Thursday 2 June 2011
Anti-Piracy Groups Send 3.6 Million File-Sharing Cash Demands
As the United States recoils in horror at the rapid acceleration of so-called ‘speculative invoicing’ schemes designed to force cash from alleged file-sharers, over in Europe the Germans are showing how it’s really done. According to information published by Germany’s Internet industry association, rightsholders there are targeting 300,000 alleged file-sharers every month – a staggering 3.6 million a year.
In February 2011, the US Copyright Group filed a new mass lawsuit on behalf of Nu Image, the studio behind action movie The Expendables. Initially this case included 6,500 John Doe defendants, but eventually swelled to a massive 23,322 sharers.
Then last month, with the ooos and aaahs barely silenced, along came another beefed-up lawsuit, this time on behalf of Voltage Pictures, the studio behind The Hurt Locker. A record-breaking amount of people are set to be targeted as a result of this single action, an incredible 24,583 in total.
But while these US lawsuits generate huge amounts of anger among opponents, and perversely impress with their sheer scale, over in Europe they’re really showing how it’s done. Germany is the birth place of these pay-up-or-else schemes and with their huge experience they’re making the United States look like rank amateurs.
According to mind-boggling new data released by Internet industry association ECO and linked by Janko Roettgers, German ISPs are handing over the personal details of their subscribers to rightsholders at the frightening rate of 300,000 every month. That’s more than the United States has managed in total – ever.
ECO says that the letters, which demand anything up to $1700 to make legal action go away, coupled with rising availability of legal content, have caused a drop in unlawful file-sharing of some 20% since 2008.
These figures, ECO say, make the case for not adopting measures to force ISPs to block file-sharing sites, measures which they say require “deep intervention” into the basic rights of the population.
“Blocking methods, such as those planned and advertised by the European Commission last week at the e> G8 Forum in Paris are unnecessary,” ECO said in a statement.
“First, there are many more legal and user-friendly products available now than several years ago. On the other hand, this shows a consistent approach on illegal downloads without resorting to blocking,” they continue.
However, ECO’s Oliver Süme notes that the cash demands levied by rightsholders are sometimes excessive, and a simple telling-off could achieve a useful effect.
“In most cases, a warning letter would be enough,” said Süme. “It does not always have to be a demand for several hundred euros.”
While rightsholders are making huge amounts from these settlement schemes from increasing numbers of threatening letters sent, and organizations like ECO are reporting drops in illicit sharing as a result, that’s not necessarily the full picture.
The letters are only sent out to Internet subscribers using P2P services to obtain unauthorized content, and it is unclear how many users have switched to untraceable services, such as cyberlockers, or are now taking measures to conceal their identities.
What is clear though is that if site blocking measures are introduced, file-sharing volumes will be hit, at least in the short-term. The effect of that is that fewer people will sitting ducks for these settlement letters, which have become a useful source of revenue for rightsholders. For some, reduced piracy could mean reduced revenue.
enigmax @'TorrentFreak'
In February 2011, the US Copyright Group filed a new mass lawsuit on behalf of Nu Image, the studio behind action movie The Expendables. Initially this case included 6,500 John Doe defendants, but eventually swelled to a massive 23,322 sharers.Then last month, with the ooos and aaahs barely silenced, along came another beefed-up lawsuit, this time on behalf of Voltage Pictures, the studio behind The Hurt Locker. A record-breaking amount of people are set to be targeted as a result of this single action, an incredible 24,583 in total.
But while these US lawsuits generate huge amounts of anger among opponents, and perversely impress with their sheer scale, over in Europe they’re really showing how it’s done. Germany is the birth place of these pay-up-or-else schemes and with their huge experience they’re making the United States look like rank amateurs.
According to mind-boggling new data released by Internet industry association ECO and linked by Janko Roettgers, German ISPs are handing over the personal details of their subscribers to rightsholders at the frightening rate of 300,000 every month. That’s more than the United States has managed in total – ever.
ECO says that the letters, which demand anything up to $1700 to make legal action go away, coupled with rising availability of legal content, have caused a drop in unlawful file-sharing of some 20% since 2008.
