Viacom trying to frame Youtube
Posted on | March 18, 2010 | No Comments
Earlier today, several sealed legal documents of Viacom’s copyright infringement lawsuit against Youtube where opened; Youtube chief legal counsel Zahavah Levine wrote a blog post which was a summary of the legal evidences provided by Youtube.
The blog mentions that every video that is uploaded to its site by amateur individuals or by big movie studios is copyrighted to its uploader/creator. That means your cute cat video that you have shot and uploaded to youtube is copyrighted to you as much as Harry Potter trailers uploaded by Warner Brothers is copyrighted to them.
It also mentions how Viacom is trying to sue Youtube by framing them. Here is the excerpt.
For years, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence there. It hired no fewer than 18 different marketing agencies to upload its content to the site. It deliberately “roughed up” the videos to make them look stolen or leaked. It opened YouTube accounts using phony email addresses. It even sent employees to Kinko’s to upload clips from computers that couldn’t be traced to Viacom. And in an effort to promote its own shows, as a matter of company policy Viacom routinely left up clips from shows that had been uploaded to YouTube by ordinary users. Executives as high up as the president of Comedy Central and the head of MTV Networks felt “very strongly” that clips from shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report should remain on YouTube.
Viacom’s efforts to disguise its promotional use of YouTube worked so well that even its own employees could not keep track of everything it was posting or leaving up on the site. As a result, on countless occasions Viacom demanded the removal of clips that it had uploaded to YouTube, only to return later to sheepishly ask for their reinstatement. In fact, some of the very clips that Viacom is suing us over were actually uploaded by Viacom itself.
Techcrunch perfectly summarized this revelation
In other words, while Viacom’s lawyers were issuing takedown notices, its marketers were putting clips up on YouTube to promote Viacom movies and TV shows. You’ve got to wonder what the judge will make of that evidence.
UPDATE:
I read this interesting comment on reddit by a user. Its credibility, unfortunately, cannot be verified but it sounds genuine.
I worked on a show for MTV (which is owned by Viacom), and was asked by the network to leak footage of our show to Youtube, to get some kind of free viral publicity. The footage was already digital, but I had to run it through an analogue recorder to give it a time-code burn-in, thus appearing more like a leak. After one of the clips was posted to “Pink Is the New Blog”, we got a huge congratulations e-mail from the network executive in charge of our show.
UPDATE:
Excerpt from Viacom’s reply to Youtube
Google and YouTube had the technology to stop infringement at any time but deliberately chose not to use it. They would only offer to protect Viacom’s content if Viacom agreed to license those works, effectively holding copyright protection as ransom for a license.
These facts are undisputed. The statements by Google regarding Viacom activities are merely red herrings and have no relevance on the legal facts of this case.
Why Facebook e-Mail Will be a Disaster
Posted on | March 5, 2010 | 1 Comment
Facebook has plans to launch a webmail like Gmail, yahoo mail, etc codenamed Project Titan according to Michael Arrington of Techcrunch. Facebook can launch email addresses with the use of the usernames/vanity url chosen by its users. Like mine is facebook.com/arunkamath (You can add me as a friend) will be arunkamath@facebook.com.
It will be great for sharing links, videos, images and other leisurely fun stuff. However, I cannot trust Facebook to use its mail for anything other than sharing cool stuffs from internet.
Many people are now hooked on to facebook. so, it is obvious that they might like to chat with friends. However, Facebook chat is the worst tech product from a big company after, maybe, Ie6. YOu just can’t have a conversation using it. I am sure most of your conversation would be limited to HIs and Byes.
What’s more, with email attached with facebook will help agencies in tracking you down with ease. It would be a disaster in countries like China(I don’t know whether people can access FB in China).
Recent Gawker news about how a bug in code resulted in messages being sent to wrong recipients. It reports that several text messages, some hilarious and some intimate, where received and read by wrong people. Just imagine this happens with FB mail. If your mail goes to wrong person, it wouldn’t take him more than a minute to trace you down.
I would trust Twitter mail more than Facebook’s as twitter has little information about it’s users except; of course, unless you tweeted it.
Bought two more domains.
Posted on | March 1, 2010 | No Comments
I have purchased two more domains TheGizmoBlog.com and ArunKamath.com. I am haven’t started blogging in those as yet due to exams and final year project.
However, I am planning to write about latest gizmos in TheGizmoBlog.com and general day to day rants in ArunKamath.com .
Both of the above blogs are hosted free at Blogger. com unlike this one which is self-hosted wordpress blog.
Warning: Twitter phishing attack spreads
Posted on | February 20, 2010 | No Comments
A link to a phished page of Twitter is being sent as a direct message to followers. Most probably the tweeter, who is automatically direct messaging his followers, might have typed in his username and password in the phished page himself. Using that details the attacker can send DM’s to all the followers with the hope of getting more victims.
If you look at the url, it is linked to bzpharma.
http://commonwealthcommunications.com/?rid=http://twitter.verify.bzpharma.net/login
http://cbsi.net/?rid=http://twitter.secure.bzpharma.net/login
These are actual links that I have received. Firefox 3.6 and Chrome 4.0 will warn you about this site as Reported Web Forgery. If you visit the site you will be taken to a login page and when you enter your details you will be taken to this page http://bzpharma.net/login/err.html which has a pic of Fail Whale with the message Twitter is overcapacity. After that you will be redirected to the actual twitter homepage.
