Over the past year the focus of anti-piracy enforcement has shifted from mandatory legislation to voluntary agreements between copyright groups and other stakeholders.

The Center for Copyright Information (CCI) is one of the pioneers in this field. Earlier this year the coalition of copyright holders and ISPs launched the six-strikes Copyright Alert System, but the non-profit company has additional plans to tackle the piracy problem.

CCI’s Executive Director Jill Lesser addresses the House Judiciary Subcommittee today, explaining what efforts the group has taken so far and what it hopes to achieve in the near future.

Lesser states that it’s too early to evaluate the effectiveness of the alert system. However, through customer research the CCI has learned some valuable insights that will help to frame their educational messages.

“To support the companies’ work, the CCI engaged in consumer research that helped us understand what consumers do and do not know about P2P technology and their level of understanding about the copyright laws.”

One of the troubling findings of the research is that most consumers don’t understand or appreciate copyright.

“We found that most consumers do not understand or appreciate concepts that many of us in the policy and legal communities take for granted – like the meaning of copyright,” Lesser notes.

These and other insights are used to better communicate their anti-piracy messaging, and CCI hopes that this will eventually lead to less copyright infringements.

“This research is helping us to better understand the drivers of consumer behavior around piracy and, we hope, will help us to improve the CCI’s effectiveness in communicating our messages and ultimately reduce the level of online piracy and increase content consumption through legal means.”

Aside from the alerts, which are targeted at the person who pays the Internet bill, the CCI is also reaching out to a much younger group of U.S. citizens. Together with iKeepSafe they have developed a new curriculum that will teach the value of copyright to California kids, starting at kindergarten.

“We have developed a new copyright curriculum that is being piloted during this academic year in California,” Lesser informs the House Judiciary Subcommittee.

“The kindergarten through sixth grade curriculum, entitled ‘Be A Creator’™, is the result of CCI’s partnership with the California School Libraries Association and iKeepSafe, a leading digital literacy organization.”

I Play Fair (large)

The pamphlet pictured above is one of the course materials that’s currently listed on CCI’s website. The “Be A Creator” ™ program was also mentioned during the launch of the Copyright Alert System, but at the time it wasn’t known that kindergartens would also be targeted.

TorrentFreak talked to Public Knowledge president and co-founder Gigi Sohn, who is a member of CCI’s advisory board. She assured us that there are several safeguards in place to assure that the end product will be objective. The advisory board was brought in for advice at various stages in the process, and the California School Libraries Association is a known fair use proponent.

“Rest assured if this curriculum is perceived as being anything but fair, it won’t proceed beyond the pilot stage,” Sohn says.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), however, is skeptical about the educational program, and fears that it will be biased towards copyright holders.

“Based on what we’ve seen so far, that curriculum will do little to help kids understand the copyright balance. Instead, it is going to teach kids that creative works are ‘stuff’ that can be owned and that you must always check before using that ‘stuff’,” the EFF commented.

While we haven’t seen the full course materials, the EFF has a valid point. The CCI consists of copyright holders and Internet Providers who will most likely highlight other copyright aspects than free speech scholars. While there are other parties that will add balance, it can still create distrust.

Earlier this week the Internet Society warned that the CCI’s educational copyright alerts might be biased to a certain extent. The organization encouraged CCI and other groups to use neutral third parties for their educational efforts.

Whether the CCI plans to do something with this critique remains to be seen.

Source: MPAA and RIAA Teach Copyright at Kindergartens

After more than a decade of aggressive anti-piracy actions directed through the courts, the world’s largest entertainment companies are now looking to forge less confrontational partnerships with companies in the technology sector.

In the belief that voluntary agreements can help a great deal in reducing online infringement, the RIAA and MPAA are trumpeting their efforts to make content legally available and are asking a wide range of service providers to help give those official offerings room to grow.

Later today, RIAA CEO Cary Sherman will tell a House Judiciary Subcommittee that such voluntary agreements have a vital role to play.

