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This Is What The Copyright Alert System In The US Looks Like In Action

By now, you’ve heard enough about the Copyright Alert System in the US to know what it is and, perhaps, how useless it could be. But what the hell will it look like in reality?


What Is The Copyright Alert System?

The Copyright Alert System was conceived all the way back in 2011 as a new way to deal with seemingly unstoppable online piracy. It finally goes into effect in the US today, and it will impact a huge portion of American internet users. Sounds scary, but what is it exactly?


The US House Of Reps Blocked Spotify Because It’s Scared Of P2P

Ain’t nobody in the US House of Representatives gonna be listening to no Spotify at work. Why? The House’s IT overlords don’t see fit. Not because Spotify is distracting and there’s real work that needs to be done or anything, no. It’s because Spotify has P2P guts and P2P is baaaaaaad, apparently. Yeah, even the RIAA thinks that line of reasoning is stupid.


Here’s How Much Pandora Pays Music Artists

Pandora, which quietly reinstated its internet radio service in Australia back in July, wants you to know that Pandora is good for music because it pays artists millions and millions of dollars for their songs. Take Drake and Lil Wayne — they get nearly $US3 million each a year. And Pandora wants to pay them more.


$222,000 Appeal Validates RIAA’s Crusade Against Ordinary People

Today the US Court of Appeals helped the recording industry extort $US222,000 from Jammie Thomas-Rasset for distributing 24 songs on the internet. The original verdict called for a preposterous penalty of $US1.92 million. Sure, this new amount of just under $US9000 per song is a smaller penalty, but it’s still absurd.


RIAA Knew That SOPA And PIPA Were Useless All Along

TorrentFreak has posted a supposedly leaked presentation by the RIAA’s chief lawyer that says that it defended SOPA and PIPA even though it knew the censorship legislation wouldn’t be effective against music piracy. Is the RIAA for real, or are they just covering their arses? And what does it mean for your freedom going forward?


Money Won In Pirate Bay Convictions Won’t Go Back To Artists

In February, the founders of file-sharing website The Pirate Bay were ordered to pay $US675,000 to music labels. The money was intended to compensate the artists whose royalties had been depleted by piracy. Guess what? The music labels aren’t going to see a dime.


Whiny RIAA Demands Even More Google Censorship

An RIAA bigwig just laid a blog post smackdown on Google, claiming the search giant doesn’t do enough to remove links to copyrighted material. Apparently, processing more than one million requests for removal per month isn’t enough.


‘Used’ Music Service Won’t Shut Down Because Of Lawsuit… Yet

Capitol Records failed to halt the operations of ReDigi, a service which sells “used” digital music, in advance of their looming legal battle. And even if you’ve never heard of ReDigi, this case holds important consequences for digital media of all kinds.


LimeWire Sued By Labels Even After Shut Down

LimeWire has been kaput as a file-sharing service since October, but that hasn’t stopped its legal woes. Now, after settling with the RIAA to the tune of $US105 million, the MPAA and a host of indie music labels have filed lawsuits against the company as well. Talk about beating a dead horse.


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