Wednesday, April 13, 2011

TorrentFreak Email Update

TorrentFreak Email Update

New Zealand Government Rushes Through Controversial Anti-Piracy Law

Posted: 13 Apr 2011 12:44 AM PDT

In a surprise development, during the next few hours New Zealand’s government is to rush through legislation that will target Internet users who share copyrighted material online without rightsholder permission.

The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill, which unanimously passed its first reading in Parliament in April 2010, will put in place a 3 strikes-style regime, whereby Internet service providers will be initially required to send warning letters to alleged infringers at the behest of rights holders.

New Zealand’s Copyright Tribunal will be empowered to rule on cases of alleged repeat infringement and will be given the authority to hand down fines up to a maximum of $15,000 ($11,733 US).

For repeat offenders, a six month period of Internet disconnection may be applied, a measure too far for Green MP Gareth Hughes who wasn’t even aware the Bill was coming up today.

”It really surprised me because we haven’t debated it since November,” he said.

Hughes later confirmed he would request an amendment to remove the suspension clause but a spokesperson for Commerce Minister Simon Power said it would be opposed. While the Greens are against disconnections, they supports the Bill in principle.

Today’s second reading of the Bill is being accompanied by a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) which in part is aimed at clarifying burden of proof issues in a current clause.

According to intellectual property lawyer Rick Shera, the clause created a presumption in favour of copyright owners and the changes being considered remove the reference to the presumption of guilt being “conclusive”.

“I do act for a number of copyright owners, I can't see why there is a need for a presumption, I mean if copyright owners are sure of their evidence then they would simply submit that evidence to the copyright tribunal,” Shera told NBR. “The tribunal is perfectly capable of weighing up whose evidence is better, that's what tribunals do all the time.”

The Bill is expected to pass its third and final stage during the next few hours. The news is already causing protests on Twitter, where users are calling for a repeat of last year’s demonstrations.

TorrentFreak

Record Label Boss Is a Former Notorious Warez Scene Pirate

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 01:02 PM PDT

In recent years, it’s become fashionable to use online file-sharing networks to generate publicity for both well-known bands and those with a lower profile. If done properly it’s a great and free way to reach a large audience.

Early March, the Sumerian Records label decided to utilize an increasingly popular method of getting some free publicity for a band on their label, i.e tell everyone that their music has leaked to file-sharing networks and all concerned are very angry about it.

“Hey all you jobbers who like to steal our albums – word out on the ocean (pirates don’t use streets) is that the BOO [Born of Osiris] album has leaked.. perhaps the pirate ship will leak too and sink in to the sea. In any case, enjoy pirating the record and hopefully you guys choke on a cannonball. Happy torrenting you cowards!” label founder Ash Avildsen declared.

As it turns out, the entire tirade was a hoax designed to get people to download a copy of the album – but with the band chatting, farting and generally messing around over the top. Apparently the whole thing was quite funny, especially the Charlie Sheen samples. Welcome to music marketing 2011-style. And why not?

However, just a few days later Avildsen’s attitude towards file-sharing networks changed somewhat. In a YouTube video which began with the industry line that music piracy ‘robs’ the United States of 71,000 jobs and $12.5 billion in economic output, Avildsen asked people for just 3 minutes of their time to ‘open their minds’.

This was quickly followed up by the cover of the upcoming Born of Osiris album merging into a view, accompanied by a note that file-sharing is only good for unsigned bands to get publicity and established bands and labels only suffer at their hands. At around the 2 minute mark, Avildsen sank his teeth into torrent sites and their “corporate” advertisers.

“Let’s call a spade a spade – there’s nothing more pathetic than making a living off being a thief,” said Avildsen. His anti-piracy message was widely reported in the music media and you can see the full thing at the bottom of this article, but for something rather more eye-opening, read on.

“I used to run in the same circles as Sumerian Records founder, Ash Asvilden,” Jason Fisher of heavy metal music site The Gauntlet told TorrentFreak this morning.

They’re both in the music business, so perhaps nothing too surprising there? But rewind a few years and things get very interesting indeed. Fisher now admits he was a member of multiple warez groups – Amnesia, the mighty Razor 1911 and ROR (Release on Rampage).

“As I listened to Ash’s statement, it really bothered me when he states ‘there is nothing more pathetic than making a living off of being a thief.’ So as Ash puts it, let’s ‘call a spade a spade,’” Fisher explained.

“What Ash doesn’t tell you is that when he was in high school, we ran in the same circles…the software piracy/hacking circles.”

Surprisingly, Fisher and Asvilden had crossed paths with their shared connections to ROR (Release on Rampage).

