Tag: torrenting
  • Aug 22, 2016 |
  • Caleb Chen |
  • Copyright, General Privacy News, Governments,

In India, accessing a blocked website potentially carries a 3 year sentence

According to a government sanctioned warning on blocked torrent sites, using the Internet to access a blocked website in India could result in a ~$4,500 USD fine as well as imprisonment for 3 years. This is the same government that has denied Internet access to Jammu and Kashmir for over a month. Up until a … Continue reading “In India, accessing a blocked website potentially carries a 3 year sentence”

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  • Aug 18, 2016 |
  • Caleb Chen |
  • Copyright, General Privacy News, Governments,

Court rules that ISPs do not need to give up information on alleged pirates, copyright infringers

An American Internet Service Provider (ISP) has received validation that it does not have to give up personal details of alleged copyright infringers. The Eastern Virginia District Court has denied copyright holder BMG Rights Management a permanent injunction against Cox Communication that would force the ISP to match personally identifiable information such as email address, … Continue reading “Court rules that ISPs do not need to give up information on alleged pirates, copyright infringers”

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How copyright is irreparably, fundamentally incompatible with privacy

Copyright and privacy cannot coexist. Society is at a crossroads where only one of these will exist in the future, and the copyright industry has been working hard to erode privacy to protect its obsolete business. It’s time to acknowledge the conflict and accept that copyright enforcement need to be actively prevented in order to … Continue reading “How copyright is irreparably, fundamentally incompatible with privacy”

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BitTorrent is fifteen years old. What would a file sharing technology developed today look like?

BitTorrent was developed in 2001: today’s file-sharing technology predates the launch of Facebook, Twitter, and the iPhone. In those fifteen years, surveillance and repression technologies have advanced massively. If we designed file sharing today to keep up with these developments, sharing technology would be an uncensorable, untrackable, and unidentifiable peer-to-peer mesh network between mobile devices. … Continue reading “BitTorrent is fifteen years old. What would a file sharing technology developed today look like?”

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The utter futility of the legal attack on KickassTorrents

The operator of the torrent site KickassTorrents has been arrested in Poland on an extradition request from Hollywood, and the domains seized. This action, while deplorable, shows that the copyright industry is still some fifty years behind reality in its thinking: there are no central chokepoints you can control on the Internet, and the net … Continue reading “The utter futility of the legal attack on KickassTorrents”

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United Kingdom ignorant and clueless in pushing a ten-year prison sentence for unauthorized sharing: not even death penalty stops sharing

The United Kingdom appears to stubbornly move ahead with a ten year prison sentence for unauthorized sharing. This is not just counterproductive, but stupid and ineffective. Evidence shows that not even a horrible death penalty deters sharing between people: it’s a deeply inwired altruistic behavior. The UK seems hellbent on pandering to crumbling monopolies and … Continue reading “United Kingdom ignorant and clueless in pushing a ten-year prison sentence for unauthorized sharing: not even death penalty stops sharing”

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For first time, an ISP reveals why Police demand internet subscriber identities: ordinary file sharing is the most investigated “crime”

While the Police complain about shortage of resources, it turns out the most investigated “crime” on the net is ordinary people sharing music and movies with each other. This is in stark constrast to the everyday area person’s perception of justice, where the distribution monopoly laws command considerably less respect than even speed limits[1]. According … Continue reading “For first time, an ISP reveals why Police demand internet subscriber identities: ordinary file sharing is the most investigated “crime””

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Finally: Germany to abolish open wi-fi liability for users’ behavior

Germany’s ruling coalition has decided to abolish the liability for users’ copyright infringements and other behavior when operating an open wi-fi access point. This weird and anachronistic liability has seriously hampered the organic net growth in Germany, and was recently challenged at the European level. The revised law is expected to take effect as early … Continue reading “Finally: Germany to abolish open wi-fi liability for users’ behavior”

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  • Apr 12, 2016 |
  • Rick Falkvinge |
  • Copyright, General Privacy News, Surveillance,

So GCHQ is already spying on behalf of the copyright industry. Why isn’t there an outcry over this change of mission?

It was a little-noticed story in the Entertainment and Oddities section: The GCHQ is using its spying network to help the copyright industry prevent “unauthorized distribution of creative works” – meaning ordinary people sharing interesting things with each other. Yes, that spying network which was supposed to prevent horrible terror attacks, and only to prevent … Continue reading “So GCHQ is already spying on behalf of the copyright industry. Why isn’t there an outcry over this change of mission?”

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Supreme Court: Wikimedia violates copyright by posting its own photos of public, taxpayer-funded art

A ruling in the Swedish Supreme Court today establishes that Wikimedia, the publisher of Wikipedia, must pay compensation to the creators of original sculptures and monuments when publishing Wikimedia’s own photos of said sculptures and monuments. Note that this isn’t about using photos without permission; the photos are used with permission. It’s the fact that … Continue reading “Supreme Court: Wikimedia violates copyright by posting its own photos of public, taxpayer-funded art”

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