It never fails that with every new technological breakthrough Hollywood howls to the moon about how this new technology is another attack against the industry and will destroy it.

Of course we all know that the exact opposite is the case but that doesn’t stop the movie industry and its trade groups like the MPAA from doing whatever they can to hold back technology and change; but all the while the industry as a whole has been recording increased profits.

To give you an idea of some of the sillier we’re at deaths door proclamations made by the industry here’s a couple from the accompanying infographic.

Studios forced to sell theaters under anti-trust laws

Studios claim free TV can’t compete with paid content

and of course the good ol’ Studios claim online piracy will put them out of business.

Here’s the full history of ridiculous claims of destruction faced by the movie industry in a handy dandy infographic from Steve Blank.

via Techdirt

Hollywood and getting it wrong about technology again and again [Infographic] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The internet hates Chris Dodd right now.

The former Democratic Senator is a perfect illustration of a lot of what is wrong right now with greased slopes in regards to money, politics, influences and lobbies, and just a year out of the Senate himself, Dodd is now hard at work as a lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America, or MPAA- an organization created in the 1920s with a stated goal “to advance the business interests of its members.”

Organizations like the MPAA and the Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA, have been fighting for many years to inhibit technology they feel poses a threat to the ability of their respective industries to wring every last cent from copyrighted works. It’s a bit like suggesting your town shut down roads because someone might drive to your business on them and rob it, proposals like the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), and naturally, users of the internet had a bit of problem with the idea that we should heavily restrict the web of the many to protect the large financial coffers of the few.

Protests were organized, petitions were signed, and at the end of the day Wednesday, more than a few lawmakers had hopped sides on the issues of SOPA and PIPA- not nearly enough, but it shows that the web action did make a bit of difference in the viability of those bills. Even PIPA co-sponsor, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, abandoned his support of the bill due to concerns raised about harming American businesses.

But Dodd and his ilk are so ballsy, so singularly focused, they have no issue with publicly stating that it’s their money alone lawmakers should consider in passing bills that are nearly guaranteed to destroy the internet. Dodd actually said this, unless Fox News is making things up out of whole cloth:

“Candidly, those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.”

Dodd continued:

“I would caution people don’t make the assumption that because the quote ‘Hollywood community’ has been historically supportive of Democrats, which they have, don’t make the false assumptions this year that because we did it in years past, we will do it this year… These issues before us- this is the only issue that goes right to the heart of this industry.”

I think that it would be difficult to find a time in recent history where people are less sympathetic to the idea of job losses. But it’s clear to any thinking person that hobbling the free and open internet to protect the financial interests on an industry that flat out refuses to adapt at every turn is a ridiculous idea. This is not in dispute. But what should be noted is Dodd- a former lawmaker himself- would so openly speak of buying legislation that is clearly restrictive of the freedoms of American citizens to use the web for perfectly legal reasons.

Even more loathsome is that Dodd- a man who uses his inside knowledge of politics to serve corporate masters- had this to say about the fully grassroots protests occurring this week across the web:

“It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. It is also an abuse of power… when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.”

Chris Dodd and the MPAA should be ashamed, and anyone who relies on the free and open web to make their living, connect with their lover, keep in contact with friends or make use of any number of legal technologies should think long and hard about financially supporting the industries who wish to kill innovation in order to keep their frankly dated business model on life-support.

MPAA’s Chris Dodd Threatens to Cut Cash to Politicians Over SOPA/PIPA Drawdown is a post from: The Inquisitr

Geeks Explain MPAA Opposition to SOPA Protests is a post from: The Inquisitr

Many of the so-called pirate site owners believe that as long as their site isn’t hosted on US based servers that they are pretty safe from retribution by the entertainment industry and their trade groups, the problem is that if ICE has their way this may not be the case.

This is a lesson that Richard O’Dwyer, a computer undergrad studying at a university in northern England, is learning as the US authorities are trying very hard to extradite him to the US to face charges of being the admin of the TVShack site that was seized by ICE in mid-2010.

It doesn’t matter that O’Dwyer is a UK citizen or that TVShack is extremely similar to another site called TV-Links which has already been deemed as being legal by the UK courts. As far as the US authorites are concerned O’Dwyer has broken US law and as such should face US courts.

So what basis is ICE using as grounds for the charges and extradition attempt?

Well it boils down to one simple thing – O’Dwyer used a US based domain registrar, VeriSign, to register the TVShack domain.

“The jurisdiction we have over these sites right now really is the use of the domain name registry system in the United States. That’s the key,” says ICE assistant deputy director Erik Barnett speaking with The Guardian.

