Meet CinemaCube – An MPAA Nightmare

The device pictured to right is BrightView’s CinemaCube and, if they are aware of it’s existence, it is giving those in the MPAA nightmares.

The device plugs directly into a user’s TV and uses any USB storage device (from thumb drives to external hard drives) to store data. On the surface, that means you could watch your home movies or view photos.

The CinemaCube is also comes with a built-in BitTorrent client, meaning users can access the online file sharing service. It’s also networkable, letting users can grab files (ranging from music to video to photos) from a remote PC to view on their television.

The device, which supports HD content up to 720p and comes with an HDMI port, is on sale now for $89.99.   LINK

I don’t have much to add except that it’s one more reason the MPAA and the major movie studios should be spending more time a new distribution model than on suing sites like The Pirates Bay

Apple Buys BitTorrent’s Bad Press

Engadget is reporting on Apple latest wacko move blocking a new iPhone app:

This time the company’s rejected Maza’s Drivetrain, an app that allows users to remotely control the Transmission Bittorrent app, because “this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing third party rights.” Right, “this category of applications,” apparently meaning any app that has anything to do with Bittorrent at all.

For those still in the dark, BitTorrent is a file-transfer protocol that allows users to easily share digital content.  The challenge for those involved in trying to develop and expand upon this extremely useful and effective protocol is that it has been, it seems, inextricably linked to web piracy since torrent sharing sites like The Pirate Bay and Mininova host links to both legal and copyprotected content.

Apple’s move to block this application is just one in a long line of potentially damaging decisions by Apple as it tries to police how people use their iPhones.  What’s so absurd is that there isn’t another computing platform I can think of that so strictly tries to control the actions of its users.

Imagine if you get a PC and then discovered you could only buy software from a single maker and they only made software they thought was “acceptible” to them – so you, an adult who has completely purchased the computer can no longer buy violent videogames or eBooks with explicit sex. That would be insane but so far iPhone users are accepting that deal.

How long will Apple be able to keep jail-breakers at bay as more unapproved apps make it to the pirate sites?\

LINK

Hulu Boosts Pirates By Blocking VPN Access

Saw that Hulu has implemented a block on overseas users who were accessing the site via an anonymous proxy server called HotSpot Shield.  The point of the VPN is to block the user’s IP address so that Hulu doesn’t know they are trying to access the content from outside of the US.

Currently, due to a slew of misguided and ill-conceived rules and regulations, Hulu will not provide its content outside of the US and is clearly willing to go to some lengths to keep out those dirty foreigners.

Of course, these are just regular people who really really want to see the content Hulu provides.  They aren’t trying to bypass the advertising or trying to download the content so that they can make it into DVDs to sell on the street.  They’re just fans.

By blocking their access, Hulu (and the studios providing most of their content) simple force those outside the US to use “pirate” services – either P2P bittorrent sites or streaming sites – that are easily accessible. Sites like Megavideo, Supernovatube and Ninjavideo.

Basically, by continuing to believe that they can somehow artificially limit and control where their content is consumed, Hulu (et. al.) are giving a big boost to “pirates” while simultaneously losing viewers who could help drive up the price of ads.

And of course, those who still want to watch the programming on Hulu but can’t access it will probably just go somewhere else — torrent indexes and streaming sites like Megavideo, Supernovatube and, my personal favorite, Ninjavideo.

“The Google Bay” Shows Google Just Another Pirate Bay

Following last week’s guilty verdict against the four founders of The Pirate Bay, many have been wondering what makes TPB all that different from any other search engine. Like, say Google?

Well, someone has built a simple site that uses only Google to provide anyone interested with links to torrents ready for download.

I tried it out myself and here are the first few results for a search for “Wolverine”

Not only doesn’t The Pirate Bay come up in the first few hits, but shows just how many sites do exactly what The Pirate Bay does – and Google does it better.

While it is clear that P2P sharing of copyrighted works is a challenge it doesn’t seem like anyone will be successful in suing it out of existence.  Time for a new plan, gang.

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The Pirate Bay Loses Battle, Not War

In a small setback for all those who believe in progress and innovation , the Swedish courts have found the four key principles involved in running P2P BitTorrent site, The Pirate Bay, guilts of copyright violations.  The sentence is one year in jail and $3.6M in fines.  All that, officially for:

…having made 33 copyright-protected files accessible for illegal file sharing via the Piratebay.org Web site.

Of course, this case is not about 33 files but about the entertainment industry’s claim that The Pirate Bay was simply a hotbed of illegal file traffic.  The big question was whether or not simply providing links to the protected content was enough to be found guilty of violating copyright law.  It looks to me like the prosecution was unable to make that case and basically got the founders of The Pirate Bay on what amounts to a techicality.

One shudders to think how many people would have to be rounded up and imprisoned for a year if all it took was making 33 protected files available via a common P2P protocol.  And what about the lesser “crime” of downloading a protected file?

An estimated one in 10 people in the Nordic country engaged in file sharing last year.

Are we really ready to lock up 10% of the population because groups like RIAA and MPAA have tragically outdated business models and have thrust their heads into the sand as a response?

While this is a “win” for big media it certainly isn’t going to turn the tide back in their favor.  Not only is it impossible to put Pandora back in her box but the very same links provided by The Pirate Bay are available on Google.

