Data Retention Rules Rejected by the Czech Court
As law enforcement agencies and the entertainment industry joined hands to fight against file-sharing pirates, their rules and methods prove to be less than orthodox.
Many eyebrows were raised when this duo proposed to ISPs to “retain data” (of their users) for extensive periods of time, for different investigations, thus raising some ethical and technical issues vis-à-vis privacy rights.
However, the Czech Republic considered that privacy should not be neglected.
In a ruling in the Czech Constitutional Court, data retention rules have been ruled illegal, stating that this is a clear act of privacy violation.
Other countries – including Germany, Romania, Cyprus and Hungary – as pointed out in the article, had similar problems trying to implement the European Data Retention Directive; Sweden, Greece, Ireland and Austria said no to these rules as they come into conflict with privacy rights.
It’s clear that Europe stands tall against this wave of fire.
Ireland’s Job Minister to Change Copyright Laws
Richard Burton (photocredit: thejournal.ie)
Richard Burton, Ireland’s Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, started a process of copyright reform with the purpose of maximizing the potential of the country’s digital industry. His proposal is to review the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 in order to remove any barriers that might affect innovation.
In October last year, UPC won a court case over the implementation of “three strikes” rules against file-sharers, EMI, Universal, Warner and Sony playing the role of executioners. Presiding the case, Judge, Mr. Justice Peter Charleton held that laws looking to identify and disconnect copyright infringers were not enforceable in Ireland regardless of the record companies’ complaints.
However, hanging copyrights laws is viewed as harmful in terms of Ireland’s success in capturing some of the biggest names in the internet economy, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and many others.
Peter O’Grady Walshe – chairman of Xtra-Vision – declared to Siliconrepublic that:
“What is needed is a clarification added to the existing copyright laws that ‘reasonable steps are taken’ by purveyors of content to ensure that they take necessary action to ensure they are not the source of illegal or counterfeit content. That is all.”
Burton also said:
“I am determined that Government will make whatever changes are necessary to allow innovative digital companies to reach their full potential in Ireland. These companies make an enormous contribution to jobs and economic growth, and Government must do everything it can to allow them to flourish and expand in Ireland.”
“Some companies have indicated that the current copyright legislation does not cater well for the digital environment and actually creates barriers to innovation and to the establishment of new business models. Moving towards a US-style ‘fair use’ doctrine is one suggestion that has been made.”
“I am determined to respond to these suggestions in a comprehensive and timely manner. It is not wise to make changes to this extremely complex area of legislation without first considering the issues in detail.”
“Therefore, I have commenced a time-limited review of the law in the area to be conducted by three industry experts. The review will include a full consultation process with all relevant stakeholders, and the entire process will be complete within six months.”
“If they find that there are changes that can be made, within the confines of EU and other law in this area, which can enhance the environment for innovation by digital companies, I will move swiftly to act.”
Dr Eoin O’Dell of Trinity College, Dublin will chair the review committee and will include Prof Steven Hedley of University College Cork and Patricia McGovern of DFMG Solicitors.
Details of the review and the Terms of Reference are available online.
But nothing looks or is that easy. The “fair use” clauses were always there for noncommercial use; but if you went commercial, the monopoly always applied to you. What Ireland has come to realize is that the copyright monopoly is affecting business.
This is the first time when politicians openly conceded that the copyright monopoly is bad for business and the economy as a whole.
New File-Sharing Batch: Over 1,700 BitTorrent Users Sued
In the past few days an increase in copyright lawsuits has been noticed, as 1,756 yet to be identified BitTorrent users could be charged with copyright infringement.
Filed by p2p litigator Evan Stone a big part of the new lawsuits belongs to one plaintiff – Funimation Entertainment. The accused are alleged to have shared online “The Legend Is Born: IP Man” – a Hong Kong production.The rights to the North American distribution which include “theatrical, home entertainment, broadcast, digital and merchandising” rights have been recently acquired the US based Funimation.
