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3 Count: Immortal Scorpion

Jonathan Bailey — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:51:29 +0000

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1: SOPA Supporters, Opponents Make Last-Ditch Efforts Ahead of Hearing

First off today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith has scheduled the controversial Stop Only Piracy Act for a vote in his committee today. As a result, forces both for and against the act are making last-minute pushes to appeal to representatives on the panel. Those against SOPA have ramped up their efforts to flood representatives with letters and phone calls while those in favor have been doing the same but also taking out ads, including a full-page ad taken out by the AFL-CIO in the Washington Post. The bill, which would enable copyright holders to seek orders forcing ISPs, payment processors and ad networks to block or stop doing business with foreign sites primarily aimed at copyright infringement. If the bill passes the committee, it will go to a vote in the full House.

2: Sony and Warner Are Said to Sue Web Music Service

Next up today, even as Universal’s newest lawsuit against Grooveshark begins to ramp up, both Sony and Warner are considering joining in by filing suit against the company as well. Universal, which recently sued the music streaming service claiming that it’s employees had uploaded tracks to the service for others to stream, an allegation Grooveshark denies, is seeking damages for alleged infringement of songs they own. Sony and Warner, two other major labels, are believed to be ready to join in with filings today and will likely make many of the same allegations. Grooveshark claims its service is protected by the DMCA, which holds hosts non-liable for uploads by users if they remove them after receiving a notice. However, if the files were uploaded by Grooveshark employees, then that protection would be lost.

3: Serious Sam 3 Features Giant Pink Scorpion on Illegal Copies of Game

Finally today, thinking about pirating the recently-released Serious Sam 3? It literally could kill you (in game at least). The first person shooting game, which focuses on over-the-top action, has a protection system inside it that detects when a person is playing an illegal copy of the game and, instead of booting them out, generates an immortal scorpion that chases and kills the player early in the game. However, the plan may backfire as some legitimate players are now saying they want to pirate the game just to get the scorpion experience.

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.

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 5 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Eps 221 – SOPAlternative

Jonathan Bailey — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:04:42 +0000

It’s Friday again and that means it’s time for another episode of the Copyright 2.0 Show!

It may be the holidays but that doesn’t mean things are slowing down in copyright news. Not only is SOPA and it’s new alternative still making headlines, but new DRM rules are on the horizon and we even have a major court ruling in a case against an advertiser.

We also have a case of a fair use ruling making strange bedfellows and a conclusion to the Vostu/Zynga case just in time for Zynga’s upcoming IPO.

Those stories and many more are in this week’s edition of the Copyright 2.0 Show!

This week’s stories include:

SOPA Opponents Introduce Alternative Legislation, now Called OPEN Act
EFF to Ask Copyright Office to Legalize Jailbreaking on Tablets, Consoles and More
Chitika Not Liable for Serving Ads on Pirate Site, May Have Been if Informed
Publishers, Record Labels Join Righthaven Fair Use Fight
Vostu Settles w/ Zynga, Will Change Games
Much, Much More!

You can download the MP3 file here (direct download). Those interested in subscribing to the show can do so via this feed.

Show Notes

About the Hosts

Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey (@plagiarismtoday) is the Webmaster and author of Plagiarism Today (Hint: You’re there now) and works as a copyright and plagiarism consultant. Though not an attorney, he has resolved over 700 cases of plagiarism involving his own work and has helped countless others protect their work and develop strategies for making their content work as hard as possible toward their goals.

Patrick O’Keefe

Patrick O’Keefe (@iFroggy) is the owner of the iFroggy Network, a network of websites covering various interests. He’s the author of the book “Managing Online Forums,” a practical guide to managing online communities and social spaces. He maintains a blog about online community management at ManagingCommunities.com and a personal blog at patrickokeefe.com.