Plus, it sounds like this verdict is only further empowering those who are hungry for change:

The Pirate Party political group–which has been supporting Pirate Bay and thus has gained popularity among the large number of file sharers in Sweden–also sees the verdict as an opportunity. The verdict is the “ticket to get elected to European parliament” in June, the Pirate Party said in a press release.

And don’t worry about the guilty party, they are appealing and it will be years before this thing is settled.

LINK

Great Rebuttal of Idea that Pirates Killing Music Industry

TorrentFreak is a great resource for those interested in the world of copyright, P2P, “piracy” and the future of digital content.

Recently, in response to claim in the Swedish court case against popular torrent tracker The Pirate Bay that piracy was the primary cause for the decline in music sales for the major labels, TF’s Jens Roland has written a brilliant 8-point rebuttal that ends with these thoughts:

The fact is that the music industry’s revenues have been artificially inflated for decades because of limited consumer options. The last 15 years of innovation have lifted those limitations, effectively leaving the music industry with an obsolete, defective business model of monopolized production technology, forced album bundling, and almost nonexistent competition in the realm of home entertainment. What is happening now – the decline of music profits and the piracy witch hunt by the music industry – is merely the panicked struggle of a dying business model, a complacent industry’s refusal to accept its diminishing role in a digital world. The pirates are not the reason, and the decline is the not the disease. It is the cure.

I highly recommend reading his entire post.  While it is important for artists to have ways to be compensated for their efforts, there is no reason it should be done the same way in the face of massive innovations and there is also no reason that the artists’ work needs to support a vast network of middlemen who provide less and less service to the artists or the fans.

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A Few Thoughts on The PirateBay Trial

For those who don’t know, one of the largest BitTorrent tracker sites on the internet, The Pirate Bay, is on trial right now in Sweden facing a slew of charges that basically claim that the creators of the site are guilty of facilitating massive copyright violations.

A number of issues are being raised, including the always sticky question of whether or not it is a crime to simply provide a link to potentially copyrighted material.  This is basically all that Piratebay does and they are far from alone.  In fact, Google is a great resource for locating links to copyrighted material.

Go ahead and search, say, “stream dark knight free” in Google.  I just did it myself and within three clicks (one) I was (two) watching The Dark Knight (link).  Not only that, but the video I watched began with a pre-roll ad from Nestle Crisp!  Which of these sites should the studios go after next?  Or should they be going after me?  I mean, I am the one now watching The Dark Knight for free from the comfort of my desk.

My point is that trying to sue The Piratebay is simply a supreme waste of public resources.  Even if the Piratebay loses the case, it will do nothing to curb the current situation online in regards to the easy availability of copyrighted content.

Instead of focusing on a single entity, it is time for the big industries to accept the writing on the wall and devise some new business models before they are wiped out complete, not by pirates but by progress.

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• Pirate Bay Trial Watch Day 2: Half of the Charges Have Been Dropped [BitTorrent] (i.gizmodo.com)
• The Pirate Bay Stands Trial On Monday (beatcrave.com)
• Pirate Bay trial – the music industry has its say (timesonline.typepad.com)
• The Pirate Bay Celebrates 5th Anniversary (torrentfreak.com)

OVGuide Gets $5 Million and Pirate Bay Goes to Court?

This is why the internet will keep lawyers in business forever.

As I write, extremely popular P2P BitTorrent site piratebay.org, is in court defending itself for providing links, but not hosting, content that might violate copyrights.

Meanwhile, OVGuide, a website that provides searchable links to literally thousands of sites that illegally stream major movies and television shows has just gotten $5,000,000 in venture financing.

Can someone please explain to me why one of these sites is in court and the other one is rolling in cash?

Today’s Crime: Watching Top Chef On My iPhone

I have to shake my head in utter bewilderment when it comes to how the networks are fighting to come to grips with distribution in the digital age.

While sites like Hulu and apps like Boxee are great steps, they still make it impossible to watch shows outside of a stable WiFi hotspot.  What is this great fear of portability all about?  Why can I watch the show on my computer but not my iPhone. Why can I watch it in my apartment but not on the subway.

Obviously, there is a pretty simple way for me to solve this problem: if I want to take a show with me I download it from a BitTorrent site like PirateBay.  There I can get the complete episode in an open format that I can covert easily and move to my iPhone.  I also get the episode completely commercial-free.

What leaves me baffled is why the networks don’t simply offer a downloadable version with embedded ads.  Sure, I like ad-free but I’d rather get my entertainment through approved channels if possible.  Just like I, and many others, are happy to put up with ads on Hulu in exchange for free content, the same would go for content I download.

Instead, in some vain attempt to, um, protect their DVD sales(?) they force me to go get content from a “pirate” site and lose the potential ad revenue, too.

Silly networks…

Data Indicates Women are Pirates, Too

Probably due to my own prejudices, I have always assumed that men were more likely than women to be downloading pirated materal.

However, according to TorrentFreak, the top two TV shows downloaded last week were “Desperate Housewives” and “Gossip Girl.”  Now it is completely possible that these numbers are due to men who don’t want to admit they watch these shows but I don’t think so.

Instead, I think this indicates that women are quickly becoming just as active in pirating video as men.  More and more, I believe that the generation growing up right now will be the first to demonstrate little gender difference when it comes to the use of technology.

None of this explains why “Prison Break” remains one of the top pirated shows every single week…