If the vision for the creation of the web included a day one feature that could restrict access to content, people working on their own specialist topics, catering to their own niche audiences, would’ve happily pressed the button. A hundred or a thousand thriving communities, small utopias in their own right, with no connection to each other, would’ve been seen as a feature, not the failure of the internet we otherwise see today. The openness of the early days of today’s web, the ability to see most other sites and communities while being exposed to creativity and information like never before ..read more

Over the past year-and-a-half, artificial intelligence has been enjoying its mainstream breakthrough. The instant success of ChatGPT and other AI-based tools and services kick-started what many believe is a new revolution. By now it is clear that AI offers endless possibilities. While there’s no shortage of new avenues to pursue, most applications rely on input or work from users. That’s fine for the tech-savvy, but some prefer instant results. For example, we have experimented with various AI-powered image-generation tools to create stock images to complement our news articles. While these al ..read more

In his 1962 book, Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke noted that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” At the dawn of the 80s, when computers thrived on a single kilobyte of RAM, any enthusiast with access to Clarke’s book would’ve read his words, gazed at the 1,024 bytes of available RAM, and envisioned a galaxy of opportunity. As expectations have grown year-on-year, mainstream users of technology today are much less easily impressed, and fewer still experience magic. Yet, there are soli ..read more

For a long time, pirate site blocking was regarded as a topic most U.S. politicians would rather avoid. This remnant of the SOPA defeat drove copyright holders to focus on blocking efforts in other countries instead. Those challenging times are now more than a decade old, and momentum is shifting. After more than forty countries around the world instituted site-blocking measures, U.S. lawmakers may be more receptive to revisiting the topic. This week, MPA Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin announced that the movie industry group is going to work with Members of Congress to enact judicial site-blo ..read more

The debate over whether copyright infringement cannibalizes legitimate media consumption has been dragging on for several decades now. The issue has been researched extensively with both positive and negative effects being reported, varying based on the type of content and the ‘piracy’ source, among other variables. By now, most experts would agree that watching a new blockbuster on a pirate streaming site isn’t going to magically benefit legitimate sales. However, there are many more nuanced types of copyright infringement, where ‘unauthorized’ use is more likely to have a positive effect. Ti ..read more

Way back in 2010, Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN embarked on a mission to have The Pirate Bay blocked in the Netherlands. Ziggo, the country’s largest ISP, had been asked to implement a DNS and IP address blockade but when BREIN’s overtures were declined, legal action ensued. Ziggo was subsequently joined by XS4ALL, a rival ISP which also opposed site-blocking measures. After The Court of The Hague decided that blocking all customers from accessing The Pirate Bay went too far, BREIN dug in for the long haul and prepared for a full trial. In January 2012, BREIN emerged victorious. At the time, d ..read more

It’s no secret that the Motion Picture Association (MPA) views site-blocking measures in the United States as the logical next step in their perpetual campaign against piracy. Working with U.S. Congress members, the plan is to propose judicial site-blocking legislation that will see local ISPs compelled by law to prevent consumer access to pirate sites. A similar but broader effort failed in 2012 but twelve years is a very long time; in the tech and internet world, it’s almost forever. In the years since the rise and fall of SOPA, the MPA has been the driving force behind site-blocking legisla ..read more

In a complaint filed at a Nashville federal court last spring, Universal Music, Sony Music, EMI and others, accused X Corp of “breeding” mass copyright infringement. The social media company allegedly failed to respond adequately to takedown notices and lacks a proper termination policy. “Twitter routinely ignores known repeat infringers and known infringements, refusing to take simple steps that are available to Twitter to stop these specific instances of infringement of which it is aware,” the complaint alleged. Motion to Dismiss X vehemently disagreed and filed a motion to dismiss the case ..read more

Three years ago, Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal upheld the first pirate site-blocking order in the country. The landmark decision opened the door to additional and more advanced blocking requests. Indeed, it didn’t take long before NHL broadcasters asked the court for a pirate streaming blocking order of their own. This NHL blocking action was followed by a FIFA World Cup blocking order, which was also granted without further hassle. Following up on these successes, sports rightsholders added MLB among their targets. These blocking injunctions were not filed in isolation. Instead, the interl ..read more

Since its official launch at the start of February 1, 2024, much has been said and written about Italy’s ‘Piracy Shield’ IPTV blocking system. Yet, by volume, telecoms regulator AGCOM and key beneficiary Serie A, Italy’s top-tier football league, haven’t said very much at all. In separate articles published in Italian media last weekend, a reason for the lack of participation is made clear; few articles published online offer credible information and most don’t focus on the right issues. In a piece written by AGCOM commissioner Massimiliano Capitanio himself, we learn that articles published a ..read more