Once the world’s largest recording labels and movie studios see this happening, things can go bad quickly, unless certain preventative steps are taken. Bringing the business into line with the DMCA is a necessary first step, one which will see the hosting site respond to takedown notices in a timely fashion.

Other sites have gone a step further. As underlined by the MegaSong debacle, YouTube gives some big record labels the right to take down content they don’t like, even if there are no apparent copyright infringement issues. YouTube doesn’t appear to get involved much in the process either, leaving the labels to decide what goes and what does not.

Another company that headed down that route recently was SoundCloud. The audio upload site has been coming on in leaps and bounds over the past five years, in part due to the popular and sometimes illegal content uploaded by its users. Recently, however, it was revealed that not only had the company given Universal Music the ability to take down infringing content, but to do so without oversight.

YouTube allows the labels to do that because it struck a distribution deal with them, but why would Soundcloud follow suit? News today suggests that this particular question answers itself.

According to a Bloomberg, Universal Music, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group are “closing in” on a deal with Soundcloud which will see the service obtain licenses to host and distribute content from these major labels.

An anonymous source familiar with the negotiations said that the deal will not only see the labels getting a share of future Soundcloud revenue, but Universal, Sony and Warner each picking up a 3% to 5% stake in the business.

On top of that and most importantly, Berlin-based Soundcloud will receive assurances that it won’t get sued, a valuable stability that US-rival Grooveshark is unlikely to enjoy anytime soon.

No one involved in the talks is speaking on the record, but sources suggest that the agreement would value Soundcloud between $500 million and $600 million, not bad for company that was nibbling at the heels of MySpace just five years ago.

The 200 employee company is definitely on the up. One year ago Soundcloud reported having 200 million unique users, but by November 2013 that had increased to 250 million.

A target of one billion users leaves Soundcloud with plenty to do, but with the threat of large-scale litigation off the table, the process will be much, much easier.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

While FIFA has even gone as far as taking action against Twitter avatars, news today shows that its affiliates are also prepared to disrupt the activities of hundreds of sites and countless millions of Internet users if that means protecting their copyrights.

The development follows legal action initiated by Multi Screen Media PVT Ltd, a Sony Entertainment Television subsidiary in India. Earlier this year the company obtained a license from FIFA to broadcast the 2014 World Cup to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Of course, content is now being made available elsewhere without permission, so the company has decided to do something about that.

In a statement to the High Court in Delhi, counsel for Multi Screen Media explained that “various websites are indulging in hosting, streaming, providing access to” infringing content causing substantial loss of revenue not just for the company, but also to the government due to lost tax on TV subscription fees.

The list of ‘infringing’ sites supplied to the High Court is huge – 479 sites in all – and contains well known sharing sites including The Pirate Bay, torrent storage site Torrage, 1337x, Demonoid, and dozens of file-hosting sites.

Quite amazingly, however, the list also contains entirely legitimate sites including Google Docs, Google Video, Google URL shortener Goo.gl, and Kim Dotcom’s Mega.co.nz. None escape the criticism of Sony or the High Court.

“Learned counsel for the plaintiff submits that many of the websites [in the list] are anonymous in nature and it is virtually impossible to locate the owners of such websites or contact details of such owners. It is further submitted that many of these Rogue Websites also hide behind domain privacy services offered by various domain name Registrars,” the judge wrote in his decision.

“[Websites] listed below, or any other website identified by the Plaintiff are restrained, from in any manner hosting, streaming, broadcasting, rebroadcasting, retransmitting, exhibiting, making available for viewing and downloading, providing access to and / or communicating to the public, displaying, uploading, modifying, publishing, updating and/or sharing (including to its subscribers and users), through the internet, in any manner whatsoever,” he continued.

With that Judge V. Kameswar Rao issued an order for the country’s ISPs to block the 479 sites in question – Google’s included – plus “such other websites that may subsequently be notified by the Plaintiff to be infringing of its exclusive rights.”

While the Judge granting a blocking order against Google is bad enough, one has to question how the company’s services ended up on the High Court application in the first place. That is the responsibility of local anti-piracy company Markscan, who compiled the list for Multi Screen Media. Markscan were featured in a TorrentFreak article last month when they sent dozens of erroneous takedown notices to Google, again on behalf of a Sony company.

“We want to assure you that we deploy technology, in addition to best efforts of our teams, to ensure that we do not impact legal content on yours, or any other website,” they told us at the time. Users of Google Docs, Goo.gl and Google Video may beg to differ.

