Eideard

 
Many internet users in the United States have watched with horror as countries like France and Britain have proposed or instituted so-called “three strikes” laws, which cut off internet access to those accused of repeated acts of copyright infringement. Now the U.S. has its own version of this kind of law, and it is arguably much worse: the Stop Online Piracy Act, introduced in the House this week, would give governments and private corporations unprecedented powers to remove websites from the internet on the flimsiest of grounds, and would force internet service providers to play the role of copyright police.

As the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes in a post on the proposed legislation, the law would not only require ISPs to remove websites from the global network at the request of the government or the courts (by blocking any requests to the central domain-name system that directs internet traffic), but would also be forced to monitor their users’ behavior in order to police acts of copyright infringement. Providers who do not comply with these requests and requirements would be subject to sanctions. And in many cases, legal hearings would not be required…

In addition to using what some are calling the “internet death penalty” of removing infringing websites from the DNS system so they can’t be found, the proposed bill would also allow copyright holders to push for websites and services to be removed from search engine results and to have their supply of advertising cut off — and would require that payment companies like PayPal and ad networks comply with these orders. If you liked what PayPal and others did when they shut off donations to WikiLeaks, you’re going to love the new Stop Online Piracy Act…

The bottom line is that if it passes and becomes law, the new act would give the government and copyright holders a giant stick — if not an automatic weapon — with which to pursue websites and services they believe are infringing on their content. With little or no requirement for a court hearing, they could remove websites from the internet and shut down their ability to be found by search engines or to process payments from users. DMCA takedown notices would effectively be replaced by this nuclear option, and innocent websites would have to fight to prove that they deserved to be restored to the internet — a reversal of the traditional American judicial approach of being assumed innocent until proven guilty — at which point any business they had would be destroyed.

Just as our Congress has become the kind of legislative body that would make any corporation happy and content, this bill would make for the kind of internet that would increase smiles and profits for media conglomerates — regardless of the stifling blanket dropped on the whole Web.

Comcast has begun imposing a fee on Internet middleman Level 3 Communications, one of the companies that Netflix has hired to deliver movies and TV shows to Web customers.

Comcast, the largest U.S. cable TV company, has set up an Internet “toll booth,” charging Level 3 whenever customers request content, the Broomfield, Colorado-based company said in a statement yesterday.

Level 3 plans to complain to U.S. regulators who may enact so-called net-neutrality rules next month. The Federal Communications Commission is seeking to bar phone and cable providers from interfering with legal traffic on their networks. The rules are backed by President Barack Obama and companies led by Google, EBay and IAC/InterActiveCorp. Phone and cable companies say rules aren’t needed and may hurt investment.

“This action by Comcast threatens the open Internet and is a clear abuse of the dominant control that Comcast exerts in broadband access,” Thomas Stortz, Level 3’s chief legal officer, said in the statement. “With this action, Comcast is preventing competing content from ever being delivered to Comcast’s subscribers at all, unless Comcast’s unilaterally determined toll is paid.”

Comcast, which is seeking regulatory approval to acquire majority ownership of NBC Universal, defended the fee in a statement, saying it is based on “long established and mutually acceptable commercial arrangements” with Level 3’s peers…

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, in proposing net neutrality rules last year, called for a principle of non- discrimination by Internet-service providers. The FCC will meet on Dec. 21.

“This means they cannot block or degrade lawful traffic over their networks,” Genachowski said.

And, btw, putting a surcharge, a toll on your traffic is the same as blocking traffic. If you don’t pay the toll, your traffic doesn’t go through – or Comcast will slow it down enough to make it unwatchable.

Throughout most of the United States, Comcast has been working their semi-competent buns off installing throttling mechanisms. They told everyone – including the Feds – this was to protect consumers from the exorbitant demands of nerds and illegal downloads. Shock and amazement! It’s just of an accident of nature that it can be used as a weapon to extract tolls from companies using the Web for business purposes.

The people who brought the world malicious software that steals credit card numbers from your personal computer and empties bank ATMs of their cash are hiring, and they’re advertising online.

Two companies that are hiring — at least on a contractor basis — advertise online, said Kevin Stevens, a threat intelligence analyst for SecureWorks, who presented findings on the organizations at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference outside Washington on Monday.

What they are seeking is people who are willing to take malicious code they provide and link it to something that people will click on — like a picture of Britney Spears getting out of her car. These people then collect a fee for each 1,000 times that the malware is downloaded.

One site, for example, pays $180 for each 1,000 times that malware is downloaded onto a U.S. computer but less for computers elsewhere. It refuses to pay for any downloads to Russian computers, causing Stevens and others to strongly suspect that it, like other similar sites, are based in Russia.

“We pay your wages via the following systems: Fethard, WebMoney, Wire, e-gold, Western Union (WU), MoneyGram, Anelik and ePassporte, and PayPal,” the site said…

Cripes. What makes the sleazy entrepreneurs who sign for these contract jobs think they’re any less likely to be screwed – than the people they themselves are setting out to screw?

