Legal

The many legal issues raised as media digitises

MySpace.com Sued By Universal Music
As new media continues to challenge the traditional means of delivering music, video and other digital content, copyright lawyers can expect to get rich in the legal fall out.
Universal are the latest media group to get on the blower to their legal boys, filing a case against the social networking site, MySpace.com.
Universal claims that MySpace, “encourages, facilitates and participates in the unauthorised reproduction, adaptation, distribution and public performance,” and is seeking unspecified damages, including up to $150,000 for each unauthorised music song or video uploaded on to the Website.
MySpace’s botty-covering tactic of making users agree to grant the Website a license to publish uploaded content isn’t washing with the Universal legal team, who insist that they have no such authority over works they don’t own.
“A willing partner in theft”
The complaint, filed at the US District Court, claims that “MySpace is a willing partner in that theft,” observing that most of the media slapped up its pages aren’t generated by users, but purloined from copyright owners.
MySpace hit back in a statement, insisting that they are in full compliance with copyright laws:
“We have been keeping UMG closely apprised of our industry-leading efforts to protect creators’ rights, and it’s unfortunate they decided to file this unnecessary and meritless litigation,” the statement said.
“We provide users with tools to share their own work – we do not induce, encourage, or condone copyright violation in any way.”
Universal were having none of it, claiming that their, “music and videos play a key role in building the communities that have created hundreds of millions of dollars of value for the owners of MySpace.”
“Our goal is not to inhibit the creation of these communities, but to ensure that our rights and those of our artists are recognised,” the statement added.
20 November, 2006
UK Web-rage Man Gets 2 Years Jail
The UK first case of Web-rage to go through the courts has reached sentencing.
Paul Gibbons, 47, of Bermondsey, south-east London has been handed a two year jail stretch.
It all started when Gibbons took an extreme dislike (to put it lightly) to some of the online discussion comments put forward to John Jones, 43, who lived in Essex. This grew to the point where Jones taunted Gibbons.
The normal course of events in this type of occasion, would be a flame war as the various parties attack each other over a series of posts – then, eventually it would fizzle out.
Not this time. Gibbons took such affront, that he gathered details online about John Jones’ address and went to pay him a visit, complete with a pickaxe handle and a friend with a machete.
When Jones opened the door of his house – with a knife of his own, he was severely attacked.
There have been previous examples of people being attacked for online conflict. In China, one player of online game “Legend of Mir 3” killed another over a dispute over ownership of a virtual sword.
As Investigating Officer Det Sgt Jean-Marc Bazzoni of Essex Police said, “The dangers of giving personal information out in a chatroom environment must never be underestimated.”
(via)
17 November, 2006
US Is The World’s Worst Spammer
The US is responsible for a fifth of the world’s spam, according to security firm Sophos.
Based on their figures for Q3 2006, the US was responsible for a whopping 21.6 percent of relayed spam, making it the worst country on the planet for originating spam.
In second place in Sophos’ list o’shame comes China with 13.4 percent, followed by France (6.3 percent), South Korea (6.3 percent) and Spain (5.8 percent).
Us Brits can give ourselves a little pat on the back, as we’ve managed to reduce our spam output enough to drop out of the top ten, into 13th position.
Stratio is a pain in the arsio
Sophos reckons that the reason for the boost in the US’s spamming activities could be down to the emergence of over 300 strains of the Stratio worm.
This pesky bleeder, also known as Stration or Warezov, spreads via email using a variety of disguises, including a cheeky one that warns the victim that their PC has already been infected by a worm.
Of course, if the recipient is daft enough to download the enclosed attachment, they will indeed by infected by a worm.
Most unsolicited emails are churned out by zombie PCs. These don’t walk towards you, arms outstretched and making funny groaning noises, but are computers that have been silently infected with Trojans, worms and viruses that turn your lovely PC into a spam-spewing beast.
“In the past hackers were very reliant on operating system vulnerabilities to convert an innocent computer into a zombie – now they are turning back to malware to trick users into running their malicious code, and opening the backdoor to hackers,” said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos.