3 Count: Open Door

Jonathan Bailey — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:59:48 +0000

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1: High Court Day 2: iiNet Says AFACT Lawsuit Inevitable

First off today, yesterday was day 2 in the Australian High Court trial between AFACT and iiNet. AFACT, a consortium of copyright holders, had sued local ISP iiNet claiming they had not done enough to stop infringement. Though iiNet won in both of the lower courts, the appeals court ruling opened the door to a “three strikes” system in the country. AFACT appealed the case to the High Court. The second day focused more on iiNet’s ability to control its customers actions and on AFACTs demands, with iiNet claiming that nothing short of terminating suspected repeat infringers would have been adequate to avoid a lawsuit. The case enters its third day today and is likely to continue next week.

2: Copyright Corruption Scandal Surrounds Anti-Piracy Campaign

Next up today, the Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN has found itself in the center of a controversy as composer Melchior Rietveldt is claiming that the group used his song without permission on various DVDs for the anti-piracy warnings. According to Rietveldt, he was paid to compose a song for an anti-piracy ad to be played at a film festival. However, BREIN (or another party) went on to use the work for warnings distributed on DVDs without any compensation. To make matters worse, a board member of Buma/Stemra (a royalty collection agency), Jochem Gerrits, offered to help but only if he could collect 33% of the earnings. Gerrits has since said his words were misinterpreted but has offered a temporary resignation. That being said, according to BREIN director Tim Kuik, the contract dispute does not actually involve the organization as it is not the distributor nor the client involved.

3: EFF to Copyright Office: Let my Tablets, Consoles, and Phones Go!

Finally today, the EFF is preparing for the next round of Copyright Office hearings on DMCA exemptions and is hoping to expand on exemptions that it helped fight for in the last round. The DMCA prohibits the circumvention of DRM and other digital locks but provides exemptions where it is acceptable. To determine what exemptions are appropriate, the copyright office holds hearings every three years and rules on what new exemptions should be added. Last year, the EFF and other groups argued for an exemption to jailbreak phones and received it. However, the exemption didn’t cover the trafficking of the software to perform the jailbreak nor did it cover other commonly-jailbroken items such as tablets, video game consoles, etc. The EFF is hoping that, with this round, it can earn those exemptions as well.

Suggestions

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 5 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

3 Count: Gotta Dance

Jonathan Bailey — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:16:50 +0000

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1: Ditching DRM Could Reduce Piracy, Prices, Inconvenience

First off today, a recent paper out of Duke and Rice Universities says that removing DRM from various copyrighted works could reduce piracy and drive down costs. According to the paper, DRM only punishes legitimate customers, driving many to pirate content so they can use their acquired content in the manner they want. The paper appears in the latest issue of Marketing Science.

2: Righthaven Asks Appeals Court to Block Dismantling of the Company

Next up today, Righthaven, the company famous for filing no-warning lawsuits against bloggers and forum admins allegedly reposting content from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Denver Post, is facing yet another major problem. Previously ordered to pay approximately $34,000 in legal fees to a defendant that beat them, Righthaven had been instructed to post a bond in that amount but has been unable to procure such a bond and is now asking the court to stay the decision pending their appeal. Otherwise, according to Righthaven, that amount could bankrupt the company.

3: Beyoncé Accused of ‘Stealing’ Dance Moves in New Video

Finally today, singer Beyoncé’s new music video for her song “Countdown” is causing a plagiarism stir, but not over the music. According to Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, many of Beyoncé’s dance moves were plagiarized from her routines. A video showing the similarities side-by-side has emerged and Keersmaeker has hinted that she may sue over the alleged plagiarism. The video’s co-director, Adria Petty, has talked previously about showing videos of European contemporary dance as inspiration for the routines in the video.

