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Appeals Court: Copyright holders 'must consider fair use' before sending DMCAs
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Universal Music Group in a 2007 Digital Millennium Copyright Act case that could change how and when copyright holders can send takedown notices. The case revolves around a takedown notice sent to YouTube user, Stephanie Lenz, who posted a sub-30 second video of her toddler learning to walk while Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" played in the background. She, along with pro bono counsel from the EFF, subsequently sued Universal for violating the DMCA's fair use statute.
Twitter is erasing stolen jokes
Hang around Twitter for long enough and there's a good chance that you'll see people rehashing jokes that clearly aren't theirs, whether they're spam bots or less-than-original friends. You might not see that copy-pasted humor for much longer, though: Plagiarism Is Bad has noticed that Twitter is deleting and hiding rip-off joke tweets due to reports "from the copyright holder." While the causes likely vary, freelance writer Olga Lexell says that it's because she genuinely depends on Twitter for a living. She's field-testing jokes, and would rather not have others claim them as their own.
Publishers are fighting to keep abandoned games dead
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group that defends civil liberties in the digital world, is facing off against the Entertainment Software Association, the organization that represents most major video game publishers in the US. The EFF wants to allow players to put abandoned games back online and has asked the US Copyright Office for an exemption from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This would allow players to legally modify the code of online games that are no longer supported by publishers, in the hope of reconnecting these titles to new, third-party servers. This includes games like Battlefield 1942, Star Wars: Battlefront, SOCOM 4, Resistance: Fall of Man and Mario Kart Wii. Many modern games rely on servers to function; if Activision pulled the plug on Destiny, for example, even its single-player campaign would disappear, since the entire game needs an online connection.
Kickstarter transparency report shows crowdfunding's copyright woes
If you've noticed a crowdfunding project that was ripping off someone else's work to make a pitch, you're not alone. Kickstarter has posted its first transparency report, and it notes that there were 282 Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown requests in 2014 -- a notable amount considering that there were 68,668 total projects that year. The company only took action against 44 percent of them, but that still means that it had to scrub content (or in some cases, whole projects) in 123 campaigns.
Ancestry website won't let you borrow its UFO records
You wouldn't think that genealogy websites would have much need to defend copyrights, but they're apparently quite zealous -- so long as you're interested in alien spaceships, at least. Ancestry.com has forced enthusiast site The Black Vault to take down legions of declassified US records on UFO research because some of them were taken from its Fold3 subsidiary. While the documents are public domain, their digital copies supposedly aren't -- Black Vault has to either get permission or digitize the records itself in order to post this content online, a spokeswoman says.
Reddit posts its first transparency report
Reddit may not be subject to as much legal scrutiny as tech giants like Google or Microsoft, but there's enough of it that the internet community has published its first transparency report. The site says that it received 55 demands for user info through subpoenas, search warrants and emergency requests in 2014. That's a tiny amount compared to the 174 million total redditors, but that makes it a bigger target than Dropbox and other services that you'd think would be more conducive to secret activity. The site had a bigger problem on its hands with 218 copyright and trademark takedown requests, although it's not clear if that includes any calls to pull celebrity photos stolen in last year's iCloud breach.
Studios asked Google to pull 345 million pirate links in 2014
Google may be bending over backwards to eliminate piracy in its search results, but it's clearer than ever that the internet giant is fighting an uphill battle. TorrentFreak has sifted through Google's weekly data to discover that the company fielded over 345 million copyright takedown requests in 2014, or a rate of nearly one million per day. As you might have guessed, most of these calls for action come from movie and music studios trying to pull links to bootleg copies of their work. The British Phonographic Industry is by far the most aggressive copyright holder -- it asked Google to yank more than 60 million music-related links.
Digital copyright issues are affecting car modifications
Tinkering to get better performance out of your ride is one of the more rewarding aspects of vehicle ownership. The thing is, as cars have become more and more computer-dependent, getting a horsepower boost or better gas mileage by swapping exhaust systems or air filters is just the beginning. Sometimes to hit the level you'd want, tweaking the engine control or primary control module by aftermarket means is necessary. Thanks to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, however, that puts wrenching on your vehicle into murky legal territory. The folks at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (PDF) have your back and are hoping to keep the DMCA out from under your hood, though. As Autoblog notes, the EFF is hoping its petition to the federal copyright office will result in removing some of the legal issues that can arise from futzing with your car's electronic brain-box.
