Viacom Makes Its Case Against Yesterday's YouTube: Via EFF.org Updates.

Today, after three years of litigation, the Viacom v. YouTube combatants finally publicly released their briefs (Viacom's; YouTube's; Class Action Plaintiffs') in what most expect to be the main event in the case, namely, cross-motions for summary judgment (for the non-lawyers: a summary judgment motion asks the court to rule that the case is such a slam dunk in your favor that no trial is necessary).

One surprise from Viacom is a concession that it basically has no beef with YouTube as it has been run since May 2008: "[W]e do not ask the Court to address potential liability for post-May 2008 infringement in this motion and, if Viacom's summary judgment motion is granted, do not intend to do so at trial." What happened in May 2008? That would be when YouTube launched its Content ID system, enabling copyright owners to "claim" their content and decide whether it will be blocked or monetized on YouTube.

In other words, this case isn't really about YouTube (at least YouTube circa 2010). It's about Viacom's effort to get the court to re-write the DMCA safe harbors to require everyone else to implement (and pay for) copyright filtering. If Viacom succeeds, it would radically change the innovation environment for all Internet companies that depend on the DMCA safe harbors.

Why are the DMCA safe harbors so important? YouTube says it best: [ Read more ... ]

NetFlix Cancels Recommendation Contest After Privacy Lawsuit: Via Threat Level.

Netflix is canceling its second $1 million Netflix Prize to settle a legal challenge that it breached customer privacy as part of the first contest’s race for a better movie-recommendation engine.

Friday’s announcement came five months after Netflix had announced a successor to its algorithm-improvement contest. The company at the time said it intended to expand the amount of information it gave to researchers in hopes that its recommendation system — a key part of Netflix’s customer retention strategy — would get even better. That was then followed with a warning by prominent data privacy lawyers that the new dataset was easily de-anonymized.

Those fears were highlighted in December, when an in-the-closet lesbian mother sued Netflix for privacy invasion, alleging the movie-rental company made it possible for her to be outed when it disclosed insufficiently anonymous information about nearly half-a-million customers as part of its $1 million contest. [ Read more ... ]

European Parliament Rips Global IP Accord: Via Threat Level.

The European Parliament delivered a political blow to Hollywood and the Obama administration, voting Wednesday 663 to 13 in opposition to a proposed and secret intellectual property agreement being negotiated by the European Union, United States and a handful of others.

Wednesday’s developments concerning the Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement are substantial because the European Union’s 27 countries vastly outnumber the remaining countries negotiating the deal. They are Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. Ambassador Ron Kirk, the top U.S. trade official, is spearheading the deal that began being crafted under the George W. Bush administration.

Kirk’s office declined comment.

To be sure, there is a dispute and heavy confusion concerning whether internet service providers under ACTA would be forced to punish customers deemed copyright scofflaws by reducing or eliminating service, according to a string of leaked documents. So Parliament members also agreed Wednesday to oppose the measure if it contains so-called “three strikes” or “graduated response” policies — regardless of whether that’s now in the text.

And because of the text’s secrecy, Parliament on Wednesday also demanded (.pdf) that the private agreement still under negotiation be publicly released. [ Read more ... ]

Italy Convicts Google Execs To Protect Privacy: Via NPR.

Europeans are debating the overall reach of the Internet into their lives. An Italian court recently convicted three Google executives for privacy violations after a clip was posted on Google Video showing a disabled student being bullied by classmates in Turin. The ruling highlights a deep trans-Atlantic cultural gap: Americans see the ruling as undermining the concept of freedom of expression, while Europeans put privacy first — they consider it a fundamental human right. [ Read more ... ]

Ubisoft's Authentication Servers Go Down: Via Slashdot.

ZuchinniOne writes "With Ubisoft's fantastically awful new DRM you must be online and logged in to their servers to play the games you buy. Not only was this DRM broken the very first day it was released, but now their authentication servers have failed so absolutely that no-one who legally bought their games can play them. 'At around 8am GMT, people began to complain in the Assassin's Creed 2 forum that they couldn't access the Ubisoft servers and were unable to play their games.' One can only hope that this utter failure will help to stem the tide of bad DRM."