Suggestions

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 5 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

3 Count: Uber-Soft

Jonathan Bailey — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:20:48 +0000

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1: War on PC gamers continues: Ubisoft misled on From Dust DRM

First off today, video game maker Ubisoft is in DRM news again, this time over its recent PC release “From Dusk”. The game, which originally debuted on the Xbox a few weeks ago, was promised to have a DRM that required only one online activation but, after release, turned out to need an Internet connection every time it was launched. Ubisoft allegedly removed forum posts detailing the single activation system and has replaced them with “clarifications” about the DMR for the game. This, in turn, has led many to demand a refund for the game and to a large campaign to dissuade others from purchasing it. Ubisoft has created DRM-related controversy before with always-on DRM that would drop the game once connection with an authentication server was lost, even if the game was in single player mode.

2: Ryan McGinley Copyright Case Dismissed

Next up today, photographer Ryan McGinley has won his lawsuit against another photographer, Janine Gordon, who sued McGinley claiming he had ripped off some 150 photos from her collection. The judge in the case found that the similarities between the photographs were not protected by copyright and, if allowed to would “assert copyright interests in virtually any figure with outstretched arms, an interracial kiss, or any nude female torso.” The judge also joked that, “I think Playboy is going to sue you both”. Neither side had any further comment.

3: New Threat for Labels as Yesterday’s Stars Want Their Music Back

Finally today, the rate of filings for copyright terminations is increasing and record labels in particular may be in for a tough time in 2013 if those terminations are successful. According to an article by the Australia, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Bryan Adams, Tom Waits and Kris Kristofferson are just some of the artists who have filed copyright terminations, seeking to have full control of their works turned over to them. U.S. law allows artists to end transfers and exclusive licenses after 35 years through a copyright termination process. To do that, they must file a notice with the Copyright Office two years before the termination, the first of which can take place in 2013.

Suggestions

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 6 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

3 Count: Newz Again

Jonathan Bailey — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:22:50 +0000

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1: BT Ordered to Block Links to Newzbin 2 Website

First off today, a court has ordered the UK ISP BT to block access to the site Newzbin2 using their “CleanFeed” technology, which is primarily aimed at blocking access to child exploitation sites. The ISP was sued by the Motion Picture Association, which sought the blocking, has said it does not plan to appeal the verdict and both sides will return to court in October to determine how the blocking will work. Many are worried that this ruling sets a dangerous precedent and that the technology can not handle the load that will be put on it.

2: Driver: San Francisco on PC Marks Return of Always-On DRM

Next up today, video game publisher Ubisoft is back in the news for its DRM practices. A recent announcement from the company states that its upcoming release “Driver: San Francisco” will require an always-on Internet connection, even when being played in single player mode. This move follows other Ubisoft games such as “Assassin’s Creed 2″ and “Splinter Cell: Conviction” that had similar requirements but were patched away after fans of the games complained and technical issues surfaced. The change was announced on the game’s official Twitter account.

3: RWC Statue at Center of Copyright Dispute

Finally today, a statue of New Zealand Rugby star Michael Jones has found itself at the heart of a copyright dispute after sculptor Richard Wells says he was denied money and co-authorship in the work that he was promised. However, the credited artist, Natalie Stamilla, says that Wells was hired solely to do “grunt work” and that his artistic input was minimal. Wells has been dropped from the project, which will create a 1.5x size statue of Jones for Eden Park, but has said he will not give up in his fight for attribution.

Suggestions

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 5 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

3 Count: Reset Button

Jonathan Bailey — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:39:35 +0000

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

1: Hollywood Force ISP To Use Child Abuse Filter Against File-Sharing Site

First off today, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) is before a UK high court in a bid to force the UK ISP BT to block access to Newzbin2, a Usenet service that rose from the ashes of the first Newzbin, which was closed after successful litigation by the MPA. According to the movie studios, they targeted BT because it is both the largest ISP and it already has the technology in place in the form of a child pornography filter the service has installed. If the MPA is successful in getting an injunction, it would be the first time in the UK that an ISP has been forced to use an internal filter to block a site for copyright purposes, an act that is already spawning a great deal of controversy.