While some local ISPs have already initiated blockades, Google told Indian news outlet Medianama that there had been “no interruption of our services mentioned in the order.”

The High Court order was issued June 23, alongside an instruction to distribute the summons to the defendant sites by July 22, 2014.

Update: MediaNama is reporting that it has obtained a copy of an updated court order that isn’t yet available on the Delhi High Court website. The update reveals blocking requests for 219 sites, down from the 472 in the original order. No Google websites are in the updated list but many torrent and other file-sharing sites remain.

Original List of 472 Sites to Be Blocked

1. cdn.playwire.com

2. embedupload.com

3. 1fichier.com

4. crocko.com

5. multiupload.nl

6. uppit.com

7. solidfiles.com

8. bayfiles.net

9. tusfiles.net

10. bitshare.com

11. muchshare.net

12. mega.co.nz

13. share-online.biz

14. sendspace.com

15. real4download.com

16. telugump3.biz

17. wapkafiles.com

18. telugumasthi.wapka.me

19. telugustar.net

20. myteluguwap.net

21. s1.myteluguwap.net

22. s2.myteluguwap.net

23. filestube.to

24. ul.to

25. mightyupload.com

26. uploaded.net

27. freakshare.com

28. putlocker.com

29. uploadable.ch

30. safelinking.net

31. ultramegabit.com

32. terafile.co

33. fileom.com

34. d01.megashares.com

35. dizzcloud.com

36. lumfile.com

37. fileparadox.in

38. nitrobits.com

39. filemonkey.in

40. fastshare.cz

41. keep2share.cc

42. k2s.cc

43. sharerepo.com

44. depositfiles.com

45. rapidshare.com

46. filerio.com

47. goo.gl

48. fcore.eu

49. anonfiles.com

50. adf.ly

51. megafiles.se

52. exashare.com

53. primeshare.tv

54. uploadc.com

55. epicshare.net

56. dwn.so

57. uploadhero.com

58. dfiles.eu

59. thefile.me

60. nosupload.com

61. uploadsat.com

62. shareflare.net

63. letitbit.net

64. filesfrog.net

65. unlimitzone.com

66. uploadrocket.net

67. secureupload.eu

68. hulkfile.eu

69. tusfiles.co.nz

70. filehoot.com

71. jumbofiles.com

72. usefile.com

73. clicktoview.org

74. 180upload.nl

75. hitfile.net

76. easybytez.com

77. crisshare.com

78. vip-file.com

79. ufile.eu

80. jheberg.net

81. dl.free.fr

82. 2shared.com

83. sharebeast.com

84. cramit.in

85. ryushare.com

86. teluguworld.asia

87. twap.in

88. vshare.eu

89. 108.59.3.225:182

90. megafilesfactory.com

91. 199.91.152.94

92. 205.196.121.39

93. 199.91.152.86

94. 199.91.154.157

95. 205.196.123.194

96. 205.196.123.8

97. 205.196.123.182

98. mhnwap.wapka.me

99. mhnwap.wapka.mobi

100. realitytelevisionportal.eu

101. dorabuzz.in

102. foncity.in

103. toonvideos.in

104. bestcartoon.wapka.mobi

105. wap.dorabuzz.in

106. playpanda.net

107. play44.net

108. shared.sx

109. mega-vids.com

110. promptfile.com

111. 4upfiles.com

112. filemoney.com

113. lemuploads.com

114. anysend.com

115. luckyshare.net

116. filedap.com

117. junocloud.me

118. filevice.com

119. v-vids.com

120. quickyshare.net

121. tumi.tv

122. mp4star.com

123. sockshare.ws

124. uploadcrazy.net

125. uploadboy.com

126. putlocker.ws

127. filenuke.net

128. docs.google.com

129. dotsemper.com

130. upload.com

131. cloudyvideos.com

132. v.youku.com

133. movzap.com

134. googlevideo.com

135. vertor.eu

136. dramautubes.com

137. nosvideo.com

138. vreer.com

139. vidxden.com

140. divxstage.eu

141. rapidvideo.tv

142. vidspot.net

143. freshvideo.net

144. vidbux.com

145. vidplay.net

146. vidup.me

147. video.tt

148. modovideo.com

149. youwatch.org

150. magnovideo.com

151. videobam.com

152. sharexvid.com

153. videoslasher.com

154. nowvideo.ch

155. donevideo.com

156. videozed.net

157. vidhog.com

158. vidzi.tv

159. streamin.to

160. thevideo.me

161. vidzbeez.com

162. divxpress.com

163. nubestream.com

164. divxstream.net

165. videobb.com

166. divxden.com

167. mixturecloud.com

168. divxstage.net

169. videowood.tv

170. hostingbulk.com

171. playit.pk

172. movpod.net

173. daclips.com

174. slickvid.com

175. videofun.me

176. video44.net

177. yucache.net

178. moevideos.net

179. videomega.tv

180. vidpaid.com

181. sharevid.org

182. zuzvideo.com

183. video.vidcrazy.net

184. videovalley.net

185. videoboxone.com

186. vidcrazy.net

187. vodu.ch

188. watchfreeinhd.com

189. veehd.com

190. movdivx.com

191. blip.tv

192. animeuploads.com

193. videohub.ws

194. hdwide.co

195. stormvid.co

196. neovid.me

197. hawkhd.me

198. streamland.cc

199. vidshark.ws

200. vidspace.cc

201. vids.bz

