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What Happened to Piracy? Copyright Enforcement Fades as AI Giants Rise
6 months ago
- AI revolution is reshaping industries and governance, with little attention on its impact on copyright law.
- Microsoft and allies previously led aggressive copyright enforcement, targeting piracy and illegal file-sharing.
- Aaron Swartz's case highlighted the aggressive stance on copyright enforcement in the past.
- Now, tech giants like Microsoft, OpenAI, Meta, and Google are accused of exploiting pirated content for AI training.
- Federal enforcement of copyright violations has waned, leaving disputes to civil litigation.
- Meta used pirated books from Library Genesis to train its AI, as revealed in lawsuits.
- Tech companies have sought licensing deals but also engaged in mass piracy of books and articles.
- Internal documents show Meta employees acknowledging the use of illegal content, approved by leadership.
Reddit mod jailed for sharing movie sex scenes in rare "moral rights" verdict
6 months ago
- A Reddit moderator named 'KlammereFyr' was convicted in Denmark for sharing hundreds of nude scenes from movies and TV shows without consent.
- Actresses felt 'molested or abused' by the content posted on the subreddit 'SeDetForPlottet' (WatchItForThePlot).
- The Rights Alliance, representing Danish actors and broadcasters, pushed for a criminal probe, arguing the moderator violated moral rights by removing artistic context and sexualizing actors.
- Danish law protects artists' 'integrity,' preventing unauthorized changes or uses that harm their reputation.
- KlammereFyr confessed to sharing 347 clips featuring over 100 actresses, viewed 4.2 million times, and distributing 25TB of pirated content via Superbits.org.
- He received a seven-month conditional prison sentence and 120 hours of community service, with a civil lawsuit pending for damages up to $1.5 million.
- This is Denmark's first criminal conviction based on the 'right of respect' in copyright law, potentially influencing US views on moral rights.
Germany Fines OpenAI for Illegally Using Song Lyrics to Train ChatGPT
6 months ago
- A Munich court ruled that OpenAI infringed German copyright law by using song lyrics in its training data and ordered compensation to the writers.
- The court found that both storing the lyrics internally and their appearance in ChatGPT outputs violated copyright.
- GEMA, representing over 100,000 composers and publishers, filed the claim in November 2024 over nine unlicensed German songs.
- OpenAI argued its systems adjust settings based on patterns, not copying specific works, and users are responsible for outputs—both arguments were rejected.
- OpenAI disagreed with the ruling, stating it affects only a limited set of lyrics and doesn't impact daily users in Germany.
- GEMA called the judgment the first major European ruling on copyrighted material in AI training, setting a precedent for creative works.
- The German Journalists’ Association hailed the verdict as a milestone for copyright law, potentially influencing U.S. lawsuits against OpenAI.
TorrentFreak Turns 20
6 months ago
- TorrentFreak was launched in 2005 to document the file-sharing ecosystem and provide balanced coverage amidst polarized anti-piracy messaging.
- The site started as a solo project but grew to include Andy Maxwell, becoming a critical observer of the piracy and copyright landscape.
- Over the years, the file-sharing scene evolved from hobbyist 'pirates' to more criminal elements, with rightsholders increasing enforcement and lobbying efforts.
- TorrentFreak has maintained neutrality, highlighting multiple perspectives and avoiding extreme positions in its reporting.
- The founders reflect on 20 years of TorrentFreak, acknowledging the role of luck, community support, and reader engagement in its longevity.
- Moving forward, TorrentFreak plans to continue at its own pace, focusing on niche topics where it can add unique value.
Copyright Winter Is Coming (To Wikipedia?)
6 months ago
- Judge Sidney Stein denied OpenAI's motion to dismiss copyright infringement claims regarding ChatGPT outputs summarizing works by authors like George R.R. Martin.
- The ruling suggests that summaries of fiction works may be infringing unless protected by fair use, challenging the idea-expression distinction.
- Comparison between ChatGPT and Wikipedia summaries of 'A Game of Thrones' shows structural differences but similar content coverage.
- The decision raises concerns about the implications for derivative works, Wikipedia entries, and other summaries or analyses of fiction.
- Judge Stein's opinion sets a low bar for substantial similarity, potentially impacting copyright law beyond AI-generated content.
Disney Lost Roger Rabbit
6 months ago
- Disney has lost the rights to Roger Rabbit due to Termination of Transfer, a copyright provision benefiting creators.
