Wed, 26th May

Ireland implements three strikes file-sharing disconnection
Irish company Eircom has become the first ISP to actually implement the three strikes and you’re off the Internet rule.

Source: techwatch.co.uk

Wed, 26th May

Halt your download
New agreement means tighter regulation on illegal downloading if passed
Obtaining illegal downloads, from new motion pictures to music.

Source: uiargonaut.com

Wed, 26th May

Pirates could be subscribers claims report
New research into online behaviour and attitudes suggests.

Source: musicweek.com

Wed, 26th May

Illegal downloading: How do you explain it to the kids?
Tom, a Toronto father and IT professional, breaks the law about four times a day

Source: theglobeandmail.com

Tue, 25th May

Sky: BBC and ITV have learned how to ‘placate the regulators’
Sky’s chief operating officer, Mike Darcey, has accused the BBC and ITV of placating the Office of Fair Trading when presenting Project Canvas, the controversial BBC-led plan to bring iPlayer-like services to televisions.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

Tue, 25th May

Pace takes top spot in set-top box market
Pace has provided the UK technology sector with a boost after becoming the world’s largest maker of TV set-top boxes, overtaking US rival Motorola and Technicolor of France.

Source: ft.com

Mon, 24th May

Is YouTube's three-strike rule fair to users?
BBC Click reports on Youtube’s copyright policy. Youtube operates a three-strike policy so a user is removed from their site after three complaints by copyright holders.

Source: bbc.co.uk

Mon, 24th May

Caught in the net.. but we're no copyright thieves
Graeme Donohoe reports on the innocent web users who have been accused of uploading illegal content. He says that many of the people targeted and threatened with court action know nothing about the crime they are being accused of.

Source: thescottishsun.co.uk

Fri, 21th May

Google launches smart TV service
Search giant Google has launched a TV service that unites live television with the web. The "smart TV" service allows people to search both live channels as well as content from websites such as YouTube.

Source: bbc.co.uk

Fri, 21th May

BBC Licence fee 'to fund superfast broadband' roll-out
The BBC licence fee could be used to part-fund the roll-out of superfast broadband across the UK. Details of the plan were outlined in the coalition deal struck between the Tories and the Lib Dems. Ed Vaizey, who has been appointed as the new broadband minister, will oversee the roll-out.

Source: bbc.co.uk

Thu, 20th May

Small ISPs to be exempt from net copyright theft measures?
ISPs with less than 400,000 subscribers will not have to issue warning letters to customers accused of illegally downloading, under proposals from Ofcom. The watchdog is responsible for creating a code of practice for ISPs regarding the internet copyright theft measures set-out in the Digital Economy Act. Initially only the UK's seven biggest ISPs would be required to issue warning letters.

Source: networkworld.com

Thu, 20th May

Illegal downloading: How do you explain it to the kids?
Erin Anderssen discusses how you explain the issue of copyright theft to children.

Source: theglobeandmail.com

Thu, 20th May

Protect your Wi-Fi or else!
FinancialAdvice.co.uk reports that experts in the field of broadband have warned UK consumers of the growing threat of potential fines for using unsecured Wi-Fi links.

Source: financialadvice.co.uk

Thu, 20th May

Blinkx shares boosted by new mobile search
Video search engine group blinkx saw its shares soar 25% to 16.25p today after it launched its service on mobiles, allowing users to watch videos on sites like YouTube and iPlayer on smartphones.

Source: thisislondon.co.uk

Wed, 19th May

Can The Coalition Give Music Harmony?
Robert Ashton asks where the music industry stands with the new Conservative-Lib Dem coalition Government and whether it can repeat the success it had with the Digital Economy Act. He reports that Lib Dem peer Lord Clement-Jones has assured the industry that a rewrite of the DEA is not going to happen.

Source: musicweek.com

Wed, 19th May

Britons spend more than 'one day a month online'
British web users are spending 65% more time online than three years ago, according to a survey of net habits. The average surfer spends 22 hours and 15 minutes on the net each month, according to the UK Online Measurement company (UKOM).