2: No save data reset for Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D

Next up today, Capcom, the makers of the Resident Evil series of video games, including the recent release Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D for the Nintendo 3DS, have chosen an unusual DRM scheme for the title, preventing the same game file from being reset. This move is aimed primarily at devaluing used copies of the game, which will not be able to create a new saved game file, but it also means that original owners will not be able to play through the game twice. The systems has already sparked outrage among gamers but, in Japan where the game has already been released, has succeeded in driving down the price of used copies, as low as $6.

3: Harry Potter and the Direct, DRM-Free Sale

Finally today, author J.K. Rowling, the creator of the Harry Potter books, announced a new site entitled “Pottermore” that she hopes will offer a unique online reading experience. However, within that announcement was the news that the Harry Potter books will be available for the first time as eBooks, they will be available in any format desired and will be available DRM free. Also, the sale is a direct sale, meaning that it is not going through a publisher, opening the door for Rowling to receive more revenue from each sale.

Suggestions

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 6 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

WWF Format: DRM For the Environment

Jonathan Bailey — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:54:05 +0000

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) recently introduced a document format that it hopes will help cut down on the amount of paper wasted on printing documents needlessly.

Known as WWF format, it is essentially a PDF with the print function disabled. The idea being that, if someone decides a document their sending doesn’t have a reason to be printed, they can simply send it as a WWF format and the recipient will not be able to do so, or at least have serious obstacles to prevent them doing so.

This makes WWF format something of a DRM, but rather than trying to protect content within the file, is trying to save the environment.

I decided to download and test the WWF software provided and see how well it works and if content creators might have any reason to distribute content in WWF format.

Unfortunately, what I found wasn’t very good and, quite frankly, I can’t see the format taking off anytime soon.

How it Works

(Note: I used the Mac version of the software for this test and have not tested the Windows version)

Anyone who has used a PDF printer before will, most likely, already be familiar with the basics of how WWF format works. Basically you download and install the relevant software and the application creates a WWF “printer” that generates WWF from any document capable of being printed.

To access it on the Mac, just got to your print command and click “Save As PDF”, on the drop down select “Save as WWF” and then enter the filename when prompted. The file will be “printed” to a WWF file and a page explaining WWF format will be appended to the end of the file. I’ve created a sample WWF file using the cease and desist letter found in the Stock Letters section.

The file can be opened in almost any application that can view PDF files, on my machine it opened up in Skim, and, just as promised, the print function is disabled, as is visible in the image above.

All in all, there isn’t much to say about it, the software works reasonably well and it does what it says it will do. Unfortunately though, the strategy behind the WWF file format is a flawed one and not likely to succeed. The reasons, however, should be familiar to anyone who has followed DRM in the news.

The Problems with WWF

The problems with WWF as a format are legion. Here are just some of the larger, more obvious ones to consider:

It’s DRM: Though I’m sure the WWF doesn’t think of its new format as DRM, that’s what it is, a means of preventing users from doing something with digital content. History has shown that, if there is enough interest, it will be broken. In fact, it can be broken very easily as you will read below.
It Duplicates Functionality: One can already disable printing on a regular PDF file if motivated. However, as per the first point, that’s also been broken as well.
Lack of Recognition: As noble as the efforts are, as a new format WWF doesn’t have a lot of people using it. In fact, very few know what it is or how to create/open such a file. That may change over time, but given that it’s just a PDF without printing and PDF is a virtually universal format, it doesn’t seem there is much reason to change.
Alters the File: WWF adds an extra page to every document it creates, adding to file size, breaking design and creating confusion.
Limited Format: In addition to its design limitation of not being able to print, WWF has other limitations compared to PDF, including a lack of document signing, password protection and other features. Though they may not be limitations for most files, for those who are hardcore users of PDF, WWF is not an option.
Poor Documentation: The Save As WWF site is very scant on documentation, especially on the Mac version. It took me several tries before I realized that the “Save as WWF” function was under the “Save as PDF” dropdown. It was not installed as a traditional printer and the actual “Save as WWF” application does virtually nothing.

