" piracy

Verizon has its customers' backs.

The Internet service provider is refusing to give up the personal information of customers that book publisher John Wiley & Sons allege are online pirates -- despite the threat of subpoena. Verizon has instead called into question whether the information would lead to any relevant findings and expressed concerns about the violation of privacy, according to TorrentFreak.

Verizon's unwillingness to give up the information is significant because its challenge could signal a potential hurdle for content companies looking to prosecute individuals using Bittorrent to illegally download books, movies, and music.

A key argument is … Read more

Bankruptcy will not protect MP3tunes.com or founder Michael Robertson from answering for the copyright violations they allegedly committed, according to EMI, the record company that's home to The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and Coldplay.

CNET broke the news today that MP3tunes.com, a music locker service that let users store songs on the company's servers and then access them from Web-connected devices, filed for bankruptcy protection.

The service was noteworthy for being one of the first unlicensed music locker services and helping to pave the way for similar services offered by Google and Amazon. But MP3tunes.com … Read more

MegaUpload wants to defend itself against all its accusers.

But one at a time, please.

MegaUpload, the cyberlocker service that the U.S. government alleges was a front for a huge criminal copyright scheme, has asked a federal court to stay civil suits filed in March against the company. MegaUpload has also asked for more time to respond to the complaint.

"The government's seizure of assets has rendered the alleged conspirators unable to pay the fees for the servers through which this allegedly illegal activity was conducted," wrote MegaUpload's legal team, which is led Ira Rothken, … Read more

In 2005 the MPAA estimated that roughly $3 billion a year is lost to Internet movie piracy. Since 2005, there have been five films that have broken a previous opening weekend box office record. Most recently, of course, is this past weekend's $200.3 million blockbuster, "The Avengers." Not only did the film shatter the previous weekend opening record, but it do so with a pirated copy of the film in circulation an entire week before it hit theaters. What's even more impressive? The new record is also the biggest jump in revenue, dethroning 2011's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" by more than $30 million.

All this has us wondering what exactly the MPAA is talking about when they say Internet piracy is destroying the film industry. It's tough to feel remorse with box office turnouts like this past weekend, and also when we read reports that claim there is no relationship between piracy and U.S. box office returns. So when the movie industry does complain about shoddy theater attendance perhaps they should be pointing the finger elsewhere.… Read more

The Pirate Bay is under fire in the Netherlands today after a court in The Hague ordered Dutch Internet service providers to block the site, which is infamous for allegedly abetting the piracy of copyrighted material.

Under the terms of the ruling, Dutch ISPs T-Mobile, UPC, KPN, and others, must block the Web site or face a stiff fine. According to Netherlands-based Tweakers.net (Translate), which was first to report on the news, the companies will have 10 days from the time of notice to block the Web site. After that, they'll be charged 10,000 euros ($12,961) … Read more

Critics of the U.S. government's antipiracy efforts have new ammunition to support claims that authorities are too eager to do the bidding of copyright owners.

Authorities seized Dajaz1.com, a music blog, and held onto it for more than a year before returning the domain to the owners. This only occurred after the government repeatedly failed to produce evidence that the site had violated copyright laws. David Kravets of Wired.com first reported the story.

This appears to be the latest public-relations setbacks for the large entertainment companies lobbying Congress for tougher antipiracy laws. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (… Read more

After filing a lawsuit against 24,583 individuals who allegedly downloaded the Oscar-winning film "The Hurt Locker," movie studio Voltage Pictures is at it again. This time, in a new lawsuit, they've added about 2,500 other alleged BitTorrent users to its list, according to TorrentFreak.

Voltage Pictures, which filed the suit in Florida last week, says that all of those people downloaded "The Hurt Locker" illegally; as a result, it has lost millions of dollars in revenue. One of the studio's goals in this lawsuit is to get a subpoena to reveal the … Read more

Google continues to up the ante on the money it spends each quarter on Washington lobbying.

The search giant spent a record $5.03 million (PDF) last quarter, according to the company's lobbying report. That figure compares with $3.76 million spent in the fourth quarter and just $1.48 million in 2011's first quarter.

Among the lobbying issues grabbing Google's attention were the regulation of online advertising, privacy and competition issues in online advertising, openness and competition in online services, and International tax reform.

The search giant devoted lobby dollars to HR 1389 - Global Online Freedom Act of 2011, … Read more

Which cyberlocker service is next to get busted?

That's one of the questions that have lingered since the January 19 raid on the home of Kim DotCom, the founder of MegaUpload. Two of that company's rivals, RapidShare and MediaFire, appear to be trying to make sure that it's not them. They are speaking out publicly now in an effort to show the differences between their services and rivals, especially MegaUpload. Cyberlock services enable people to store their digital media on a third-party's servers.

Danny Raimer, RapidShare's general counsel, told U.S. News & World Report … Read more