Wrapping it up

Wrapping it up!

This is the final blog in our series on online piracy. Thank you for following and leaving comments. The blogs and the project may be coming to a close, but the issue is not. Current and proposed legislation is likely to broaden the scope of what is considered copyright infringement and set precedents for heavy fines or worse for offenders.
There will always be the battle, however, of who will police the legislation and how far reaching do the regulations have to go before they infringe in the citizens constitutional rights to privacy. The RIAA and the MPAA still want deep legislation and the internet wants more of a self policing type of regulatory system.
Recent DMCA court cases have tended to favor the defendant in a manner that requires the party bringing the take-down notice to have a real and substantial reason for doing so. See Lenz v Universal here.
The internet is packed with arguments defending both sides of the political issue of how do deal with copyright infringement. The RIAA has an entire section of their website devoted to education about music piracy. YouTube is saturated with user videos about defending the right to a free internet. Some of which have been used in this series.

Here are a few extra things worth checking out........
The Artist Bill of Rights.... http://artists-bill-of-rights.org

Answers to copying for personal use....... http://www.lawguru.com/legal-questions/-/vhs-video-hold-proof-purchase-335845093/

Department of Justice court actions........... http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2013/01/04/6829199.htm

Trade wars and government intervention......http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/opinion/a-new-front-in-global-trade-wars.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

and check out these case.......http://www.dmcahandbook.com

These links were extras that we came across in our research, but didn't really fit into any catagory of our outline.


Remember, pirates are the large corporations that steal software, they are the companies that steal movies and records and resell them, and they are the individuals who download music illegally.
Piracy will always be a problem in the same way as drug trafficking and illegal firearms sales. All we can hope to do is slow down the pirates, educate the users on the perils of using pirated goods (viruses and the like), and hope that legislators and enforcement agencies deal out punishment that is justifiable and commensurate to the degree of the infringement.

Kid Rock Piracy PSA

WARNING: This video contains language that might be offensive to some viewers.

 We covered who the pirates are, what is being pirated, and legislative attempts to curb piracy. We outlined and provided you with an avenue to report piracy and some of the pitfalls of using pirated goods. We brought to you some of the injustices like Aaron Schwartz and some of the protests like Google and Wikipedia.
In the end, whether you download music for free or if you are selling stolen copies of Avatar, you are hurting the economy to some degree and risking damage to your hardware and face fines and hard time.
You make the choice.
Thank you for reading and commenting on our blogs.
Justin, Lloyd, Doug, Michael and Curtis

BSA.org

Can Online Piracy Be Stopped?

The BSA (Business Software Alliance) established in 1988, is made up of several of the world's largest software makers. Its primary objective is to stop software copyright infringement of its member’s products.

http://www.compuchannel.net/2010/04/20/la-bsa-nombra-representante-en-el-salvador/

Two of the campaigns they have used are "Play it Cyber Safe" and "Bust your Boss".

http://wendy.seltzer.org/blog/archives/2004/08/10/copyright_crusading_with_the_bsas_cyber_ferret.html

The "Play it Cyber Safe" campaigned is directed at students. They are trying to educate students to what copyright laws are and why they should be using legal software instead of pirated software. This approach is trying to teach students that integrity and honesty is essential in all areas of life.

This campaigned can enlighten the students to how piracy affects not only the individual, but also the companies personnel that produce and manufacture the products. If people don't buy the product because they can get it from friends, then this has an economic effect on the companies that produce and manufacture the products as well as the people who are employed by these companies and their families.

The "Bust your Boss" campaign is directed at current and former employees that have knowledge of their organizations using pirated software. They are trying to show business owners the importance of not using pirated software.

http://www.plixer.com/blog/netflow/nail-your-boss-with-netflow/

This campaign is a little more tricky, since a disgruntle worker could cause a current or former employee a headache with the BSA by accusing them of using Pirated software, which would spurn an investigation and disrupt their services even if they were not using pirated software. On the flip side this would catch some of the companies that are getting away with using pirated software in order to lower their IT overhead.

Does a small company have the right to use the same licensed program on 3-6 computers? Or should they also be held to the same scrutiny as the large companies? 

 

Kris Mukai

 STOPPING online piracy is like playing the world’s largest game of Whack-A-Mole. Hit one, countless others appear. Quickly. And the mallet is heavy and slow. In the arcade version of Whack-A-Mole, the game eventually ends — often when the player loses. In the piracy arms-race version, there doesn’t seem to be a conclusion. Sooner or later, the people who still believe they can hit the moles with their slow mallets might realize that their time would be better spent playing an entirely different game.