202. play.flashx.tv

203. videoweed.es

204. torrenthound.com

205. nowvideo.sx

206. limetorrents.com

207. novamov.com

208. torrentfunk.com

209. torrents.net

210. wapkafile.com

211. thepiratebay.org

212. torlock.com

213. movshare.net

214. unblockedpiratebay-proxy.com

215. thetorrent.org

216. torrentz.sx

217. thepiratebay.se.unblock.to

218. nowdownload.ch

219. sockshare.com

220. bittorrent.pm

221. uptobox.com

222. torrage.com

223. vidbux.com

224. muchshare.net

225. sumotorrent.sx

226. torrentdownload.ws

227. vidup.me

228. btmon.com

229. ryushare.com

230. uploadable.ch

231. thepiratebay.se

232. 1337x.to

233. video.tt

234. bthunter.org

235. tusfiles.net

236. 1337x.org

237. swankshare.com

238. 1337xproxy.in

239. torrentz.dj

240. torrentcrazy.ee

241. filesbomb.in

242. torrentz.is

243. torrentz.am

244. kickassunblock.net

245. torrent.tm

246. uploadboy.com

247. oc.o2.vc

248. ineedtorrent.net

249. torrenthoundproxy.com

250. torcache.kickassunblock.net

251. kickasstor.net

252. streamupload.org

253. arabloads.net

254. torrentsnet.come.in

255. torrentz.to

256. filesfrog.net

257. 3gparena.in

258. dl.free.fr

259. divxstage.eu

260. play.flashx.tv

261. download-abc.com

262. filmsmaza.com

263. glotorrents.com

264. coolmoviez.com

265. 62.210.201.55:81

266. fuckyourcrew.org

267. mimti1.moviesmobile.net

268. sandy1.moviesmobile.net

269. sandy3.moviesmobile.net

270. sandy4.moviesmobile.net

271. thepiratebay.mk

272. dev.torrentz.pro

273. uploaded.net

274. torrentmoviemafia.com

275. 1337x.pw

276. share1.moviesmobile.net

277. share2.moviesmobile.net

278. share3.moviesmobile.net

279. share4.moviesmobile.net

280. bayproxy.me

281. sarthaktv.in

282. p2p4ever.com

283. tny.cz

284. torrent-loco.com.ar

285. piraattilahti.org

286. punjabwap.com

287. torrent.ee

288. torrentz.asia

289. fromplay.org

290. proxybay.pw

291. vertor.com

292. katshore.org

293. nl.malaysiabay.org

294. demonoid.ph

295. kickasstorrents.come.in

296. putlocker.cz

297. proxybay.eu

298. vertor.eu

299. 3gparina.in

300. 89.248.162.148

301. fromplay.com

302. etorrent.co.kr

303. fun4buddy.com

304. livetvindian.com

305. ontohinbd.com

306. pc.rdxhd.com

307. seedpeer.me

308. ukcast.tv

309. ezcast.tv

310. xuscacamusca.se

311. crichd.in

312. 122.155.203.9

313. http://www.0dian8.com/

314. http://www.114nba.com/

315. http://360bo.com/

316. http://51live.com/

317. http://www.52waha.com/

318. http://bf.5xzb.com/

319. http://allsport-live.net/

320. http://www.antibookers.ru/

321. http://www.assistirtvonlineaovivo.tv/

322. http://atdhe.eu/

323. http://atdhe.so/

324. http://atdhe.xxx/

325. http://www.atdhe24.net/

326. http://www.azhibo.com/

327. http://barcelonastream.com/

328. http://www.coolsport.tv/schedule-coolsport-tv.html

329. http://www.tvole.com/

330. http://www.drakulastream.eu/

331. http://esportesaovivo.com/

332. http://www.feed2all.eu/type/football.html

333. http://gofirstrowuk.eu/

334. http://www.footballstreaming.info/

335. http://www.frombar.com/

336. http://www.futebolaovivo.net/inicio.php

337. http://www.online.futebolaovivogratis.org/

338. http://gooool.org/

339. http://www.rajangan.me/

340. http://www.hahasport.com/

341. http://hdzhibo.com/

342. http://neolive.net/

343. http://www.kanqiu.tv/

344. http://livesport4u.com/

345. http://livetv.sx/

346. http://meczelive.tv/

347. http://www.megatvonline.co/

348. http://tvonline.megavertvonline.net/live/

349. http://myp2p.pw/

350. http://nogomya.ch/

351. http://www.p2p-hd.com/

352. http://qmzhibo.com/

353. http://rntplayer.com/

354. http://www.rojadirecta.me/

355. http://www.seezb.net/

356. http://www.sport.net/

357. http://sport5online.com/

358. http://sportlemon.ge/

359. http://sportlemontv.eu/

360. http://sportlive.lt/

361. http://www.sportlv.info/

362. http://www.sportp2p.com/

363. http://www.stopstream.tv/

364. http://thefirstrow.biz/

365. http://www.feed4u.net/

366. http://www.time4tv.com/

367. http://torrent-tv.ru/

368. http://tvaovivogratis.net/

369. http://tvonlinexat.com/

370. http://www.usagoals.tv/

371. http://vipbox.net/

372. http://www.vipboxuk.co/

373. http://www.wasu.cn/

374. http://www.wiziwig.tv/

375. http://wszhibo.com/

376. http://www.look-tvs.com/

377. http://www.yaomtv.com.cn/

378. http://www.zhiboche.com/

379. http://zqnow.com/

380. http://www.24livestreamtv.com/brazil-2014-fifa-world-cup-football-
live-streaming-online-tv/

