Netflix Caught Using “Pirated” Subtitles in Finland. This week Netflix launched its popular on demand video streaming service in Finland, but not without controversy. To cater to the local audience, on some of its programming the company displayed "unauthorized" fansubs. Unlike regular subtitles, fansubs are created without permission from content owners and often used alongside pirated content. Netflix apologized for the use of the unauthorized subtitles and has promised to take them offline. The fansub community “DivX Finland” has been translating subtitles for foreign TV-shows and movies since 2003. Their fansubs have been downloaded 26 million times over the years and are generally used with pirated TV-shows and movies. However, during the past few days the hobbyist group got the ultimate recognition from an unlikely corner.
This week Netflix debuted its movie streaming service in Finland, but not without making a rather embarrassing ‘mistake’. Netflix Finland uses Fansubs “We buy movies and TV shows from many different distributors. SOPA. Megaupload Takedown. FILEnetworks Blog. American ISPs to launch massive copyright spying scheme on July 1. By Stephen C. WebsterThursday, March 15, 2012 11:14 EDT If you download potentially copyrighted software, videos or music, your Internet service provider (ISP) has been watching, and they’re coming for you. Specifically, they’re coming for you on Sunday, July 1.
That’s the date when the nation’s largest ISPs will all voluntarily implement a new anti-piracy plan that will engage network operators in the largest digital spying scheme in history, and see some users’ bandwidth completely cut off until they sign an agreement saying they will not download copyrighted materials. Word of the start date has been largely kept secret since ISPs announced their plans last June. The deal was brokered by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and coordinated by the Obama Administration.
It’s not yet clear how the tech world will react to the ISPs siding with the content industries to do what the government simply could not Stephen C. MPAA Lists “Notorious” Pirate Sites To U.S. Government. The MPAA has submitted a new list of “notorious websites” to the Office of the US Trade Representative, sites that are all in danger of becoming the target of planned U.S. legislation. The list contains the most-visited torrent sites including The Pirate Bay, file-hosting and linking sites such as MegaUpload, and Russia's Facebook equivalent, VKontakte.
Interestingly, file-hosting service RapidShare is absent from the filing. In a response to a request from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), the MPAA has submitted a new list of “notorious markets” they say promote illegal distribution of movies and TV-shows. The filing is particularly interesting since U.S. lawmakers have this week introduced a bill in the House that aims to neutralize these sites.
“The rogue overseas marketplaces highlighted in today’s filing are a direct threat to our community and the millions of hard-working Americans that rely on it for their livelihoods,” the MPAA writes in a statement. Linking sites. A Trio of Post-Bilski Cases Fail to Clearly Define the Meaning of “Abstract” When the Supreme Court decided Bilski, we lamented that the “Court regrettably failed to provide guidance in the future about business method patents.” Now we are faced with the result of that failure: a string of cases that leaves us scratching our heads and wondering what, if anything, Bilski meant.
A little background: abstract ideas are not eligible for patent protection under § 101 of the Patent Act. This is fundamental to the patent bargain; without this limitation, parties could obtain harmful monopolies on simple ideas, e.g., ways of running a business or cooking a meal, and be able to (in theory at least) prohibit people from implementing or even thinking those same ideas. In Bilski, the Supreme Court held that the patent at issue, which covered hedging risks for commodity trading, unpatentable because it was too abstract. But the Court also held that other business method patents might be sufficiently concrete. So How Do We Fix The Patent System?
There's been a lot of attention lately to the massive problems with the patent system. Finally the problem has gone mainstream, in part thanks to the excellent This American Life episode on problems with the patent system. That seems to have emboldened other mainstream publications to finally run articles pointing out problems with the patent system, including the NY Times, the Huffington Post and PC World. Then there's the Economist, who actually was one of the first mainstream publications to highlight problems with the patent system, only to change its mind and argue for more bad patents.
However, it's flipped again, and is arguing (once more) that the patent system is broken and needs fixing. And this time, unlike many of the articles lately, The Economist actually puts forth some suggestions on how to fix the patent system: These are all pretty common suggestions that we've heard before. First, we have to define the real problem. Spotify sued over music streaming technology. 29 July 2011Last updated at 11:14 Spotify launched its service in the US in mid-July Music service Spotify is being sued in the US and Europe for allegedly violating patents held by PacketVideo.
