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Entertainment Industry Leaned On Los Angeles Politicos to Declare Piracy a 'Public Nuisance' - Via Threat Level:
A Los Angeles County ordinance adopted last week giving authorities the legal muscle to shutter property used to produce counterfeit DVDs and CDs was the result of intense pressure from Hollywood and the recording industry.
Additionally, the so-called nuisance abatement ordinance was based, in part, on exaggerated piracy figures provided by the entertainment industry, which also gave the measure's key political backer thousands of dollars in campaign contributions, according to an examination by THREAT LEVEL.
The ordinance, similar to a New York City regulation, expands the definition of a nuisance property from those infested with drugs, gangs, gambling and prostitution to include a property producing, selling or storing counterfeited content. The entertainment industry is calling it an important milestone in combating piracy, though the measure's phrasing is focused primarily on professional pirates who produce DVDs and CDs that resemble authentic disks, and not downloaders. read more »
NBC-Vista copy-protection snafu reminds us why DRM stinks - Via Ars Technica :
Handfuls of Windows Vista Media Center users found themselves blocked from making recordings of their favorite TV shows this week when a broadcast flag triggered the software's built-in copy protection measures. The flag affected users trying to record prime-time NBC shows on Monday evening, using both over-the-air broadcasts and cable. Although the problem is being "looked into" by both NBC and Microsoft, the incident serves as another reminder that DRM gives content providers full control, even if by accident.
Vista MCE users began reporting problems on Monday evening, starting with posts on the popular DVR-enthusiast forum on The Green Button. While trying to record shows like American Gladiator and Medium, Vista users were presented with an error that read, "Recording cancelled. [TV show] cannot be recorded. Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content prohibit recording of this program." The Green Button user justinjas posted a screenshot of the error on his blog. read more »
NBC Activates Broadcast Flag - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "NBC activated the 'broadcast flag' on a number of shows this week, ranging from American Gladiator to Medium, which prevented compliant programs like Windows Media Center from recording them. The matter is being 'looked into,' but that doesn't tell us whether it was an accident or a ploy to see how outraged viewers would be at being stripped of the time-shifting rights they've enjoyed ever since Sony v. Universal. Just in case it's the latter, it wouldn't hurt to let them know what you think."
Sony BMG Sends YouTube Ads Instead of Takedown - Via Wendy's Blog: Legal Tags:
As reported on Valleywag and picked up by Slashdot, Sony BMG has been testing an alternative to copyright takedowns of unauthorized music videos on YouTube: inserting a link to the band’s official page instead.
An eagle-eyed Valleywag tipster with a taste for Modest Mouse spotted an interesting new feature on YouTube. Uploads of music videos from the band by non-official sources now carry a link reading “Contains content from Sony BMG,” which leads users to the official Modest Mouse page on the site.
Commenter Mr. E discovers that the “claim” link is added automatically, by Google’s YouTube Video ID Tool, when a matching video is spotted on upload. read more »
Charter to Insert Ads into Web Pages Its Broadband Customers Visit - Via Threat Level:
Charter Communications, one of the nation's largest ISPs, plans to track the web surfing habits of its customers in order to insert its own ads into web pages being visited by its customers, making it the first large American ISP to inject content into traffic its customers pay them to deliver.
In letters being sent to its 2.7 million high speed internet customers, Charter is billing its new ad insertion program as an 'enhancement' for customers' web surfing experience. The letters were first reported by BroadbandReports.com user on Sunday.
Browsing the web can become more like flipping through your favorite magazine, where you see ads that are appealing to you and enhance your enjoyment and the utility of the experience.
Users can opt out of the system, but have to give their full name and address to get an opt-out cookie. The process would have to be repeated for every browser on every computer in a home to block the service, and would have to be reset if cookies are ever deleted.
Charter is entering tricky legal and political territory. The company claims that the program won't show users more ads than they saw before – which means that Charter plans to overwrite the ads from sites like Wired.com. Such a move could easily lead to lawsuits. read more »
Congress Considers Reform On Orphaned Works - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Bills have been introduced in both the House and the Senate to liberalize copyright law in the case of orphaned works. The almost-identical bills would limit the penalties for infringement in cases where the copyright holder could no longer be identified. The idea is that one could declare their intent to use the work with the Copyright Office and if the copyright holder didn't care to respond, they would only be able to get 'reasonable compensation' instead of excessive statutory penalties. Public Knowledge has more details on the bills."
Voluntary Collective Licensing and Extortion - Via Freedom to Tinker:
Reihan Salam has a new piece at Slate about voluntary collective licensing of music (which was also the topic of an online symposium organized by our center at Princeton). I’m generally a fan of Reihan’s work, but this time I think he got it wrong. His piece starts like this:
What would you do if a bully—let’s call him “Joey Giggles”—kept snatching your ice-cream cone? OK, now what if Joey Giggles then told you, “If you pay me five bucks a month, I’ll stop snatching your ice cream.” Depending on how much you hate getting beaten up, and how much you love ice-cream cones, you might decide that caving in is the way to go. This is what’s called a protection racket. It’s also potentially the new model for how we’ll buy and listen to music.
[…]
Now Big Music is mulling the Joey Giggles approach. Warner Music Group is trying to rally the rest of the industry behind a plan to charge Internet service providers $5 per customer per month, an amount that would be added to your Internet bill. In exchange, music lovers would get all the online tunes they want, meaning that anyone who spends more than $60 a year on music will come out way ahead. Download whatever you want and pay nothing! No more DRM! Swap files to your heart’s content—we promise, we won’t sue you (or snatch your ice-cream cone)!