These figures, ECO say, make the case for not adopting measures to force ISPs to block file-sharing sites, measures which they say require “deep intervention” into the basic rights of the population.
“Blocking methods, such as those planned and advertised by the European Commission last week at the e> G8 Forum in Paris are unnecessary,” ECO said in a statement.
“First, there are many more legal and user-friendly products available now than several years ago. On the other hand, this shows a consistent approach on illegal downloads without resorting to blocking,” they continue.
However, ECO’s Oliver Süme notes that the cash demands levied by rightsholders are sometimes excessive, and a simple telling-off could achieve a useful effect.
“In most cases, a warning letter would be enough,” said Süme. “It does not always have to be a demand for several hundred euros.”
While rightsholders are making huge amounts from these settlement schemes from increasing numbers of threatening letters sent, and organizations like ECO are reporting drops in illicit sharing as a result, that’s not necessarily the full picture.
The letters are only sent out to Internet subscribers using P2P services to obtain unauthorized content, and it is unclear how many users have switched to untraceable services, such as cyberlockers, or are now taking measures to conceal their identities.
What is clear though is that if site blocking measures are introduced, file-sharing volumes will be hit, at least in the short-term. The effect of that is that fewer people will sitting ducks for these settlement letters, which have become a useful source of revenue for rightsholders. For some, reduced piracy could mean reduced revenue.
enigmax @'TorrentFreak'
Wednesday 1 June 2011
Kitty, Daisy and Lewis - BBC3 Documentary Excerpt
Three siblings from North London, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis have set the British roots rock scene on its ear with their infectious energy and authentic approach to rockabilly, vintage country, and first-generation rhythm & blues -- not to mention the fact that the youngest member of the trio hadn't yet reached her teens when they released their first single in 2005. Kitty Durham, Lewis Durham, and Daisy Durham were born into a musical family -- their father, Graeme Durham, is a guitarist who is also a top engineer at one of London's leading record mastering facilities, the Exchange, while their mother, Ingrid Weiss, played drums with the pioneering post-punk band the Raincoats. In 2002, while attending an afternoon rockabilly gig hosted by Big Steve and the Arlenes with their parents, Lewis was invited to sit in with the band on banjo, while Kitty hopped behind the drum kit and kept time. The next time Big Steve played at the Durhams' local pub, Lewis and Kitty were once again brought up to the stage, while Daisy joined in on accordion, and the kids decided it was time to form a band of their own.
Wanting to fill out their sound, Graeme was drafted as a rhythm guitarist and Ingrid took up upright bass to join the family combo. As the youngsters began displaying a greater range of talent -- Lewis plays guitar, lap steel, and piano along with the banjo, while Kitty handles percussion, harmonica, ukulele, and guitar and Daisy sings and plays piano as well as drums -- they became an act to watch on the U.K. Americana circuit, and began recording their own material. Lewis put together a makeshift studio in their home using vintage analog recording gear, and in 2005 the kids released their first single, "Honolulu Rock," with Kitty 12 years of age, Lewis 14, and Daisy the oldest at 16. A second single, "Mean Son of a Gun," hit shops a year later; it was released as a 7" 45 and in a limited-edition 10" 78-rpm pressing. In 2008 Kitty, Daisy & Lewis released their eponymous full-length debut album, featuring the single "Going Up the Country." The trio's sophomore effort, Smoking in Heaven (preceded by the single "I'm So Sorry"/"I'm Going Back"), was slated for release in May of 2011
(Marc Deming - allmusic)
via
Bonus:
Kitty Daisy & Lewis - Going Up The Country (Morning Becomes Eclectic 07/06/09)
Indoncensorship Index on Censorship
The dark side of Syria's internet, @jilliancyork on why surveillance and spambots prove @evgenymorozov right http://goo.gl/2R1Gh
Mideast Uses Western Tools to Battle the Skype Rebellion
Peter Saville on his Joy Division/New Order album cover artwork
Next month sees the release of Total, the first compilation to combine the back catalogues of Joy Division and New Order – who shared band members, a record label and a sleeve designer. Peter Saville was a co-founder of Factory Records and credits the label's unique culture for providing him with a creative freedom on a par with its bands. "I had the opportunity to make the kind of objects I wanted to see in my life," says Saville, who went on to design the England football strip, art direct adverts for Dior and was creative director of the city of Manchester. Here, he talks us through his favourite designs for Joy Division and New Order sleeves
Unknown Pleasures Joy Division (Factory, 1979)
This was the first and only time that the band gave me something that they’d like for a cover. I went to see Rob Gretton, who managed them, and he gave me a folder of material, which contained the wave image from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy. They gave me the title too but I didn’t hear the album. The wave pattern was so appropriate. It was from CP 1919, the first pulsar, so it’s likely that the graph emanated from Jodrell Bank, which is local to Manchester and Joy Division. And it’s both technical and sensual. It’s tight, like Stephen Morris’ drumming, but it’s also fluid: lots of people think it’s a heart beat. Having the title on the front just didn’t seem necessary. I asked Rob about it and, between us, we felt it wasn’t a cool thing to do. It was the post-punk moment and we were against overblown stardom. The band didn’t want to be pop stars ...