Spammers get sneaky
Sophos has also identified new scams being dreamt up by creative spammers, including a mail asking for email addresses for spam purposes, and another that encourages users to visit a video tribute website – but you’ll only get to see the full video once the user has input their email address (if the video even exists, of course).
“Integrated anti-malware and anti-spam protection is getting the better of illegal spam peddlers – forcing them to get more creative and crooked. However, if people are playing their security cards right, the spammers’ efforts will still be in vain,” continued Theriault.
[From: Infozine]
Info and resources
W32/Stration-A Worm [Sophos]
Why spam is out of control [Guardian]
Podcast: How to Protect Against Spam [Symantec]
Podcast: How to Protect Against Spam [Symantec]
Fight Spam on the Internet!
13 November, 2006
UK Online Fraud Soars, Card Fraud Down
New figures from the UK payments association Apacs reveal that online bank fraud losses rose a whopping 55% to £22.5m in the first six months of 2006.
This compares to the total of £14.5m for the same period last year.
However, card fraud fell by 5 per cent during the first half of 2006, dropping from £219.5m to £209.3m, with the reduction due to increased use of chip-and-PIN cards.
Most of the online banking frauds involve phishing scams where customers receive an email that purports to come their own bank, but is in fact from steenkin’ fraudsters out to con them into revealing their personal banking details.
Apacs reported that card users aren’t helping themselves much, with a quarter (25%) of Brits admitting to telling their PIN number to someone else, and more than a quarter (27%) using the same PIN for all their cards.
Another 44% were also guilty of letting the cards out of their sight when paying bills is places like restaurants and bars, with more than half of all online shoppers (51%) never bothering to check that they’re using a secure website address starting with “https” before buying online.
Commenting on the figures, a spokesperson for Apacs said: ‘These latest fraud figures show that the industry’s efforts are making their mark”
“However, each and everyone of us can also help defeat the fraudsters, and protect our cards and online accounts, by keeping our PINs, passwords and personal information safe and secure.”
Apacs is also liasing with banks, card schemes, retailers and systems vendors on a new online and telephone shopping authentication system that involves a cardholder inserting their chip and PIN card into a handheld reader, and entering their PIN.
[From Politics.co.uk]
Phishing resources
CardWatch
Bank Safe Online
Recognise phishing scams and fraudulent e-mails
Wikipedia
SonicWALL Phishing IQ Test
8 November, 2006
ippr: Give Music Copying Rights To Consumers
The influential UK thinktank, Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr), announced on Sunday that they thought that UK copyright law should be updated to include a “private right to copy,” clause to legalising the personal copying of CDs to portable music players. They also recommend that there should be no extension to the current 50-years copyright term.
At present, people copying music or films from CDs or DVDs that they have bought, to their computers or portable devices for their own use is against the law. According to research carried out in May this year by the National Consumer Council, the majority of British citizens (59%) had no idea that by copying content they were breaking current copyright laws.
There is a upcoming review in the UK, Gowers Review of Intellectual Property, set up by Chancellor Gordon Brown and chaired by Andrew Gowers, which ippr says is an ideal opportunity to carry out the update to the 300 year old copyright law. The ippr believes the update would legalise the actions of millions of Britons without any significant harm to the copyright holders.
The report, Public Innovation: Intellectual property in a digital age, also recommends that:
The Government should reject calls from the UK music industry to extend copyright term for sound recordings beyond the current 50 years. The report argues that there is no evidence to suggest that current protections provided in law are insufficient.
The Government should act to ensure that Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology does not continue to affect the preservation of electronic content by libraries. The British Library should be given a DRM-free copy of any new digital work and libraries should be able to take more than one copy of digital work. It also recommends that circumvention of DRM technology should stop being illegal once copyright has expired.
ippr news release
30 October, 2006
Google Signs Up With Sony & Warners To Offer Free Music Videos
Google will soon be offering free music videos on its Google video Web site after striking a deal with industry bigwigs, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.
The deal will see the search engine giant – which has just scooped up the video sharing sensation, YouTube for $1.65bn – offering users the ability to stream content from Warner Music and Sony BMG music video collections for nowt.
