CEOs: Dont Stifle Innovation
Much of the debate about anti-piracy has centered on the entertainment industrys attempts to quell the technology that allows users to record music and movies.
Now the technology industry is pushing back. In a sharply worded letter to some of the largest entertainment conglomerates—including Disney, Viacom and AOL Time Warner— 10 big-name, high-tech CEOs last week warned that attempts to stop piracy should not also quash technological innovation.
“Any solutions … must not compromise the innovations this [peer-to-peer] functionality has to offer,” said the CEOs, including Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard, Michael Dell of Dell, Craig Barrett of Intel, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft and Joe Tucci of EMC.
The letter was sent in response to an April 12 letter sent by entertainment moguls concerning piracy and technology.
Amazon Offers Free Platform
Amazon.com is entering the burgeoning Web services arena.
The online bookseller, hoping to ramp up site visits and sales, is offering its Web services platform for free to Web site developers, enabling them to build applications and tools that will allow them to incorporate some of Amazons content and features into their sites.
Third-party sites will be able to search for and show Amazon. com products; visitors to those sites will be able to add items to Amazon shopping carts. Developers can access the Web services via XML or SOAP.
The Web services also will be incorporated into the Amazon. com Associates Program, letting Web sites earn referral fees.