U.S. companies help piracy websites evade the law
U.S. based companies assist pirate websites by providing cover for their illegal piracy business while pocketing their own dirty money in the process.
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Category: Tech
Google tricks search users to redirect Amazon Smile charity donations
Amazon.com offers its users a small way to give back to a favorite charity by using the Amazon Smile portal instead of the regular site. When I make purchase via Amazon, I’m happy to know that .5% of my purchase goes to a charity of a my choice. The key to remember, to have a donation made, is to login through the Smile portal.
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YouTube continues to profit off the pain of others.
YouTube is a money machine for Google. While actual numbers are hard to come by, it’s estimated that the online video hub brings in upwards of $15 billion annually.With that much money at stake, it’s not surprising that its business model continues to put profits over people.
In 2015, following the on-air murder of a television reporter and her cameraman, gruesome videos of the event were quickly posted on YouTube with with ads alongside. I wrote a post about it at the time:
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New report on how (some) companies enable malware’s spread
U.S. firms enable scammers to bait consumers and steal personal info Spam and scams have become a...
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Is pirating a movie worth the malware risk? Most say “No.”
The threat of malware could turn people away from piracy Last week the Digital Citizens Alliance...
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First Look, Facebook’s New Rights Manager Tools
Facebook finally joins YouTube in offering anti-piracy content detection tools
Facebook has been promising for some time to introduce tools that would allow rights holders to automatically detect and remove pirated content from its pages.
The company has endured a lot of bad publicity around the freebooting of viral YouTube videos on its pages, but Facebook’s also long been a place where pirated movies and music found a cozy habitat. That is–until now. I’ve recently begun to utilize this tool to manage Facebook DMCA takedowns and wanted to share my first impressions, but first a bit of background.
First of all, I’m thrilled that Facebook, with all its resources, has finally begun to take copyright infringement seriously. In introducing the new tool last month the Facebook development team explained why the company had finally stepped up:
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Newhoff responds to Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde
The Illusion of More’s David Newhoff takes Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde to task
If you haven’t had the opportunity to read David Newhoff’s thoughts regarding Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde’s recent interview published on Motherboard please take the time to do so. It’s truly a must read. Sunde spent a brief time in prison in 2014 for his role in operating the notorious torrent site whose popularity spawned clones around the globe and gave rise to the well-entrenched meme that piracy was somehow morally and politically justifiable.
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Downloading free stuff online comes with a cost – Malware
Cybercriminals exploit pirates sites to spread malware & steal personal data
Piracy website operators have always been incentivized by the desire to make a buck, but with online advertisers and payment processors continuing to cut ties, thieves are finding other ways to make money off their content theft. The lure of “free” movies still attracts visitors like moths to a flame, but now, instead of being blanketed with ads served by Google, according to a new study, consumers who use pirate sites risk having their computers infected with nefarious malware.
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Copyright Au Courant – Piracy, Popcorn Time and Privacy
Lots of news in the copyright, piracy and privacy world of late. Here’s some worth a look:
First up, this thoughtful piece by Nelson Granados on Forbes.com “How Piracy Is Still Hurting The Filmmakers And Artists You Admire.” Granados takes direct aim at the fallacy that piracy doesn’t cause damage to Hollywood studios.
“Many think naively that studios cannot be hurt too much, because after all, you hear mostly about the movies that make hundreds of millions of dollars. But the reality for many filmmakers is that they often live on the edge, seeking financing to produce quality content, and enduring high uncertainty about whether they will be able to pay off debt and have any profit left. Given the high fixed cost of producing a quality movie, losses from piracy can be the difference between making a profit or not.”
He notes that a number of “peer-reviewed” studies quantify this damage. Bottom line, like any industry, Hollywood depends on making a return on its investment in order to stay alive. No matter what piracy apologists allege, that’s a basic economic fact. Granados also touches on the particular vulnerability faced by independent filmmakers.
Most artists struggle to make ends meet as they pursue their creative work with passion and dedication. Piracy may be tipping the next Quentin Tarantino over the financial edge into bankruptcy, and we will all lose.
As I’ve often said, we (consumers) won’t be aware of what we are missing if it isn’t made. Piracy’s damage can be insidious and, to the public, somewhat invisible, but ultimately it diminishes the quantity (and quality) of film offerings we have to choose from.
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Google hopes to see more Green with new YouTube Red
YouTube Red’s new subscription streaming service offers consumers (and pirates) ad free content to watch (and steal).
YouTube has decided to enter the subscription streaming fray with the announcement yesterday of its new (ad-free) premium channel, YouTube Red. Despite the unfortunate choice of a name —similar to a rather notorious porn site that has both the word “red” and “tube” in its title– YouTube is hoping its new endeavor will catch some of the ad-free streaming mojo enjoyed by the popular subscription based offerings of Netflix, HULU, and Amazon Prime. And, like the others, YouTube will develop its own slate of “YouTube Originals.”
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In supporting Aurous, EFF dismisses musicians’ right to earn a living
EFF comes to new music piracy app’s defense
By now many have heard the news that a much-anticipated “Popcorn Time” for music launched this week. Dubbed “Aurous,” the new app goads users into downloading the app with the catchline, “Enjoy music how you want to for free.” Unfortunately, as we all know, music is not free to create, nor should it be free to consume.
Andrew Sampson, developer of Aurous, claims his app is legal and compares its functionality to that of Google’s search engine. Of course we all know what Google’s record has been when it comes to linking to pirated content. Sampson told Billboard:
We’re pulling content from sources that are licensed. From a legal standpoint, what we’re doing is okay. All files are streamed from legitimate sources — we don’t host anything. We only share cached results over peer-to-peer…
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Copyright au courant for Friday, October 2nd.
Copyright Alliance’s new CEO takes over October, 1st.
First up in important copyright news, the Copyright Alliance’s new CEO Keith Kupferschmid takes the helm. Mr. Kupferschmid takes the reins from Sandra Aistars who has moved on to a new leadership role at George Mason University School of Law as both a professor and director of the law school’s Arts & Entertainment Advocacy Program.
I’d like to take a moment to thank Sandra for all her hard work on behalf on indie artists, filmmakers, musicians and more. Without her unwavering guidance these past few years, there’s no doubt in my mind that our rights as creators would have been further undermined. Working in the trenches in Washington, and being the target of anti-copyright activists online, is not an easy job, but it’s one which Sandra handed with professionalism and grace. I’m excited to see what she has planned for her new venture with George Mason University of Law and wish her all the best.
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