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Tag: Anti-Piracy

  • The Pirate Bay Sues Anti-Piracy Outfit For Copyright Infringement

    In the eyes of the entertainment industry, The Pirate Bay is nothing but a piracy outfit dedicated to destroying their business. These groups make it vocally known that they hate copyright infringement. Maybe they could be taken a little more seriously if they weren’t violating other’s copyright.

    TorrentFreak reports that Finnish anti-piracy outfit CIAPC has recently opened a new Web site. Here’s the front page design:

    The PIrate Bay Copyright

    What does this look like? Oh right, it’s the exact same layout as used by The Pirate Bay:

    The Pirate Bay Copyright

    Besides the graphic and text, the sites are essentially the same. That’s not a coincidence as a spokesperson for The Pirate Bay says CIAPC stole their CSS code to build their parody Web site. That’s not exactly sitting well with the The Pirate Bay.

    You might be wondering why The Pirate Bay cares so much about this. The group doesn’t exactly care that people use their Web site to share pirated content with others. So why do they suddenly care about copyright? The Pirate Bay has a strict usage policy in place that restricts other from using its site design.

    The group also feels that their lawsuit is a matter of principal. In a statement to TorrentFreak, a Pirate Bay spokesperson said:

    “We feel that we must make a statement and therefore we will sue them for copyright infringement. If not even IFPI and their friends can respect copyright, perhaps it’s time to move on?”

    It’s not known how serious The Pirate Bay is about this potential litigation, but I kind of hope that they go forward with it. It would be absolutely hilarious to see The Pirate Bay sue CIAPC for copyright infringement – the very thing such anti-piracy groups stand against.

  • Verizon Will Start Throttling The Internet Of Accused Pirates Soon

    It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the six strikes anti-piracy program being put into place by ISPs across the U.S. The last news that came out of the CCI said that the program was delayed until early 2013 for some last minute problems caused by Hurricane Sandy. We don’t know when exactly the program will go into place, but some new information on the program itself has leaked out.

    TorrentFreak reports that Verizon’s Copyright Alert Program has been leaked, and the document details what the ISP for each tier of alerts. It was previously reported that Verizon would throttle speeds on the fifth and sixth alert, but the new leaked document is a bit more specific on what that means. Spoiler: Hope you pirates like dial-up speeds.

    Before getting to that, let’s take a look at what pirates can expect on the first and second copyright alert they receive from Verizon. For these first two alerts, Verizon will either send you an email or call you to tell you that a copyright owner believes you are a dirty pirate. From there, they will provide info on how to locate, and remove, file sharing software from your computer as well as provide a list of legal alternatives to piracy.

    By the sounds of it, the first two alerts aren’t that bad. They’re a little annoying, but nothing to get angry about it. Now the third and fourth alerts are where things start to get annoying. Upon being alerted that your a dirty pirate, the ISP will redirect your browser to a “special Web page” in which you must acknowledge receiving the alert. You will also have to sit through a presumably boring film on copyright law and infringement.

    How can it get more annoying than PSAs? On the fifth and sixth alert, you will be given three options: one, you must agree to an immediate reduction in Internet speed to 256kbps for two days; or two, you must agree to the same reduction, but it can be delayed for up to 14 days. If you’re feeling really lucky, you can also appeal the the validity of the alerts to the AAA who will decide if the copyright owners were wrong in sending you the alerts. This process will cost you $35, and will only be refunded if you win.

    In what may be even worse, it was confirmed by TorrentFreak that ISPs will be sending out copyright alerts to businesses. How many people do you think pirate content on public Wi-Fi networks provided by restaurants or cafes on any given day? A business could receive six alerts in one day and have their complimentary Wi-Fi slowed to a crawl. At that point, you’re not even punishing pirates anymore – you’re punishing everybody, including the businesses.

    In short, the Copyright Alert Program is probably going to anger more people than it will convert them to law abiding citizens who buy all their music from Amazon. Of course, the intention of the program is not to convert dedicated pirates, but the casual music listener who might pirate a few songs here and there. The first alert might scare them into being a good little boy or girl, but I just don’t see it working all that well.

    Also, I have to ask – whatever happened to this program being pro-consumer? CCI Director Jill Lesser has repeatedly stated that the intention of the CAP is not to punish the consumer, but rather educate. I think having speed dropped down to what constituted a regular Internet speed in 1995 to be a little extreme. Sure, you can delay the throttling, but it’s still going to happen across your entire connection. If Verizon and the CCI wanted to cultivate a little goodwill, they would only throttle P2P traffic. It’s possible, and some ISPs already do it. Throttling the entire connection is asinine and does little to educate the consumer, it only serves to grow resentment among the consumers they claim to care about so much.

