On Apr 01, 2010, Microsoft release an update on their Worldwide work on Software Piracy. On their website, they identified five myths about this phenomenon. Here are the myths and the corresponding answer that Microsoft provided.
Posts Tagged ‘Piracy’
Kodak sues Apple, Google location-based iPhone search a big deal, iPhone apps lose $450M to piracy
January 15th, 2010 |
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Kodak has announced that it has filed two suits against Apple. One of the suits is alleged patent infringement on tech used for digital image previews and the second is for computer related tech. RIM is also in the digital imaging suit.
Computerworld reckons that the location-based search Google recently launched is a big deal. The [...]
Music piracy: Singing a different tune
November 12th, 2009 |
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The battle against online music piracy is turning. A return to growth will take a good deal longer
“ROCK and roll is dead,” sang Lenny Kravitz. It is certainly poorly. Music was the first media business to be seriously affected by piracy and has suffered most severely. Yet the prognosis is improving. While it is by no means over, the struggle against music piracy is going better than at any point since the appearance of Napster, a file-sharing service, ten years ago.
It has been a brutal decade. In many countries music sales to consumers have fallen by more than a third. Even Apple’s popular digital iTunes store is little more than a niche service: fully 95% of downloads are illegal, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a trade group. Established bands have been able to raise ticket prices in response. But by reducing the money available to sign and tout new artists, file-sharing has made it harder for bands to become established. Paul McGuinness, who manages the band U2, says the whole “starmaking apparatus” is damaged. …
An assault on online piracy in China: Public morals and private property
September 24th, 2009 |
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Chinese websites come to the defence of Western intellectual property
THE government of China allows only a trickle of foreign films and television shows to be imported, claiming the restrictions are “necessary to protect public morals”. Yet there is no better place in the world for fans of Western television and cinema to live than in China. Although the authorities censor the internet heavily in other respects, the pearls of Western entertainment are usually just a click away.
Because foreign entertainment companies cannot sell their products in China, they cannot claim damages from the pirates. China’s government has vowed to protect intellectual property, but its enthusiasm is manifestly limited. Foreign spluttering has had little effect; observers had assumed that the government would not crack down until there was a domestic constituency demanding action. But now, for unexpected reasons, there is. …
Lily Allen stands out against Internet piracy
September 15th, 2009 |
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Brit singer Lily Allen has taken a stand against Internet piracy, and she has also urged fellow pop and rock stars to follow suit before song stealing destroys the music industry.
Allen, 24, fears record company bosses will drastically cut their budgets for new acts if the income from CD buyers dries up, and has called [...]
Piracy and private enterprise: Splashing, and clashing, in murky waters
August 20th, 2009 |
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Private security firms are increasingly involved in the fight against pirates. The allocation of tasks between them and navies needs some thought
OF THE dozens of ships recently captured by pirates off east Africa, few stirred so much interest in their home country as a German freighter, the Hansa Stavanger, seized by Somalis in April. As its captivity wore on, the crew of 24 was reported in Germany’s media to be ailing and in need of medicine and water.
At one point, German police commandos were training on board an American navy ship, hoping to storm the vessel, until America’s national security adviser, James Jones, said it was too dangerous. At last, on August 3rd, the saga ended after negotiations between the ship’s Hamburg-based owners and the pirates, who boasted that they had netted $2.75m in ransom. …
Sailors freed after eight months
August 3rd, 2009 |
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Eleven Indonesian sailors have been released by Somali pirates almost eight months after their ship was hijacked.
The crew of the Malaysian tugboat Masindra 7 were captured in mid-December as they sailed to Male, Maldives, an EU spokesman said.
A ransom was paid for the release, a Kenyan-based NGO, Ecoterra International, told AFP news agency.
Somali piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the wider region have prompted many nations to send warships there.
A few dozen patrols – including from Russia, China, the US and Malaysia – are currently patrolling an area of about two million sq miles (five million sq km) off the Somali coast.
European Union naval spokesman Lt Cmdr Daniel Auwermann said the release of Masindra 7 came on Saturday.
The tugboat belongs to a Malaysian company, Masindra Shipping Pvt Ltd.
Many of the piracy attacks end with the payment of ransom. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Interview With A Pirate: When To Negotiate, Kill Hostages (VIDEO)
July 29th, 2009 |
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For his story on the economics of Somali piracy, WIRED contributing editor Scott Carney spoke to one of the ocean-going hijackers. They talked about how to negotiate a ransom, when to kill a hostage, and how to avoid the Navy. Here’s the uncut…
Pirate Party On The Rise In Sweden (VIDEO)
July 23rd, 2009 |
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In Sweden, the party for internet piracy is on the rise. Christian Engstrom, 49, is the world’s first democratically elected Internet pirate and a new member of the European parliament. The group’s stated goal is to “ensure that Europe choose…
Collapse in illegal sharing of music
July 13th, 2009 |
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• Teenagers switching to streaming sites – survey
• Spotify and YouTube lead the way as habits change
They are the record companies’ bogeyman: the 15-year-old in their bedroom ripping off a star’s latest album and sharing it with their friends has been blamed for bringing an industry to its knees.
