Mac News: Piracy

Bill Aims to Plug P2P Leaks of Government Data
November 18, 2009

Congress moved Tuesday to prohibit federal employees from using the same type of Internet file-sharing software blamed for the disclosure. The Secure Federal File Sharing Act, introduced in the House, would bar government employees and contractors from downloading, installing or using so-called peer-to-peer file sharing software.

Xbox Live Is Dead for Modding Gamers
November 11, 2009

The Xbox Live community forums are buzzing loudly, but it has nothing to do with online gamers fragging each other in the much-anticipated new video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2." Some Xbox 360 users are ready to stage their own military coup against Microsoft after they were told this week that their Live accounts had been banned from the service.

Betrayals: Obama's Hollywood Sellout, Tech Companies' Layoffs
November 09, 2009

Last week, two troubling trends were in evidence. The scarier one is that it appears the Obama administration is in the process of putting in place a secret antipiracy provision that has little to do with antipiracy and everything to do with killing properties like YouTube. It is truly frightening, and people are already planning civil unrest to stop it.

EU Drafts New Bill of Rights for Internet Users
November 05, 2009

EU lawmakers and governments agreed on new rights for Internet users Thursday, aiming to protect them from arbitrary crackdowns on those who illegally download music and movies on the Internet. EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said a deal was reached after EU governments agreed to EU parliament demands to balance measures against illegal downloaders with a broader set of rights for telecom users.

Swedish Exchange Keelhauls Would-Be Pirate Bay Buyer
September 10, 2009

The would-be buyer of Swedish file-sharing Web site The Pirate Bay has been kicked out of the smallcap stock exchange Aktietorget for misleading the market, the Swedish trading platform said Wednesday. Aktietorget said Global Gaming Factory X breached its transparency principles by saying the financing of The Pirate Bay acquisition was secured.

Piracy, Open Source and the Shrinking Space Between
August 06, 2009

There's a rumor that honor exists among thieves, but outside of Robin Hood, no one considers them a bunch of do-gooders. Yet there may be a bright side to their shadowy work, at least in terms of enterprise software. It could very well be that they will drive the prices down.

Tea Parties, Pirate Ships and a Kayak: A Summer at Sea
July 02, 2009

For seven months, a New York Times reporter named David Rohde was held prisoner by Taliban kidnappers. However, you wouldn't learn that from reading The New York Times -- or even Wikipedia, for that matter. In addition to other news organizations, the Times reportedly asked Wikipedia not to publish information on the abduction.

Pirate Bay Decides to Join the Navy
June 30, 2009

He may still have an eye patch, a peg leg and a funny hat, but is a pirate still a pirate if he writes you a check before plundering your ship? How long would Robin Hood keep his band of merry men intact if they took from the rich -- and charged the poor a redistribution fee for access to those riches?

China Scrambles to Repair Crumbling Green Dam
June 15, 2009

For years, China's government has kept the country's Internet surfers on a very short leash. Censors attempt to block any content considered immoral, which could be anything from pornography to politically charged blog posts. Its latest plan is to order the installation of filtering software directly into all personal computers.

BSA's $53B Global Piracy Tab Grossly Inflated, Argue Skeptics
May 12, 2009

Software piracy dropped or remained steady in scores of countries across the globe in 2008, but the worldwide rate still rose, thanks to rising piracy in emerging markets, according to a report for the Business Software Alliance released Monday. As usual, the report contained an ever-controversial estimate of what the BSA terms "losses" from software piracy: $53 billion.

Pirate Bay Swashbucklers Convicted in Swedish Court
April 17, 2009

The music industry cheered as a Swedish court on Friday found the four proprietors of The Pirate Bay guilty of copyright law violation. The Pirate Bay is a torrent tracker site in Sweden that helps users find and download files used to swap movies, music, TV shows, games, books and software via BitTorrent file-sharing applications.

Google Music Service Could Take Wind Out of Chinese Pirates' Sails
March 30, 2009

Google has launched a new music search service in China in conjunction with Top100.cn, one of mainland China's top Internet music sites. The new Google Music Search provides users with links to free, legal music downloads. Google, Top100.cn and several major American record labels will share revenue generated from online advertising.

Are ISPs the Music Industry's New Guns for Hire?
March 26, 2009

There are reports that Cox and AT&T have begun cooperating with the Recording Industry Association of America's new antipiracy strategy -- first announced in December -- of targeting illegal file-sharing activities through Internet service providers instead of through the courts.

Apple's Saber-Rattling, Capitol Hill's Ruckus, Big Blue's Silence
January 31, 2009

Apple may have just thrown a big bucket of cold water all over the Palm Pre love fest, courtesy of the U.S. Patent Office. The company has officially secured the rights to the technology behind the distinctive multifunction touchscreen found on the iPhone and the iPod touch -- it's what gives you the ability to pinch and spread your fingers to zoom in and out of a photo or a Web page.

Warning to iWork Pirates: Here There Be Trojans
January 23, 2009

Mac security firm Intego sounded the alarm Thursday on a trojan horse it spotted hiding in pirated copies of Apple's iWork '09. Since then, several more security solution providers have responded. On the surface, the trojan -- OSX.Trojan.iServices.A -- might seem relatively benign. After all, only those who stole a copy of iWork '09 can get it.

'We Didn't Want to See the Future': Q&A With Ex-Sony Lawyer Steve Gordon
December 03, 2008

In 1999 at a Sony Music corporate meeting, the room was filled with Sony executives and attorneys from across the globe. At one point, one of the Sony attorneys gave a presentation on two music services. One was the Sony music service and the other was a tiny, fledgling service. The Sony service required users to go through multiple layers of Web sites in order to get to the songs they wanted.