The operation began during the third week of September with DDoS assaults against the MPAA, RIAA and anti-piracy company AiPlex Software. The latter was chosen as the first target because the outfit openly admitted to DDoSing several torrent sites including The Pirate Bay.

Those DDoS attacks were later replicated against lawfirms engaging in ‘pay-up-or-else’ schemes, which indirectly led to the email leak at ACS:Law. After that followed many more targets, most of which we didn’t cover here. Earlier this week, the MPAA was shamed again by Anonymous when their DRM website got hacked.

Yesterday, another high profile attack was launched, aimed to take down a website belonging to a government body this time. The people involved in Operation Payback had selected the UK’s Intellectual Property Office as their victim and announced that the DDoS would start at 5PM GMT. And so it happened.

At the time of writing, 18 hours into the DDoS, ipo.gov.uk is still unresponsive.

The Intellectual Property Office is “Perpetuating the system that is allowing the exploitative usage of copyright and intellectual property” according to the Anonymous DDoSers, who opened up a new can of targets with this attack.

As a Government body the UK Intellectual Property Office has been heavily involved in copyright issues and prospective laws. Earlier this year the Office spoke out against criminalizing illicit file-sharing as proposed in the ACTA treaty.

Instead of creating new laws to combat online piracy, it said the focus should be on providing “a framework to better enforce existing laws.”

Targeting government offices is certainly a step up for Anonymous. Time will tell what they dream up next but this one will probably turn a few heads.

Source: Anonymous Takes Out UK Intellectual Property Office Website

The Motion Picture Licensing Company (MPLC), which is charged with collecting royalties for the big studios, recently wrote to 2,500 kindergartens (or playschools as they are known in Ireland), informing them that it is illegal for the kids there to watch DVDs without an appropriate license.

According to The Times, the letter was sent with the knowledge of the Irish Preschool Play Association (IPPA), which represents many schools populated by around 50,000 kids between 3 and 5 years of age. The IPPA had worked out a deal with the Hollywood representatives, and eventually managed to get the royalties down to 3 euros per child.

Despite the lowered fee, most kindergarten owners were stunned by the request. Paula Doran, who runs a playschool in Dublin, said that the kids hardly watch any DVDs at the kindergarten. “We would rarely show DVDs anyway because it’s frowned upon — kids get enough TV at home,” she said. In fact, the only time the kids are allowed to watch a DVD is when they are pretending to go to the cinema, a learning activity that Hollywood would fully endorse. Doran said she couldn’t understand how the MPLC could be acting legally, and refused to pay.

It turned out that she was absolutely right not to pay. The MPLC actually failed to register with the Irish Patent Office, and by demanding payments in the way they have, breached the 2000 Copyright Act. A spokesman from the IPO confirmed that an organization that acts in this manner could be fined or have its staff jailed.

The MPLC belatedly applied for a license to collect the royalties on Friday. It’s never too late to learn, or for the kids, never too early to start filling Hollywood’s pockets.

Source: Hollywood Illegally Demands Money From Kindergartens