3 Count: French Leak

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

1: France’s Official P2P Monitoring Firm Hacked

First off today, a firm that collects IP addresses for France’s “Three Strikes” law has been hacked and has apparently leaked IP addresses of suspected file sharers. The firm, Trident Media Guard, claims that the danger from the leak is minimal as no personal information was shared and the server affected was a “test” server. However, Hadopi, the French government agency in charge of overseeing the law, has announced that it has suspended its reliance on the company pending an investigation. The leak may have also released information on Trident’s operations, including IP addresses used for monitoring.

2: Hargreaves Review Gives Copyright Law Digital Makeover

Next up today, the report by professor Hargreaves has been made public and it has proposed a range of changes to UK copyright law including the implementation of a U.S.-style fair use provision, the legalization of private format shifting, the creation of a central agency to oversee and collect royalties for orphan works and a similar government body to facilitate the licensing of music and movies. While none of the elements are a surprise, especially considering the details were leaked earlier this week, it is widely anticipated that the UK government, which requested the report, will seriously consider the proposals and bring forward legislation to implement them.

Update 5/20 – It appears there was some initial confusion about the report as it does NOT include fair use recommendations.

3: Righthaven Hit with Class-Action Counterclaim

Finally today, Righthaven, the company that has purchased the rights to sue for infringement of content from the Las Vegas Reivew-Journal and the Denver Post has been hit with a class action counterclaim that could draw as many as 57 plaintiffs. Buzzfeed, a site previously sued by Righthaven, is claiming that the company misuses copyright law and the litigation process to extort money from defendants unfairly. The lawsuit mentions all 275 of Righthaven’s lawsuits but only applies to the 57 filed in Colorado. Buzzfeed also denied that it had committed copyright infringement and defended itself against Righthaven’s lawsuit against them.

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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