Read Original Article:(Via Slashdot.)

Thousands Sign Petition Protesting Net Neutrality Loopholes for Copyright Enforcement: Via EFF.org Updates.

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) submitted a petition signed by more than 7000 people to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today demanding that the agency close a loophole for copyright enforcement in its proposed regulations for network neutrality.

The petition is part of EFF's reply comments in the FCC's net neutrality rulemaking. The FCC's proposed rules generally prohibit ISPs from discriminating or blocking lawful content, but include a loophole for 'reasonable network management' by ISPs. The proposed rules then define 'reasonable network management" to include measures taken by ISPs to block unlawful content or transmissions. This exception would effectively permit ISPs to violate net neutrality rules and block lawful activities in the name of copyright enforcement.

"We can't afford to let lawful speech become collateral damage in Hollywood's war on copyright infringement," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "Net neutrality regulations should not excuse ISPs that interfere with lawful content just because they claim they were acting as copyright cops." [ Read more ... ]

DMCA Muscle Strong-Arms DVD Copying: Via Threat Level.

Those awaiting a legitimate method to duplicate DVDs for personal use likely will have to wait even longer, perhaps forever, after RealNetworks tossed in the white towel and abandoned litigation toward that end.

RealNetworks spent almost two years in a legal battle with the Motion Picture Association of America, which sued the Seattle-based company to block the sale of its DVD-copying software and hardware –- generally known as RealDVD. The company said late Wednesday it was dropping its appeal of an August federal court decision that declared RealDVD an illegal violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

The act, which the Hollywood studios strongly lobbied for, prohibits the circumvention of encryption technology. DVDs are encrypted with what is known as the Content Scramble System, and DVD players must secure a license to play discs. RealDVD, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled, circumvents the CSS technology designed to prevent copying and is therefore a breach of the CSS license.

The litigation cost RealNetworks millions of dollars, including $4.5 million to reimburse the MPAA for its legal costs. The outcome cost Rob Glaser, RealNetworks’ CEO, his job. [ Read more ... ]

YouTube's Content ID (C)ensorship Problem Illustrated | Electronic Frontier Foundation: Via EFF - Electronic Frontier Foundation.

As we've pointed out repeatedly, poor design decisions in YouTube's "Content ID" system have resulted in over-blocking of videos that remix copyrighted materials. Today we got perhaps the most vivid example of the problem: the "silencing" of a lecture by Prof. Larry Lessig about the cultural importance of remix creativity. This is just the latest of many examples. We've been on YouTube's case for more than two years about this problem, and it's high time for YouTube to fix the Content ID system to respect the kinds of fair uses that are at the heart of remix creativity.

How did Prof. Lessig's video trigger the Content ID block? He included "snippets" (I use that word intentionally, as Google does in the context of its own Book Search product, to refer to small portions that should qualify as a fair use) from several remix videos. [ Read more ... ]

Are Aggregation Services Security Risks?: Via NYTimes.com .

Do you like social aggregation and tracking services like FriendFeed, Google Buzz and Cliqset? If so, there's another startup launching today that wants your attention: Strings. This service is focused less on social content sites like flickr and YouTube (although supported) and more on traditional online activity like clothing purchases from JCrew or Saks, groceries from Amazon Fresh, beauty products from Sephora and a slew of other purchases from web-based shopping sites.

But before you rush to sign up with yet another activity aggregation service, it may be time to pause and think. Do the benefits of seeing your friends' purchases on sites like Strings and the online shopping tracker Blippy outweigh the risks of handing over login credentials to these third parties? [ Read more ... ]

Opinion: Dear Facebook, it's time to act like a grown-up about security: Via Computerworld Cybercrime/Hacking News.

An open letter to Facebook from Ira Winkler, who had no luck contacting the company via conventional means.

Dear Facebook,

I appreciate your service. I really do. I'm sure that many of your 400 million active users appreciate it as well. But now that you have a market value estimated at billions of dollars, it is time for you to start acting like a grown-up company. That means you have to provide basic security for your customers. And it means responding when your customers try to contact you, as I did recently to talk about an important security issue. Do you think you will be able to hold on to 400 million users if you treat them that way, and if you put their computers at risk? I don't.

