The U.S. Copyright Office and Librarian of Congress announced six new exemptions to Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Digital Rights Management (DRM)  measures stating, “Persons making noninfringing uses of the following [...] classes of works will not be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls (17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)) until the conclusion of the [...]

Late last month, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) announced the launch of Operation In Our Sites – an initiative aimed at Internet counterfeiting and piracy. Operating largely at the behest of the  Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the first action [...]

On July10th 2010, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) celebrated its 20th Anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, EFF released the following short animation by cartoonist and free culture activist Nina Paley: More from EFF.

Vampire Weekend sued for $2 million over Contra cover art Model Kirsten Kennis sued Vampire Weekend for unauthorized use of her image on the cover of Contra (2010). Apparently, the image was shot by photographer Tod Brody in 1983 and licensed to the band through a forged release. From TMZ. Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN leaves [...]

At a 2007 TEDtalk, Lawrence Lessig discusses the shortcomings of the current copyright regime and how it stifles our creative culture. In response to the conflict of the law and creative freedom, he notes, there is a burgeoning extremism on both sides: More from TED.

John Lennon memorabilia collector bilked for $100,000+ The Chicago Tribune reports that David Petersen, a collector of John Lennon rarities, was duped in to purchasing over $100k worth of phony sketches supposedly drawn by the ex-Beatle. Petersen hired a forensic analyst to confirm that the 14 sketches purchased from Hawaii-based Celebrities Galleries were not created [...]

Mark Hosler of Negativland talks about the band’s role as Creative Commons’ (CC) first Project Lead. In 2003 CC recruited the sound collage pioneers to oversee drafting of the Sampling License which allows people to “create collage art and “mash-ups” — as well as other art forms based on re-used materials — from licensed works.” [...]

BBC news reports that the Swedish anti-copyright group which founded The Pirate Bay has disbanded. The Piracy Bureau, or Piratbyrån website states, “STÄNGT FÖR EFTERTANKE” which means “closed for reflection” in English. The announcement follows the recent death of co-founder Ibi Kopimi Botani. Apart from launching the infamous BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay in 2003, [...]