Week in review: Rights and wrongs on copyright

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Congress has mandated the airwaves in the 700MHz band be vacated in February 2009, forcing analog TV broadcasters off those channels as part of a long-anticipated switch to all-digital television. Current and would-be wireless broadband operators are eager to get their hands on the spectrum because of its inherent physical properties, which allow signals to travel farther and more easily penetrate walls.

But companies such as Google, along with several consumer activist groups, see the current rules as only a partial victory. While they praised the FCC for taking a first step in offering consumers more choice in terms of devices and applications used on these new networks, they also criticized the commission for not going far enough.

They argue that without a comprehensive set of "open access" rules that also requires license winners to wholesale network capacity at affordable prices, there's no guarantee that well-entrenched wireless operators won't restrict consumer choices on the new spectrum.

The House also approved a mammoth tech industry-endorsed bill that calls for pouring some $33.6 billion into a bevy of federal science, technology and research programs. But the measure's big price tag continued to draw opposition from a number of Republicans, who questioned how the bill's sponsors planned to finance their "lofty" proposals amid a growing federal deficit.

The Senate is expected to vote on the same proposal on Friday.

Meanwhile, a congressional panel voted--against the Bush administration's wishes--to shield journalists, including advertising-supported bloggers, from having to reveal their confidential sources in many situations.

In response to concerns raised by the Bush administration and other politicians, the Free Flow of Information Act attempts to exclude the "casual blogger" from reaping those benefits by stipulating the protections apply only to those who derive "financial gain or livelihood" from the journalistic activity. That broad rule could, however, include part-time writers who receive even a trickle of revenue from Google Ads or Blogads.com.

The bill defines the practice of journalism as "gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public."

Another Apple harvest
On the heels of its iPhone release, it appears that Apple is getting ready to unveil some new hardware; it has scheduled a "product presentation" on Tuesday for members of the media that will focus on the Mac. The most recent Mac-related chatter has concerned a long-awaited redesign of the iMac, and other outlets have already reported that Apple plans to introduce the new iMacs on August 7. The rest of the Mac lineup has been updated more recently than the iMac, which hasn't really changed since Apple made the transition to Intel's chips.

By the way, if you own a Mac or an iPhone, chances are you'll need to download at least one of the security updates issued by Apple this week. Dozens of vulnerabilities and bugs were covered by a total of six downloads for Mac OS 10.3.9 (Panther), Mac OS 10.4.10 (Tiger) on PowerPC, and the Universal version of Mac OS 10.4.10, as well as the server versions of each of those operating systems. Each download contains several patches to correct flaws, and Apple is recommending that all users of those operating systems download the updates.

Some of the vulnerabilities seem quite serious, leading to arbitrary code execution, downed applications or both. You can download the updates for your specific Mac at Apple's support Web site or by clicking on the "Software Update" selection under the Apple menu.

Apple also issued the first software update for the iPhone. Unlike the Mac updates, the iPhone update will be delivered through iTunes the next time you sync your iPhone with your Mac or PC.

Also of note
Amazon.com has launched a new online grocery service for Seattle residents called Amazon Fresh...Massachusetts has changed its technology policy to accept a Microsoft-developed document format, Office Open XML, amid fractious industry debate...Mac users must wait until next year for fresh versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint: Microsoft has moved its intended launch of Office for Mac 2008 to January from the second half of this year...After Adobe Systems faced the wrath of numerous printing companies and organizations, the company has decided to remove a button that made it easy for Adobe Reader and Acrobat software users to print PDF files at FedEx Kinko's.