LibertyVoice

As negativity surrounding online piracy grows to epic proportions in the United States, Sonny John Moore is playing the intelligent game. Moore, better known to his fans as Skrillex, has a total of six 2011 Grammy nominations under his belt but he’s still not towing the corporate line on file-sharing. As he drops his brand new album, Skrillex tells fans that don’t have the money to go ahead and pirate it instead.

Source: Skrillex: Happy Holidays! Pirate My Music, I’ll Still Love You

In an attempt to reduce widespread piracy in the Netherlands, the government there recently introduced a plan that would make downloading movies and music unlawful. However, this proposal was binned yesterday by a motion from the Dutch parliament due to concerns it would restrict the free flow of information, invade the privacy of citizens and invite copyright trolls. Instead, they encourage the entertainment industry to focus their attention on providing authorized alternatives.

Source: Dutch Parliament: Downloading Movies and Music Will Stay Legal

As 2011 comes to an end, we follow up our most pirated TV-shows chart by taking a look at the most pirated movies of the year. Fast Five comes out on top, and aside from other usual suspects such as box office hits Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and The Hangover, the list also includes a few surprising entries and some notable absentees.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of 2011

With 2011 nearing its end, today we begin our annual look at the most-pirated entertainment titles across various categories, starting with TV-shows. Dexter comes out on top this year, followed by HBO’s debut series Game of Thrones. Although the years of exponential growth in download numbers have passed, episodes of the top TV-shows are still shared among millions of people.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated TV-Shows of 2011

A few days ago the independent film “The Inner Room” ended up on BitTorrent. Where some filmmakers would see such an event as a threat, for producer Mark Diestler it’s quite the opposite. For months he had waited for pirates to pick the movie up, and now it’s out he’s seeing the film gain additional exposure. For the first time his movie has jumped into the top 250 as listed by IMDb’s movie meter.

Source: Filmmaker: BitTorrent Pirates Help Us Get More Exposure

Ubisoft is known for laying the blame for many problems on the unauthorized downloading of its games. Stanislas Mettra, creative director of the upcoming game ‘I Am Alive,’ confirms this once again by saying that the decision not to release a PC version is a direct result of widespread game piracy. However, those who look beyond the propaganda will see that there appears to be more to the story than that.

Source: Ubisoft Blames Piracy for Non-Release of PC Game

According to a new report on Net Neutrality, users of mobile broadband services who hope that all of their Internet traffic will be prioritized equally will be disappointed. While much traffic is left unhindered, the report from the organization responsible for Sweden’s .SE national domain reveals that some operators systematically degrade BitTorrent transfers, and some block them altogether.

Source: Net Neutrality: Mobile Broadband Suppliers Discriminate Against BitTorrent

A Sweden-based alcohol entrepreneur has successfully obtained the trademark “The Pirate Bay”. Colin Scragg, who made complaints to police over share dealings at his former company earlier this year, had faced opposition at the Patents and Trademarks Office, but now the decision has swung in his favor.

Source: The Pirate Bay Trademark Handed To Alcohol Entrepreneur

When talking about piracy the entertainment industry and politicians often use the term “theft.” This is a huge problem according to the Swedish sociologist of law Stefan Larsson. In his thesis “Metaphors and Norms – Understanding Copyright Law in a Digital Society,” he explains that these metaphors are in part keeping the wide gap between people’s norms and the law intact.

Source: Piracy is NOT Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor

New data published by the Canadian broadband management company Sandvine reveals that on the average day Netflix and BitTorrent are responsible for 40 percent of all Internet traffic in North America. During peak hours Netflix accounts for a third of all download traffic, while BitTorrent is credited for nearly half of all upload traffic during the busiest time of the day.

Source: BitTorrent and Netflix Dominate America’s Internet Traffic