A bipartisan group of US House lawmakers has introduced legislation aimed at curbing online piracy and counterfeiting on foreign websites, following the May 2011 introduction of similar legislation by the Senate. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (Republican, Texas) along with ranking member John Conyers (Democrat, Michigan) and Bob Goodlatte (Republican, Virginia), Chairman of […]
Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has called on the technology and creative communities to build on their partnership to keep the movie industry strong and combat the threat of piracy. Delivering the keynote address at the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers’ (SMPTE) Annual […]
BT has been given 14 days to block access to a website accused of promoting illegal filesharing “on a grand scale” by Hollywood studios, in the first high court ruling of its kind under UK copyright law. Justice Arnold handed down a written judgement to BT – which, with about 6 million customers, is the […]
A Moscow couple has been charged with distributing pirated movies over the Internet, contributing to estimated losses of $1.08 billion for studios and content owners. The charges, following a lengthy investigation, mark Russia’s first major Internet anti-piracy case focused on films. Russia’s deputy prosecutor general said the couple, working under the pseudonyms Ripper, Shturman, Nadezhda […]
Two Lancashire men who sold illegal Virgin Media set-top boxes have been told they must pay up £200,000 each, or spend longer in jail. Imran Khansia, 30, and Rafiq Dudhwala, 27, from the northwest England town of Blackburn, were part of a four-man gang given jail sentences that totalled just under 14 years. The boxes […]
Microsoft has recovered access to its You Tube channel after it was hacked over the weekend. Graham Cluley of security firm Sophos has reported that Redmond’s YouTube page had been hacked. All of Microsoft’s videos were taken down and replaced with videos calling on other YouTube users to upload their own or provide sponsorship. While […]
Measures to combat illegal accessing and sharing of copyright material online should reflect actual consumer behaviour, rather than impose ‘carrot and stick’ remedies, according to panellists at the Westminster eForum Keynote Seminar on implementing provisions of the the UK’s Digital Economy Act relating to site-blocking and termination of Internet access . Campbell Cowie, Director of […]
The US creative community is coming together in a national effort to protect jobs and American creativity by fighting back against the online theft of TV shows and movies. Creative America, a grassroots coalition formed by labour unions, guilds, studios and networks, has unveiled a nationwide campaign to unite the more than two million Americans […]
Sesame Street’s YouTube channel has been taken offline after hackers uploaded pornographic videos. A message posted alongside the adult videos stated: “Who doesn’t like porn kids?” The Sesame Street account was taken offline within 20 minutes of the problem being spotted. YouTube said: “Our Community Guidelines prohibit graphic content. As always, we remove inappropriate material […]
A leading member of Australia’s Federal Attorney-General’s department is backing the creation of a self-regulated industry code between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and rights holders to combat piracy issues. A growing number of rights holders, service providers, user groups and copyright experts consider an industry code would be preferable to further litigation or copyright legislation. […]