Group items tagged

"Owning Time Warner would boost AT&T media ambitions, raise competition concerns. Jon Brodkin (US) - Oct 22, 2016 11:35 am UTC"

Ernesto on August 27, 2016 C: 78 News The U.S. Copyright Office is considering expanding the mandatory deposit requirement for publishers, so that record labels would also have to submit their online-only music to the Library of Congress. The Library would then allow the public to access the music. The RIAA, however, warns that this plan introduces some serious piracy concerns.

" Ernesto on July 8, 2016 C: 16 News Various music and movie industry groups have warned that fair use exceptions are a threat. The groups were responding to proposals put forward in Australia by the Government's Productivity Commission. They claim that content creators will be severely disadvantaged if fair use is introduced Down Under. "

" By Ernesto on June 23, 2016 C: 170 News MPAA Chairman and CEO Chris Dodd fears that Europe's plans to limit geo-blocking will "cause great harm" to the movie industry. In a keynote address at the CineEurope convention, Dodd warned that broad access to movies and TV-shows will result in fewer films and higher prices for consumers."

"01 DYSFUNCTIONAL & NOT FIT FOR THE DIGITAL WORLD Copyright reform is needed to adapt to the digital world we live in. Under the current system everything tends to fall under copyright unless it is covered by a specific exception in the law. The trouble is that these exceptions are narrow, specific and technologically outdated: the list was written in 2001! This was well before YouTube and Facebook were created. As a result, everyday habits of online users could be considered illegal today. A blogger linking to copyrighted content, a meme based on a copyrighted image, a video with some footage from an existing movie or a song: all of that could create issues for the user that posted them."

"01 DYSFUNCTIONAL & NOT FIT FOR THE DIGITAL WORLD Copyright reform is needed to adapt to the digital world we live in. Under the current system everything tends to fall under copyright unless it is covered by a specific exception in the law. The trouble is that these exceptions are narrow, specific and technologically outdated: the list was written in 2001! This was well before YouTube and Facebook were created. As a result, everyday habits of online users could be considered illegal today. A blogger linking to copyrighted content, a meme based on a copyrighted image, a video with some footage from an existing movie or a song: all of that could create issues for the user that posted them."

"Techdirt has written many times about the way in which copyright only ever seems to get stronger, and how different jurisdictions point to other examples of excessive copyright to justify making their own just as bad. In Chile, there's an interesting example of that kind of copyright ratchet being applied in the same country but to different domains. It concerns audiovisual works, and aims to give directors, screenwriters and others new rights to "match" those that others enjoy"

"Techdirt has written many times about the way in which copyright only ever seems to get stronger, and how different jurisdictions point to other examples of excessive copyright to justify making their own just as bad. In Chile, there's an interesting example of that kind of copyright ratchet being applied in the same country but to different domains. It concerns audiovisual works, and aims to give directors, screenwriters and others new rights to "match" those that others enjoy"

" By Andy on May 7, 2016 C: 27 News The boss of a prominent ISP in Sweden has criticized moves by the government which could criminalize hundreds of thousands of Internet users. Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung says the country is stuck in the past when it calls for harsher punishments for file-sharing and should instead concentrate on developing better legal options."

" By Andy on May 7, 2016 C: 27 News The boss of a prominent ISP in Sweden has criticized moves by the government which could criminalize hundreds of thousands of Internet users. Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung says the country is stuck in the past when it calls for harsher punishments for file-sharing and should instead concentrate on developing better legal options."

"Submitted by Zak Rogoff on April 29, 2016 - 8:54am Just a quick reminder that the International Day Against DRM is coming up this Tuesday, May 3rd. This is the tenth anniversary of the Day, and we're burning the candle at both ends, winding for up for a momentous day of "

"Submitted by Zak Rogoff on April 29, 2016 - 8:54am Just a quick reminder that the International Day Against DRM is coming up this Tuesday, May 3rd. This is the tenth anniversary of the Day, and we're burning the candle at both ends, winding for up for a momentous day of "

" By Andy on April 8, 2016 C: 43 News Young people are often the group most closely associated with consumption of illegal content yet the results of a new survey just published by the EU Intellectual Property Office paints them in a fairly reasonable light. While 38% of young European pirates see nothing wrong in piracy, just 5% exclusively use pirate sources."

