No, it's not what you think: a swash-buckling extra-legal pirate hunter with a musket, a clipper ship and letters of mark stalking the coasts of Somalia. It's about copyright piracy. And it's kind of sinister.
The British Secretary of State is proposing legislation that would give his position the ability to create anti-piracy legislation without Parliamentary debate. The goal is to crack down on copyright infringement in a big way.
Cory Doctorow at Boing-Boing broke the story:
"This is as bad as I've ever seen, folks. It's a declaration of war by the entertainment industry and their captured regulators against the principles of free speech, privacy, freedom of assembly, the presumption of innocence, and competition. This proposal creates the office of Pirate-Finder General, with unlimited power to appoint militias who are above the law, who can pry into every corner of your life, who can disconnect you from your family, job, education and government, who can fine you or put you in jail."
This comes as some see the music industry starting to recover from a hard decade of battling piracy. The Economist wrote last week that though sales across the industry are down a third, the music business is adapting successfully. And moving beyond suing the pants of off random downloaders. Viacom's chief counsel told a group of Yale law students that suing P2P users "felt like terrorism".
Well it certainly seems like the Brits are gearing up for the sort of extralegal powers we're used to over here with our War on Terror. ...But...wait...that's backward...the terrorists are....the lawyers? Ah, somebody'll figure it out.
At a recent roundtable discussion, Warner Bros. technology director Ethan Applen commented on BitTorrent and P2P’s bad reputation in the entertainment industry. Applen said that P2P is not the bad guy some Hollywood insiders claim it to be, but actually a great way to transfer TV-episodes and entire seasons.
Hackers are spreading their operational bases further around the world, according to threat analysis from managed security firm, Network Box. Not only should we all be wary about what links we click on in emails, social networking sites and IM, but we should examine what data we put online.
Opera Software has released a beta version of Unite, its browser-based application platform.Opera Software has released a beta version of Unite, its browser-based application... more
Unlike most people might think, piracy is not necessarily a bad thing for copyright holders. In fact, German pirate-tracking outfit DigiRights Solutions shows that copyright holders can earn 150 times more money from illicit downloads than from iTunes and other legal stores.Unlike most people might think, piracy is not necessarily a bad thing for copyright... more
Whilst the recent news that Microsoft has released a free computer security package to the public is reassuring, it does not detract from the fact that the world’s most popular operating system still has serious security flaws.Whilst the recent news that Microsoft has released a free computer security package to... more
This is after I got my Laptop working with Flash,
for a long time it would not work with all types of flash.
it was a nice HoT Day so I went outside after fixing my Laptop.
in this Video you see me chating with my Viewers on Ustream.tv http://e-tard.tv http://twitter.e-tard.tvThis is after I got my Laptop working with Flash,
for a long time it would not work... more
Computerworld reports the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Informed P2P User Act, a law that supposedly makes it safer to use peer-to-peer, or P2P, file-sharing softwareComputerworld reports the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Informed P2P... more
Microsoft has been granted a patent for a new type of DRM that works over p2p-style networks. By using public/private encryption keys, it could be used to reinvigorate p2p as a legitimate source of content.
Historically, an easy way to stoke the ire of a major media executive was to start talking about the surge in peer-to-peer file distribution. Now, we do lots of research at Frank N. Magid Associates to take the pulse of various media channels for customers, and recently a P2P company, Vuze, hired us to find out how its users' media habits compare with those of the average internet user.
When we did, we found that those media execs may not have cause for all the quaking.Historically, an easy way to stoke the ire of a major media executive was to start... more
I was forced to smile at the irony of the situation when I shared the discovery my co-author. Here is a book created to lead businesses and security professionals in the “how-to” of preserving their intellectual property – and it’s already on the P2P networks. These networks exist so individuals can illegally download the creative thoughts of others without having to provide any compensation.I was forced to smile at the irony of the situation when I shared the discovery my... more
We’ve just published the latest guide in our ‘Securing Social Media’ series. We advise companies to block the use of P2P on the corporate network where not related to business use, and implement security guidelines to limit future risk.We’ve just published the latest guide in our ‘Securing Social Media’ series. We... more
Last week another US lawsuit against a file sharer was successful and record damages were awarded again, this time for 30 files.
