In this leaked, six-page email, Richard Mollet, the Director of Public Affairs for the British Phonographic Institute (the UK's record-industry lobbyists), sets out the BPI's strategy for ramming through the Digital Economy Bill, a sweeping, backwards reform to UK copyright law that will further sacrifice privacy and due process in the name of preserving copyright, without actually preserving copyright. Mollet's memo, entitled "Digital Economy Bill weekly update 11 March 2010," appears to be ..   show all text

On 7 March 2010, we published an article by Zoe Margolis. In part of the first edition of the newspaper and online, this article carried the headline, “I was a hooker who became an agony aunt”. This was written by the newspaper not Ms Margolis. We accept that Ms Margolis is not and never has been “a hooker” or otherwise involved in the sex industry. The wording of the headline was a mistake and seriously defamatory of Ms Margolis. We offer our sincere apologies to Ms Margolis for the damage to..   show all text

[Important updates below - Facebook says the Daily Mail knew its story was untrue, but printed it anyway. Legal action is promised.] In the early hours of this morning, the Daily Mail published an astonishing attack on Facebook under the title “I posed as a 14-year-old girl on Facebook. What followed will sicken you.” Here’s the opener: Even after 15 years in child protection, I was shocked by what I encountered when I spent just five minutes on Facebook posing as a 14-year-old girl. Within 90..   show all text

Caroline Thomson, the BBC chief operating officer, defends 'tough' decision to close digital radio station 6 Music Caroline Thomson, the BBC's chief operating officer, has defended the decision unveiled in the corporation's strategy review last week to close BBC 6 Music. Thomson told an audience of media executives in London that the digital radio station, which is now the subject of a high-profile public campaign to save it, competed directly with commercial radio. "The average age of its l..   show all text

Company working with satellite provider on feature that would let users search both TV content and web videos on set-top boxes Once again, rumours are making their rounds that Google is going to make some sort of set-top box play. The latest: the Wall Street Journal reports that the company is working with Dish Network on a new feature that would let users search both TV content and web videos on set-top boxes "using elements of Google's Android operating system". The tie-in direct with Di..   show all text

No broadcaster in the world can match the BBC and its critics should stop belittling it When the Conservatives' deputy chairman, Lord Ashcroft, revealed that his party donations are dwarfed by the sums he's withholding from the nation by tax avoidance, the Tories didn't panic. They decided the crisis didn't require large-scale political fire-fighting – a little squirt would do. But George Osborne's terribly busy these days so they plumped for Michael Gove. I doubt he was thrilled. Ashcroft i..   show all text

A number of our users have expressed concern about BBC iPlayer's recent content protection enhancements. It's a complex area so I asked our techical team for an explanation of what has happened. Here it is: We make iPlayer content available in a variety of media formats (WMV, H.264, 3GP, MPEG, etc) many of which are open source, or at least not tied to a particular company's products. In order to respect the rights agreements that allow us to make the content available in the first place, we u..   show all text

Senior industry figures expect controversial measures against illegal filesharing to become law before general election The digital economy bill will become law before Parliament is dissolved at the beginning of April ahead of a likely general election in May, senior media industry figures believe. That will usher in controversial laws enabling rights owners to cut off or restrict internet access for users who download films and music illegally. The bill contains measures designed to combat ..   show all text

Exclusive: Bills for huge opinion polls for Conservatives 'sent to peer's Belize firm' Fresh concerns about Lord Ashcroft emerged tonight when he was accused of "systematic tax avoidance" by exploiting his offshore status to avoid paying VAT on opinion polls he commissioned for the Conservatives. Ashcroft privately ordered what he boasted was the biggest political polling exercise ever conducted in Britain in 2005, in order to aid the Tories as they targeted marginal seats. The cost of the p..   show all text

There has been a huge amount of online discussion about the BBC's Strategy Review since Tuesday's announcement, much of it around the proposal to close 6 Music. I would like to explain the thinking behind this proposal and the plans for the Asian Network, but it's important to explain them in the context of the wider strategy. BBC Radio is an essential part of the BBC's mission to inform, educate and entertain. The BBC's Strategy Review was borne out of the need to preserve this mission in a r..   show all text

Just under a year ago, The Guardian took its first steps in mutualising its relationship with developers with the launch of its Content API and DataStore. Today we continue that journey by launching another API, this time for UK Politics Today we're adding another API to the Open Platform. This one contains information on UK Politics. This is the first of what will become a series of thematic APIs; ones which expose content in a tightly organised facet of our subject expertise. Our editorial..   show all text

Ed Vaizey claims he became 'an avid listener' to the digital station over the weekend, after calling for BBC cuts last week Ed Vaizey, the shadow culture minister who last week welcomed the BBC's package of cuts, has changed his tune, calling for the digital radio station 6 Music to be saved. Last week Vaizey commented in the Guardian that the BBC's proposals to cut internet, radio and TV services were "intelligent and sensible". However, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal that when challenged b..   show all text