tagged w/ Piracy
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Move stands in sharp contrast to statements of recent gaming and music chiefs
When it comes to piracy, Berth Milton -- CEO of the Private Media Group, one of the largest adult entertainment companies and the first one that’s publicly traded on NASDAQ -- isn't quite as anal as some of his colleagues in the gaming, music, and film industries. He says that the entertainment business is looking at unauthorized downloads in entirely the wrong way.
In a market saturated with stiff competition, Milton says that there's nothing dirty or nasty about illegal downloads; they often lead to legal purchases when users experience and enjoy the product. He states, "We will be extremely happy the more people are pirating our content and the more they look at it."
He said that media copyright watchdogs' attempts at stopping piracy are doomed. He comments, "I think it’s a lost battle. I look at my own kids, because that’s the best way to know where the market is going. It doesn’t matter if I tell them that it is illegal to download. As soon as they close the door to their room, they download. They are not afraid of someone who’s tracking their IP-address. They just don’t care. It’s a new world and we have to accept it."
Under Milton's leadership the company is looking to penetrate new markets geared towards turning piracy into profits. His company is increasingly retailing luxurious vacations with an adult theme, sex toys, and other sex tools to help viewers relive in real life the escapades they see in their pirated videos.
Milton's approach stands contrary to that of the much of the entertainment industry that looks to whip the unruly internet user base into submission. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden recently compared piracy to breaking into the fine jewelery story Tiffany's. And the music copyright watchdogs are pushing hard to implement prison time for those who share music. One film maker recently said that he hopes that even the children of pirates end up in jail.
Piracy isn't the only topic to get the industry all hot and bothered, though. Recently copyright groups have fought to outlaw making backup copies for personal use and used products, which one game studio chief remarked was as bad as piracy.
Ultimately, Milton appears to be right, though. The pirates perpetually seem to come out on top, releasing new tools and growing in numbers. As one University of Utah law professor puts it, nearly everyone in the nation today engages in copyright infringement on a daily basis, if you consider the law's strictest interpretation.
Milton's logic seems simple -- customers will pirate, but are still more than willing to blow a load of cash for appealing products. And he may well be right; a recent study showed pirates are biggest legitimate purchasers of music, on average.Move stands in sharp contrast to statements of recent gaming and music chiefs... more
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Following in the footsteps of The Pirate Bay and the successful BitTorrent distribution platform Vodo, uTorrent has now embraced an artist of their own. Starting today, all new uTorrent downloads will be bundled with the latest album from PAZ, an up and coming musician who hopes to achieve stardom through BitTorrent.
http://torrentfreak.com/utorrent-backs-artist-bundles-album-with-new-downloads-100816/Following in the footsteps of The Pirate Bay and the successful BitTorrent... more
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For many years movies have been released onto the Internet, trickling down the so-called ‘piracy pyramid’ from elitist and private sites. Now a new breed of release groups are starting to make waves, bringing media directly to the masses. Today we take a closer look at this scene and speak to groups on the frontline to see what makes them tick.
http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-releasers-are-the-new-kids-on-the-piracy-block-100729/For many years movies have been released onto the Internet, trickling down the... more
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"The list, which contains the URL of every searchable Facebook user's profile, name and unique ID, has been shared as a downloadable file.
Mr Bowes told BBC News that he did it as part of his work on a security tool...""The list, which contains the URL of every searchable Facebook user's... more
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An anti-piracy group has revealed that when it comes to shutting down torrent sites, it is the undisputed king of the Internet. BREIN, which works on behalf of the Hollywood movie studios, says that not only has it shut down several Usenet indexers and streaming sites already in 2010, but hundreds of torrent sites too. There is also torrent site carnage going on in The Netherlands.
http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-stuns-the-world-with-torrent-site-massacre-100715/An anti-piracy group has revealed that when it comes to shutting down torrent sites,... more
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After their former hosting provider received an injunction telling it to stop providing bandwidth to The Pirate Bay, the worlds most resilient BitTorrent site switched to a new ISP. That host, the Swedish Pirate Party, made a stand on principle. Now they aim to take things further by running the site from inside the Swedish Parliament.