- Termination of Transfer allows creators to reclaim copyrights after 35 years, originally designed to be automatic after 25 years but was weakened by media industry lobbying.
- The media industry's monopsony power means creators often have to sign away rights to a few dominant companies, reducing their earnings despite copyright expansions.
- George Clinton successfully used Termination of Transfer to reclaim rights from a fraudulent contract, highlighting its importance for artists.
- Gary K. Wolf reclaimed Roger Rabbit rights and plans a sequel, demonstrating Termination of Transfer's role in renegotiating successful works.
- The article criticizes the media industry's exploitation of creators and advocates for stronger protections like Termination of Transfer.
- Other topics include Uber drivers being recognized as employees in NZ, Google's data collection from Nest thermostats, and historical tech scandals like Sony's rootkit.
Kinds of Stealing
5 months ago
- Cultures historically view grain theft as a severe crime due to its impact on livelihoods and community stability.
- Modern equivalents of 'bakery moments' include unauthorized use of art, music, or sports content without payment.
- Corporations often enforce copyrights aggressively, benefiting more than the original creators.
- Technological advancements like desktop publishing and AI can 'steal' future revenue by making certain jobs obsolete.
- Theft of trust and attention is a pervasive issue in modern culture, often overlooked.
- Creators building on previous works raise complex questions about originality and intellectual property.
- The debate around AI training on copyrighted material focuses on the impact on human creativity rather than the act of learning itself.
- Copyright's purpose is to incentivize human creation, not to restrict learning from existing works.
- The tension between protecting property (like grain) and fostering cultural improvement is ongoing.
Tokyo Court Finds Cloudflare Liable for Manga Piracy in Long-Running Lawsuit
5 months ago
- Cloudflare offers a wide range of services, many free, but faces criticism from copyright holders over piracy issues.
- In 2018, major manga publishers sued Cloudflare in Tokyo for providing services to pirate sites, leading to a 2019 settlement.
- In 2022, publishers filed another lawsuit against Cloudflare in Japan, seeking damages and an injunction over continued service to pirate sites.
- The Tokyo District Court ruled Cloudflare liable for aiding copyright infringement, ordering damages of approximately $3.2 million.
- The court highlighted Cloudflare's failure to act on infringement notices and lack of identity verification for piracy site operators.
- Publishers view the ruling as a step toward proper CDN service use and protecting creators' rights.
- Cloudflare plans to appeal, warning the ruling could set a dangerous global precedent for CDN providers.
Pirate Site Operator's Appeal Goes Bad, Court Extends Prison Term by 50%
5 months ago
- Pirate site operators often survive unscathed despite anti-piracy efforts.
- NunuTV operated from 2021 to 2023, illegally streaming content with millions of monthly visitors.
- Rightsholders claimed NunuTV caused $3.7 billion in damages, leading to legal action and domain blocking.
- NunuTV used incremental domain changes (e.g., noonootv1, noonootv2) to evade blocks.
- The site shut down in 2023 due to high costs, but a successor, NunuTV Season 2, briefly emerged.
- The operator, 'Person A,' was later arrested for running TVWiki and OKToon, also linked to illegal gambling ads.
- Authorities seized $1.9 million in assets, including luxury cars and Bitcoin.
- Initially sentenced to 3 years, Person A's appeal reduced financial penalties but increased prison time to 4.5 years due to prior convictions.
- The case highlights the challenges of deterring piracy and the risks of recidivism.
OpenAI desperate to avoid explaining why it deleted pirated book datasets
5 months ago
- OpenAI may have to explain why it deleted controversial datasets 'Books 1' and 'Books 2'.
- The datasets were built using pirated books from a shadow library called Library Genesis (LibGen).
- OpenAI claims the datasets were deleted due to 'non-use,' but authors suspect other reasons.
- Authors allege OpenAI backtracked on its 'non-use' claim, raising suspicions about the deletion motives.
- A US judge ordered OpenAI to share internal communications about the datasets' deletion.
What will enter the public domain in 2026?
5 months ago
- Works entering the public domain in 2026 include those by people who died in 1955 (life plus 70 years term) and 1975 (life plus 50 years term), and films/books published in 1930 in the US.
- Different countries have varying copyright terms affecting public domain entry dates.
- An advent-style calendar will reveal top picks for 2026, with all unveiled by January 1st.
