Sky Views Personal Data as a Potential Weapon in IPTV Piracy War
Sky’s war on TV piracy has raged for well over thirty years and despite the passing of time, the goal remains the same. In broad terms, pirates retain their original goals too, but how that can be achieved is always subject to change, largely depending on who has taken the lead in an increasingly complex arms race. News emerging from Ireland suggests that Sky’s use (or proposed use) of a valuable asset to boost its fight against...
Sports Piracy Damages Soar in Italy Despite ‘Piracy Shield’ Blocking Efforts
Last year, Italy officially implemented the ‘Piracy Shield‘, a system that aims to deter and decrease live sports streaming piracy. Since then, Piracy Shield has blocked access to thousands of IP-addresses and domain names associated with unauthorized broadcasts. Despite overblocking concerns, the massive blocking operation is seen as a key success by the authorities and many participating rightsholders. The same is true for the...
BitTorrent Pirate Gets 5 Years in Prison, €10,000 Fine, For Decade-Old Offenses
The most obvious downward piracy trends have arrived in response to rightsholders addressing market demands. But, when authorities feel something drastic needs to be done, legal crackdowns can also be the weapon of choice. The idea is that these actions will punish offenders while also sending a deterrent message to others who operate in the same business. Climate of Change A man recently sentenced in Greece for his role running...
X vs. Music Publishers: Settlement Looms in Copyright Clash After “Maximum Pain” Revelation
In a complaint filed at a Nashville federal court two years ago, Universal Music, Sony Music, EMI and others, accused X Corp of ‘breeding’ mass copyright infringement. The social media company allegedly failed to respond adequately to takedown notices and lacked a proper termination policy. The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) claimed it had sent over 300,000 formal infringement notices, many of which didn’t lead to...
Google Receives Piracy Shield Orders to Block Pirate Sites in Public DNS
In countries where site-blocking has been established for years, relatively small but always expanding measures happen mostly unannounced. It’s often too late to complain when the public are the last to know. Enhanced blocking measures and tools, with an emphasis on speed and limited judicial oversight, already receive support under national law. Italy’s high profile Piracy Shield system is one such example; mandatory participation by...
Napster and Sonos Sued for Millions in Unpaid Music Royalties
In the late ’90s, with P2P file-sharing yet to really take off, music industry insiders had already toyed with the idea of a ‘celestial jukebox’ that could access all music in the world. While the idea sounded appealing, the economics were not straightforward, and it took an external intervention to spur record labels into action. When Napster launched in 1999, it sparked a music revolution that changed the industry forever. The...