The only necessary “nexus to the US” is a .COM or .NET domain for which Verisign acts as the official registry operator, Barnett added.

via TorrentFreak

The whole domain seizing operation by ICE has been fraught with questions about its legality, as well as more than a few already deemed legal sites being seized, and this situation with O’Dwyer only goes to show just how much these organizations will go to bend, or ignore, the law to get what they want.

Does your “pirate” site have a US domain registrar? You too could be extradited. is a post from: The Inquisitr

Producers of the sure to be hit comedy Hangover 2 were forced to pull the films newest trailer from theaters this week after they failed to clear the spot with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The trailer features a scene in which the movies monkey bites a pretend wiener

The trailer first appeared in front of the movie Source Code on April 1st. The trailer for the R rated movie didn’t sit well with some theatergoers of the PG-13 rated Gyllenhaal film.

The MPAA for their part likes to ensure that movie trailers and their ratings systems are in tow with the ratings for the movies they are preceding.

A Warner Bros. Rep told TMZ on Wednesday:

“In our haste to meet the placement schedule for this trailer, we failed to properly vet the final version with the MPAA. We acted immediately to correct the mistake and removed the trailer from screens.”

A new and approved trailer will begin airing on April 15.

New Hangover 2 Trailer Pulled From Theaters [Monkey Bites Wiener] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Zediva is being sued by the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA). The DVD streaming service which disguises itself as a traditional rental service is being sued for providing “public performances” of movies.

If you’re unfamiliar with Zediva, the service works by allowing users to rent a “DVD player” and movie from the company over the internet. According to Zediva Faq:

“When you rent a movie on Zediva, you are renting both a DVD and DVD Player in our data center. During the period of the rental, the DVD and the DVD Player can only be used by you.”

The MPAA believes (it has not been proven in a court of law) that Zediva has no right to rent a DVD player to a customer while streaming movies across the internet.

While Zediva may have a “unique” method for delivering movies, it will be up to a court of law to determine if the company’s methodology is in violation of public performance and copyright laws.

It will be interesting to see how the MPAA frames their arguments since Blockbuster (and other video rental stores) back in the day use to rent VCR’s and eventually DVD players to customers along with movie rentals, yet the MPAA never attacked Blockbuster for their methodology.

What do you think about the Zediva system?

Zediva Sued By MPAA. Did Anyone Not See That Coming? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Piracy is out of control and ruining the world as we know it, or at least ruining the business models of the anally retentive entertainment industry.

So the solution – pick out a bunch of countries that don’t want to play ball with the US entertainment big boys and put them on a list of the worst countries for not fighting against piracy.

On that list is my own country of Canada as well as Spain, who by the way just passed some of the most far reaching anti-piracy legislation in Europe.

“The sky-high Internet piracy levels in Spain can be attributed to government policies that have created an Internet-wide safe harbor for infringing activities. Spanish enforcement authorities have established the de facto decriminalization of illegal downloading of content distributed via P2P file-sharing,” they argue.

Another issue that should be resolved is the lack of ability to identify and report copyright infringers. “Spain’s laws fail to meet the minimum requirements of the EU E-Commerce Directive regarding liability for ISPs, or to establish the necessary tools to obtain the identity of the direct infringer,” the groups add.

Aside from Spain, Canada is another candidate for the 2011 priority watch list. In a statement RIAA’s Neil Turkewitz specifically mentioned Canada’s slow progress on revising their copyright law..

“The Canadian Government has inexplicably consumed yet another year without modernizing its copyright regime, leaving a legal structure in place that is not adequate to respond to present challenges,” Turkewitz said.

The claimed result is that Canada is now one of the world’s true pirate havens. In their advice to the US Trade Representative RIAA and IIPA write the following.

“Canada is home to some of the world’s most popular illegitimate Internet sites, including illegitimate P2P download and streaming sites.”

via TorrentFreak

I guess this explains why a lot of Canadian politicians are seeing a nice influx of contributions to their re-election campaigns from Canadian fronted lobbyists in the payroll of US entertainment companies.

Canada and Spain labeled the worst of the pirate havens is a post from: The Inquisitr

Although prison terms for founders of the Pirate Bay were reduced in a recent appeal, a judge upped fines in the case by two million dollars for a total of 46 million kronor- less than the 120 million kronor fine requested by entertainment companies.

Pirate Bay founder Fredrik Neij was sentenced to 10 months on appeal, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi to eight months in prison and Carl Lundstroem to four months in jail. A fourth man, Gottfrid Swartholm Warg, was unable to be present in court due to illness, and he will be sentenced separately.

A lawyer for the entertainment industry, Monique Wasted, was thrilled with the exorbitant fines and prison terms again handed down:

“It’s a relief that the court of appeal finally affirmed that if you carry out this type of activity, you’ll go to prison,” she told TT.

