Generative AI is a revolutionary technology that's expected to change society as we know it but, in parallel, it raises many copyright infringement concerns. This week, book authors Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of using pirated books to train its ChatGPT models.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
A coordinated effort to associate online piracy with malware, identity theft and banking fraud, is well underway. As a result, legislation beyond copyright infringement is likely to play a key role in tackling piracy moving forward. The French government's current plan for tackling online harms envisions state-operated domain blocking lists being injected directly into web browsers to prevent fraud. It's a well-intentioned move but will not stop there.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Movie companies known for aggressively tracking down alleged pirates in pursuit of settlements have been denied permission to proceed in a reverse class action in Canada. A Federal Court judge said the plaintiffs' plan, which envisaged using ISPs and the country's notice-and-notice scheme to communicate with alleged BitTorrent pirates, would be illegal.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
A U.S. federal court in Arizona has sentenced a YouTube Content ID scammer to 70 months in prison, to be followed by three years of probation. Jose Teran was part of an operation that raked in over $24 million by falsely claiming ownership of unmonetized third-party music on the platform. The alleged leader of the scam will be sentenced in a few weeks.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
A man who shared copies of more than a thousand eBooks and articles obtained from a paywalled news site has been handed a six-month suspended sentence by a court in Denmark. Prosecutions for sharing paywalled articles are extremely rare but in this case supported by a laundry list of additional offenses including fraud and movie piracy.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
To combat spam and scammers, The Pirate Bay closed its doors to new members in May 2019. This temporary measure stayed in place much longer than expected but, starting this week, the notorious torrent site has reopened registrations. There's one crucial caveat; prospective members must be manually approved by the site's moderators.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
A brand new job listing hopes to recruit a new investigator to the Content Protection & Enforcement department at global recording industry group IFPI. The successful candidate will investigate everything from pirate apps, streaming platforms and the metaverse, to emerging technologies such as AI. They will also be familiar with specific software tools that help to map pirate networks and provide evidence in support of lawsuits.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
After heading UK music industry trade organization BPI for years, Geoff Taylor will now take on the role of Vice President of AI at Sony Music. The switch from the anti-piracy frontlines to this newly created AI position is noteworthy and Taylor's former reflections on how the industry dealt with Napster could prove relevant to AI today.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
More than 16 months into a war the Kremlin anticipated would be over in roughly three days, authorities in Russia continue to come up with 'innovative' ideas to limit the severity of the damage inflicted on its own entertainment sector. The latest plan is to start unblocking thousands of pirate sites but only if they comply with a set of stringent conditions they already ignore.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
The Interplanetary File System provides technical resilience against censorship but, for those who offer IPFS gateways, pressure to self-censor is mounting. Reports indicate that major publishing companies are carpet-bombing these volunteers with tens of thousands of DMCA notices, despite being fully aware that they are not responsible for the content in question and cannot take it down. One gateway operator has already called it quits.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Pirate IPTV services have transformed into a billion-dollar industry in recent years. It is a highly profitable business that, at the upper echelon, appears to be well organized. However, research from the Digital Citizens Alliance shows that handing over credit card details to unknown parties also has its drawbacks, including 'surprise' charges.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
By pretending to be legitimate music rightsholders, two men managed to extract over $23 million in revenue from YouTube's content-ID system. Both were arrested, pleaded guilty, and now face multi-year prison terms. This week, the U.S. requested a 70-month sentence against the 'number two' of the operation, in part to deter future fraud.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Italian police say they have targeted 13 people in Italy and Germany suspected of selling access to pirate IPTV services. Italian police units collaborated with their counterparts in Germany, with international judicial cooperation channels coordinated by Eurojust. Police say they seized over 620,000 euros in cash and crypto, and shut down 60 Telegram channels.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
'AI Hub' is a rapidly growing Discord server where users share guides and AI models, including voice models of major musicians. The RIAA suggests that the server is dedicated to copyright infringement and wants it shut down. Through a DMCA subpoena, the anti-piracy group further asks Discord to disclose the identities of several users.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Through a California federal court, a group of filmmakers wants Reddit to disclose the identities of several users who made piracy-related comments. The filmmakers say the users could provide key evidence in an ongoing lawsuit against Internet provider Grande. In line with its response to a similar request earlier this year, Reddit objects once again, citing its users' right to anonymous speech.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
With tens of millions of regular monthly visitors, South Korean piracy site Noonoo TV made powerful enemies. The stand-off reached the boiling point in March when broadcasters formed a new anti-piracy coalition and warned of punishing legal action. Noonoo TV responded by throwing in the towel but after clone site 'Noonoo TV Season 2' appeared online, the government says it will develop an AI anti-piracy system that will stop any 'Season 3' variants in their tracks.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.