US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa has supported the actions of websites, which went ‘dark’ Wednesday January 18th, describing the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) anti-piracy measures as threats to the openness, freedom, and innovation of the Internet. “The Protect IP Act and […]
Senator Patrick Leahy, sponsor of the contentious PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) anti-online piracy legislation, has hit back against websites that have shut down in opposition to his measure. “Much of what has been claimed about the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act is flatly wrong and seems intended more to stoke fear and concern than to shed […]
Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), has joined the criticism of the “blackout” threatened by various websites opposing anti-piracy legislation, describing such actions as “stunts” and “gimmicks”. “Only days after the White House and chief sponsors of the legislation responded to the major concern expressed by opponents […]
News Corp Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch has issued his most forthright tweet since he activated his Twitter account on January 1st by accusing Internet giant Google of aiding film piracy. “Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts [advertisements] around them,” Murdoch wrote, adding later that film making was “risky as […]
Google has hit back at Rupert Murdoch after he branded the search giant a “piracy leader” stating that it fought pirates and counterfeiters “every day”. Google told the BBC: “Google respects copyright – and we’ve worked hard to help rights holders deal with piracy. Last year we took down five million infringing web pages from […]
The White House has responded to two petitions about legislative approaches to combat online piracy. In their response, Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget, Aneesh Chopra, US Chief Technology Officer, and Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff stress that the important […]
Hollywood studio trade body the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has backed the Administration’s efforts to enact meaningful anti-piracy legislation. Michael O’Leary, Senior Executive Vice President for Global Policy and External Affairs, said the MPAA welcomed the Administration’s “clear statement” that legislation was needed to stop foreign based thieves from stealing the hard work […]
A 23-year old UK student faces extradition to the US to face copyright infringement allegations, a London court has ruled. Richard O’Dwyer’s website, TV Shack, provided links to other websites where users could access content but did not host any of the content itself. O’Dwyer says he started the project to improve his computer programming […]
Despite having earlier declared his intention to progress the passage of the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) in the US House of Representatives, Lamar Smith, the measure’s chief sponsor, has now said he would remove a controversial provision from the bill until further study takes place. “After consultation with industry groups across the country, I […]
A Dutch court has ordered two major ISPs in the Netherlands to block their customers from accessing The Pirate Bay website or face large fines. The Swedish pirate website has helped millions of people download copyrighted music, movies and computer games. In 2010, a Swedish appeals court upheld the copyright infringement convictions of three men […]