Piracy
How Brazil Is Stepping Up to Tackle Digital Piracy and Eying Metaverse Infringement
RIO DE JANEIRO – Authorities in Brazil are finding that fraudsters are using illegal download apps and websites to lure in music fans eager for a stronger connection to specific artists – and then profiting from reams of personal data they are mining from them. London-based IFPI and its recorded-music affiliate, Pró-Música Brasil, have been cooperating with a cybercrime unit of Brazil’s Ministry of Justice for over a year, working to root out services illegally peddling MP3 singles and albums from some of Brazil’s most popular artists, including Alok, Bruno & Marrone, Luccas Neto and Barōes da Pisadinha. Last month authorities shut down 461 illegal download apps and 11 websites — a record haul for a single anti-music piracy operation in Brazil. The apps generated more than 10.2 million...
LimeWire Returns As NFT Marketplace to Right the Wrongs of Its Troubled Past
12 years after closing shop, LimeWire is back to reckon with its controversial past—and pave a new path forward. For the uninitiated, LimeWire was the go-to peer-to-peer file sharing service that dominated the early 2000s. Predating the all-access model of today’s streaming services, the controversial platform was used as a workaround for music fans who didn’t want to purchase individual songs or albums via iTunes and other digital music stores. It was as simple as downloading and playing, though it did put even the most formidable antivirus software products through the wringer. LimeWire’s reign effectively came to an end when successful lawsuits initiated by major record labels and music rights-holders resulted in a staggering $105 million in fines. LimeWire’...
US Trade Rep Identifies 7 Online Platforms as Significant Threats to Music Creators
A U.S. government report highlighted the ongoing challenges that piracy poses to creators around the world, including from seven online platforms that pose significant threats in the music realm. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), in its 2021 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy released Thursday (Feb. 17), identified 42 online markets and 25 physical markets that reportedly engage in or facilitate significant trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy. The 2021 findings reflect a slight improvement over the 2020 report, which identified eight online threats to music creators. Last year’s list includes all the same sites listed this year in addition to Russian social media site VK. While VK is still listed in the 2021 report for its popularity in the...
New Music Industry Content Moderation Service Helps Take Down Unlicensed Metaverse NFTs
The music industry’s prominent rights-holders are rapidly taking action to protect their assets in the world of Web3. In the wake of an explosive NFT scandal involving the sale of unlicensed musical content, Digital Content Protection, an anti-piracy group, has launched a service to help ensure the rights-holders are protected from copyright abuse in the metaverse. Web 3.0 technology, including NFTs, has the ability to revolutionize the creator economy. However, in its current form, the field remains an unregulated Wild West. As Torrent Freak notes, Digital Content Protection is currently working alongside major labels Sony, Universal, and Warner in order to facilitate takedowns of unlicensed digital content. “DCP uses a pool of experienced professional...
UN lauds Nigeria’s leading role in securing Gulf of Guinea
The United Nations (UN) has commended Nigeria for playing a leading role in efforts to secure the Gulf of Guinea, saying it will continue to support the country and the region. Secretary General of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Kitack Lim said the country had made important contributions to the fight against piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea maritime domain, foremost among them the recent launch of the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, also called the Deep Blue Project. IMO is the specialised agency of the UN responsible for regulating shipping. “I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to the Nigerian government for its continued contribution towards the endeavours to ensure safe and secure maritime operation in the Gu...
Rivers government seeks relocation of NIMASA cabotage department
The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has appealed to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to return its Cabotage Services Department to Port Harcourt. Wike made the appeal when the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, visited him in Port Harcourt, recently. Wike said operations of the Cabotage Services Department of NIMASA used to be in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, but it was relocated to Lagos. The governor said in spite of his administration’s procurement of gunboats for security agencies, especially the Police and Navy to assist in the fight against piracy and ensure safety on the waterways for NIMASA’s businesses to thrive, the state did not get anything in return. He commended Jamoh for the initiative aimed at harnessing ocean resources as an ...
NIMASA: SPOMO act improving Nigeria’s image
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) says the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act, is improving Nigeria’s image in its fight against piracy and sea robbery. Dr Bashir Jamoh, Director-General, NIMASA, said this in a statement on Sunday in Lagos. He said that the Act signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in June, 2019 was to end piracy and sea robbery in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea. He made this known at the maiden edition of the Nigerian Admiralty Law Colloquium organised recently in Lagos by the agency, in collaboration with the National Judicial Institute (NJI). The colloquium had the theme, “Achieving Maritime Safety, Security and Shipping Development (TRIPODS) through Enforcement of Legislations and the Implementation of th...
Nigerian Navy destroys 15 militant camps in Akwa Ibom, Rivers
Getty Images The Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Jubilee, in Ikot Abasi local government area of Akwa Ibom state, said it has destroyed 15 militants camps within its area of jurisdiction in Akwa Ibom and some parts of Rivers state. The Commander, NNS Jubilee, Commodore Abdulmajid Ibrahim, who disclosed this to newsmen on Thursday at the base in Ikot Abasi local government area, Akwa Ibom state said the militant camps were discovered and destroyed during its anti-piracy and anti-sea robbery operations. He stated that the destruction of the militants’ camps by the Nigerian Navy was made possible through the raid of some of the 1,800 creeks within its jurisdiction, adding that the joint patrol operations of the Navy and Nigeria Police have resulted in relative peace and security in the area as well a...
NCC to ensure enforcement of copyright laws from 2021 – chief
File Photo The Director General, Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC), Mr John Asien, says the commission would focus more on the enforcement of copyright laws as from 2021. Asien told newsmen on the sidelines of the just concluded 39th International Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) in Ilorin, that it would no longer be business as usual for pirates, as different strategies would be used, both online and in physical space, to ensure that pirates stopped selling pirated books. ”For us at the commission, we are more than committed, by next year we will be focusing more on enforcement and we are going to do that in all nooks and cranny of Nigeria. ”We are going to use different strategies and working on different platforms, both online and the physical space. This is beca...