This idea, that collective licenses amount to extortion — pay us or we’ll sue you — is often heard, but I don’t think it’s a valid criticism of collective licenses. read more »
House Passes Controversial PRO IP Act - Via EFF: Deep Links:
Today, the House passed the controversial PRO IP Act (H.R. 4279) 410 to 11, with 12 representatives not voting.
While Public Knowledge and other groups successfully persuaded the House to remove the most damaging provision in the bill (seemingly written solely to increase damages in the RIAA's file-sharing lawsuit campaign), the bill would nonetheless significantly expand federal enforcement of copyright law. read more »
Isohunt Founder at Center of U.S. Torrent-Tracking Legal Battle - Via Threat Level:
Gary Fung remembers years ago when the first computer he operated was a Pentium 90.
His programming skills have grown considerably since that first computer and his mastery of Pascal. Combined with his business acumen, the 25-year-old Fung now heads the popular BitTorrent search engine Isohunt and two tracking sites, Podtropolis and Torrentbox.
The Motion Picture Association of America claims in a lawsuit that Fung is a copyright scofflaw of the highest order -- facilitating the theft of millions of its copyrighted works hosted in tiny pieces resting on servers and individuals' computers worldwide. read more »
Judge in Murdoch Hacker Trial Admonishes CEO - Via Threat Level:
A California judge overseeing the trial against a Rupert Murdoch company for allegedly hacking a competitor and helping pirates steal pay-TV content, admonished the CEO of the Murdoch firm for leaving the court without testifying. As a result of the CEO's action, the judge suggested that if his company loses the trial it could face shareholder lawsuits.
Multichannel News reports that U.S. District Court Judge David Carter made the comments on Friday after temporarily halting the trial in mid-testimony and dismissing the jury. read more »
Analysis: Despite Blogosphere Reports, RIAA Retains Legal Muscle Under Howell Decision - Via Threat Level:
The blogosphere is celebrating a recent Arizona federal judge's decision that, at first glance, seems to portend the death of the Recording Industry Association of America's thousands of pending copyright infringement lawsuits against Kazaa file-sharers.
But that's simply not the truth. In fact, the opposite might be true under Monday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake. read more »
NewYorkCountryLawyer Debates RIAA VP - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "At Fordham Law School's annual IP Law Conference this year, Slashdot member NewYorkCountryLawyer had a chance to square off with Kenneth Doroshow, a Senior Vice President of the RIAA, over the subject of copyright statutory damages. Doroshow thought the Jammie Thomas verdict of $222,000 was okay, since he said, Ms. Thomas might have distributed 10 million unauthorized copies. NYCL, on the other hand, who has previously derided the $9250-per-song file verdict as 'one of the most irrational things [he has] ever seen in [his] life in the law', stated at the Fordham conference that the verdict had made the United States 'a laughingstock throughout the world'. read more »
Universities Baffled By Massive Surge In RIAA Copyright Notices - Via Threat Level:
In the last 10 days, universities around the country have seen more than a 20-fold increase in the number of filesharing takedown notices from the recording industry, in an unexplained spike that seems focused on colleges in the Midwest.
The spike is not matched by an increase in actual file sharing.
"Universities are getting as many notices from the RIAA in one day as what they would typically get from all content owners in a month," says Mark Luker, a vice president of higher education technology advocate Educause.
Indiana University says that starting on April 21, the Recording Industry Association of America began sending 80 legal notices a day to the university, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Typically, the university handles less than 100 such notices a month from the RIAA, the Motion Picture Association of America and HBO combined. read more »
Betrayed MSN Music Customers Deserve More from Microsoft - Via EFF: Breaking News:
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is urging Microsoft Corporation to fix the problems it will cause when it shuts down the MSN Music validation servers, making it impossible for customers to transfer their music files to new computers or even upgrade their operating system.
In an open letter sent to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer today, EFF outlines five steps Microsoft must take to make things right for MSN Music customers -- including a issuing a public apology, providing refunds or replacement music files, and launching a substantial publicity campaign to make sure all customers know their options.
"MSN Music customers trusted Microsoft when it said that this was a safe way to buy music, and that trust has been betrayed," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "If Microsoft is prepared to treat MSN Music customers like this, is there any reason to suppose that future customers won't get the same treatment?" read more »
MSN Music Pulls the Plug on Customers - Via EFF: Deep Links:
Last week, Microsoft announced that it was leaving the paying customers of its MSN Music store out in the cold. Rob Bennett, the head of MSN Entertainment and Video Services, told customers in an email that “[a]s of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers."
In other words, the DRM copy protection that Microsoft and the major record labels insisted customers put up with has now drastically devalued that music -- at least for consumers who like to regularly upgrade their PCs. Come August 31st, if you buy a new computer, or even upgrade your OS, you’ll have to give up your MSN Music. read more »
Big Victory in Atlantic v. Howell: Court Rejects RIAA "Making Available" Theory - Via EFF: Deep Links:
The district court in Atlantic v. Howell today denied the recording industry's motion for summary judgment against Mr. and Mrs. Howell, two lawyer-less defendants caught up in RIAA's litigation campaign against file-sharers. EFF filed an amicus brief on their behalf in the case and participated in oral argument. read more »
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