I’ve linked to Steve Sauders‘ webcasts on website performance optimization before. Here’s another. Turns out that he’s co-chairing the O’Reilly Velocity conference in June.

In early 2002 the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) set royalty rates for webcasters that were twice as high as for regular radio broadcasts. The Library of Congress reset those rates in late summer (yes, the LoC oversees those things).

Now it’s 2007, and the RIAA is at it again. Techdirt reports the Copyright Royalty Board is adopting royalty rates the RIAA has been asking for, “and making them effective retroactively to the beginning of 2006 — meaning that many small independent webcasters are now facing a tremendous royalty bill they’re unlikely to be able to afford.” Here, listen to the story on PRI’s Marketplace.

Save the Streams is following the issue, and Kurt Hanson tells us Congress is paying attention.

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