Unknown Pleasures Joy Division (Factory, 1979)
This was the first and only time that the band gave me something that they’d like for a cover. I went to see Rob Gretton, who managed them, and he gave me a folder of material, which contained the wave image from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy. They gave me the title too but I didn’t hear the album. The wave pattern was so appropriate. It was from CP 1919, the first pulsar, so it’s likely that the graph emanated from Jodrell Bank, which is local to Manchester and Joy Division. And it’s both technical and sensual. It’s tight, like Stephen Morris’ drumming, but it’s also fluid: lots of people think it’s a heart beat. Having the title on the front just didn’t seem necessary. I asked Rob about it and, between us, we felt it wasn’t a cool thing to do. It was the post-punk moment and we were against overblown stardom. The band didn’t want to be pop stars ...
I Think I'm Noam Chomsky
He will deliver the City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture at Sydney Town Hall 2 November.
Melbourne International Jazz Festival Opening Celebration Concert feat Sun Ra Arkestra
Sun Ra Arkestra (USA), Chiri featuring Bae Il Dong (KOR/AUS) and the Cairo Club Orchestra (AUS)
The Melbourne International Jazz Festival and The Light in Winter invite you to an unmissable celebration of jazz that will have you dancing into the twilight! Rain, hail or shine, the 2011 Festival officially kicks off with a free open-air concert at Federation Square.Be sure to bring your dancing shoes as Melbourne's own sultans of debonair, the Cairo Club Orchestra, serenade in the evening's spectacular lineup of headline artists, including the awe-inspiring Chiri featuring internationally renowned Korean pansori singer Bae Il Dong performing with Australian improvising treasures drummer Simon Barker and trumpeter Scott Tinkler, followed by a special sneak peak performance by the legendary, the notorious, the groundbreaking 'tone scientists', the Sun Ra Arkestra, making their Australian premiere performance on the eve of their sold-out Festival shows.
Federation Square - Main Stage
Sat 4 June, 3–5pm
Spaceboy and I will have our dancing shoes on down the front!
Spaceboy and I will have our dancing shoes on down the front!
How mining and media distort Australia's carbon tax debate
Given that Australia's leader of the opposition can call human-induced climate change "crap" and still enjoy a thumping lead in the opinion polls, it's perhaps not surprising that Cate Blanchett has had to endure a flurry of non-theatrical criticism this week for fronting a pro-carbon price advertising campaign.
The pillorying of Blanchett highlights the increasingly shrill tone of an Australian media that has recently come under the iron ore-tinged influence of the country's richest person – mining magnate Gina Rinehart.
For many Australians, the first cab off the rank to attack Blanchett for supporting the Labor government's carbon price was The Bolt Report, a Sunday-morning TV show hosted by News Ltd columnist Andrew Bolt.
Bolt spent the opening portion of his weekly televisual soapbox decrying the "deceitful" Blanchett ad, labelling it "crass propaganda."
He went on to call Tim Flannery, author of a new Climate Change Commission report that warns of a one-metre rise in sea levels by the end of the century, a "long-time global warming scaremonger" before insisting that the world has not warmed for a decade.
