Banning VPNs and Proxies is Dangerous, IT Experts Warn
In April, draft legislation was developed to crack down on systems and software that allow Russian Internet users to bypass website blockades approved by telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor. Earlier this month the draft bill was submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. If passed, the law will make it illegal for services to circumvent web blockades by “routing traffic of Russian Internet users through...
Court Suspends Ban on Roku Sales in Mexico
Last week, news broke that the Superior Court of Justice of the City of Mexico had issued a ban on Roku sales. The order prohibited stores such as Amazon, Liverpool, El Palacio de Hierro, and Sears from importing and selling the devices. In addition, several banks were told stop processing payments from accounts that are linked to pirated services on Roku. While Roku itself is not offering any pirated content, there is a market for...
Sci-Hub Ordered to Pay $15 Million in Piracy Damages
Two years ago, academic publisher Elsevier filed a complaint against Sci-Hub and several related “pirate” sites. It accused the websites of making academic papers widely available to the public, without permission. While Sci-Hub is nothing like the average pirate site, it is just as illegal according to Elsevier’s legal team, who obtained a preliminary injunction from a New York District Court last fall. The...
Kim Dotcom Opposes US’s “Fugitive” Claims at Supreme Court
When Megaupload and Kim Dotcom were raided five years ago, the authorities seized millions of dollars in cash and other property. The US government claimed the assets were obtained through copyright crimes so went after the bank accounts, cars, and other seized possessions of the Megaupload defendants. Kim Dotcom and his colleagues were branded as “fugitives” and the Government won its case. Dotcom’s legal team...
Three Men Sentenced Following £2.5m Internet Piracy Case
While legal action against low-level individual file-sharers is extremely rare in the UK, the country continues to pose a risk for those engaged in larger-scale infringement. That is largely due to the activities of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit and private anti-piracy outfits such as the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT). Investigations are often a joint effort which can take many years to complete, but the...
MPAA & RIAA Demand Tough Copyright Standards in NAFTA Negotiations
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Canada, and Mexico was negotiated more than 25 years ago. With a quarter of a decade of developments to contend with, the United States wants to modernize. “While our economy and U.S. businesses have changed considerably over that period, NAFTA has not,” the government says. With this in mind, the US requested comments from interested parties...
