In the News
In the News
In the News

    Get Involved Today

    • CNET News covers our response to NBC's anti-piracy demands at the FCC. After NBC General Counsel Richard Cotton wrote that “broadband service providers have an obligation to use readily available means to prevent the use of their broadband capacity to transfer pirated content,” Public Knowledge filed a joint response with (among others) EFF, the Consumer Federation of America, and the Media Access Project, debunking NBC's claims. You can read John Bergmayer's and Art's posts on the issue here and here.

    • Hackers have already cracked the DRM on Microsoft's copy-protected digital music, the Associated Press reports. FairUse4M offers a drag-and-drop feature to strip Windows Media files of their protection. Microsoft was quick to downplay the hack. Jonathan Usher, a director of Microsoft's consumer media technology group, said, “We knew at the start that no digital rights management technology is going to be impervious to circumvention.”

    • The RIAA says it doesn't have to pay the legal fees of a wrongfully accused P2P user because the woman had not “appropriately assisted their copyright infringement investigation and litigation,” that is, settled outside of court. Noting the ridiculousness of this argument, the judge ordered the RIAA to pay the full $70,000. You can read Elizabeth's background on this case here.

    • Four federal inmates tried to get out of prison by copyrighting their names. The prisoners demanded payment from their warden for use of their names, files liens against his property, and finally hired someone to seize his vehicles and freeze his bank accounts. The inmates then told the warden they wouldn't return his property unless they were released from prison. Unfortunately for them, the man they hired to take the warden's property was an undercover FBI agent, and they are now indicted for conspiring to impede the duties of federal prison officials.