March 2nd, 2009
Telnor issued a statement regarding file-sharing haven The Pirate Bay today.
Telenor rejects the demand from the IFPI to block access to the Swedish website, The Pirate Bay, and finds there to be no legal basis for the demand for ISPs to control and/or assess the content users download. At the same time, Telenor does not condone pirating of material and illegal file sharing.
“Asking an ISP to control and assess what Internet users can and cannot download is just as wrong as asking the post office to open and read letters and decide what should and should not be delivered.”
“This is by no means a new issue, and it applies to the entire Western knowledge-based economy. Telenor sympathises with Intellectual property rights holders whose content has been illegally
distributed, but in our opinion, it is wrong to claim an ISP is liable for any illegal activity by its users on the Internet,”
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February 10th, 2009
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January 29th, 2009
So the RIAA didn’t exactly give up its efforts to crack down on piracy, or leave it entirely in the hands of ISPs either.
Shelly Palmer reports:
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January 7th, 2009
Yesterday at Macworld, Apple announced that it may have killed the golden goose. Or pulled the ol’ bait-and-switch on the goose. And became a hero to everyone who likes to eat goose.
Enough with the goose reference, and apparently, enough with DRM for Apple. Seems the iEverything people struck a deal with the labels to set the music free…for a small price. 10 million songs from the iTunes store will be available with no DRM.
Apple marketing guy Philip Schiller announced that iTunes song prices will come in three tiers: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29. The labels get to choose the prices.
Additionally, Apple announced a “Set My Music Free” tax / fee. For $.30, Apple will replace the DRM tracks you’ve previously purchased with the restrictions for tracks without any. The upside to the charge is that a) you don’t have to pay it, and b) you’ll get a higher bit-rate track in return. Hopefully everyone has done the math and will make this model work.
Personally, as I’ve said before, I’ve never had any problems with music with DRM preventing me from doing anything that falls within “fair use.” Only when you start to do the things you aren’t supposed to do you run into trouble.
Bottom line – the solution to the DRM crisis isn’t to abandon DRM. It is to put a sensible DRM solution in place that works well enough for everyone to stay in business.
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December 19th, 2008
In an early Christmas gift to music “collectors” around the country, the RIAA announced that it will abandon its much maligned effort to sue individual music pirates and instead work with ISPs to curb the practice. ISPs will be sending warnings to alleged pirates.
“We think this is going to be a different form of stick, but we absolutely think this will be a meaningful alternative approach that will have a significant impact,” said Cara Duckworth, a spokeswoman for the RIAA.
Different stick? More like a wet noodle. Stop, or we’ll say stop again. Translation: its mp3 season.
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December 9th, 2008
Am I the last of the DRM Defenders? It certainly feels that way. If Apple goes DRM free, there will be very little chance to turn back, and that will certainly seal the fate of the music industry.
AppleInsider has tipped that Apple could be going DRM free by the end of the year. With Amazon already offering DRM free tracks, iTunes is forced to compete. But if DRM goes down, it will be down for good.
In case it isn’t clear enough, DRM developers need to get off their asses and create some system that works well enough for the labels and well enough for the vendors and end users to keep everyone happy. I personally haven’t had any situation where DRM prevented me from doing anything with my music that would fall under “fair use” and I think the definition is fairly broad.
Hasn’t this become more of a philosophical argument at this point rather than a practical one?
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November 9th, 2008
When are people going to learn to turn off the “Allow Sharing” function in Kazaa? Isn’t this how most of the RIAA’s tarets have been caught?
New shmuck of the week goes to Boston University graduate student Joel Tenenbaum, for getting caught and earning himself a $1 million lawsuit from the RIAA.
Why does Mr. Tenenbaum deserve such notoriaty? Certainly not because he’s just another busted music pirate. No, of course not. It’s because of his mom.
His mom, you say? Yes. According to the article in Boston University’s Daily Free Press, Mr. Tenenbaum’s mother is a lawyer who specializes in copyright and Internet law.
Now he’s being helped by cross-river rival Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson.
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September 26th, 2008
A security hole in Adobe Systems Inc software has enabled users free access to record and copy from Amazon.com Inc’s video streaming service.
According to Reuters, the Replay Media Catcher from Applian Technologies, recorded movies from Amazon and other sites that use Adobe’s encryption technology.
If you’re so inclined, instructions can be found at tvadfree.com
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September 25th, 2008
A federal judge granted a new trial to Jammie Thomas, the Minnesota woman who was the first to fight the RIAA over file-sharing in court.
In an interesting twist of events, the judge determined that he gave the jury bad instructions that could have “substantially prejudiced” the outcome.
The judge has now put the burden of proof back on the RIAA and record companies to show that Ms. Thomas actually “distributed” the copyrighted material, not just made them available. How they will trace back any P2P connections at this point is beyond me, but I suspect somewhere, somehow, someone knows how to do it.
What continues to amaze me more, however, is that people are still using Kazaa and leaving the “share” function on. While I agree with the judge and hope for the best for Ms. Thomas, I still maintain that if you are too stupid to protect yourself, you deserve to get fucked. Just not this royally.
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September 22nd, 2008
Kids – Watch out. If you think you are just downloading “to try it out before you buy it,” think again. Activision has been suing pirates of its most popular games. Kotaku has a nice, profane version of the story, and Edge Online has some deets too.
These folks a just the latest to find themselves in some hot water. When are people going to smarten up?
# awn Guse of Federal Way, Washington. Guse, unrepresented by counsel, agreed to pay Activision $100,000 (CoD 3 Wii, CoD 3 Xbox 360) to settle the case.
# Chris Hyman of Abbeville, South Carolina. Hyman, also unrepresented, agreed to pay Activision $25,000 to settle the case. (CoD3 Wii, Tony Hawk’s Project 8, Xbox 360).
# George Laflin of New Jersey. Laflin, apparently the only defendant who had an attorney, agreed to pay Activision $100,000 (CoD 3 Xbox 360).
# Maryanne Leach of Northome, Minnesota. Leach, with no attorney, agreed to pay Activision $1,000.
# Kenneth Madden of York, South Carolina agreed to pay Activision $100,000 (CoD 3 Wii, Cod 2 The Big Red One PS2, Tony Hawk’s Project 8, Xbox 360). He too was unrepresented.
# James R. Strickland, aka Ryan Strickland of New York State; case is still active (CoD3 Xbox 360).
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