    In all honesty, I see the CAP not lasting very long. It’s not as extreme as when the RIAA was suing people left and right, but I feel the public outcry is going to be similar. Piracy is a problem, and one that does need to be solved. Throttling speeds and punishing the very consumers that ensure the survival of copyright owners isn’t going to solve it.

  • The Pirate Bay Fighting Censorship One IP Address At A Time

    Remember when The Pirate Bay was blocked in the UK on the grounds that it enabled copyright on a massive scale? That may have been only the most recent attempt at censoring the site, but various other European countries have also ruled in favor of blocking access to everybody’s favorite torrent tracker. It’s totally fine though because The Pirate Bay is constantly working to keep access open to all.

    Keeping that access open is one of the reasons behind The Pirate Bay seeing a huge influx of users the day after the UK ruled that the site was to blocked. Even after ISPs all over the country started to block access, people still got around using proxies and other means. It’s a useless battle, but the copyright industry keeps on trying.

    Unfortunately, the only downside to these tactics is that everybody doesn’t know how to use a proxy. For those people, The Pirate Bay has come up with a solution – a new IP. By just typing the IP address in your browser, users can access The Pirate Bay. The courts are only having the original IP address blocked so any new subsequent IP addresses will be available for all.

    It wouldn’t be long before the copyright industry got wind of this workaround and went after the new IP address. TorrentFreak is reporting that is already the case as everybody’s non-favorite Dutch anti-piracy group, BREIN, told local ISPs to shut off access to the new IP address. The ISPs refused so BREIN went to the court again to get another blocking order and were successful in getting the new IP blocked.

    The funny thing is that The Pirate Bay claims to have hundreds of IP addresses. Speaking to TorrentFreak, an insider replied to BREIN’s actions by saying, “Let me get the next IP address lined up.” If The Pirate Bay does indeed have hundreds of IPs just waiting to be used, the anti-piracy groups are just waging a war of attrition that they can not win. Sooner or later, the anti-piracy groups are just going to give up because they’re the ones who have to go to court while wasting time and money. The Pirate Bay just has to turn on another IP address for next to nothing.

    All of this just goes to show you how out of touch the media industries are. They could be spending their money on alternative ways to market their goods to people and compete with piracy on a level that actually wins them consumer loyalty and sales. Unfortunately, these groups are too caught up in fighting piracy and punishing legitimate consumers to realize that their actions are the cause of piracy in the first place.

    If this war of attrition between The Pirate Bay and BREIN does play out, it should be highly entertaining. We’ll keep you updated on any and all developments.

  • Facebook, Twitter Aren’t Required To Have Anti-Piracy Software, Court Says

    Europe’s top court dealt a blow to anti-piracy crusaders and tallied a win for proponents of Internet freedom today by ruling that social networking sites cannot be required to set up an anti-piracy filtering system.

    The ruling involves a case brought against Netlog, an online social network based in Belgium, by a music royalties firm claiming that the site, in addition to other social networks, should be scouring the content posted by users in order to “ensure it does not infringe copyright.” Sabam, the aforementioned royalties firm, dragged in the dead horse argument that “some” of Netlog’s users had been sharing copyright protected music and videos on the website.

    The European Court of Justice, however, wasn’t shopping for worn out excuses today. While acknowledging that the requested anti-privacy measure would remedy Sabam’s problem, the action “would not be respecting the requirement that a fair balance be struck between the right to intellectual property, on the one hand, and the freedom to conduct business, the right to protection of personal data and the freedom to receive or impart information, on the other.” Moreso, the court recognized that requiring sites to implement an anti-piracy filter “could potentially undermine freedom of information” as well as act as a “serious infringement of the freedom” of Netlog.

    Smell that? Sounds like somebody just got served a hot plate of justice.

    Of course, would the court to have ruled in the other direction, the reverberations would assuredly been felt on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Because that’s the direction this slippery slope falls and thankfully the court saw the danger of persecuting the ostensible pirates sharing music and movies on, god forbid, a social media site built for sharing things.

  • Clay Shirky Discusses The Bad Ideas That Are SOPA and PIPA

    It’s apparent that the SOPA/PIPA-inspired Internet blackouts raised the public’s conscious concerning the anti-piracy legislation Washington is trying to push on the very citizens it is supposed to be representing. Granted, a great deal of this awareness came from the fact people couldn’t do their homework because Wikipedia was down, but, whatever it takes.

    Especially when we’re dealing with something as important as SOPA and PIPA.