Activision issuing DMCA takedowns on Call of Duty exploit videos
Activision is issuing copyright strikes on YouTube videos that "promote cheating and unfair exploits" within its Call of Duty series, Eurogamer reports. Gaming network Machinima warned its userbase in an e-mailed newsletter this week that videos showcasing glitches in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare are currently being targeted for DMCA takedowns, and affected accounts will receive copyright strikes. YouTube users who earn multiple copyright strikes risk having their accounts permanently disabled. "Activision is being particularly vigilant about their Call of Duty videos lately; issuing strikes on videos showing glitches," Machinima's statement reads. "If you post videos highlighting these glitches, your channel may be liable to receive a copyright strike so please be careful." Activision issued a response to Eurogamer claiming that it intends to curb cheating and unfair play within Advanced Warfare's multiplayer mode. "We're excited that so many fans are having fun playing the game and posting videos of their gameplay," an Activision representative wrote. "We love watching the videos ourselves. Occasionally, some folks post videos that promote cheating and unfair exploits. As always, we keep an eye out for these videos - our level of video claims hasn't changed. We are appreciative of the community's support in helping to ensure that everyone has the best playing experience possible." [Image: Activision]
Court demands Google hand over the identity of 'Avengers 2' trailer leaker
Today's dispatch from the department of irony comes courtesy of Marvel Studios. When the trailer for The Avengers: Age of Ultron prematurely appeared online, the studio went into lockdown to find the leaker's identity. According to documents found by Mashable, the outfit has traced the incident to a Google Drive account in the name of "John Gazelle," and a federal court has ordered Google to hand over their details by November 18th - presumably in order to make an example of the individual. Still, it seems that while Captain America can battle oppressive computer systems that track the activities of everyone in the world, it's happy to stick to the status quo in the real world.
Digital liberty advocates want the right to resurrect old online games
It's great that many games have strong online components, but there's a dark side to that connectedness: if the developers (or their partners) shut down necessary servers, those titles are likely to break. You won't have to worry about your favorite game going dark if the Electronic Frontier Foundation has its way, however. The liberty-minded advocacy group has filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act exemption request with the Library of Congress that would give Americans the right to keep online play alive in old, abandoned games by modifying the code to point to unofficial services. While the request wouldn't cover games where most of the content is stored online, it would address single-player releases that demand internet-based activation just to run.
Google explains how it fights piracy in search results
The anti-piracy road hasn't played out easy for Google, to the point where past claims have stated that the company's efforts simply aren't working. But Google says it's doing everything it can to combat piracy across its services, of which Search is likely the most important one -- at least to copyright holders. With this in mind, the technology giant has released an updated version of its document "How Google Fights Piracy," in which it dives into detail about what steps it's taking to crack down on pirated content. Google says this includes new ad formats in search results, such as what's pictured above; improved downranking of known delinquent sites; and removing more autocomplete predictions based on DMCA takedown notices. Part of it is also pointing people to trusted sources when searching for music or movies, including services like the Play store or Spotify -- Google plans to do this only in the US for now, but the idea is to make it a global feature at some point in the future.
Judge finds Grooveshark employees guilty of mass copyright-infringement
Grooveshark's disappearing and reappearing act looks like it could finally come to an end; permanently. A Manhattan judge has ruled that because Grooveshark employees themselves had uploaded 5,977 songs to the service and infringing on copyrights in the process, the outfit couldn't be granted safe harbor for hosting music from the likes of Jay-Z and Madonna. Meaning, the firm's previous method of compliance under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was null and void because it wasn't users who uploaded the copyrighted material (which would be subsequently removed upon request), it was in-house staffers including CEO Samuel Tarantino and CTO Joshua Greenberg, according to The New York Times. Reuters notes that there was also evidence of internal communications from Greenberg that told employes to share music as much as possible from outside the office in an effort to foster growth -- all as a condition of employment.
President Obama signs cell phone unlocking bill into law
The White House today announced that President Obama was signing the "Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act" into law after the bill passed successfully through both the House and Senate. Today, President Obama will sign into law the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, and in doing so, will achieve a rare trifecta: a win for American consumers, a win for wireless competition, and an example of democracy at its best -- bipartisan congressional action in direct response to a call to action from the American people. The bipartisan bill restores the exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that made it legal to unlock a cell phone. The Library of Congress failed to renew this exemption in 2012 and sparked an outrage that led to the eventual passage of this bill. This provision for unlocking a smartphone will remain in effect until the Library of Congress reviews these DMCA exemptions again in 2015. You can read more about the issue in this primer written by Brad Molen for Engadget. Image obtained from Flickr.
Here's what the phone unlocking bill means, and how it affects our future
Getting Democrats and Republicans to pass an act of Congress is the exception more than the rule. But if there's one thing both sides of the aisle can agree on, it's that the US policy for unlocking phones is backwards. Early last year, it became illegal to unlock your handset for use on other carriers unless your provider directly gives you the permission to do so. Thanks to moves from the Senate and House this month, legislation to remove this restriction is just a presidential signature away from passing; it's not a permanent solution, but at least it's a step in the right direction for consumer freedom.
