iMedia Law Blog » Piracy

Ars Technica: Why Piracy is More Common than Legal Video Downloads

Dale Dietrich — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 16:36:40 +0000

Ars Technica: Why Piracy is More Common than Legal Video Downloads

Warez.com: Piracy, the clear choice for 2006

Dale's Comment: Each of these articles make the same essential point. Piracy of video content is pervasive because it provides consumers with a product they want – a vast selection of high quality content, meeting the tastes of both the masses and the long tail – with the ability to use/view the content on any device and with any software/service of their choosing. Something the TV and movie-industries fail to provide to the very consumers eager to purchase it from them – if only it was conveniently available at fair prices and under fair use terms.

This oft-quoted remark by Disney co-chair Ann Sweeney made at a conference in October, shows at least that the industry is finally starting to grapple with the issue:

"We understand now that piracy is a business model. It exists to serve a need in the market for consumers who want TV content on demand. Pirates compete the same way we do – through quality, price and availability. We we don?t like the model but we realise it?s competitive enough to make it a major competitor going forward."

RIAA Sues AllofMP3 – Seeks Domain Transfer and $1.65 Trillion in Damages!

Dale Dietrich — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 19:09:26 +0000

Following a similar suit by the BPI in July, AllofMP3.com's Moscow-based parent Mediaservices, Inc. has been sued by the RIAA for massive copyright infringement in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. According to the New York Post:

The RIAA is seeking $150,000 for each instance of copyright infringement. That equates to an astounding $1.65 trillion for the five-month period in question.

Wow! I suspect they'll have a little trouble collecting this damage award if successful!

Interestingly, along with the damages award, the suit seeks court ordered control of AllofMP3.com's domains. Given the global nature of the Internet, it will be interesting to see if a court would grant such a prayer for relief. Mountainview California-based Verisign operates the domain name registry for the .com domain space.

AllofMP3.com has long claimed that they are in full compliance with Russian law and pay licensing fees on all music sales to Russia's equivalent of the RIAA, the Russian Organization for Multimedia and Digital Systems (ROMS). The RIAA's response is that ROMS has no authority to issue licenses to AllofMP3 and that AllofMP3.com would require licenses from record companies to legally sell downloadable music – which it does not have.

Dale's Comment: Aside from the astronomical damages request, what intrigues me is the global implications of an order to transfer the domain. There has been much controversy at the United Nations over who should control the Internet and the Internet domain space. The U.S. has fiercely guarded its ultimate ability to control it. If such an order was made by a U.S. court at the behest of the U.S. music industry, and if Verisign complies, this might spark protests from nations around the globe.

Note: I have not yet found the claim online. When I do, I'll post it here. Most of the stories online are all repeats of the original AP story so there are not many details available at this point.

Related Posts:

RIAA Sues AllofMP3 – Seeks Domain Transfer and $1.65 Trillion in Damages! (December 21, 2006)
AllofMP3.com Lives On Despite U.S./Russian WTO Agreement (December 10, 2006)
Russia Agrees to Shut Down AllofMP3.com at U.S. Request (November 29, 2006)
Danish Court Blocks AllofMP3.com (October 25, 2006)
Visa and Mastercard Stop Servicing AllofMP3.com (October 18, 2006)
Russia Implements Internet Piracy Law in Gambit to Join WTO (September 1, 2006)
BPI to Sue AllofMP3.com (July 5, 2006)
AllofMP3.com Responds to Recent Scrutiny (June 6, 2006)
Russia-based AllofMP3 Launches DRM-free allTunes (March 29, 2006)
RIAA's Next Big Target: Russia (December 27, 2005)

AllofMP3.com Lives On Despite U.S./Russian WTO Agreement

Dale Dietrich — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 20:28:45 +0000

AllofMP3.com does not seem like it is willing to go silently into the night.

In response to Visa's and Mastercard's cessation of services to the site, AllofMP3 now uses a prepaid credit proxy, Xrost,which can, in turn, be paid by Visa or Mastercard (See AllofMP3's payment page as explained here).

This recent TechWeb article explains that the payment process is not exactly easy. Only the most determined are likely to work their way through the payment maze. See also this Wired Blog description of the process. Incidentally the Wired Blog claim about the "complete legality" of music downloading in Canada is nonsense (see my blog entry on the topic if interested)!

