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Virgin Media takes fight to illegal downloaders - Telegraph
The trial by the UK's largest residential broadband supplier will go live within months and disconnecting customers who ignore warnings, a sanction favoured by the record BPI, remains an option. The trial will also be open to film and television studios.
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The trial by the UK's largest residential broadband supplier will go live within months and disconnecting customers who ignore warnings, a sanction favoured by the record BPI, remains an option. The trial will also be open to film and television studios.
This would be the first time a British internet company has publicly moved to share responsibility for curbing piracy. Two years of negotiations between record labels and internet service providers (ISPs) have so far failed to produce an industry-wide agreement.
Goodbye Torrentspy
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We have decided on our own, not due to any court order or agreement, to bring
the Torrentspy.com search engine to an end and thus we permanently closed down
worldwide on March 24, 2008.The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and
links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile. We spent the
last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of
our users and ourselves.Ultimately the Court demanded actions that in our view were inconsistent with
our privacy policy, traditional court rules, and International law; therefore,
we now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for
our users - permanent shutdown.
Iceland’s Largest BitTorrent Tracker Wins in Court | TorrentFreak
However, justice works swifter in Iceland than it does in the US, and after only 4 months, the case has been to court.
The decision, however, was as surprising as it was swift. Instead of deciding for or against the defendants, the court simply dismissed the case. It is likely, however, that the plaintiffs will appeal the decision to the Icelandic ‘Supreme Court’ (Hæstiréttur).
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The verdict, (available in Icelandic here) seems to hinge on the fact that under Icelandic laws,
searching for files, or providing accessibility to them, is legal, as long as
the files provided by the service are not themselves copyrighted. Torrent files,
are not themselves copyrighted, but are instead metadata – data about data-
describing copyrighted material, as indeed are reviews.Svavar Lúthersson, owner of torrents.is, told TorrentFreak in a response to
the court ruling “I’m very glad they came to this decision although it came as a
surprise for myself and the plaintiffs. I will have to consult with my lawyer as
to what this decision means regarding the preliminary injunction but currently
it’s still in effect.”
Swedish ISP Refuses To Block The Pirate Bay | TorrentFreak
Now that the IFPI has realized that it can’t sue every file-sharer in the world, it tries to force ISPs to block their customers from accessing filesharing sites such as The Pirate Bay. The IFPI recently forced an Israeli ISP to block access to HTTPShare.com - which boosted its visitors significantly - but it’s the block it achieved against The Pirate Bay in Denmark that is currently being used as leverage against other ISPs, this time in Sweden.
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One such ISP is Telia Sonera, the dominant
internet provider in Sweden with a total of 106 million subscribers across
Europe. According to a report,
they have received a letter from the IFPI which states that legal measures will
be taken against them unless they block The Pirate Bay initially, and also some
other (as yet unnamed) sites connected to it.However, Telia is highly experienced in its field and has a very clear
understanding of its obligations under the law, law which does not require them
to block sites or filter content.
Comcast, BitTorrent To Work Together On Network Traffic - WSJ.com
Long at loggerheads, cable provider Comcast Corp. and popular file-sharing company BitTorrent Inc. now are working together.
The deal comes as BitTorrent, which became known for developing software technology widely used to illegally share files, is trying to reinvent itself.
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The companies are in talks to collaborate on ways to run BitTorrent's technology more smoothly on Comcast's broadband network, and allow Comcast to transport video files more effectively over its own network in the future, said Tony Warner, Comcast's chief technology officer.
TorrentSpy Shuts Down | TorrentFreak
A little over a year ago, TorrentSpy.com was still the most visited BitTorrent site, but times have changed. After an expensive two year battle with the MPAA, TorrentSpy decided to throw in the towel and the site has now shut down permanently.
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By the end of 2006 TorrentSpy was more popular than any other BitTorrent site, but this changed quickly in August 2007, when a federal judge ordered TorrentSpy to log all user data. The judge ruled that TorrentSpy had to monitor its users in order to create detailed logs of their activities, and hand these over to the MPAA.
In a response to this decision - and to ensure the privacy of their users - TorrentSpy decided that it was best to block access to all users from the US. This led to a huge decrease in traffic and revenue.
This was not enough for the MPAA, who argued that TorrentSpy had ignored the court decision. The legal battle continued, and this eventually led to a preventative closure of the site by Justin, to protect the privacy of its users.
Reznor vs. Radiohead: Innovation Smackdown
The two bands have also been busy one-upping each other with their innovative promotion strategies. We were tempted to let the groups coexist peacefully at the forward edge of digital distribution until Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor accused Radiohead of betraying fans by selling them low-quality files. In light of Reznor's accusations, we put together a 10-round, voting-enabled smackdown to find out which band is really blazing the trail of innovation.
IP hypocrisy: US likes WTO rulings only when it wins
Two ongoing cases illustrate the point. First, the European Union is pushing for the US to change a pair of rules that it calls "long-standing trade irritants." Despite World Trade Organization rulings against it, the US has not yet corrected either case for a period of several years. Ambassador John Bruton, who represents the EU in the US, said in a statement late last week that he wants to see the matters resolved.
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Two ongoing cases illustrate the point. First, the European
Union is pushing for the US to change a
pair of rules that it calls "long-standing trade irritants." Despite World
Trade Organization rulings against it, the US has not yet corrected either case
for a period of several years. Ambassador John Bruton, who represents the EU in
the US, said in a statement
late last week that he wants to see the matters resolved.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Legal battle over Warcraft 'bot'
The makers of World of Warcraft are locked in a legal battle with a firm that has produced a tool to automate many actions in the virtual world.
