Maximum PC copyright RSS Feed

Movie Studios Sue an ISP and Seek to Disconnect Users Over BitTorrent Piracy

Justin Kerr — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:43:15 -0600

Seven of Hollywood’s most powerful studios which include Paramount, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros and Disney are working together to sue an Australian ISP and set a very scary precedent. iiNet, Australia’s third largest internet service provider has been largely credited with rolling out true broadband speeds to residents. Current connection speeds range anywhere from 1.5 to a not so shabby 24 Mbit/s. With all this speed however comes abuse, and allegedly a handful of its users have turned to torrents to saturate these beefy connections with copyright protected video. According to the movie studios represented by AFACT (Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft) iiNet is “failing to take reasonable steps, including enforcing its own terms and conditions, to prevent known unauthorized use of copies of the companies films and TV programs”.

Adrianne Pecotic, Executive Director of AFACT claims that they were forced to take action against iiNet seeing as they weren’t pursuing the issue aggressively enough. The studios are demanding that iiNet disconnect known infringers, an action the ISP has so far refused to do. According to an iiNet spokesman, “Our view is pretty straightforward. We don’t condone or support piracy in any form, and people who choose to pirate content should face the force of the law. This is an industry issue, and we’ve been talking with the IIA, and we’ll work with them in terms of handling it.”

iiNet’s CEO Michael Malone strongly disputes AFACT’s claims saying they have merely refused to disconnect users on the basis of an outside allegation. “We can’t go and kick the customer off on the basis of an allegation from someone else’.” The lawsuit was filed in Australia’s Federal Court on November 20th with the first hearings to being within 30 days. A finding in favor of the AFACT will only further empower the studios and might spark future lawsuits abroad.

So has Hollywood crossed the line? Hit the jump and sound off.

Google Settles Copyright Lawsuit with Book Publishers for Mass Scanning

Alex Castle — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:40:48 -0500

Google has been a major boon to researchers, with their efforts to scan and index just about everything, but they haven’t exactly endeared themselves to copyright holders, a state of affairs which had cumulated in a lawsuit against the search giant by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. Today, Google announced that they’ve reached an agreement that will allow them to continue their book digitization project with the cooperation of the authors and publishers.

The agreement states that Google will pay a hefty $125 million, mostly to establish a Book Rights Registry. The registry will allow copyright holders to identify themselves and receive royalties.

Under the agreement, users of Google Book Search will be able to view up to 20% of any indexed book for free, a big increase from the “snippets” available before. Users can also view a book in its entirety by paying a fee, which goes to the copyright holder through the Book Rights Registry.

Also, local libraries will be able to offer free access to the entire texts of all of Google’s 7 million (and growing) scanned books.

Right now the settlement will only affect users in the U.S., though Google says they’re attempting to reach similar agreements abroad.

Do you use Google Book Search? How will these changes affect you? Let us know after the jump.

Will Wright Comments on Spore DRM, Blames Corporate Overlords

Paul Lilly — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:53:31 -0500

Much has been made in the media over Spore's DRM scheme, which now limits gamers to five activations (recently pushed up from three activations amid an intense internet backlash). By and large, Electronic Arts has caught most of the criticism for saddling Spore with a modified version of SecuROM, arguably the most hated form of DRM in the gaming community. But should some of the ire be directed at Will Wright as well?

"It was something I probably should have tuned into more," Wright told Jim Reilly from Kotaku.com. "It was a corporate decision to go with DRM on Spore. They had a plan and the parameters, but now we're allowing more authentications and working with players to de-authenticate, which makes it more in line with iTunes. I think one of the most valid concerns about it was you could only install it so many times. For most players it's not an issue, it's a pretty small percentage, but some people do like wiping their hard disk and installing it 20 times or they want to play it 10 years later."

Take from that what you will. While it sounds like Wright has been drinking some of John Riccitiello's Kool-Aid, who recently downplayed DRM with claims that it's only an issue for 0.2 percent of gamers, at least Wright acknowledges the other side of the coin, which is that gamers tend to be enthusiasts who frequently change around their system.

