P2P Resource Forum - News

Sony BMG Accused of Music Piracy � Assets Seized

admin@p2presource.com — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:46:31 GMT

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/86975/sony-bmg-accused-of-music-piracy-assets-seized/

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There�s some breaking news surfacing out of Mexico. Police have raided a property, seizing thousands of CDs which contain unauthorized music. Sounds like a pretty plain news story had it not been an operation related to Sony BMG.

For our regular viewers, the headline may give you a sense of de-ja-vu. Well, it�s more than just a weird feeling because, yes, last year, Sony BMG was sued for software piracy and had a property raided by French police. At the time, many people suggested that the raid in France was karma related given that even earlier, there was the Sony Rootkit fiasco where music CDs were released by Sony that destabilized people�s computers.

If it was bad karma, apparently, the company is still in the bad books. According to a report on Daily Tech, Sony BMG had a property raided by Mexican police over an unauthorized CD release.

The story goes that a pop artist by the name of Alejandro Fern�ndez�s had a seven album contract with Sony. The artist had recorded other songs that never made it onto those seven albums. The contract he signed ended in 2008 and the artist got a new contract with Universal. Apparently, Sony found those songs and created an eighth album. Unsurprisingly, Universal was not too happy. Sony defended the creation of the album, saying that the discs were, like, �totally authorized�. They also said that Mexican courts would confirm their rights over the music.

�What Sony did that was wrong and illegal was to assume that they could take those tracks that weren�t part of the previous albums and release them as an eighth album as if it were new material over which they had rights,� says Jose Luis Caballero, Fern�ndez�s attorney in Mexico. �And it�s ...

Investigators blind on P2P child abuse

admin@p2presource.com — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:44:17 GMT

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/07/ceop_report/

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Child abuse investigators plan to focus efforts on the use of peer to peer networks to distribute images, following a "wholesale move" in sex offenders' online behaviour .

The "vast majority" of paedophile activity online now takes place on public and private P2P platforms rather than commercial criminal websites, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) said today.

"Our focus must now be on tackling this as a priority," the agency said in its annual report.

However, the report pointed to a major gap in intelligence about P2P networking by paedophiles, which is usually hidden from view and technically difficult to track.

"The scale and nature of P2P file sharing involving child abuse images is currently impossible to establish," CEOP said.

"It is a mode of abuse and image distribution that remains largely unseen to the general public and indeed to the victims themselves."

The agency received only two reports from under-18s of paedophile activity on P2P networks in the last year. It said it was reliant "to a very large extent" on reports from internet industry sources and other non-public sources.

Offenders are also increasingly turning to free encryption software in an attempt to evade detection, CEOP said, meaning reports take longer to process and analyse.

The strategy document said: "It has long been recognised that child sexual offenders practise deception, disguising and masking their activities to achieve their aims.

"This is increasingly pertinent with certain developments in technology that offenders have adapted and adopted to suit their purposes. The key developments that are particularly suited to being exploited by offenders are wireless technology (which we have reported on previously but about which we are now receiving increasing reports) and the use of 'off the shelf' encryption."

The problems caused to inve...

Canadians Caught as Copyright Consultation Nears Conclusion

admin@p2presource.com — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:42:50 GMT

http://torrentfreak.com/canadians-caught-as-copyright-consultation-nears-conclus

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The Canadian government is conducting ongoing public consultations on copyright reform. In a guest post for TorrentFreak Prof. Michael Geist of the University of Ottawa explains why Canadian Internet users should speak out on copyright today.

Guest post by Michael Geist.

Seven weeks ago, the Canadian government launched the first national copyright consultation since 2001. The consultation, which has featured town hall meetings, by-invitation-only roundtables, an online discussion forum, and an open submission process, has attracted considerable interest with over 4,000 submissions to date.

While the overwhelming majority of those submissions have called for balanced reforms that would strengthen fair dealing, create a liability safe harbour for intermediaries, and link any new anti-circumvention rules to actual copyright infringement, there is reason for concern.

There are only six days left in the consultation and the thousands that have spoken out for fair copyright � the students, teachers, Internet users, software programmers, privacy advocates, librarians, and a growing number of creators � now find themselves under attack from two sides.

On one side stand well-known copyright lobby groups such as the Canadian Recording Industry Association, the Canadian Motion Pictures Distributors Association, and the Entertainment Software Alliance. These groups largely represent foreign interests and have consistently called on the Canadian government to adopt the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act as its legislative model.

They invariably claim that Canada should be embarrassed by the current state of copyright law and propose solutions that involve a combination of DMCA-style anti-circumvention rules, a three-strikes and you�re out system that could see users cut off from the Inter...

UK artists "vehemently oppose" three strikes

admin@p2presource.com — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:30:18 GMT

http://www.p2p-blog.com/item-1156.html

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Remember all those ads a few years back with artists telling you that downloading the song is the same as stealing a CD in a store? Times are changing, and people are getting wiser: Three UK groups representing songwriters, performing musicians and music producers have come out with a strong-worded statement against renewed plans to institute a three strikes policy in their country.

