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3 Count: UnAppealing

Jonathan Bailey — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:23:33 +0000

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1: Pirate Bay Founders’ Prison Sentences Final, Supreme Court Appeal Rejected

First off today, the four founders of The Pirate Bay, convicted in their native Sweden in 2009, have lost their last appeal to have their sentences overturned. The founders were sentenced to prison sentences between 4 months to a year and ordered to pay some 46 million kronor ($6.8 million) in damages. The group had filed a petition to have their case appealed to the country’s Supreme Court but that request has been denied, letting the appellate court rulings stand. However, due to a quirk in Swedish law that often reduces sentences by 12 months in old cases, it’s still possible that the four men will not see the inside of a prison. Even if they don’t get their sentences reduced, it will likely be many months before the men submit themselves to custody.

2: Megaupload Server Purge Delayed

Next up today, the planned purge of Megaupload’s user data has been delayed at least two weeks as the Electronic Frontier Foundation is attempting to work with the hosts of the data to re-enable legitimate users to download their lost content. The content was scheduled to be deleted as early as tomorrow as hosting providers, dealing with unpaid bills after Megaupload’s assets were frozen, want to free up the servers for new customers. To help with the process of retrieving data, the EFF and Carpathia Hosting, one of the providers involved, have established megaretrieval.com, a site where users can submit requests for assistance though the EFF warns they may not be able to help everyone.

3: Ukraine Shuts Down Leading File-Sharing Site

Finally today, in Ukraine, authorities there have shut down the well-known piracy site ex.ua and seized some 200 servers. The site, which was on the RIAA’s list as one of the worst piracy sites, is now offline and 16 of its employees are being interrogated. The site was founded in 2009 and was one of the largest piracy sites in the Ukraine. Following the closure, various government-related sites were also taken offline though officials blamed the downtime on “hackers”.

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.

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3 Count: Piracy Killer

Jonathan Bailey — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:19:21 +0000

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1: Dylan Paintings Draw Scrutiny

First off today, musician Bob Dylan is drawing controversy over his recent series of paintings, “The Asia Series”, as it appears at least some of them may not have been painted from his experiences in Asia, as the gallery promised, but from well-known photographs. Two of the paintings in particular “Trade” and “Opium” appear to copy the composition of earlier photographs almost exactly. The Gagosian Gallery, where the paintings are on display, released a statement saying that: “While the composition of some of Bob Dylan’s paintings is based on a variety of sources, including archival, historic images, the paintings’ vibrancy and freshness come from the colors and textures found in everyday scenes he observed during his travels.”

2: Spotify Is Killing Piracy (in Sweden, at Least)

Next up today, music streaming service Spotify appears to be having a profound impact on piracy, at least in Sweden. The country is reporting a 25% drop in illegal music downloads following the launch of Spotify. Music streaming has also become the most popular way for obtaining music in the country, with 40% of users engaging in it, which is 4x the 10% who admitted to pirating content.

3: NinjaVideo Founders Plead Guilty to Copyright Infringement

Finally today, another former administrator at NinjaVideo has plead guilty to criminal copyright infringement. Hana Beshara plead guilty yesterday for her involvement in the site, which was shuttered in June 2010 by having its domain seized. Criminal charges were filed agianst 5 administrators earlier this month. Beshara, according to the criminal complaint, was the day-to-day administrator of the site. She joins David Howard Smith, who plead guilty last week, in signing plea deals over their involvement with the site.

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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: Pirate Blockade

Jonathan Bailey — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:57:21 +0000

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1: Pirate Politician Calls for Block on EU Copyright Extension

First off today, the lone Pirate Party member of the European Parliament (MEP), Christian Engström, is attempting to block a proposed copyright extension that would expand the copyright term on music recordings from 50 years to 70 years. However, that request has been denied and it appears that those who oppose the measure as well below the majority needed to block it. Engström, however, believes the issue to be important as the matter could be on the Parliament’s agenda Wednesday, despite it not being posted.

