Guilds and associations representing artists, publishers, songwriters and record labels have issued a statement regarding the erroneous attacks by the so-called “freebieber” website against a bill aimed at protecting artists rights: Statement from: American Federation of Musicians, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, National Music Publishers’ Association, Recording Academy, and the Recording Industry Association [...]

Gary Shapiro, President of the Consumer Electronics Association, jumped on the misinformation bandwagon with a blog yesterday that appears to have been posted before a House bill was even introduced.  He shepherded a group of Silicon Valley venture capitalists around the Hill today on a CEA sponsored lobbying campaign against the Stop Online Piracy Act [...]

Sorry to stick that “round and round, round and round” tune into your head, but it seems appropriate for the activity of the last several days by a small but vocal cadre of technorati who are amping up the drama and fear factor related to enforcement of copyright laws online. First, a “new” group called [...]

GigaOm is reporting that more than 18,500 scientific publications have been uploaded to The Pirate Bay, “in what appears to be a protest directed both at the recent indictment of programmer Aaron Swartz for data theft as well as the scientific-publishing model in general.” GigaOm reports that all of the documents were taken from JSTOR, [...]

A Different View on PROTECT-IP and the Internet Opponents of legislation to protect American small businesses, artists, authors and entrepreneurs from digital theft have waged a scare campaign about the supposed effect of the bill on the functionality of the Internet. Various individuals have rebutted these claims, including the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. A [...]

There was a good post on Copyhype this week in support of the PROTECT IP Act and S.978 that argued that as the Internet continues to evolve, the laws regulating it should similarly evolve and adapt. The author notes there are many who think that the only people who need to adapt are content creators, [...]

In the wake of unanimous Senate Judiciary Committee passage of the PROTECT IP Act, Public Knowledge offered this week the same litany of excuses for taking no action against digital theft of American intellectual property online, and appears content to see American workers harmed as a result. In matters of policy debate, it is unfortunate [...]

Google’s chief executive Eric Schmidt today said his company would challenge legislative efforts to shut off access to websites like Pirate Bay that traffic in pirated and counterfeit goods, even if they were passed by Congress and signed into law by the President of the United States. In a rhetorical retread of the sky-is-falling cries [...]

Artists and creators who want to speak up about their experiences battling digital theft of their work have a new platform at artistsagainstdigitaltheft.com The Copyright Alliance today announced the new web site, which lets individuals write in their stories and provides them a direct link to send a letter to their congressional representatives expressing support [...]

The High Court in the UK today dismissed a case brought by Internet service providers arguing that they should not be held responsible for their share of costs for an education campaign to inform illegal file uploaders that their activities are illegal, and to redirect them to legitimate digital distribution sites. In a particularly well-worded statement, [...]