But new research shows that the number of teenagers illegally sharing music has fallen dramatically in the past year.
The survey of 1,000 fans also shows that many14 to 18 year olds are now streaming music regularly online using services such as YouTube and Spotify.
At the same time less than a third of teenagers are now illegally downloading music, the survey suggests. In January this year 26% of 14 to 18 year olds admitted filesharing at least once a month compared with 42% in December 2007.
The research revealed that many teenagers (65%) are streaming music regularly, with more 14 to 18 year olds (31%) listening to streamed music on their computer every day compared with music fans overall (18%).
The picture may be more complex than a simple shift from filesharing to streaming, with people sharing music in new ways such as via bluetooth technology, on blogs, and through copying, also known as ripping content from friends’ MP3 devices.
Even though users of streaming services are not necessarily buying more music, the industry benefits by learning more about fans’ tastes. Steve Purdham, CEO and founder of We7, a music streaming service and download store, said: “They may not buy an album, though they have that opportunity, but you can sell them tour tickets and a T-shirt of their favourite band.”
We7 has 2 million users a month and works with artists including Florence and the Machine and Jarvis Cocker to stream new albums before they are available to buy.
Paul Brindley, CEO of Music Ally, which carried out the survey with media and technology research company, The Leading Question, said: “These figures challenge the idea that filesharing will just continue to grow. While we don’t think for a second that it shows the war against piracy is won, it does at least suggest that there is encouraging news for the music industry.”
The government has pledged tougher measures to crack down on illegal filesharing, including sending warning letters to people making illegal downloads of music and films. Repeat offenders could also have their internet connections slowed down.
Music fan Dominique Wakefield, 24, said she had stopped downloading music because of concern that it would infect her computer. “I didn’t even realise it was illegal for a long time, until I heard that the government were trying to stop it. That did put me off, but one of the big reasons I stopped doing it was because I would get viruses, more pop ups on my computer. While I was at uni I started listening to streamed music using MySpace. Bands would be friends with other bands and it was a great way of discovering new music. I don’t really feel the need to own all that music, I know it’s always there.
“I still buy the occasional CD, and sometimes use iTunes. If I find myself loving a whole album and listening to it again and again, then I will buy it. But it has to be quite special.”
The rise of streaming sites is far from assured. Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify – an ad-funded streaming site which also offers a premium subscription model – recently admitted that the service, which launched in October 2008 and now has 2 million registered users, was not on target to make its revenue forecasts.
We7, which launched six months ago and relies on selling adverts of between three to seven seconds before each song, is yet to break even. But Jim Butcher, a spokesman for Spotify, said the company was confident that the quality of the product would win over users, premium subscribers and advertisers. “One of the fundamental aims of Spotify was to develop a service that was better than piracy,” he said. “We’ve always maintained that music fans don’t want to fileshare illegally but they do want to have everything at their fingertips instantly.”
Legal digital sales are also seeing an unprecedented boom, although sales are far from making up from the shortfall created by the collapse of the physical market. Digital singles were up 41.5% in 2008, while physical singles sales plunged 43.5%, according to the BPI. Last year three albums – Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, Kings of Leon’s Only By Night and Duffy’s Rockferry – sold more than 100,000 digital copies, and the impact of digital is nowhere more apparent than in the UK singles top 40, where Michael Jackson has 12 posthumous entries in the current chart.
The new research – which involved 1,000 face-to-face interviews and a series of focus groups – also revealed that a fraction more music fans are regularly buying single track downloads (19%) than filesharing single tracks (17%).
Geoff Taylor, CEO of the BPI called the figures “absolutely encouraging”. He said: “The industry has worked hard to licence new services, they are great music discovery tools and a new way for artists to get paid and drive new sales.”
Francis Keeling, vice president of digital at Universal, welcomed the news but said streaming had to be combined with new services, such as the company’s new deal with Virgin Media which will offer broadband users unlimited downloads for a monthly fee. “We are confident that the numerous legal alternatives to filesharing will result in a long term reduction in piracy,” he said.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Collapse in illegal sharing of music
July 13th, 2009 |
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• Teenagers switching to streaming sites – survey
• Spotify and YouTube lead the way as habits change
They are the record companies’ bogeyman: the 15-year-old in their bedroom ripping off a star’s latest album and sharing it with their friends has been blamed for bringing an industry to its knees.
