RIAA

[Analogman]

Pirate Bay faces Prince pressure, private investigators in foreign cars

 

By Nate Anderson | Published: November 18, 2007 - 11:30PM CT

 

In addition to facing the wrath of content owners around the world, The Pirate Bay's administrators have recently been facing a much more local threat: camera-toting investigators following them around in cars marked with Danish plates. Is Prince to blame?

 

Prince loves sticking it to the man

[howdjadoo]

It's just another strange day in the increasingly strange life of a Pirate Bay admin.

 

http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-las...raffiti-071116/

 

WILCO

 

on The White House?

[Analogman]

RIAA Cannot Spy on Our Students Says Oregon Attorney General

Written by Marshall Kirkpatrick / December 1, 2007 / 6 comments

 

Earlier this month we wrote about the University of Oregon and Oregon Attorney General's resistance to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) legal demands for the names of students alleged to have illegally downloaded free music.

 

Now the Oregon AG has taken a step further, taking the offensive and filing legal papers demanding disclosure of the RIAA's investigative methods. The filing alleges that the RIAA may have spied on students and illegally obtained their Social Security numbers and other personal information.

 

An RIAA spokesperson responded with indignation, accusing the University of protecting a wave of piracy. The Association now says that student pirates need to be stopped for their own good, lest they accidentally put files like their bank records and tax info into the folders they share on P2P services.

 

It's good to know there's some one, the Oregon Attorney General, taking an aggressive stand against such stupidity. While some record companies are changing their tune about suing customers, it's hard to imagine what else the attack dogs at the RIAA would do if not things like this. I imagine they feel the same way when they show up for work each day. Readers interested in some smart discussion on the legal move should check out posts and their comments by Mike Masnick at TechDirt and New York City lawyers Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman at their blog Recording Industry vs. The People.

[Analogman]

TorrentSpy Loses Case Against MPAA

Written by Ernesto on December 18, 2007

 

A Los Angeles court decided against TorrentSpy in their ongoing legal battle with the MPAA and terminated their case. According to the ruling, TorrentSpy was sanctioned for destructing evidence.

 

The court ruled that TorrentSpy tampered with evidence as they deleted infringing forum threads, deleted and renamed categories and subcategories that referred to copyrighted material. On top of this, TorrentSpy allegedly deleted IP addresses of its users, something that was apparently considered to be evidence. The court explained that

[Analogman]

2008 shaping up to be "Year of Filters" at colleges, ISPs

[mfwahl]

Comcast's in trouble for blocking people from using P2P clients. FCC is taking recommendations for punishment

Save the Internet

[yermom]

This is totally fake, right?

Following decisions by the members of the Big 4 organised music cartel, Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, to partially abandon DRM, the RIAA is developing a biometric CD to replace Digital Restrictions Management consumer control.

 

Using technology developed by The Amergence Group, aka SunnComm International, the radically new BioCDs will have thumbprint receptors positioned in their centres.

 

 

[Analogman]

If that is, I hope this is:

 

AT&T and Other I.S.P.

[stickman]

This is totally fake, right?

 

 

Neato! Good times!

 

In all seriousness, very scary.

[quarter23cd]

[cryptique]

This is totally fake, right?

I call bullshit.

 

The scary thing is, as fake as this pretty obviously is, it's not too far removed from what the RIAA actually is trying to do.

[yermom]

I stole this from another forum, it's just so appropriate here:

[quarter23cd]

This will clearly usher in a new era of thumb-piracy. Those with the best music collections had best wear iron gloves to protect themselves from having their thumbs severed and music collections stolen.

[Analogman]

Comcast tweaks Terms of Service in wake of throttling uproar

 

By Eric Bangeman | Published: February 07, 2008 - 02:07PM CT

 

Months after third parties were able to demonstrate that Comcast was throttling some BitTorrent (and Lotus Notes, since fixed) traffic, the cable giant has quietly changed its terms of service. Comcast updated the ToS on January 25

[aricandover]

I read these things, but I've never experienced a problem with comcast's internet service, and I'm running torrents all the time.

[Analogman]

Interesting. I am having a hard time connecting on certain BT sites - never had before. I was trouble shooting the problem - but I got tired of messing with it. I was thinking maybe I was being throttled - but on certain sites I do just fine.

[Vacant Horizon]

I call bullshit.

 

The scary thing is, as fake as this pretty obviously is, it's not too far removed from what the RIAA actually is trying to do.

 

 

this surely would push people to more piracy.

c

[Analogman]

[Analogman]

Illegal downloaders 'face UK ban'

Music on computer

Illegal file sharing costs the music and film industry millions

People in the UK who go online and illegally download music and films may have their internet access cut under plans the government is considering.

 

A draft consultation Green Paper suggests internet service providers would be required to take action over users who access pirated material.

 

Under a "three strikes" rule they would receive an e-mail warning, suspension, and then termination of their contract.

