"News.com   Kazaa getting support from telecommunications companies like Verizon.  Why?  They recognize that downloading large media files drive DSL sales.  Without available content, this need dries up.  New terms for those catching up on this issue:  'compulsory licensing' and Intellectual Property User Fee (IPUF)." [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

John is right about this, but there's another angle that he doesn't include that goes beyond DLS sales. Verizon and the other telcoms want to work out the issue of content distribution because it makes cell phones and wireless PDAs tools for accessing that content over their networks in a high-speed, always-on wireless world. In their ideal world, everyone has a cell phone and you access The Heavenly Jukebox through it. Suddenly, there is a reason for the average person to care about increased bandwidth, and you can't get that access unless you subscribe to a cell phone plan.

Why else would the Washington Post of all companies include an MP3 section on its web site? Who is going to think of going there for online music? At one point, back in the crazy heyday of MP3 euphoria of 2000, I read somewhere that they were going to let their customers bank their own MP3 files on the WP site. Why? To sell ads (and eventually subscriptions to the service) to wireless customers who would eventually have the necessary hardware and bandwidth to access them from anywhere. The telcoms want to be the middleman in that scenario.

Of course, now I can't find any reference to this. Does anyone else remember hearing or reading about this? I'll have to try researching it in some subscription databases.

"Santa Clara, California-based SONICblue said federal Judge Florence-Marie Cooper halted the April 26 order in which a federal court ordered SONICblue to install tracking software on ReplayTV and report viewing results to movie and TV companies.

Among features the studios and networks object to are the ability to skip commercials and a broadband connection that allows users to exchange recorded programs with others.

The company said the order has been stayed until June 3, at which time the judge is expected to address SONICblue's motion to throw out the magistrate's order. It first requested that the order be overturned on Monday....

The company, which said it would take $400,000 and four months to effectively design the program, had asked the court to either throw out the order or modify it to allow the data to be collected in aggregate, rather than by individual user.

Consumer advocacy groups have strongly opposed the court's order, saying it was tantamount to an invasion of privacy." [NY Times: Technology]