piracy

RIAA: Don't let Net neutrality hurt piracy fight

WASHINGTON--The Recording Industry Association of America's chief voiced skepticism on Tuesday about the need for Net neutrality rules, but warned that the government may need to step in if Internet service providers don't become more proactive in fighting digital piracy.

The House of Representatives subcommittee hearing was further evidence that the now years-old debate over Net neutrality is taking on a new dimension, in which concerns about Internet piracy are entering the debate. Net neutrality, of course, refers to the idea that network operators should be barred from discriminating against or prioritizing Internet content that travels on their … Read more

Proposed new piracy penalties advance in House

A congressional proposal designed to stiffen penalties and enforcement against pirates and counterfeiters moved a step closer to becoming law on Wednesday.

As expected, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a copyright holder-backed enforcement proposal known as the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property, or Pro-IP, Act, which is chiefly sponsored by the committee's chairman, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the committee's ranking member, said the U.S. Department of Justice is filing more intellectual-property cases than ever--217 in 2007--but suggested that's still not enough. The bill's passage … Read more

Court rejects RIAA's 'making available' piracy argument

The recording industry's music piracy fight was dealt a setback Tuesday when a federal judge rejected the RIAA's "making available" argument in a lawsuit against a husband and wife accused of copyright infringement.

In Atlantic v. Howell, Judge Neil V. Wake denied the labels' motion for summary judgment in a 17-page decision (PDF), allowing the suit to proceed to trial. The argument--that merely the act of making music files available for download constituted copyright infringement--has been the basis for the Recording Industry Association of America's legal battle against online music piracy.

The RIAA sued husband … Read more

Random sampler: Chubbier websites, Canada the pirate, profligate Google, and Macs ascendant

Lots of great news today, though not much that relates to open source, per se. First of all, it's interesting to see that the average web page size has tripled since 2003. Why? No reasons are given, but the data is highly interesting. Have a look.

The US has released a list of the worst companies for respecting intellectual property. The usual suspects are all there: China, Russia, Argentina, Chile, India, Israel, Pakistan, Thailand, and Venezuela. But so is Canada. Canada???

Despite the downturn, Apple continues to do well with a 51 percent rise in Mac sales. IDC puts … Read more

U.S. eyes China, Russia, 44 others over piracy

The Bush administration on Friday again singled out China, Russia, and seven other countries for allegedly not doing enough to stop piracy and counterfeiting on their turf.

In its annual report (PDF), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative named nine trading partners to its "priority" watch list and 36 others to its lower-level watch list. Paraguay is also being monitored in a separate category, bringing the total up to 46 countries.

Aside from China and Russia, which were highlighted as areas of particular concern, the priority list also contains Argentina, Chile, India, Israel, Pakistan, Thailand, and … Read more

Microsoft's piracy problem could grow

When it comes to software piracy, Microsoft may just be aiding the enemy.

Microsoft has been counting on gains against unlicensed software to boost revenue from the Windows unit, which accounts for a huge chunk of overall profits and sales. However, one of the company's own decisions could make its antipiracy battle more difficult.

With Windows Vista, Microsoft took an extremely tough stand on piracy. Computers that were not properly activated within a short period of time went into a virtually unusable state known as "reduced functionality mode."

In the newly released Service Pack 1, however, Microsoft … Read more

Increased piracy hurt Microsoft's quarter

For several quarters, Microsoft has been seeing a drop in piracy rates, which has been helping fuel improved business in its Windows unit. In the just-reported March quarter, however, Microsoft saw an increased rate of piracy, an executive told CNET News.com on Thursday.

In an interview, Colleen Healy, Microsoft's general manager of investor relations, said that the number of unlicensed PCs, particularly in Asia, increased during the company's third quarter. That was one of the factors that caused the Windows unit to come in shy of what the company had forecast.

"Q3 was a tough quarter … Read more

BayTSP to track piracy at YouTube, other video sites

BayTSP, a service that tracks file swappers for the big music labels and Hollywood studios, is set to begin testing a new audio and video fingerprinting technology to see whether it can hunt down copyright infringement at sites such as YouTube, Dailymotion, and Yahoo Video.

According to a statement issued late Monday night, BayTSP has partnered with Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (NTT). That company will combine its content-recognition engine with BayTSP's authentication platform, and the companies hope the tests will lead to the opening of a commercial service that will help content owners guard against piracy at user-generated … Read more

All together now: 'Long Flat Balls' for free!

A director from Norway, whose movie credits include the critically acclaimed Agent Cody Banks as well as the unforgettable, One Night at McCool's is thrilled someone thought so highly of his latest work as to pirate his latest oeuvre, Long Flat Balls 2. (Unfortunately, I missed the classic which preceded it.)

Torrent Freak offered a translation of the comments made by the director, Harald Zwart, to the Nettavisen.no:

"I think it's perfectly fine that some people choose to post the movie online. It shows that people are interested in it. In the IT society of today … Read more

Warner Music's tune of folly

Guest post: Editor's note: Music attorney Chris Castle is all for finding a way to boost the music industry out of its current nosedive. But bundling music charges into ISP bills is not the way to go, he says.

Castle, a former executive at A&M Records and Sony Entertainment as well as a former attorney at Wilson Sonsini, one of Silicon Valley's most prestigious law firms, takes issue with a proposal making big headlines after it was outlined on Portfolio.com. Jim Griffin, a former executive at Geffen Records is working with Warner Music Group to … Read more