On another note, AllofMP3 has engaged a New York-based intellectual property attorney, John Kheit of Chadbourne & Parke, LLP. as a U.S.-based spokesperson, advocate and PR person. In a recent panel discussion Kheit asserted that AllofMP3 has not broken any laws, that it operates legally in Russia and pays 15% of all music sales to Russia's equivalent of the RIAA, the Russian Organization for Multimedia and Digital Systems (ROMS). Kheit claims that foreign rights holders could petition ROMS for payment but that record labels have specifically not requested such payments in fear of legitimizing AllofMP3.

The RIAA's response is that ROMS has no authority to issue licenses to AllofMP3 and that AllofMP3.com would require licenses from record companies to legally sell downloadable music – which it does not have.

Under the U.S/Russian agreement, Russia has until June 1, 2007 to modify its laws and clarify that such activity is illegal. Until it does AllofMP3.com can continue as is. AllofMP3.com says it will comply with any new laws put in place by Moscow.

Related Posts:

AllofMP3.com Lives On Despite U.S./Russian WTO Agreement (December 10, 2006)
Russia Agrees to Shut Down AllofMP3.com at U.S. Request (November 29, 2006)
Danish Court Blocks AllofMP3.com (October 25, 2006)
Visa and Mastercard Stop Servicing AllofMP3.com (October 18, 2006)
Russia Implements Internet Piracy Law in Gambit to Join WTO (September 1, 2006)
BPI to Sue AllofMP3.com (July 5, 2006)
AllofMP3.com Responds to Recent Scrutiny (June 6, 2006)
Russia-based AllofMP3 Launches DRM-free allTunes (March 29, 2006)
RIAA's Next Big Target: Russia (December 27, 2005)

TiVo Decode Manager v1.0 Automates TiVo’s Cracked DRM on Macs

Dale Dietrich — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:58:57 +0000

This was inevitable. I didn't expect it so soon.

Within days of TiVo's DRM being cracked, someone has automated the rather difficult to use TiVo Decode Manager and created an easy to use TiVo2Go application, without DRM, on Apple computers. The software automatically discovers local TiVos. With one mouse click shows are downloaded from the TiVo, DRM-free, to the Mac by episode, recorded date etc. The resultant Mpeg-2 files still need to be converted to a PC-usable format such as .wmv using a program like VLC. My guess is that it won't be long before the end-to-end process is fully automated.

Dale's Comment: I foresee TiVo-released DMCA take-down notices being sent to whoever controls thebenesch.com (the site hosting the program) in the near future!

Sources: Engadget | PVR Wire

Related Posts:

TiVo Decode Manager v1.0 Exploits TiVo's Cracked DRM on Macs (December 8, 2006)
TiVo's DRM Reportedly Cracked (December 4, 2006)

TiVo’s DRM Reportedly Cracked

Dale Dietrich — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 21:17:54 +0000

Gizmodo, Engadget and others are reporting that the folks at SourceForge.net have successfully hacked the TiVo DRM using a program they call the TiVo File Decoder.

Dale's Comment: If true, expect a patch from TiVo soon! Unfortunately for those of us waiting for the TiVo Series 3 software upgrade that was due out about now, my guess is we'll be waiting awhile longer while TiVo's engineers work at sorting this one out.

Related Posts:

TiVo Decode Manager v1.0 Exploits TiVo's Cracked DRM on Macs (December 8, 2006)
TiVo's DRM Reportedly Cracked (December 4, 2006)

Russia Agrees to Shut Down AllofMP3.com at U.S. Request – or did it?

Dale Dietrich — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 23:36:52 +0000

Text of Agreement
Visa and Mastercard halting service to AllofMP3 effectively shut it down. In the face of the credit card departures, AllofMP3.com said it would move to an advertising supported model. Now Russia and the U.S. appear to have reached an agreement to shut it down – or did they?

ars technica and others are reporting that AllofMP3 says it will not be shut down. Instead it says Russia agreed to certain copyright reforms that AllofMP3.com says it will comply with. Even if this is true, AllofMP3 could never be what it was. If the reported agreement is implemented by Russia, any new AllofMP3.com would be as close to its current incarnation as today's Napster is to its original form.

As of the time of this post, AllofMP3.com was still up and running.