 

Six million people a year are estimated to download files illegally in the UK.

 

Music and film companies say that the illegal downloads cost them millions of pounds in lost revenues.

 

 

FROM THE DOT.LIFE BLOG

Dot.Life blog graphic, BBC

If the law were enacted it would turn ISPs, like BT, Tiscali and Virgin, into a pro-active net police force

Darren Waters, technology editor BBC News website

 

Read Darren's thoughts in full

 

The proposals are part of a Green Paper - a consultation document issued by the government - on the creative industries that is due to be published shortly.

 

The government proposals were first reported by the Times newspaper.

 

Voluntary scheme

 

The Times suggested that broadband firms which failed to enforce the rules could be prosecuted, and the details of customers suspected of making illegal downloads made available to the courts.

 

According to the Times, the draft paper states: "We will move to legislate to require internet service providers to take action on illegal file sharing."

 

 

Internet providers are no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope,

Internet Service Providers Association

 

Some of the UK's biggest internet providers, such as BT, Virgin and Tiscali have been in talks with the entertainment industry over introducing a voluntary scheme for policing pirate activity, but no agreement has been reached.

 

So far, they have failed to resolve how disputed allegations would be arbitrated - for example, when customers claim other people have been "piggybacking" on their internet service.

 

'No liability'

 

The Internet Service Providers Association said data protection laws would prevent providers from looking at the content of information sent over their networks.

 

HAVE YOUR SAY

 

Isnt it strange that when corporations start loosing money the Government acts quickly to stamp it out

 

Jon Perez, Reading

Send us your comments

 

"ISPs are no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope," the association said.

 

"ISPs bear no liability for illegal file sharing as the content is not hosted on their servers," it added.

 

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that early drafts of the document had been circulated among stakeholders.

 

"The content and proposals for the strategy have been significantly developed since then and a comprehensive plan to bolster the UK's creative industries will be published shortly," it added.

 

"We will not comment on the content of the leaked document."

[Analogman]

BitTorrent Developers Introduce Comcast Busting Encryption

[Analogman]

torrentfreak.com

 

Help Azureus to Fight BitTorrent Throttling ISPs

Written by Ernesto on March 25, 2008

 

ISPs have been throttling BitTorrent traffic for years now, but only recently has this turned into a political issue. The BitTorrent client Azureus has now developed a plugin through which you can help distinguishing the good from the bad ISPs, data they will use to strengthen their argument in the ongoing Comcast debate.

 

azureusLast November Azureus petitioned the FCC, resulting in a FCC hearing which was held a month ago. One of the issues raised there, was that there is little data available on the scope of BitTorrent throttling, a gap Azureus now plans to fill.

 

 

[zkits]

I've only ever really used Bit Torrent to get boots of WILCO shows, so my first question is, do people use it to download albums often?

 

Another thing, My understanding is that downloading Wilco boots is legal (or at least Wilco doesn't mind.) So i guess my big question is why should I someone who rarely uses an application for (seemingly) legal reasons be punished (by having it tinkered with by ISP's) because other people use the same program to pirate legally copyrighted materials?

 

Im on a college campus so i don't know if comcast or any throttling applies to me, but all i do know is that it took me five days to download one residency show.

 

p.s. thanks Analogman for all the interesting articles!

[Analogman]

I've only ever really used Bit Torrent to get boots of WILCO shows, so my first question is, do people use it to download albums often?

 

Another thing, My understanding is that downloading Wilco boots is legal (or at least Wilco doesn't mind.) So i guess my big question is why should I someone who rarely uses an application for (seemingly) legal reasons be punished (by having it tinkered with by ISP's) because other people use the same program to pirate legally copyrighted materials?

 

Im on a college campus so i don't know if comcast or any throttling applies to me, but all i do know is that it took me five days to download one residency show.

 

p.s. thanks Analogman for all the interesting articles!

 

I don't think an ISP can tell or cares what you are doing - just that you are doing it. I would probably not mess with BT if I was using a computer on a college campus.

[Analogman]

Comcast, BitTorrent

To Work Together

On Network Traffic

By VISHESH KUMAR

 

March 27, 2008; Page B7

 

Long at loggerheads, cable provider Comcast Corp. and popular file-sharing company BitTorrent Inc. now are working together.

 

The deal comes as BitTorrent, which became known for developing software technology widely used to illegally share files, is trying to reinvent itself.

 

The companies are in talks to collaborate on ways to run BitTorrent's technology more smoothly on Comcast's broadband network, and allow Comcast to transport video files more effectively over its own network in the future, said Tony Warner, Comcast's chief technology officer.

 

Comcast and BitTorrent have been at odds since the cable operator said it was delaying traffic from BitTorrent at peak times. Legislators and some advocacy groups argued that Comcast's efforts were anticompetitive because peer-to-peer file-sharing companies like BitTorrent, which is popular for downloading videos, compete with Comcast's business of providing pay TV.