“In two years, this type of piracy will be over. After a ruling like this and all the pioneers start to get older and have children and families, piracy won’t occur to this extent.”

Some say, however, that the decision- which, according to many tweets flying around this morning, saw fines far in excess of those for rape and murder- is an example of the court system being used to protect the interests of corporate entities and the very powerful above those of others:

“This was a political trial from the start and it must be resolved politically,” Rick Falkvinge, leader of the Pirate Party said in a response to the verdict. “The public has lost all confidence in the justice system in these matters, and it is beyond sad that the courts still persist in running special-interest justice.”

Peter Sunde, one of the three men sentenced on appeal, says the handling of the case was “wrong.”

“They’re giving us jail even though it’s not the right thing for the ‘crime.’ It’s just to scare people. That’s what you did in the 1600s…,” defendant Peter Sunde told TorrentFreak.

Sunde told TorrentFreak that all defendants plan to appeal at the Supreme Court as soon as possible.

[The Local, Torrent Freak, The Guardian]

Swedish judge upholds convictions, raises fines on Pirate Bay founders is a post from: The Inquisitr

OMG Twitter has a bug.

OMG Facebook has a security (or privacy, or arrogance, or whatever gets everyone’s panties in a bunch on any given day) problem.

OMG Apple is going to fail because Android is selling more phones than them (while everyone is waiting for the expected refresh of the iPhone line).

Anyone would think that the tech blogosphere is obsessed with jumping all over each other like a bunch of horny kids at a frat party rehashing exactly the same moronic news as the next person. Well they’d be right – just look at Techmeme right at this moment

But what about news that truly will have an incredible impact not just on our technology but also our society?

Where is the outrage over things that have the potential to impact us like nothing else let alone whether Twitter lets you force someone to follow you or that Apple is under attack by Android?

When I first heard about the news that the FCC had granted permission to Hollywood big media to enable what is called Selective Output Control (SOC) on set-top boxes I figured all hell would break loose.

You know what happened?

<sound of crickets>Zzzzzzzzzzzz *YAWN* Zzzzzzzzzzz

Yup, that’s about it.

With the exception of very few blogs this news basically died on the vine.

But here is why it shouldn’t have and why there are days that the tech blogosphere both disappoints and disgusts me.

The thing is that there are two huge dangers here that when you look at the implications of this decision by the FCC has the potential to not only affect our everyday media viewing abilities but also affect how we use our computers.

First we have to understand just what this Selective Output Control (SOC) means. You see in every set-top box sold in the United States there is a set of hidden flags that are currently not doing anything. However via DRM triggers is stream video those flags can be manipulated – on or off. In the case of this decision the FCC has granted Hollywood media company the right to flip those switches on at their discretion.

In this case the MPAA will be able to deactivate any part of your home theater it wishes but primarily any option that would allow you to record the video being played will no longer work – at least (for now anyway) until the video has finished playing. In effect you no longer have control over your own equipment – even if you are paying ridiculous rental rates for it.

The argument being used by the MPAA and Hollywood is that this will allow them to rent out first-run movies that are also in their first theatrical release  without the fear of them being pirated. This way you would supposedly be able to sit at home instead of having to line up with the rest of the rubes.

Interestingly enough this technology ended up in your set-top boxes based on an argument to the FCC in the first place that the technology would never be used. As mind-numbingly stupid as this may seem the FCC accepted the argument and made it a requirement for manufacturers to include the technology.

However this goes beyond just your set-top boxes because this SOC technology isn’t just usable to control them but also your computers as well.

As Cory Doctorow outlines in his post on this

I’m not just talking about TVs and set-top boxes here. This stuff is targetted squarely at operating system vendors. Both Apple and Microsoft have enthusiastically signed onto adding DRM to their OSes in order to comply with HDCP, DTLA and other “device-based” DRMs.

In the PC world, compliance with DTLA and HDCP rules isn’t just about what features the OS can have, but what features the video cards, hard-drives, network interfaces, motherboards and drivers can have.

So the FCC has just handed the keys to specify drivers and components for general purpose PCs to the thrashing dinosaurs of Hollywood. Because even your cheapo netbook or homebuilt Linux box relies on components that are manufactured for the gigantic mainstream PC and laptop markets.

Now that the mainstream component market has a new de-facto regulator at the MPAA, watch for all of those components to come with restrictions built in.

In effect the FCC has handed the MPAA and Hollywood big business the keys to control our technology. So while you all get faint about some stupid ass flaw in Twitter, or rally around Apple in its death struggle with Android, or setup Facebook pages to complain about the tyranny of Facebook our technology has been sold out from under us.

So much for real reporting or blogging in the tech blogosphere.