- Nick Bilton(The New York Times)

Internet Pirates Will Always Win  (August 4, 2012)

How To Fix Online Piracy  is an article in Forbes from 2011 That gives a look at SOPA but more importantly tries to instill hope that although online piracy may never go away, it can at least be slowed down and curbed.

To learn more please visit bsa.org

 

Next time: Wrapping it up 

Fair Use

As software industries continue to grow and become multi-billion dollar companies, some of the unethical entrepreneurs take it upon themselves to distribute pirated software to  make money.  According to Operation Fast Link, which is the largest program to take action against pirates, it has confiscated more than $50 million worth of pirated media from these "entrepreneurs" from 2004-2006.  It is against the law to copy copyrighted software without the permission of the copyholder, even if you aren't making profit off of it.  The only exception is if copies are made for educational purposes, which falls under the United States fair use laws.

Under current U.S. law, fair use allows for the reproduction of a particular work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.  There are four factors specified in the copyright act that must be met when claiming fair use:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.

2. The nature of the copyrighted work.

3. Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.

4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

It is of course not applicable to the illegal production and selling of copyrighted software.  The problem is determining whether or not it is fair use or not, of course it's not if it is being sold for profit but what about when it isn't?  For instance, is Pinterest violating copyright laws by allowing users to pin images to their page?  It seems to some people that they are in violation of copyright laws.  In their terms of service, Pinterest points copyright violations to the users.  Although fair use laws allow for low resolution thumbnail photos to be used for education and satire but a lot of users use high resolution images for their boards.  If Pinterest is challenged, they could avoid liability by pointing lawyers to the user who posted the content.

Source: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/copyright/copyright101


Check out this video...Fair Use and a whole lot more......

Next time:  Can piracy be stopped?

Aaron Schwartz

The recent suicide of internet prodigy Aaron Schwartz has opened the door for re-valuation of everything he has fought for and created, as well as, the question of stealing, a common theme in piracy.

For those who are unaware, Schwartz was the co-founder of Reddit, assisted with the college goes to site Wikipedia and towards the end of his short life co founded Demand Progress, an activist group against online censorship.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/12/us/new-york-reddit-founder-suicide

 “In 2011, he was arrested in Boston for alleged computer fraud and illegally obtaining documents from protected computers. He was later indicted in an incident in which he allegedly stole millions of online documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” (Martinez)

His arrest was one of the biggest examples of government verse pirates. It raised the question- what is stealing and how do we define it.  For Schwartz, this was his second major “run in” with the government. Prior he was released from charges for hacking a US government website and releasing documents because technically the documents were public property and therefore free.

The issue in question was Schwartz motive with the documents. It is believed they were to be placed on a p2p sharing website. So where is the line drawn? Where does it stop from sharing amongst users to stealing? Would we consider his actions stealing?

In essence yes- they are owned by  MIT and therefore his actions could be considered stealing. But this opens the door to “private” in the Internet.  This is what is being puzzled over since his death.  Many argue that the death of Schwartz was due to the prosecutors trying to set an example through Swartz. Even if this is true, a true internet prodigy and anti censorship activist has created a stain on the control of the internet. Many are opposed and those who were unaware , now know about the many actions the government is trying to take. His death has everyone talking and the control of the internet is going to be a hot topic for many years.  

Next time:  Fair use and royalties

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/12/us/new-york-reddit-founder-suicide

OPEN and CISPA

If you've read through some of our posts, you now know what SOPA and PIPA stand for and what their intentions are.  I now want to explain to you the OPEN act.  It is formally known as the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act.  It was introduced in the Senate on December 17, 2011 and introduced in the House on January 18, 2012.

The OPEN Act was introduced as an alternative to the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).  The OPEN Act seeks to stop transfers of money to foreign websites whose primary purpose is piracy or counterfeiting, whereas SOPA and PIPA also seek to require Internet providers and search engines to redirect users away from viewing the sites.  PIPA proposed to do this by blocking the domain name resolution.  SOPA requires network providers to prevent access by it's subscribers located in the United States by blocking the IP address.

Source:  http://www.pcworld.com/article/248525/sopa_pipa_stalled_meet_the_open_act.html

 

According to Darrell Issa, who is the GOP's chief watchdog, “If the ITC investigation finds that a foreign registered website is ‘primarily’ and ‘willfully’ infringing on the IP rights of a U.S. rights holder, the commission would issue a cease and desist order that would compel payment processors, such as Paypal, and online advertising providers to cease doing business with the foreign site in question. This would cut off financial incentives for this illegal activity and deter these unfair imports from reaching the U.S. market.”

