Piracy

WASHINGTON - Caving to a massive campaign by Internet services and their millions of users, Congress indefinitely postponed legislation Friday to stop online piracy of movies and music that costs U.S. companies billions of dollars a year. Critics said the bills would result in censorship and stifle Internet innovation. The demise, at least for now, of the antipiracy bills was a clear victory for Silicon Valley over Hollywood, which has campaigned for a tougher response to online piracy.

The Justice Department seized hundreds of computers and arrested four people in an international crackdown on Internet pirates illegally distributing software, first-run movies and copyrighted video games. Agents executed 90 search warrants in the United States and 10 other countries as part of Operation Site Down. The raids, which began Wednesday, shut down at least eight major online distributors and seized pirated works worth more than $50 million, authorities said. At a news conference yesterday, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales credited the busts with "striking at the top of the copyright piracy supply chain.

SURF THE INTERNET for porn - Tattle is forced to read the sites for the articles - and it's difficult to not draw one of two conclusions: Either there are a million girls between the ages of 18 and 24 having sex on video or there are a few thousand girls having a lot of sex on video. Then again, maybe it's all the same video. Judge Mark Bennett in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has ordered the operators of PornVisit.com to pay $4 million for copyright infringement to Iowa-based adult-film company FraserSide IP LLC (a subsidiary of Nevada-based Private Media Group, Inc.)

Maple Shade and Evesham police officers arrested two disc jockeys in what law enforcement and music industry officials said was New Jersey's first case of compact-disc piracy. Tri-Dimensional Sounds owner James D. D'Agostino, 23, of Maple Shade, and Robert Palio, 33, of Evesham, were arrested Thursday at their homes. They would have made up to $35,000 selling CD music mixes to disc jockeys in the South Jersey-Philadelphia area. Because they failed to get copyrights, the two could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine under New Jersey's anti-piracy laws, said Katherine Timon, legal adviser for the Recording Industry Association of America in Washington.

ABOARD THE HSV 2 SWIFT - Pirate attacks off West Africa's coast have increased to levels that rival those in Somalia, insurers say, prompting maritime agencies to try to set aside their conflicts and cooperate to fight the threat. The International Maritime Bureau says Nigeria and Benin reported 18 pirate attacks in the first half of 2011. Though that is fewer than figures attributed to Somali pirates, analysts say the number of attacks off Nigerian waters is underreported because some ships carry illegal oil cargo and others fear their insurance rates will rise.

This was posted on the Web on Oct. 27 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time. Janko Roettgers is a writer on newTeeVee.com Hollywood has just suffered another defeat in the fight against prerelease piracy. The Wall Street Journal reported this week: American Gangster appeared on the streets and online more than a week before its theatrical release tomorrow. The movie is apparently ripped from a DVD, resulting in far better quality than your average hidden camera recording. Universal is denying that DVDs sent to Academy Awards members are the source, but one of the "NFO" files accompanying the online release nevertheless states: "God bless the Awards screener season.

The cable TV investigator was looking for a signal from a Northeast Philadelphia man last September. A signal that Robert Shuller, 30, was operating an illegal cable TV descrambling business at his apartment on Ridgeway Street near Nandina in Somerton. So Michael McCloskey called Shuller and pretended to be interested in buying altered cable boxes. "The defendant indicated to me that he could provide me with a cable box able to receive free pay-per-view on any system in the area," said McCloskey during a preliminary hearing yesterday.

All but lost in the rancorous debate over most-favored-nation trade status for China is an issue that is draining American writers, musicians and software designers of hundreds of millions of dollars a year: Chinese piracy of U.S. intellectual property. The Clinton administration should be punishing the Chinese for their theft of American compact discs and computer software. Instead, it has put off a decision on the issue until June 30. One of the strongest countermeasures available may be weakened by legislation to implement the Uruguay Round of negotiations on a world trade treaty.

