3 Count: RIAA Too…

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1: RIAA sues Megaupload Over Copyright Infringement

First off today, Cyrus Farivar at Ars Technica reports that, just a few days after the movie studios filed a civil lawsuit against Megaupload, the record labels have done the same.

Megaupload was a cyberlocker service that was shuttered in January 2012 after a joint U.S. and New Zealand action that also saw the company’s founder, Kim Dotcom, be arrested along with several of his employees. Currently the criminal case in the air as Dotcom is fighting extradition to the U.S. from his native New Zealand.

The RIAA lawsuit lists some 87 songs that it claims were shared illegally on Megaupload and touts heavily Megaupload reward system that would pay uploaders of popular files for downloads their content saw. Megaupload denies the allegations but expects this case, along with the movie studios’ case, to be put on hold pending a conclusion of the criminal case.

2: Aereo coming to Google Chromecast

Next up today, Todd Spangler at the Boston Herald reports that Aereo has announced it will be adding support for Google’s Chromecast adapter on May 29th, approximately one month after oral arguments are heard in the Supreme Court over the service’s face.

Aereo is a TV streaming service that uses a series of tiny antennas, one per customer, to capture over-the-air broadcast television and stream it to users via the Web. Aereo has been sued by broadcasters in multiple states where it has attempted to operate. In New York, the broadcasters failed to secure an injunction against the company, a decision upheld by the appeals court. That case is now before the Supreme Court.

Chromecast is Google’s TV adapter that enables streaming of content from Android devices to the TV. Use of Aereo on a Chromecast will require downloading the Aereo app for Android first. Aereo is already available on AppleTV via AirPlay from any iOS device.

3: American Express Accuses Pirate Sites of “Stealing” Their Ads

Finally today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that American Express has said that it has tracked several instances where “rogue” websites, typically dealing with pirated content, have what appears to be legitimate American Express ads on them that are, in reality, just Photoshopped copies of older ads by the company.

The issue of legitimate advertising appearing on pirate sites has been a hot-button issue for some time with several campaigns by copyright holders to cut off or limit funding of pirate sites by reducing their advertising revenue. However, according to American Express, at least in some cases, the ads are not actual ads, but Photoshopped images made to look like advertisements to give the site more clout.

Torrentfreak said that they were unable to replicate the findings and others legitimate companies, such as HotelsCombined said that the problem is often due to ad retargeting, where people who visit a website once are more likely to see additional ads for that site as they surf the rest of the Web.

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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