Having existed in other forms, 1995 saw ROR transform into a games release group and was taken over by a new leader known as The Krazy Little Punk (TKLP). He and the group became infamous in warez circles for claiming to have pre-released the most-anticipated game of the time – Quake – the follow up to ID Software’s massive hit, Doom2.

However, when the dust settled it was discovered that the release was actually a repackaged beta version of the game. ROR was banned from the scene for their sins and TKLP was forced to start a new group called Reflux (more background here).

So with that history out of the way, how does that relate to Sumerian Records? Well, according to Jason Fisher, the leader of ROR (The Krazy Little Punk) is none other than Sumerian Records founder, Ash Asvilden.

“When I first heard Ash was starting Sumerian Records, I thought he was probably the one guy out there smart enough to change this lagging industry around. I was interested to see what new ideas for running a record label he would have. I thought surely if anyone could do it, it would be Ash, the dude is brilliant,” Fisher explains.

“But it turns out he is going to go down the same road that so many others have gone down and never recovered from. Let’s hope it isn’t too late. He is right, piracy is a huge problem in the music industry, I’d just like a little more disclosure coming from a guy who has cost software companies millions of dollars.

“He ended up getting busted for releasing the alpha source for some major ID software release,” Fisher told us, adding that he too had received “visits” from the FBI.

Whether these brushes with the law led to a Road to Damascus-style recovery for Asvilden remains to be seen. But let’s not forget, this was many years ago and a lot has altered since then. Times change, attitudes change. People get mortgages.

TorrentFreak contacted Sumerian Records for comment but at the time of publication we have received no response.

TorrentFreak

Artists Don’t Think Piracy Hurts Them Financially, Study Shows

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 07:56 AM PDT

Yesterday, the Dutch Government announced plans to outlaw downloading of all copyrighted material and measures to make it easier to block websites that facilitate copyright infringement. An interesting move, particularly since a survey they published on the same day shows that artists’ views on file-sharing are not all that negative.

Through an elaborate survey the Government wanted to find out more about the views of artists on piracy, DRM, and other opportunities and challenges they face in the digital era. The questions covered in this article were answered by nearly 4,000 artists of all ages, including musicians, filmmakers, authors and photographers. The results give a unique insight into the position of artists on this controversial subject.

One of the results that stands out directly is that artists are pirates too. Not all of them of course, but a healthy percentage. Of all the respondents surveyed on the subject, 22% indicated that they had downloaded copyrighted works without the owners’ permission in the last 12 months. Another 71% told the researchers they hadn’t downloaded anything without permission during this period, and the remaining 7% didn’t know, or didn’t want to answer the question.

A follow up question among those who admitted to downloading others’ copyrighted works, found that music is by far the most downloaded media type. Over 80% of the downloaders downloaded music, and little over 40% also downloaded movies. Other categories such as E-books and games were less popular, with around 5% downloaders interested in these works.

Aside from their own ‘piracy’ habits, the survey also asked the respondents about their role as ‘victims’ of unauthorized file-sharing.

One of the questions dealt with whether the artists think they are being financially harmed by file-sharing. Interestingly, only about 12% of artists completely agree with the statement that file-sharing hurts them (~16% agree). The majority of the artists are not convinced that file-sharing is doing them any financial harm, and some actually think the opposite is true. What’s worth nothing is that higher educated artists in particular believe that file-sharing is doing them no financial harm.

study

Instead of hurting their wallets, the majority of the artists believe that file-sharing helps to promote their work. Little over 50% of those questioned responded affirmatively to the question of whether file-sharing helps to get their work known among the public, while only 5% completely disagreed with this statement. In particular the younger artists (< 25yo) recognized promotional benefits, as more than 80% thought file-sharing increases the popularity of their work.

study

Moving on to DRM, the survey found that 30% of the artists believe that DRM is hurting legitimate customers through access restrictions. Despite this negative view, 70% of all artists still believe their work should be protected by DRM. With regard to DRM there appears to be quite a large generation gap. More than 40% of the artists younger than 25 years old say DRM is hurting their relationship with the public, while none of the artists over 75 years old believes it does any harm.

Finally, the artists were also surveyed on whether individual file-sharers should be treated more harshly. Interestingly, close to 60% indicate that they should, with an even higher percentage among the older artists. Even among the people who admitted that they were downloading without permission, nearly one third said that harsher measures are needed to deter file-sharers.

All in all it can be concluded from the survey that the majority of Dutch artists don’t believe that unauthorized file-sharing is hurting them financially, and that it may actually help them to gain a larger audience. Despite these liberal views, a majority of the artists support harsher measures against unauthorized file-sharing and for DRM to ‘protect’ their works.

A mixed message, but one that’s hopeful, especially since the younger generations recognize the benefits of sharing, even when it’s without permission.

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