Dale's Comment: This is a sad day of sorts. While the legality of AllofMP3 was always murky, its success (second in world-wide sales only to iTunes) was a clear example of the fact that consumers are willing to pay a fair price for music from a site that services the users needs, if they are given fair rights to use the music they purchase. In the case of AllofMP3.com the user could chose the format they wished to purchase and there were no restrictions on the use they could make of the music. I look forward to the day the major labels learn this lesson and start offering DRM-free music for sale to honest users under fair terms.

Related Posts:

AllofMP3.com Lives On Despite U.S./Russian WTO Agreement (December 10, 2006)
Russia Agrees to Shut Down AllofMP3.com at U.S. Request (November 29, 2006)
Danish Court Blocks AllofMP3.com (October 25, 2006)
Visa and Mastercard Stop Servicing AllofMP3.com (October 18, 2006)
Russia Implements Internet Piracy Law in Gambit to Join WTO (September 1, 2006)
BPI to Sue AllofMP3.com (July 5, 2006)
AllofMP3.com Responds to Recent Scrutiny (June 6, 2006)
Russia-based AllofMP3 Launches DRM-free allTunes (March 29, 2006)
RIAA's Next Big Target: Russia (December 27, 2005)

Internet-TV Aggregators are Popping Up like Dandelions

Dale Dietrich — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:55:16 +0000

I don't know what is in the air these days, but Internet-TV aggregators seem to be popping up all over the Internet. I recently blogged about Tioti and the TVUPlayer, each of which have received substantial press coverage owing to their controversial nature.

Over the last few days, I have become aware of dozens of online TV, movie and other aggregators running the gamut from sites streaming literally hundreds of live TV channels over the Internet to others indexing and hosting thousands of TV shows and movies for instant viewing over the Internet.

Many of the live broadcast feeds are likely accessed from Internet feeds supplied by the content owners themselves. But, I'm guessing, others are likely redirected Slingbox or similar streams. As you can read in my TVUPlayer post, the company's CEO, Paul Shen, believes he can escape U.S. copyright infringement liability using the DMCA's ISP safe harbor. He argues that the streams are made available from the service's users and not hosted directly by his company.

peekvid and QuickSilverScreen in particular, seem to be the most blatantly infringing services of the lot. They directly index over a thousand TV shows, movies, cartoons etc. for instant viewing. Users can select a particular TV series from a list and then directly view selected episodes – on demand. Movies can similarly be selected and viewed on demand. If peekvid is located in the U.S., I suspect it won't be long before the link fails to work owing to NAB and MPAA legal actions. QuickSilverScreen was located in the U.S. until Fox sent it a cease and desist letter. The proprietor has sold it to someone offshore and it continues to operate unabated from an offshore location.

In no particular order, here are only a few of the dozens of live TV aggregation sites that have popped up recently.

All of these have the following features in common:

They all actually worked when I tried them
Of the dozens of other aggregators available, these sites required no prior signups or passwords.
Unlike Tioti and the TVUPlayer, no plugins or downloads were required for these sites to work – simply show up, click and watch.
My browser, Firefox 2.0, is set to disable popups and redirects – all worked without popups or redirects
Many of the video streams were resizable – even to full screen in many contexts

This is clearly a new trend, or at least a new trend to me. In light of the fact that iCrave TV was so quickly shut down in 2003 for doing essentially the same thing, it is surprising to see so many seemingly thriving. I gather that most, if not all, are hosted in far-off countries outside the reach of NAB and the MPAA – for now. As AllofMP3.com has recently discovered, locating offshore will not, alone, keep you outside the reach of the U.S. copyright lobby.

See also the Digg.com comments to an original story about Streamick.com that provided the spark to get me blogging about this.

Related Posts:

Internet-TV Aggregators are Popping Up like Dandelions (November 28, 2006)
TIOTI – Another Web-based TV Service Combining Legitimate TV with BitTorrent Feeds (November 15, 2006)
TVUPlayer – Watch Most Any TV Station Anywhere (October 19, 2006)
Judge Shuts Down UK-based Streaming Football Site (June 14, 2006)
Canada Blocks Free Net TV – iCrave TV (January 17, 2003)

Universal Music Group Sues MySpace over Video Transcoding Service

Dale Dietrich — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 23:24:24 +0000

Universal Music Group has sued Myspace for providing a transcoding service. Myspace users upload videos to their MySpace account and Myspace transcodes them into formats playable by its users. Alleging that MySpace "encourages, facilitates and participates in the unauthorized reproduction, adaptation, distribution and public performance,", UMG is seeking an injunction and unspecified damages, including up to $150,000 for each unauthorized music video or song posted on the Web site. Until last week the two were in licensing discussions. To paraphrase Clausewitz, lawsuits such as this are just business negotiations by another means.