381. http://acefootball.eu/

382. http://al3ablive.info/

383. http://atdhe.ru/

384. http://atdhe.ge/

385. http://atdhe.sx/

386. http://atdhe.ws/

387. http://bongdatructuyen.info/

388. http://www.bongdatructuyen.vn/

389. http://bongdatv.net/

390. http://bongdaup.com/

391. http://www.majika.biz/

392. http://btvsports.com/

393. http://canalesdetv.com/

394. http://capodeportes.net/

395. http://www.catedralhd.tk/

396. http://www.cv55.eu/

397. http://desistreams.tv/

398. http://desportogratis.com/

399. http://dinozap.com/

400. http://drhtv.com.pl/

401. http://epctv.com/

402. http://zonasports.to/

403. http://fancylive.com/

404. http://feed2all.eu/

405. http://www.firstrows.eu/

406. http://firstrows.biz/

407. http://firstrowsports.ge/

408. http://footballhd.ru/

409. http://footdirect24.com/

410. http://freefootball.ws/

411. http://freehdspor.com/

412. http://freelivefussball.de/

413. http://freelivesport.eu/

414. http://fsicrew.info/

415. http://fussball-live-streams.com/

416. http://futbolarg.tv/

417. http://www.futbol-envivo.com/

418. http://futbolsinlimites.pw/

419. http://futebolaovivogratis.org/

420. http://goatd.net/

421. http://hdembed.com/

422. http://funkeysports.com/

423. http://hdsports.me/

424. http://www.hdstreams.tv/index.php

425. http://iraqgoals.in/

426. http://jokerplanete.com/

427. http://lesoleildelanuit.wf/

428. http://life-sport.org/

429. http://livesportv.com/

430. http://max-deportv.com/

431. http://megaviptv.net/

432. http://milloxtv.me/

433. http://myp2p.cm/

434. http://myp2p.ec/

435. http://newsoccertv.com/

436. http://nowwatchtvlive.com/

437. http://onlinemoviesportsandtv.com/

438. http://online–soccer.eu/

439. http://portugaldesportivo.com/

440. http://premier-league-live.net/

441. http://qxzhibo.com/

442. http://realtvsport.com/

443. http://real-tv-sport.com/

444. http://www.redzer.tv/

445. http://s247.tv/

446. http://sambasoccer.pw/

447. http://skysport.tv/

448. http://soccerembed.com/

449. http://soccertoall.net/

450. http://softsportstv.eu/

451. http://www.sportsbeech.tv/

452. http://sports-x.net/

453. http://sportz-hd.eu/

454. http://stadium-live.com/

455. http://stream-foot.tv/

456. http://streamhd.eu/

457. http://streamking.org/

458. http://todaytv.me/

459. http://www.tvonlinepc.eu/

460. http://totbet.net/

461. http://tructiepbongda.com/

462. http://tvembed.com/

463. http://tvembed.eu/

464. http://tv-link.in/

465. http://tv-porinternet.com/

466. http://tvsport24.info/

467. http://u-peak.me/

468. http://vipbox.co/

469. http://vipracing.co.in/

470. http://vtv4u.eu/

471. http://whoopwhoop.tv/

472. http://wiziwigfootball.com/

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

While England basked in its somewhat traditional World Cup disappointment Thursday, viewing records were being broken, but amazingly while Brazil sizzles, some want to pour cold water on the excitement.

Allow us to introduce MarkScan, a self-described “consulting boutique dedicated to your IP requirements”. The anti-piracy company is based in India and boasts a wide range of clients including the BBC, HBO, Nokia, and other prestigious brands.

Just recently MarkScan has been doing some work for Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd, a Sony Entertainment Television subsidiary in India. In June, Multi Screen Media launched LIV Sports, a digital sports entertainment site that was chosen by FIFA to be the official mobile and Internet broadcaster for the 2014 World Cup.

