“The more desperate one is to get attention, rather than to accurately communicate what one believes a problem is, the more one ventures into the realm of sensationalist propaganda.” That observation was not written about anyone promoting the Stop the Steal narrative that led to the insurrection on January 6, 2020. No, that’s Chris Ruen, in his book Freeloading (2012), ...
In this episode, I speak with Tom Galvin, CEO of Digital Citizens Alliance, about piracy of creative works and DCA’s latest report, issued this month in collaboration with the research group White Bullet. The report, entitled Breaking Bad(s): How Advertiser-Supported Piracy Helps Fuel a Booming Multi-Billion Dollar Illegal Market, reveals that piracy is a highly profitable criminal enterprise and is ...
Rumors have come to my attention—okay it was splashed all over Twitter—that an event was held yesterday called The Untold Story of SOPA/PIPA. “Defeating SOPA/PIPA didn’t happen overnight,” says the EFF’s promotional page for the event. “Advocacy groups like Public Knowledge fought long and hard for years to raise the alarms about these censorship efforts.” Where does one begin? By ...
I haven’t written about enterprise scale piracy in a while. Not because it’s gone anywhere. Quite the contrary, it’s still growing. But it is easy to feel as though all the major points have been covered, that there is nothing much new to say on the matter. Somewhere on this blog, there is at least a post or two responding ...
In past articles I’ve suggested that anti-piracy should be a form of activism practiced by anyone who stands up for women’s rights. And perhaps now that empowerment of women is the social tidal wave of the season, this proposal will get some traction. There is the ugly truth that some pirate sites serve as verticals for broader organized crime activity, ...
