Copyright Issues

U.S. Ambassador: Internet Piracy and Illegal Immigration are Both a ‘Compliment’

in File Sharing, Games, Hacktivism, News, Technology

U.S. Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey L. Bleich is back once again with a new Internet piracy missive. The long-time friend of Barack Obama caused controversy by getting involved in the Game of Thrones download debate last month, but now believes that he hasn’t got involved enough. Quoting the earlier words of HBO, Bleich says that if online piracy is a compliment to Game of Thrones, then the same holds true for illegal immigration or someone hitting on your partner.

Source: U.S. Ambassador: Internet Piracy and Illegal Immigration are Both a ‘Compliment’

Pirate Site Blocking Legislation Approved By Norwegian Parliament

Norway has moved an important – some say unstoppable – step towards legislative change that will enable the aggressive tackling of online copyright infringement. Proposed amendments to the Copyright Act, which will make it easier for rightsholders to monitor file-sharers and have sites such as The Pirate Bay blocked at the ISP level, received broad support in parliament this week and look almost certain to be passed into law.

Source: Pirate Site Blocking Legislation Approved By Norwegian Parliament

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Prolific BitTorrent Uploader Faces Jail Time in Sweden

The former moderator of a now-defunct torrent site has just earned the dubious honor of becoming the most prolific BitTorrent uploader ever to be charged by authorities. The man, who was arrested in 2011, is said to have uploaded around 500 movies and TV shows to a private BitTorrent tracker over a two-and-a-half year period. The quantity of uploads is almost ten times more than the previous record in a case of its type, leading the prosecutor to warn of a looming jail sentence.

Source: Prolific BitTorrent Uploader Faces Jail Time in Sweden

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Fox Censors Cory Doctorow’s “Homeland” Novel From Google

Copyfighter, journalist, sci-fi writer and Boing-Boing editor Cory Doctorow has fallen victim to the almighty content empire of Rupert Murdoch. In an attempt to remove access to infringing copies of the TV-show Homeland, Fox has ordered Google to take down links to Doctorow’s latest novel of the same title. Adding to the controversy, Doctorow’s own publisher has also sent DMCA notices for the Creative Commons licensed book.

Source: Fox Censors Cory Doctorow’s “Homeland” Novel From Google

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Obsessed With Google, Copyright Holders Ignore The Actual Pirated Content

When it comes to online piracy, copyright holders have an obsession with Google. Every month the search engine is asked to take down links to millions of URLs to help stop the unauthorized distribution of their work. Strangely enough, many copyright holders fail to target the root of the problem as they don’t make the effort to send takedown requests to the originating websites.

Source: Obsessed With Google, Copyright Holders Ignore The Actual Pirated Content

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File-Sharers Will Not Be Held Liable For Piracy, Russia Says

As Russia tries to find a balanced solution to the thorny issue of Internet piracy, the head of a government department responsible for communications and information technology says that attacking Internet users is not the solution. Speaking at the launch of a nationwide campaign to promote legal eBook purchases, Vladimir Grigoryev said that the government has no intention of holding downloaders liable or having them sent to court.

Source: File-Sharers Will Not Be Held Liable For Piracy, Russia Says

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YouTube’s Deal With Universal Blocks DMCA Counter Notices

When content is removed from the Internet following a DMCA complaint filed by a rightsholder the user who uploaded the content gets a chance to file a counter-claim. If successful this should reinstate the content but on YouTube things now appear to be working somewhat differently. It transpires that YouTube has a special deal with Universal which sees content taken down at the record label’s request and DMCA counter notices blocked with no chance of appeal.

Source: YouTube’s Deal With Universal Blocks DMCA Counter Notices

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ISPs Cannot Be Forced To Store Data on File-Sharers, Court Rules

Most Internet service providers log information about their users, such as when they use the service and the IP addresses they were allocated at the time. This information is useful for ISPs’ housekeeping but it’s also an invaluable resource for copyright trolls looking to track down file-sharers. Can an ISP be forced to collect and retain such data? In a disappointment to rightsholders, a higher regional court in Germany has clarified that ISPs cannot.

Source: ISPs Cannot Be Forced To Store Data on File-Sharers, Court Rules

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NBC Universal Warns File-Sharers of Criminal Prosecution

NBC Universal is one of the copyright holders involved in the “six strikes” copyright alert system but the warnings it sends out to subscribers of non-participating ISPs stand in stark contrast to the educational approach of the program. A threatening email warns the alleged file-sharers that they risk substantial monetary damages, criminal prosecution and Internet disconnections.

Source: NBC Universal Warns File-Sharers of Criminal Prosecution

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Spain to Crackdown on Pirate Sites and Outlaw File-Sharing

After becoming known as somewhat of a haven for both file-sharing sites and their users, Spain is preparing to crack down on breaches of intellectual property rights. In a blueprint published by the government today, sites said to infringe copyright on a large-scale face fines of up to 300,000 euros and having their payment processors and advertisers removed. P2P downloads will also be outlawed by limiting the right to private copy.

Source: Spain to Crackdown on Pirate Sites and Outlaw File-Sharing

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