Source: bbc.co.uk

Tue, 18th May

Copyright: time to change the laws?
Stephen Evans discusses the issue of copyright and protecting the creators of content, with a particular focus on copyright and photography.

Source: bbc.co.uk

Tue, 18th May

Paying the price for 3D roll-out
Emma Saunders reports that while the price you pay to watch a 3D movie at the cinema is always the same, there are several different processes by which 3D movies are made.

Source: bbc.co.uk

Mon, 17th May

YouTube in fresh push to providers
YouTube will today reveal that it serves up more than 2bn videos a day as it tries to persuade the world's content providers that it can offer "TV-size audiences" to the very companies that had once lined up to denounce or even sue the video-sharing site.

Source: ft.com

Mon, 17th May

Google alliance aims for internet on TV
Google is set to move into the living room with a computer operating system that will bring the internet to home televisions. The company is working with the chipmaker Intel and Sony, the electronics giant, to introduce Google TV this week at a conference for Google software developers in San Francisco. The aim is to put the web on to televisions via a new generation of TV sets and set-top boxes, further blurring the line between home entertainment and computing.

Source: timesonline.co.uk

Mon, 17th May

Music copyright theft unstoppable, Universal admits
The world's largest music company has said that copyright theft cannot be stopped. Francis Keeling, head of digital at Universal Music Group International, said: "Are you going to stop piracy? No you're not. To try and set that as an objective is just not going to succeed. Can we make piracy socially unacceptable? Absolutely, and that has to be our ambition around the world." Mr Keeling was speaking at the Great Escape music convention in Brighton.

Source: bbc.co.uk

Fri, 14th May

Defeat for the digital army?
Rory Cellan-Jones argues that the UK’s new coalition government is unlikely to repeal the Digital Economy Act. He also questions the tactics of the online activists who opposed the Act, and suggests that the Act may turn out to be toothless.

Source: bbc.co.uk

Fri, 14th May

HTC sues Apple over patents while LimeWire faces closure
File sharing software firm LimeWire has been found guilty of inducing copyright infringement. The firm, which distributes P2P software that allows users to download each other's music, could be liable for up to $150,000 (£100,000) for each proven case. With millions of files shared each day the ruling could spell the end of one of the biggest filesharing firms.

Source: cityam.com

Thu, 13th May

10 urgent IT questions for the new government to answer
Bryan Glick asks how the new UK government will tackle illegal downloading.

Source: computerweekly.com

Thu, 13th May

Could new government leave Digital Economy Act in the balance
The Digital Economy Act could become an issue in the new Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government. While the new Prime Minister David Cameron recently told UK student social networking site, The Student Room, that he believes that rejecting or reconsidering the Digital Economy Act will lead to "an unacceptable setback for the important measures it contains", his Deputy Prime Minister, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, told the same social network that the Digital Economy Act should be subject to further scrutiny.

Source: networkworld.com

Thu, 13th May

Secure your network to beat copyright fines
With the government cracking down on illegal filesharing, PC Advisor explains why securing your wireless network can help you avoid a fine. According to Which? magazine, 150 customers have received a warning letter from law firm ACS:Law that recommends settling out of court and paying a £500 penalty.

Source: networkworld.com

Thu, 13th May

How much did copyright theft hurt 'Iron Man 2' at the boxoffice?
Eriq Gardner asks whether the leak of “Iron Man 2” cost the film a chance to break box office records. Paramount had decided to rush the superhero sequel to overseas markets to beat the World Cup, but a side effect of that decision was a leak, allowing U.S. consumers the opportunity to see the film online for free, although at a lesser quality.

Source: hollywoodreporter.com

Thu, 13th May

Big Music Wins One: LimeWire Loses Court Fight
A U.S. federal court has ruled in favor of the music labels in their fight against Limewire, one of the most prominent file-sharing services on the Web. District Court Judge Kimba Wood, using the Supreme Court’s Grokster decision as a guide, found that LimeWire is indeed guilty of copyright violations.

Source: allthingsd.com

Thu, 13th May

Heavier penalties to fight film copyright theft in Malaysia
Malaysia has launched a Piracy Eradication Campaign 2010 this week. The campaign, which will be carried out throughout the year, has the following main objectives: to free shopping complexes of any form of copyright theft related activities and materials, ban illegal downloading of materials on the internet, ensure that laws are abided to by business owners, and, eradicate copyright theft syndicates.