The Featured Artists Coalition, the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, and the Music Producers Guild count musicians like Kate Nash, Robbie Williams, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney and Elton John amongst their members, just to name a few, and their joint statement is worth reading in full:

"Response to the Department for Business Innovation & Skills Consultation on Legislation to Address Illicit Peer-to-Peer (P2P) File-Sharing from the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) and the Music Producers Guild (MPG)

The above organisations, who between them represent the people who write, perform and produce music believe that the protection offered by copyright to recording artists, composers and songwriters is vital if the UK is to continue to be at the forefront of the global music industry. Copyright serves to nurture the writer and artist and those who invest in their creativity.

However we have serious reservations about the content and scope of the proposed legislation outlined in the consultation on P2P file-sharing. Processes of monitoring, notification and sanction are not conducive to achieving a vibrant, functional, fair and competitive market for music. As a result we believe that the specific questions asked by the consultation are not only unanswerable but indicate a mindset so far removed from that of the general public and music consumer that it seems an extraordinarily negative document.

The very fuzzy...

UK Official on �Three-Strikes�: Digital Piracy the Same as Physical

admin@p2presource.com — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:29:11 GMT

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/86967/uk-official-on-three-strikes-digital-piracy-the-same-as-physical/

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Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy defends plans to disconnect illegal file-sharers, saying it�s important to let people know that illegal file-sharing is the same as physical piracy.

UK Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy gave a speech to the MPAA in Washington DC recently during which he defended Lord Mandelson�s controversial �evolved� plans to disconnect repeat file-sharers from the Internet.

He said the proposal was important in �sending a clear message: when it comes to piracy and infringement, �digital is not different.��

It�s the same sort of 1:1 lost sale nonsense that belies the mounting studies that have concluded the opposite: P2P increases music consumption.

Lammy also seems to be stunningly ignorant that most of the problem is the fact that most copyright holders refuse to provide viable alternatives to P2P.

�Partnership and innovation by businesses can help consumers understand the problems illegal downloads cause creators and performers, giving them the knowledge and confidence they need to act within the law,� he said. �If we provide the right combination of enforcement, education and forward-looking policy we can build a culture that provides consumers with legitimate access to the content they want.�
So P2P is to blame for the entertainment industry�s refusal to provide the selection, quality, and reasonable price of content that consumers have long been looking for?
Nonsense.

The music industry didn�t, and arguably still doesn�t, want to have anything to do with digital distribution. It�s fought almost every consumer demand until declining profits reached levels that made it listen.

The movie industry�s the same way. It has but a handful of movie download portals and all are either way overpriced ($15 buck...

Abusing personal data

admin@p2presource.com — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:27:48 GMT

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/27959

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How can an individual possibly abuse data? Even if the data represents collection of personally sensitive details?

Data is inert and immutable, it is not a living being, nor is it part of one.

You may feel that the fact you have a particular disease or political viewpoint is a little piece of you that is wandering the digital cosmos, but that�s superstition. The facts you reveal about yourself, that you confide to others, are your speech, not your person, and they leave your body, loosed from your control the moment they leave your mouth.

You remain unable to bind others to secrecy, to gag them, with your confidence. You can only trust them to remain discreet. If you don�t want anyone else to disclose your secrets, don�t reveal them to anyone else. You can�t reveal them and yet claim the supernatural power to constrain their further dissemination.

Of course, with a corrupt government, you may well beg and be granted the privilege of doing so.

Individuals have never naturally had the power to prevent others� indiscretion, so simply because with more information people can be more indiscreet, why does this principle fly out of the window? If anything, the fact that despite their lip service, government and military agencies find it very easy to play fast and loose with the data in their care should reduce the temptation to criminalise the negligent or indiscreet individual, not increase it.

Why is the �Information Commissioner� singling out individuals for incarceration as punishment for their indiscretion (their natural liberty and right to communicate the knowledge they have been made privy to), instead of the membership organisation that had been entrusted with the care of the information leaked by one of its ex-employees? Regulate the organisation to discretion by all means, but don�t penalise and incarcerate individuals for breaching the trust of their employer.

From a natura...

Google books deal battle heats up

admin@p2presource.com — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:26:15 GMT

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8237271.stm

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The battle over Google's effort to digitise the world's books and create a vast online library has intensified.

Authors have until Friday to opt out of the $125m settlement the search giant made with authors and publishers.

The date for comments to the New York court overseeing the class action suit was extended from Friday to Tuesday, after the filing system went down.
As time ticks away, supporters and critics have been manning both sides of the debate to win the public case.

'Civil right'
The settlement reached last October stemmed from a 2005 legal suit that Google faced for scanning out-of-print works without explicit permission from rights holders.
If approved by a judge, Google would create a Book Rights Registry where authors and publishers could register works and be compensated.

The US Student Association says access is the key in this settlement
Ahead of Friday's opt-out for authors, Google lined up a number of professors, students and civil rights activists who support the deal.

