It was just another typical weekday morning in a normal Finnish family home. It was only 8am, and parents and children were going through their usual routine. Then there was a knock at the door: it was the police, come to seize the Winnie the Pooh laptop of the resident 9-year-old pirate. More »
If you’ve been wanting to upgrade to Windows 8 but baulk at paying then, firstly, you’re a bad person but, secondly, now your opportunity’s here. Microsoft just screwed up and handed out a free activation key for the OS. More »
We’ve been wondering what major American internet providers would do to thwart supposed pirates beyond nag them senseless; other than leaks surrounding AT&T’s reeducation process, we’ve mostly been left in the dark. There’s a better picture of the consequences now that Time Warner Cable and Verizon have unveiled their strategies at an Internet Society conference. Verizon’s approach is an attempt to straddle the line between angry media studios and the basic need to communicate: if copyright complaints reach the fifth or sixth notice, Verizon will throttle the connection for two to three days without instituting outright blocks. TWC’s method may be tougher to ignore — the cable provider will redirect claimed infringers to a custom page and restrict what they can visit. While it’s not clear just how limited access will be, it’s doubtful anyone will want to find out.
Not surprisingly, critics like the Electronic Frontier Foundation aren’t happy with the restrictions as a whole, and point to the Center for Copyright Information allegedly going back on its vows of impartiality — it notes that the anti-piracy initiative’s reviewer is a previous RIAA lobbying firm, and that many of the real technical details are partially censored despite promises of transparency. The Center hasn’t responded to those challenges, but we’re somewhat comforted when it claims there won’t be draconian attempts to catch everyone, at least not in the foreseeable future. We’d still be sure to lock down any WiFi hotspots to avoid false accusations; ignoring any ISP warnings could soon lead to more than just a sternly-worded message.
Filed under: Networking, Internet, Verizon
Time Warner Cable and Verizon plan to redirect, throttle internet users accused of piracy (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
In a couple weeks, the Center for Copyright Information’s anti-piracy system will go into effect in the US. The CCI is composed of five major Internet providers, including Verizon, in conjunction with the MPAA and the RIAA. Back in October, we reported on a leaked AT&T memo that discussed how the provider would deal with copyright infringers. Now information has been revealed stating that Verizon will deal with the issue by throttling the speeds of repeat offenders.
During the New York Chapter of the Internet Society panel discussion, both Verizon and Time Warner discussed their plans for dealing with piracy. Verizon customers will receive an email notification when their account is flagged for copyright-violating activities. A total of two alerts will be issued.
Upon receiving a third flag, a popup will appear that forces the subscriber to read a notice and confirm that they acknowledge the copyright infringement. If the illegal activity continues, a punishment will be enacted for the 5th and 6th flags. The user’s Internet speeds will be severely throttled for a period of two or three days, at which point it will return to normal.
As for Time Warner, the company will likewise deliver notifications when the account is flagged for copyright violations. Rather than reduce speeds for repeat offenders, however, the users will be redirected to a landing page. No word was given on whether all Internet activity will be redirected, or only some, and how long the punishment will be in place for. According to CCI, the purpose of these punishments is to educate the public on the issue of piracy.
[via Torrent Freak]
Verizon to throttle repeat BitTorrent offenders is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
A group of musicians, producers, and labels is going after CBS-owned Download.com for hosting BitTorrent clients like uTorrent. This, after the same group has been trying to sue the company for profiting from the distribution of LimeWire. Ugh, why, absolute foolishness. More »
Kim Dotcom has been hyping up Megaupload’s new website Mega for so long that it seemed like a given that the file sharing site would come back bigger and badder. But it doesn’t look likely because Me.ga has already been shut down by Gabon, a small country in Africa that controls the .ga domain. More »
MegaUpload has been down for almost a year now, but mastermind Kim Dotcom has had no intentions of letting it stay that way. Previously, he’s teased some details about a relaunch and the servers are bought and paid for. Now, we’ve got a date: January 19th, 2013, the one-year anniversary of the takedown. More »
The French government’s anti-P2P agency known as HADOPI, named after the HADOPI law, is set to lose 23% of its funding next year. Earlier this year, the agency took down its first offender under the law, which brings the banhammer (or a fine, situation dependent) on individuals who are issued three warnings regarding piracy. The HADOPI program will be extended into 2013 despite previous hints that this would be its last year.
Back in September, a French court said Alain Prevost had to pay a $194 fine for leaving his wifi network unsecured while ignoring warnings that were issued regarding piracy. The issue arose when his wife, who admitted guilt in court, downloaded two Rihanna songs. Prevost was the owner of the account used, and was thusly fined after stating that network was unsecured, incriminating himself.
According to the French government document “2013 Report on Indepedent Public Authorities,” HADOPI’s budget for 2013 is being cut from €10.3 million to €8 million. This is the third drop in a row, with the 2011 budget coming in at €11.4 million. This comes after a statement in August by the French Minister of Culture Aurelie Filippetti indicating that the program was going to get the kibosh.
The United States is slated to have a similar program in place this year called the Copyright Alert System. The CAS will utilize MarkMonitor to pinpoint piracy, and is funded by the five big ISPs: Verizon, AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable. Customers get six-strikes, and can appeal for a $35 fee, which is refunded if they win.
[via ars technica]
French anti-P2P Hadopi funding to drop 23% is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Today, we’re finding once again out that crime doesn’t pay – or at least it does for a little while until you get busted. One Nintendo counterfeiter, named James Success Brooks, is more than likely facing time in the slammer after Nintendo discovered he was selling counterfeit Wii and DS games online. According to Croydon Guardian, Brooks sold these games online between 2009 and 2011, raking in around £600,000 ($960,120) in the process.
That definitely isn’t chump change, so it’s no wonder that Nintendo went after him. Brooks found himself on the wrong end of an investigation carried out by the big N and the United Kingdom Interactive Entertainment Association after it came to Nintendo’s attention that an online retailer was selling unauthorized Nintendo goods. The two began buying these bogus products from various online retailers, and their investigation eventually brought them back to the mastermind behind the whole operation: Brooks.
According to Croydon Guardian, Brooks was charged “two counts of fraudulent trading, two counts of supplying an article to use in fraud, two counts of unauthorised possession of goods bearing a trademark and one count of unauthorised use of a trademark,” and appeared in court last Friday to plead guilty to all of the charges brought against him. He’s currently out on bail at the moment, but he’ll be back in court soon enough – he’s scheduled to go back in front of judge on Friday, November 9 to receive sentencing.
Don’t expect the court to just let him off with a slap on the wrist either. As we said, making nearly $1 million from the sale of bogus products isn’t anything to scoff at, so it’s almost certain that he’ll be thrown in jail. This shows that Nintendo is obviously taking this anti-piracy thing seriously, so it may not be the best idea to hit up those Super Mario Galaxy torrents you’ve been eyeing.
Nintendo counterfeiter likely on the way to jail after making $1m in sales is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
From the ashes of Megaupload, Kim Dotcom is launching a new file-sharing service: Mega. Mega is like Megaupload but will be safe from raids and government interference because it has “ironclad safe harbors” in place to protect Mega. How does it work? More »
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