Climate change has long been a favoured topic for Bolt in print, where he is widely read in News Ltd's Melbourne and Sydney populist tabloids. His climate change denial figurehead status was confirmed when he was made the the target of a satirical 'rap' by climate scientists.
But it's only since April that Bolt has been given the platform of a TV show, on the youth-orientated Ten Network, to espouse his climate change scepticism.
Australian media commentators have pointed to the arrival of Rinehart to Ten's board as being instrumental to Bolt's sudden rise.
Rinehart was last week crowned Australia's richest person by BRW magazine, with an estimated wealth of $10.3 billion – putting Blanchett's $53 million somewhat into the shade – and she has loosened the purse strings to become a budding, if belated, media mogul.
Rinehart splashed out $120 million to buy a 10% stake in Ten in November, taking her place alongside Lachlan Murdoch on the broadcaster's board a month later.
She swiftly followed this by doubling her stake in Fairfax, the country's second largest newspaper group, to 4% in January, tantalisingly close to the 5% share that would require her to declare her interest and expose her to questions as to her sudden interest in Australia's media.
As it is, Rinehart's public comments have been sparse, but the little she has said has been pored over by environmental groups concerned over her tightening grip on two of Australia's main media outlets.
After the Ten deal, she said in a statement: "Our company group is interested in making an investment towards the media business given its importance to the nation's future and has selected Ten Network for this investment."
Given the fevered debate over the proposed introduction of a carbon price, which has been furiously attacked by the opposition Coalition and the resources sector, there appears to be little ambiguity in the phrase "the nation's future", nor Rinehart's position in the debate.
Many Australians' enduring image of Rinehart came during the ructions caused by last year's proposed tax on the resources sector, when she clambered upon the back of a pick up truck, resplendent in pearls, to bellow "Axe the tax" during a rally.
In an opinion piece published in a mining industry magazine this month, Rinehart was more explicit over her aims, saying:
"Some mainstream media like to attack me because I speak out against a carbon tax.Rinehart chairs Hancock Prospecting, a resources company founded by her father Lang Hancock in 1952. It has significant iron ore interests in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and has embarked upon large-scale thermal coal projects in Queensland.
"It's a pity more business executives don't speak out, because this proposal should have been dropped long ago.
"Remember when the mainstream media was running frightening commentary about carbon-induced global warming?
"We read and heard about how oceans would rise, flooding our homes, and how, over years, we'd be scorched due to the increasing heat.
"Have you noticed that we don't hear much any more about global warming?
"There will always be changes that affect our climate, even if we close down all thermal-fired power stations, steel mills and other manufacturing operations, putting employees out of work and drastically changing our way of life.
"I am yet to hear scientific evidence to satisfy me that if the very, very small amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (approximately 0.83 per cent) was increased, it could lead to significant global warming."
She has also formed Australians for Northern Development and Economic Vision, a lobby group that includes prominent geologist and climate sceptic Ian Plimer.
Aside from opposing the resources and carbon taxes, Rinehart has grumbled at how Australia "drowns" in environmental regulations and has called for an influx of cheap foreign labour to the country's sparsely populated northwest.
She even helped fund the bizarre speaking tour of climate sceptic Lord Monckton, who travelled from his Highlands estate to traverse Australia in January.
Monckton's tour saw him receive a $20,000 stipend as well as the organisational help of Rinehart's office when he arrived in Perth.
He used the tour to claim in an opinion piece for The Australian that "thoughtful" politicians were "privately, quietly" questioning conventional thinking on climate change. He is set for another trip Down Under in July.
Rinehart is not fighting a lone battle against carbon pricing. Sydney's Sunday Telegraph, which ran the now-infamous 'Carbon Cate' headline in the wake of Blanchett's ad, is representative of News Ltd titles' opposition to the tax, which critics claim will drive up energy prices and decimate Australian industry.
The increasing vitriol aimed at the Greens, which has pushed for the carbon price in return for its support of the minority Labor government, recently led to the party's leader Bob Brown labelling the Murdoch press the "hate media."
