Legal Frontiers in Digital Media Stanford University

Our third annual discussion with members of venture capital firms to get their perspective on the future of digital media. Always a lively discussion, our VC's will provide insights on near-term trends and trajectories in the digital media industry and will comment on the practicality and commercial viability of all the latest technologies, apps and digital platforms.

This session will examine what happens when innovation and intellectual property rights collide in the news delivery business. The discussion will explore the tension and try to forge understanding between the entrepreneurs, technology companies, and other innovators and investors who develop or fund new products and platforms that aggregate, excerpt, and distill third-party content -- but often without clear authorization from those third parties; and the media organizations who create much of the content on which these new products and platforms rely -- but from whom obtaining clear authorization may be challenging. How do we move forward without stifling innovation or trampling intellectual property rights?
We will begin with a tutorial on how various aggregation-related sites and mobile applications acquire, display, and monetize third-party content, and how they address the intellectual property problem. This will be followed by a panel discussion on workable ideas for fostering technological innovation in the digital delivery and distribution of content while still allowing the content creator to receive a proportionate benefit or compensation.

This session will look at how the mainstream media and journalists have reacted to the lightning-fast pace of information (and often, misinformation) spread on social media platforms, and explore the way forward for journalism in this environment. The panel will explore such questions as: Should social media sites be proactive (or reactive) in policing their content for deliberatively false information? Are the pressures of being timely in an instantaneous age of mass communications compelling traditional journalists to take risks that in the past they would not take? How do lawyers and editors at entities in the hot seat of breaking news (which might or might not be correct) separate the wheat from the chaff?

This panel will discuss a mix of hot digital copyright issues, including:
• The Cablevision doctrine -- Its implications in the Aereo case as well as in cloud computing, e.g., personal backups and music lockers.
• DMCA Update: The implications of private storage lockers; defining “willful blindness” in the wake of Viacom v. Youtube; standard technical measures and the obligations of search engines.
• Reconciling the dual roles of copyright holders and service providers in policing unauthorized content.
• Is SOPA a four-letter word? What’s next in the battle over online piracy

This session will look at how the mainstream media and journalists have reacted to the lightning-fast pace of information (and often, misinformation) spread on social media platforms, and explore the way forward for journalism in this environment. The panel will explore such questions as: Should social media sites be proactive (or reactive) in policing their content for deliberatively false information? Are the pressures of being timely in an instantaneous age of mass communications compelling traditional journalists to take risks that in the past they would not take? How do lawyers and editors at entities in the hot seat of breaking news (which might or might not be correct) separate the wheat from the chaff?

This session will explore the major problems that occur when there is a data breach and what steps to take in the hours and days following such an incident. First, our computer forensics specialist, Winston Krone, will walk us through the anatomy of a data breach, including investigating its source and scope, and what remedial measures to take. Then we will ask our expert panel to discuss some key considerations during a typical data breach scenario, including: working with counsel and law enforcement, when to disclose the breach to users, steps to avoid litigation and public relations considerations.