pirates

There are probably over a billion people who’ve used pirated software some way or another. But how did it come about?

Do the torrenting pirates of today even know what a BBS is? What’s the most downloaded application? To answer the above and more Starmedia put together the infographic below.

With the elections for the Berlin state parliament just four weeks away, the German Pirate Party is on course to an impressive election win.

A recent poll shows that support for the Pirate Party is growing, and with 4.5 percent of the votes the pirates are getting close to the minimum 5 percent needed to enter parliament with several seats.

As US authorities continue with Operation in Our Sites, putting pressure on file-sharing services and seizing their domains, for some it is all to easy to champion a heroic fight back against these "forces of evil".

But for the admins of one site targeted by ICE and DHS, the thought of being extradited to the US is a step too far.

What started off as fun was turning into something else. Today they announce that "enough is enough."

Stop: "In January 2011 Italian newspaper Repubblica published an article that is a nice example of how much confusion there still is, in mainstream press, about the nature of software and copyright, their relevance for all citizens and the responsibilities of Public Administrations in these fields"

Porn studios that are pursuing copyright lawsuits are close to revealing pirates' identities. Will Anonymous cyber protests also strike against adult film industry copyright trolls?

TorrentFreak: "The United States Internet Service provider Suddenlink has effectively implemented a three-strikes policy for repeated copyright infringers.

After three DMCA notices, alleged copyright infringers are disconnected"

Dear Friends,

The Irish High Court discovers that the 'Net is populated by "fraudsters, pornographers of the worst kind, and cranks." Oh, and lots and lots of pirates.

Cutting off their Internet access is fine.

This document collects reported cases where the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA have been invoked not against pirates, but against consumers, scientists, and legitimate competitors.

In practice, the anti-circumvention provisions have been used to stifle a wide array of legitimate activities, rather than to stop copyright infringement.