Dale's Comment: This is an interesting claim. It may very well turn on the facts. As I understand them, MySpace is agnostic as to what the content is. It has taken some steps to limit infringing uploads. In this case its servers accept user video uploads, examine the format, if not a supported format they then transcodes it into a playable format. This seems to be similar to what YouTube and other video hosting sites do. But YouTube signed a licensing agreement with Universal (and others) after being threatened with a lawsuit. If Myspace fights this, it will likely argue that it is an ISP, and all they are providing is a tool that can be used by their users for legitimate or illegitimate purposes. Assuming that MySpace is otherwise responding to Universal's DMCA take-down notices, this transcoding service may very well fall within the DMCA's safe harbour.

TIOTI – Another Web-based TV Service Combining Legitimate TV with BitTorrent Feeds

Dale Dietrich — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 21:24:15 +0000

TIOTI (Tape it of the Internet) is another web service in beta that intends to provide legitimate TV and pointers to TV show torrents for download through BitTorrent clients such as uTorrent and Azureus. According to the TIOTI Website:

We currently index 1,600+ TV shows – 90,000+ episodes – and we are matching everything up with content sources like iTunes, AOL and Amazon Unbox – with more to come.

Our beta feature set allows you to do exactly what it says on the tin and do it in style. With integrated message boards, groups, personalised badges and an extensive API, we have lots more great stuff coming soon too.

Dale's Comment: It appears the TIOTI founders believe they can steer clear of the many recent lawsuits brought against torrent host sites by including only pointers to torrents hosted elsewhere rather than the torrents themselves. I have little doubt that this presumed 'safe harbour' will be quickly tested in the courts if TIOTI becomes at all successful.

I have added myself to the waiting list to test this out once it expands its beta. I'll report back what I see if/when I join the beta.

Related Posts:

TIOTI – Another Web-based TV Service Combining Legitimate TV with BitTorrent Feeds (November 15, 2006)
TVUPlayer – Watch Most Any TV Station Anywhere (October 19, 2006)
Judge Shuts Down UK-based Streaming Football Site (June 14, 2006)
Canada Blocks Free Net TV – iCrave TV (January 17, 2003)

Jack Black’s Anti-Piracy Public Service Announcement

Dale Dietrich — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 16:39:51 +0000

TVUPlayer – Watch Most Any TV Station Anywhere

Dale Dietrich — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 17:55:06 +0000

Hearkening back to the days of iCrave.TV, the TV networks and studios have another imminent battle on their hands. The TVU Player (downloadable here) from TVU Networks in Shanghai, China. TVU Player allows anyone to place a broadcast signal on the Internet for view by anyone. See Review here: (WebTVHub)

November 6, 2006 Update: Paul Shen the CEO of TVU Network was interviewed by CNET:

He acknowledged that much of the content on the TVUPlayer belongs to others but denied being a video pirate. Users of his technology are responsible for any copyright violations, Shen said, and they are the ones who stream the TV broadcasts–though he conceded that they are able do this only through the use of his technology.

Mr. Shen also claims that his technology was intended as a demonstration of technology only and that it "can help broadcasters mine a rich new distribution platform and advertise to new customers".

Dale's Comment: Given the Chinese jurisdiction, this one may be harder for the MPAA et. al. to shut down. However, PVR Wire says that Paul Shen lives and works in Northern California. Mr. Shen may wish to talk to the folks behind iCrave TV and SportingStreams.com to see how receptive the broadcast industry will be to this kind of help!

Related Posts:

TIOTI – Another Web-based TV Service Combining Legitimate TV with BitTorrent Feeds (November 15, 2006)
TVUPlayer – Watch Most Any TV Station Anywhere (October 19, 2006)
Judge Shuts Down UK-based Streaming Football Site (June 14, 2006)
Canada Blocks Free Net TV – iCrave TV (January 17, 2003)

Visa and Mastercard Stop Servicing AllofMP3.com

Dale Dietrich — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:44:31 +0000

Both Visa and Mastercard have announced that it has stopped accepting transactions from AllofMP3.com, the Moscow-based, deep-discount, comprehensive music download service. It is the second most-used music download site on the Internet. It is popular because users can purchases songs how they want, in whatever format and bitrate they want without use-limiting DRM.