“In order to make this digital marketplace truly work, we must ensure that these vibrant new legitimate and authorized technologies are not undermined by those engaged in illegal activity. Voluntary initiatives with Internet intermediaries are a key component of that objective,” Sherman will tell the hearing.

Copyright Alerts System

The RIAA expresses thanks to the Administration and Congress for the support given so far to initiatives such as the fledgling Copyright Alerts System. Sherman will state that it’s too early to say whether or not it has been a full success, but the signs are good.

“The CAS is still in the initial implementation stages and proper metrics are being determined. But feedback so far has been positive and it is worth noting that P2P content protection programs in other countries have been found to have an impact on either the amount of unauthorized P2P activity or on sales,” Sherman will note.

Payments, advertising and domain issues

Another area of cooperation highlighted are agreements with payment processors including Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover and PayPal, which sees processors terminate their relationship with a website if it continually offers illegitimate content. Sherman will cite figures from the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) that reveal the termination of more than 1,500 merchant accounts between 2011 and August 2013.

After highlighting progress in restricting advertising revenue to “rogue sites” and cautiously welcoming anti-piracy provisions relating to the rolling out of new Top Level Domains, Sherman will move on to the issue of User Generated Content.

UGC Principles

The RIAA chairman begins by referencing an initiative signed by CBS, Disney, Crackle, Daily Motion, Fox, Microsoft and Veoh among others way back in 2007. The agreement, which Sherman says was one of very first voluntary online anti-piracy initiatives, sought to boost UGC services while protecting rights holders.

The RIAA hopes that it can breathe new life into the six-year-old deal which will see parties:

- Implement fingerprinting technology to filter out unauthorized video and audio
- Provide copyright holders with “enhanced searching and identification means.”
- Work to identify “predominantly infringing” sites and block their links
- Track, identify and ban repeat infringers while “accommodating fair use”

“The UGC principles serve as a model of intermediaries and content owners working together voluntarily to assure that the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) have meaning and are adapted to new technological advancements,” Sherman will say.

“They should serve as a blueprint for new voluntary agreements between content owners and Internet intermediaries to carry out the intent of the DMCA to protect both copyright owners and intermediaries”

Search engines must do more – much more

Perhaps unsurprisingly the RIAA still has plenty of criticism for search engines such as Google, who it accuses of doing little to help with infringement. The music group says it wants engines to look at whether sites are “authorized” or not when it determines how they are placed in results.

“We believe it would be useful to see voluntary initiatives by search engines that take into account whether or not a site is authorized to provide the content at issue in determining search result rankings for searches to consume that content,” Sherman will say.

“This could take into account not only the absolute number of copyright removal requests sent about a site to trigger demotion of that site, but also whether the site is authorized to provide the content to trigger a higher search rank for that site.”

The RIAA also says that Google’s efforts to disappear links to child porn could be extended to infringing material and that tools such as Chrome could divert users away from certain sites and towards others.

“Google has tools in its Chrome browser to warn users if they are going to sites that may be malicious. Shouldn’t that technology be used to warn users of rogue sites?” Sherman will ask.

The RIAA doesn’t explain if this means blocking direct access to pirate sites, or if another warning system is preferred.

“Or better yet, can Google use similar technology to highlight or identify sites that are authorized? Imagine if links to content on legitimate sites were labeled – directly in the search result – with a certification mark indicating that the site is licensed and actually pays royalties to creators. That educational message could have a profound and positive impact on user behavior.”

The DMCA isn’t working – cooperation is needed

It’s no secret that the RIAA is disappointed with how the DMCA has panned out. The music group feels that scanning millions of websites and sending notices is an unfair burden for rightsholders and a position that needs to improve.

“As was done with the UGC Principles, there is an opportunity for intermediaries and content owners to sit down and negotiate practical solutions that will make the ‘notice and takedown’ system more meaningful and effective,” Sherman will say.