 

I would also like to touch on CISPA which stands for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.  CISPA is a proposed law that would allow for the sharing of internet traffic information between the US government and certain technology and manufacturing companies.  The purpose of CISPA is to help the U.S. government investigate cyber threats and ensure the security of networks against cyber attacks. 

 

The need for greater cyber security is important to both national security and the economy. We’re already at the point where an enormous amount of government and private business is transacted online and there are parts of our physical infrastructure, including power plants and transportation systems, that are vulnerable to cyber attacks.  CISPA was reintroduced on February 13, 2013 with a better infrastructure  to respond the cyber intrusions.

What do you guys think about all these cyber protection acts?  Is it too much or not enough?  I believe people will find loopholes or other ways to pirate.  I believe it is almost impossible to stop 100% of online piracy.  I do believe these are steps in the right direction and that this has been long overdue. 

 

Next time:  Aaron Swartz

 

 

 





SHUT DOWN THE INTERNET!

"Wikipedia, Reddit and about 10,000 other websites blacked out their pages Wednesday with messages warning of the dangers of the legislation and urging people to contact their congressional representatives."

 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/sopa-blackout-sopa-and-pipa-lose-three-co-sponsors-in-congress.html

 As we mentioned in a previous article, the webs reaction to SOPA/PIPA was quite negative and became quite animated. On January 18, 2012 Wikipedia, Google, Firefox and others protested the bills by shutting down parts of their respective websites. This is the story of that day............

Earlier, Doug told us what SOPA/PIPA was, two bills in Congress aimed at stopping internet piracy. The tech world regarded the language of the legislation to broad and gave the DOJ (Department of Justice)  to far reaching a power to shut down sites and would lead to censorship of the free internet.

In protest and perhaps to illustrate what a censored web would look like, on January 18, 2012 over 10,000 websites across the world wide web conducted some kind of self-censorship. Some sites restricted access and directed the user to a link to contact their congressmen. Others went black and shut down with a fixed message screen.

The protest gained worldwide media attention and some sites actually saw record hits. I remember this day as I was doing some study for an auditing class and needed information on Sarbanes-Oxley. Imagine my surprise when I went to Wikipedia and got a black screen and a request for my zip code.

 Many other websites, although in agreement with the protest, decided not to inconvenience their users. Sites such as Facebook and twitter posted links to congress and displayed support for the blacked out internet, but went short of shutting down themselves

 As a result of the blackouts, 3 co-sponsors of the bill withdrew their support. The internet community hailed the protest as a resounding success and shortly thereafter SOPA/PIPA was shelved and slated for future revision.

Screenshots and numbers courtesy of  http://sopastrike.com/numbers/

Next time: OPEN Act and other Legislation 

Online Pirates

What was the reaction to Online Pirates? 

The term online pirates makes one imagine Pirates of the Caribbean sailing the online web offering black market downloads. So who are these tough online pirates? Well look around you- it’s probably someone even only feet away.

According to a poll by Christian Student Monitor, in 2006, two thirds of college students reported that their music was downloaded illegally. (Mcgovern) It doesn’t just stop at college students. A large amount of the world illegally downloads music, books videos- everything. There is no specific market of people that are considered “pirates”.

Since there is such a large amount of “pirates”, the government over the past few years has been implementing a heavy crackdown on illegal downloading. Unfortunately , the more regulation the smarter the “pirates” are becoming. According to the New York Times,

“The way people download unauthorized content is changing. In the early days of music piracy, people transferred songs to their home or work computers. Now, with cloud-based sites, like Wuala, uTorrent and Tribler, people stream movies and music from third-party storage facilities, often to mobile devices and TV’s.” (Bilton)

This is just creating an easier environment for more people to join the ranks of online piracy and avoid getting caught. So does this mean that the world should cave in and find a way to market the online downloading for profit- is this the new trend and the new world?

Surprisingly the numbers are reducing, partly due to free legal downloading. According to CNET, “ the number of illegally downloaded songs from P2P services dropped by 26 percent in 2012 from 2011.” (Whitney) There are people in the online world that are weighing the costs and looking for easier and more legal alternatives.

So who are online pirates? That is a tough question. We feel comfortable saying that probably anyone who has access to the world wide web potentially illegally downloaded at some point in their life and future generations will too. So there are no Jack Sparrow type pirates in the online world- just your normal everyday civilians saving a few bucks.

 

Next time: Wikipedia and Google Shutdown