MPAA WIDENS PIRACY NET NEW LAWSUITS TARGET ONLINE COMPUTER SERVER OPERATORS.Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Hollywood studios launched legal attacks Tuesday on the computer server operators they claim are the technological middlemen making online film theft possible. In more than 100 civil and criminal lawsuits filed throughout the U.S. and Europe, the Motion Picture Association of America targeted individuals operating file-sharing programs developed by three companies: BitTorrent, eDonkey and Direct Connect. The popular online file-trading services work in different ways but, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the MPAA MPAA abbr. Motion Picture Association of America , provide users with lists of movies and television shows that can be swapped. ``They are essential cogs These are all the Cogs found in Disney's Toontown Online. Names that are moved forward are leaders of the HQ of that specific Cog type. Bossbots
Sir John Malcolm (May 2 , 1769 ‑ 1833) was a Scottish soldier, statesman, and historian, born at Burnfoot, Dumfriesshire on the 2nd of May, 1769. said. Legal notices, he said, have also been sent to Internet service providers Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. ordering them to shut down the servers. ``Trafficking in motion pictures is serious business and will be met with serious penalties,'' Malcolm said. The new crackdown comes about a month after the MPAA instigated an all-out attack on piracy, suing more than 200 individuals it accused of stealing movies off the Internet. Hollywood maintains it loses $3.5 billion annually through piracy, and that figure is expected to climb next year to more than $5 billion. But, MPAA officials have acknowledged, that figure comes strictly from physical bootlegs. The industry has not released any figures quantifying the costs of illegal file-sharing, but Malcolm on Tuesday predicted losses will be ``staggeringly high.'' The MPAA declined to say exactly how many people they are suing, or where the suits were filed. But the creators of the file-sharing technology said Tuesday they are not affected by the lawsuits. They also said they were not surprised by them. ``I expected them to be filed long ago,'' said Bram Cohen Bram Cohen (born 1975) is an American computer programmer, best known as the author of the peer-to-peer (P2P) protocol BitTorrent, as well as the first file sharing program to use the protocol. , the 29-year- old creator of BitTorrent. Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. , based in Bellevue, Wash., noted that neither he nor other providers of file-sharing technology have control over how it is used. But, he said, ``There are people running sites that use BitTorrent that are engaging in flagrantly illegal activities. The real question is why they (Hollywood) didn't take action sooner.'' Sam Yagen, president of the New York-based eDonkey, also called the suits ``a little late.'' He noted that the MPAA is targeting individuals using 3-year-old technology that isn't even active any more. Advocates of electronic freedom said the suits are unlikely to cut down on piracy. ``Like all of the other efforts, I think it just drives people from one means of exchanging files to another. If they find this particular method is too risky, they'll just move to something the MPAA isn't searching out yet,'' said Wendy Seltzer This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. , staff attorney at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation See EFF. (body) Electronic Frontier Foundation - (EFF) A group established to address social and legal issues arising from the impact on society of the increasingly pervasive use of computers as a means of communication and information distribution. . Lisa Friedman, (202) 662-8731 lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com |
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