“From more stringent repeat infringer policies to takedowns that don’t automatically repopulate, many practical solutions can be adopted that would assure the intent of the DMCA is carried out. We hope the relevant parties will join together to start this process and we need Congress to encourage and facilitate such a process.”

What makes a good voluntary agreement?

In his summing up, Sherman will state that voluntary agreements mean the formation of a partnership in which both content and platform owners work to protect copyright and in which intermediaries understand that doing so is to their benefit.

“Initiatives must go beyond what is already done or expected of intermediaries under existing law,” Sherman will declare.

Update: An RIAA spokesperson informs TorrentFreak that while RIAA CEO Cary Sherman references Google’s malware warnings, they don’t propose to block any sites.

“Just to further make clear, Cary purposefully and explicitly twice referred to ‘warning’ users in his remarks about possible voluntary initiatives we could discuss with Google. There intentionally was no reference to ‘blocking’ and it is not something the RIAA would propose.”

The intro of this article has been updated to clarify the above.

Source: RIAA Wants Web Browsers to Block Pirate Sites? …And More

This morning the Piracy Analysis team at NetNames released a comprehensive report on the scope of online piracy.

Titled “Sizing the Piracy Universe,” the NBC Universal commissioned study maps the volume and prevalence of online piracy throughout the world.

The overall conclusion of the report is that, despite various anti-piracy policies and enforcement actions, piracy is hard to stop.

“The practice of infringement is tenacious and persistent. Despite some discrete instances of success in limiting infringement, the piracy universe not only persists in attracting more users year on year but hungrily consumes increasing amounts of bandwidth,” NetNames writes.

NetNames uses in-house research and several third-party resources to draw its conclusions. The report estimates the number of copyright infringers on the Internet, the amount of data these people share across various platforms, and signals various trends.

One of the most visible trends is that direct download “cyberlockers” have lost many visitors since late 2011, while other platforms expanded their user bases.

The number of pirates using cyberlockers dropped by 8% between November 2011 and January 2013, which the report attributes to the Megaupload shutdown. At the same time, the number of pirates using BitTorrent and video streaming platforms increased by 27% and 22% respectively.

In total, the number of people downloading or streaming unauthorized content via the Internet increased more than 3%.

As can be seen in the table below, most pirates use direct download and torrent sites, both with slightly above 200 million unique users a month. NetNames excluded users who never download any infringing content, which they estimates at 4% for BitTorrent and 8% for direct download sites.

Piracy ecosystem as of January 2013 (large)

Based on data from Cisco, NetNames also estimates the total bandwidth generated by Internet pirates in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. In these key regions Internet piracy accounted for 9,567 petabytes of data, meaning that global traffic well exceeds 10,000 petabytes.

In terms of bandwidth BitTorrent is the absolute leader, which makes sense since users both download and upload files, generating twice as much traffic.

In 2012 unauthorized BitTorrent traffic accounted for 6,692 petabytes a month in these three regions, an increase of 244.9% compared to 2010. Users of “pirate” video streaming portals transferred 1,527 petabytes of data in 2012, an increase of 471.9% from 2010.

Pirates who used cyberlockers downloaded relatively little content, 338 petabytes of data per month in 2012, down 54.7% compared to 2010. In total, the report estimates that nearly a quarter of all Internet traffic is piracy related.

The report also observes several regional trends. For example, direct download sites are the preferred download service in the Asia-Pacific region, while BitTorrent is most used in Europe and North America.

Overall, NetNames’ research provides a unique overview of the scope of online piracy. Without a doubt, the MPAA and other anti-piracy forces will leave no opportunity unused to turn it to their advantage.

Source: 432 Million Internet Pirates Transfer 9,567 Petabytes of Data a Month

With less than a week to go until the national elections on September 22, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her team are working hard to maintain their lead in the polls and extend her current eight years in power.

But despite the world’s most powerful female politician reportedly hating campaign politics, the 59-year-old still managed to raise a smile following a surprise entrance during a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) event in the city of Dresden.

