Is Facebook taking notes on how to deal with copyright infringement accusations from US Immigration and Customs (ICE) enforcement officials? It certainly seems that way, as the social network’s response to complaints seems to closely resemble the government agency’s domain seizure tactics.
Two weeks after cyberlocker Megaupload was seized by the U.S. Justice Department, the folks behind popular torrent site BTJunkie have opted to voluntarily pull the plug in the hopes they won't also be dragged through the legal system.
Yesterday, Sony released a statement warning permanent bans would be handed down to players who used hacks or played pirated software on their PlayStation 3 consoles. And today, the company made good on its word, sending out emails to alleged jailbreakers informing them their PSN accounts have been suspended indefinitely. However, one PS3 hacker speculates that Sony could accidentally target innocent users. A hacker could in theory, he claims, mislead Sony by substituting their jailbroken console's sent information with another console's.
Ending a two-year long legal battle, a court in Stockholm has quashed Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm's ability to appeal a verdict previously handed down against him in absentia. An easy decision, considering Svartholm didn't appear at this hearing either.
Despite being found guilty after her third trial, Minnesota mother Jammie Thomas-Rasset still has no interest in paying a $1.5 million fine to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
In an article run last Saturday in the Financial Times, Aaron Barr, CEO of security services firm HBGary Federal, claimed to have uncovered the identities of several leaders of the rogue online freedom-fighting group known as Anonymous. Group members, however, were unimpressed by Barr’s claims and have retaliated by posting over 50,000 of his firm’s emails in online torrent files, in addition to hijacking associated websites and social media accounts.
Radiohead may have given its 2007 In Rainbows music album away for free online, but music bloggers have recently received cease-and-desist notices to remove copyrighted music.
We would like to think that the lawyers that are prosecuting alleged copyright infringers are practicing what they preach, but it looks like one of the most high profile firms involved in such cases are just as guilty of stealing other’s work as those who are downloading illegal media.
LulzSec, just days after announcing a collaboration with the hacker collective Anonymous that would specifically target official government sites and agencies, has released what it's calling the first of many info dumps related to Operation Anti-Security: Chinga la Migra Bulletin #1.
A recently completed study has concluded that price, not moral corruption, is the driving force behind piracy, and that hard line criminal penalties and censorship tactics that many nations have adopted to help reduce the problem will not be effective.
Despite the aura of anonymity and secrecy that surrounds what they do, hackers are enjoying some uncommon attention lately. The obvious focus is George Hotz -- the outspoken hacker who became the main target of Sony's global anti-hacking, anti-piracy efforts this past January after jailbreaking the PlayStation 3 console. However, others hackers such as Alexander Egorenkov (graf_chokolo) and Waninkoko have made headlines, too. Unfortunately, the former's claim to fame is a 1 million Euro lawsuit filed by Sony after a police raid. Another hacker with no small amount of history in the PS3 hacking scene in Mathieulh. The Frenchman sparked controversy and drew ire when he announced he found an exploit for the latest PS3 firmware - 3.60 - but would not release it.
It seems that the Internet is capable of exacting some form of change. The large number of people who have been outwardly displaying their outrage over domain registrar GoDaddy's support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has caused the company to change their mind about supporting the legislation. The CEO of GoDaddy issued a statement on Friday informing the Internet of the company's updated stance on SOPA.
Anonymous, the vigilante group behind Operation Payback, is becoming increasingly bold as they successfully carry out more DDoS attacks against the websites of antipiracy agencies and advocates.
Police in the UK have reportedly arrested the operators of the music downloading application Mulve, an event that has prompted the permanent closure of the service.
A disclosure report indicates the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) invested around $430,000 for lobbying during the second quarter of 2010.
Last year, a Portuguese anti-piracy organization called ACAPOR reported the IP addresses of 2000 alleged file sharers to the Attorney General of Portugal. This week, the Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DIAP) released a statement saying that there...