As you can see, I have had to resort to writing an open letter on Computerworld's Web site, because all other attempts to get through to you were unsuccessful. [ Read more ... ]

Leaked ACTA draft reveals plans for internet clampdown: Via Computerworld(NZ).

ISPs must snoop on subscribers or face being sued by content owners

The US, Europe and other countries including New Zealand are secretly drawing up rules designed to crack down on copyright abuse on the internet, in part by making ISPs liable for illegal content, according to a copy of part of the confidential draft agreement that was seen by the IDG News Service.

It is the latest in a series of leaks from the anticounterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) talks that have been going on for the past two years. Other leaks over the past three months have consisted of confidential internal memos about the negotiations between European lawmakers.

The chapter on the internet from the draft treaty was shown to the IDG News Service by a source close to people directly involved in the talks, who asked to remain anonymous. Although it was drawn up last October, it is the most recent negotiating text available, according to the source.

It proposes making ISPs (internet service providers) liable under civil law for the content their subscribers upload or download using their networks. [ Read more ... ]

ACTA "internet enforcement" chapter leaks: Via Boing Boing .

Someone has uploaded a PDF to a Google Group that is claimed to be the proposal for Internet copyright enforcement that the USA has put forward for ACTA, the secret copyright treaty whose seventh round of negotiations just concluded in Guadalajara, Mexico. This reads like it probably is genuine treaty language, and if it is the real US proposal, it is the first time that this material has ever been visible to the public. According to my source, the US proposal is the current version of the treaty as of the conclusion of the Mexico round.

I've read it through a few times and it reads a lot like DMCA-plus. It contains, for example, a duty to technology firms to shut down infringement where they have "actual knowledge" that such is taking place. This argument was put forward in the Grokster case, and as Fred von Lohmann argued then, this is a potentially deadly burden to place on technology companies: in the offline world Xerox has "actual knowledge" that its technology is routinely used to infringe copyright at Kinko's outlets around the world -- should that create a duty to stop providing sales and service to Kinko's?

This also includes takedown procedures for trademark infringement, as well as the existing procedures against copyright infringement. [ Read more ... ]

Copyright Undercover: ACTA & the Web: Via Internet Evolution - The Big Report .

Let's pause a moment to consider the nature of copyright, the Internet, and governance. Copyright law has historically been made by and for the entertainment industry's supply chain. Copyright rules were not envisioned as an adequate or desirable regulation-set for any other realm: We don't try to shoehorn labor law, finance, education, healthcare, election campaigns, or parenting matters into copyright.

But once you take those activities onto the Internet, copyright becomes the first line of regulation governing everything. It's impossible to do anything on the Internet without making copies (you made between 5 and 50 copies of this article just by following a link to it). And since copyright regulates copying, any rule that affects copyright will affect all those realms, too.

That's what makes ACTA's secrecy so troubling, even if you don't care about copyright, fair use, or other wonky subjects. [ Read more ... ]

Redbox, Movie Studios, and Subversion of First Sale: Via EFF.org Updates.

As we've explained before, a number of Hollywood movie studios have been on the war path against Redbox, the kiosk-based DVD rental operation, because Redbox offers DVD new releases for rent at 99 cents per night. Thanks to the first sale doctrine in copyright law, Redbox's business is completely legal—the company buys legitimate DVDs to stock their kiosks. Great for consumers, and a great alternative for those who might otherwise opt for an unauthorized alternative online.

But Hollywood wasn't pleased, and took a number of steps to interfere with Redbox's business, which in turn led to lawsuits. [ Read more ... ]

ACLU, EFF And Others In Court Today To Challenge Google Book Search Settlement: Via American Civil Liberties Union.

Groups And Prominent Authors Say Settlement Doesn't Protect Free Speech Or User Privacy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org  

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Samuelson Law, Technology, and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law are in federal court today urging a judge to reject the proposed settlement in a lawsuit over Google Book Search because it does not include critical privacy protections for users of the online book materials. The groups filed an objection to the settlement in September 2009 on behalf of a coalition of more than two dozen authors and publishers, including ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero and best-selling novelists Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem.