The tech blogosphere is full of myopic self-aggrandizing sycophants is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) might have a slight bias when it comes to reporting on stuff that is happening on the web but when they have post that is basically highlighting the responses to the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator’s request for submissions regarding its Joint Strategic Plan for intellectual property enforcement it’s worth looking at. Especially when you read the obvious wishlist from entertainment trade organizations (mouthpieces) like the RIAA and MPAA.

While there are days where what comes out of these organizations doesn’t surprise me in the least (hint: ACTA) this laundry list of ways that the RIAA and MPAA want to screw the consumer even more does surprise me considering how blatant the attempt is.

Here’s the list courtesy of the EFF:

• Anti-infringement software for home computers - in other words they want the legal right to install spyware on your computer that will scan and identify infringing files – and possible delete the files automatically.
  

  There are several technologies and methods that can be used by network administrators and providers…these include [consumer] tools for managing copyright infringement from the home (based on tools used to protect consumers from viruses and malware).

• Pervasive copyright filtering – to force network operators to institute filters on their networks to filter out any infringing files.
  

  Network administrators and providers should be encouraged to implement those solutions that are available and reasonable to address infringement on their networks. [This suggestion is preceded by a list of filtering methods, like protocol filtering, fingerprint-based filtering, bandwidth throttling, etc.]

• Intimidate and propagandize travelers at the border – to be given the right to have border guards seize and search all electronic devices like iPods and laptops for ‘pirated’ material.
  

  Customs authorities should be encouraged to do more to educate the traveling public and entrants into the United States about these issues. In particular, points of entry into the United States are underused venues for educating the public about the threat to our economy (and to public safety) posed by counterfeit and pirate products. Customs forms should be amended to require the disclosure of pirate or counterfeit items being brought into the United States.

• Bully countries that have tech friendly policies – The idea here is to force countries like Canada to copy and enforce all the guidelines and laws that the US has in regards to copyright and intellectual property. This is also one of the reasons that ACTA came into being in the first as a way to end run local country laws and force draconian laws on countries that normally wouldn’t do so.
  

  The government should develop a process to identify those online sites that are most significantly engaged in conducting or facilitating the theft of intellectual property. Among other uses, this identification would be valuable in the interagency process that culminates in the annual Special 301 report, listing countries that fail to provide adequate and effective protection to U.S. intellectual property rights holders. Special 301 could provide a focus on those countries where companies engaged in systematic online theft of U.S. copyrighted materials are registered or operated, or where their sites are hosted. Targeting such companies and websites in the Special 301 report would put the countries involved on notice that dealing with such hotbeds of copyright theft will be an important topic of bilateral engagement with the U.S. in the year to come. (As noted above, while many of these sites are located outside the U.S., their ability to distribute pirate content in the U.S. depends on U.S.-based ISP communications facilities and services and U.S.-based server farms operated commercially by U.S.-based companies.)

• Federal agents working on Hollywood’s clock – the use of ‘deputized’ Federal agents, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to provide muscle during the big summertime blockbuster season because we all know those cammers out there are a dangerous bunch.
  

  The planned release of a blockbuster motion picture should be acknowledged as an event that attracts the focused efforts of copyright thieves, who will seek to obtain and distribute pre-release versions and/or to undermine legitimate release by unauthorized distribution through other channels. Enforcement agencies (notably within DOJ and DHS) should plan a similarly focused preventive and responsive strategy. An interagency task force should work with industry to coordinate and make advance plans to try to interdict these most damaging forms of copyright theft, and to react swiftly with enforcement actions where necessary.

Gee doesn’t that leave you all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that the money we spend on movies and music is being spent in such a great way .. not to mention tax-payer dollars.

RIAA & MPAA wishlist to screw the consumer is a post from: The Inquisitr

When it comes to downloadable music and movies torrent sites are almost guaranteed to attract the attention of trade group bullies like the RIAA and MPAA. It is a pressure that has been growing over the years as these trade groups will use whatever tactics they can to shut these sites down and at the same time cause as much financial pain to the consumer as possible.

Most recently we have gotten news that one of the premier NZB indexing sites has lost a court battle that was brought against them in Britain by the entertainment industry and their trade groups. Another one has been ordered by a US court to remove all offending links.

It is an on-going battle but even with all the hostilities it is great to see one torrent site hasn’t lost its sense of humor. Word from the TorrentFreak blog is that Russian torrent site Vertor.com decided to have a little bit of fun and sent out six packages to the leading anti-piracy groups that are meant to let them know that try as hard as they can these anti-piracy groups aren’t going to win in the long run.

The packages contain a local Russian braind of Vizit Overture aroma flavored condoms a long with a notes that says “We wish your parents had used it.”

