• Rart

    Judge: IP-Address is not a Person and Can't Identify a Bittorrent Pirate 

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    Rart
    Published on 03-25-2014 05:55 PM
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    An important ruling in Florida has made it more difficult for copyright holders to extract cash settlements from alleged BitTorrent pirates. District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro dismissed a lawsuit filed by Malibu Media, arguing that the IP-address evidence can't identify the person who actually downloaded the pirated file.

    Over the past several years hundreds of thousands of alleged BitTorrent pirates have been sued by so-called ‘copyright trolls’ in the United States.

    The rightsholders bringing these cases generally rely on an IP address as evidence. They then ask the courts to grant a subpoena, forcing Internet providers to hand over the personal details of the associated account holder.

    The problem, however, is that the person listed as the account holder is often not the person who downloaded the infringing material. Although not many judges address this crucial issue early on, there are exceptions, such as the one raised by Florida District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro. ...
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    Google: Piracy is an availability and pricing problem 

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    Rart
    Published on 03-10-2014 11:07 PM
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    In a recommendation to the Australian Government, Google warns that draconian anti-piracy measures could prove counterproductive. Instead, the Government should promote new business models. "There is significant, credible evidence emerging that online piracy is primarily an availability and pricing problem," Google states.

    As in many other countries, online piracy is causing headaches for the Australian Government. A variety of anti-piracy strategies to deal with the problem have been suggested in recent years, but thus far without result.

    Late last year Australia’s Minister for Communication invited several companies to share their thoughts on the reduction of regulation in the communication sector. The minister asked for input on a variety of issues including future legislation regarding copyright.

    One of the companies that responded is Google, and TorrentFreak has obtained a previously unpublished copy of the company’s response. ...
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    Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker To Lock Out Refill Market 

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    Rart
    Published on 03-03-2014 05:31 PM
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    The single coffee cup craze has been rolling now for several years in both the United States and Canada, with Keurig, Tassimo, and Nespresso all battling it out to lock down the market. In order to protect their dominant market share, Keurig makers Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has been on a bit of an aggressive tear of late. As with computer printers, getting the device in the home is simply a gateway to where the real money is: refills. But Keurig has faced the "problem" in recent years of third-party pod refills that often retail for 5-25% less than what Keurig charges. As people look to cut costs, there has also been a growing market for reusable pods that generally run anywhere from five to fifteen dollars. ...
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    The internet is fucked (but we can fix it) 

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    Rart
    Published on 02-25-2014 08:35 PM
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    Here’s a simple truth: the internet has radically changed the world. Over the course of the past 20 years, the idea of networking all the world’s computers has gone from a research science pipe dream to a necessary condition of economic and social development, from government and university labs to kitchen tables and city streets. We are all travelers now, desperate souls searching for a signal to connect us all. It is awesome.

    And we’re fucking everything up.

    Massive companies like AT&T and Comcast have spent the first two months of 2014 boldly announcing plans to close and control the internet through additional fees, pay-to-play schemes, and sheer brutal size — all while the legal rules designed to protect against these kinds of abuses were struck down in court for basically making too much sense. “Broadband providers represent a threat to internet openness,” concluded Judge David Tatel in Verizon’s case against the FCC’s Open Internet order, adding that the FCC had provided ample evidence of internet companies abusing their market power and had made “a rational connection between the facts found and the choices made.” Verizon argued strenuously, but had offered the court “no persuasive reason to question that judgement.” ...
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    Comcast to buy Time Warner for $159 per share 

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    Rart
    Published on 02-13-2014 06:22 AM
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    Comcast is set to buy Time Warner Cable in an all-stock deal that values Time Warner at $159 per share, CNBC's David Faber reports on Twitter.

    At $159, Comcast would be paying an 18% premium to today's closing price. It would value Time Warner Cable at ~$45 billion. Comcast is valued at $146.5 billion.

    This would make one gigantic cable company.

    Comcast is the biggest cable provider in the U.S. with 23 million subscribers. Time Warner is the second biggest with 12 million subscribers. The next closest is Cox with 4.6 million subs. (All numbers from Wikipedia.) Satellite company DirecTV has 20 million subscribers. ...
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    Don't panic, but that public Wi-Fi comes from ... inside your house 

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    Rart
    Published on 02-05-2014 07:33 PM
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    When Comcast asked Ronaldo Boschulte to swap out his malfunctioning broadband modem and Wi-Fi router with an all-new model late last year, he didn't know the Internet device was a high-tech Trojan horse of sorts.