"As digital book programs like Google Book Search advance, more and more people will turn to the Internet for their reading needs. Readers should be able to expect as much privacy when they're reading a book on a Web site as they do in a library or bookstore," said Aden Fine, staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group. "People should feel that they are free to read on the Internet without being monitored by private companies or the government." [ Read more ... ]

Any use of this article without the NFL's express written consent is prohibited: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

With the Super Bowl just concluded and baseball's spring training only weeks away, a question occurred to us: whatever happened to the push for copyright holders to tone down their copyright notices?

We hear and see the warnings whenever a football or baseball game is televised, whenever we read books, whenever we watch a movie. These are the sort of warnings that make claims like, "Any other use of this telecast or any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent is prohibited," despite the apparent wrongheadedness of the statement. [ Read more ... ]

Google Alters Buzz Service Over Privacy Concerns - NYTimes.com: Via NYTimes.com .

Google moved quickly over the weekend to try to contain mounting criticism of Buzz, its social network, apologizing to users for features that were widely seen as endangering privacy and announcing product changes to address those concerns.

Todd Jackson, product manager for Gmail and Google Buzz, wrote in a blog post on Saturday that Google had decided to alter one of the most-criticized features in Buzz: the ready-made circle of friends the service provided to new users based on their most frequent e-mail and chat contacts in Gmail. Instead of automatically connecting people, Buzz will in the future merely suggest to new users a group of people they may want to follow or be followed by, he said.

Mr. Jackson, who said that the auto-follow feature had been intended to make it easy for people to get started on Buzz, acknowledged the criticism that was heaped on Google in the last few days.

“We’re very sorry for the concern we’ve caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback,” Mr. Jackson wrote. “We’ll continue to do so.” [ Read more ... ]

Critics Say Google Invades Privacy With New Service: Via NYT > Privacy.

SAN FRANCISCO — When Google introduced Buzz — its answer to Facebook and Twitter — it hoped to get the service off to a fast start. New users of Buzz, which was added to Gmail on Tuesday, found themselves with a ready-made network of friends automatically selected by the company based on the people that each user communicated with most frequently through Google’s e-mail and chat services.

But what Google viewed as an obvious shortcut stirred up a beehive of angry critics. Many users bristled at what they considered an invasion of privacy, and they faulted the company for failing to ask permission before sharing a person’s Buzz contacts with a broad audience. For the last three days, Google has faced a firestorm of criticism on blogs and Web sites, and it has already been forced to alter some features of the service.

E-mail, it turns out, can hold many secrets, from the names of personal physicians and illicit lovers to the identities of whistle-blowers and antigovernment activists. [ Read more ... ]

Google May Offer Buzz Independently From Gmail: Via Search Engine Land.

Google says it may allow people to participate in Google Buzz without having it integrated within Gmail, in addition to offering a combined Gmail service. That may be a welcome move from users of both products, especially in light of the substantial privacy concerns voiced this week about Google Buzz.

“It’s clear that interest in Buzz may extend beyond the current Gmail base, and we’re open to serving that community,” said Bradley Horowitz, Google’s VP of Product Marketing, when I spoke to him about some Buzz issues at the TED Conference.

Horowitz stressed that Google would still offer a version of Buzz within Gmail, in addition to any independent version.

[...]

Meanwhile, there’s also the privacy issue. Since Buzz is tied to Gmail, people are forced to expose their Gmail address if they want ot have a profile URL that isn’t a string of numbers. And even if they don’t, it turns out there’s still a way that Buzz can give away your Gmail address. [ Read more ... ]

Google Buzz: Privacy nightmare: Via Molly Rants - CNET News.

I know some of the technorati are losing their minds over the awesomeness that is Google Buzz, but I think that Google's making a lot of Facebook's privacy and opt-in mistakes right out of the gate, and it's going to bite it big-time, if it doesn't fix it pronto.

I, for one, have already opted out of the entire endeavor.

See, I love the idea of neat new tech innovations that lead to streamlined communication, real-time updating, in-line video and photo posting, and supersimple friend and contact integration. I do not, however, like a product that bursts through my door like a tornado and opts me in to wanton in-box clutter and spam (or, more precisely, bacn) publicly reveals my personal contact list without asking me, threatens to broadcast my e-mail address anytime someone wants to @ me in a Buzz, and even appears to grab photos off my Android phone that I've never uploaded. [ Read more ... ]

NBC Removes Conan O'Brien From the Web: Via Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD.

