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Source:Valleywag

Dan Glickman, head of the MPAA, is calling on Internet service providers to implement filtering to protect movies from piracy. AT&T has already announced plans to develop such a system, but there are few details. It’s also not clear if Glickman has any rationale for placing the onus on ISPs, considering the law’s not on his side. And yet, the prospect of holding them legally responsible for piracy on their networks is implied in his statements.

Glickman says, “The ISP community is going to be at the forefront of this in the future because they have everything to lose and nothing to gain by not seeing that the content is being properly protected.” And here I was thinking it was that Hollywood studios, the ones Glickman represents, with everything to lose and nothing to gain by forcing ineffective protections on its products.

ISPs stand on the frontline of the content industry’s war on piracy, true. But they’d seem to have little to gain by taking up Glickman’s fight — until you consider this: Cable Internet providers like Comcast are already in the TV business. AT&T and Verizon are starting to sell TV subscriptions as fast as they can. Blocking file sharing may generate some ill will among Internet customers — but more than ever, ISPs need friends in Hollywood so they’ll have programming to fill their new channels.

Source:Valleywag

The Drudge Report is the homepage for many news junkies — myself included. That’s likely because Matt Drudge has never really jumped on the Web 2.0 bandwagon — no comments, no voting on stories, no submitting stories (except through the anonymous tips box) for peer review, no videos, no lolcats. The site has pretty much been the same since it launched in the late ’90s — until today!

TAKE DRUDGE WITH YOU, ANYWHERE… OPENING OF IDRUDGEREPORT.COM FOR MOBILE DEVICES… FURIOUS AND FAST, HEADLINES ONLY… IDRUDGEREPORT.COM…

I opened the site on my iPhone and got a list of the same headlines that are currently on drudgereport.com, but without ads or the lengthy list of links to news sources and columnists. Clicking a link informs you that the link you clicked may not be formatted for a mobile device and offers to email you the link so you can read it when you get back to your computer. Nifty.

In addition to that, the Drudge main page was viewed 455,157,569 times in November — the busiest month in the site’s 12-year history. It’s important to note, however, that that number is pageviews, not unique readers, and the site has an autorefresh set to 3 minutes. If you leave the page open on your computer, as many readers do, you’ll account for 20 views an hour. Even discounting that effect, the site is astoundingly popular for a two-man operation.

Source:Valleywag

Peter Thiel has a butler, and we’re not the only ones who are jealous. The former PayPal CEO turned venture capitalist has, it seems, inspired his colleagues at the Founders Fund to get a bit more household help. Ken Howery, one of Thiel’s partners at the fund, is seeking a personal assistant. You won’t find the job listing on the fund’s website — he’s circulating this help-wanted by email. The assistant will help Howery and a colleague pay bills, keep house, go shopping, and do research. Want to be a gofer for San Francisco’s hot VC firm of the moment? Drop Howery a line at first initial last name at foundersfund dot com. Oh, the firm’s also hiring a CFO, controller, and associate. The personal-assistant job description, after the jump.

Personal Assistant, The Founders Fund

Two of the GPs are seeking a full-time personal assistant to help them manage their personal lives so they can focus on building The Founders Fund.

In addition to a strong professional track record, the best candidates for this position will be attentive to detail, respectful of confidentiality, very reliable, responsible, and organized, and OK with a highly variable schedule. Experience with basic computer software and access to a car are required.

Primary job functions will include:

* Manage personal travel.
* Manage personal calendar.
* Manage GP residence.
* Personal shopping/running errands.
* Miscellaneous research.
* Event planning.
* Paying bills.
* Misc. and other projects.

Compensation is competitive and negotiable based on experience.

Health insurance is provided.

Please email your resume for any of these positions to me or Ofa Taufalele at ofa@foundersfund.com.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 9:12 pm and is filed under venture capital, founders fund, Peter Thiel, Careers, ken howery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.