This week in piracy: 22 Jan – 27 Jan

This week has been filled with piracy laws, downloading cars and more people changing their tune about SOPA and PIPA. But the greatest news of the week comes from Poland a country known for its cold weather and kickass politicians.

Polish politicians give ACTA the Fawkes treatment

Anonymous is an internet group of hacktivists who believe that their actions ultimately serve the greater good when it comes to taking on evil corporations and organisations as well as the odd teenage girl with a webcam. Anonymous uses the Guy Fawkes mask, which was popularised by the movie V for Vendetta, as its identity. More recently though a group of Polish politicians have adopted the mask as a symbol of their protest against Poland signing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

Poland’s decision to sign the agreement has caused mass protests and online retribution from Anonymous. The group has attacked websites owned by the Polish government. Poland now joins Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, USA, Canada, South Korea and several other countries who have signed the agreement. Amazingly the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, considers the protests a form of blackmail.

US politicians being bribed by MPAA?

A comment made by Chris Dodd, MPAA CEO, has started up a petition on the White House’s website due to the impression given that politicians on Capitol Hill have been receiving bribes from the MPAA. In an interview with Fox News Dodd made the following statement;

Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.”

The petition authors believe this “is an open admission of bribery and a threat designed to provoke a specific policy goal.” The petition has already received over 30,000 signatures which means that it will get attention from the White House Administration which looks at all petitions that receive over 25,000 signatures.

MegaLawyer withdraws from MegaUpload trial

Robert Bennett has withdrawn from the defence team of the MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom and his co-accused. According to a source, which spoke to TorrentFreak, the reason Bennett withdrew was because his law firm Hogan Lovells represents another client whose interests conflict with those of the MegaUpload accused. The MegaUpload legal team has yet to find a replacement for Bennett.

Top 10 most torrented movies this week

Special Forces

In Time

Seeking Justice

Johnny English Reborn

War Horse

The Big Year

Real Steel

Moneyball

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

EMI boss against SOPA and PIPA

EMI’s VP of Urban Promotions Craig Davis has revealed that he opposes PIPA, SOPA and DRM. Davis has said that the method the PIPA and SOPA bills aim to control piracy is “incorrect.” “I do believe that a person should be compensated for their work. I feel that piracy is a big issue, and things like Spotify will assist in combating this problem,” Davis said in a Reddit AMA session.

Please download a car

The Pirate Bay has added a new section to its site where users can download Physibles. The idea is simple; any person with a 3D printer can download designs that can be printed out. The Pirate Bay hopes that one day you will be able to download and “print” a pair of shoes. The idea of downloading 3D files for printing using 3D printers is not new but TPB’s plan is to pre-empt the copyrighting of 3D files as well as provide a channel for the distributing legitimate files.

Sources :

TorrentFreak: http://www.torrentfreak.com

TechDirt: http://www.techdirt.com