New Study Makes Clear Just How Risky It Is to Be a Security Researcher
New research from the Center for Democracy and Technology aims to help security researchers decide what level of risk is acceptable for them and their work.
Juggalo Valentine's Day Hip-Hop Show Ends With Bar Getting 500 Notices for Illegal Downloads
Juggalos can’t catch a break. The misunderstood fans of the Insane Clown Posse have it hard enough with the FBI classifying them as a “gang.” Now, the proprietors of a bar in Michigan are pointing a finger at the Faygo-loving clan after a Valentine’s Day gathering ended with the establishment receiving 500 DMCA…
The DMCA Is Broken and It’s Stopping Fans from Saving Abandoned Games
Videos games are a relatively new medium, so most people don’t think about what happens to them post-release, years after the shine has worn off and their player base has migrated to something newer. Often, especially when it comes to online-only MMOs like City of Heroes and The Matrix Online, these games are…
A Copyright Claim Was Reportedly Used to Stop Ad Blocking, But It's Complicated
A certain portion of the internet is freaking out over a change to an important list used by ad blockers that facilitates their function. Popular coding repository GitHub received a DMCA request (the same tool copyright holders use to remove links to pirated music and movies online) to remove a domain name from the ad…
MormonLeaks Goes to Battle With Mormon Church Over Leaked 'Enemy List'
On Tuesday March 14th, a group of former and inactive Mormons—who have leaked dozens of internal documents exposing the inner workings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—sent a legal letter to the LDS Church warning that MormonLeaks has no intention of ending their crusade for transparency.
HBO Is Playing Whack-a-Mole With Illegally Uploaded Game of Thrones Nude Scenes
Game of Thrones is known in equal measure for its densely interwoven plot and its many, many, many nude scenes. But recently, lusty clips and compilations from HBO’s biggest cash cow have slowly started disappearing from Pornhub, one of the internet’s biggest porn sites. Suffice it to say this will be an exercise in…
It's Illegal to Possess or Distribute This Huge Number
There are ways to get in trouble with the law for just about everything: smoking weed, theft, horse theft, stealing a horse and teaching it to smoke weed, and even shouting “fire” in a crowded not-on-fire stable full of stoned horses. But numbers are pure and theoretical and definitely exempt from legal action, right?
Google's Copyright Takedowns Have Grown By A Gazillion Percent In Ten Years
As a sizeable hoster of things and collector of links, Google receives its fair share of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices. Only, that fair share has increased by around a billion percent since 2006.
The Copyright Office Wants You to Explain Why the DMCA Is So Bad
The DMCA takedown and counter-takedown procedures has been a mess for a while now. And it didn’t look like anyone who could fix it cared to. Which made it a surprise when the Copyright Office asked for public comment on the issue on New Year’s Eve.
How Hollywood Can Use the Law to Force You to Upgrade Your TV
So your mom bought you a copy of Mad Max: Fury Road on Ultra HD Blu-ray for Christmas and you want to play it on your old ass non-4K TV? A line of devices from HDfury makes it possible. Or at least, it used to.
YouTube's Putting Its Money Where Its Mouth Is on Fair Use
YouTube announced today that it’s going to cover the legal costs of copyright lawsuits facing a few videos that they believe are strong examples of fair use. This is one of those situations where good PR and good work actually coincide.
The New DMCA Rules Don't Go Far Enough
Decrypting copyrighted materials is, according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, an illegal act. Yesterday, the Library of Congress issued a set of exemptions to the DMCA’s decryption ban, which many outlets, including Gizmodo, hailed as “victories” and “big wins.” They’re not. At best, the new rules allow…
The Library of Congress's New DRM Rules Are a Victory For Digital Freedom
Copyright law (and therefore DRM, the software companies can use to lock down their products) is controlled by the Library of Congress. Every three years, the Librarian makes decisions on certain critical exemptions. This time around, it looks like they’ve got things right.
Why Twitter Can and Will Make GIFs Disappear
You may have heard that Deadspin’s GIFs disappeared from Twitter. And then Deadspin disappeared from Twitter. And then Deadspin reappeared on Twitter. It all seems completely ridiculous, except all of it was a pretty standard blunt-force application of copyright law on the internet. The only unusual part was that…
Why Winning the Dancing Baby Lawsuit Is a Big Deal For the Internet
In 2007, a home video of a baby dancing to Prince’s 1984 masterpiece Let’s Go Crazy was uploaded onto YouTube. Eight years and a few dozen lawyers later, a federal appeals court has ruled that uploading the video was an OK thing to do — a judgement that is of surprising importance to the rest of the internet.
Ashley Madison Is Sending Out Bogus DMCA Takedown Notices
Copyright law is complicated, but one thing is clear: The Digital Millennium Copyright Law was not designed to enable censorship. Unfortunately, the owners of Ashley Madison are using—and abusing—DMCA takedown notices to do just that in order to keep its hacked data off the web.
Sketchy Israeli Company Uses Copyright Law As an Intimidation Tactic
An Israeli company called Flash Network is fighting dirty against people who called it out for sneaky javascript injections. It’s a prime example how companies use copyright laws to threaten and intimidate anyone who criticizes them.
Preserving Video Games: Another Thing The DMCA Is Screwing Up
The Digital Millenium Copyright Act is the most fundamental piece of US legislation underpinning digital rights. It’s also woefully broken, with its wide-reaching language being used to strong-arm researchers and make tinkering with your own smartphone illegal. The latest trick? Screwing over anyone who wants to…
Rand Paul's Presidential Campaign Video Just Got Pulled From YouTube
Copyright law is a bitch. Just ask Rand Paul’s newly launched presidential campaign whose video “Stand With Rand: Kentucky” just got pulled from YouTube on copyright grounds. YouTube’s Content ID system flagged a song in the video by country singer John Rich. “Sorry about that,” says the YouTube page now.
John Deere Thinks People Will Pirate Music With In-Car Computers
Did you know that it’s illegal to tinker with the code in your in-car computer? Thanks to the nuances of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), you’re not even supposed to inspect the inner workings of your vehicle’s circuitry. This is absurd, which is why the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is fighting for…
