Free Republic

Whatever you call it, it's killing the cable tv business. It’s no secret that young people like to consume entertainment they don’t necessarily pay for. But when business and tech types talk about this reality, they tend to use neutral or even flattering language: Millennials, they say, like to “swap” files and “share” subscription passwords. After all, super-earnest, bike-commuting, coffee-sipping twenty-somethings don’t look like dangerous criminals. And let’s face it, no business wants to alienate the work-force’s largest generational cohort, with billions, if not trillions, worth of spending ahead of it. But now some Wall Street analysts have decided to...

Circulating on the web tonight: During an appearance on the Alex Jones Show, Drudge asserted that copyright laws which prevent websites from even linking to news stories were being advanced. “I had a Supreme Court Justice tell me it’s over for me,” said Drudge. “They’ve got the votes now to enforce copyright law, you’re out of there. They’re going to make it so you can’t even use headlines.” “To have a Supreme Court Justice say to me it’s over, they’ve got the votes, which means time is limited,” he added, noting that a day was coming when simply operating an...

ROME (RNS) Computer users in the Vatican apparently have an illegal taste for the German heavy metal band Scorpions, the coming-of-age dance film “Billy Elliot,” the television comedy series “Camp” — as well as more, ahem, adult content — according to information from Netherlands-based company TorrentFreak.TorrentFreak is a news site that focuses on file sharing and intellectual property issues, but may be best known for its occasional reports on the illegal peer-to-peer downloading of files.Video courtesy of thecultbox . via YouTube The Vatican is not the only place guilty of illegal downloads, based on data gathered by the company: the...

Is 'Making Available' Copyright Infringement?January 22, 2007 By Ray Beckerman In 2003, the Recording Industry Association of America began a massive litigation campaign on behalf of the four major record companies against end users of peer-to-peer file-sharing programs, alleging widespread infringement of their sound recording copyrights. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000-25,000 suits have been brought to date, with hundreds of new complaints filed monthly. While at first blush this battle might appear to be a simple fight between record companies and some alleged music file-sharers, it is actually much more significant because the litigation campaign rests upon a...

This consevative wants to thank President Bush for signing the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act into law. The legislation gives legal protections to the new filtering technology that helps parents automatically skip or mute sections of commercial movie DVDs. In effect it creates an exemption in copyright laws to make sure companies selling filtering technology won't get sued. The liberal Left in Hollywood maintains that the $4.95 subscription fee customers will pay ClearPlay, the front runner in this industry, should include a fee to them for the right to alter their "creative" work. The law gives no such concession, but...