While the Pirates versus Ninjas debate has been well-documented, in the interest of good parenting perhaps you should expose your baby to both sides of the argument and let an opinion form naturally. Luckily, there’s a Ninjas AND Pirates mobile that would be perfect to dazzle and delight your offspring as he or she drifts off to sleep. → Read More
Today, December 5th, is the annual Day of the Ninja, according to Google (and ninjas everywhere). While I’m personally familiar with the concepts of both ninjas and pirates, I must admit that I’ve not been involved in the intriguing and hotly-contested Pirates versus Ninjas debate. I have equal respect for (and fear of) both, though. I’m also confident that people on either side of the… → Read More
I’ll be honest; I can’t really tell how much of this recent Reuters article is pure, unabashed sensationalism and how much of it is something to seriously worry about. Apparently pirate activity (the yarrr kind, not the torrent kind) near Somalia has been picking up recently, with more frequent plundering against freight ships causing some companies to opt for alternative shipping routes that… → Read More
Normally, when it comes to personal freedoms, civil liberties, copyright law and the like, Sweden has historically been the progressive vanguard. And their women are statuesque and beautiful (but have self-esteem problems, I hear). But I was saying: Sweden has an excellent record on these things in my recollection (and correct me if I’m wrong), but today they made a Bush-administration-esque… → Read More
We at CG are ambivalent about piracy. Given the failure of copyright holders to intelligently and methodically protect their rights without alienating their consumers, it’s hard to root for the big guy. Sure, don’t pirate content — nobody likes to see their content “stolen” except bloggers and Radiohead — but there are worse things in this world than getting… → Read More
Thanks for pirating my photos, Michael. Duh. Download some e-books. Convert the .lit and PDF to .txt since the Kindle reads .txt and .doc formats. Transfer said files to your Kindle via USB. Bam. Gigs upon gigs of free e-books. Pirating is not a crime because Michael does it too! TC → Read More
Say what you will about DRM. It was there for a reason and now the walls are slowly beginning to crumble. EMI has started the movement and the other labels are sure to follow. DRM hurt sales and everyone knows it. According to British retailer 7Digital, DRM-free sales have outnumbered DRM shackled music 4:1. But this isn’t to say that this is the sole reason for declining revenue in the music… → Read More
Even though I loathe the University of Oregon, I must commend them when it’s deemed appropriate. This just happens to be one of the few times I’ve ever said anything nice about the Ducks. BTW- Civil War is going to be ours again this year. So, anyways, the Ducks have filed a motion to overturn a RIAA subpoena demanding the University hand over student identities in what’s believed to be the… → Read More
D’oh! I wasn’t aware that Czechs enjoyed good ole American humor like The Simpsons (I’m being sarcastic for those of you who take me too seriously), but I’m wrong, as usual. Nor did I know it was the new hotbed of piracy. I realize that studios have to make a public statement announcing their disgust and disdain over CAMs, but let’s be real about this Fox. It happens… → Read More
Well, now we’re getting somewhere in the war against piracy. Analysts at NPD have cracked the code to a pirates mind-set and discovered that people rarely “rip” or remove video from Digital Video Discs and instead “share” files on services like “Napstore” and “BitDonkey,” two “files sharing services.” “There is an urban myth… → Read More
Free-for-all torrent sites like TorrentSpy are under close watch from the music and movie industry these days and a giant, so to speak, has fallen. TorrentySpy has implemented an automated filtering system, FileRights, that removes links to copyrighted material amidst a court order that was filed last year by a handful of Hollywood Studios, which now requires TorrentSpy to track user activity. Of… → Read More
Help Key: The Essential Guide to Piracy Color A4 E-Paper: Porn Just Got Even Portable-er The Bill of Lights: Maunfacturers Need to Stop Putting Useless Lights Everywhere Oregon Scientific Four Piece Weather Module Station: For Those Who Just Need to Know The Dew Point Right Now Gears of War Golf Coming Soon → Read More
In case you weren’t paying attention summer has officially arrived. OK, maybe the kids are still in school, the weather isn’t quite that warm yet and it is still two and a half weeks until Memorial Day. But for Hollywood summer is here. Spider-Man 3 just had the biggest single day record at the box office, and this is just one of several highly anticipated films to be arriving this season. → Read More
AnyDVD has come to the aid of Blu-Ray fans who want to crack that useless DRM. It was initially thought that AnyDVD would release a beta version, but Version 6.1.3.0 has been released and you are now free to disembowel DRM from your Blu-Ray discs. The free upgrade works on XP-64 and Vista-64 and removes region coding. Happy Pirating! Product Page [via The Inquirer] → Read More
A tasty little tale is currently developing in the music world that was exposed by the Gracenote’s database that backs iTunes. The story revolves around the recordings of the late pianist Joyce Hatto. Before her death in 2006, Hatto released a collection of pieces from major composers. It sounds innocuous enough. People release recordings of Beethoven and Mozart all the time. The controversy… → Read More
OK, so I’m an Eagle Scout. I have a suspicion that at least a couple of our readers are, too. It is with that spirit that I am sad to write this story. The Boy Scout Council in Los Angeles has begun a new program to award Scouts a “Respect Copyrights” activity patch. Guess what it’s all about and who helped come up with the concept? According to the article, “The… → Read More
The war on CD and DVD pirates continues today with the MPAA’s introduction of two Labradors named Lucky and Flo. I kid you not. They have trained these dogs to sniff out the polycarbonate used to burn discs. The problem, for the time being, is that they will alert their handlers to any and all CDs and DVDs they sniff, legal or not. They don’t know the difference. The MPAA is hoping to… → Read More
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