The team behind Vector told Ernesto from TorrentFreaks that this was meant as a joke but the message was sincere.

The people behind Vertor informed TorrentFreak that their action is a joke, but one with a clear message. “I’m sure that every one of us would want to say something like this to these bloodsuckers, but not everyone has the opportunity to be heard,” an anonymous source from the Vertor team said.

The condom shipments were sent out yesterday are expected to arrive within a day at the anti-piracy offices.

All I can say is …. way to go guys.

Torrent sites sends RIAA condoms for the next time they want to screw the consumer is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s a noble plan.

A dozen nations meeting in Geneva on Monday to consider adopting the WIPO Treaty for Sharing Accessible Formats of Copyrighted Works for Persons Who are Blind or Have other Reading Disabilities. The proposal that is currently before a 180 WIPO members would see the ability to allow t he cross-border sharing of DRM-protected digitized books that literally tens of thousands of blind and visually disabled people read with specialized devices.

As Manon Ress, policy analyst at Knowledge Ecology International, says “This treaty would be the first one that is not done for the copyright owner, but for the user of the works – for the blind to make a copyrighted work accessible”

Well that should tell you right there who would be fighting the adoption of the treaty. We would of course have the usual suspects of software companies and entertainment trade groups but along with them is the good old U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

But that prospect doesn’t sit well with American business. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest lobby representing 3 million businesses, argues that the plan being proposed by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay, “raises a number of serious concerns,” (.pdf) chief among them the specter that the treaty would spawn a rash of internet book piracy.

The treaty also creates a bad precedent by loosening copyright restrictions, instead of tightening them as every previous copyright treaty has done, said Brad Huther, a chamber director. Huther concluded in a Dec. 2 letter to the U.S. Copyright office that the international community “should not engage in pursuing a copyright-exemption based paradigm.”

Echoing that concern, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry of America told the Copyright Office last month that such a treaty would “begin to dismantle the existing global treaty structure of copyright law, through the adoption of an international instrument at odds with existing, longstanding and well-settled norms.”

Source: Wired – Threat Level Blog

So thanks to the greed, protectionism and inability to realize the future we have major national and multi-national corporations along with their lap dogs like the Chamber of Commerce trying to deny what is already allowed in many countries – copyright exemptions for non-profit companies to digitized books for the blind.

Many WIPO nations, most in the industrialized world including England, the United States and Canada, have copyright exemptions that usually allow non-profit companies to market copyrighted works without permission. They scan and digitize books into the so-called universal Daisy format, which includes features like narration and digitized Braille.

The Daisy Corp. Consortium, a Swiss-based international agency, controls formatting worldwide and has some 100 companies under its direction across the globe. The largest catalog rests in the United States, in which three non-profits, including the Library of Congress, host some half million digital titles produced by federal grants and donations.

As it now stands, none of the nations may allow persons outside their borders to access these works, which are usually doled out for little or no charge. The treaty seeks to free up the cross-border sharing of the books for the blind.

“People who oppose copyright exemptions oppose exemptions on principle that there should be no exemptions of copyright law,” says George Kerscher, Daisy’s general secretary. “They should have sole right and discretion to do what they want with their intellectual property. To a great extent, the opposition to the treaty is based on that principle.”

To receive any reading materials, the blind and disabled must prove their condition, he said. In the United States, Knowledge Ecology International estimates about 5 percent of published books have been transformed to the Daisy format.

Source: Wired – Threat Level Blog

Chief amongst the opponents of course is The Association of American Publishers who is arguing basically that what is in place right now is good enough and that really the blind should be paying for their materials.

It’s so nice to see capitalism at work isn’t it…….

US Chamber of Commerce out to block treaty meant to help the blind is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’ve got a suggestion for Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes fame.

Stay the hell away from technology stories because you are coming of looking like an idiot who doesn’t have a clue. Not to mention that you also start sounding like some shill for whichever organization will benefit from the scare tactics you are using in your segments.

The last time you tried to instill fear in everyone was when you were reporting making up shit about the horrendous Cornflicker virus that was going to take down the Internet in one fell swoop. It didn’t matter one bit that the virus would only infect Windows computers. Nope this nasty little virus was going to destroy the Internet.

To make matters worse the security software company she talked was some dude from Symantec and in the end the whole segment ended up sounding more like an ad for Symantec.

This is a video of that show

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Now fast forward to tonights show where once again Leslie is doing a segment of the incredible evils of movie piracy and how it was costing the movie industry billions of dollars and taking food out of the mouths of hard working actors and movie crews. She even had Steven Soderbergh in the interview chair going on about how bad this piracy thing was.