But new research shows that the number of teenagers illegally sharing music has fallen dramatically in the past year.
The survey of 1,000 fans also shows that many14 to 18 year olds are now streaming music regularly online using services such as YouTube and Spotify.
At the same time less than a third of teenagers are now illegally downloading music, the survey suggests. In January this year 26% of 14 to 18 year olds admitted filesharing at least once a month compared with 42% in December 2007.
The research revealed that many teenagers (65%) are streaming music regularly, with more 14 to 18 year olds (31%) listening to streamed music on their computer every day compared with music fans overall (18%).
The picture may be more complex than a simple shift from filesharing to streaming, with people sharing music in new ways such as via bluetooth technology, on blogs, and through copying, also known as ripping content from friends’ MP3 devices.
Even though users of streaming services are not necessarily buying more music, the industry benefits by learning more about fans’ tastes. Steve Purdham, CEO and founder of We7, a music streaming service and download store, said: “They may not buy an album, though they have that opportunity, but you can sell them tour tickets and a T-shirt of their favourite band.”
We7 has 2 million users a month and works with artists including Florence and the Machine and Jarvis Cocker to stream new albums before they are available to buy.
Paul Brindley, CEO of Music Ally, which carried out the survey with media and technology research company, The Leading Question, said: “These figures challenge the idea that filesharing will just continue to grow. While we don’t think for a second that it shows the war against piracy is won, it does at least suggest that there is encouraging news for the music industry.”
The government has pledged tougher measures to crack down on illegal filesharing, including sending warning letters to people making illegal downloads of music and films. Repeat offenders could also have their internet connections slowed down.
Music fan Dominique Wakefield, 24, said she had stopped downloading music because of concern that it would infect her computer. “I didn’t even realise it was illegal for a long time, until I heard that the government were trying to stop it. That did put me off, but one of the big reasons I stopped doing it was because I would get viruses, more pop ups on my computer. While I was at uni I started listening to streamed music using MySpace. Bands would be friends with other bands and it was a great way of discovering new music. I don’t really feel the need to own all that music, I know it’s always there.
“I still buy the occasional CD, and sometimes use iTunes. If I find myself loving a whole album and listening to it again and again, then I will buy it. But it has to be quite special.”
The rise of streaming sites is far from assured. Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify – an ad-funded streaming site which also offers a premium subscription model – recently admitted that the service, which launched in October 2008 and now has 2 million registered users, was not on target to make its revenue forecasts.
We7, which launched six months ago and relies on selling adverts of between three to seven seconds before each song, is yet to break even. But Jim Butcher, a spokesman for Spotify, said the company was confident that the quality of the product would win over users, premium subscribers and advertisers. “One of the fundamental aims of Spotify was to develop a service that was better than piracy,” he said. “We’ve always maintained that music fans don’t want to fileshare illegally but they do want to have everything at their fingertips instantly.”
Legal digital sales are also seeing an unprecedented boom, although sales are far from making up from the shortfall created by the collapse of the physical market. Digital singles were up 41.5% in 2008, while physical singles sales plunged 43.5%, according to the BPI. Last year three albums – Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, Kings of Leon’s Only By Night and Duffy’s Rockferry – sold more than 100,000 digital copies, and the impact of digital is nowhere more apparent than in the UK singles top 40, where Michael Jackson has 12 posthumous entries in the current chart.
The new research – which involved 1,000 face-to-face interviews and a series of focus groups – also revealed that a fraction more music fans are regularly buying single track downloads (19%) than filesharing single tracks (17%).
Geoff Taylor, CEO of the BPI called the figures “absolutely encouraging”. He said: “The industry has worked hard to licence new services, they are great music discovery tools and a new way for artists to get paid and drive new sales.”
Francis Keeling, vice president of digital at Universal, welcomed the news but said streaming had to be combined with new services, such as the company’s new deal with Virgin Media which will offer broadband users unlimited downloads for a monthly fee. “We are confident that the numerous legal alternatives to filesharing will result in a long term reduction in piracy,” he said.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Collapse in illegal sharing of music
July 13th, 2009 |
No Comments
• Teenagers switching to streaming sites – survey
• Spotify and YouTube lead the way as habits change
They are the record companies’ bogeyman: the 15-year-old in their bedroom ripping off a star’s latest album and sharing it with their friends has been blamed for bringing an industry to its knees.
But new research shows that the number of teenagers illegally sharing music has fallen dramatically in the past year.
The survey of 1,000 fans also shows that many14 to 18 year olds are now streaming music regularly online using services such as YouTube and Spotify.
