Connecticut AG Investigating Amazon & Publishers for Unfair Practices

 According to a news report in the WSJ, Amazon is under investigation to determine whether their dealings with certain publishers are anti-competitive.

From the article:

The investigation is examining whether Amazon engaged in anticompetitive behavior in the e-book business through its agreements with certain publishers, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement.

Connecticut asked Amazon to provide documents related to its dealings with five of the largest U.S. book publishers, according to a subpoena issued in 2019. The Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit that investigates technology platforms, obtained the subpoena through an open records request and shared it with The Wall Street Journal.

Pirated Broadcast Content Worth $1Billion or More - Report

In a new report undertaken by Digital Citizens Alliance suggests that the value of stolen digital content broadcast which is 'resold' as pirated subscriptions to consumers exceeds $1Billion.  This report looks at the infrastructure that supports this 'business' and the revenues and profit margins that can be generated.  Here are some of the primary conclusions:

• Conservatively, pirate subscription IPTV services generate subscription revenues of $1 billion annually in the U.S. alone, even excluding the sale of pirate streaming devices used to receive the content; 
• Because the providers of these services pay nothing for the programming that makes up their core product, they operate with estimated profit margins that range from 56 percent (retailers) to 85 percent (wholesalers). 
• An estimated 9 million fixed broadband subscribers in the U.S. use a pirate subscription IPTV service; 
• At least 3,500 storefront websites, social media pages, and stores within online marketplaces sell pirate subscription IPTV services to the U.S. market; 
• An ecosystem has emerged around such services, including wholesalers that provide turnkey technology, and retailers that offer the stolen content to the public; and 
• The ecosystem also depends upon legitimate players, including hosting services, payment processors, and social media. The extent to which these legitimate players are aware of their role is a subject of debate