 

But the current rapprochement will attempt to defuse this issue. As part of the agreement, Comcast pledges to experiment with ways to more effectively manage traffic on its network at peak times, said Ashwin Navin, the president of San Francisco-based BitTorrent.

 

Rather than slow traffic by certain types of applications -- such as file-sharing software or companies like BitTorrent -- Comcast will slow traffic for those users who consume the most bandwidth, said Comcast's Mr. Warner. Comcast hopes to be able to switch to a new policy based on this model as soon as the end of the year, he added. The company's push to add additional data capacity to its network also will play a role, he said. Comcast will start with lab tests to determine if the model is feasible.

 

The rapid growth of Internet traffic has been an issue for all service providers but particularly cable companies. Cable networks are shared among users at the neighborhood level, meaning that users consuming lots of bandwidth can degrade the performance for those surrounding them.

 

And BitTorrent consumes a lot of bandwidth. Comcast said BitTorrent file-sharing software accounts for 50% of Internet traffic and has been downloaded 170 million times. The cable operator said it must have the means to slow the delivery of some traffic on its network in order to provide adequate service to its overall customer base.

 

But the tension spilled into the debate over "net neutrality," which has some lawmakers hoping to limit a carrier's ability to prioritize one form of data over another. In February, Congressman Edward Markey (D., Mass.) introduced a bill that would change federal laws to make sure Internet traffic has protection similar to phone calls, which companies are required to connect without hesitation.

 

BitTorrent will also work to optimize its software to run more effectively over Comcast's network, said Mr. Navin. BitTorrent plans to publish its findings in technology forums so that other application developers looking to work with Comcast can benefit.

[Analogman]

Comcast to spearhead creation of P2P Bill of Rights

 

By Nate Anderson | Published: April 15, 2008 - 01:34PM CT

 

Comcast has just announced its plan to lead an industry partnership in the creation of a "P2P Bill of Rights and Responsibilities" that would apply both to users and to ISPs. Comcast spokesperson Charlie Douglas tells Ars that the cable giant is already prepared to argue for a protocol agnostic approach to network management, an increase in upstream capacity to help alleviate congestion, and more transparency about its network management practices. If Comcast can get the ISP community on board with such proposals, more power to them, but we'll refrain from judgment until we see who's invited to sit around the table.

Related Stories

 

* Comcast FCC filing shows gap between hype, bandwidth reality

* FCC officially opens proceeding on Comcast's P2P throttling

* Advocacy groups bash Comcast's "technical-sounding nonsense"

* Disgruntled customer sues Comcast over P2P throttling

 

Comcast has already partnered with Pando, a company that speeds P2P transfers on ISP networks, and hopes to round up a gaggle of "industry experts, other ISPs and P2P companies, content providers and others" to help draft the document later this year. That list notably leaves out consumer advocacy groups like Free Press, Public Knowledge, and the EFF, so we asked Comcast whether they would be invited.

 

"We're thinking more about industry," we were told. "P2P companies, ISPs, academics."

 

Why wouldn't consumer groups with the relevant experience in these matters be consulted, we asked. "I don't know," Douglas said after a long pause, but added that Comcast hasn't ruled anything out at this point.

 

Possible ideas for the "rights" section of the document include the ability to uninstall P2P applications, along with "clarifying usages" (that is, describing bandwidth limits, which would be welcome). Douglas also noted that P2P apps might be able to "identify lawful content versus not lawful."

 

With the group's membership and proposals both speculative, Douglas stressed that the basic goal was to come up with something that spoke to the back-and-forth between users and their ISPs. What's needed is a "combination of both of those participants that will make an impact on solving the network capacity issue," he said.

 

Between this announcement and the recent deal with BitTorrent, Comcast has reversed its tough stance on the issue of network management. As recently as this February, Comcast told the FCC that its practices were totally appropriate and that P2P couldn't be accommodated by building out more infrastructure. In only two months, it has decided that traffic shaping can work on a protocol agnostic basis and that partnering with P2P firms like Pando and BitTorrent to reduce P2P loads on the network might be a better idea than putting limits on a promising technology. The company deserves full credit for the turnaround.

 

With the FCC set to hold the second of its public hearings on the Comcast/P2P throttling issue later this week at Stanford University, though, we suspect that the threat of a regulatory beatdown had something to do with Comcast's Damascus Road conversion. As Comcast notes in today's press release announcing the Bill of Rights, "The arrangement is yet another example of how these technical issues can be worked out through private business discussions and without the need for government intervention."

 

In other words: Move along, FCC, there's nothing to see here.

 

Comcast may well be right about this; government regulation can be burdensome and can certainly have unintended consequences. But, as this entire case shows, the existence and interest of a regulator like the FCC can function as a helpful curb on market power when that power threatens to take companies in directions that might not best serve the public good.