This week, MarkScan set off on an inevitable DMCA takedown spree to protect its clients’ and FIFA’s rights. What a disaster it’s been.

Much like FIFA, MarkScan began by sending its first batch of copyright complaints to Google several days before a ball had even been kicked. The notice, which covered 46 domains allegedly streaming the World Cup, was 100% rejected by Google.

One of the complaints targeted a great article by GigaOM which helpfully offered “Where to watch the 2014 FIFA World Cup live online, and how to stream it without cable.” The article listed all legal sources, including ESPN, across several countries.

Several subsequent takedown notices targeting more than 700 other URLs saw between 90% and 100% of URLs rejected by Google. One of them was nothing short of a disaster.

The notice, sent on behalf of Sony’s Liv Sports via Multi Screen Media, targeted 610 URLs, all of which were rejected by Google. All were claimed to be infringing on Liv Sports’ and FIFA’s rights, yet what the notice actually did was target some of the web’s most respectable news sites and resources.

In the article titled “World Cup 2014: How to watch across BBC TV, radio and online”, the BBC attempted to inform its millions of readers how to legitimately access the World Cup. However, as can be seen from the image below, MarkScan had other ideas.

Sadly, this attempted takedown of a purely informational and entirely legal article wasn’t the only casualty of this notice.

An article published by Variety informing its readership that ESPN would be streaming all 64 matches was deemed to be copyright-infringing too, as was a similar attempt by Canada’s CBC.ca.

Other catastrophes would be amusing if they weren’t so awful, such as the attempt to censor this article on Bleacher Report which advised how to watch Uruguay versus Germany – a match from FIFA World Cup 2010 four years ago.

Also targeted was this 2013 article from Hollywood Reporter which detailed plans by Sony (ironically) and FIFA to broadcast the World Cup 2014 in Ultra HD. FoxSports’ interactive World Cup Schedule was also marked as infringing. Both are shown below.

Even legitimate traditional broadcasters couldn’t get the word out unhindered. Communications company Cox wanted to let its residential customers know they could “Watch the World’s Biggest Soccer Games. Any Way You Want” but MarkScan told Google the page was illegal.

The whole notice, which can be read here, has many more examples than those listed above, including the attempted censorship of EA Sports’ Twitter account and FIFA’s very own site – for FIFA Futsal World Cup Thailand 2012. Brilliant.

But, in its own unique way, one takedown is more disappointing than most.

In a post dated June 9, before the World Cup had even begun, Symantec tried to inform its readers on how to avoid various World Cup related scams. We don’t need to tell you what happened to it.

TorrentFreak contacted MarkScan whose Internet Enforcement Team told us they take care to avoid mistakes.

“We want to assure you that we deploy technology, in addition to best efforts of our teams, to ensure that we do not impact legal content on yours, or any other website,” they explained.

We suspect someone could be seeing at least a yellow card, possibly worse, in the days to come.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

But while all wrongful takedowns have the potential to cause damage, few can be so clumsy and likely to enrage as the one carried out by Sony Pictures a few hours ago. If there was a competition to annoy as many people as possible with one click, Sony would definitely take the top spot. Here goes.