" By Andy on February 14, 2016 C: 17 News Last month we were alerted to a beautiful site that merged the smart looks and playlists of Spotify with the music of YouTube to make a very decent free streaming service. Little did we know that almost anyone can put together a similar platform in minutes, all for an initial outlay of just $38."

"from the free-culture-matters dept We're back again with another in our weekly reading list posts of books we think our community will find interesting and thought provoking. Once again, buying the book via the Amazon links in this story also helps support Techdirt. "

"Author Info Jonathan Lee () (Queen's University) Registered author(s): Abstract This paper quantifies the relationship between private-network file sharing activity and music sales in the BitTorrent era. Using a panel dataset of 2,251 albums' U.S. sales and file sharing downloads on a private network during 2008, I estimate the effect of file sharing on album sales. Exogenous shocks to file sharing capacity address the simultaneity problem. In theory, piracy could crowd out legitimate sales by building file sharing capacity, but could also increase sales through word-of-mouth. I find evidence that additional file sharing decreases physical sales but increases digital sales for top-tier artists, though the effects are modest. I also find that file sharing may help mid-tier artists and substantially harms bottom-tier artists, suggesting that file sharing enables consumers to better discern quality among lesser-known artists."

Ernesto on January 21, 2016 C: 18 News A new academic paper published by the Economics Department of Queen's University examines the link between BitTorrent downloads and music album sales. The study shows that depending on the circumstances, piracy can hurt sales or give it a boost through free promotion.

"Submitted on 9 Dec 2015 - 18:17 copyright creative contribution free speech Net filtering Andrus Ansip Günther Oettinger press release Printer-friendly version Français Paris, 9 December 2015 - Today, the European Commission has presented its proposal to reform copyright law in the European Union. This package includes a proposal for a regulation on portability of online services, as well as a communication to announcing future reforms to follow in 2016. The European Commission has thus confirmed that it does not wish to reopen the file on the InfoSoc directive 1, reflecting its reluctance and lack of ambition on this issue."

" By Ernesto on December 5, 2015 C: 1 Opinion Today we bring you the second episode of the Steal This Show podcast, discussing the latest file-sharing and copyright news. In this episode we talk about anti-piracy campaigns and why a group of academics are promoting file-sharing, among other things."

" Rick Falkvinge on November 29, 2015 C: 164 Opinion With a lot of people streaming music and video from services such as Spotify, Pandora and Netflix, torrenting is less of a visible conflict than ten years ago. But similar fights continue in the shape of net neutrality and privacy, with the same values: it was never about the money."

"Several significant copyright milestones were reached earlier this year. The first key movement was that Congressional hearings began on reforming the copyright law. "

[This could be one of the biggest albums ever, in the history of the recording industry. But it won't be available on Spotify, Apple Music, or other streaming music platforms. ...]

" Andy on November 8, 2015 C: 79 Opinion How does YTS, one of the most organized and notorious public torrent sites, strike a deal with Hollywood despite being listed as a notorious market by the U.S. government? We're all curious to know more, but spare a thought for Kim Dotcom. He's in the same country as the YTS operator but faces decades behind bars."

All Things Open interview with Kaitlin Devine, 18F "Keep an eye on govcode.org-it pulls GitHub issues from lots of government repos, and it's a great place to get started if you want to contribute. Also follow @newgovrepos if you want to see new government repos as they appear on GitHub. Don't forget that repos aren't just for code-you can file issues and give feedback on government services even if you don't code."

All Things Open interview with Kaitlin Devine, 18F "Keep an eye on govcode.org-it pulls GitHub issues from lots of government repos, and it's a great place to get started if you want to contribute. Also follow @newgovrepos if you want to see new government repos as they appear on GitHub. Don't forget that repos aren't just for code-you can file issues and give feedback on government services even if you don't code."