Does EA deserve all the blame on this one? Hit the jump and let us know what you think.

99.8% of You Don't Care About DRM, Just Ask Electronic Arts

Paul Lilly — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:15:25 -0500

If you're a game publisher, what do you do when one of your most anticipated titles sparks an internet backlash over its DRM scheme resulting in thousands of Amazon user 'reviews' contributing to an abysmal 1.5 star rating with mostly vile comments, a cracked copy being made available since day 1, and encouragement from some to pirate the game as a form of protest? If you're EA, you rub salt in the wound while it's still fresh.

During an Q&A session at the Dow Jones/Nielson Media and Money Conference, EA Games CEO John Riccitiello downplayed all of the above with claims that the majority of gamers aren't bothered by DRM.

"We implemented a form of DRM and it's something that 99.8 percent of users wouldn't notice," Riccitiello said. "But for the other 0.2 percent, it became an issue and a number of them launched a cabal online to protest against it."

To be fair, EA didn't cast a completely deaf ear to the outcries and increased the number of allowable activations from three to five PCs. But that makes it all the more curious why Riccitiello would seemingly taunt gamers after throwing them bone.

Do you agree with Riccitiello in that the majority of gamers wouldn't have noticed the DRM scheme had a minority not protested so loudly, or do you view this as a slap in face? Hit the jump and sound off.

Copywriting Wrongs

Quinn Norton — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:00:00 -0500

With a presidential election around the corner, let’s look at how people pervert copyright law to squelch speech. Copyright takedown notices were never meant to stifle whistle-blowers or detractors, yet that’s become a popular use for them. Individual critics are likely to go broke even if they win a case, so people and ISPs tend to back down at lawyer point.

It's a cruel and efficient tactic, of which more after the jump.

Absolutely Scrabulous!

Thomas McDonald — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:00:00 -0500

There’s a game that’s become part of my daily regime. It’s one of the first things I do after firing up the laptop over my morning coffee and the last thing I do before shutting down the laptop with an evening gin. It never takes more than a few minutes, and I do it throughout the day, like answering email. In fact, it is answering email, except with little lettered tiles.

Yes, I am completely addicted to Scrabulous (www.scrabulous.com). Email games are certainly nothing new, but good, well-supported, free email games that a wide variety of people can play without any initial purchase are pretty rare.

Scrab on, after the jump!

EA Getting Slammed for Spore's Unintelligently Designed DRM

Paul Lilly — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:24:05 -0500

Had a chance to play Spore yet? If not, you're missing out on one of the most addicting games to be released in recent months, although you're far from being alone. For as much fun as it is to play Spore (and make no mistake, it's a crazy addicting game), what has long been an anticipated release is now being made an example of for any publisher considering using a similar DRM scheme.

Somewhere along the line, EA's brass decided it made good business sense to not only require online activation, but to limit its customers to only three activations. Exceed the number of activations and you'll need to get EA on the phone to request more. The idea, of course, is to stop or limit people from pirating the game, but not only has that already failed, but the three-activation limitation has the PC gaming community tossing pitchforks and torches in EA's direction.

Specifically, gamers have zoned in on Amazon as the meeting ground for their anti-DRM rally. In just over two days, Spore has been given an overall 1-star rating by nearly 2,000 angry gamers. They can do this, at least for the time being, because Amazon makes it possible to leave user reviews without actually having to buy the game, and that's exactly what has happened. Publishers, are you paying attention?

Are gamers who haven't purchased Spore justified in slamming the game in the form of a 'customer review,' or has EA brought this on themselves with its draconian DRM scheme? Hit the jump to post your thoughts.

Getting Away (from DMCA)

Quinn Norton — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:32:48 -0500

Who doesn’t love a Caribbean island? Imagine yourself on a beach in Antigua with a drink that comes in a hollow coconut. Beautiful women walk by. The sun begins to set, and you’ve just finished importing your DVD collection to a hard drive. It's good to be free from the DMCA.

Hit the jump for more fair-use vacation ideas!