Archive for: file sharing
You want justice? You want someone cutting through the B.S. and calling it like it really is? Of all people, ThePirateBay ISP is publicly criticizing those pointing fingers at the PirateBay and bittorent overall. The ISP in the spotlight, CB3ROB, has a vocal employee CEO by the name of Sven Olaf Kamphuis who goes on to call Disney among others in the industry “clueless idiots” (or so true). Sven also questions the legality of the so called court order the MPAA has pushed the German gov’t to slap down on CB3ROB.
All of the above will likely play out over the next couple of years in some locked up court room far from the public eye. But the basis behind the lawsuit will be as stupid as ever. Really, when will these clueless idiots realize that suing and shutting down torrent search engines does nothing and is the most bass akwards approach ever? If only they would embrace technology…
Ars Technica
For those who care (and you all should) ACTA, or, the “Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement” treaty has been leaked from start to finish online. All 56 pages are ready and waiting for your prying eyes to delve deep into the twisted grammatical concoctions. Just in case “the cave” has been your house for the last few months, ACTA is an all encompassing bill of sorts that will bring about some pretty monumental changes to the online world. Namely, IP infringement and network policing are two of the bigger items.
Of course, this whole “leak” wouldn’t be all that important in the news if the committees and governments drafting this legislation actually adhered to previous promises of “openness” and “transparency”. Both of which all parties involved have lacked up until this point, even going as far as threatening in various forms those who do try to share any information.
From the beginning, I as well as countless others have been highly against the secretive approach that’s been taken. If a bill is going to affect so many people in pretty profound ways, there is absolutely no reason it should be kept a secret. Corporate lobbying at it’s best I’m afraid. Now it’s our turn.
I haven’t read through it all yet, but will spend a good deal of the latter of the day doing just that. Go ahead and let me know anything interesting you find!
- Check out ACTA from start to finish here.
- November 25, 2009 2:59 pm
Selectable Output Control or “SOC” as it is abbreviated is nothing short of movie studios trying to nickel and dime consumers more by *digitally* breaking older TV equipment, limiting choice, and all around making our lives that more difficult. Against claims from various consumer groups, the MPAA has stepped forward claiming that everyone loves SOC and anyone who criticizes it is a liar. Hmmm. Can we see yet why this industry as a whole has such a negative image? Between repeatedly stepping on consumers’ wants with anti-consumer DRM, to bullshit policies on copying legally purchased movies, and ending up at SOC, it becomes all too apparent that studios have no idea what the hell they’re doing. They cherry on top is of course calling anyone with a voice brave enough to speak out against their monopolistic ways liars. And they wonder why no one wants to spend money on their crap….
Ars Technica
Having a continence based guilt trip because you downloaded that one Hanson song back in the day that you had to have? Or, are you a full fledged pirate who is eschewing old ways of plunder and instead looking for a way to give back? Leak water from your eyes no more as Piracy Payback is here to help. Now, if you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking (follow that), yes this is real and no this is not a joke. Aiming to give back to artists and copyright owners, Piracy Payback users can donate to the site and have their donations given to the various labels. Drew K, the Australian proprietor of Piracy Payback got the idea back in the day when he couldn’t find one of his fave TV shows and instead turned to downloading it…illegally. Feeling bad, he wanted a way to repay someone for what he had done. Behold: Piracy Payback.
PP is a relative baby all things concerned as it was just launched in January of 2009. Again, the main purpose of the site is to donate money which PP turns around and gives to “beneficiaries”. Who are they? What label do they belong to? Which artists are actually getting accurately paid? All said details are in the dark as those involved don’t actually want people to know they’ve partnered with PP as they feel it would encourage further illegal file sharing ways. Besides paying back all of those artists you stole from, 12% of donations get held back for site upkeep. Hey, they have to make money somehow don’t they?
Personally I see this as a good idea…on paper. Translated into the real world however isn’t as promising. For one, I’m not about to give money to a company that I haven’t the slightest clue where my money is going. Not to mention such small problems as artist A getting more than artist B all while not knowing extremely important facts such as many times was artist A or B’s songs actually downloaded. You see, this is a an entirely too simple solution for an entirely too complex situation.
Finally, there’s this whole idea that big labels and content owners sipmly can’t get t hrough their think skulls, that is, simply slapping a price tag on any product or service has absolutely no correlation to value. If you’re product is deemed worthless of or little value by the public, no matter how valuable you feel it is, no one will pay. Create something actually worth consumers’ time or money and you have yourself a money tree.
