to make sure the rules apply equally to both, the official said. read more... »
Small Cable Ops: We Need More HDTV: Cable executives say they must compete against more high-def from satellite.
Washington, D.C. (July 31, 2007) -- Small and mid-sized cable operators are making High-Definition TV a priority despite limited system space.
That's according to an article in Multichannel News.
Several large cable operators, such as Comcast and Time Warner, have announced plans to expand their high-def lineups to stay competitive with satcasters DIRECTV and EchoStar. DIRECTV plans to offer 100 high-def channels by year's end. read more... »
Proposed Amendment Would Ban All DVD Copying - News and Analysis by PC Magazine: "proposed amendment to the current copy protection license governing DVDs would completely ban all DVD backups, and prevent DVD playback without the DVD disk being present inside the drive.
The proposed amendment was made public in a letter sent by Michael Malcolm, the chief executive of Kaleidescape, a DVD jukebox company which successfully defeated a suit by the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) this past March. The proposed amendment is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday, according to Malcolm. read more... »