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-party-to-run-tpb-from-parliament-010702/After their former hosting provider received an injunction telling it to stop... more
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US officials have shut down nine websites accused of offering free access to films, including Toy Story 3.
The crackdown, which included seizing assets from 15 bank accounts, involved police, customs and the movie industry.
The closure of the sites, which had 6.7m visitors combined each month, was described as the "largest takedown of illegal movie and TV websites in a single action" by the government.
Some films were available hours after their release in US cinemas.
Previous crackdowns on film piracy have focused on illegally copied DVDs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10475801.stmUS officials have shut down nine websites accused of offering free access to films,... more
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The sites had made pirated versions of 'Toy Story 3' and 'Iron Man 2' available within hours of their release in theaters. The crackdown is part of a renewed effort to curb film and TV piracy online.
Adding some swashbuckling to its tough talk on fighting piracy, the federal government on Wednesday seized several websites that had offered downloads of pirated movies such as "Toy Story 3" and "Iron Man 2" within hours of their release in theaters.
Federal authorities announced that they had seized domain names from nine websites engaged in the "criminal theft of American movies and television." The websites include TVShack.net, PlanetMoviez.com, ThePirateCity.org and Ninjavideo.net. Combined, the sites drew 6.7 million visitors a month, authorities said.
Officials also seized assets from 15 bank, investment and advertising accounts and executed residential search warrants in North Carolina, New York, New Jersey and Washington, according to a statement from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which coordinated its investigation with the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies.
(M.A.L.)The sites had made pirated versions of 'Toy Story 3' and 'Iron Man... more
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I was just reading this post at current news that obama administration announced massive piracy crackdown and the very next moment I found this at a site .. lolI was just reading this post at current news that obama administration announced... more
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While they may never be able to truly defeat piracy and drive it from the lurking depths of the internet, copyright protection attack-dog organizations like the RIAA and MPAA have long dreamed of the day when they would no longer have to pay for their own copyright enforcement. Now that dream is on the verge of coming true, thanks to the Obama administration.
After countless lobbyist dollars from the music and film industry and a brief "public review", the administration rolled out its vision to fight piracy yesterday afternoon. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden -- whose blunt speech has sometime left him in trouble -- did not mince words.
He states, "This is theft, clear and simple. It's smash and grab, no different than a guy walking down Fifth Avenue and smashing the window at Tiffany's and reaching in and grabbing what's in the window."
The sound-byte comparing downloads to stealing jewels from New York City's finest jeweler quickly lit up the web. Bob Pisano, interim chief executive officer at the Motion Picture Association of America praised the VP, "It is especially critical that the United States has an effective framework for protecting creative content online and enforcing intellectual property rights in the digital environment."
According to the Obama administration, the RIAA, and MPAA, the world economy is pretty much doomed if we don't start prosecuting pirates at home and abroad. Without such a crackdown, businesses will go bankrupt the coalition argues. Biden states, "Piracy hurts, it hurts our economy."
Interestingly, the statements seem to fly in the face of a recent Government Accountability Office study released to U.S. Congress earlier this year, which concluded that there is virtually no evidence for the claimed million dollar losses by the entertainment industry. That study suggested that piracy could even benefit the economy.
Another noteworthy study from three years back notes that virtually every citizen violates intellectual property laws in some way on a daily basis.
The White House press release was full of buzz phrases, but short on details. It did however indicate that the U.S. government may increasingly monitor filesharing networks and BitTorrent sites and assist media groups in their prosecution/threat letter efforts. It speaks of improved "law enforcement efforts at the Federal, state and local level."
The biggest effort, though, will be devoted to cracking down on piracy websites in the U.S. and overseas. The administration was short on details of how exactly it would convince piracy-loving nations like China to change their ways, but it did say it would try to do so by "being as public as we possibly can" about infringement.
The press release states, "As we shine the spotlight on foreign governments that have rogue actors doing illicit business within their borders, it's the government's responsibility to respond."