"We see access to knowledge as a civil right," Wade Henderson, president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, told reporters in a conference call.

"Information enables individuals to learn, to create and to pursue their dreams. Access to knowledge defines the meaning of equal opportunity in a democratic society," said Mr Henderson.

Access was also the issue that led the United States Student Association to throw its weight behind the Google books programme.
"Today, millions of books are accessible only to the privileged few who are accepted to universities and can actually afford to attend," said association president Gregory ...

UK Lawyers Promise First Court Action Against File-Sharers

admin@p2presource.com — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:21:03 GMT

http://torrentfreak.com/uk-lawyers-promise-first-court-action-against-file-sharers-090907/

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Since 2007, the UK has seen thousands of postal threats to take alleged file-sharers to court. But aside from getting default judgments against a handful easy targets who didn�t try to defend themselves, the majority of threats have come to nothing. Lawyers ACS:Law are now promising to step up to the mark and bring their first court cases in Britain.

In 2007, UK lawyers Davenport Lyons (DL) appeared on the anti-piracy (revenue generation) scene. Their clients employed anti-piracy tracking companies like Logistep to gather IP-addresses of users allegedly sharing video games, and used this info to get court orders to force ISPs to hand over their names and addresses.

The next phase was to write to the individuals and threaten them with legal action, unless they paid several hundred pounds. Some panicked and paid up, most did not. Only a handful of these cases actually went to court and DL won them all, because the individuals didn�t defend themselves.

After masses of bad publicity peaking in a controversy over gay porn, Davenport Lyons appeared to have had enough, and withdrew from this business model to limit the damage to their brand and reputation.

In May, new kid on the block ACS:Law appeared and promptly took over where DL left off, and again, hundreds � maybe thousands � of threatening letters went out, demanding cash payment from alleged file-sharers. But this time things wouldn�t be quite so easy for the lawyers and their clients.

The scheme wasn�t new anymore and various support structures for letter recipients flourished, including forums and dedicated sites such as the excellent BeingThreatened.com. Due to the increased knowledge and awareness brought about through news articles such as those read here on TorrentFreak and on the aforementioned platfor...

US Court Orders Woman to Pay $1.9 million to Music Industry

admin@p2presource.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:23:36 GMT

http://www.p2pon.com/2009/06/19/us-court-orders-woman-to-pay-1-9-million-to-music-industry/

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The amount represents the fine for 24 music files shared online

Jammie Thomas-Rasset: the file sharing mother

US got their first file sharing case to court and they seem in a rush to set an example of how digital outlaws should be treated. The recent case where a woman has been prosecuted for copyright infringement proves just that.

According to BBC Newsbeat, 32 year-old Minnesota-based Jammie Thomas-Rasset, has been ordered to pay damage compensation to some music labels after she was found guilty of sharing music online (acts like Green Day and Sheryl Crow).

Jammie Thomas-Rasset, mother of four was given a $1.9 million (�1.2 million) fine for infringing copyright law in the USA by sharing 24 unauthorized files over the Internet.

Of course that the record labels, in their true Samaritan nature, offered Jammie a chance to settle out of court for considerably less money before they went on with the trial, a spokesperson for the RIAA explained,

In Thomas-Rasset�s words the verdict given by a Minnesota jury was "kind of ridiculous".

It remains to be seen if this rulings will become a custom in the US as they have in some countries in Europe.

ISPs End Anti-Piracy Talks With Entertainment Industry

admin@p2presource.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:19:49 GMT

http://torrentfreak.com/isps-end-anti-piracy-talks-with-entertainment-industry-090619/

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Internet service providers in Spain have now ended all government mandated talks with the music and movie industry after earlier refusing to disconnect alleged pirates. The talks were supposed to reduce online piracy but the ISPs say this is impossible if legal alternatives aren�t provided.

The president of Redtel, the ISP association consisting of Telefonica, Vodafone, Orange and Ono, has confirmed what some have been fearing since talks with the entertainment industry were suspended back in April. Miguel Canalejo said that negotiations with the Coalition of Creators to find some mutually acceptable ground for government legislation on illicit file-sharing, are finished.

The coalition, headed by SGAE and Promusicae, took the now-common stance of demanding that ISPs implement a �3 strikes� strategy for alleged online pirates, but this was rightly dismissed by the ISPs. The rights holders then came back with a new demand to throttle alleged file-sharers instead. The ISPs refused this request too.

According to Canalejo, the other major reason why negotiations broke down was the failure of the content providers to provide an attractive legal alternative to illicit file-sharing. �Piracy is not a phenomenon that must be pursued and demonized,� he said, while branding the currently provided legal alternatives as �derisory�.

To reduce piracy, the ISPs made the suggestion to the Ministry of Industry that it should create a portal to offer music, movies and games.

�Content providers should have a more entrepreneurial approach. They are defending a traditional distribution model and we�re creating a new business,� said Canalejo.

Noting that any changes should come through awareness and education, Canalejo said that negotiations with rights holder could only resume when the gove...