IFPI and RIAA Patronize Google With Anti-Piracy “Report Card”
The IFPI has told Google it must try harder with its copyright enforcement activities. In its patronizing teacher/student style “Report Card”, the music industry group says the search giant profits from digital piracy, puts up barriers to make life difficult for rightsholders, engages in destructive rhetoric and raises alarmist, self-serving criticism to any legislative proposal designed to thwart infringement.
When seeking to build mutually beneficial partnerships, one might think that the way to best achieve that is via mutual respect. What seems clear from the latest report from the IFPI, is that the best way to nurture a relationship with Google is to patronize and criticize the search engine in public. Read more...
One year in federal prison for X-Men Origins pirate
Unfortunately it’s the norm today that most movies will be uploaded to file sharing networks either before or shortly after their official release. For some reason the movie industry has readily targeted downloaders rather than trying to weed out who stole the movie in the first place. But for once, the right person looks to have been prosecuted–at least for the digital piracy.
In 2009, a copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine found its way on to Megaupload a month before it was due to appear in movie theaters. The so-called “workprint” copy was unfinished, so unfinished in fact, anyone viewing this copy saw green screens and wires attached to actors used to help with the more acrobatic movements during action scenes.
Hugh Jackman even commented on the leak, describing it as like getting a “Ferrari without a paint job.” Read more...