    With that in mind, you might want to familiarize yourself with Clay Shirky. In case you didn’t know, Shirky is something of a pro-Internet activist who is an Associate Arts Professor at NYU, instructing students in the subject of Interactive Telecommunications. Shirky is also a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, just in case you need to see additional credentials.

    As you might expect, Shirky represents one of the many scholars who are fundamentally opposed to both SOPA and PIPA, and at a recent TED Talk, he clearly articulated why these bills serve as a threat to our freedom to create and share. Shirky puts the responsibility on us, the consumers, to do more than just “passively consume,” although, judging by the all the “Where the hell is my Wikipedia” comments the other day, it seems we still have a long way to go before we shed that particular skin.

    Shirky’s TED Talk, as pointed out by Laughing Squid:


    If, after watching that, you’re still unsure as to why SOPA/PIPA are the wrong way to go about stemming piracy, watch it again.

  • The Twitter Crowd Weighs in with Things Better Than SOPA

    Aside from the bouts of humor many Twitter users are providing, thanks, in large part to the @herpderpedia Twitter account’s work, it’s also becoming a water cooler of sorts, at least in relation to the anti-piracy act that’s ruling the day. I’m talking about SOPA, of course.

    Before that, however, if you want have a little fun, check out the tweets @herpderpedia is rebroadcasting, and then click over and see what kind of responses the folks who were highlighted by the account have received. Let’s just say their lack of Wikipedia awareness was not easily forgiven.

    Take this little exchange, for instance. Be warned, the language is NSFW:

    @Rotark
    john doe    @helloshaunni yeah, quit being a self centered cunt, wikipedia doesn’t revolve around you and stop taking this shit for granted 2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @helloshaunni
    shaunni howard    just got called a ‘self centered cunt’ because i moaned earlier about wikipedia being down. ah, i love people, they’re swell. 2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Aside from the frequent Wikipedia fails, Twitter has turned its full attention to SOPA with the “#thingsbetterthanSOPA” trend. The responses concerning the SOPA trend, besides being awfully accurate, are about what you’d expect:

    @ERlC_CARTMAN
    Not Eric Cartman    #thingsbetterthanSOPA Bacon 57 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @_Burnetts
    Burnett’s    #thingsbetterthanSOPA using Unflavored Burnett’s as mouth wash 46 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @thunt27
    Tim Hunt    Masturbating with a cheese grater #thingsbetterthanSOPA 58 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @ItsBennyBlanco
    Benny Blanco    keeping up with the kardasians #thingsbetterthansopa 1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @g4tv
    G4TV    #thingsbetterthanSOPA Superman 64. 1 hour ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

    @TheHogwartians
    Students of Hogwarts    Dolores Umbridge’s face. #thingsbetterthanSOPA 38 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @AlwaysxTeen
    Always Teen™    #thingsbetterthanSOPA Listening to “Friday” on repeat for an entire day 1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @autocorrects
    Autocorrects    #thingsbetterthanSOPA Rebecca Black’s career. 1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Great minds think alike, apparently. While all of those embedded tweets capture the mood of Twitter concerning SOPA, this final one, while a little dramatic, is just about pitch perfect:

    @joeltorres29
    Joel ✞orres ♛    Waking up inside a coffin #thingsbetterthanSOPA 4 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    With that in mind, does anyone besides bought-and-paid-for politicians and the entertainment industry actually support SOPA? Have you or has anyone you know seen an Average Joe type take a stand for these anti-piracy acts?

  • Another Republican Senator Backs Away From PIPA Sponsorship

    When all of this anti-SOPA smoke clears, it appears as if the only government official who will be left standing on the side of the stop piracy acts will be Lamar “SOPA Will Never Die” Smith. While there’s plenty of flippancy on this writer’s part, truth be told, more government officials are backing off, or at least trying to delay any upcoming votes on the Protect-IP Act, otherwise known as PIPA.

    The latest Senator to abandon the Good Ship PIPA is Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida. In doing so, Rubio acknowledged the outspoken opposition to the oft-discussed piracy acts, which means at least on politician is actually listening to the experts. From Rubio’s statement:

    “We’ve heard legitimate concerns about the impact the bill could have on access to the Internet and about a potentially unreasonable expansion of the federal government’s power to impact the Internet.” Rubio announced, withdrawing his support for the bill, “Congress should listen and avoid rushing through a bill that could have many unintended consequences.”

