“…In 2010 it was reported that both The Pirate Bay and MegaUpload barely escaped a domain seizure. Although it wasn’t entirely clear at the time, one of the assumptions was that in the case of The Pirate Bay the pending trial against several people involved with the site acted as a roadblock.
Today this last barrier was removed. And with MegaUpload also out of the way, the largest torrent site on the Internet is now a prime target for a domain seizure…”
Leonardo da Vinci copyright infringer?
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is, arguably, the most famous painting in the world. But would it be devalued if it wasn’t the original? We might soon find out, because a very similar painting from the same period has surfaced — and it’s by a different artist. More »
Kit Connell may be 100, but she doesn’t feel a day over 80. And her brain age is around 64, according to one of her favorite Nintendo DS games.More »
My brains are here via Another Videogame Webcomic
“The easiest way to determine the nature of ACTA comes not from the document itself, but from the behavior of the people advocating it…
…This is the industry that thinks it’s reasonable to sue a small Karaoke manufacturer for 1.2 billion dollars. Oh, and a student for over 4 million. Oh, and a dead grandmother…
…This is the industry that, once you think they’ve sunk as low as morally and humanly possible, keeps coming up with new creative ways to surprise you…”
From the website of La Quadrature, which quotes and translatesNumérama interviewing Kader Arif, former rapporteur for ACTA: ”I want to denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process that led to the signature of this agreement: no inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, exclusion of the EU Parliament’s demands that were expressed on several occasions in our assembly.” “As rapporteur of this text, I have faced never-before-seen manoeuvres from the right wing of this Parliament to impose a rushed calendar before public opinion could be alerted, thus depriving the Parliament of its right to expression and of the tools at its disposal to convey citizens’ legitimate demands.” “Everyone knows the ACTA agreement is problematic, whether it is its impact on civil liberties, the way it makes Internet access providers liable, its consequences on generic drugs manufacturing, or how little protection it gives to our geographical indications.” “This agreement might have major consequences on citizens’ lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this mascarade.”
“The past 100 years have seen a vast array of technical advances in broadcasting, multiplication and transmissions of culture, but equally much misguided legislators who sought to preserve the old at expense of the new, just because the old was complaining. First, let’s take a look at what the copyright industry tried to ban and outlaw, or at least receive taxpayer money in compensation for its existence…”
Facebook has “an 800 million-strong Neighbourhood Watch system” to protect against people carrying out malicious acts, the Leveson Inquiry hears…