Of course this was all tied in with organized crime and people using their family to shield them while they filmed the movies playing in theaters. Now anyone who has even watched an illegal downloaded movie will tell you how bad these CAM movies are yet these are the very same movie that industry representative say are killing the movie business.

The one man that Stahl used in the segment was caught with a large amount of burned CD and computer equipment that had been used to upload these “industry killing” versions of movies. This apparently is where the real money is made according to Stahl and interviewees. The only problem is that no-one told Stahl that you don’t have to pay anything to download the movies just as you don’t pay to upload them for distribution.

There is no substance to this segment other than following the “industry representatives” lead on how terrible this all is and how the whole industry is losing money because of these evil people.

Substance like the fact that this has been one of the best years on record for the industry at the box office and it’s not even over yet.

Substance like the fact that the chances are that those terrible people who are downloading absolutely crapping versions of movies probably wouldn’t pay to go and see them in the first place.

Substance like the fact that those big budget movies that are losing money are general crap that no-one wants to see in the first place.

Substance like interviews with people like Cory Doctorow, Michael Mesnick, and others who have been following this subject for a long time and unlike the industry flack that Stahl was fawning over they actually have real figures to defend their arguments.

>In the end this 60 Minutes segment came off just as biased and stupid sounding as her piece on the infested Internet. So here’s a suggestion Leslie. when it comes to technology stories I strongly suggest that you run in the other direction because you – and or your production crew – don’t have a damn clue.

Here is tonight’s segment on how the movie industry is being killed off by evil pirates.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes becomes a MPAA shill is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s not like the MPAA is going to run into the shadows with its tail tucked between its legs but US District Court Judge Stephen Wilson served notice to the organization that it hadn’t proved that torrent site Isohunt has broken any US laws.

The lawyers for the MPAA have been trying to convince the judge that Isohunt had encouraged and contributed to the infringing activity of the site users. The judge has given the MPAA until September 15 to file any briefs to convince him that Isohunt that any direct infringement by users who live in the US.

While the MPAA has been silent on the judge’s decision the lawyer for Isohunt, Ira Rothken, thinks that the MPAA lawyers are going to have a hard time providing specific examples of infringement happening in the US.

"Our view is that it would be difficult if not impossible," Rothken said, "to be able to trace any direct infringement to the users of the Isohunt’s site in a manner that would hold Isohunt responsible for the infringing conduct. I think the judge’s order will hopefully demonstrate to the court that Isohunt, besides lacking knowledge of direct infringement, can’t possibly be held liable for users conduct, especially since any such conduct occurs after they leave the site."

Rothken is hoping to argue Isohunt’s case before a jury, something that no other BitTorrent sites have managed to do.

A ray of sunshine in torrent site lawsuits is a post from: The Inquisitr

In some ways you have to admire the audacity and amount of hot air that lawyers for the entertainment industry can expel. Nowhere though is this type of verbal buffoonery more apparent than the defense they use to prop up the concept of DRM’ing our music and movies.

A good example of this attitude can bee seen in the submissions made to the Copyright Office during its triennial DMCA review by Steven Metalitz, a Washington lawyer who represents the MPAA, RIAA and other rights holders. This is his response to the Copyright Office over the possible exceptions that would allow users to legally strip DRM from content if a store closes and takes down the authentication servers.

"We reject the view," he writes in a letter to the top legal advisor at the Copyright Office, "that copyright owners and their licensees are required to provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works. No other product or service providers are held to such lofty standards. No one expects computers or other electronics devices to work properly in perpetuity, and there is no reason that any particular mode of distributing copyrighted works should be required to do so."

Source: Ars Technica :: Big Content: ludicrous to expect DRMed music to work forever

Talk about priceless but it doesn’t stop there. He continues on with this

"To recognize the proposed exemption would surely discourage any content provider from entering the marketplace for online distribution… unless it was committed to do so… forever. This would not be good for consumers, who would find a marketplace with less innovation and fewer choices and options."

Even as Amazon and iTunes make music available without any form of DRM we still get this lawyer blow hot air up everyone’s butt. It’s no wonder that people are getting fed up with the whole entertainment industry.

Lawyer says it’s stupid to expect DRM’d goods to work forever is a post from: The Inquisitr

I realize that smokers are the lowest scum of the earth lately and that we get bastardized and ostracized worse than the homeless, the drug addicts and the drunks but now we are being told we’re worse than rapists and terrorists. At least that is the position that The American Medical Association Alliance is taking when it comes to the movies. Yes, that’s right our favorite people in scubs is lobbying the Motion Picture Association to apply a mandatory R-rating to any move that has smoking in it.