    Comcast fessed up a bit later in an email to the Maple Grove man.

    The new Xfinity-branded modem and Wi-Fi router also works as a public Wi-Fi hotspot.

    This means any Comcast subscribers within range can gain access to the Internet, via the router, simply by tapping in their Xfinity credentials.

    “I didn't know it had a hotspot” feature, the accountant said. “That was pretty much a surprise.”

    Boschulte has plenty of company in this regard — and not all are thrilled about it. Some Xfinity subscribers, when made aware of this public-hotspot feature embedded in their home routers, have reacted with a mixture of apprehension and suspicion. Others say they like it. ...
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    AT&T Patents Concept to Detect & Charge More For Certain Traffic 

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    Rart
    Published on 02-03-2014 05:36 AM
    1. Categories:
    2. FileSharing
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    A patent application by telecoms giant AT&T details a traffic management system set to add a little more heat to the net neutrality debate. Rather than customers using their Internet connections to freely access any kind of data, the telecoms giant envisions a system in which subscribers engaged in "non-permissible" transfers, such as file-sharing and movie downloading, can be sanctioned or marked for increased billing.

    When a consumer subscribes to an Internet package, either at home or on a cellphone, it’s generally accepted that he can use it for whatever applications he likes, whether that’s web browsing, sending or receiving emails, watching video, or listening to music. ...
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    This Google Glass user went to the movies. Then he got interrogated for about four hours. 

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    Rart
    Published on 01-22-2014 06:43 AM
    1. Categories:
    2. FileSharing
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    Days after a California driver escaped a traffic conviction over wearing Google Glass behind the wheel, the search company's augmented-reality device is once again testing the law. On Saturday, an Ohio man was detained for several hours by federal agents who suspected him of recording "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" in his local movie theater using Glass's video function.

    "About an hour into the movie," Columbus-based Tiberiu Ungureanu told The Gadgeteer, "a guy comes near my seat, shoves a badge that had some sort of a shield on it, yanks the Google Glass off my face and says, 'follow me outside immediately.'" ...
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    Netflix Uses Pirate Sites to Determine What Shows to Buy 

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    Rart
    Published on 09-14-2013 07:11 PM   
    1. Categories:
    2. FileSharing,
    3. BitTorrent
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    This week Netflix rolled out its video streaming service in the Netherlands where it hopes to build a massive user base in the years to come. One of the keys to achieve this goal is getting the rights to the most popular movies and TV-shows, and this is where pirate sites come in. Netflix Vice President of Content Acquisition Kelly Merryman says that popularity on file-sharing platforms determines in part what TV-series the company buys. ...
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    Anti-Piracy Lawyers Accuse Blind Man of Downloading Porn 

    by
    Rart
    Published on 08-09-2011 09:21 PM   
    1. Categories:
    2. FileSharing
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    As the mass-lawsuits against BitTorrent users in the United States drag on, detail on the collateral damage this extortion-like scheme is costing becomes clear. It is likely that thousands of people have been wrongfully accused of sharing copyrighted material, yet they see no other option than to pay up. One of the cases that stands out is that of a Californian man who’s incapable of watching the adult film he is accused of sharing because he is legally blind.
    ...
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    Hollywood Studios Sued For Pirating A Movie Script 

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    Rart
    Published on 08-06-2011 11:15 PM   
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    Best-selling book author Joe Quirk is suing Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures because they allegedly ripped off the story from one of his books for their upcoming action movie Premium Rush. The author claims that the entire plot and several scenes were purposely copied from his book The Ultimate Rush, and he demands damages as well as a boycott of the film’s premiere.
    ...
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    Sinofsky shows off Windows 8 at D9 

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    Rart
    Published on 06-02-2011 05:18 PM   
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    Microsoft gave an early demonstration of the new look and capability of the next generation of Windows today at the D9 conference. ...
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    Eric Schmidt’s “Gang Of Four” Doesn’t Have Room for Microsoft 

    by
    Rart
    Published on 06-01-2011 03:44 AM   
    1. Categories:
    2. Internet
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    Google chairman Eric Schmidt says there are four companies dominating consumer technology today: His own, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. “It seems to me that there are four companies that are exploiting platform strategies really well.”

    What about Microsoft? Not a player, Schmidt tells Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at D9: “Microsoft is not driving the consumer revolution in the minds of the consumers.”
    ...
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