If there’s one industry that’s been hit hard by the piracy business, it’s probably porn. The fightback is underway, with lawyers arming up worldwide, but has a new lawsuit uncovered a pretty shocking clause? Read more
Tagged ‘piracy’
While you’d be hard pressed to find someone who both understands how the internet works and supports the proposed SOPA legislation across the pond, few can deny that the issue of piracy needs addressing somehow.
An interesting illustration of this is the rise in mobile app piracy: because of the typically small file size, and the ability for Android phones to install apps from unknown sources, Android app piracy in particular is booming.
On the day that the web goes dark in protest, we take a look at the Android apps being illegally copied and shared the most. Is your favourite app being stolen around the clock?
BitTorrent Inc, the company responsible for the BitTorrent protocol and technology favoured by music, video and software pirates all over the world, has never publicly condoned their illegal actions.
However, these newly-discovered ads appear to take a swipe, quite literally, at Apple and iTunes. Never before seen, they were scripted by Alvir Navin, brother of BitTorrent Inc’s co-founder Ashwin Navin, and for the first time put forward the company’s own view on their digital rivals.
The days of pirating films in the UK for users of Britain’s largest internet provider may be numbered. In the High Court this morning, major Hollywood studios won a test case against the ISP with the judge saying he would impose an order to restrict BT customers’ access to Newzbin2, a site which propagates major films.
With over 17,000 active gamers playing its game ‘Fingerkicks’, software developer Gamized was surprised to see its iTunesConnect purchase report show only 1,163 copies sold. Gamized believes Apple has a major piracy problem on its hands and addressed the Cupertino team by calling the problem “humiliating”.
Gamized enter the app rush producing games for other companies. It was not until earlier this year that it decided to stake its claim with the launch of ‘Fingerkicks’. The soccer game quickly landing more than 17,000 active players after just a few days on the App Store. Under normal circumstances this would signal success.
We love Minecraft and its creator Notch isn’t above throwing the virtual cat among the pixellated pigeons. He’s been talking at GDC and made some arguments that big game developers probably won’t like. He says: “Piracy is not theft. If you steal a car, the original is lost. If you copy a game, there are simply more of them in the world. There is no such thing as a ‘lost sale’. Is a bad review a lost sale? What about a missed ship date?”
Notch thinks pirates should be seen as potential customers and that frequently updated games like Minecraft keep them official better than bashing pirates. But is he right? Do you think piracy is killing gaming? Or should games companies simply work harder?
Not sure why Minecraft matters? Try our Minecraft review.