The Blender Foundation is the non-profit group behind the development of the open source 3D graphics program Blender. The Foundation is funded by donations with the aim of giving “the worldwide Internet community access to 3D technology in general, with Blender as a core.”

To showcase what Blender can do and promote the platform, since 2006 the Blender Foundation and Blender Institute have released movies including Elephants Dream and Big Buck Bunny.

Their third movie, Sintel, was released in 2010 and was funded by donations, DVD sales and other sponsorship. So that people were free to work with the movie, all animation data, characters and textures were released under Creative Commons Attribution License.

The open source beauty of Sintel

Up until yesterday the movie was available on YouTube where it had been viewed millions of times. This version of the video is embedded in dozens upon dozens of news stories talking about the movie itself and the wider Blender project.

However, the beauty of Sintel has now been transformed into something infinitely less creative. Apparently Sony Pictures think they created and therefore own Sintel so on that basis have had the video blocked on YouTube on copyright grounds.

If prizes were being handed out for the ‘best’ wrongful DMCA takedown likely to annoy the greatest numbers of people, Sony would be taking Olympic gold here.

Free and open source software – check.
Multiple instances of community funding via donation – check.
Creative Commons content censorship – check.
Blatantly claiming copyright on someone else’s content – check.
Shoot first, ask questions later mentality – check.

The only good thing to come out of this as far as Blender is concerned is all the free publicity they’re going to get in the next 48 hours. Bad publicity aside, *nothing* will happen to Sony – people aren’t going to like that either.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

That’s not the start of some terrible geek in-joke but a question that Grooveshark founder Sam Tarantino has always been happy to answer, and for good reason.

Tarantino, the company’s current CEO, sees his streaming product as very much like a music-only version of YouTube. Just like its Google-owned counterpart, anyone can upload content to Grooveshark in order for the world to enjoy that same material on their machines.

But as Grooveshark has made clear to TorrentFreak in the past, the similarities don’t end there. Just like YouTube, Grooveshark is very aware that some users may upload content to which they don’t own the rights. So, in common with YouTube, Grooveshark abides by United States law and when someone notifies them that a copyrighted track has been uploaded, they take it down.

YouTube’s problems with rightsholders during the past few years (notably Viacom) have been widely documented but the company has largely sorted out its differences with rightsholders and has become a valuable marketing machine and source of revenue. Despite fighting lawsuits with several major labels, Grooveshark has always believed it can follow in YouTube’s footsteps, and now there are signs that against the odds they just might achieve their goal.

Grooveshark has just announced that it has reached a settlement with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. The agreement, which puts all legal disputes between the companies behind them, sees the signing of a licensing agreement to make Sony/ATV content legally available from the Grooveshark platform.

“We are excited to add Sony/ATV Music’s impressive array of songwriters to our catalogue further advancing our mission to empower creators with the best audio platform in the world,” CEO Sam Tarantino said in a statement.

According to research from Informa, Sony/ATV is the world’s largest music publisher accounting for 30% revenue market share in 2012.

The licensing deal is the second in less than four weeks for Grooveshark. Earlier this month the company announced that it had settled its differences with EMI Music Publishing with the signing of a licensing agreement. According to Informa, EMI is the second largest music publisher with a 20% revenue market share in 2012.

So where now for Grooveshark?

Even on the back of May’s ‘consent judgments‘ no announcement has yet been made in respect of settlements or licensing deals with Universal or Warner. Furthermore, the company still has to shake off some unpleasant problems such as being the subject of a Danish ISP block and being censored by Google. TorrentFreak also asked the BPI if Grooveshark will remain a target in the UK, but we’ve yet to receive a response.

The big question now, however, goes back to the difference between YouTube and Grooveshark. The former proactively screens for infringing content based on lists supplied by rightholders and even has a deal with Universal that allows them to take down, seemingly, whatever they like.

Does Grooveshark aspire to be just like YouTube in all ways in the name of survival? Time will tell.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Just this week Sony confirmed that its new device, which is only compatible with Sony’s own 4K TVs, will be arriving in homes from July 15th . Priced at $699, the player will require activation via the 4KActivation.com website.

Sony also named its new online 4K content distribution service which is due to launch later in the year. Video Unlimited 4K will offer movies and TV shows for direct download to its 4K player.

How the studios intend to protect their 4K content from piracy going forward has not been publicly outlined. However, during last week’s Anti-Piracy and Content Protection Summit in Los Angeles, Sony Pictures CTO Spencer Stephens gave a presentation which included his company’s wish-list for 4K DRM.