Cell phone unlocking bill passes Congress on the way to the White House
Today, the House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation that would legalize the process of unlocking a smartphone to use on another carrier, reports the LA Times. The bipartisan bill passed through the Senate earlier this year and will now move onto the desk of President Barack Obama. Obama said he will sign the bill into law, while praising the efforts of Congress to pass this legislation. "The bill Congress passed today is another step toward giving ordinary Americans more flexibility and choice, so that they can find a cell phone carrier that meets their needs and their budget. I commend Chairmen Leahy and Goodlatte, and Ranking Members Grassley and Conyers for their leadership on this important consumer issue and look forward to signing this bill into law." The "Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act" would reinstate the 2010 exemption from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that permitted cell phone unlocking. This exemption went up for review by the Library of Congress in 2012 and was not re-approved. Once signed into law, the cell phone exemption would remain in place until the next Library of Congress review slated for 2015. The bill also asks the Library of Congress to consider whether the exemption should include tablets and other similar electronic devices. [Image from the Electronic Frontier Foundation]
Qualcomm briefly takes down Android code for CyanogenMod, Sony and itself
The Android community just got a big (if brief) scare. In the space of a few days, Qualcomm has both made and retracted a Digital Millennium Copyright Act request that took down 116 code repositories (many of them Android-focused) that were allegedly using the chip maker's confidential technology. As it turns out, quite a few of the targets were legitimate users running the company's open source software. And you'll definitely recognize some of the names -- the move shut down code bases maintained by the CyanogenMod custom ROM team, Sony and even Qualcomm itself. Suffice it to say that the removal would have created a lot of headaches if you wanted to modify Android for the many, many devices with Snapdragon processors.
Ask Massively: Trailers, emulators, and 'skill caps'
It's time for a grab bag edition of Ask Massively! A reader named Nicholas is up first: I was wondering if you could help me remember a game studio that was developing a new Korean action- MMORPG game engine (and it wasn't Bless, Blade and Soul, or ArcheAge). In the tech demo, no environment was being shown; it focused on the combat aspect of the engine. All the combat took place against a white background, and it was combo-based and reactive to hits. I remember a slow motion scene with an NPC being punched in the face and the face distorting. At the time, there were no announced games using the engine; the video was just showing what tech the game studio had developed. If it helps any, I remember the comments saying that the engine was just going to be vaporware. I think we might! Massively's Lis pegged it as NetEase's Dragon Sword trailer. +1 to Lis.
AT&T: 'we unlock our customers' devices'
To our delight, the recent ruling that phone subsidy unlocks are no longer protected by copyright law has sparked a lot of attention from the general public as well as the US government. However, some of the carriers are predictably not too excited by the amount of negative light it sheds on their own unlock policies. AT&T has taken to its public policy blog to discuss its viewpoint on the matter. Joan Marsh, VP of Federal Regulatory for the company, insists that "the ruling has very little impact on AT&T customers." Marsh reiterates AT&T's unlock policy by stating: "if we have the unlock code or can reasonably get it from the manufacturer, AT&T currently will unlock a device for any customer whose account has been active for at least sixty days; whose account is in good standing and has no unpaid balance; and who has fulfilled his or her service agreement commitment. If the conditions are met we will unlock up to five devices per account per year."
Bipartisan bill to re-legalize cellphone unlocking introduced in Senate
We should have known that it wouldn't take long for someone in congress to take up the fight to re-legalize cellphone unlocking. Those championing the effort on the floor of the Senate are Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) , Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Mike Lee (R-UT) who introduced the Wireless Consumer Choice Act this afternoon. After the Librarian of Congress declared that unlocking a cellphone violated copyright law under the DMCA (that's Digital Millennium Copyright Act) activists kicked into high gear in an attempt to prevent or reverse the decision. Consumer advocates quickly collected 100,000 signatures on a petition, forcing the White House to take a position on the matter. To the relief of many, including the globe trotters and ROM fanatics here at Engadget, President Obama backed our right to circumvent carrier locks -- within reason, of course. This is after FCC chairman Julius Genachowski voiced concerns that the ban could hamper competition and innovation. Anna Eshoo, a Democrat from California, is pushing a similar bill in the House of representatives, but its the bipartisan senate version that seems to be garnering the most attention. In a statement Blumenthal called the legislation "common sense, crucial for protecting consumer choice and important for ensuring healthy competition in the market." Obviously this is just the beginning of a long long journey and all the sponsors can do is hope and pray their sad little scrap of paper will one day become a law. Update: It turns out that there's another bill that has been introduced in the Senate as well, penned by Oregon senator Rob Wyden.
