Tag: upphovsrätt

Statligt missbruk

Law Professor: Megaupload Prosecution A ‘Depressing Display Of Abuse Of Government Authority’ | Techdirt

The more we hear and see about the government’s case against Megaupload, it really appears that the government was relying almost entirely on the fact that Megaupload looked bad. It’s hard to deny that there were plenty of things that Kim (in particular) did that makes him appear pretty obnoxious. But being a crass showoff doesn’t automatically make you a criminal. Even worse, the government’s action in the case to date seem to be doing everything possible to undermine their own case as they try to railroad Megaupload.

Amerikanska staten lämnar tillbaka beslagtagen website efter ett år

Detta är skälet till att lagar som SOPA/PIPA/CISPA och avtal som ACTA är dåliga. Om det blir så här med dagens möjligheter, hur blir det då när det finns ännu vidare möjligheter att stänga ner sidor?

Amerikanska staten beslagtar en website i över ett år på uppdrag av den privata organisationen RIAA. Några bevis som håller för en rättegång kommer aldrig och websiten lämnas tillbaka utan förklaring.

Federal authorities who seized a popular hip-hop music site based on assertions from the Recording Industry Association of America that it was linking to four “pre-release” music tracks gave it back more than a year later without filing civil or criminal charges because of apparent recording industry delays in confirming infringement, according to court records obtained by Wired.

The Los Angeles federal court records, which were unsealed Wednesday at the joint request of Wired, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the First Amendment Coalition, highlight a secret government process in which a judge granted the government repeated time extensions to build a civil or criminal case against Dajaz1.com, one of about 750 domains the government has seized in the last two years in a program known as Operation in Our Sites.

Apparently, however, the RIAA and music labels’ evidence against Dajaz1, a music blog, never came. Or, if it did, it was not enough to build a case and the authorities returned the site nearly 13 months later without explanation or apology.

Feds Seized Hip-Hop Site for a Year, Waiting for Proof of Infringement

The Guardian: Battle for the Internet

The Guardian har börjat en sjudagars serie om kriget om internet som verkar bli intressant:

Over seven days the Guardian is taking stock of the new battlegrounds for the internet. From states stifling dissent, to the new cyberwar front line, we look at the challenges facing the dream of an open internet.

  • Day one: the new cold war
    China’s censors tested by microbloggers who keep one step ahead of state media | Technology | The Guardian
    Nervous Kremlin seeks to purge Russia’s internet of ‘western’ influences | Technology | The Guardian
    Internet censorship: how does each country compare? | Datablog | Technology | guardian.co.uk
  • Day two: the militarisation of cyberspace
    Internet attacks on sovereign targets are no longer a fear for the future, but a daily threat. We ask: will the next big war be fought online?
  • Day three: the new walled gardens
    For many, the internet is now essentially Facebook. Others find much of their online experience is mediated by Apple or Amazon. Why are the walls going up around the web garden, and does it matter?
  • Day four: IP wars
    Intellectual property, from copyrights to patents, have been an internet battlefield from the start. We look at what SOPA, PIPA and ACTA really mean, and explain how this battle is not over. Plus, Clay Shirky will be discussing the issues in a live Q and A session
  • Day five: ‘civilising’ the web

    In the UK, the ancient law of defamation is increasingly looking obsolete in the Twitter era. Meanwhile in France, President Sarkozy believes the state can tame the web.

  • Day six: the open resistance

    Meet the activists and entrepreneurs who are working to keep the internet open

  • Day seven: the end of privacy

    Hundreds of websites now know vast amounts about their users’ behaviour, personal lives and connections with each other. Find out who knows what about you, and what they use the information for

    • “Förmodligen ett upphovsrättsligt intrång”

    In yet another example of overactive copyright law blocking legitimate content, we find this story from Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper, about Zazzle’s abrupt and unfriendly treatment of its supposedly (but not actually) infringing customers.

    Marco, who is no stranger to copyright concerns, recently used Zazzle to sell a jokey mug based on bad reviews of Instapaper:

    Later in the day, after the mug had racked up 116 sales, all the customers were told that their orders had been cancelled because the mug violates Zazzle’s acceptable use policy—apparently the “design contains an image or text that may be subject to copyright.”

    May be subject to copyright? Anything and everything may be subject to copyright. If that’s the bar they’re using to determine what’s allowed on Zazzle, nothing will exist there at all. Besides, usually when you come across something that may have a problem you check to find out if it actually does. But that’s not what happened here.

    Zazzle Blocks ‘1-Star Review’ Mug, Gets Even Worse Review From Instapaper Creator | Techdirt

    Det är detta som kommer att bli normen med lagar och avtal som SOPA/PIPA och ACTA och som DCMA redan idag driver fram: en webbplats vågar inte/har inte råd att det finns upphovrättsligt skyddat material på deras sidor, de blir ansvariga och kan inte friskriva sig så att ansvaret bara läggs på den som laddar upp/tillhandahåller det skyddade materialet.

    Det kommer att leda till självcensur och siter som t ex YouTUBE kommer att få det mycket svårt.

    Jämför med tårtbagaren i Clay Shirkys video om SOPA/PIPA, tårtbagaren kan inte ta emot ett barns teckning av Musse Pigg och trycka på tårtan eftersom Disney äger rätten till Musse Pigg.

    Därför slänger Zazzle ut muggen ovan, för att det kanske är ett upphovsrättsligt intrång.

    Megaupload User Asks Court to Return His Video Files | Electronic Frontier Foundation

    Case Raises Key Questions About User Rights in Cloud-Based Storage

    San Francisco – A small business owner who used Megaupload’s cloud-based storage system as part of his daily operations has asked a federal court to establish a process that would allow him and other lawful Megaupload users to get their files back. The procedure would help rectify the collateral damage caused by the government’s seizure of Megaupload.com as part of a copyright infringement investigation.

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) represents Kyle Goodwin, who runs a business reporting on high school sporting events in Ohio. Goodwin stored his video footage on Megaupload’s servers as a backup to his hard drive. In January, the FBI shut down Megaupload.com and executed search warrants on the company’s servers, locking out all Megaupload customers in the process. When Goodwin’s hard drive crashed, he could not get access to any of his own video files, which he needed to conduct his business.

    (via: Megaupload User Asks Court to Return His Video Files | Electronic Frontier Foundation
    )