Bill Rosenblatt, who spoke at the summit for his company GiantSteps Media, notes that Stephens described the introduction of 4K as an opportunity to start with a fresh anti-piracy design. This, along with Sony’s “wish-list”, suggests that the final approach is yet to be agreed.

Nevertheless, at this stage Sony appears to be clear on its DRM requirements. Although fairly predictable, they aren’t going to win them many fans.

After the infamous cracking of HDCP, Sony is backing HDCP 2.2 (spec here, pdf) to protect the digital outputs of its devices from unauthorized video capture. HDCP 2.2 also has a ‘localization‘ feature, which limits the distance over which an HDCP player will feed content to a receiver such as a TV. This should stop people playing HDCP-protected content over the Internet.

Next, Sony wants each video title to be unique, meaning that the cracking of one piece of content doesn’t open up the floodgates to everything else. The company also wants video playback to take place in a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), ensuring that sensitive data is processed and protected in a secure manner while allowing software upgrades.

And now the intrusive stuff.

Sony says it wants 4K content to be watermarked with the identity of the device or user who downloaded it, meaning that should the above countermeasures become cracked at some point, it will be possible to trace content back to its original owner. It won’t necessarily follow that those individuals are responsible for any ‘leak’ but they could forever associated with that content if it should.

Of particular interest given all the fuss over Xbox One’s former requirement to be connected to the Internet on a daily basis (and Sony’s response of needing no such thing for PS4), is Sony’s final wish-list item for 4K.

If the company has its way, all 4K players will need to authenticate themselves online before each and every playback. This will enable content providers to identify both unauthorized content and hacked players. However, if you are a legitimate customer with no Internet connection – permanently or temporarily – content will not play on your 4K device.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that content providers are viewing the Internet as a means to remain in constant contact with ‘their’ hardware and content wherever it may be. Going forward that will provide an unprecedented level of control. At least, that’s the plan.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Due to its connections with the world’s largest torrent site, one might expect that prosecutions of Swedish file-sharers would be focused on those using the popular protocol, but that hasn’t been the case. Difficulties with gathering evidence have seen the authorities focus on chasing down individuals using other sharing systems where proving large-scale infringement is much more straightforward.

Last year though, all that changed. In a first-of-its-kind case, electronic monitoring and evidence gathering carried out by DtecNet, the U.S. outfit behind the “six-strikes” scheme in the United States, led authorities to prosecute a BitTorrent user of The Pirate Bay.

The claim is that on June 8, 2011 a man from Gothenburg shared Beyonce’s album ’4′ in advance of its June 24 commercial release date. The case was made even more interesting following the revelation that the 47-year-old is a music industry worker.

The industry claims that pre-release leaks are the most damaging form of piracy, an opinion that judges have agreed with in the past. The end results are often heavy fines and even jail sentences which make these cases particularly useful in sending anti-piracy messages to file-sharers. There are signs are that Swedish authorities and Sony intend to make the very best of this case in that respect.

Prosecutor Henrik Rasmusson says that he believes that punishments in this criminal case will be heavy. Last week Sony announced that it would also be seeking damages in a parallel civil case.

In a submission to the Gothenburg District Court, Sony said that its business has been negatively affected by the leak on a number of fronts. The label says it has suffered damage to its marketing strategy, sales revenues and has also incurred additional costs. Sony adds that its relationship with Beyonce has been damaged and the artist’s reputation hurt.

For all of the above Sony say they will claim 1.5 million kronor from the man, which is roughly $233,000.

In a comment to Sveriges Radio, Marianne Levin, a professor of civil law at Stockholm University, said that she has doubts that damages can be fairly calculated.

Levin said that it is difficult to know exactly how many album sales had been lost to file-sharing. Since the album had not even been released at the time, no comparison with existing sales can be made.

“I think so far [the calculations on damages] have not been done in a satisfactory way in situations like this, and the question is whether it will ever be done,” says Levin.

“This is a nuisance from a copyright perspective. But it does not mean that you should have some kind of punitive damages to scare people,” she concludes.

And the proposed punitive damages aren’t going down well with the public either it seems. A poll of 280 people on news site Sydsvenska Dagbladet received the following response.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Slowly, however, the record labels are starting to realize that the Internet is the future and it will ultimately do more good than harm.

One of the people who embraces this positive view is Edgar Berger, Sony Music’s CEO of international business. In a recent interview he stressed the importance of the Internet, while noting that the increase in Internet sales almost makes up for the decline in physical sales.

