The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has promoted Mark Friedlander to director of new media, effective May 21. Friedlander will head the Guild’s newly formed new media department and will report to Pamm Fair, SAG’s deputy national executive director.
“Mark’s expertise in new media and interactive contracts, combined with his knowledge of emerging technologies and his legal background, make him the perfect choice for this new position,” Fair said. “Our elected leaders and staff have made new media a top priority and this new department, along with our research and economics department, will provide essential research, analysis and strategy to guide our long-term decisions and policies.”
Friedlander and the new media department will work closely with the Guild’s new technologies, interactive contract, and organizing committees, as well as negotiating committees for all SAG contracts and the newly formed national joint new media subcommittee. Friedlander will be charged with hiring additional professional staff over the coming months.
“This is the dawn of a new era in entertainment,” Friedlander said. “The developments in new media formats give actors new opportunities, but it’s important to make sure they are compensated fairly for their work, no matter what the format. This department will help accomplish that, and I’m excited to lead this critical area for the Screen Actors Guild.”
Friedlander came to the Guild in ’05 as a business representative in the contracts department, specializing in theatrical, new media and interactive projects. Prior to SAG, he was an entertainment attorney.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More