Apple marked the first birthday of its App Store and noted the following about what is becoming a business model moat in the wireless business:

* 1.5 billion apps downloaded;
* 65,000 apps;
* An army of 100,000 iPhone developers.

Jobs indirectly noted a laundry list of rivals—Research in Motion, Nokia, Android, Microsoft and Palm primarily—all trying to replicate the App Store. Jobs said:

“With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up.”

The App Store is one of the primary reasons that the iPhone has been a hit. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster on Tuesday said that Apple is likely to deliver better-than-expected iPhone sales for its June quarter…

The big picture here is that the App Store has rewritten the rules in the wireless business and Jobs knows it. Apple has first mover advantage and isn’t likely to ease up. As Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett noted Apple has been very disruptive to the wireless industry and the fun is just beginning.

The industry tug of war will revolve around devices and carriers as dumb pipes. Indeed, consumers are increasingly thinking of their smartphone as application delivery devices more than handheld for email and phone calls. The vendors that make apps easy will win. Wireless carriers see the shifts coming and some such as Verizon Wireless are already playing around with an application marketplace, according to GigaOm.

Simply put, carriers have no desire to be a dumb pipe to deliver access. Apple’s march could easily relegate carriers to dumb pipe status. It’s an interesting development that will take years to play out.

I suppose I can chuckle more than most over this. I’m completely outside this particular market since I moved to telecommuting before I trundled along into retiree status. Outside of the blogs and politics I’m involved with.

But, the technology – hardware and software – is fascinating.

Canada leads the world in illegal computer file-swapping and the government needs to address the situation, says the Canadian Conference Board.

The independent, not-for-profit applied research organization in Ottawa said as a result of lax regulation and enforcement, Internet piracy is on the rise in Canada. The board said it agreed with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s conclusion that Canada has the highest per capita incidence of unauthorized file-swapping in the world.

The board said the estimated 1.3 billion illicit downloads in Canada outnumber the 20 million legal ones by 65 times…

Board Vice-President of Public Policy Gilles Rheaume said, “Canada is earning a reputation, one that is not to be envied, as the file-swapping capital of the world.”

I’ll have to nudge some of my geek mates in the Great White North about their world-class reputation. Har!

Apple says that App Store shoppers have downloaded nearly 1 billion applications since the service launched less than one year ago and is running a promotion that will award one lucky customer with over $13,000 in Apple goodies.

“As of today, nearly one billion apps have been downloaded around the globe. So we just want to say thanks — a billion,” the Cupertino-based company wrote in a new posting to its website that was accompanied by a digital counter that’s racing towards the 1 billion mark.

App Store shoppers who download an app between now and the time the counter hits 1 billion will automatically get the chance to win a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro. The total retail cost of the prize package is valued at $13,746.

Of course, if you’re not buying anything – if you’re as natively frugal as I am – there is another spot to click and enter at the site.

Internet traffic in Sweden fell by 33% as the country’s new anti-piracy law came into effect.

Sweden’s new policy – the Local IPRED law – allows copyright holders to force internet service providers (ISP) to reveal details of users sharing files.

According to figures released by the government statistics agency – Statistics Sweden – 8% of the entire population use peer-to-peer sharing.

Popular BitTorrent sharing site, The Pirate Bay, is also based in Sweden.

The new law, which is based on the European Union’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED), allows copyright holders to obtain a court order forcing ISPs to provide the IP addresses identifying which computers have been sharing copyrighted material.

Figures from Netnod, a Swedish firm that measures internet traffic in and out of the country, suggest traffic fell from an average of 120Gbps to 80Gbps on the day the new law came into effect.

Har!

Thousands of internet users have been told they’ll be taken to court unless they pay hundreds of pounds for illegally downloading and sharing hardcore porn movies. Newsbeat’s found out that people across the UK have been accused of using file-sharing networks to get hold of dozens of adult titles without paying for them.

A German company called DigiProtect claims the users are breaking copyright law and is demanding £500 to settle out of court.

Lawyers say they have been contacted by hundreds of worried individuals over the past few weeks. Many deny copying the movies and say they have no idea why they were identified in the first place.

Michael Coyle said: “The cynical lawyer in me would say this is a money-making exercise. If you send out 10,000 letters and ask for £500 each time, you only have to get half to pay up and you’ve made a significant amount of money.”

Lawyers representing DigiProtect say the £500 demand is calculated as a token sum in damages for lost sales plus the “considerable” costs involved in obtaining evidence and legal fees.

DigiProtect sounds like the sort of sleazy protection racket the Mafia would run – given legal cover. The RIAA and culture vultures get exactly that kind of legal protection even as they screw most of the artists they supposedly are protecting.

All they want to protect is their bank accounts.