Please take care about the links you click on and where you put in your login details. Use latest browsers like FireFox 3.6 and Chrome 4.0.
Is Apple becoming the new Microsoft? Is Google the Good Guy
Posted on | February 11, 2010 | No Comments
Wall Street Journal’s Holman Jenkins Jr. has accused Apple Inc of having a strategy of little more than “zero-sum maneuvering versus hated rivals.” Critics had claimed on the very day of iPad’s launch that it is a DRM haven.
He argues that Apple’s decision to ship it’s latest product iPad without Flash is an attempt by the company to lock the users to iTunes.
Apple may be succumbing to the seductive temptations of “network effects,” in which the all-consuming goal becomes getting its mobile devices into more and more hands simply for the purpose of locking more and more users into iTunes….
Network effects can be a path to power and riches, but (as Microsoft has shown) much of the proceeds can also end up being squandered on defensive and paranoid attempts to secure the privileged position.
So, is Apple interested in making revolutionary and futuristic products or create network of fan boys who are forced to use only their products and services earning them more revenues.
I am not a Flash fan and I wish that we fast forward to HTML5.
In stark contrast, Google has been launching its products like android in an open manner. Their believe is that making the web highly accessible will help more users to access their products and gain more advertising dollars. Its’ competitors can gain from Google’ s good work but most of the users will stick to Google for being open and and not being locked in to any thing.
Google, Apple and Microsoft – The Good, the Bad and The Ugly? Please comment.
Koreans watch Avatar in 4D
Posted on | February 9, 2010 | 1 Comment
Avatar is a big, big hit. Thanks to the superb visual effects that you can experience in 3D. The Aliens vs Humans fight has be shown in a spectacular fashion that even the harshest critics have forgiven James Cameroon for its predictable plot.
Korea Avatar 4D
Now, according to Variety, Koreans can watch it in 4D !!!!
The 4D screening uses more than 30 effects during the 3D film’s 162 minute run, including moving seats, smells of explosives, sprinkling water, laser lights and wind. Despite the much higher $15.80 ticket price (an average ticket costs $6.90), screenings are regularly sold out.
It also reports that
But 4D isn’t new to Koreans. The nation’s leading multiplex chain, CJ-CGV, began 4D shows last year in one 88-seat theater, with”Journey to the Center of the Earth.”
Whew! No wonder people say that the Koreans and the Japanese are way ahead than rest of the world in terms of technology.
Internet History Tracker – Bye Bye Privacy
Posted on | February 7, 2010 | No Comments
Do you find a reason to spy on some family member? If yes, then you have Advance Internet History Tracker to help you.
This software is light weight and runs on all Windows Operating systems i.e. from Windows 95 to Windows 7.
This is not a keylogger. It only tracks internet usage history. Hence, your anti Virus utility won’t trouble you. And it so light weigt that it will not eat your system resources.
So, if you think your spouse is cheating on you or your kid is up to something then this software is for you.
Trim and IsGd blocking Clickbank urls
Posted on | February 6, 2010 | No Comments
URL shortening services tr.im and is.gd are blocking clickbank hop urls. Clickbank urls are long and dirty, so are not fit for use in twitter. That is where URL shorteners come handy.
However, bit.ly is shortening clickbank hop urls.
Which is your favourite URL shortening service for affiliate marketing, especially clickbank? Please comment.
Get paid to find bugs in Chrome, Firefox
Posted on | January 29, 2010 | 2 Comments
Google in its Chrome Blog has announced rewards to developers who discover and report the bugs to Google. This is in line with Mozilla’s Security Bug Bounty Program where you can earn US$ 500 for reporting a new bug in the latest version of FireFox , ThunderBird and other software.
Google’s cash reward like Mozilla’s starts from US$ 500 and can go up to US$ 1337. You must be the first to report that bug. Depending upon the severity of the security hole, you will get a suitable reward.
However, in both Mozilla and Chrome, the bug must be in the core browser. Vulnerabilities due to third party software and OS will not be rewarded.
So, there you go; one more reasons to learn hacking.
The latest version of these software can be found here ->Mozilla and Chrome
Now even your Puppy can Tweet
Posted on | January 27, 2010 | No Comments
We have seen some interesting twitter users and innovative applications and gadgets that make Twitter a fun service. But, this innovation is the most offbeat one.
According to CNN, world’s largest toy maker Mattel is making a gadget that will help puppies tweet their message on twitter.
Puppy Tweets is a plastic tag with a sound and motion sensor that you attach to your pet’s dog collar and connect its USB receiver to your computer. Then you create a Twitter account for your dog and enjoy updates all day from Sparky or whatever its name is on your computer or smartphone.
The tag is set with several pre-recorded tweets that are triggered by the dog’s activities. So if he’s running around, you might get a tweet that says “I finally caught that tail I’ve been chasing and…OOUUUCHH!”
You know how much some people love their dogs and how far they would go to pamper and make them feel special. From expensive Loui Vuitton bags to diamond studded collar, some dogs have all the luck. However, this gadget is not that expensive and will cost around US$ 29.
Would you buy this for your dog? If you do make sure you give me his twitter link. Woof !!!
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