    Rubio goes on to say that Senator Harry Reid should stop trying to push the PIPA bill through to the Senate floor. In order to inform his supporters about his plans to drop his support for PIPA, Senator Rubio posted his announcement at his Facebook page. Oh, the power of social media, which we’ve reprinted, in full:

    In recent weeks, we’ve heard from many Floridians about the anti-Internet piracy bills making their way through Congress. On the Senate side, I have been a co-sponsor of the PROTECT IP Act because I believe it’s important to protect American ingenuity, ideas and jobs from being stolen through Internet piracy, much of it occurring overseas through rogue websites in China. As a senator from Florida, a state with a large presence of artists, creators and businesses connected to the creation of intellectual property, I have a strong interest in stopping online piracy that costs Florida jobs.

    However, we must do this while simultaneously promoting an open, dynamic Internet environment that is ripe for innovation and promotes new technologies.

    Earlier this year, this bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously and without controversy. Since then, we’ve heard legitimate concerns about the impact the bill could have on access to the Internet and about a potentially unreasonable expansion of the federal government’s power to impact the Internet. Congress should listen and avoid rushing through a bill that could have many unintended consequences.

    Therefore, I have decided to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act. Furthermore, I encourage Senator Reid to abandon his plan to rush the bill to the floor. Instead, we should take more time to address the concerns raised by all sides, and come up with new legislation that addresses Internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the Internet.

    Over at The Washington Examiner, there is a convenient list of PIPA’s co-sponsors, which was acquired from a Library of Congress query. This list is as follows:

    Sen Alexander, Lamar [TN] – 5/25/2011
    Sen Ayotte, Kelly [NH] – 6/27/2011
    Sen Bennet, Michael F. [CO] – 7/25/2011
    Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] – 10/19/2011
    Sen Blumenthal, Richard [CT] – 5/12/2011
    Sen Blunt, Roy [MO] – 5/23/2011
    Sen Boozman, John [AR] – 6/15/2011
    Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA] – 12/12/2011
    Sen Brown, Sherrod [OH] – 10/20/2011
    Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD] – 7/13/2011
    Sen Casey, Robert P., Jr. [PA] – 9/7/2011
    Sen Chambliss, Saxby [GA] – 11/2/2011
    Sen Cochran, Thad [MS] – 6/23/2011
    Sen Coons, Christopher A. [DE] – 5/12/2011
    Sen Corker, Bob [TN] – 6/9/2011
    Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] – 6/30/2011
    Sen Enzi, Michael B. [WY] – 9/7/2011
    Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA] – 5/12/2011
    Sen Franken, Al [MN] – 5/12/2011
    Sen Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [NY] – 5/26/2011
    Sen Graham, Lindsey [SC] – 5/12/2011
    Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] – 5/12/2011
    Sen Hagan, Kay [NC] – 7/5/2011
    Sen Hatch, Orrin G. [UT] – 5/12/2011
    Sen Isakson, Johnny [GA] – 11/2/2011
    Sen Johnson, Tim [SD] – 10/3/2011
    Sen Klobuchar, Amy [MN] – 5/12/2011
    Sen Kohl, Herb [WI] – 5/12/2011
    Sen Landrieu, Mary L. [LA] – 10/17/2011
    Sen Lieberman, Joseph I. [CT] – 7/7/2011
    Sen McCain, John [AZ] – 7/26/2011
    Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ] – 10/31/2011
    Sen Nelson, Bill [FL] – 9/23/2011
    Sen Risch, James E. [ID] – 11/7/2011
    Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] – 5/12/2011
    Sen Shaheen, Jeanne [NH] – 6/30/2011
    Sen Udall, Tom [NM] – 7/7/2011
    Sen Vitter, David [LA] – 11/7/2011
    Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI] – 5/12/2011

    It’s important to the know the face, or at least the name of your opposition.

  • Anti-Piracy Lawyer Rips Off Content from Competitor

    John Steele, an anti-piracy “pay-up-or-else” lawyer, has filed close to 100 mass-lawsuits for his clients, targeting thousands of BitTorrent users, a.k.a. Pirates. Now it seems the moniker could even fit Mr. Steele himself. The folks over at TorrentFreak have pointed out that some information from Steele’s site was blatantly ripped off a competitor.

    This is nothing new in the copyright lawyer enforcement game. Just last year it was reported that the U.S. Copyright Group ripped off the entire site from the Copyright Enforcement Group and passed it off as their own. The site was eventually taken down.

    In regards to Steele, he too stole from CEG, blatantly ripping off content from their FAQ. You can see it for yourself below.

    If you’re wondering if Steele had permission to extract content from CEG, he didn’t. TorrentFreak contacted CEG, they said that they “may take steps to prevent Steele from blatantly ‘stealing’ their work in the future“.

    This whole situation is laughable when you consider Steele’s whole “holier than though” mantra on piracy.