Throw into the mix a group of grumpy, but extremely popular, radio 'shock jocks' who are vehemently opposed to the carbon price and it's unsurprising that the latest polling shows only 38% of the Australian public back the plan.
Perhaps more worryingly for green groups, the proportion of people that agree that climate change is caused by human activity recently slipped below 50% for the first time. A further decline in this number will present a decent return on investment for Rinehart.
Oliver Milman @'The Guardian'
Prominent journalist dies in targeted killing in Pakistan
Syed Saleem Shahzad, right, with Pakistani journalist Qamar Yousafzai at the Afghan border in 2006. The two had been detained for several days by the Taliban. (AP/ Shah Khalid)
The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed and angered by the targeted killing of senior Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad, the Pakistan bureau chief of the Asia Times online website. Shahzad, considered an expert on Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, disappeared on Sunday night as he was on his way to participate in a talk show on Dunya Television, media reports said. His body, showing signs of torture, was later found outside Islamabad, according to local and international media reports. Pakistan had the most journalists deaths in the world in 2010. On World Press Freedom Day (May 3), a CPJ delegation met with President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Minister Rehman Malik and several other members of the government to press for a reversal of the abysmal record of impunity with which journalist are killed in Pakistan. The country ranks 10th on CPJ's global Impunity Index.
"President Zardari and Interior Minister Malik each personally pledged to address the vast problem of uninvestigated and unprosecuted targeted killings of journalists in Pakistan," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator. "With the murder of Saleem Shahzad, now is the time for them to step forward and take command of this situation."
Shahzad, who wrote Inside al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11, had recently reported in an Asia Times article, "Al-Qaeda had warned of Pakistan strike," that members of Al-Qaeda conducted the May 22 attack on a naval air station in Karachi. In 2006, he was held for five days by Taliban forces in Afghanistan's Helmand province.
Shahzad's death is the third this year in which a journalist was clearly killed because of his work. Nasrullah Khan Afridi died when his car blew up in Peshawar, and popular TV reporter Wali Khan Babar was gunned down on January 13 in Karachi. At least one other reporter, Naveed Kamal with the local news channel Metro One TV, has survived a targeted attack, with a gunshot through his jaw.
CPJ counts 15 cases of journalists apparently targeted for their journalism in Pakistan since the 2002 killing of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. None of their killers have been brought to justice.
@'CPJ'
MrChuckD Mistachuck
Feeding the masses sht on a silver tray,w piss in a labeled bottle.Regardless how it's dressed up & packaged it's still gonna taste like...
The Mad Blatter
SkySportsNews Sky Sports News
Sepp Blatter: All future World Cup hosts will be voted on by all 208 members of #FIFA instead of the executive committee
(About time!)
Drug Raid Turns Ugly as SWAT Guns Down Marine Vet
What began as a carefully orchestrated drug raid by Arizona police ended in chaos, bloodshed and outrage. Now, a young Marine veteran is dead, leaving his wife and two young boys to mourn for him on this Memorial Day, after he made it through two tours in Iraq.
The tragic assault also opened a rare window into the military-style tactics and equipment of police Special Weapons Assault Teams locked in a bloody war with Mexican drug cartels — including military-style armored vehicles and two types of robots also found on the battlefields of Afghanistan.
The May 5 assault by a Pima County SWAT team on an address on Red Water Street, outside Tucson, was meant to apprehend a suspected member of a “rip crew” — a team of heavily-armed thugs, working for one of the cartels, that steals drugs from rival cartels. The special-weapons team, made up of at least seven men and seen in the leaked helmet-camera footage above, would pull up in a “Bearcat” vehicle — a sort of law-enforcement-optimized Humvee. Then they’d bust into the single-story house, hold the occupants at gunpoint and serve a search warrant, looking for drugs, illegal weapons and other evidence of cartel involvement. Just another day for a team accustomed to risky missions.
But something went very wrong. And within seconds of ramming in the door, the SWAT team opened fire, killing Jose Guerena, the owner of the house. Guerena, a 26-year-old Marine veteran, reportedly confronted the police with an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle, possibly to protect his wife and kids, who were huddled in rooms behind him...
Continue reading
David Axe @'Wired'
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