News Roundup - July 2010

1. World’s First Pirate ISP Launches In Sweden
2. YouTube finally turning corner in online video advertising potential
3. The in-cinema iPhone app? Dial M for multiplex madness
4. Prince's war with iTunes plays into the hands of illegal filesharers
5. Judge Guts Whopping RIAA File Sharing Verdict
6. Australia unbans the internet
7. China confirms Google licence renewal
8. Internet television - to the living room?
9. Ridley Scott to crowdsource documentary via YouTube
10. 'The internet's completely over', declares petulant Prince
11. College students face file sharing penalties under new rules
12. Paywalled news will lose vital student numbers
13. US seizes pirate movie websites
14. US authorities shutdown websites accused of movie piracy
15. Fed-Busted Movie Site Informed Of Investigation Months Ago
16. Court to Consider Breaking Up Mass BitTorrent Lawsuits
17. Finns get a right to broadband – can we repeal the Digital Economy Act?
18. Hey, Clay Shirky – TV is just as valuable as the net

Funny Picture # 24

Funny copyright/piracy picture. Enjoy!

Would you like some irony with that? The funny side of “piracy”

1. NBC to combat Internet piracy with unwatchable programming
2. Kid Rock Starves To Death
3. Prank Phone Call to the RIAA
4. The RIAA Prank
5. RIAA by Cracked
6. Very Elderly Woman Arrested For Copyright Piracy
7. 5 Insane File Sharing Panics from Before the Internet
8. The Pirate Bay by Cracked

But the true irony is found below at the Register - enjoy!
Hacker swipes details of 4m Pirate Bay users

Lobbying

Big media content producers have a lot of money (Disney has a market value of $65 Billion), and they have a real interest in protecting that money, so it should come as no surprise that if they can influence legislation in their favour then they will do it. With that in mind, check out Wired's article highlighting a new website that tracks political contributions and the legislation that it is tied to.

Hollywood, Big Software and Coal Miners Pros at Timely Political Donations
(LINK)

Funny Picture # 23

Funny copyright/piracy picture. Enjoy!

Scandals and Other News from the Pirate Party

German Pirate Party MP charged in child porn case
(LINK)

Flash mobs at German airports (34 pics)
(LINK)

Pirate Party to Run Pirate Bay from Swedish Parliament
(LINK)

ISP Filtering Faces Opposition

An Overview

Controversial Cyber Laws Around The World
(LINK)

The Land of Oz

Oz government sites floored in firewall protests
(LINK)
Minister: BitTorrent Will Not Be Blocked By Aussie Filter
(LINK)

Fortress Europa

France passes three-strikes bill
(LINK)

Humble Opinions

New web filter laws questioned by top child abuse cop
(LINK)
Could Internet filtering cause more harm than good?
(LINK)

Meanwhile in Asia

China secretly requires real names to post comments
(LINK)
Japanese mobile operators shout 'Avast' at piracy
(LINK)
Pakistan blocks YouTube website
(LINK)