Mastercard justified this action by saying they do not "tolerate the use of its network for illegal activity." AllofMP3's notes that what it does is not illegal in Russia – and so far the Russian courts have upheld this view.

"The company believes the action taken by the world’s largest payment processors is arbitrary, capricious and discriminatory because Visa and MasterCard lack the authority to adjudicate the legality of AllofMP3’s activities and its determination that the company’s activities were illegal is patently erroneous and without legal merit. AllofMP3 has not been found by any court in the world to be in violation of any law."

"It is evident that Visa and MasterCard made the decision on factors other than legal grounds since the decision was not based on an adjudicated verdict by any court in the Russian Federation or, for that matter, anywhere in the world. To disqualify AllofMP3 based on a payment processing company’s whim is irresponsible and sets a bad precedence."

AllofMP3's immediate response was to start giving away music free to all-comers. It is considering talking legal action against the credit card companies. Some reports have said that it is considering moving to an all-advertising business model.

Dale's Comment: Despite the many actions of governments and courts around the globe, this is clearly the first real nail in AllofMP3.com's coffin. The major labels should establish a virtually identical service and charge up to ten times the price AllofMP3 charges and honest users like me would flock to their service. AllofMP3.com fills a critical need for honest music purchasers – a service where songs can be purchased where the user is not restricted as to the player she wishes to play the music on nor is she limited to the number and type of devices and services she can play her music on.

Related Posts:

AllofMP3.com Lives On Despite U.S./Russian WTO Agreement (December 10, 2006)
Russia Agrees to Shut Down AllofMP3.com at U.S. Request (November 29, 2006)
Danish Court Blocks AllofMP3.com (October 25, 2006)
Visa and Mastercard Stop Servicing AllofMP3.com (October 18, 2006)
Russia Implements Internet Piracy Law in Gambit to Join WTO (September 1, 2006)
BPI to Sue AllofMP3.com (July 5, 2006)
AllofMP3.com Responds to Recent Scrutiny (June 6, 2006)
Russia-based AllofMP3 Launches DRM-free allTunes (March 29, 2006)
RIAA's Next Big Target: Russia (December 27, 2005)

Who Needs Kazza or eDonkey when You Have Google?

Dale Dietrich — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 06:16:54 +0000

The recording industry has successfully shuttered several peer-to-peer networks of late. To what end? This recent Digg.com entry demonstrates how easy it is to find and download almost any music without DRM restrictions using a simple Google search. What's more, there is no way that I know of for such downloads to be traced by the means currently employed by the RIAA. No P2P application installations are needed, no attendant spyware, no messy port forwarding, no TPM circumvention is involved, just a simple Google search and download.

Dale's Comment: The RIAA can feel self-satisfied that it is successfully shuttering P2P Networks and ratcheting four digit settlements out of hapless P2P users unwilling or unable to fight the thousands of recent RIAA lawsuits, but until the content industries realize that they need to provide a fair way for honest users to purchase downloadable content, there will always be alternative ways for end users to pirate DRM-free content. The content industry needs to realize and accept the fact that there will always be some amount of piracy. Once it accepts this fact, it can turn its attention to providing first-rate and fair download services that meet the legitimate needs and expectations of honest people. Until they do, there's always Google, AllofMP3.com or the next new thing. Here's a terrific and topical EFF Article: The Consumer is Always Wrong: A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music.

Source: Digg.com

Web Sites that Automate this Google Search: CyberWyre | G2P | Tyoogle

Related Posts:

Google Torrents (November7, 2006)
Who Needs Kazza or eDonkey when You Have Google (September 21, 2006)

Michael Geist Concludes 30 Days of DRM

Dale Dietrich — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 23:28:26 +0000

Source: Michael Geist’s 30 Days of DRM Page

Russia Implements Internet Piracy Law in Gambit to Join WTO

Dale Dietrich — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:31:27 +0000

Effective September 1, 2006, Russia implemented new legislation to crack down on illegal distribution through the internet of text, music and video in mp3 format. This has been a key condition of the United States in order for it to support Russia's entry into the 149-country global trade organization.