Source: asiaone.com

Wed, 12th May

CD price fall adds to music industry's blues
The average price of a CD has fallen below £8 for the first time, highlighting the challenges faced by record companies that have already seen revenues undermined by cheaper digital downloads. Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI, said that illegal file-sharing was also to blame. "One of the factors that hasn't been taken into account when looking at the effects of piracy is that it squeezes margins as well as depressing sales volume," he said.

Source: ft.com

Wed, 12th May

Warner expands DVD to BD upgrade
Responding to the extraordinary growth of Blu-ray set-top hardware, Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group has expanded its DVD2Blu upgrade programme. Consumers can select from 90 of Warner Home Video's most popular titles to upgrade. Launched in 2009, the DVD2Blu.com site allows consumers to upgrade the movies they already own on DVD to Blu-ray Disc.

Source: oto-online.com

Wed, 12th May

TalkTalk to target customer growth
TalkTalk Telecom is targeting rapid customer growth in the coming year although it played down the likelihood of building its own fibre optic cable network to attract subscribers. Rivals such as BSkyB and Virgin Media have recently been looking to attract customers by bundling telecom services with TV services such as video-on-demand and high definition TV. But Mr Dunstone said TalkTalk was unlikely to roll out any service before the launch of Project Canvas - a BBC-led consortium it is participating in that is preparing an internet-connected TV set-top box in a year's time.

Source: ft.com

Tue, 11th May

Survey: Hollywood Won’t Compete With Copyright Theft Until It’s Gone
Commenting on the results of a new survey which found that most people who download movies, music and TV shows would do so legally if they were available via a reasonably-priced and convenient platform, the boss of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft says that the industry won’t compete until rampant online copyright theft is seriously reduced. “Movie industries obviously want to make their content available online, but they can’t compete currently with a free alternative that’s perpetrated through theft. Once there is a level playing field, I think you’ll begin to see a lot more flexible, innovative business models”.

Source: torrentfreak.com

Tue, 11th May

1 in 5 young people 'confused about illegal downloading'
One in five young adults don't see why they could ever have to pay for content on the internet - and a similar number admit to being confused about what can be downloaded legally and what can't, a new survey says. The study, carried out for Microsoft's Life Academy competition, looked at the attitudes to the internet of what it calls the 'Net Set' - 18 to 25-year-olds who have hardly ever known life without the web.

Source: metro.co.uk

Tue, 11th May

Aussie file-sharers provide slightly rubbish excuses for copyright theft
Australian file-sharers say they access music from illegal file-sharing networks rather than legit download stores because they want access to digital-rights-management-free MP3s and because file-sharing is more convenient.

Source: thecmuwebsite.com

Mon, 10th May

Disc or download? You decide
Sales of DVDs dropped 13% from 2008 to 2009 while digital alternatives, such as video streaming and on-demand movie sites, grew significantly. In a bid to address the decline, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), a US consortium of entertainment firms, wants to transform how consumers buy, access and play digital content. DECE is working on an ecosystem that will allow users who buy digital content to view it on any of their devices such as mobile phones and portable players.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Mon, 10th May

FCC Pushing For Better Copyright Theft Controls
Federal regulators are endorsing the efforts of Hollywood by allowing cable and satellite TV companies to turn off output connections on the back of set-top boxes to help prevent copyright theft. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced its decision on Friday, which is intended to encourage studios to make movies available for home viewing on demand soon after they hit theaters.

Sources: redorbit.com and latimes.com

Mon, 10th May

Hollywood, Bollywood fight copyright theft, plagiarism
The MPA and leading representatives of the Indian film industry have announced a joint anti-copyright theft coalition at the Mumbai industry conference FICCI FRAMES. The coalition was unveiled by outgoing MPA chairman Dan Glickman and top executives from such Indian studios as Yash Raj Films, Reliance Big Pictures, UTV Motion Pictures, Eros International and Studio 18.

