piracy

NBC finds formula for fighting piracy

NEW YORK--The days when anyone, anywhere could post a funny clip from Saturday Night Live or The Office on to YouTube and share them with millions of appreciative viewers are quickly disappearing.

Executives at NBC Universal say they have found a "template" for protecting videos from online piracy. By the looks of things, they might be right.

The company is seeing unprecedented success at removing unauthorized videos posted to the Web and cited last month's Olympic Games and the recent SNL skit with actress Tina Fey as proof. More than 99 percent of all the Internet video … Read more

EA retools 'Spore' DRM activation features

Faced with growing criticism about the way its newly released game Spore is activated on computers, gaming publishing giant Electronic Arts did a little retooling of its own.

EA has increased the number of computers that can be loaded with the game to five from three, despite earlier precautions with its digital rights management (DRM) policy intended to reduce piracy of its copyrighted software.

Spore, released two weeks ago featuring unlikely creatures that can be tailored to the user's liking, has altered other DRM limitations embedded in the software, the company announced.

Frank Gibeau, EA Games Label president, said … Read more

Piracy as a core business strategy

I don't think piracy is the salvation of the entertainment industry, but I think there's an interesting germ of an idea in this TechDirt article about Show of Hands and its dependency on piracy to drive business. As one band member suggests:

You may call this process "piracy" if you wish--for me it is an act of generosity and it both increases our audience size and record sales. And as I always say on the night--if you're going to do it anyway you may as well feel good about it! I believe the official term … Read more

MP3 Insider 111: A cornucopia of portable media

Donald and Jasmine discuss new touch-screen PVPs from Cowon, some sleek and slender Etymotic earphones, as well as wireless MP3 players and portable devices for those who like to live dangerously. The winner of the iHome ZN9 is also announced. Listen now: Download today's podcast

Episode 111

Cowon teases three new touch-screen PVPs

Etymotic hf5

Belkin GoStudio on-the-go recorder

Wireless MP3 players

Mophie Juice Pack for iPod Touch

MP3 players for pirates

*iHome ZN9 contest winner announced*

Yarrr! MP3 players for pirates

Let's get real. You know you've got some music and movies on your computer you can't exactly vouch for. Maybe you feel guilty about it, maybe you don't, but clearly there are plenty of folks out there who play a little fast and loose when it comes to ripping and sharing music and videos. For example, recent estimates show that 48 percent of the average teenager's iPod is made up of illegally obtained music.

There's at least a hundred different ways to find yourself on the wrong side of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. … Read more

Stealing Wi-Fi: If you can, you shouldn't

There are lots of things in life that I can do, but there is a more constrained number of things that I should do.

This post on Lifehacker about how to steal Wi-Fi access reminded me of one more "can but should not" item to add to the list.

Apparently, someone figured out a way to trick Wi-Fi networks at airports with a "?.jpg" addition to URLs. The access-gaining trick works only on those networks that "allow images to go through without a redirect," but that's not really the point. It's similar … Read more

Game pirates' response could have lessons for music biz

A couple weeks ago, game developer Cliff Harris asked a simple question on his blog: why do you pirate my games? Then, he broke the responses down into several categories. Subtracting out the folks who view all intellectual property as theft or who admitted they're too broke or cheap to buy games--two groups which will never be convinced to pay--he found that most respondents thought his games are too expensive and not good enough, and that the demos were too short for them to feel confident they were going to get a reasonable value for the buck. Adding DRM … Read more

Bono blamed for unreleased U2 songs on Internet

The next time U2 manager Paul McGuinness wants to rant about music piracy on the Internet, he may have to add his own boss to his list of targets.

Four songs from the Irish rock band's forthcoming album found themselves on the Internet after U2 front man Bono was caught playing the songs a bit too loudly on his stereo at his villa in the south of France, according to a report in The Sun. An alert passerby on the beach is credited with recognizing the iconic singer's voice and recording what he was hearing. He then supposedly … Read more

Music industry's "suicide note"

Cory Doctorow writes far better op-ed pieces than fiction, and this one in The Guardian is a beautiful eulogy for the music industry. The music industry has struck a Faustian pact with ISPs to monitor copyright infringements, violating privacy and probably doing itself no favors with the public or its shareholders.

What it needs to do is simply work out an all-you-can-eat license for the ISPs that they could pass on to their customers. I'd happily have $10 or more added to my monthly cable Internet bill so that I can freely download songs. I currently buy them "by the drink" on iTunes, but a blanket license would be easier.

It would also return control to the music labels, control that they've ceded to Apple.

Cory writes:

Under the new scheme, the rule of law is replaced by a cosy inter-industry deal. Whereas before, anyone who wanted your ISP to spy on your internet connection would have had to show evidence to a judge and get a court order, now any joker who claims to be an aggrieved copyright holder can do so.… Read more