“There is absolutely nothing to complain about. The Internet is a great stroke of luck for the music industry, or better: the Internet is a blessing for us,” Berger said.

“You can not blame the Internet for harmful excesses. On the contrary. It has brought us tremendous new opportunities,” he added.

But with these new opportunities come new rivals from an unexpected corner. According to the Sony boss, music rights collecting agencies are now preventing innovation in certain countries.

In Germany, for example, most YouTube videos by Sony artists are blocked due to the music rights group GEMA, and not because Sony wants it that way. When asked why Sony’s music is not available on YouTube in Germany, Berger responded bitterly.

“It’s not because of us. You must direct this question to the German collecting agency GEMA, they licensed the copyright very restrictively.”

It turns out that the price GEMA want for views is too high for YouTube, and as a result the videos of some of the world’s most famous artists are blocked.

According to Berger, GEMA’s restrictive regime is not helping the artists or the music labels. In fact, he says the music industry is losing “millions in revenue”. Additionally, it’s one of the prime reasons why the digital music business is so far behind in Germany.

This is not the first time Berger has lashed out against GEMA’s practices. According to the Sony boss it’s time for the music rights group to embrace the digital age.

“We want to see streaming services like Vevo and Spotify in the German market. [These platforms] must not be blocked by GEMA any longer,” he said earlier. “Artists and music companies are losing sales in the millions.”

So here we have the boss of one of the largest music labels blaming another group for their repressive copyright enforcement. It’s the world upside down, but a promising change from Sony’s side.

This is not the first time GEMA has negatively entered the news this year. Last month the popular music streaming service Grooveshark decided to shut down voluntarily due to the “unreasonably high” licensing costs imposed by the music rights group.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

“To anyone who thinks I was involved in any way with this, I’m not crazy, and would prefer to not have the FBI knocking on my door,” he said this morning.

“Running homebrew and exploring security on your devices is cool, hacking into someone elses server and stealing databases of user info is not cool You make the hacking community look bad, even if it is aimed at douches like Sony.”

Geohot says the blame for this catastrophic breach falls at the feet of “the executives who declared a war on hackers, laughed at the idea of people penetrating the fortress that once was Sony, whined incessantly about piracy, and kept hiring more lawyers when they really needed to hire good security experts.”

“Alienating the hacker community is not a good idea,” he notes.

No kidding.

Read More

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Then another day passed. And another. And another. This was clearly more than a DDoS but Sony were keeping very quiet – almost too quiet. Eventually Sony admitted they had been subjected to some sort of attack.

Yesterday they made another announcement, informing their user base that the whole system will be offline indefinitely. No further information from Sony but there is a man who thinks he knows what causing the extended downtime.

‘Chesh’ is a staff member from psx-scene.com, a site dedicated to hacking and modding Playstations. Together with various developers in the scene he’s been putting all the pieces together and if his theory holds, Sony has been battling their biggest crisis yet.

Chesh believes that the problem stems from the availability of a new CFW (custom firmware) for the Playstation 3. CFW’s give hardware modified functionality and REBUG, as it’s known, turns a standard PS3 into a machine which provides access to some of the PSN’s features usually reserved for developers.

REBUG, which was released on the last day of March, apparently has a trick up its sleeve in that it is able to get previously hacked Playstation 3 consoles back online after they’d been excluded by Sony. It’s not a feature built in by design, but one that users have learned how to exploit. Chesh reports that some REBUG users were initially using it to play Call of Duty on the dev networks around April 3rd. Neat enough in itself but there was a monster in the shadows.

Since REBUG allowed users to connect to a previously secure and private developer network, certain information provided by users wasn’t security checked by Sony. According to Chesh, one of the items whose authenticity was never checked was – unbelievably – credit card numbers. People could apparently make them up and get access to whatever content they wanted.

“What happened next was extreme piracy of PSN content,” Chesh explained. He said that over on PSX-Scene he learned of people downloading free Sony content from the dev networks on April 7th.

As we know, Sony shut down the entire PSN on April 20th and it remains down today. Since Sony have told their customers next to nothing about the problems it has faced – including whether or not credit card information is safe – it’s a safe bet that none of the above will be confirmed or denied.

Chesh himself admits that while the above information is true, he can’t verify 100% if it’s the absolute reason why Sony pulled the PSN offline. That said, it’s a big enough problem for them to do so and if Sony has pulled the plug for another unknown reason, their problems only go deeper. And it’s hard to imagine a situation worse than this.

Update: Sony posted an update on the shut down.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.