3 Count: I’m in Space…

Jonathan BaileyJune 10, 2013

2 minutes read

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

1: Kim Dotcom’s Extradition Case Delayed Again

First off today, the AFP is reporting that Kim Dotcom’s extradition hearing has been pushed back yet again, this time to November 21, 2013 though a backup date has been set for April 14, 2014.

Dotcom was arrested in January of 2012 after his then-site, Megaupload, was shuttered by a joint New Zealand and U.S. action. The U.S. is currently seeking extradition of Dotcom for criminal copyright infringement and money laundering charges but issues about evidence and problems with the case have caused repeated delays.

Dotcom recently won a legal victory in New Zealand with a judge agreeing that the raid on his house was illegal and ordered the police to turn over any digital evidence seized that was not relevant to the case as well as copies of relevant material.

2: Teesside Student Who Caused Copyright Scare Walks Free From Court

Next up today, Bruce Unwin at The Northern Echo reports that Johnathan Waring, a student at Teesside University, was given a one-year suspended prison sentence for his leaking of secret files and data that may have made it easier for others to break copy controls on the Sony PlayStation 3 and play pirated games.

The leak, according to Sony, cost them approximately £5 million ($7.7 million) as they had to rewrite much of their protection systems. Waring, for his part, said he was unaware of the damage he would cause Sony and simply wanted to give back to the hacking community.

Waring had obtained the files from his game design school and broke school policy by downloading them to a DVD and posting them to the Internet. Sony traced the leak, which was posted under the name “El Nomeo” back to Waring, resulting in his arrest last June.

The university suspended Waring pending the outcome of the criminal case and is now completing its own disciplinary process.

3: The Final Frontier. Does Copyright Apply In Space?

Finally today, Matthew Stibbe at Forbes reports that, last month, Commander Chris Hadfield made a music video covering a David Bowie song while on the International Space Station. The video went viral and became a success on YouTube and elsewhere.

Though Hadfield received permission from all involved, the process took months and it raised questions about the state of intellectual property law in space.

The issue is somewhat similar to offshore server farms and pirate radio that operates out of international water, there are no governing laws for intellectual property (or other areas of law for that matter) in space. With commercial space flight closer to a reality and soon likely to be fairly common, these issues could become more significant in the coming decades.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.