This is because, according to a report just out via CNN, these green suited goodie two shoes are blaming movies for being the cause of one-third to one-half of all young smokers in the United States. The prime example of the incredible social pressure being applied to our weak-willed innocent babies to get them hooked on smoking is the gratuitous smoking in X-Men Origins: Wolverine

American Medical Association Alliance President Sandi Frost used as her chief example of a movie with "gratuitous smoking" this month’s blockbuster "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," which was rated PG-13 "for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity."

"Millions of children have been exposed to the main star of the film, Hugh Jackman, with a cigar in his mouth in various scenes," Frost said. "I’m willing to bet that not one child would have enjoyed that movie or Mr. Jackman’s performance any less if he hadn’t been smoking."

Of course Twentieth Century Fox, the studio responsible for the movie, have come out saying otherwise

A spokesman for Twentieth Century Fox, the studio responsible for the Wolverine movie series, said Jackman’s cigar was never lit and it was limited to just two scenes.

In one scene, the cigar is shot out of his mouth, prompting Jackman’s Wolverine character to suggest its loss would lead to clean living — an anti-smoking statement — the studio spokesman said.

He said that while the Wolverine character has a cigar in his mouth in almost every panel of the comic book series, producers made "a conscious decision" to limit the cigar in the movie.

This hasn’t stopped the doctors though in their push to have the MPAA add smoking to its list of factors used in determining the ratings given to movies. A list that runs from cursing, lewd gestures right up to rape and terrorism.

The MPAA has come out and said though that they have already been doing this to an extent for the last two years. Angela Martinez, an MPAA spokesperson, said that smoking is rated like all the other factors which includes sex and violence. This isn’t enough for the doctors though because they what it to be an absolute condition of a movie getting the R-rating not just a factor.

As a side note it took me longer to find a graphic with Wolverine smoking a cigar than it took me to write the post and it wasn’t even a great graphic at that

[hat tip to Newsarama Update: I should also give proper credit to Russ over at Newsarama for the inspiration for this post's headline - sorry about that Russ]

Smoking is worse than rape and terrorism is a post from: The Inquisitr

At the end of March of this year I wrote a post about Mininova’s interesting attempt at providing musicians with a storefront on the site for their music. This was a part of their move to try and legitimize torrents as a way to download legal music files. Now it would seem that they are going even further down that road by instituting a content recognition filter system for all torrent file uploads in order to reduce the number of torrents pointing to illegal media files.

One of the interesting things about this is that system being used isn’t one that the team behind Mininova selected themselves. Instead it was one selected by the media companies that currently have a lawsuit pending against the torrent search site. Up until this point Mininova has always been trying to use the “we’re just a search engine” defense and are protected by the DMCA Safe Harbor exemption. As Ernesto at TorrentFreaks points out this has obviously changed.

Additionally Ernesto reports on the negative reaction from the users of the torrent site

The response from Mininova’s users is mostly negative, with one commenter saying “Shame to see such a nice site decide to go hang itself,” and another adding “Wow, guess you guys are caving under the pressure. Too bad its all over now.”

This raises a rather interesting thought. Piracy is going nowhere, no matter how hard the entertainment industry tries, and for sites like Mininova; as well as other popular torrent sites, these ‘illegal’ torrents are what bring people in. Take away those files and you are endanger of losing the biggest reason for people to use your search engine over some other one. They are in fact what is called in the real world of marketing – loss leaders.

So rather than doing everything they can to remove those files and lose users in the process why not use them to your advantage. The idea here being that you clearly label them as pirated files but at the same time provide links to legal versions that are of better quality and faster download. Pull the users in with the lure of easy to find pirate torrents and then convert them into legal owners of those self-same files. It’s not that hard to do and the benefits far outweigh treating everyone as a criminal before giving them an options to be customers.

Where on one hand Mininova look so much like a forward thinking web business it now looks like nothing more than a lackey for the very people that the majority of their users hate. I wouldn’t be at all surprise to see Mininova pay dearly for this move as users begin looking elsewhere. It is another case where everyone loses.

Mininova goes legit and piracy as a loss leader is a post from: The Inquisitr

They force things like draconian digital rights management on entertainment and software producers because they don’t want to lose a single penny. Of course it isn’t just the trade organizations like the RIAA, MPAA or their software counterparts. It is also the corporations producing the mass quantity; much of which is pure dribble to begin with, that issue the marching orders or end up paying for the lawyers suing people into the poor house.

Why is it that the whole concept of the first sale doctine goes out the window the moment we move to digital goods. Just because you spend your hard earned money to buy something online in a digital format shouldn’t mean that it isn’t yours. That however is just what all these entertainment and software companies are saying. You can go to a bookstore, record store or gaming shop and plop down your money and that tangible item is yours. You could go the very next day and trade it in on something else and the store can sell it as used goods. You can sell it to your best buddy and no-one can tell you any different. Why – because you owned it – period.

