Many Kodi add-ons are hosted on Github but when a developer deletes his or her account, other developers are sometimes stepping in to exploit the situation, to pass their product off as the original. However, Github says it will not tolerate any exploits and will take action in response complaints.
Google is opposing a recommendation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to introduce a mandatory takedown notice scheme. This could lead to automated censorship, the company warns. Various copyright holder groups don't see the takedown notice proposal as a good solution either, but they are demanding even stricter measures.
Authorities in Russia have held talks with major rightsholders, hosting platforms, and search providers, with the aim of writing the terms of a voluntary anti-piracy agreement into law. If approved, it will become one of the toughest takedown regimes anywhere in the world.
Last week, the European Parliament tweeted a video about Article 13, informing the public that their memes are safe. The video was criticized for being inaccurate and this week, things got worse. It turns out that the video was created by a major media company, which lobbied extensively in favor of the EU Copyright Directive.
Last December, Canada amended its Copyright Act to prevent abuse of the notice-and-notice regime. As a result, copyright holders are no longer allowed to demand cash in infringement notices and ISPs aren't obliged to pass them on. Sadly, the rules are being ignored.
Streaming TV provider Omniverse describes the piracy lawsuit filed by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) as "reckless". The company has unveiled new information, suggesting that it is backed by an old and relatively unrestricted licensing deal that was agreed by a US-based real estate company in the early 90s. Omniverse says that it's literally doing everything by the book.
A high quality pirated copy of the movie Aquaman appeared online yesterday. The 4K release is believed to come from iTunes, which would make this the first 2160p movie to be directly downloaded from Apple's movie store. It's unclear how the file was obtained.
Travis McRea, the former leader of the Pirate Party of Canada, is causing quite a stir with his eBook upload site, Ebook.bike. Many authors have gone into meltdown over the past few days, accusing the entrepreneur of blatant piracy. For his part, McCrea admits that his abrasive attitude towards them is trolling - designed to draw even more traffic to his platform.
The executive vice president of strategy for Germany's powerful Bundesliga football league says that competing with piracy begins with having "legal product everywhere." It's a common sense approach but the lack of options in many countries continually drives huge numbers of fans to piracy every week.