Internet Blackout Day’s effect on SOPA/PIPA congressional support
Rep. Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of the ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ (SOPA), dismissed the opposition to SOPA as illegitimate and of minor importance. Oh really?! —drego
(source: ProPublica.org, via uberhumor)
Boycott SOPA: There'a an [Android] app for that!
“Armchair activists now have a tool that can transport their SOPA protestations into the real world: Boycott SOPA, an Android app that scans barcodes and tells you whether an object’s manufacturer/publisher is a supporter of the much maligned Stop Online Piracy Act.” Read more…
(source: ExtremeTech)
Rep. Lamar Smith: Idiot of the day!
Rep. Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of the ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ (SOPA), has dismissed the opposition to SOPA as illegitimate and of minor importance.
WTF? Have you been paying attention at all to who opposes this bill?
AOL, Boing Boing, Creative Commons, Daily Kos, Disqus, Bay, Etsy, Facebook, foursquare, Google, Grooveshark, Hype Machine, Kickstarter, Kaspersky, LinkedIn, Mozilla, MetaFilter, OpenDNS, O’Reilly, Radar, Reddit, Techdirt, PayPal, Torrentfreak, Tumblr, Twitter, TechCrunch, Yahoo!, Zynga, Scribd, YCombinator, Wikipedia, Reddit, Namecheap, Petzel, ICanHasCheezburger, Quora Embedly, MediaTemple, CloudFlare, StackExchange, Github, Linode, Hostgator, Square, The Huffington Post, Craigslist, ESET, 4chan. Yeah, real light-weights!
(source: Digital Trends, TechCrunch)
RIAA and Homeland Security caught downloading torrents
“If there’s one organization known for its crusade against online piracy, it’s the RIAA. Nevertheless, even in the RIAA’s headquarters several people use BitTorrent to download pirated music, movies, TV-shows and software. And they are in good company. The Department of Homeland Security – known for seizing pirate domain names – also harbors hundreds of BitTorrent pirates.” Read more…
(source: TorrentFreak)
Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.
—Mark Twain
(via BuzzFeed)
Why big media is going nuclear against the DMCA
“When Congress updated copyright laws and passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998, it ushered an era of investment, innovation and job creation. In the decade since, companies like Google, YouTube and Twitter have emerged thanks to the Act, but in the process, they have disrupted the business models and revenue streams of traditional media companies (TMCs). Today, the TMCs are trying to fast-track a couple of bills in the House and Congress to reverse all of that.” Read more…
(source: Tech Crunch)
Piracy is NOT theft: Problems of a nonsense metaphor
“When talking about piracy the entertainment industry and politicians often use the term “theft.” This is a huge problem according to the Swedish sociologist of law Stefan Larsson. In his thesis ‘Metaphors and Norms – Understanding Copyright Law in a Digital Society,’ he explains that these metaphors are in part keeping the wide gap between people’s norms and the law intact.” Read more…
‘Copyright trolls’ unite to prevent downfall of BitTorrent lawsuits
“A pivotal case that could mean the end of many mass-BitTorrent lawsuits is currently ongoing in a Virginia federal court. Labeling the pay-up-or-else scheme as a “shake down,” the judge wants to know why he should allow copyright holders to massively coerce people into paying huge cash settlements. Realizing the importance of the case, a fellow anti-piracy law firm has now joined in to protect its livelihood.” Read more…
(source: TorrentFreak)
The economics of (killing) mass-BitTorrent lawsuits
“While mass settlement lawsuits filed against alleged BitTorrent users have the potential to bring in millions in revenue, recent rulings in US District courts are going to severely cut into potential profits. Has the tide turned? It looks like a distinct possibility.” Read more…
(source: TorrentFreak)
98% of BitTorrent users in copyright shakedown filed in wrong jurisdiction
“After a major copyright settlement case featuring The Expendables was found to be fatally flawed last month, United States Copyright Group and client Nu Image dropped the case. Now, sidestepping an uncooperative judge in Columbia, the team are hoping to get more joy from one of his counterparts in Maryland, but they still haven’t learned their lesson. Tests by TorrentFreak reveal that 98% of 4,165 potential defendants in the case are being sued in the wrong jurisdiction.” Read more…
(source: TorrentFreak)
Google reports “considerable progress” in fight against piracy
“Last year, Google announced that it would begin censoring piracy-related terms from its Autocomplete and Instant services. Under intense pressure from United States music and movie companies, Google is continuing to take measures against piracy. Their latest report on the issue reveals that they have made “considerable progress” against online infringement and that they will deepen their efforts during the months to come. …”
“Rather than focusing purely on taking unauthorized content offline, they would seek to make it unfindable instead. As countries grapple with the various site blocking proposals currently sweeping the world, the music and movie industries have piled pressure on the site that helps people find content above almost any other – Google.” Read more…
(source: TorrentFreak)
FBI / IFPI teach how to bust private torrent sites
“The U.S. Government is determined to do all it can to reduce online piracy, and a cable written by U.S. Ambassador William Taylor from Ukraine shows that this effort is not limited to the homeland. The cable, dated 17 December 2008, was published by Wikileaks this week and reveals details on a piracy workshop the U.S. Government organized in the country.” Read more…
(source: TorrentFreak)
Is copyright only for the big guys?
“Over the last two weeks, two interesting copyright-related stories have appeared in online news reports. Both involve big media companies and small users, but not in the way we usually expect. In both instances, the large media companies “pirated” content instead of the users, and they seem to get away with it. This begs the question; is copyright only for the Big Guys?” Read more…
(source: TorrentFreak)
The Expendables makers dismiss massive BitTorrent lawsuit
“The ever-growing avalanche of lawsuits against BitTorrent users in the United States may have reached a turning point. The makers of The Expendables have voluntarily dismissed their case against 23,322 alleged BitTorrent users who they accused of illegally downloading and sharing their film. This means that the once-largest BitTorrent lawsuit ever is finally over, and it could signal the beginning of the end for the entire scheme.” Read more…
(source: Torrent Freak)
Recording labels sue YouTube downloader website, fail to grasp the insignificance of their actions
“The recording industry doesn’t have the most respectable history when it comes to lawsuits. Between asking for millions for trivial acts of piracy, and asking potentially for trillions in more serious cases, they’ve shown that they’re not only completely disconnected from reality, but totally unheeding of the actual effects of their litigation. So it’s not surprising to see them tilting at yet another windmill.” Read more…
(source: TechCrunch)