In Canada when we go to buy any black media to copy onto (cassette tape, video tape, cd, dvd) there is a tax built into the price; otherwise known as The Private Copying Tax, that lets us make as many copies of something we want for our own private use. This has pissed off the folks like the RIAA and MPAA because it makes it next to impossible to enforce their perverse version of copyright law through our government. This is whyorganizations like the RIAA and the MPAA have been trying very hard to influence our Canadian government to change the laws – copyright laws that are in fact fairer to the content producers that anything the U.S. has.

It’s bad enough that organizations like this have gained the control they have in the US but this misappropriation of rights is now spreading beyond the U.S. borders and I’m sorry but it’s got to stop. As long as I am not breaking the law buy trying to profit from selling copies of things under sane copyright laws then why am I; and you being, treated like criminals. Why do we let this bullshit continue?

I’m an honest person as well I am sure that you are. Sure we’ve all probably downloaded something we shouldn’t have at some point in our lives but to continue to let these bastards extert the kind of power they have over our lives is just plain insane. Especially when you consider that we have the power to change this. A power so incredibly displayed by the Obama campaign – the power of the people. Not the power brokers, not the lobbiests but the power of the people to say enough is enough. They need to be told that we are not criminals and that both the entertainment corporations along with their trade organizations have no right to treat us as such.

The fact is that once we pay our money for a product; physical or digital, it is ours plain and simple. However until we tell these soulless greedy pricks to back off we get what we deserve. They aren’t going to stop doing everything they can to maximize every red cents they can regardless of our rights as consumers – as people. We are to blame for the situation we are in now and only we can change it. The companies won’t, the politicians won’t – we have to. But we’re too busy running to iTunes or other online entertainment content stores to get the latest and greatest even if we do whine and moan about things like DRM.

How do we change this? I don’t know because I don’t think this is important to enough people that any real concentrated movement to effect any change. Don’t bother crowing about Web 2.0 and social media and how it is changing things because right now those ideals don’t mean squat to the corporations and trade organizations. Just think though for a second if for even 6 months is not a thing was bought from iTunes, not a single game was downloaded or not a single pirated version made the rounds. How much of a change do you think could happen when all these companies that need our money in order to keep running suddenly are faced with this kind of action.

It could be done but honestly I doubt it will ever happen no matter what the power of the people showed during the election. I could be wrong but I don’t think so – what do you think?

New Year Resolution: smack the RIAA/MPAA into oblivion is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to a c|net article posted today the MPAA has won a breach of contract lawsuit against China-based DVD player manufacturer Gowell Electronics. As a result the US District Court for the Central District of California has issued a permanent injunction against the company that prohibits Gowell from violating any terms of the Content Scramble System (CSS) license agreement.

Big deal right?

Well actually it is when you realize that it is this CSS licence agreement which enables the MPAA to enforce the manufacturers to employ the CSS technology. DVD manufacturers are required to sign if they want to sell DVD players in the US. It is this technology that controls the unauthorized access to and copying of copyrighted content on DVDs. As noted in the c|net article

The CSS license mandates the content protection that enables film studios to provide consumers with more than 84,000 DVD titles, including 12,000 new titles last year alone.

The motion picture studios are third-party beneficiaries of the CSS license and may enforce it against licensees who fail to comply with its terms.

While this is the ninth such case in which a court has issued a permanent injunction banning future violations of the license, this time the plaintiffs are allowed to review and test any new or re-engineered products that incorporate the CSS technology before going to market.

It is the last part of this where the boys at the MPAA must just be getting all excited over now because now they get to review any new DVD players that are coming into the US market. No incorporation of CSS then you don’t sell in the US. So in effect an entertainment trade group now controls what equipment you can buy in the US if it even hints at being a DVD player.

MPAA tells DVD makers how to play the game is a post from: The Inquisitr

The now-defunct site is accused of copyright infringement by the Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA claims it facilitated the pirating of protected materials such as movies.

Now TorrentSpy’s attorney, Ira Rothken, is firing back for the first time since the fine was announced. Rothken tells CNET News the decision is an “abuse of discretion” and little more than a “Hollywood public-relations stunt.” Rothken goes on to say that TorrentSpy is currently bankrupt and couldn’t pay the fine anyhow.

“It’s obvious we are going to appeal,” he stated.

TorrentSpy has insisted all along that because it didn’t actually host files, it shouldn’t be held responsible.

Is it just me, or does this whole thing bring back bad memories of the never-ending Napster battle with the music industry nearly a decade ago? Maybe Lars Ulrich is out there reading this and has something insightful to say.

TorrentSpy Goes On The Defense is a post from: The Inquisitr