Blogs: RIAA

The RIAA says Google is not doing enough to demote sites promoting piracy and Hollywood will soon be acting as Internet cops with the Copyright Alert System kicking off. But the are ways to get around Six Strikes . . . 

ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has been overwhelmingly rejected by the European Parliament, by 478 votes to 39 (165 abstained). It now seems unlikely to come into force anywhere in the world. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers celebrate democratic independence from The Man.

A Computerworld story from March 2011 gets a new life and a new twist after being picked up by a U.K. music news website.

As the copyright enforcement center kicks off, do you know if your ISP in bed with Hollywood and planning to play police with the six strikes 'Graduated Response'? Will the Center for Copyright Information beat Fair Use to death with an infringement club?

When you buy a MP3 from iTunes, do you own it? What if you could resell some of the ton of digital music you don't listen to, but that is taking up hard drive space? You can buy and legally resell "used" MP3s on eMarketplace ReDigi, the brainchild of former MIT programmers. Like the RIAA which refuses to change a broken business model, Capitol Records had a copyright infringement cow and objected in court. However a judge handed the first round victory to ReDigi, not Capitol. It's looking good for music lovers.

A proposed bill that is designed to make it harder for offshore sites to sell counterfeit U.S products and copyrighted content gives content and IP owners way too much power, critics contend.

The RIAA is yet again appealing the damages against Jammie Thomas-Rasset for her P2P copyright infringement of 24 songs. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers wonder if this will ever end. Not to mention: Why Arabic is Terrific...

A consortium of the biggest U.S. Internet service providers have come up with a plan to "educate" users about copyright infringement. They plan to pass on warnings to subscribers detected using peer-to-peer file sharing illegally, with an escalating system of six warnings. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers aren't clear what will happen after the sixth strike. Not to mention: Would you like an invitation to GooglePlus?..

"The Pirate Bay Four" are down but not out: there's still at least one higher court.
The Pirate Bay hasn't been exonerated at the Swedish Court of Appeal: its fearsome foursome of former torrent-istas is still facing stiff penalties for "contributory copyright infringement". Their fines have gone up 50 percent, but the prison terms have been reduced. The music and movie moguls still haven't managed to take thepiratebay.com down, and the PB4 vow to continue proving their innocence. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers wonder where it will all end. Not to mention Ms. Upside-Down Hand...

Music industry demonstrates its cluelessness; RIAA and chums moan at tech press for daring to mention LimeWire alternatives.
The Recording Industry Association of America and other bastions of the music cabal decided to flame PC Magazine this week. Why? The organ had the audacity to identify some LimeWire alternatives -- yes, it's not the only P2P file-sharing option, mac. Laughably, the RIAA went on to confuse the mag with our IDG cousins over at PC World. Well, that's an easy mistake if you have no clue about the Internet, eh? In IT Blogwatch, bloggers ask, "What's a magazine?" Not to mention Calling the (live) Time Lady in 1950...