3 Count: Password Sharing

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1: Password Sharing OK: Judge

First off today, Blacklock’s reports that a Canadian judge has sided with the government saying that password sharing is not a breach of the publisher’s contract nor is it a copyright infringement.

The issue pits Parks Canada against Blacklock’s (Note: The source of the story has a conflict of interest but is the only report on this case as of this writing.) According to the publisher, the organization paid for a single account but then shared it among at least 9 separate people via email.

The publisher filed the lawsuit alleging both copyright infringement and a breach of their terms of service. However, the judge ruled that there was no copyright violation and that the terms of use was irrelevant in the case. There is no indication if the publisher plans to appeal.

2: €5.3m Pirate IPTV Network ‘Dismantled’ By Spanish Police is Still Streaming

Next up today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that Spanish authorities claim to have broken up a €5.3 million ($5.7 million) piracy streaming service, including the arrest of eight people. However, the service appears to still be online.

The authorities did not initially name the service, but said that it had around 14,000 subscribers, who paid between 10 and 19 euros per month ($11-$21) for the service. The service provided 130 international channels, none of which were licensed.

The service has since been identified as TVMucho and, though it did shutter in late 2023, the service appears to have returned under the name TeeVeeing. This indicates that the arrests and seizures, while impactful, didn’t spell the end for the service or its providers.

3: Washing Machine Chime Scandal Shows How Absurd YouTube Copyright Abuse Can Get

Finally today, Ashley Belanger at Ars Technica reports that YouTube’s ContentID system flagged the a washing machine’s jingle as a copyright violation, resulting in a video being demonitized.

The story involves YouTuber Albino, who uploaded a video of a video game play-through to the site. Partway through the stream, his washing machine completed the cycle and played the jingle, causing the ContentID system to flag it. The song was claimed by another YouTuber, Audego, who had uploaded a video of it nine years ago.

However, it’s unlikely that Audego owns any rights to the jingle. Not only is a part of Sony washing machines, but the song is Die Forelle by composer Franz Schubert and is in the public domain. Despite public attention to the issue, YouTube has not reversed the claim, removed Audego or pulled it out of ContentID.

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