How CNET/CBS Interactive ignited and fueled the "Phenomena of Internet Piracy" to control the Internet
The history of CNET/CBS Interactive promoting Piracy software is staggering. Over 1,000 different software offerings, Several hundred instances of mentioning copyright infringing uses, often with known copyrighted songs or famous band names. Although some of these pages are ten years old, you must remember that CNET has been distributing LimeWire software since at least February 2001.
We have substantial evidence going right up until the year 2011. Moreover, just since CBS bought CNET, they have distributed over 50,000,000 downloads of LimeWire alone! Over 250,000,000 downloads of LimeWire in Total.
Please, keep in mind as you review this evidence, "What was CNET’s Intent?"
Read More:http://onecandleinthedark.blogspot.com/
Chinese Internet Users Relish Irony Of SOPA’s Great Firewall Of America
from the shoe-on-the-other-foot dept
After being on the receiving end of the West’s pointed comments about the Great Firewall of China and the online censorship it helps to enforce, Chinese Internet users are enjoying the deep irony that SOPA will effectively copy China’s approach by creating a Great Firewall of America. As one wrote:
It looks like that we can finally export our technology and value to the Americans. We’re strong, advanced, and absolutely right!
The same post on Global Voices Online reports that others are taking things more seriously, and worry about the knock-on effects SOPA will have on Net freedom around the world:
Most Chinese-language blogs and microblog messages emphasize the disastrous outcomes that the bill could bring. What people worry about most are bill’s endorsement of surveillance by web services and Internet companies to prevent “infringing” content, and the implications for individual privacy.
None of this will come as any surprise to Techdirt readers. But it’s extraordinary that the politicians supporting SOPA can’t see – or don’t care about – the huge damage it will do to the international reputation of the US, and the harm it will cause human rights around the globe.
Google Now Censors The Pirate Bay, isoHunt, 4Shared and More
Google has expanded its search blacklist to include many of the top file-sharing sites on the Internet, including The Pirate Bay. The changes were quietly processed and appear to be broader than previous additions. Google’s blacklist prevents the names of sites appearing in their Instant and Autocomplete search services, while the pages themselves remain indexed.
Since January 2011, Google has been filtering “piracy-related” terms from its ‘Autocomplete‘ and ‘Instant‘ services.
Google users searching for terms like “torrent”, “BitTorrent” and “RapidShare” will notice that no suggestions and search results appear before they type the full word. As a consequence, there’s sharp decrease in Google searches for these terms.
Initially only a handful of “piracy-related” terms were censored, but a recent update to the blacklist includes nearly all the top file-sharing websites.
Searches referring to torrent sites such as “thepiratebay,” “the pirate bay,” “isohunt,” “torrentreactor,” “btjunkie,” “kickasstorrents,” “sumotorrent,” “btmon,” “extratorrent” and many others are now excluded from ‘Autocomplete‘ and ‘Instant‘. Interestingly, the full url “thepiratebay.org” is still offered as a suggestion.
The new list further includes several cyberlocker websites that were perviously left unfiltered, such as “4shared,” “filesonic” and “fileserve.” Although Google doesn’t censor the content of the websites in question, the Google searches for the affected terms drop significantly as can be seen below.
Drop in Hotfile searches after it was censored in January.
By voluntarily censoring parts of their search services, Google is trying to keep on friendly terms with copyright holders. The downside to this is that they put perfectly legitimate companies such as BitTorrent Inc and RapidShare at a disadvantage.
Read More:http://torrentfreak.com/google-now-censors-the-pirate-bay-isohunt-4shared-and-more-111123/
Free Speech Zone 