Source: hollywoodreporter.com

Mon, 10th May

NEC creates unauthorised copy film detection algorithm with 96% success rate
Japanese IT company NEC thinks they might have a weapon that will remove infringing content from YouTube once and for all: a video content identification technology that detects illegal copies of video content uploaded to the Internet in a matter of seconds. The NEC software is reported to have a 96% detection rate.

Source: geek.com

Fri, 7th May

BVA Handbook 2010
For all that you need to know about the UK film industry, you can order your copy here.

Source: bva.org.uk

Fri, 7th May

Election Special: Copyright and illegal downloading
V3.co.uk looks at how the parties differ in their policies for dealing with illegal downloaders.

Source: v3.co.uk

Fri, 7th May

Most copyright thieves say they'd pay for legal downloads
MOST people who illegally download movies, music and TV shows would pay for them if there was a cheap and legal service as convenient as file-sharing tools like BitTorrent. That's the finding of the most comprehensive look yet at people who illegally download TV shows, movies and music in Australia, conducted by news.com.au and market research firm CoreData.

Source: news.com.au

Fri, 7th May

Kiss: Illegal file sharing is 'immoral'
People who illegally download music on the internet are preventing talented bands from achieving success, Kiss have said. The band's co-frontmen Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have hit out at fans that attempt to get hold of songs for free, saying it is akin to stealing.

Source: viagogo.co.uk

Fri, 7th May

FOZZY Frontman On Illegal Music Downloading: 'Stealing Is Stealing, Man'
FOZZY vocalist and WWE wrestling star Chris Jericho argues that illegal downloading is stealing. “For me personally I'll buy every song that I ever want to listen to because it's only fair.”

Source: roadrunnerrecords.com

Fri, 7th May

Hong Kong residents in favour of graduated response
A poll of people in Hong Kong has found that the majority are generally in favour of a graduated response to stem online copyright theft. A total of 71% stated that they would stop illegal downloading were a graduated response policy to be implemented by the government. On top of this, 53.6% said they would immediately stop downloading from illegal sources if their ISP was to send them a warning letter.

Source: musicweek.com

Thu, 6th May

DVD sales slump in wake of Zavvi and Woolworths collapse
The collapse of Woolworths and Zavvi hit sales of DVDs last year, according to new figures released by the British Video Association's yearbook, published today.

Source: guardian.co.uk

Wed, 5th May

“Creative Britain” cultural manifesto
The Labour Party have launched their “Creative Britain” cultural manifesto.

Source: labour.org.uk

Wed, 5th May

Cameron brushes off idea of post-election deal with Lib Dems
The Daily Mail reports that Gordon Brown has launched Labour’s manifesto for the cultural industries, including proposals to tackle online copyright theft and support the film and video-gaming industries, as well as plans for a biennial Festival of Britain to showcase creative talent, while David Cameron has brushed off suggestions that he might be seeking a post-election deal with the Liberal Democracts.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Tue, 4th May

Avatar Breaks Blu-ray Copyright Theft Records
TorrentFreak reports that the Blu-ray version of Avatar is well on its way to becoming the most illegally downloaded Blu-ray title. In the first few days, a high percentage of the downloads were coming from the UK and Australia, something that could be attributed to the fact that the DVD did not go on sale in those countries until after the torrent was made available on line.

Source: tomshardware.com

Tue, 4th May

Apple stops Lala's music, Web-based iTunes expected
Lala, the online music service, will be shut down on May 31, just five months after Apple Inc bought the start-up, fueling speculation the iPod maker plans to launch a new web-based version of iTunes.

Source: reviewboard.com

Tue, 4th May

Son should stop downloading
Posting by a mum wondering what to do about her son’s copyright infringement.

Source: saultstar.com

Tue, 4th May

DVD player sales plummeting as film lovers switch to downloads
Sales of DVD players have fallen to their lowest level for seven years, leading experts to warn that the technology could soon die out. The rising popularity of internet downloads and digital video recorders has seen a switch to watching films and TV series virtually, rather than keeping a hard copy.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Tue, 4th May

3D TV or not 3D TV - that is the question
Tom Lamont examines the pros and cons of new 3D TVs.

Source: guardian.co.uk