TorrentFreak Email Update |
- Kiwi MP Called Out As Pirate After Passing Anti-Piracy Law
- Firefox Add-on ‘Undoes’ U.S. Government Domain Seizures
- Entrepreneurs Plan To Legalize and Monetize Illegal Music
| Kiwi MP Called Out As Pirate After Passing Anti-Piracy Law Posted: 15 Apr 2011 02:47 AM PDT This week the New Zealand Government rushed through its controversial 3 strikes-style law as part of Christchurch earthquake emergency legislation. This means that after being ‘suspected’ of sharing copyrighted material online three times, people may be fined and lose their Internet access for six months. The legislation was brought up again quite unexpectedly this week, despite massive opposition and public outrage that delayed it last year. But this time around there was little room for protest, as it was just a matter of hours before the Bill passed. As is often the case when politicians decide on copyright-related matters, their very own actions with regard to copyright are being carefully scrutinized. This can lead to awkward situations, something Member of Parliament Melissa Lee found out herself this week. Just hours before giving a speech in support of the three-strikes law which is supposed to protect the copyright holders, she sent out the following tweet:  So, while Lee was condemning today’s youth and their lack of respect for copyright, she more than likely infringed on the rights of several K-Pop musicians. After all, making a music compilation and handing it over to a friend is not allowed under New Zealand’s copyright law. Surprised by the call-out, Lee defended herself by saying that the songs were downloaded legally and paid for. But unfortunately for her that doesn’t mean much. As the National Business Review points out, when a friend makes a copy of songs that were legally bought, the recipient of the ‘gift’ is still guilty of copyright infringement. So it appears that Lee got her first strike already, and since the burden of proof is on the alleged infringer under the new legislation, it’s up to her to prove that she’s innocent. That’s only fair, right? Although it’s easy to call Lee’s mistake out as hypocrisy, it might be even worse than that. What if she truly believes that copying a legally bought song for a friend is okay? That would mean that even legislators who vote on copyright legislation don’t fully grasp what they’re doing. In her speech Lee said that it’s perfectly legal to share a DVD or music album with a friend. But does she know that it’s not that straightforward? The laws she helped to pass state that people can’t share a legally bought MP3 with someone, unless they share the entire device it is bought on. Back to copyright school we say! Source: Kiwi MP Called Out As Pirate After Passing Anti-Piracy Law |
| Firefox Add-on ‘Undoes’ U.S. Government Domain Seizures Posted: 14 Apr 2011 11:01 AM PDT
ICE director John Morton confirmed last week that the seizures will continue in the coming years. But at the same time the authorities amp up their anti-piracy efforts, those in opposition are already coming up with ways to bypass them. One of these initiatives is the “MAFIAA Fire” add-on for Firefox that was officially published today. The plugin, which will support the Chrome browser at a later stage too, maintains a list of all the domains that ICE (hence the fire) has seized and redirects their users to an alternative domain if the sites in question have set one up. To start the ball rolling the add-on’s developers have redirected some of the seized sites for which they know the alternate domains, such as Torrent-Finder.com and Rojadirecta.com. In addition, they are offering webmasters the option to register an alternate domain in anticipation of an eventual domain seizure. These domains will then be verified and the site owners can “activate” them in case they’re needed. TorrentFreak got in touch with the MAFIAA Fire developer, who told us that this is just the beginning. Inspired by a quote from John Gilmore who once said “the Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it,” they are determined to retaliate against these and other censorship attacks. “This is just a start, now that we have opened this can of worms people can expect many add-ons, extensions and plug-ins from us,” TorrentFreak was told. “Our goal is to reverse governments attempts to censor the Internet, and nearly anything the anti-piracy people put up to protect their dinosaur business models.” “Imagine the old game of whack-a-mole, now imagine playing on multiple machines all around you at the same time.” “We really are tired of the corruption at the highest levels of government by these people. Enough is enough. There is a time to moan and there is a time to take action – and taking action has been long overdue,” the MAFIAA Fire developer said. According to the add-on developer, something has to be done to stop the Internet from falling under the control of the entertainment