2: Google Highlights Advances in Copyright Protection

Next up today, Google is touting progress in its battle against copyright infringement, saying it’s made its new copyright infringement reporting tools available to a dozen parters that comprise some 75% of all DMCA takedown notices for the search engine. Those tools enable Google to removing infringing links within 24 hours of notice. They plan to make those tools more broadly available soon. Google has also been filtering out “pirate” keywords in its autocomplete and rooting out infirnging sites from its Adsense advertisement service, becoming the first to certify compliance in the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB’s) Quality Assurance Certification program.

3: SIIA Reaches Content Piracy Settlement on Behalf of Providence Publications

Finally today, the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), has reached a settlement with Harbison-Mahony-Higgins Builders, Inc. (HMH) over its use of the Cal-OSHA Reporter, a newsletter about California occupational health and safety. According to the SIIA, HMH purchased a single license to the newsletter but made copies to pass around the company, in violation of that license. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but it marks another cas in the SIIA’s work to protect digital content, including software, text and other kinds of electronic work

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

3 Count: Fighting On

Jonathan Bailey — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:01:42 +0000

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1: Copyright Vigilante Righthaven Will Fight On After Ruling

First off today, following their legal setback yesterday, Righthaven has vowed to fight on and has said it has already addressed many of the concerns raised. Yesterday a judge ruled that Righthaven did not have standing to sue in their case against Democratic Underground ans Stephens Media, the owners of the Las Vegas Review-Journal had only assigned them the right to sue and not an exclusive right under the law. However, according to Righthaven, they amended their agreement in May so that Righthaven has exclusive rights and gives Stephens Media a non-exclusive license to use the content. The judge also threatened sanctions against Righthaven for not disclosing that Stephens Media has a financial interest in the case, something Righthaven has said they will address.

2: Torrent Site Throws In The Towel Fearing Arrests

Next up today, Sweden’s largest private Bittorrent tracker, Piratetorrents.nu, closed abruptly after its owners feared that police may be moving in to arrest them. The move comes after a police raid shuttered another popular tracker in the country, XNT.nu. The abrupt closures are a further sign that Sweden, despite being the home of The Pirate Bay, is cracking down on Bittorrent sites within its borders.

3: Hero Orang-utan Sparks Copyright Row

Finally today, a video of an orangutan saving the life of a drowning chick has started something of a copyright battle. Michael McGrane filmed the footage at the Dublin Zoo in 2007 only to recently have a news agency News Team International license the video without his permission to several sites, including The Daily Mail. The agency has said that they are willing to share the revenue earned with McGrane but are under no obligation to do so as “the clip was available online”. Most of the uses of the video failed to credit McGrane for the video and, in fact, said it was a recent clip taken by a zookeeper.

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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: Denied and Seized

Jonathan Bailey — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:50:42 +0000

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1: Pirate Bay Founders Lose Appeal Against Jail Sentences

First off today, three of the four founders of The Pirate Bay have lost their appeal and had their convictions for aiding in copyright infringement upheld. Though the three men, Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom, had their sentences reduced from one year to 10, 8 and 4 months respectively, their total damages owed was increased to £4.1million. The fourth member of the group, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, could not be tried due to illness and will be tried separately at a later date.

2: U.S. Government Seizes BitTorrent Search Engine Domain and More

Next up today, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has seized the domains of some 70+ sites that it says were either trading in copyrighted goods or counterfeit merchandise. The seizures come without any warning or court action, causing many to worry that the action violated due process. The seizures were also performed without the need for the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, which would have created a court process for such seizures but died when Congress adjourned earlier this month. ICE has commented saying that this is an ongoing investigation, hinting that more seizures may be forthcoming.

3: Movie Studio Sues Struggling Screenwriter for £9.6million for Posting Scripts Online

Finally today, screenwriter and Long Island native Patricia ‘PJ’ McIlvaine has been sued by 20th Century Fox for her site, where she posted the scripts to various Hollywood movies in a bid to help other screenwriters see how the movies were made. Though most of the movies were classics, such as Aliens and Edward Scissorhands, at least one of the movies, Deadpool, was unreleased. Fox is suing for $15 million. Court papers list some 79 scripts with only Deadpool being unreleased.

