There's been a lot of buzz in the news lately about people using copyrighted materials without paying for it and distributing it over the internet. However, when a corporation does it to an individual it's somehow "fair use"...

Nike's Minor Threat



"[Nike] stole it and we're not happy about it. Nike is a giant corporation which is attempting to manipulate the alternative skate culture to create an even wider demand for their already ubiquitous brand. Nike represents just about the antithesis of what Dischord stands for and it makes me sick to my stomach to think they are using this explicit imagery to fool kids into thinking that the general ethos of this label, and Minor Threat in particular, can somehow be linked to Nike's mission. It's disgusting." (Pitchfork via AdRants.)

Not only is the poster design lifted from two separate albums, but the browser icon for the Dischord site is also featured prominently (I'm pretty sure the XXX is also from the back cover artwork for Flex Your Head)!

Of all the bands to rip off they pick the one who's ethical standards are more widely known than their music. I don't believe Nike will be able to solve this problem with an apology and a cheque.

The above images have been colour shifted and distorted so they match in scale and proporton.

Bittort's Major Threat

On June 13th, SafeNet bought out MediaSentry, an anti-piracy corporation, for $20 million, and with it contracts for TimeWarner and the MPAA. (More here.)

Using a service called MediaDecoy, SafeNet has now begun posting spoofed or bad data files and/or seeds of popular torrents, from IP addresses taking up as much as 65% of the internet. Though spoofing the data is a huge nuisance, it is entirely legal as far as I know and (for now at least) entirely avoidable.

Bittorent users will want to install the following software: PeerGuardian2. This will block all bad data blocks. Expect a few bumps in the coming weeks as SafeNet and P2P networks see who's smarter and faster.

Those of you who use bittorrent sites have probably noticed that it's gettig more and more difficult to find "curated" sites. By that I mean TVtorrents. It was a small site offering torrents of shows you could get for free off the television! It was useful for those days when the VCR timer didn't work, your bus was late, or you were just having too good a time to go home. It was the only torrent site I used.

I wonder how up in arms companies would have been had the original seed been uploaded with the commercials intact? Would they have been so quick to act? Or would they have started seeding the shows themselves with different adrates?

The people who use the internet as their sole source of films, movies, and music are not people who will ever buy them.

Some P2P info for Canadians

Canadians will be happy to be reminded of a 2004 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that states that by introducing "bogus or inoperative files over the internet" it becomes more difficult to prove whether copyrighted information is being shared.