Dale's Comment: It's to be seen whether the law will have any bite, whether it will be enforced, and whether it will have any effect on AllofMP3.com

Related Posts:

AllofMP3.com Lives On Despite U.S./Russian WTO Agreement (December 10, 2006)
Russia Agrees to Shut Down AllofMP3.com at U.S. Request (November 29, 2006)
Danish Court Blocks AllofMP3.com (October 25, 2006)
Visa and Mastercard Stop Servicing AllofMP3.com (October 18, 2006)
Russia Implements Internet Piracy Law in Gambit to Join WTO (September 1, 2006)
BPI to Sue AllofMP3.com (July 5, 2006)
AllofMP3.com Responds to Recent Scrutiny (June 6, 2006)
Russia-based AllofMP3 Launches DRM-free allTunes (March 29, 2006)
RIAA's Next Big Target: Russia (December 27, 2005)

Response to IFPI’s Piracy Report Comments on Canada

Dale Dietrich — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 23:44:15 +0000

Text of IFPI’s 2006 Piracy Report
Michael Geist responds to the IFPI’s allegations concerning Canadian piracy in its recent global report on piracy.

Sources: Michael Geist | Slyck | P2PNet | mediacaster | Times Online

BPI to Sue AllofMP3.com

Dale Dietrich — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 21:45:08 +0000

The BPI received permission from London's High Court to "serve proceedings" against AllofMP3.com. When that happens, the Russian judicial system will be obligated by international agreement to look into the matter.

Sources: ars technica | PC Magazine | CDFreaks.com | Scotsman.com | Information Week

Related Posts:

AllofMP3.com Lives On Despite U.S./Russian WTO Agreement (December 10, 2006)
Russia Agrees to Shut Down AllofMP3.com at U.S. Request (November 29, 2006)
Danish Court Blocks AllofMP3.com (October 25, 2006)
Visa and Mastercard Stop Servicing AllofMP3.com (October 18, 2006)
Russia Implements Internet Piracy Law in Gambit to Join WTO (September 1, 2006)
BPI to Sue AllofMP3.com (July 5, 2006)
AllofMP3.com Responds to Recent Scrutiny (June 6, 2006)
Russia-based AllofMP3 Launches DRM-free allTunes (March 29, 2006)
RIAA's Next Big Target: Russia (December 27, 2005)

Movie Critic, Paul Sherman, Pleads Guilty to Pirating DVDs

Dale Dietrich — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 20:27:53 +0000

Boston Herald movie critic, Paul Sherman, was arrested and charged with selling over 100 “screeners”—preview copies of movies on DVD handed out to reviewers—to various pirate groups over the last few years. He was paid US$4,714 for the use of his screeners. He faces a maximum penalty of US$250,000 and three years in prison. He will be sentenced in October.

Sources: ars technica | cinematical | boston.com

AllofMP3.com Responds to Recent Scrutiny

Dale Dietrich — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 19:52:18 +0000

In response to recent Russian law enforcement scrutiny brought on at the behest of the the ifpi and U.S. Trade Officials (including threats that sites like AllofMP3.com could limit Russia's chances of becoming a member of the WTO), AllofMP3.com has put out a statement detailing its compliance with Russian copyright law.

Sources: Slyck | P2PNet

Related Posts:

AllofMP3.com Lives On Despite U.S./Russian WTO Agreement (December 10, 2006)
Russia Agrees to Shut Down AllofMP3.com at U.S. Request (November 29, 2006)
Danish Court Blocks AllofMP3.com (October 25, 2006)
Visa and Mastercard Stop Servicing AllofMP3.com (October 18, 2006)
Russia Implements Internet Piracy Law in Gambit to Join WTO (September 1, 2006)
BPI to Sue AllofMP3.com (July 5, 2006)
AllofMP3.com Responds to Recent Scrutiny (June 6, 2006)
Russia-based AllofMP3 Launches DRM-free allTunes (March 29, 2006)
RIAA's Next Big Target: Russia (December 27, 2005)

Movie Industry May Drop HDCP/ICT Until 2010/2012?