Such efforts have shown mild success. After lots of threats against the Swedish government by the U.S., the European Union nation finally tried admins with the nation's largest torrent site The Pirate Bay last year and found them guilty. The trial was later exposed to be a perversion of the justice system, with the judge who gave the verdict have multiple ties to copyright protection organizations. The verdict -- $3M USD in damages and a year of hard prison time for the admins -- is currently being appealed.
The White House's vision is perhaps a prelude to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which will go before Congress later this year. The bill would make P2P or BitTorrent client development a criminal offense if the distributed software was used for infringement. It also implements an interesting provision called "imminent infringement", which allows the government to charge people who they think might be about to infringe with a civil offense (for example if you searched "torrent daft punk"). This is among the first official "thought crime" provisions to be proposed by the U.S. government. The bill also makes it a criminal offense to bypass DRM.
Ultimately, it should be interesting to see how American taxpayers react to President Obama's decision to spend their money on efforts to prosecute them and try to choke out piracy at home and abroad, particularly when the current evidence is inconclusive of its effects. One thing's for sure, though. Top politicians on both sides of the aisle are firmly behind the music and movie industry anti-piracy and money-collection efforts
Guess were starting a war on media piracy next?While they may never be able to truly defeat piracy and drive it from the lurking... more
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"AMSTERDAM (Hollywood Reporter) - Movie fans downloading free pirated films are no longer Hollywood's worst nightmare, but that's only because of a newer menace: cheap, and equally illegal, subscription services.
Foreign, often mob-run, businesses aggregate illegally obtained movies into "cyberlockers" similar to Internet storage sites used by individual consumers to squirrel away pirated video. But the for-profit version of this phenomenon has spawned an array of sophisticated and seemingly reputable sites selling unlimited digital movie files for as little as $5 a month.
"Cyberlockers now represent the preferred method by which consumers are enjoying pirated content," Paramount Pictures chief operating officer Fred Huntsberry said Monday.
Huntsberry detailed the evolution of professional piracy methods for hundreds of European movie theater operators attending an opening-day seminar here at the four-day Cinema Expo.
Commonly, Hollywood movies are made available via illegal for-profit sites within days of theatrical release, while the advent of global releasing now allows the proliferation of individual titles into an array of language dubs within the first month of a theatrical debut, he noted. When movies are released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, the sites upgrade the quality of video offered from camcorded images to pristine digital copies.
Cyberlocker-based businesses operate from Russia , Ukraine, Colombia, Germany, Switzerland and elsewhere, with several selling digital ads to mainstream, often-unwitting advertisers such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and even Netflix.
"Sometimes these sites look better than the legitimate sites," Huntsberry said. "That's the irony."
Advertising agencies often place digital ads on behalf of companies, which order the banners pulled when notified by studio reps, he added.
Consumers increasingly are streaming pirated digital video directly onto living room TVs, the Paramount exec noted. But the public needs to know that with such pirated convenience comes the risk of having credit card information ripped off, and problems with spyware contamination are even more common.
On a grander scale, the motion picture industry is combating the situation with country-by-country campaigns for tougher laws against video piracy. But the effort has a long way to go.
"In the U.K., we are hamstrung by the fact that we have very weak legislation," Cinema Exhibitors Assn. chief Phil Clapp said.
However, the U.K. in April adopted the Digital Economy Act that mandates a so-called graduate response to cybertheft, similar to a plan used in France and elsewhere.
Consumers caught downloading pirated material receive an e-mail alert followed by formal letters, and repeat offenders can lose Internet access for a period of time. But France remains one of the only European countries with an anti-camcording law."
Read more in the full article (link below):
http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.reuters.com/hollywood-faces-new-piracy-threat-reuters"AMSTERDAM (Hollywood Reporter) - Movie fans downloading free pirated films are... more
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Do people commit theft when they share unauthorized copies of film and music over the Internet? U.S. Vice President Joe Biden thinks so.