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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: Digital Death

Jonathan Bailey — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:36:01 +0000

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1: YouTube Inks Deal With French Copyright Society SACEM

First off today, after three years of negotiations YouTube has inked a deal with the French copyright society SACEM, thus giving the video sharing site access to its catalog of represented content from France, Luxembourg and Andorra. SACEM represents songwriters and composers in France and, along with YouTube’s already-existing deal with French record labels will be able to play SACEM music on their site. The deal is retroactive, going back to 2007 and lasts to 2012.

2: The Pirate Bay Appeal Day 3: The Wasa Connection

Next up today, the Pirate Bay appeal is now in day 3 though it was apparently a mundane day. Rather than discussing issues about piracy and copyright infringement, one of the defendants, Carl Lundström, made his case that he was not a financier of the site and should be dropped. The appeal is for the conviction of the four alleged administrators of the site which saw the four defendants be sentenced to a year in prison for copyright infringement and ordered to pay a total of about $3.6 million in damages.

3: Study: Audio Recordings of US History Fading Fast

Finally today, a new study finds that many of the classic audio recordings of our culture may already be lost and that digital records may be in grave jeopardy already. The reason is that laws targeted at preventing piracy have, often, prevented preservation efforts and many media companies, without financial motivation to preserve their archives, have failed to do so. Furthermore, digital media is in grave risk because CDRs, a common format for storing digital files, only lasts a few years and digital libraries must be actively maintained and not being stuck on a shelf. The study comes ahead of a National Recording Preservation Plan being developed by the Library of Congress for later this year.

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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: Ivi League

Jonathan Bailey — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:07:47 +0000

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1: Broadcasters Sue Ivi for Copyright Infringement

First off today, in a move that should surprise no one, several broadcasters including Fox, ABC and CBS have counter-sued the TV streaming service Ivi, claiming that they are infringing on their copyrights by rebroadcasting live television from their various channels. According to Ivi, the law allows them to rebroadcast such TV signals and, since they are Internet-only, they are exempt from FCC requirements in doing so. They received letters from these companies and others and even filed a proactive suit against them last week. According to an Ivi rep, this lawsuit is “not about copyright”, but instead is about “competition”.

2: The Pirate Bay Appeal Day 2: Lost Sales

Next up today, the second day of The Pirate Bay appeal has concluded and most of the day was spent with prosecutors and content industry representatives highlighting lost sales and damages they see as being caused by The Pirate Bay and painting the site as a commercial enterprise. The defense did testify some at the end of the day and argued that most of the torrents on the site did not point to copyright infringing works and that, according to them, the site is merely a search engine and not responsible for the content on it. Day three is expected to have more testimony from the defense as the trial is moving faster than expected.

3: The “Legal Blackmail” Business: Inside a P2P Settlement Factory

Finally today, as the leak of emails from the UK law firm ACS:Law continues to be poured over, a clearer picture of the operations of the company, which was famous for sending out “settlement letters” to alleged file sharers in the UK. Ars Technica has a lengthy article highlighting how the business worked, including the types of responses ACS:Law got to its demand letters and some of its business dealings with other companies, including the controversial U.S. Copyright Group.

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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: Denial of Sanity

Jonathan Bailey — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:37:33 +0000

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1: DDoS Takes Down Aussie Anti-Pirates and 8,000 Other Sites

First off today, the DDoS attacks against anti-piracy organizations by members of the Internet forum 4Chan is continuing, this time targeting the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft. The group successfully took down the site for several hours but this time there was a great deal of collateral damage as 8,000 other sites hosted at the same location were also shuttered during the attack, including business and government pages. No word yet if another attack is being planned.

