Scrap Digital Britain, three-strikes coming our way

There were many reasons to believe that the UK would not be seeing any three-strikes legislation against file-sharing. First, the European Union had declared that it was a bad idea. Second, HADOPI had been declared unconstitutional in France. But most importantly, the Digital Britain report had considered that the proposal was unworkable, and favoured other [...]

It’s the business model, stupid!

A common argument used by those opposed to maximalist copyright reform and excessive copyright enforcement is that the answer to the problem of illegal downloads is not to sue customers and enact more restrictive legislation, but to seek out new business models. While the industry has claimed that it has continued following both approaches, it [...]

Downloads and sales: where is the evidence?

Feargal Sharkey has taken on one of those jobs that attract almost universal derision. The former vocalist for The Undertones has become the spokesperson for the UK music industry, a job akin to serving as the front for a kitten pie manufacturer in the eyes of many. Respect must go to him for taking on [...]

Viking pirates ahoy!

We've heard about the dangers of piracy before

Thank goodness for the Swedish Pirate Party. In the middle of a depressing political landscape across Europe that has seen far-right parties make some significant headways, the always-progressive Swedes have given one of their 18 European Parliament seats to the defenders of all things piratical. The [...]

Respecting fan use

After yesterday’s rant about journalists, it is fair that we highlight informed commentary. Billy Bragg has written a refreshing article calling on the music industry not to penalise fans with their misguided 3-strikes strategy. He comments that:

“Stating that a “write and sue” policy will not work is an admission that the current copyright law [...]

Three-strikes rejected by European Parliament, sort of

Good news everyone! The discussion on the Telecomms Package at the European Parliament has produced a good result against “three-strikes and you’re out” policies, as some of the measures that would involve cutting internet connection have been sent back to the negotiating table.I have not been keeping up with the minutiae of the procedure, but [...]

The end of piracy?

(via ORG-discuss list) Pirates, pirates, pirates. it’s all there is in the news lately. Pirates in Somalia, pirates in Sweden, pirates online, pirates in culture. We have pirates jumping out of our breakfast cereals it seems. Last week saw the pinnacle of hyperbolic coverage of piracy of the Internet sort when the Pirate Bay operators [...]

Pirate Bay 4 to serve criminal sentence

Edited February 2012: This old entry is getting a lot of hits from Google, so I have decided to update it. There was an appeal to the sentence described below on October 2010, which reduced the sentences. On January 2012, the Supreme Court of Justice of Sweden denied another appeal to have the convictions quashed. [...]

YouTube starts blocking music videos in the UK

This news item has been covered everywhere, but it is worth highlighting. YouTube has decided to blackout all of its official music videos as of yesterday in the UK due to a negotiating failure with the British Performing Right Society (PRS), the collecting agency for British writers and composers. YouTube claims: “Our previous licence from [...]

Why seeding is good for you

xkcd’s take on the PirateBay trial.

So kids, fire up your torrent clients and start seeding.