3 Count: Pirate Patch

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1: Android App Websites Seized in the U.S. for Alleged Copyright Violations

First off today, John Riberio at PCWorld reports that the FBI, along with the Justice Department, several U.S. Attorney’s offices and law enforcement in the Netherlands an France have seized three domain names associated with pirated Android apps. The domain names were used as part of “alternative online markets” for Android apps that often offered illegal free versions of apps that are for pay in the official channels. This is the first time that such a seizure has taken place aimed at mobile apps. In addition to the seizures, search warrants were executed in six districts across the United States on Tuesday.

2: News Chief Calls for Tougher Digital Copyright Laws

Next up today, ABC News reports that, in Australia, News Limited’s chief executive, Kim Williams, lashed out at copyright infringers calling them “copyright kleptomaniacs” and called for new laws to stop people from downloading content illegally online. The comments, which were part of Williams’ speech at the Australian International Movie Convention, were among the harshest in recent memory against piracy and were a part of Williams’ attempts to place News Limited, one of the country’s largest media conglomerates, at the forefront of the copyright debate. The speech comes as the Australian government is weighing updates to its copyright legislation to bring it up to speed with new technology, in particular cloud computing.

3: “Pirate Patch” Unblocks The Pirate Bay In a Blink

Finally today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that a newly released open source “Pirate Patch” program is designed to help users get around various government and ISP blocks of The Pirate Bay, by making the site available through one of its proxies. The application works by editing the user’s host file to point the computer to a different, unblocked, IP address of The Pirate Bay. This same process can easily be done by hand, but many users are not aware of how to edit their hosts file, which control what IP address is connected with certain domains, to make it work. The application makes the process much easier, even if some antivirus programs report the application as a potential virus due to its editing of the hosts file. The app aims to prove that the blocking of piracy sites is ineffective.

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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