Tag Archives: illegal downloads

Megaupload Founder’s Lawyer Accuses US Government Of Stalling

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It’s been a while since we have blogged about the criminal charges being faced by Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, but the latest word on the story is a complaint from the legal team defending the accused.

Ira Rothken, a lawyer representing Dotcom, says that the US government is trying to “run out the clock” by withholding materials that the defence team will need access to in order to be fully prepared for key court appearances. The items in question were seized during the raid on Dotcom’s Auckland property in January of this year.

It is argued by Rothken that the confiscated data from surveillance cameras could shed light on the issue of whether or not there was excessive force used in the raid, while also pointing out that personal files belonging to Dotcom and his family are still being held.

The lawyer continues by saying that the actual search warrant was overly vague, which allowed the police to seize all digital media within the property, even if it was not relevant to the case and charges. And now, over four months since the raid, the defence team hasn’t been issued with copies of Dotcom’s own hard drives.

Speaking to Ars Technica, Rothken said: “They’re making an argument that they still haven’t made copies of the rest of the hard drives because it’s too burdensome to do it in New Zealand and they have to bring them back to the US… They could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on helicopters and raids, but they can’t use the 800 number to Best Buy to buy the computer equipment they need to make mirror copies of hard drives.”

Their argument over the movement of the hard drives from New Zealand to the United States still rages on, and it may still transpire that Dotcom will be ordered by a court to disclose passwords to hard drives that are encrypted.

Kim Dotcom faces an extradition hearing in August, and you can read more about this story on Ars Technica.

Virgin Media Is First ISP To Block The Pirate Bay

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Virgin Media are the first UK ISP to enforce this week’s High Court ruling by blocking its users from accessing The Pirate Bay, a site that facilitates illegal sharing of copyrighted music and films.

the pirate bay

As of Wednesday, Virgin Media internet customers trying to access The Pirate Bay found that they were redirected to a page explaining that the site was “not available through Virgin Media“.

The Swedish-based site is the most popular of its kind, offering an index of thousands of copyrighted songs, TV shows and films to download by using the BitTorrent file sharing protocol. But it is now the second site to be banned by the High Court after Newzbin2 was embargoed last year in what was a landmark ruling.

After Monday’s ruling, a Virgin Media spokesman said the company felt obligated to react:

“As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders addressed to the company but strongly believes that changing consumer behaviour to tackle copyright infringement also needs compelling legal alternatives, such as our agreement with Spotify, to give consumers access to great content at the right price.”

But despite the legal decision, not all of the ISPs ordered to block access to The Pirate Bay have done so. Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky and TalkTalk are yet to act, while BT have said they will make a decision on whether or not to cut off access within a few weeks.

The Pirate Bay is well-known for being used almost exclusively to share copyrighted materials, but does that make this High Court ruling fair? There are certainly major concerns about the future of internet freedom, and once there is a legal precedent such as this case, it can become easier for other sites to be blocked. Do you feel that the decision to ask ISPs to block access is fair on them, or should the authorities simply take down the site?

We always like to hear your thoughts on these matters, so please feel free to leave a comment here, or talk to us on Twitter or on our Facebook page.

ISPs To Block The Pirate Bay After High Court Ruling

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the pirate bayThe war against illegal file sharing has taken a new turn that some parties believe is a step towards the sort of internet censorship that could pave the way for more draconian measures in the future.

The High Court has ruled that UK internet service providers must block access to The Pirate Bay, a Swedish site that hosts download links to copyrighted music, films and games. Virgin Media, TalkTalk, O2, Everything Everywhere and Sky have all been told to prevent their users from accessing the site. BT have requested a few more weeks to consider their position on blocking the site.

The British Phonographic Industry‘s chief executive Geoff Taylor said:

“The High Court has confirmed that The Pirate Bay infringes copyright on a massive scale… Its operators line their pockets by commercially exploiting music and other creative works without paying a penny to the people who created them. This is wrong – musicians, sound engineers and video editors deserve to be paid for their work just like everyone else.”

However, some argue that these measures will do little to curb the practice of illegal downloads by saying that site blocking is ineffective and can be circumvented using proxy servers and other techniques. Mark Little, principal analyst at Ovum, believes more should be done to educate the younger demographic “who just haven’t been convinced that doing this is somehow morally uncomfortable.”

Others are more concerned with the precedent this sets. Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, had this to say:

“It will fuel calls for further, wider and even more drastic calls for internet censorship of many kinds, from pornography to extremism. Internet censorship is growing in scope and becoming easier. Yet it never has the effect desired. It simply turns criminals into heroes.”

Do you think that this High Court ruling is a good thing? Will it be enough of a deterrent for people to stop illegally downloading, or do you think that prevention is better than the cure and that more should be done to educate those likely to offend?