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

It was a bit of an update week this time with news on the MGA, Psystar and Wipeout cases as well as the usual updates on The Pirate Bay and a new controversy surrounding Last.FM

All in all, there were thirteen stories this week including news from all over the copyright world including our “Weird Story of the Week”.

This week’s stories include:

• Last.FM in a Gets Accused of Shady Dealings
• MGA Requests a Stay in Its Case
• Wipeout Lives on, So Does Lawsuit
• Does DRM Make us All Pirates?
• Emily the Strange and the Stranger Lawsuit
• And Many more…

(Note: There is an issue with the audio quality on my end of the line, nothing I could do would fix it but I am going to make sure it does not happen next week.)

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

Show Notes

1: Last.fm’s User Data is Useless to the RIAA

First off today, over the past few days, something of a storm has developed over Last.FM allegedly surrendering data to the RIAA. Originally, when the scandal first broke, Last.FM denied the allegations. However, new information seems to have surfaced alleging that, while Last.FM did not turn over the data, it is possible their parent company, CBS, did.

This data, which includes information about users and what they listened to has many worried about the implications as part of an RIAA legal campaign. However, as Torrentfreak points out correctly, the data would not be very useful as evidence due to the fact that it is based on ID3 tags in MP3s, something that can be easily changed or faked.

Furthermore, the RIAA has no way of determining which tracks were pirated vs. which were legitimately purchased from the data, save with prerelease tracks, making it impossible for them to build much in the way of evidence against anyone.

It may be a privacy violation, but in as far as copyright evidence goes, it does appear to be much ado about nothing.

2: The Conference Board of Canada’s Deceptive, Plagiarized Digital Economy Report

When it comes to Copyright Fail, how do you improve upon a organization researching copyright plagiarzing part of its report? Easy. Have a supposedly non-partisan, non-lobbyist group plagiarizing from the primary IP lobbying group in the U.S.

That’s exactly what Michael Geist seems to have found in the the recent report on intellectual property in the digital age. Geist found many examples of passages being lifted from various lobbying groups, often without any attribution. In his report, linked above, he lists several passages that are either identical or virtually identical to previously published studies from copyright lobbying groups, even though many of the claims were not adequately backed up.

The study was funded by various copyright lobbying groups and is expected to be used in further lobbying efforts as well as generating public attention, something the study has already done.

3: Beginning signs of the registration backlog in the courts?

Finally today, last week we reported on the recent backlog at the U.S. Copyright Office, well, we’re also seeing the first problems caused by that in the courts.

The case of Specific Software Solutions, LLC v. Institute of Workcomp Advisors, LLC has taken an odd, but not unexpected, turn as the copyright claims by Workcomp Advisors have been thrown out on jurisdictional grounds to the fact that, though a copyright registration had been filed, it had not yet been reviewed nor had the certificate been received.

As a result, the judge ruled that, without the registration or the refusal, there was no choice but to toss out that element based on jurisdictional grounds.

Obviously, IWA can refile once they get their registration, but it remains to be seen if they will.

One side note worth pointing out is that the judge in the case omitted when the registration was filed, so we do not know if it was filed a few months ago or over a year ago. The author of the post speculates that the omission was deliberate to reduce the chances of it being overturned on appeal.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today, we’ll 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 Saturday morning for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Monday morning right here on Plagiarism Today.

1: Internet copyright law delayed

The controversial Section 92a law in New Zealand has been postponed for a month pending an agreement between copyright holders and ISPs about how the law will be implemented. Prime Minister John Key, in discussing the postponement, acknowledged the ongoing debates and protests regarding the law and have said that he felt both sides had a good point.

The law is now currently slated to take effect March 27 and that, if an agreement could not be reached, that the section would be suspended.

2: Norwegian Minister Wants to Legalize File-Sharing

Bård Vegar Solhjell, Minister of Education and Research in Norway, has come out in favor of file sharing saying that “You and I can get access to all the world’s music when we want. Fantastic!” This follows a major push by the IFPI in Norway, which has seen it threaten an ISP with lawsuit unless it blocks access to The Pirate Bay.

According to Solhjell, rather than pursuing file sharing, record labels should instead try to find solutions that work for both consumers and has named Spotify as such a solution.

3: Last.fm not really sharing data with RIAA

Finally today, users of Last.FM can breathe a little bit easier as Last.FM has made it clear that they have not turned over user records to the RIAA. It had been originally reported on TechCrunch that the service, which tracks and compiles user listening statistics, had forfeited much of its account data as part of an investigation into the leak of the new U2 album. However, a response from Last.FM made it clear that it was not the case.

Though Last.FM does share some broad usage statistics with the record labels, according to the company, they do not and have not personally identified any user.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today, we’ll 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 Saturday morning for the live recording of the Copyright 2.0 Show or wait and get the edited version Monday morning right here on Plagiarism Today.

This week, Chris and I reverse roles as he takes a well-deserved vacation to the house of mouse and I take over the show for the week.

However, we have many updates to the big copyright stories of the week including the Comcast bittorrent throttling, the Viacom/YouTube Case and, as usual, our “Weird Story of the Week”.

All in all, there were fifteen stories this week including news from all over the copyright world including our “Weird Story of the Week”.

This week’s stories include:

• Net Neutrality Scores a Big Win
• Viacom Calms Privacy Fears
• Last.FM Cuts Out Middle Man
• Will Orphan Works Hurt or Help Open Source?
• Devo Whips McDonald’s
• And Many 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

NEW! Take a look at the newer, more advanced and now fully-embeddable audio player for the podcast!

Update: For those interested, take a look at Dave’s write-up on the Devo issue here