Slyck reports:
We’ve noticed that with the WeFightPiracy.com lawsuits, only ~20-~150 Does are alleged in each lawsuit. The days of 1,000+ Doe lawsuits seemed to be over, but the US Copyright Group is working 20,000+ Doe lawsuits on both the Hurt Locker and The Expendables.
In the complaint you can read that the City of Madison and City of Thomasville Utilities are both alleged.
In a distant second was the adult entertainment firm (out of New York) Boy Racer. Two separate complaints were filed, one that alleges 98 Does shared “LA Pink”, and the other claims 73 illegally shared “Burning Angel – Krysta POV”.
Both cases were filed by WeFightPiracy.com in US District Court in northern California.
Hard Drive Production also filled two separate complaints, one against 80 Does and the other against 58 Does. Although the titles of the work were not documented, previous complaints point to the “Amateur Allue” series.
Last was Pacific Century International LTD, who filed a copyright complaint against 101 Does in US District Court in Oakland California. The specific title in question isn’t available, however, the previous complaint that Pacific filed was over the “Amateur Creampies” series. This complaint was filed by WeFightPiracy.com.
File-Sharing: Bringing Artists Together
Whether you like it or not, filesharing’s huge impact in the digital era has led undeniably to irreversible changes on both internet and music industry. With respect to the latter, many solo artists across the world have been given the opportunity to collaborate and create music together in a way made possible exactly by the phenomenon so blamed for the decline of recording industry. If the benefits of filesharing, so obvious for most of us, are still refuted by some, this can only be due to mental rigidness or heavy pecuniary interests opposing innovation.
Soki2u is the perfect example of how musicians can embark upon a common project regardless of their location thanks to filesharing. Night Shift, this collective’s 3rd EP, celebrates once again the beauty of such joint experiments and had many enthusiasts welcome it (Indie-Music.com especially).
From press release:
Founded in 2006, Soki2u is a fluid collective of independent, solo musicians living in the UK, South Korea, South Africa and France. A healthy response to their three EPs – Vortex (2007), Seeing Faces (2008) and Night Shift (October 2010) – along with several tracks in various genres topping unsigned charts in the UK and in Japan, demonstrates that thanks to file sharing on the internet, it is no longer necessary for members of a collective to necessarily be based in the same town, let alone the same continent.
Reviews of the output of Soki2u liken the EPs to ‘David Lynch B-movie soundtracks’, because of the wide variety of genres encapsulated in each album. ‘Each musician writes, performs and records his or her own tracks, and these are then collectively produced in London’, says co-founder Derek Schuurman, who met the various participants through friends or via internet music sites such as Myspace or Bandmix.
Top 10 Most Downloaded Movies on BitTorrent
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Downloads, File-Sharing Programs, Networks & Services, Movies, MP3, Digital Audio & Games, Tops
TorrentFreak has published the data they collected with the top 10 most shared movies on BitTorrent for the week ended May 29. All the films included in this chart are DVDrips (unless mentioned otherwise).
The action-drama ‘Unknown’ showing Liam Neeson in top shape enters this week’s chart straight to # 1. ‘Drive Angry’ drops to second position while ‘I Am Number Four’ holds on to third spot.
This week’s list features three new entries.
| Ranking | (last week) | Movie | Rating / Trailer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (8) | Unknown | 7.1/trailer |
| 2 | (…) | Drive Angry | 6.1/trailer |
| 3 | (1) | I Am Number Four | 6.5/ trailer |
| 4 | (…) | Hall Pass |
6.0/ trailer |
| 5 | (4) | Rango (DVDscr) | 7.7/ trailer |
| 6 | (2) | Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (TS) | 7.2/ trailer |
| 7 | (5) | Just Go With It | 6.3/ trailer |
| 8 | (2) | Limitless (R5) | 7.3/trailer |
| 9 | (7) | Kill the Irishman | 7.1/ trailer |
| 10 | (3) | Rio (R5) | 7.5/trailer |
(via TorrentFreak)
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