3 Count: Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad

This is the first in a new daily column on Plagiarism Today where the site brings you three of the days biggest, most important copyright and plagiarism news links. If you want to offer your feedback on the column, use the contact form above or just follow me on Twitter at @plagiarismtoday.

1: One in Three Broadband Subscribers is a Pirate

A new study by Ovum researches has found that 1 out of every 3 broadband users is a “pirate”, at least as far as movies go (music, software, etc. was not included).

The study found that one out of every three users watch illegally downloaded videos, though only 4% admit to doing so regularly. However, more disconcerting for copyright holders, is that approximately two out of three said that they did not find anything morally wrong with watching illegally downloaded content.

2: Final Guilty Plea Wraps Up Federal ‘Warez’ Crackdown

A five-year crackdown on illegal software, commonly known was “Warez” has come to an end in Connecticut with the guilty plea from Greg Hurley, an Orlando, Florida native. With Hurley’s conviction, “Operation Safehaven” and “Operation Higher Education” are likely to come to an end.

Hurley, who was a prominent member of one of the major warez groups of the era, is expected to receive probation for his part in the ring.

3: YouTube’s January Fair Use Massacre

Finally, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is reaching out to those that have had their YouTube videos unfairly taken down by YouTube’s automated copyright detection system, offering them help with filing a counternotice (though they say they can’t take every case).

What is especially interesting is that YouTube said in 2007 that it was working on improving its matching technology to reduce false, likely fair use matches. However, as of this writing, no progress has apparently be made and following the fall out with WMG over music rights, it seems things have come to a head.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today, we’ll be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email using the contact form above. I hope to hear from you.

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