There will also be behind-the-sceens footage and other artist-related content made available through two separate revenue-sharing arrangements.
Google’s advertisers will sponsor the music video offerings, with the resulting booty being split between Google and its content partners.
“Our partnership with Google is rooted in the pioneering approach we’ve used to offer fans more music, while benefiting artists and protecting copyrights,” gushed Warner Music in a press release.
As well as the freebie video content, Google will also be flogging Warner music video downloads for US$1.99 a pop.
Google has said that it will be offering further access to Sony and Warner’s hefty audio-visual catalogues in the coming months through partner Web sites in its AdSense network.
The Sony/Warner deal comes hot on the heels of several content partnership deals announced by YouTube, including one with – wouldyabelieve it! – Sony BMG.
Google
10 October, 2006
Catch-A-Perv: IM Paedos Beware
Two UK lads, Gary and Ash, have taken upon themselves to go into Internet chats, posing as a 13 year old girl and converse with various men who happened across them.
Sadly many of the men who chat to them aren’t asking them about their interest in sewing patterns, but do in fact try to engage with them in sexual discussions.
Gary and Ash keep up the 13 year old act, while recording the conversations, they then encourage the (normally) older men to turn on their Web cams, which they also record.
The old boy at the other end of the connection then begs for them to switch on the “13 year old’s” Webcam. Much to their surprise, they see two lads who then inform them that they’ll be featuring on the Catch-A-Perv Website.
While it looks clear that they are exposing people who shouldn’t be discussing such things with those so young, Gary and Ash have given themselves a route out of possible legal problems by stating that “The website does not claim any persons shown on the site are paedophiles – there is no reference that suggests this – it is clear however, that the behaviour demonstrated is unacceptable.”
It’s a pretty distasteful read, so it’s lightened by reading the front page, where perhaps by mistake, or in joking way, they say they’re “raising awareness of the issue in hand.”
via BBC Radio 4: You and Yours
Catch-A-Perv
3 October, 2006
Stolen Mobiles Get The Screaming Abdabs
Pesky phone thieves may get more than they bargained for if a new anti-theft system proves a hit with punters.
The Remote XT system renders stolen phones useless by emitting a screeching, high pitched electronic scream and disabling the phone.
Launched in Britain today, the system is aimed at smartphone-toting business users who may need to carry around confidential information on their handsets.
The Remote XT software is loaded on to the smartphone, with the system storing personal info like phone numbers, text messages and e-mails on a secure remote server – so even if a phone is nicked, the user can get their data back later.
As soon as the owner realises that some light fingered Fagin has just picked their pocket, they can dial a 24-hour call centre, have it registered as stolen and let the screaming begin.
Panicking thieves can, of course, take out the battery to silence the racket, but as soon as they try to use it again, the noise starts up.
Moreover, the Remote XT software disables the handset itself, so even if a resourceful tea leaf removes the internal SIM card and tries fitting another, the phone’s still a dead duck. And a noisy one at that.
Mark Whiteman, managing director of Remote XT, said: “Theft-proof phones spell disaster for the huge criminal industry that has profited from mobile theft for too long”
“By making mobiles unusable to anyone but the rightful owner, the phones become worthless and we’ll see the market for stolen handsets stamped out once and for all,” he added.
We’d love to agree with the fella, but with the service costing upwards of £9.99 a month, we suspect that many will find it too pricey.
The idea of ‘screaming’ phones isn’t new either, with another UK firm, Synchronica, recently announcing their own version supporting Windows Mobile 2003, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and Windows Mobile 5.
However, Remoter XT claim that their software will work on most phones and not just Windows based handsets.
Meanwhile, Palm Treo users concerned about keeping their data safe can use software like Butler and Warden to remotely lock and or delete the contents of their phone and memory card (although they’ll have to do the screaming themselves).
2 October, 2006
UK Internet Gambling Firms Hit By US Online Betting Ban
Millions of game-toughened poker faces are showing signs of impending blubbering as the US Congress unexpectedly passed anti-online gambling laws last week.
Moreover, the new laws are set to hit Britain’s Internet gambling companies hard, with many of the US big players being based in the UK.
