Online TV/Music
24 February 2016
Lawyers clear Aussies to hunt global TV online with VPNs Australian Financial Review
Lawyers have given Australians the green light to beat the piracy crackdown by using virtual private networks (VPNs) `to access online streaming content from overseas, saying that it is effectively futile for rights holders to pursue users under local laws.
18 February 2016
Village Roadshow launches legal action to block piracy-related website in Australia ABC News
Movie giant Village Roadshow says it has filed a case in the Federal Court to have a movie-related piracy website blocked in Australia.
12 February 2016
The future of television, according to Google Washington Post
Google is increasingly interested in building an alternative to the traditional cable set-top box, according to a top exec for Google Fiber.
Dallas Buyers Club piracy case abandoned but illegal downloaders warned of trouble ahead ABC News
Thousands of Australians who illegally downloaded copies of Dallas Buyers Club "can breathe a sigh of relief" after an ongoing legal case was abandoned by the film's makers, but experts have warned there is trouble ahead for those who continue the practice.
11 February 2016
Australia's Dallas Buyers Club saga draws to a close Computerworld
The long-running legal action launched by the rights holders of the movie Dallas Buyers Club today draws to a close.
29 January 2016
YouTube wins German appeal over artists' fees Reuters
A German court has handed Google another legal victory over German performing rights organisation Gema, which had sought to make the company's video-sharing service YouTube pay each time users watch music videos by artists it represents.
23 January 2016
Pirate Sites Decrease in Numbers, Increase in Strength TorrentFreak
The main lawyer and public face of Pirate Bay nemesis Rights Alliance says that the file-sharing landscape in Sweden has shifted. Henrik Pontén says that while down significantly in numbers, the remaining pirates sites have become more professional, explicitly commercial, while earning "a lot of money".
22 January 2016
Piracy Can Boost Digital Music Sales, Research Shows TorrentFreak
A new academic paper published by the Economics Department of Queen's University examines the link between BitTorrent downloads and music album sales. The study shows that depending on the circumstances, piracy can hurt sales or give it a boost through free promotion.
19 January 2016
Apple, Samsung and Sony face child labour claims BBC News
Human rights organisation Amnesty has accused Apple, Samsung and Sony, among others, of failing to do basic checks to ensure minerals used in their products are not mined by children.
15 January 2016
Netflix Announces Crackdown on VPN and Proxy Pirates TorrentFreak
For those utilizing VPNs, proxies and unblocking tools to access geo-restricted content on Netflix, the party may soon be over. According to an announcement by the company's Vice President of Content Delivery Architecture, people using such services will face new roadblocks in the coming weeks.
16 December 2015
Dallas Buyers Club piracy case: judge dismisses bid to access private details The Guardian
A landmark bid by a US studio to access the private details of thousands of Australians accused of illegally downloading the film Dallas Buyers Club has been dismissed by the federal court.
14 December 2015
For Pandora, Ruling on Webcasting Royalty Rates Is Crucial New York Times
Since it began 10 years ago, Pandora Media has become one of the most popular digital music services in the world, with around 80 million regular users. But it has never had a profitable year, its user growth has slowed and lately Wall Street has become impatient.
10 December 2015
Netflix and other services to be available on holiday in Europe BBC News
Online service subscriptions, such as Netflix and Sky's Now TV, will be portable across the EU under proposals announced on Wednesday.
09 December 2015
Europe Plans to Ease Copyright Rules on Using Digital Content New York Times
Europe's policy makers on Wednesday will announce far-reaching plans to overhaul Europe's copyright rules, including new rules to reshape which online video and music services are available and a review of how content from publications can be distributed on major sites like Google and Yahoo.
01 December 2015
Swedish Pirate Bay Blocking Decision Will Go to Appeal TorrentFreak
Last Friday's ruling by the Stockholm District Court that a local ISP cannot be forced to block The Pirate Bay will not mark the end of the matter. The copyright holders behind the legal action say that they are surprised by the decision and will definitely be taking their case to appeal.
29 November 2015
Supreme Court Opens Door for Pirate Site Blockades in Germany TorrentFreak
The German Supreme Court has today opened the door for ISP blockades of copyright infringing sites. In a landmark decision the court ruled that ISPs can be required to block websites if copyright holders fail to identify their operators or hosting providers.
20 November 2015
Google offers legal support to some YouTube users in copyright battles The Guardian
Google is stepping up its defense of YouTube users who find themselves on the wrong side of a copyright claim, the tech company said on Thursday.
17 November 2015
Online GST changes a mixed bag for NZ Internet users InternetNZ
InternetNZ has analysed today's announcement regarding Goods and Services Tax (GST) treatment for online purchases, and found it to be a mixed bag for New Zealand's Internet users.
14 November 2015
EU Court of Justice to Decide on Legality of Pirate Bay Blockades Reuters
The Dutch Supreme Court referred a landmark case against the file-sharing website Pirate Bay to the European Court of Justice on Friday, a move that could lead to a precedent in efforts to curtail the sharing of copyrighted movies and music online.
13 November 2015
Swedish Pirates are More Likely to Buy Legal Content TorrentFreak
As the entertainment industries catch up, fewer and fewer Swedish citizens are using unauthorized file-sharing networks. That's according to a new study which has found that just 18% of the population now engages in the hobby. Nevertheless, those that do pirate are dramatically more likely to buy legal content than those who don't.
05 November 2015
MPAA shuts down major torrent sites, including Popcorn Time Ars Technica
The site that provides much of the content for illegal movies shown on the "Popcorn Time" app, PopcornTime.io, has been shut down after the Motion Picture Association of America won court orders in Canada and New Zealand.
02 November 2015
Ending piracy will take more than just making the content available WA Today
Australia is one of the pirating capitals of the world, but has the tide turned now that people have legitimate access to content through local streaming services and the Dallas Buyers Club court ruling has spooked casual pirates? Maybe.
22 October 2015
UK ISPs asked to block more pirate sites BBC News
UK internet service providers have been asked to block access to dozens of URLs that are suspected of linking to pirated content.
18 October 2015
Cubans pirate U.S. TV and movies, saying the embargo made them do it Washington Post
There's little question that 50-plus years of U.S. economic sanctions have taken a heavy toll on Cuba's factories, banking system and hospitals.
14 October 2015
Music labels sue Aurous filesharing app for 'copyright theft on a massive scale' The Guardian
Major music labels are suing filesharing application Aurous for "willful and egregious copyright infringement" just days after its earliest alpha version launched.