The bigger problem, however, is that the function of blocking printing simply doesn’t work well. It is, at most, a speedbump in preventing people from printing the document.

For example, on my Mac, all I had to do was export the WWF file as a regular PDF and then print the PDF. The entire process took less than fifteen seconds and required no real effort or expertise on my part, I just tried it to see what would happen.

In short, as noble as the cause of reducing needless printing is, this method isn’t likely do much. As it is right now, it’s just a poorly-documented, poorly-executed and ineffective DRM scheme that’s a bad replacement for PDF. Even if you are desperate to prevent others from printing your ebook, diagram or other files, this just isn’t the way to go about it.

Bottom Line

The reality is this, the same amount of paper can be saved by sending PDFs and just not printing them. Even if you don’t disable the print function, if the recipient doesn’t print it, then no paper is used.

From the WWF’s perspective, the best approach for saving paper is probably going to be education and discouraging printing in general, not trying to introduce yet another file type into the mix.

Likewise, content creators hoping that the WWF format will help protect their work, or at least prevent printing, will be very sorely disappointed.

Simply put, DRM doesn’t change human behavior, whether it’s for copyright or for the environment. While the WWF format may be good for some publicity and some public interest, it isn’t likely going to have a major impact.

Copyright 2.0 Show – Episode 182

Jonathan Bailey — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:09:36 +0000

It is ~~Friday~~ Monday again and that means that it is time for another episode of the Copyright 2.0 Show.

After a week away due to illness, we are back and with a vengeance and a ton of copyright news to cover. Not only do we have a strange settlement in one of the most important fair use cases in some time, but we have the record labels agreeing to pay for copyright infringement and a big win for Harry Potter in the states. All in all, there was a lot to talk about and this was an extremely busy show!

This week’s stories include:

Shepard Fairey and AP Settle Case, End Dispute
Record Labels Settle “Pending List” Lawsuit in Canada
Harry Potter Plagiarism Lawsuit Tossed in the States
Sony Targets PS3 Hackers
Anti-Piracy Attorneys Team Up
Much, Much More

You can download the MP3 file here (direct download). Those interested in subscribing to the show can do so via this feed.

Show Notes

About the Hosts

Jonathan Bailey

Patrick O’Keefe

3 Count: Bitten Apple

Jonathan Bailey — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:36:09 +0000

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

1: Apple, Feds to Put Squeeze on Jailbreaking

First off today, Apple, according to reports, has asked the Federal government to clamp down on iPhone jailbreaking applications, claiming that they are creating unlawful derivatives of Apple’s bootloader for the iPhone. Though the U.S. Copyright Office recently ruled iPhone jailbreaking to be a legal circumvention of DRM, it’s less clear if the creation of derivative works in the process of making a jailbreak app is legal. Note: I am still seeking more reliable confirmation of this story and will update as I find it.

2: Israeli Court Enforces for the First Time a Creative Commons License

Next up today, Israel has become the latest country to uphold Creative Commons licenses in court. The case involved an amateur photographer who uploaded images to Flickr under a non-commercial license only to have a book publisher use the images both in print and, at least in one case, online. The court ruled that the unauthorized use was an infringement without as much as a word regarding the license. The court also shot down a fair use argument by the publisher, saying that moral rights, the right to attribution in this case, prevented such an argument. Special thanks to Lorelle VanFossen for the link!

3: Privacy, Copyright Top Challenges of the Internet

Finally today, International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, an organization of 750 thought-leaders on the Internet who also pick the winners of the Webby Awards, have named privacy and copyright as two of the biggest challenges facing the Web. Specifically, the group said there should be a focus on modernizing copyright law to make sure it reflects “the current relationship between technology and creativity.”

Suggestions

Want the Full Story?

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 6 PM ET for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Friday right here on Plagiarism Today.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.