It's known abroad as "the Great Firewall of China": a website blacklist that limits what Chinese Internet users can see as they surf the Web. Sometimes the reasons are obvious, such as when the firewall blocks websites promoting Tibet separatism or reporting oppression against Falun Gong practitioners. Sometimes they are less so. For much of the day Wednesday, Chinese Internet users were apparently blocked from access to Facebook and Fox News, according to a nonprofit site that monitors Chinese censorship.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez warned China yesterday to crack down hard on piracy or risk "an outbreak of protectionism" in the United States. He lashed out at the wave of counterfeit products that Chinese companies produce, equating such piracy with criminal efforts to counterfeit cash. Unless China's leaders move from promises to strong action on issues such as piracy, Gutierrez said, the Bush administration may find itself hammered by protectionist forces on Capitol Hill irate over currency and trade issues with China.

LONDON - World leaders pledged new help to tackle terrorism and piracy in Somalia, but insisted Thursday that the East African nation must quickly form a stable government and threatened penalties against those who hamper its progress. Nations pledged new funding, additional training for soldiers and coast guards, increased cooperation over terrorism, and a new drive to root out those who finance and profit from piracy, after the shipping industry paid out $135 million in ransoms last year.

SURF THE INTERNET for porn - Tattle is forced to read the sites for the articles - and it's difficult to not draw one of two conclusions: Either there are a million girls between the ages of 18 and 24 having sex on video or there are a few thousand girls having a lot of sex on video. Then again, maybe it's all the same video. Judge Mark Bennett in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has ordered the operators of PornVisit.com to pay $4 million for copyright infringement to Iowa-based adult-film company FraserSide IP LLC (a subsidiary of Nevada-based Private Media Group, Inc.)

WASHINGTON - Caving to a massive campaign by Internet services and their millions of users, Congress indefinitely postponed legislation Friday to stop online piracy of movies and music that costs U.S. companies billions of dollars a year. Critics said the bills would result in censorship and stifle Internet innovation. The demise, at least for now, of the antipiracy bills was a clear victory for Silicon Valley over Hollywood, which has campaigned for a tougher response to online piracy.

Is online piracy a problem that requires congressional action?

After the Wikipedia-driven Internet blackout Wednesday, it's a safe bet that every high school student with an overdue homework assignment is well clued in to the debate over regulating online piracy. The 24-hour shutdown of the English-language version of the do-it-yourself encyclopedia was launched as a protest against pending federal legislation being pushed by Hollywood studios, music labels, cable firms, and traditional media companies. To say the protest went viral would be like characterizing the bubonic plague as a common cold.

It's known abroad as "the Great Firewall of China": a website blacklist that limits what Chinese Internet users can see as they surf the Web. Sometimes the reasons are obvious, such as when the firewall blocks websites promoting Tibet separatism or reporting oppression against Falun Gong practitioners. Sometimes they are less so. For much of the day Wednesday, Chinese Internet users were apparently blocked from access to Facebook and Fox News, according to a nonprofit site that monitors Chinese censorship.

Hundreds of millions of Internet users will go online Wednesday and find their favorite websites . . . dark. In a gigantic Internet protest, thousands of sites will shut down in opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). The two media industry-backed bills, in the House and Senate, respectively, aim to curb online piracy. "It's a pitched battle between Hollywood and Silicon Valley," says lawyer Scott L. Vernick, a partner at Fox Rothschild L.L.P.

A judge overseeing the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society legal saga is expected to rule next month on who should receive $276 million won through a nearly 20-year court fight led by bank director Frank P. Slattery Jr. At a Sept. 30 hearing, Senior Judge Loren A. Smith of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington gave Slattery until last Thursday to pursue a settlement with Steven Roth, another former director of Meritor Financial, the corporate name adopted by PSFS in 1985.

Suspect in deaths spoke of violence FRANKFURT, Germany - A man on trial for killing two U.S. airmen at Frankfurt Airport harbored anti-American feelings and spoke of violence about a year before the attacks, according to evidence presented at his trial Wednesday. Arid Uka is charged with two counts of murder for the March 2 slayings of Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden, 25, from South Carolina, and Airman First Class Zachary R. Cuddeback, 21, from Virginia. The 21-year-old Kosovo Albanian also faces three counts of attempted murder for wounding two more airmen and taking aim at a third before his gun jammed.