CRA Analysis of Computing Research in the FY 2005 Budget Request

On March 31, 2004, In Funding, By Peter Harsha

As part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual review of R&D in the President’s Budget Request, CRA provides an analysis of computing research in the request. This is essentially a look at the current status of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development initiative — the government-wide program that encompasses all federal IT R&D activities. In short, the President’s request would keep things pretty steady-state. A slight decline in overall funding — made up of slight increases at some agencies, and slight declines in other. But the overall funding requested still falls well short of the amount recommended by the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) when they did their last comprehensive review of federal IT R&D funding back in 1999.
Here are the highlights from the report:

Highlights

  • Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) funding would fall 0.7 percent in FY 2005 to $2.00 billion across eleven federal agencies, under the President’s budget request.
  • The President’s request would increase funding for computing research at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the lead agency in the NITRD initiative, to $761 million in FY 2005, an increase of 0.9 percent.
  • Concerns about interagency coordination of large-scale “cyberinfrastructure” investments in FY 2005 will likely lead to greater congressional oversight of NITRD programs in 2004.

    • Read on to get the full scoop…

    (more…)

     
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    Another Data Point in the P2P Debate

    On March 30, 2004, In Research, By Peter Harsha

    Researchers from Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina released a study today that suggests that illegal downloading of songs via P2P networks is not having a significant effect on legitimate music sales and in many cases may help album sales. The Washington Post has the story.
    A few choice paragraphs:

    Songs that were heavily downloaded showed no measurable drop in sales, the researchers found after tracking sales of 680 albums over the course of 17 weeks in the second half of 2002. Matching that data with activity on the OpenNap file-sharing network, they concluded that file sharing actually increases CD sales for hot albums that sell more than 600,000 copies. For every 150 downloads of a song from those albums, sales increase by a copy, the researchers found.
    “Consumption of music increases dramatically with the introduction of file sharing, but not everybody who likes to listen to music was a music customer before, so it’s very important to separate the two,” said Felix Oberholzer-Gee, an associate professor at Harvard Business School and one of the authors of the study.
    Oberholzer-Gee and his colleague, University of North Carolina’s Koleman Strumpf, also said that their “most pessimistic” statistical model showed that illegal file sharing would have accounted for only 2 million fewer compact discs sales in 2002, whereas CD sales declined by 139 million units between 2000 and 2002.
    “From a statistical point of view, what this means is that there is no effect between downloading and sales,” said Oberholzer-Gee.

     
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    Senate Bill Would Allow DOJ to Target Filesharers

    On March 26, 2004, In Policy, By Peter Harsha

    Tech Daily (sub. req’d) reports on a Senate bill introduced yesterday by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) that would allow the Justice Department to file civil lawsuits and bring criminal charges against song-swappers using peer-to-peer networks. Complaints from content providers about the relatively few numbers of criminal prosecutions for file trading apparently led Leahy to introduce the bill (S. 2237 — should be available online shortly). Currently, the government has to prove that song traders demonstrate “willful conduct” to bring criminal charges. Leahy’s bill apparently lowers that threshold. Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch is a co-sponsor. RIAA and MPAA are on board:

    “This legislation provides federal prosecutors with the flexibility and discretion to bring copyright-infringement cases that best correspond to the nature of the crime,” said Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America.
         “I commend Senators Patrick Leahy and Orrin Hatch for their vision and leadership in combating the theft of America’s creative works,” said Jack Valenti, CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.

    More info as it becomes available….

     
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