More power to them. But they won’t see a dime of my money. What do you think? Good idea?
Ars Technica
Image Source
How about another chuckle on behalf of the entertainment industry and all things nerdy? The sign above is extremely clever and no doubt will turn a few heads/drum up talk about the theater. While torrents may cause some to not go to the theater since they already have the title that they would have gone to go see, I don’t see them being the main cause behind the closing of cinemas across the world. The real reason? Cinema’s aren’t giving people a reason to come there in the first place.
Would I rather torrent an HD movie rip or go to a movie theater and watch it in substandard quality on a massive screen highlighting every little imperfection? Hmmm. That’s a no brainer. More movie theaters adopting HD, 3D, and even more OMNImax…(read: not IMAX) theaters would go a long way in saving this industry. I don’t know about you, but I sure am tired of not having any good/unique theaters in my neck of the woods.
Gizmodo
The drama surrounding ThePirateBay and it’s take down, sale, planned purchase, and eventual return have hit another snag. While flow of information from the parent company trying to buy TPB has pretty dried up, “content protectors” are still operating at full speed. Go on over to Google and do a search for the pirate bay. Chances are you won’t find a single link pointing directly to TPB’s homepage. According to Google, a DMCA takedown request is the culprit. While the takedown request and removal from Google’s searches is hardly that big of a deal as everyone knows what it is and how to get to it, it is another notch on big media’s belt. The once great Pirate Bay is looking closer and closer to death with each passing day. The end is near.
On a lighter note, either Microsoft is ignoring the takedown (unlikely) or they simply haven’t been served yet as searching anything Pirate Bay related on Bing will net you some links pointing back to TPB’s home page. So think what you will. Happy/sad?
**Update: It’s back up folks.. crisis adverted.
The Register
Image Source
While this shouldn’t have been a surprise, somehow I am still left wondering “why”? You may remember all of the drama circulating around the Pirate Bay trial, verdict, and revealing of Judge Tomas Norström’s membership to the Swedish Copyright Association as well as the motion for a retrial by the Pirate Bay and accompanying camp. I’m sad to say that today, a Swedish court has ruled that simply supporting a particular group/laws does not make you biased. In simpler terms: retrial denied. Looks like the nefarious swashbucklers will have to try their luck at certain upcoming appeal. Again, while there business and tactics before the trial foreshadowed a ruling such as this, the way the courts, judges, and copyright labels all share the same bed is ridiculous. Have anything to say?
Source: Ars Technica, Image Source
At first glance, the Blu-ray managed copy procedure may seem like movie studies are finally wising up and giving consumers some more legal options as to how they can use products that they legally paid for. But, when actually digging down deeper into the fine print and attached strings one can realize how much of a sham and waste of time this is. In short, keep “illegally” legally copying your movies for personal use. Moving on. The first kick in the face compliments of Sony and Blu-ray comes in the form of new hardware requirements. Uh-oh, you know what that means? If you plan on copying/playing back any of your personal, already payed for once Blu-ray movies, you’ll have to pick up a brand new Blu-ray player that will almost certainly be priced at a premium price over that el-cheapo player you got at Walmart. It’s just one way of screwing over consumers. Hey, it’s what Sony does best. For the rest of the Blue-ray sadness, come on in, bring a tissue, maybe some Prozac, and if the two former solutions don’t work, you can always fall back on the tried and true nectar of the gods – beer.
iPods are notorious for keeping their media locked down which in turn often frustrates customers as they have to jump through all sorts of 3rd party hoops just to get a simple song from one iPod to another. Thankfully a much easier solution is available to you thanks to the Easy iPod Media Sharer. Able to whisk songs along at up to a claimed 600KB/s means song transfers happen in mere seconds, not minutes. Sadly, DRM authorization and lock downs still persist meaning only DRM free songs will really be of much use to transfer. Don’t worry about carrying this device along and having a bulging pocket bothering you along every step of the way as this device is svelte 3″ x 2″ x 1″ in size meaning your pocket will work just fine. With the advent of the iPod Touch/iPhone with their WiFi/3G iTunes music stores, how relevant is transferring songs between devices anymore? Wouldn’t it just be easier to get it from the iTMS? Regardless, with as many legacy iPods as there are floating around, I see the Easy iPod Media Sharer and other devices like it enjoying a lengthy stay.
$99.95 at Hammacher
Source: Gizmos for Freaks