industries or other hidden agendas. This add-on is a small step, but a start according to him. “Governments around the world are either censoring for the entertainment companies never ending woes, or using that as an excuse to slowly get more control over the internet for their own agendas – and trampling over our rights in the process.” “Our right to privacy should outweigh any outdated business model, unfortunately average Joe cannot afford a $10,000 plate dinner to speak to their representatives and his voice is drowned out by the vultures who have been doing this for decades,” he concluded. Aside from redirecting seized domains, the MAFIAA Fire developer is also planning something for the websites of the various anti-piracy agencies worldwide. For this project, he is encouraging people to send in the domains of anti-piracy sites around the world, and more specifically, the country they’re operating from. The MAFIAA Fire add-on can be downloaded from Mozilla and the official website, which also features a FAQ for those who want to know all the juicy details. The add-on code itself will be open source and released to the public in a few days. Source: Firefox Add-on ‘Undoes’ U.S. Government Domain Seizures |
| Entrepreneurs Plan To Legalize and Monetize Illegal Music Posted: 14 Apr 2011 05:18 AM PDT What if someone came up with a revolutionary new product to turn piracy into profit that didn’t hurt consumers and actually embraced pirates? What if that system thrived on the very existence of illicit music being made available from torrent, cyberlocker and other sites? What if it could monetize the illicit music already available online and elsewhere? Bo Schønemann and René Nygaard of Danish company 7 Sky Media say that they have developed a system which could turn these crazy dreams into reality. “Our software is designed to play all digital files and locate the copyright holders regardless of where the file came from,” Schønemann told Comon.dk. “This means that we are the only company in the world that can offer the industry earnings from these vast quantities of [illicit] music, from which they currently do not receive a single penny.” The company’s product is embedded into both a hardware digital music player and a software based solution. When a user plays their music through either an advertisement is displayed, the revenues from which 7 Sky Media pass to the copyright holders. While users can pay a small free to obtain completely ad-free players, the free service will route ad money to rightsholders each time a track is played. René Nygaard says that users of the software system retain their freedom to use whatever player they like (Windows Media Player, iTunes, WinAmp etc) since the 7 Sky Media product works as a plug-in. Integration with social media apps is also promised. “My partner is from the music business and we will also use 7 Sky to help the ‘small’ musicians, partly by diffusion, so they can monetize their music without a record label,” Nygaard said in a comment. “We’ve spent 3 years so far on agreements and contracts, this is not just an idea we have, but a real product.” Schønemann said that his company is currently negotiating with companies and investment firms in preparation for both domestic and international launches, adding that they could offer as many as 12 million tracks through their system. We’ve heard these kinds of numbers before and they should be taken with a whole heap of salt. While 7 Sky are to be applauded for having the strength to have a go at tackling something like this, one can’t help but feel pessimistic. With the majors controlling 85% plus of the market, they really need to be on board to make something like this work on a decent scale. And to be frank, what are the chances of that? Even the mighty Google are reported to be “sick of dealing with labels”. But it’s not just label cooperation that’s required here. While there is undoubtedly a desire on behalf of consumers to ‘go legal’ when obtaining music from the Internet, will they buy a custom player to replace their iPods and cellphones, will they voluntarily install plug-ins that amount to adware? While some will shout ‘no’ emphatically, the system itself could get off the ground with the right backing. Yes, we’re back to getting the labels on board again and yes, that seems massively unlikely. But if Qtrax can get licensed…. Update: Looks like even Spotify are having to restrict their ‘free’ ad-supported service. If they can’t make it pay, who can? Source: Entrepreneurs Plan To Legalize and Monetize Illegal Music |
The seizures of file-sharing related domain names by the US Government in recent months have stirred up a lot of controversy. Despite heavy critique from various sides, the end is not yet in sight.| You are subscribed to email updates from TorrentFreak To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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