Thursday 16 June 2016

UK Court Forces Big Broadband ISPs to Block 8 Internet Video Piracy Sites - ISPreview UK

UK Court Forces Big Broadband ISPs to Block 8 Internet Video Piracy Sites - ISPreview UK: "So far well over 100 websites have been blocked from the view of broadband subscribers via this approach, which isn’t even counting the many proxy clones and mirrors that are also covered by the rulings.

However such blocking does not come cheap and Wiggin LLP last year revealed that an unopposed application tends to cost around £14,000 per site.

On top of that the additional admin required to maintain the block and keep ISPs up-to-date with related IP changes and new URLs (Proxy Servers) comes to around £3,600 per site per year.

Meanwhile ISPs also incur on-going costs as part of their work to introduce the blocks. EE previously suggested that a “near four figure sum” was involved with each update, while Sky Broadband hinted at a “mid three figure sum” and then roughly half that for future updates. Similarly Virgin Media pegged their own annual costs at a “low five figure sum“.

 On the flip side such blocks don’t always stop the targeted websites and indeed they may even help to advertise their existence. But those who engage in Internet Piracy will easily be able to circumvent the restrictions by using all sorts of different approaches, such as DNS changes, HTTPS, Proxy Servers or Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections." 'via Blog this'

Lord Lucas Scalds UK ISP Internet Piracy Threat Letters in Key Debate - ISPreview UK

Lord Lucas Scalds UK ISP Internet Piracy Threat Letters in Key Debate - ISPreview UK: "If anybody comes across the names of Hatton and Berkeley, Ranger Bay, Golden Eye International, Mircom International, TCYK—all of them well known in the correspondence about what is going on—I urge them to put this thing in the bin.

The current scammers are not pursuing anyone: they are just after threats and extortion and shaking people down. If you really feel you need to talk to a solicitor, there is a firm called Lawdit which has hundreds of these cases on its books and is consolidating them.

 I applaud the Government for helping our businesses avoid unjustified threats but I would like to know what they intend to do to help the granny in the Clapham nursing home who is being threatened by their smaller, nastier cousins with allegations that she has been downloading pornography illegally. Surely it is not acceptable.”" 'via Blog this'

Tuesday 14 June 2016

UNITED STATES TELECOM ASSOCIATION, ET AL. v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
Argued December 4, 2015 Decided June 14, 2016 No. 15-1063
UNITED STATES TELECOM ASSOCIATION, ET AL.,PETITIONERS v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION AND UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, RESPONDENTS
"Called “one of the most significant technological advancements of the 20th century,” [Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Report on Online Personal Privacy Act, Sen. Rep. No. 107-240, at 7 (2002)], the internet has four major participants: end users, broadband
providers, backbone networks, and edge providers.
Most end users connect to the internet through a broadband provider, which delivers high-speed internet access using technologies such as cable modem service, digital subscriber line (DSL) service, and fiber optics. See In re Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet (“2015 Open Internet Order” or “the Order”), 30 FCC Rcd. 5601, 5682–83 ¶ 188, 5751 ¶ 346.
Broadband providers interconnect with backbone networks— “long-haul fiber-optic links and high-speed routers capable of transmitting vast amounts of data.” Verizon, 740 F.3d at 628 (citing In re Verizon Communications Inc. and MCI, Inc. Applications for Approval of Transfer of Control, 20 FCC Rcd. 18,433, 18,493 ¶ 110 (2005)).
Edge providers, like Netflix, Google, and Amazon, “provide content, services, and applications over the Internet.” Id. at 629 (citing In re Preserving the Open Internet (“2010 Open Internet Order”), 25 FCC Rcd. 17,905, 17,910 ¶ 13 (2010))."

Thursday 9 June 2016

C‑360/13 Public Relations Consultants Association Ltd v Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd

CURIA - Documents: "the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 5 of Directive 2001/29 must be interpreted as meaning that the on-screen copies and the cached copies made by an end-user in the course of viewing a website satisfy the conditions that those copies must be temporary, that they must be transient or incidental in nature and that they must constitute an integral and essential part of a technological process, and, if so, whether those copies may be made without the authorisation of the copyright holders." 'via Blog this'

Wednesday 8 June 2016

Is the West giving up on freedom of speech? Terror, Hate and the EU Internet Forum |

Is the West giving up on freedom of speech? Terror, Hate and the EU Internet Forum |: "The European Commission recently concluded its “EU Internet Forum,” a code of conduct for regulating speech on the internet. The code was negotiated among law enforcement agencies and the major global social media providers. The Code of Conduct targets terrorist recruiting and so-called ‘hate speech.’ It encouraged the platform providers to suspend accounts, messages or postings that violate their terms of service which are now being re-engineered to ban forms of expression the EC considers undesirable. The European Digital Rights Initiative (EDRI) and Access Now are protesting the Code because in this arrangement, the contractual terms of service of the private platform providers actually have more bearing on what can be published than the law." 'via Blog this'