Some political parties are awash with money and can afford to go on campaign trails with few expenses spared. But for the parties who are happy with votes in single percentage figures – the Pirate Party for one – getting exposure requires more creative thinking.

As Merkel and members of her team stood on stage, a small object could be seen in the sky. After hovering around for a while onlookers could see that the UFO was in fact a small drone. It proceeded to swoop down just a few feet in front of Merkel, apparently taking photos and recording video of the event.

Seconds later with its Pirate Party operator apparently having been approached by the police, the drone crash-landed into the stage and was taken away by an official. While Merkel seemed to be amused, Germany’s defense minister in the dark suit and red tie to her right looked rather less impressed.

The party later confirmed that the stunt was a protest against the EU’s use of surveillance drones.

“The objective of the mission was to convey to the Chancellor and Minister of Defence Thomas de Maizière what it’s like to be suddenly observed from a drone,” said Markus Barenhoff, vice chairman of the German Pirate Party.

The party said it also wanted to draw attention to a scrapped drone project which had already cost Germany upwards of half a billion euros before it was closed down earlier this year.

The drone’s 23-year-old pilot was briefly detained and later released, having successfully grabbed the headlines and attention of voters across Germany. It is doubtful that the U.S. Pirate Party will emulate their european counterparts with a similar stunt on home soil – life is just too precious.

Germany: Pirate Party behind drone stunt at… by euronews-en

Source: Pirate Party Crashes Spy Drone in Front of German Chancellor Angela Merkel

In this day and age aspiring artists have access to all the tools they need to create a decent product.

The real challenge is to escape obscurity and get noticed by the public.

To help artists get noticed, The Pirate Bay rolled out a new promotion platform last year. Through The Promo Bay the site offered artists a prime advertising spot on the site’s homepage, replacing the iconic logo, for free.

In the weeks that followed more than 10,000 artists signed up for a feature, nearly all musicians. A few dozens of these have been promoted over the past year, generating millions of page views and in some cases even a healthy stream of revenue.

But despite these successes The Promo Bay hasn’t been featuring any new artists in recent weeks.

Tobias Andersson, one of the original founders of The Pirate Bay who came up with the idea for the promotion platform, has left the ship and at the moment there is no-one around to take his place.

Will Dayble, who manages the separate Promo Bay site, hasn’t been in touch with The Pirate Bay crew but stresses that the site will remain online. Artists can still submit their content to the site, and Dayble hopes that TPB or another site will soon help out on the promotion side again.

Tobias Andersson told TorrentFreak that he is indeed moving on with other things, and he isn’t holding back on his criticism of the current Pirate Bay crew either.

“The Pirate Bay not continuing with The Promo Bay is just more evidence of the site going stale. It’s not the rebellious, energetic and progressive site it once was. It’s bloated with ads, more than ever, worse than ever. Nothing is said, nothing is done,” Andersson says.

Despite being the largest file-sharing site on the Internet, Andersson believes that The Pirate Bay has lost its edge in recent years.

“It’s just another site. Which is sad since it once was something completely different. It didn’t used to be just a site, it was a concept of a better Internet. Sure, most people only want the site for Hollywood movies and mainstream music. But any site could do that. There are hundreds of sites like that.”

The Pirate Bay crew disagrees with Andersson and says that the Promo Bay initiative isn’t dead yet. They will try to find someone to handle the artist contacts and get the project running again in the future.

Andersson nonetheless reiterates what he said before, that closing down the site may be the best option.

“I see no value in TPB continuing. The best thing would be if it shut down now, to mark ten years of resistance, resiliency and a stance for the free Internet,” he says.

The Pirate Bay, however, shows no sign of stopping. Despite heavy criticism from several of its founders, the site keeps expanding its user base month after month while continuing the development of several anti-censorship tools.

Source: The Pirate Bay Shuts Down Artist Promotions… For Now