Remember the whole Conan O’Brien/Jay Leno imbroglio from last month? Perhaps NBC wishes you didn’t. The GE (GE) unit has removed every episode of the show’s seven-month run from its NBC.com site, as well as Hulu, the site NBC owns with News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox and Disney’s (DIS) ABC.

A little odd, given that a couple of days ago, the network was offering every single “Tonight Show” episode O’Brien had taped on NBC.com. But then again, everything about this story has been odd. NBC declined to comment.

NBC–at least, I’m assuming it’s NBC–has also been aggressive about taking down Conan episodes from Google’s (GOOG) YouTube.

Read Original Article:(Via Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD.)

ShmooCon: Inside FarmVille's sinister underbelly: Via Computerworld Security News.

You love Facebook apps like FarmVille and Mafia Wars and think they're perfectly safe, right? Think again.

You see it all the time on Facebook: A friend moving on up in FarmVille. Another friend trying to expand his posse in Mafia Wars. Everyone thinks of them as harmless third-party applications, free from the crooks and cooks of cyberspace.

Unfortunately, that's not the case.

The sad fact is that these applications are susceptible to malware pushers and those looking to steal your personal information. It's not much of a stretch for hackers to impersonate people you think are trusted, fellow players, as is the case with a lot of online gaming. And the more you expose yourself, the bigger the target you become. [ Read more ... ]

Know Before You Go: Tickets May Come at a Higher Price Than You Realize: Via EFF.org Updates.

As part of our Terms of Ab(use) project, we pay close attention to the fine print of online agreements for provisions that are potentially dangerous to consumers. We've noticed a troubling change in the way event planners restrict the rights of individuals who attend their shows. Where once these limitations had to fit on the back of a ticket, increasingly event organizers have moved their fine print online, where they are able to use even more contract law to avoid the limits of trademark and copyright law and actively control what ticket holders can say or do even after the event is over.

These burdensome terms can show up in some pretty unexpected places. Last year we noted how the Burning Man Organization (BMO) used online ticket terms to require participants to assign to BMO—in advance—the copyright to any pictures they took on the playa. Tickets for the 2010 event went on sale in mid-January, and we hoped the new terms would acknowledge the concerns we had expressed. Sadly, the new terms are just as onerous as before. [ Read more ... ]

Anti-RIAA Site Folds: Via Threat Level.

Provocative website p2pnet.net, the online voice to one of the world’s most blistering and perpetual attacks on the Recording Industry Association of America, is shuttering amid financial doldrums. It was 9 years old.

“I can’t claim p2pnet has been protecting the world, but I’ve done my best to unspin some of the vested interest corporate spin, and expose a few of the lies and corruption,” the site’s voice and founder Jon Newton said in his “last post” Wednesday.

The Vancouver Island, British Columbia huckster is looking for donations or even a partnership in hopes of reviving the site that has become infamous for its mocking portrayal of the RIAA, which consists of Vivendi Universal, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music.

While Newton mocked the Motion Picture Association of America, the site is best remembered for referring to the RIAA as the “Big 4 Organised Music Cartel,” [ Read more ... ]

Facebook Privacy, Security Fears Grow with Social Network Risks: Via Security from eWeek.

According to Sophos, 60 percent of businesses consider Facebook the riskiest social networking site, underscoring a new level of wariness for social networks at a time when a researcher from Kaspersky Lab says compromised accounts for Twitter and other sites can go for big bucks in the cyber-underworld.

Businesses are growing more concerned about the use of social networks, starting with Facebook.

According to a survey of 502 IT professionals by Sophos, businesses are seeing more malware and spam, and 60 percent of respondents put Facebook ahead of MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn as the riskiest social networking site. The statistics, which were included in Sophos' "Security Threat Report: 2010" (PDF), revealed that while 33 percent block Facebook for productivity reasons, businesses are also concerned with the prospect of spam, malware and data leakage on social networks. [ Read more ... ]