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Despite agreeing to terms, Congress failed to pass the government bailout for the financial sector, which led to the worst-single day drop in Wall Street history. The 777.68 point skid was the largest percentage drop since 9/11 and hammered media stocks, including Google, which fell below $400 for the first time in two years. APPLE’s stock dropped $22.98, approximately 17.9%.
The House of Representatives passed a significant increase in penalties for copyright infringement on the web. The IP Piracy Bill dubbed Pro-IP, will create a new office for an intellectual property officer in the White House, however, the bill will not allow the DOJ to prosecute on behalf of copyright owners. The EFF and Public Knowledge are both concerned that the bill, which now goes to President Bush for approval, heavily favors large organizations like the RIAA rather than consumers rights.
Tomorrow, COMCAST will begin capping the total amount of data a user can transfer to 250GB a month. While some see the cap as necessary as broadband connections increase and file sharing becomes easier, yet it will no doubt usher in a new, more restricted era in the Internet timeline. Analysts believe that due to the inevitable increase in data consumed, consumers could be forced to pay extremely high rates for broadband access.
PARAMOUNT Digital Entertainment signed Alexandra Milchan and David van Eyssen to a three-year contract to produce content exclusively for the internet and other digital media outlets. Paramount Digital is the first studio to sign a production contract for feature length films to be distributed on the Internet.
Plus, today’s consulting question comes from Jose R., a producer from Los Angeles. Jose asks “What impact, if any, will YouTube’s new video uploader have?” Shelly has the answer on today’s MediaBytes.