"We used to have a problem in this town saying this," Biden told reporters Thursday at a press conference in Washington, D.C. "But piracy is theft. Clean and simple. It's smash and grab. It ain't no different than smashing a window at Tiffany's and grabbing [merchandise]."
Biden spoke to the media alongside Victoria Espinel, the U.S. intellectual property enforcement coordinator, to introduce the government's strategy on protecting the country's intellectual property.
Espinel issued a report that included more than 33 recommendations, such as cooperating with foreign governments to go after foreign-based pirate sites. Biden and Espinel were scheduled to discuss how to implement the recommendations following the press conference. Through reporters, Espinel issued a warning to those who infringe on U.S. intellectual-property rights.
"We have committed to putting you out of business," she said, adding that copyright owners who are losing money to piracy can rest assure "help is on the way."
Biden and Espinel's comments were welcomed by the large Hollywood studios and recording companies. The entertainment industry has said for years that digital piracy, thanks mostly to the rise of the Internet, is costing them billions of dollars and thousands of jobs every year. Plenty of skeptics have debated the costs of piracy on the entertainment sector but the Obama administration has appeared very sympathetic to IP protection.
"The big picture is that the sands are shifting," said Rick Cotton, NBC Universal's general counsel. "An important political consensus is emerging."
Said Philippe Dauman, CEO of Viacom, parent company of Paramount Pictures and MTV: "For the first time our government is bringing to bear its full powers to the critical mission of protecting intellectual property."
In Espinel's report, called the Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement, she recommends ways to protect industries that go far beyond the entertainment industries and content creators. Espinel and Biden said that billions of dollars worth of phony goods are entering the U.S. every year and hurt much more than the nation's economy. Biden said manufacturers of tires, airplane parts, pharmaceutical products, and even Kevlar vests are plagued by counterfeiters.
Biden said that when counterfeit drugs or wheel assemblies for jet aircraft are bought by unwitting Americans, these phony products can prove fatal.
"This is not just about the new 'Robin Hood' movie," Biden said. "It's not just about creative talent...It's about whether a Kevlar [bulletproof] vest we are putting on some guy and whether it works or not."
But Biden and Espinel spent time discussing online piracy and illegal file sharing. Biden suggested that Internet service providers should hop aboard the antipiracy efforts of the film and music sectors. For nearly two years, Hollywood and the major labels have tried to get companies such as AT&T, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable to create policies that penalize chronic copyright offenders.
The vice president also said that the U.S. government is going to step up pressure on foreign governments where pirate Web sites operate.
"We want to make sure that these countries know we want these sites shut down," Biden said. "We are going to shine a light. If these sites are operating openly in a country that is not taking action...we can make it very public and shine a light on rogue actors. It's the government's responsibility to respond."Do people commit theft when they share unauthorized copies of film and music over the... more
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Federal judge Rosemary Collyer sits on the DC District Court, where several of the recent US Copyright Group lawsuits against alleged P2P users have been filed. A few of those lawsuits ended up on Judge Collyer's calendar, one of them filed against over 4,000 anonymous "John Does" at once.
This week, Judge Collyer issued a terse demand to the lawyers behind these cases: convince me within two weeks that jamming 4,577 people into a single lawsuit is a proper use of the court system.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/06/judge-may-dismiss-4576-of-4577-p2p-defendants-from-lawsuit.arsFederal judge Rosemary Collyer sits on the DC District Court, where several of the... more
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The Zionist Federation rallied opposite the Israeli embassy in support of the Israeli Defence Force action against the Gaza aid flotilla. London, United Kingdom. 02/06/2010
Around 500 pro Israel protests gathered opposite the Israeli embassy to express their support for the attack on the Gaza aid convoy that left more than nine aid activists dead.
They were opposed by a much smaller counter demonstration of 100 pro Palestine supporters holding banners and chancing slogans.The Zionist Federation rallied opposite the Israeli embassy in support of the Israeli... more
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Getting up close in the fight against pirates and people trying to stop rich countries from dumping nuclear waste off their coast.Getting up close in the fight against pirates and people trying to stop rich countries... more
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Like a billion other people, I download things illegally. I'm also an actor, writer and director whose income depends on revenue from DVDs, movies and books. This leads to many conflicts in my head, in my heart, and in bars.