- Resources include John Mark Ockerbloom’s Public Domain Day Countdown, Standard eBooks’ free selections, and Communia’s Public Domain Manifesto.
- Clarifies misconceptions about negative impacts on works entering the public domain.
NY judge orders ChatGPT conversation handover in newspaper copyright win
5 months ago
- A Manhattan judge ordered OpenAI to provide millions of anonymous ChatGPT user logs to news outlets in a copyright infringement case.
- OpenAI's request to reconsider the ruling was denied, requiring them to hand over 20 million ChatGPT output logs.
- News outlets aim to analyze ChatGPT logs to check for unauthorized use of copyrighted journalistic work.
- The case is part of a consolidated lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, involving major publishers and authors.
- OpenAI argued privacy concerns, but the judge noted logs would be anonymized and privacy risks mitigated.
- The judge ruled the logs are relevant to both the plaintiffs' claims and OpenAI's defense.
- OpenAI has 7 days to provide the logs after completing the anonymization process and has appealed the decision.
- The court questioned OpenAI's motives for delaying log production, suggesting possible improper purposes.
Disney Accuses Google of Using AI to Engage in © Infringement on 'Massive Scale'
5 months ago
- Disney accuses Google of copyright infringement on a 'massive scale' using AI models and services.
- Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google, demanding an end to unauthorized use of its copyrighted works.
- Google allegedly used Disney's content to train AI models and generate infringing images, some branded with Google's Gemini logo.
- Disney claims Google's AI infringes characters from franchises like Frozen, Star Wars, Marvel, and more.
- Disney has previously sent cease-and-desist letters to Meta and Character.AI, and filed lawsuits against other AI companies.
- Google responded by stating it uses public data and has copyright controls like Content ID for YouTube.
- Disney CEO Bob Iger emphasized the company's aggressive stance on protecting its intellectual property.
- Disney demands Google cease all unauthorized use of its characters and implement technological measures to prevent future infringement.
- Disney alleges Google promoted a viral trend involving AI-generated figurines of Disney characters.
Online Gaming's Final Boss: The Copyright Bully
4 months ago
- Computer games have historically allowed customization and modding, fostering community and participation.
- EverQuest, a long-running game, previously supported modding, but new owners Daybreak are cracking down on it.
- Daybreak is using copyright claims to threaten modders, particularly targeting 'The Hero’s Journey' (THJ) project.
- Daybreak filed a federal complaint, intimidating modders and securing a ruling that devastates modding communities.
- Many fan servers have shut down, and Daybreak has imposed restrictive terms on server emulation software.
- This trend of alienating fans for control is seen in other franchises like Dungeons and Dragons and Star Trek.
- Daybreak's actions are counterintuitive, as fan mods often promote interest in the original game.
- Daybreak's restrictive terms exceed fair use rights, alienating core fans who could be valuable customers.
- The EFF invites those affected by Daybreak's legal actions to share their experiences.
Spotify reportedly investigating Anna's Archive's scraping of their library
4 months ago
- Spotify disabled nefarious user accounts involved in unlawful scraping and implemented new safeguards.
- A pirate activist group scraped and released metadata from Spotify, including 256 million rows of track metadata and 86 million audio files.
- Only metadata has been released so far, with the audio files to be distributed via P2P networks totaling 300 terabytes.
- Spotify is investigating unauthorized access and scraping of public metadata and circumvention of DRM.
- The incident could allow individuals to create personal free versions of Spotify, raising copyright concerns.
- Anna's Archive, known for preserving books and papers, described the scrape as part of its mission to preserve music culture.
The internet just made a 300TB copy of Spotify
4 months ago
- Anna’s Archive claims to have scraped almost all of Spotify, including metadata for 256 million tracks and audio for 86 million songs.
- The total size of the archive is nearly 300TB, shared via torrents and organized by popularity.
- Spotify acknowledges unauthorized access but disputes the scale, stating only 'some' audio files were accessed.
- Anna’s Archive frames the project as a 'preservation archive' for music, arguing it protects lesser-known tracks from disappearing.
- The audio files are mostly from Spotify, with popular tracks in original 160kbps format and less-played songs re-encoded for space.
- Only metadata is fully available now; music files are being released gradually, starting with the most popular tracks.