The lawsuit claims that Spotify has violated at least two patents owned by PacketVideo that cover methods of streaming music over data networks. The legal action comes barely two weeks after Spotify launched a US version of its music streaming service. Spotify said it would "strongly contest" the claims PacketVideo made in its lawsuit. Tangled patents Court papers that kicked off the legal action were filed by PacketVideo lawyers on 28 July. PacketVideo has filed legal papers in San Diego and the Netherlands. "PacketVideo has a strong intellectual property portfolio, and will take any necessary action needed to protect its intellectual property and prevent the misuse of its patents," said Joel Espelien, PacketVideo's general counsel in a statement.
Rights not Copyrights. Privacy Policy Last modified: November 11, 2011 This Privacy Policy is continually under review to ensure your privacy and security. This website, (the “Site”) is operated by Access (“We” or “Us”). We work hard to protect your privacy. We’re members too, and we treat your privacy as we do our own. We wrote this privacy policy to let you know how we treat your personal information and the ways we work to keep it safe and private. We strongly believe that you have the right to control the use of your personal information and that your privacy must be respected.
In this policy, "Access" refers to Access staff, board members, cooperating attorneys, interns, volunteers, and consultants, all of whom are bound by law or contract to keep information they receive as part of their assistance to Access confidential. Collection of Information Access does not sell, rent, or lease your personal data under any circumstances. Disclosure of Information Cookies. UK looks to US on piracy blocking. 5 July 2011Last updated at 16:21 Ways to stop websites illegally streaming sports matches should be investigated, said Ed Vaizey Websites hosting pirated material could be blocked in the UK if the US introduces a similar system, according to culture minister Ed Vaizey.
He told a conference in London that internet providers in the States were "rumoured" to be considering a voluntary filtering. Such an agreement would be a "game changer" elsewhere, said Mr Vaizey. There have been no official announcements from the US to substantiate the minister's claim. To date, UK ISPs have resisted pressure from rights holders to police their users. Odd attitude Mr Vaizey struck a bullish note on the subject of copyright during his keynote speech at the Intellect Consumer Electronics conference. "If people are streaming live football without permission we should look at ways we can stop them," he said. "A voluntary agreement may come out of the US and if that does happen it could be a game-changer," he said.
Copyfight: EFF co-founder enters e-G8 "lion's den," rips into lions. "I just arrived at the Tuileries for the #eG8, already a hoot. Unfounded smugness to rival the World Economic Forum. " John Perry Barlow—EFF co-founder, Grateful Dead lyricist, and, improbably, now a rancher—arrived in Paris and began tweeting up a storm from the e-G8 summit gathered there this week to discuss the future of the Internet. After listening to French President Nicolas Sarkozy call repeatedly for Internet regulation and more copyright protection, Barlow added, "You'd have thought from Sarkozy's talk he was addressing a convocation of Anonymous and the Pirate Party.
He wasn't. " And then it was his turn to take the stage: "I am about to enter the Lion's Den at #eG8. " Weary giants of flesh and steel Barlow was a late addition to a panel on intellectual property; his name wasn't even included on the schedule. Barlow made the most of his opportunity. "We do not believe that you can remove 'content' from the Internet, and if you do this, what is there left? Listing image by e-G8. EFF ACTION ALERT. Why Most Artists Profit from Piracy. Piracy is not all that bad for musicians. In fact, research has shown that less popular artists actually profit from piracy.
This can be concluded from, and is supported by several studies. Frustrated as they are, the music industry claims that they lose millions a year due to piracy, but is this really the case? Two facts: Album sales are declining.75% of all artists profit from filesharing. We will try to explain these two seemingly contradicting facts, and list three factors that may help us understand what’s going on… Artists sell more albums thanks to piracy Several studies have shown that most artists actually profit from unauthorized sharing of files. But why do these artists sell more? Music from highly popular artists is widely available on filesharing networks. LPs, CDs, DVDs and MP3s The increased album sales in the late 90′s may very well have been caused, at least in part, by the shift from cassettes and LPs to CDs (and not just piracy!). And in a report from Pedersen (2006): SOPA. How Intellectual Property Hampers Capitalism | Stephan Kinsella.