Dale Dietrich — Tue, 23 May 2006 19:04:23 +0000

The leading German newspaper Der Spiegel claims to have information on an unofficial agreement struck between the movie studios, Sony, Microsoft and others which will see HDCP, and the Image Constraint Token (ICT), being consigned to the scrap heap for at least four years. This move would mean that all movie content produced until 2010 at the earliest, and possibly as far as 2012, will not carry the ICT – a security feature which restricts/down-rez’s high-definition playback only to equipment with HDMI ports and HDCP encryption.

Sources: ars technica | GameIndustry.biz | Daily Tech | Next Generation | IGN | Gamasutra | Xbit | Joystiq | Engadget | Der Spiegel (Google’s English Translation)

Dale’s Comment: This is a remarkable development if true. I have been participating in online forums for years where this has been a major subject of contention for early HDTV adopters. With the constant delays of HD-DVD and Blu-ray and the many competing HD standards appearing on the horizon, this may spell the demise of HD down-rezzing and the ICT. Recently, Professor Ed Felton suggested that HDCP is Eminently Crackable. All this said, since main-stream press has not yet picked this up, I question its veracity. But, its fun speculation in the meantime.

Update: October 15 2006: Save for one or two titles, the first couple hundred Blu-Ray and HD-DVD releases have been released without HDCP/ICT activated.

Related Posts:

HDCP is Eminently Crackable Says Professor Ed Felton (April 17, 2006)
Windows Vista Proofed against Video Piracy (August 31, 2005)

Ubisoft Drops Starforce Piracy Protection

Dale Dietrich — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 00:42:24 +0000

Amidst growing complaints of potentially harmful security breaches and the recent filing of a class action lawsuit, French publisher Ubisoft has officially ceased its use of Starforce copy protection.

Sources: GameIndustry.biz | ars technica | MoneyControl.com | PALGN | afterdawn.com | Legit Reviews | neo seeker

HDCP is Eminently Crackable Says Professor Ed Felton

Dale Dietrich — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:09:25 +0000

Princeton Professor Ed Felton, famous for revealing that SunComm’s DRM for music CDs could be defeated by holding down the shift key while inserting the music CD into your computer, says completely breaking/cracking High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is “eminently doable”. HDCP is the DRM standard developed by Intel to control access to high definition content as in travels across DVI and HDMI connections (eg: between your HD set-top box or HD-DVD player and your HDTV).

Sources: Prof Felton’s Freedom to Tinker Blog | Prof Felton’s Freedom to Tinker Blog II | Engadget

Russia-based AllofMP3 Launches DRM-free allTunes

Dale Dietrich — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 20:30:33 +0000

Russian-based AllofMP3.com has released a beta of its latest desktop music library and download tool allTunes. Although the name is an obvious play on iTunes, those familiar with AllofMP3 will know that they are infamous for extremely cheap, high quality and quasi-legal, DRM-free music downloads in MP3 format on the web.

Sources: Tech Crunch | ars technica | All About Symbian

Related Posts:

AllofMP3.com Lives On Despite U.S./Russian WTO Agreement (December 10, 2006)
Russia Agrees to Shut Down AllofMP3.com at U.S. Request (November 29, 2006)
Danish Court Blocks AllofMP3.com (October 25, 2006)
Visa and Mastercard Stop Servicing AllofMP3.com (October 18, 2006)
Russia Implements Internet Piracy Law in Gambit to Join WTO (September 1, 2006)
BPI to Sue AllofMP3.com (July 5, 2006)
AllofMP3.com Responds to Recent Scrutiny (June 6, 2006)
Russia-based AllofMP3 Launches DRM-free allTunes (March 29, 2006)
RIAA's Next Big Target: Russia (December 27, 2005)

The Pirate Bay: Here to Stay? (Wired Feature)

Dale Dietrich — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 19:20:44 +0000

One prominent site is missing from the movie industry’s recent round of lawsuits, and it happens to be the simplest and best-known source of traded movies — along with pirated video games, music, software, audio books, television broadcasts and nearly any other form of media imaginable. The site is called The Pirate Bay, and it’s operated by a crew of intrepid Swedes who revel in tormenting the content industries.

Source: Wired

The Problem with PC Game Piracy Protection (Next Generation Feature)

Dale Dietrich — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 20:27:57 +0000

PC Gamer looks at anti-piracy solutions and how their potency has created problems for legitimate game buyers.

Source: Next Generation

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