Within hours of the verdict donation began pouring in for Joel Tenenbaum to start paying his $675,000 fine. But he posted on his blog that he didn't ant the donations:
"In a blog post Mr Tenenbaum said: "I ask no one to help me. And I ask for no one to cover what I signed up for."
He said any money raised so far would be used to pay expenses to his legal team, many of whom worked for free.
We don't want the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) to be paid when I can't afford to do it, and this money could be more valuable elsewhere," the blog post said.
In a different post, he said that he would "declare bankruptcy" if his appeal against the fine was not successful."
Fair play I say, it was his mistake to use a rubbish P2P service like Kazza and the RIAA shouldn't be trying to line their pockets with lawsuits like thisLast week another US lawsuit against a file sharer was successful and record damages... more
The jury awarded the record company plaintiffs $675,000 in the Boston trial defended by Prof. Charles Nesson, SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum. I was not surprised, since exactly none of the central issues ever even came up in this trial. The judge had instructed the jurors that Mr. Tenenbaum was liable, and that their only task was to come up with a verdict that was more than $22,500 and less than $4.5 million. According to the judge, her reason for doing so was that, when on the stand, the defendant was asked if he admitted liability, and he said 'yes.' The lawyers among you will know that that was a totally improper question, and that the Court should not have even allowed it, much less based her holding upon the answer to it.
It looks like the big four record companies are still pursuing and persecuting their customers with the latest law suit in the US set to award the largest damages yet:
Joel Tenenbaum admitted on the witness stand on Thursday that he had used file-sharing sites both to download and upload hundreds of songs.
It is only the second music-downloading suit to go to trial in the US.
Last month saw the end of the first such suit, in which single mother Jammie Thomas-Rassett of Minnesota was ordered to pay $1.92m for sharing 24 songs.
Mr Tenenbaum used a computer at his parents' home and at his college to download and distribute digital files.
Prosecutors working on behalf of the record labels have focused on 30 shared songs.
Under US law, the recording companies are entitled to $750 to $30,000 (£450-18,000) per infringement.
However, the jury can raise the amount to $150,000 (£91,000) per track if it finds the infringements were wilful - a matter that they will debate now that the judge has ruled Mr Tenenbaum violated copyright laws."
To be honest I can't be bothered to go into the myrid of views on file sharing but is £91,000 per track really an acceptable amount of money to award in damages? Plus he deserved to get caught for using crap P2P like Kazza....It looks like the big four record companies are still pursuing and persecuting their... more
Looks like even the US Government is on the worlds worst P2P service (Limewire):
"The location of the safe house used in times of emergency for the First Family was leaked on a LimeWire file-sharing network recently, a fact revealed today to members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Along with the safe house location, the LimeWire networks also disclosed presidential motorcade routes, as well as sensitive but unclassified document that listed details on every nuclear facility in the country."
I bet they were only searching for the new Eminem album as well.......
(BTW the picture is not the actual presidential safe house, just the first result when you type "safe house" into Google Image Search)Looks like even the US Government is on the worlds worst P2P service (Limewire):... more
Just last week, multi-talented entertainer and general all round good guy Stephen Fry confirmed what everyone had secretly hoped he would, that he pirates TV shows with BitTorrent. Now, to immortalize those momentous occasions, a new game featuring Fry himself has been released entitled ‘Stephen Fry and The Quantum of Torrents.’Just last week, multi-talented entertainer and general all round good guy Stephen Fry... more
Asus, one of the leading computer product manufacturers, has recently started to offer BitTorrent powered downloads to its customers. With BitTorrent the company says it can speed up downloads and get software to its customers in less time.Asus, one of the leading computer product manufacturers, has recently started to offer... more
We all remember a few years back when Kazaa was a huge and illegal P2P service much like the others. Though it had a good run, just like Napster, it was forced to shut down and convert into a legal pay per use service. Well now it’s back, and for a steep $20 a month you will have unlimited access to thousands of music and ringtone files.We all remember a few years back when Kazaa was a huge and illegal P2P service much... more
