In a bid to take up even more of the wireless radio spectrum, President Barack Obama has signed a presid

ential memorandum supporting the FCC’s release of  500 MHz of wireless spectrum for broadband services. It’s been no secret that the FCC has been trying to play catch up with Europe on broadband speed and technology. This new initiative paves the way for the FCC to sell spectrum that can potentially deliver wireless broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits a second to 100 million homes in the United States. It also makes it possible for the FCC to create a nationwide safety communication network, something they’ve been trying to accomplish ever since emergency workers across the country had trouble talking to one another during the September 11th attack.

The FCC is currently fast-tracking an exploration of the broadband spectrum that is still available and how quickly other parts of the spectrum will open up. As the wireless spectrum is limited and is in high demand, this freed up spectrum is expected to go for more than 10 billion dollars when the FCC sells it in the next 5 years. This is money that will go towards both the safety communication network infrastructure and to actually pay off the national debt.

Of course on the video side, the only real question is does this mean that we’ll have to buy new wireless microphones again? The 700 MHz frequency range has already been sold off so who’s to say that wireless microphone frequency holders might not want to sell off more? Plus with all of the other important uses for the other parts of the spectrum, there can be no doubt that the pressure will be high for wireless microphone frequency holders to sell out. On the plus side however, if that event does occur,  you should have no problem getting updated quickly on your new 100 megabit per second wireless connection.

A recent slew of arrests and camera confiscations has the internet buzzing about our rights as videographers and our rights as civilians. Surveillance laws that have already existed in 12 states for some time, declare that it’s illegal to record a private party without their consent. However, in some states, like Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts this law has recently been stretched to include the videotaping of on-duty public officials. Regardless of factors such as shooting in public places, if you aim your camera at a police officer, you can be arrested and charged with illegal surveillance.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, just last month an individual was charged with a Class I felony for violating Illinois’ eavesdropping law when he videotaped a police officer on a Chicago street. If found guilty of the offense, he could be sentenced to four to 15 years in prison.

In Maryland, Anthony John Graber III was pulled over for speeding and is now facing criminal charges for videotaping a plainclothes police officer with his helmet-mounted camera. According to an article posted on Gizmodo.com, Graber wasn’t arrested until ten days later, after he posted the confrontation on YouTube. “When the YouTube video was discovered the police got a warrant against Graber, searched his parents’ house (where he presumably lives), seized equipment, and charged him with a violation of wiretapping law.”

There is some speculation as to why state laws are becoming intolerant of public videotaping, especially in the case of police officers. The increase of police brutality videos hitting video-sharing sites like YouTube, for one. It has been suggested that “cameras have become the most effective weapon that ordinary people have to protect against and to expose police abuse. And the police want it to stop.”

Only time will tell if the public’s backlash against this interpretation of wiretapping laws will cause it to be reversed, or if more states will adopt the same policies. Regardless, it’s important to stay knowledgeable of laws that might affect the way you make your videos. There are a lot of laws to be mindful of. Being negligent or ignorant of these laws can result in costly lawsuits, and in cases like this, jail time. While a lot of the laws will come at no surprise, there are occasionally those that make us scratch our heads and say, “but what about our first amendment rights?”

As our lives become increasingly immersed in mobile media and digital entertainment, a question has surfaced: Flash or H.264? Just as the battle started to gain some momentum, new data has indicated that the H.264 format may have already won. According to Encoding.com (via TechCrunch), the H.264 format is used by 66 percent of all videos, whereas Flash has fallen from 69 percent to 26 percent of all video in just the last year.

The popularity of H.264 comes at no surprise. After all, the H.264 codec is supported by all kinds of video hardware and software, as well as video sharing sites such as YouTube (not to mention, Apple’s biased support and undeniable preference for the format). Despite its popularity, legal concerns have emerged regarding the use of the codec by consumers.

A recent concern comes from blogger and MIT graduate Ben Schwartz, who said “A lot of commercial software comes with H.264 encoders and decoders, and some computers arrive with this software pre-installed. This leads a lot of people to believe that they can legally view and create H.264 videos for whatever purpose they like. Unfortunately for them, it ain’t so.” Schwartz supports his claim with text pulled from specific software licenses.

According to an article on Gizmodo.com regarding the topic of H.264 licensing, if you’re making money (selling your product to the end-user) from video encoded or decoded with the H.264 codec you need to acquire a license. In February, MPEG LA announced that the AVC Patent Portfolio License, which the H.264 codec belongs to “will continue not to charge royalties for Internet Video that is free to end users”… at least until December 31, 2015.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at times with all of the legalities surrounding video production. The key is to stay well-informed. Learning about new technologies and making sure to read the restrictions listed in the fine print can help you avoid legal problems. Choosing to stay in the dark will only cause issues down the road. After all, you’ll never know whose toes you may be infringing upon.

Do you have what it takes?

CBS is airing the 52nd Grammy awards show and has a contest going on that can put the winner’s video right into the Grammy program. We told you about the  amazing one-take one-camera viral video lip-dub by University Montreal Quebec film students.

The video was so well received that the group, “The Black Eyed Peas”  who made the song allowed the Canadian students to keep the video on YouTube, and following that success, they are teaming up with CBS to allow anyone who thinks they have the guts, to upload their own lip-dub version to CBS’s site for a vote. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYmSlwJ2myQ

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The FTC, (Federal Trade Commission), announced this week that it is beefing up the rules regarding paid endorsements by bloggers and Tweeters saying they love/use a product but in reality are shills for the company. This new regulation by the FTC is the first real change they’ve had in the rules since the early 1980s. From celebrities endorsing products on shows like “Oprah” to unknown so-called “users” who rave about the products on their blog, Twitter or Facebook pages, the Truth in Advertising guidelines didn’t touch social media until now. Read the rest of this entry »

A Canadian filmmaker is on his way to realizing an age-long dream of becoming like The Six Million Dollar Man from his childhood TV shows.

Blinded in one eye from an accident when Rob Spence was a boy; he had the damaged eye removed a few years ago so he could wear a prosthetic eye, which looks like a normal eye. He noticed that the tiny camera in his cellphone could probably fit into the prosthesis, and thought, “why not?” Scientists agree with Spencer, and have been looking into ways to not only implant a tiny camera that can record video, but to someday have the ability to be wired to a blind person’s brain enabling them with sight.

We first told you about Rob Spence and the this new device back in December, and now the final tests on implanting Rob Spence’s empty eye-socket with a tiny camera will proceed within about a month. Being a filmmaker, Rob wants to see how close to “true” reality he can come by just recording ordinary day-to-day conversations and events without his subject’s being turned off by a regular camera.

However, since he’s a real filmmaker, Spence would expect to be on the up-and-up, and not try any weird stuff that could be considered morally, ethically, or legally out of the circle of decency.
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