Shares of internet gambling sites like PartyGaming, Sportingbet and 888 plummeted as the new legislation made it unlawful for credit-card companies to collect payments for transactions with online-gaming sites.
The laws – contained in The Safe Port Act – are now just a George W. Bush signature away, with the President expected to put pen to paper within the next two weeks.
The new laws will wipe out US revenue for London-based online-gaming companies, with PartyGaming saying that they’d suspend business with US residents as soon as the law takes effect.
For PartyGaming it’s a calamitous blow. With more than half of the company’s revenue coming from US residents, share prices plummeted by 60 per cent, while 888Holdings – who enjoy a similar percentage of US revenue – saw its share price crash 45 per cent.
In a Stock Market announcement, the company said:
“After taking extensive legal advice, the Board of PartyGaming Plc has concluded that the new legislation, if signed into law, will make it practically impossible to provide US residents with access to its real money poker and other real money gaming sites. As a result of this development, the Board of PartyGaming has determined that if the President signs the Act into law, the Company will suspend all real money gaming business with US residents, and such suspension will continue indefinitely, subject to clarification of the interpretation and enforcement of US law and the impact on financial institutions of this and other related legislation.”
888 Holdings has already suspended its US operations, commenting that, “the board will continue to seek clarification of the overall US legal position to determine whether and to what extent if any resumption of participation by US customers is feasible”.
“At present however no assurance can be given that this will be possible,” they added.
Bizarrely, the anti-gambling legislation has been bundled in with The Safe Port Act, which is all about raising $3.4bn to “make ports safe” from evil terrorists by adding security measures like increased goods containers inspections.
PartyGaming Stock Exchange statement
2 October, 2006
Warner Music Strikes Deal With YouTube
Warner Music Group has announced a deal with YouTube to distribute music videos, as well as extras such as band interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and artist rockumentaries.
Warner Music’s vast music video library is set to become available with the launch of YouTube’s new content identification and royalty reporting system later this tear.
This comes with reporting and tracking tools to monitor music and video royalties, with YouTube claiming it can automatically identify copyrighted music and video content being uploaded to the site.
The companies hope that this new system will help YouTube get on top of the copyright issues that go hand in hand with video-sharing sites, with uploading punters rarely bothered about seeking the approval of copyright owners.
Uniquely, the system can also grant permission to other YouTube users to use any music from the WMG portfolio within their own videos, although we’re not sure if this will be made available for free or not.
Advertising revenue
YouTube and Warners plan to start sharing advertising revenue generated from running ads “on both WMG music videos and user uploaded videos that incorporate audio and audiovisual works from WMG’s catalog.”
Commenting on the partnership, Warner Music boss Edgar Bronfman said: “Consumer-empowering destinations like YouTube have created a two-way dialogue that will transform entertainment and media forever.”
“As user-generated content becomes more prevalent, this kind of partnership will allow music fans to celebrate the music of their favourite artists, enable artists to reach consumers in new ways, and ensure that copyright holders and artists are fairly compensated,” he continued.
Chad Hurley, YouTube’s CEO was clearly an excited chap: “By providing a new distribution opportunity, we are paving the way for media companies to harness the vast financial potential of user-generated content on YouTube. We are thrilled that WMG had the vision to be the first music company, in partnership with its artists, to support the use of their content within user videos and to allow our community to interact with WMG music in new creative ways.”
Legal issues looming?
Of course, his gushing enthusiasm could also be seen an expression of relief as his company finally secures a big name backer to help pay off what must be truly formidable bandwidth bills.
He may also be facing some big legal bills too, as circling record company sharks look set to bite soon over alleged copyright infringements.
Doug Morris, head honcho of Universal Music, the world’s biggest music company, gave his sabre an extra long rattle in the direction of YouTube last week, saying, “We believe these new businesses are copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollars. How we deal with these companies will be revealed shortly.”
With that kind of old fashioned refusal to try and work with new technology that can’t be uninvented, it looks like we might be in for another epic Napster vs The Man-type battle all over again.
YouTube
WMG
20 September, 2006