Blizzard is suing Michael Donnelly, the creator of the MMO Glider program, which performs key tasks in the game automatically, such as fighting.
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Mr Donnelly says his tool does not infringe Blizzard's copyright because no "copy" of the Warcraft game client software is ever made.
Blizzard has said the tool infringes copyright because it copies the game into RAM in order to avoid detection by anti-cheat software.
The two parties are now awaiting a summary judgement in the case.
SlySoft on Blu-ray BD+ crack: next time it will be easier
Van Heuen is very optimistic that the Blu-ray Disc Association won't be able to squash this crack using technological methods. But what about the law? SlySoft is based on the isle of Antigua, where the only "heat" SlySoft can expect is from the sun.
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Although the BD+ scheme is designed to be dynamically updated, van Heuen isn't worried. Noting that the entire BD+ scheme is "not economical to be done even once," he wryly points out that "the customer pays the additional cost." There are some "attacks" against SlySoft's crack that the BDA could roll out, but Slysoft is prepared to address them, van Heuen added.
Call For Help: Caught Downloading Copyrighted Material—Now What?
I recently followed Lifehacker's guide to BitTorrent and set my laptop up with the uTorrent program. Using a combination of PizzaTorrent and uTorrent, I downloaded several movies and albums, perhaps 30 in all. Yesterday I received a letter in the mail from Cablevision (my ISP) saying that Paramount/Dreamworks had filed a complaint with them regarding my illegal download of one of their films.
Innocent man pinched by RIAA asks SCOTUS for attorney's fees
Cliff Thompson, a San Antonio resident sued by the RIAA for copyright infringement, has asked the Supreme Court to decide whether the record labels should be forced to pay attorneys' fees in cases where they voluntarily dismiss copyright infringement cases. Thompson was sued by the RIAA in 2006 for allegedly using KaZaA to distribute music, but the labels dismissed their case against him once it became apparent that his adult daughter was the KaZaA user in question.
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Thompson sought an award of attorneys' fees, arguing that since he was the prevailing party in the copyright infringement lawsuit, he was entitled to have his legal bills paid for by the RIAA. The problem is that different courts do not handle attorneys' fees in copyright infringement cases uniformly. The judge in Virgin v. Thompson denied his request, citing a "purported lack of responsiveness," and Thompson was thwarted once again at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Sony BMG plans online music subscription service
'The simplest option would be a flat rate under which a monthly payment would provide access to our entire music catalogue for all digital players, including Apple's Ipod,' he added.
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BERLIN Thomson Financial - Music company Sony (NYSE:SNE) BMG wants to launch a subscription plan to give clients unlimited access to its digital catalogue, chief executive Rolf Schmidt-Holtz said.
‘Good’ Pirates Help Companies Sell More Products | TorrentFreak
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If you are downloading stuff you wouldn’t have bought in the first place, according to economist Karen Croxson, you are probably doing the company that created the product a big favor. You, Mr ‘Good’ Pirate, are telling your friends, adding to the media ‘buzz’ and driving up sales.
Lifecasters: Justin.tv -- one year old and still full of illegal content
Given Major League Baseball's draconian online reporting rules -- no more than seven photos from any game; audio and video clips can be a maximum of two minutes and can't be streamed live -- we doubt the MLB is happy about this.
Portals tune in full TV episodes
With Hulu going live this month, the portals that are distribution partners for this NBC Universal-News Corp. online video joint venture continue to focus on streaming full-length episodes and building out content around popular TV shows.
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With Hulu going live this month, the portals that are distribution
partners for this NBC Universal-News Corp. online video joint
venture continue to focus on streaming full-length episodes and
building out content around popular TV shows. -
For AOL TV, streaming full episodes is a new endeavor. The Time
Warner-owned site -- the only portal to offer ABC primetime shows
in addition to Hulu and CBS content -- started streaming Feb. 14,
and AOL TV and Moviefone publisher Kristin Rolla said "30 Rock" and
"Jericho" have been the most popular shows thus far.
Turnitin wins important victory in fight to combat plagiarism (and the bloat of copyright) (©ollectanea)
To the relief of many a high school, college and university administrator, Turnitin's system for helping teachers identify possible cases of plagiarism got a pass from the judge earlier this month. AV v. iParadigms (District Court, Eastern District of Virginia).
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Thus, while I would hesitate to cite this analysis, it does give us some insight into how this court views the 4-part test. The analysis leans heavily on recent cases like Perfect 10 v. Google, that compare speculative harms to copyright owners with the enormous public benefit of transformative uses like indexing and come to the entirely unremarkable conclusion that such uses are pretty much exactly what fair use is supposed to be all about.
Billy Bragg Tells Bebo To Give Some Of The Millions To The Musicians
But reading his opinion piece published in today’s New York Times concerning what he calls “the royalty scam” conducted by Internet music portals like MySpace and Bebo, I can’t help but say: wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
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Don’t get me wrong. I believe in just payment to musicians on radio, whether over-the-air or over-the-Web, as well as through CD and download sales. I think that the record companies have provided the majority of working musicians with ridiculous contractual conditions and have not delivered what I would consider to be a fair percentage of retail income. I think a good portion of “signed” artists deserve more. A lot more. But as far as social networks like MySpace and Bebo are concerned, there’s really no basis to demand that they provide royalties. They didn’t start their businesses with the aim of directly sustaining musicians,
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