The piracy tracking company DtecNet has made quite a name for itself in the past few months after partnering with the RIAA and several local governments to assist in the ‘war on piracy’. One would think that these projects would require at least some basic knowledge of BitTorrent, but a recently published paper by DtecNet’s business intelligence unit proves the opposite.
File-sharing heroine Lily Allen has joined the anti-piracy lobby in its war against illegal downloading, claiming that it bankrupts the music industry. While trying to prove her point, however, she infringed on the rights of several webblogs and newspapers. On top of this, it turns out that she offers some illegal mixtapes on one of her websites.
Piracy watchdog Nexicon has found the ultimate way to turn piracy into profit for the fresh copyright holders added to their clientele. They offer alleged file-sharers the chance to settle for $10 per downloaded song or an equal amount for a pirated movie. If you decide not to settle, they promise to bankrupt you in court.
A handful of studies have shown that those who download music illegally actually buy more through legal channels. But why? Are pirates really this generous or could it be that this is just a side-effect of the failing music industry?
This week several scary stories surfaced about how the MPAA and RIAA are negotiating with ISPs on how to deal with copyright infringers. Even though it was often presented as news, those who look deeper will realize that this is nothing new at all, just the same old threats dressed up in a new jacket.
A woman who went to the cinema to watch a movie says she was “treated like a criminal.” First of all cinema staff searched her looking for camming equipment, but found candy instead which they demanded she turn over. She refused and wouldn’t leave the building when told to either, despite the security guards.
While the entertainment industries push for harsher copyright laws, public opinion steers in the opposite direction. Two recent studies from Canada and Spain found that half of the Internet users use p2p networks to download music, software and films. Less than 5% of the respondents believe that people who download copyrighted content are engaging in criminal behavior.
Camcording pirates pose a serious threat to the profits of Hollywood, according to the MPAA at least. In order to stop the cammers in their tracks, theater owners have been equipped with night-vision goggles. That’s not all though, the latest Hollywood blockbusters may soon come with watermarked audio that can pinpoint a pirate’s seat number.
Myka, a new BitTorrent enabled set-top box was about to enter the market last year, and received widespread coverage online. The project soon went silent, but this weekend they have made the news again with another promise to ship soon. Don’t fall for it though, it has scam written all over it.
The banking industry has received billions of dollars recently and the US auto industry had its share as well. Both have a history of bad decision making, with the auto industry in the US resisting advances in technology. The music and movie industries have also made bad decisions, and rejected technology, so it has to be asked – are they next in line with the begging bowl?
An inflammatory article published by Richard Bennett in The Register makes the claim ‘BitTorrent will kill the Internet’, or at least VoIP and games. However, are Bennett’s claims based in reality, or is it just another round in the FUD war that envelops the Internet?