From an industry standpoint, physical media has a great advantage: It is its own copy-protection. Even disregarding the DRM built-in to discs, to make copies is hugely impractical for the average consumer. But physical media is disappearing. We simply don't need it any more. Remember slinging out your VHS collection? That's how I'm now thinking about my DVDs. And don't think you're safe either, Blu-rays.
With bandwidth and storage increasing exponentially, getting cheaper, and consumers becoming more tech-savvy, it's becoming easier every day to grab free copies of books, movies and albums. This is why Internet users are thrilled. Including me. This is why people in the entertainment industry are terrified. Including me.
More @ LinkLike a billion other people, I download things illegally. I'm also an actor,... more
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Voltage Pictures and the US Copyright Group are teaming up to sue "tens of thousands" of P2P users who downloaded the film The Hurt Locker illegally. A lawyer from the group confirmed the studio's plans to the Hollywood Reporter Wednesday, noting that the scope of this lawsuit is much more far-reaching than the copyright group's past pursuits.
The Hurt Locker, like many other Hollywood films, was leaked onto BitTorrent months before its official release in theaters. It wasn't a particularly high-grossing film—it only made $16 million—but it did end up winning six Oscars. Undoubtedly, the film's early leak online combined with the relatively low earnings is part of the reason Voltage and the US Copyright Group decided to sue. The lawsuit has not yet been filed, but the firm expects it to happen later today.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/hurt-locker-torrenters-prepare-to-be-sued.arsVoltage Pictures and the US Copyright Group are teaming up to sue "tens of... more
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38 Ways the Film Industry Is Failing Today
A year ago I wrote a blog post " 38 American Independent Film Problems/Concerns." Unfortunately, all of those problems I listed a year ago still stand today; four or so from that list have made some real headway, perhaps, but they certainly remain issues. Of more concern is that the list keeps growing and growing. I can contribute another 38 even more pressing issues today.
In fact, there is no one to blame for this list but ourselves. It is our inability to be proactive that his brought on us this terrible state. What once were problems or concerns have grown more pressing. You do the math: we now have over 70 things wrong with our industry that we are not taking action to fix.
Ask yourself what you currently are concerned and frustrated about in terms of where both film culture and the film business are today. Where is our industry capable of being and how does it compare to where we actually are? Do we really have the capacity to sit and wait to get there? Isn't our silence delaying the trip?
I must admit that I am a bit disappointed that I had no difficulty adding another thirty-eight items to this list of where we are currently failing. The exciting thing about this (and why #38 of last year 's list was "lists like this make the foolish despair") is both these lists demonstrate a tremendous opportunity for those willing to break from the status quo and do things a bit differently. Things may be wrong, but they could always be worse. From here, we just have to work together to make it better. It is that simple. Every deficit is an opportunity for the creative entrepreneur, right?
So how has the film biz continued to reveal itself to be terribly troubled this year? What do I suggest we start to focus on, discuss, and find solutions for? This list is a start, and I wager we will expand it substantially in the days ahead.
Read the the rest of this post, including Ted's "38" by clicking the link above.
Pericles Lewnes
Current Indie Film
@PretentiousFilm
@loopmovie38 Ways the Film Industry Is Failing Today
A year ago I wrote a blog post " 38... more
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After some digging, Jeff Rosen (Wolfire Games’ founder) has discovered that roughly 25% of The Humble Indie Bundle’s downloads have been from software pirates. Apparently some folks decided to post download links to the DRM-free game collection on various forums. Way to go, lame-asses. You’re really sticking it to The Man by taking money away from sick kids and independent game developers.
Details through the link.
http://www.crushfragdestroy.com/2010/05/10/humble-indie-bundle-were-very-disappointed-in-you/After some digging, Jeff Rosen (Wolfire Games’ founder) has discovered that... more
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