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copyright

YouTube privacy at risk in Google-Viacom ruling

Google scored a legal victory in keeping its search source code secret from Viacom, but YouTube users were not so fortunate with their privacy.

A federal judge ruled on Wednesday (PDF) that the search giant doesn't have to turn over the code to Viacom, which filed a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against Google in 2007.

In granting Google's motion for a protective order, U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton in Manhattan agreed with Google's characterization of the source code as a trade secret that can't be disclosed without risking the loss of business.

"… Read more

EMI sues Hi5, VideoEgg over user-uploaded videos

Some people might be embarrassed if their friends found an old copy of Mr. Big's "To be with you" or Paula Abdul's "Cold hearted (snake)" stashed away in their CD collection. But not EMI. They own those songs, and they want the world to know it.

The music giant is suing social-networking site Hi5, video advertising start-up VideoEgg, and 10 unnamed defendants for allegedly infringing on the copyrights of those and hundreds of other pop throwbacks.

The lawsuit alleges that Hi5 users have uploaded and disseminated hundreds of music videos the company owns rights … Read more

Jammie Thomas likely to get another day in court

A move's afoot to get a new trial for Jammie Thomas. She's the Minnesota woman a court ordered to pay the recording industry $222,000 for copyright violations related to sharing songs.

You may recall that the jury never found that Thomas had downloaded any music but had infringed by making the music available for others to download. So Friday the Electronic Frontier Foundation, along with a coalition of consumer and industry groups, said the court's judgment should be overturned because of erroneous instructions to the jury.

The headline here should be: EFF to court: Jammie Thomas … Read more

We will pay for music if you leave us alone

Ever since I interviewed the RIAA and wrote a column detailing the true nature of that horrible organization, I've kept myself abreast of all the news that shapes our understanding of piracy and anything that surrounds it.

And after reading an article in ArsTechnica earlier today where it cites a survey, which suggests that "people aged 14 to 24 still love their music and are willing to pay for it--but only on their own terms," I was excited to see what would happen next.

According to the survey by British Music Rights -- an organization that represents the music industry -- 80 percent of P2P users said they would gladly pay for a file-sharing service that allows them to download DRM-free songs as often as they'd like for a flat rate per month.

And although you may have expected British Music Rights to condemn the results of this study as more proof that we're living in a world of foolhardy pirates, the organization was actually quite happy with the outcome.

"The music industry should draw great optimism from this groundbreaking survey," said Feargal Sharkey, head of BMR. "First and foremost, it is quite clear that this young and tech-savvy demographic is as crazy about and engaged with music as any previous generation. Contrary to popular belief, they are also prepared to pay for it, too. But only if offered the services they want."… Read more

Canada to get tough on digital piracy

Legislation introduced in Canadian Parliament on Thursday would fine consumers about $500 in Canadian dollars for owning bootleg copies of digital music and up to $20,000 for posting copyrighted music to the Internet or giving away an iPod with music on it.

The changes are designed to bring the country's Copyright Act into the digital age. As it is today, the law does not allow people to copy music onto devices such as MP3 players or computers, according to TheStar.com.

Under the new law, consumers could copy a book, newspaper, or photograph that was legally acquired but … Read more

Anti-cruelty group sues over rodeo videos removed from YouTube

Last December, YouTube removed more than a dozen videos on the site that showed common practices at rodeos, such as tame horses being tasered to make them buck and calves being injured in roping contests and dragged off to die.

The videos, and the account of the nonprofit anti-cruelty group that posted them--Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK)--were removed from YouTube for about two weeks after the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association claimed they violated copyright under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

YouTube put them back up after SHARK convinced the site that the DMCA takedown notices were improper. … Read more

Will we steal the e-book? (Probably)

An article by Edward Wyatt in the New York Times discussed how the Amazon Kindle e-book reader was stirring unease at the BookExpo America trade show.

But excitement about the Kindle, which was introduced in November, also worries some publishing executives, who fear Amazon's still-growing power as a bookseller. Those executives note that Amazon currently sells most of its Kindle books to customers for a price well below what it pays publishers, and they anticipate that it will not be long before Amazon begins using the Kindle's popularity as a lever to demand that publishers cut prices.

I'… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 735: Ind_na Jo__es

Paramount is dropping sounds out of your movies; Canadian customs guards might be rifling through your laptop for ripped CDs; and aliens are real. See, now, it sounds like today's show is all made-up stories, but the first two things are true, and the last one is...well, I don't know, I guess it might be true. There's a guy in Denver who says he's got a video. YouTube it!

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 735

Comcast hijackers say they warned the company first http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/comcast-hijacke.html http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007034.htmlRead more

In Revision3 DOS outage, has Hollywood gone too far?

A company that legitimately distributes its video programming via peer-to-peer is shut down for three days last weekend after being pummeled with traffic. The likely culprit: a company paid by the major movie studios and record labels to fight piracy. What's wrong with this picture?

It was Memorial Day weekend and Revision3 was scrambling to get its Web TV network back up. Its servers were being bombarded with so much traffic, they were shut down in what is known as a denial-of-service outage. That meant no Diggnation or Tekzilla--popular Web shows for a generation of tech-savvy consumers who get … Read more