2: Adult Video-Sharing List Leaked From Law Firm

Next up today, the law firm ACS:Law is feeling the fall out of its own denial of service attack after a server flaw caused it to publish thousands of otherwise private emails after the attack. The emails included financial information about their letter campaign against file sharers, similar to what the U.S. Copyright Group is doing in the states, and showed the amount of profit that the company made from its campaign as well as several personal emails of staff at the firm. ACS:Law has said that their business is unaffected by the leak.

3: Pirate Bay Appeal Trial Lacks Fanfare

Finally today, in stark contrast to the protests and campaigns for the first trial, the appeal of the four Pirate Bay admins kicked off in Sweden with little fanfare. The four men, who were sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay a total of $3.6 million in damages at the lower court are appealing their convictions. However, one of the four, Svartholm Warg, was not there at the beginning of the appeal and none of the other three seem to know his whereabouts.

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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: French Beginnings

Jonathan Bailey — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:16:55 +0000

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1: French ISPs Will Be Flooded by IP Address Information Requests

First off today, France’s “three strikes” law, commonly known as Hadopi, is beginning to ramp up. The law forces ISPs to provide information about alleged file sharers when identified by IP address and, after three “strikes” turns the cases over to a judge who can take a range of steps, including disconnecting the alleged pirate. The first batch of such IP request have just gone out and it is supsected that the numbers could reach as high as 150,000 IP addresses per day for the country’s ISPs to sift through. ISPs who do not comply could be fined as much as €1,500 per IP address.

2: Judge puts hammer down on Hurt Locker P2P subpoena

Next up today, even as the French campaign against piracy ramps up, another in the U.S. hits a speed bump (or land mine). A judge in South Dakota has quashed the U.S. Copyright Group’s subpoena of a small ISP in the area saying that the group failed to comply with both jurisdictional and service requirements. The group, which represents several independent film makers, files massive lawsuits in Washington D.C. and uses those suits to secure subpoenas for IP addresses, that it in turn uses to get information about suspected file sharers across the country. This decision could derail that process prohibiting the group from filing such suits in a single court.

3: The Pirate Bay Appeal Starts Tomorrow

Finally today, the appeal of the four Pirate Bay admins, who were sentenced to a year in prison and to pay over $900,000 each in damages, will start tomorrow. The trial won’t be the kind of spectacle seen with the first trial and the appeal will be based mostly on the testimony and recordings of the first trial with little new introduced. A total of eight days of hearings are expected and the appeal should wrap up before October 15.

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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: Busy Weekend

Jonathan Bailey — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:36:43 +0000

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1: 4chan Hits MPAA Web Site, Others with DDoS Attacks

First off today, users of the site 4chan over the weekend launched denial of service attacks against a variety of pro-copyright websites including the websites of the MPAA, RIAA and anti-piracy firm Aiplex. The latter was the first target due to its recent denial of service attack against The Pirate Bay, but the group moved on to the MPAA and RIAA sites as part of a “protest” against their actions. All three sites are back online as of this writing but each were down for several hours during the attacks. According to the article, the British Phonographic Industry site may be the next site in 4chan’s sights.

2: Swedish Pirate Party Fails To Enter Parliament

Next up today, the Swedish Pirate Party, fresh off of its victories in the EU Parliamentary elections, failed to secure any seats in Sweden’s National Parliament. The organization secured around 1% of the popular vote, well behind the 4% required to secure seats in the organization. This means some of the larger plans, such as hosting The Pirate Bay and Wikileaks within the Parliament building will not take place. Polls leading up to the election largely predicted the results but many still hoped for a similar triumph to the one that gave the party two seats in the EU Parliament.

3: Intel Threatens to Sue Anyone Who Uses HDCP Crack

Finally today, HDCP, the DRM system that protects Blu-Ray discs, has been cracked. The master key for the HDCP system was recently posted online and Intel, the company that developed the systems, has confirmed it to be authentic. However, the company has also threatened to file suit against anyone who uses the system to crack Blu-Ray movies. It may be quite some time before we see widespread breaking HDCP as the key would have to be implemented in hardware, something beyond the reach of most hackers.

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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.