3 Count: Impending Closure

Jonathan BaileyJuly 2, 2012

2 minutes read

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

1: Romania PM Plagiarized Thesis, Panel Says

First off today, Reuters reports that, in Romania, a panel has found that the country’s Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, plagiarized a large part of his doctoral thesis and, according to the panel’s recommendation, should have his doctorate revoked. Panta’s government, which is only a few months old, has been beset by plagiarism allegations including two of his education ministers being forced to resign following plagiarism allegations. Ponta has said that the allegations are politically motivated and “illegal” though the advisor who oversaw his thesis is currently serving a 2-year prison sentence for corruption charges. Ponta has flatly refused to resign.

2: Massive Copyright Infringement Suit Could Collapse Cyberlocker, Studio Warns

Next up today, Enigmax at Torrentfreak writes that users of the cyberlocker service Oron may want to backup their data because a lawsuit filed against the site could result in it being shuttered. According to Oron, the lawsuit filed by the pornography studio Corbin Fisher has resulted in their assets being frozen and forced payment processors, including PayPal, to drop them. The result is that, unless the court frees up money for them to use, the site may be forced to close pending the resolution in the case. Oron had asked the judge to free up some $375,000 in funds to cover hosting and legal expenses but the judge, citing a lack of itemization, responded by only authorizing $100,000 and has denied an additional request for funds. Corbin Fisher has used this to attack both Oron and their host, LeaseWeb, alleging that the two may be colluding to help Oron removed large amounts of money from their frozen accounts.

3: The Business and Politics of Piracy

Finally today, the BBC reports that Google and PRS for Music, an organization that represents songwriters, have released a report about the business of piracy highlighting six different business models that pirate sites used. According to the report, the two fastest-growing models are Live TV Gateway and P2P community sites, the first of which is popular for streaming sporting events. Google hopes the report will highlight their suggestion of “follow the money” to deal with piracy rather than targeting search providers and is released as Google is feuding with the BPI, the British equivalent to the RIAA, over their involvement in aiding piracy.

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.