The Son of ACTA. The Son of ACTA Hidden in the news surrounding the recent Japanese earthquake/tsunami, was this bit about a new ACTA bill currently making the rounds. The 38-page document in PDF format can be found here: From KEIonline: The text is marked to be "protected from unauthorized disclosure," and the USTR is seeking to classify the document until four years from entry into force or the close of the negotiations. The document has been distributed to all member states particpating in the TPP negotiations, so it is not secret from any of the parties in the negotiations. Of course, given that I have never seen the traditional media report on anything ACTA related, this was sure to pass under the radar as well. So basically, this new ACTA bill would, if ratified by whoever ratifies a world-wide treaty, be classified information for FOUR YEARS following its approval.
Getting back to the Japanese earthquake/tsunami. Meeting Tuesday... Click Here for IRC. Earthquake emergency drives Kiwi copyright bill. High performance access to file storage The New Zealand government has outraged internet users by rushing through a new anti-P2P copyright bill under cover of an emergency session of Parliament. Parliament had been called to deal with the country's Christchurch earthquake. During the session, it also pushed through its file-sharing bill under an "urgency" motion. The bill puts into place a "three strikes" policy to end unauthorised file-sharing on P2P networks. Penalties for ignoring a warning to cease unauthorised file sharing include termination of internet accounts (under a Cabinet order), and fines of up to $15,000. The government argues that escalating disconnection to Cabinet level provides greater protection for individuals than laws previously mooted, since Cabinet can't be expected to consider every complaint from the content industries.
The process will be administered by NZ's Copyright Tribunal, which currently has three part-time members. Publishers Force Domain Seizure of Public Domain Music Resource. IMSLP, the largest public domain music library on the Internet, has just suffered a damaging attack on the site's infrastructure. In a wrongful action over a single 90 year-old classical piece by Rachmaninoff, the UK's Music Publishers Association convinced registrar GoDaddy to seize IMSLP's domain name, which took the site completely offline.
While most readers will be very familiar with the commercialized mainstream pop sounds of the last 10 to 20 years, spare a moment’s thought for the deep history of our modern music. Without the great composers of the last few hundred years – Mozart, Beethoven, Bach to name just three – our soundscape today might be very different. A group of people who are completely immersed in this history and absolutely determined to preserve it, are the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) who slavishly index public domain scores. Indeed, IMSLP’s coverage is extensive, spanning just about every composer one can think of. Firm stops pursuing net pirates. 4 February 2011Last updated at 16:59 The withdrawal of MediaCAT and ACS: Law follows a highly unusual court case MediaCAT, a firm which has sent thousands of letters to alleged illegal file-sharers in the UK, has ceased trading, according to its law firm.
It follows the resignation of Andrew Crossley, who heads the law firm that pursued alleged file-sharers on its behalf. Mr Crossley resigned during a court hearing, brought against 27 alleged illegal file-sharers. He confirmed that MediaCAT had "ceased trading". It comes days before a judgement is due on the case in a hearing at London's patent court. During the case, Judge Birss criticised the methods used by Mr Crossley and the law firm he heads - ACS: Law. MediaCAT had signed a number of contracts with copyright owners, allowing it to pursue alleged illegal file-sharers on their behalf. Consumer watchdog Which? Almost as soon as the cases were brought, MediaCAT decided it wanted to drop them. "Why should they be vexed a second time? " Confessions Of a BitTorrent Pirate Chasing Lawyer. Over the last year a handful of lawyers have sued well over one hundred thousand alleged BitTorrent users in the United States.
Usually, when these lawyers respond to the press, if they even choose to do so at all, we are given only generic comments. Until now. In a quite revealing interview, Texas lawyer Evan Stone becomes the first of his kind to open the book on the motivations which see him going after "smarmy entitled little brats. " In recent months we’ve written dozens of articles on copyright trolls and BitTorrent mass lawsuits, but we’ve heard little from the people who orchestrate these witch hunts. Thanks to an interview arranged by Patrick Michels of the Dallas Observer we are now given the opportunity to get a little more personal with one of them.
Meet Texas Lawyer Evan Stone. Stone is a Junior Attorney who describes himself as a programmer, filmmaker and musician. “I was born to do this shit,” Stone says. And he was right. “Fuck the adult industry,” he says. BitTorrent Case Judge Is a Former RIAA Lobbyist and Pirate Chaser. Copyright Is Like QWERTY: Locked-In and Retrospective. BT fails to stop Big Content - British government will do what it is told.
RIAA chief: ISPs to start policing copyright by July 1 | Media Maverick.