- This mass-scraping and redistribution violate Spotify’s terms of service and copyright laws in many countries.
- Legal action from Spotify and record companies is anticipated, though the effectiveness of such measures remains uncertain.
The Copyrightability of Fonts Revisited
4 months ago
- The author declined to endorse a letter to the U.S. Copyright Office regarding digital font copyright registrations due to concerns about the premise and personal relevance.
- Digital fonts are likely not protected by U.S. copyright, based on historical rulings like Eltra Corp. v. Ringer and USCO regulations.
- Adobe v. Southern Software (1998) provided limited copyright protection for font software programs, but its applicability is narrower than often believed.
- The 2021 Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices reaffirmed that typefaces are not copyrightable.
- Laatz v. Zazzle (2024) challenged the validity of font copyright registrations, suggesting that many existing registrations may not hold up in court.
- Converting fonts to software-like formats (e.g., XML) for registration is a flawed workaround, as it may violate human-authorship requirements and still exclude the font itself from protection.
- Copyright registration does not guarantee validity; defendants can challenge it in court, as seen in Laatz v. Zazzle.
- The author argues that font piracy is inevitable and that their business relies on an honor system rather than copyright enforcement.
Spotify disables accounts after open-source group scrapes 86M songs
4 months ago
- Spotify disabled accounts after an open-source group scraped 86 million songs.
- Anna's Archive published a database of metadata and songs from Spotify.
- Spotify called the scraping unlawful and implemented new safeguards.
- Anna's Archive aims to preserve music, citing it as a 'preservation archive'.
- The scraped data includes 86 million music files, covering 99.6% of Spotify listens.
- Top songs on Spotify have more streams than the bottom 20-100 million combined.
- Anna's Archive, known for copyright violations, emerged after Z-Library's shutdown.
- Google removed nearly 800 million links to Anna's Archive due to takedown requests.
What's moving into the public domain in 2026?
4 months ago
- Creative works from 1930 and sound recordings from 1925 enter the public domain in the U.S. on January 1, 2026.
- Notable works include Betty Boop's debut, Pluto's first appearance, 'All Quiet on the Western Front,' and classic songs like 'Georgia on My Mind.'
- Duke Law's Center for the Study of the Public Domain publishes a full list of public domain entries for 2026.
- A Public Domain Film Remix Contest invites filmmakers to create short films using newly liberated works, with prizes up to $1,500.
- A virtual celebration on January 21, 2026, will explore newly freed detective stories like Nancy Drew and Miss Marple.
- An in-person event at the Internet Archive on January 21, 2026, will premiere winning films from the contest and celebrate public domain culture.
Two Decades of Piracy Reporting: TorrentFreak's Retrospective
4 months ago
- News often fades quickly, making reflection important.
- 2005-2009: Key events include The Pirate Bay's rise, legal battles, and Net Neutrality issues.
- 2010-2014: Legal wars escalate with domain seizures, MegaUpload's shutdown, and anti-piracy protests.
- 2015-2019: Major torrent sites like KickassTorrents and ExtraTorrent shut down; copyright laws tighten.
- 2020-2025: Piracy spikes during COVID-19, AI faces scrutiny for using pirate datasets, and new anti-piracy bills emerge.
- Notable moments: FBI seizes Z-Library domains, RARBG closes, and shadow libraries trigger massive takedowns.

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#copyright

What Happened to Piracy? Copyright Enforcement Fades as AI Giants Rise

Reddit mod jailed for sharing movie sex scenes in rare "moral rights" verdict

Germany Fines OpenAI for Illegally Using Song Lyrics to Train ChatGPT

TorrentFreak Turns 20

Copyright Winter Is Coming (To Wikipedia?)

Disney Lost Roger Rabbit

Kinds of Stealing

Tokyo Court Finds Cloudflare Liable for Manga Piracy in Long-Running Lawsuit

Pirate Site Operator's Appeal Goes Bad, Court Extends Prison Term by 50%

OpenAI desperate to avoid explaining why it deleted pirated book datasets

What will enter the public domain in 2026?

NY judge orders ChatGPT conversation handover in newspaper copyright win

Disney Accuses Google of Using AI to Engage in © Infringement on 'Massive Scale'

Online Gaming's Final Boss: The Copyright Bully

Spotify reportedly investigating Anna's Archive's scraping of their library

The internet just made a 300TB copy of Spotify

The Copyrightability of Fonts Revisited

Spotify disables accounts after open-source group scrapes 86M songs

What's moving into the public domain in 2026?

Two Decades of Piracy Reporting: TorrentFreak's Retrospective