At the same time less than a third of teenagers are now illegally downloading music, the survey suggests. In January this year 26% of 14 to 18 year olds admitted filesharing at least once a month compared with 42% in December 2007.
The research revealed that many teenagers (65%) are streaming music regularly, with more 14 to 18 year olds (31%) listening to streamed music on their computer every day compared with music fans overall (18%).
The picture may be more complex than a simple shift from filesharing to streaming, with people sharing music in new ways such as via bluetooth technology, on blogs, and through copying, also known as ripping content from friends’ MP3 devices.
Even though users of streaming services are not necessarily buying more music, the industry benefits by learning more about fans’ tastes. Steve Purdham, CEO and founder of We7, a music streaming service and download store, said: “They may not buy an album, though they have that opportunity, but you can sell them tour tickets and a T-shirt of their favourite band.”
We7 has 2 million users a month and works with artists including Florence and the Machine and Jarvis Cocker to stream new albums before they are available to buy.
Paul Brindley, CEO of Music Ally, which carried out the survey with media and technology research company, The Leading Question, said: “These figures challenge the idea that filesharing will just continue to grow. While we don’t think for a second that it shows the war against piracy is won, it does at least suggest that there is encouraging news for the music industry.”
The government has pledged tougher measures to crack down on illegal filesharing, including sending warning letters to people making illegal downloads of music and films. Repeat offenders could also have their internet connections slowed down.
Music fan Dominique Wakefield, 24, said she had stopped downloading music because of concern that it would infect her computer. “I didn’t even realise it was illegal for a long time, until I heard that the government were trying to stop it. That did put me off, but one of the big reasons I stopped doing it was because I would get viruses, more pop ups on my computer. While I was at uni I started listening to streamed music using MySpace. Bands would be friends with other bands and it was a great way of discovering new music. I don’t really feel the need to own all that music, I know it’s always there.
“I still buy the occasional CD, and sometimes use iTunes. If I find myself loving a whole album and listening to it again and again, then I will buy it. But it has to be quite special.”
The rise of streaming sites is far from assured. Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify – an ad-funded streaming site which also offers a premium subscription model – recently admitted that the service, which launched in October 2008 and now has 2 million registered users, was not on target to make its revenue forecasts.
We7, which launched six months ago and relies on selling adverts of between three to seven seconds before each song, is yet to break even. But Jim Butcher, a spokesman for Spotify, said the company was confident that the quality of the product would win over users, premium subscribers and advertisers. “One of the fundamental aims of Spotify was to develop a service that was better than piracy,” he said. “We’ve always maintained that music fans don’t want to fileshare illegally but they do want to have everything at their fingertips instantly.”
Legal digital sales are also seeing an unprecedented boom, although sales are far from making up from the shortfall created by the collapse of the physical market. Digital singles were up 41.5% in 2008, while physical singles sales plunged 43.5%, according to the BPI. Last year three albums – Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, Kings of Leon’s Only By Night and Duffy’s Rockferry – sold more than 100,000 digital copies, and the impact of digital is nowhere more apparent than in the UK singles top 40, where Michael Jackson has 12 posthumous entries in the current chart.
The new research – which involved 1,000 face-to-face interviews and a series of focus groups – also revealed that a fraction more music fans are regularly buying single track downloads (19%) than filesharing single tracks (17%).
Geoff Taylor, CEO of the BPI called the figures “absolutely encouraging”. He said: “The industry has worked hard to licence new services, they are great music discovery tools and a new way for artists to get paid and drive new sales.”
Francis Keeling, vice president of digital at Universal, welcomed the news but said streaming had to be combined with new services, such as the company’s new deal with Virgin Media which will offer broadband users unlimited downloads for a monthly fee. “We are confident that the numerous legal alternatives to filesharing will result in a long term reduction in piracy,” he said.
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Filesharing site Pirate Bay bought for £4.7m
June 30th, 2009 |
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Global Gaming Factory X buys file-sharing site The Pirate Bay, promising that copyright holders will get paid
The Swedish software firm, Global Gaming Factory X, has bought the file-sharing site The Pirate Bay for almost £4.7m.
GCF CEO Hans Pandeya said that to continue, The Pirate Bay would have to develop a new business model. “We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid.”
In April, the founders of The Pirate Bay were sentenced to one year in jail and fined £2.4m.
They confirmed the purchase on their site and said:
It’s time to invite more people into the project, in a way that is secure and safe for everybody. We need that, or the site will die. And letting TPB die is the last thing that is allowed to happen!
Referring to the proposed changes, the founders said that if the new owners “screw around with the site, nobody will keep using it”.
Global Gaming Factory also acquired Peerialism, a “next-generation file-sharing” company which started with research at the KTH Royal
Institute of Technology and SICS, Swedish Institute of Computer Science.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds