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A Glimpse At Piracy In the UK and Beyond
Zocalo writes "The BBC has a fascinating look into the music download habits of the UK population based on stats compiled by Musicmetric. The stats, gathered through the monitoring of BitTorrent swarms and geo-locating the IPs, shows the hotspots for music copyright infringement across the UK and regional preferences for certain types of music. Some of the outliers are somewhat unusual though, suggesting some problems with the methodology or sample size, unless people on the Isle of Wight really do prefer trumpet-playing crooner Louis Armstrong to the likes of Rihanna and Ed Sheeran who top the lists nationwide. Not in the UK? There are some global stats on the ' Most pirated near you? tab' of the story. Better yet, if you want to crunch the numbers for yourself all of the data has been made available at the Musicmatch website under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike license and a RESTful API to access the data (free for non-commercial use, but requiring an API token) is also available."
Now take Sir Francis Drake, the Spanish all despise him,
But to the British he's a hero and they idolize him,
It's how you look at buccaneers that makes them bad or good,
And I see us as members of a noble brotherhood.
Hey ho ho - We're honorable men,
And before we lose our tempers we will always count to ten,
On occasion there may be someone you have to execute,
But when you're a professional pirate, you don't have to wear a suit!
#DeleteChrome
Very little atmosphere
Freezing cold temperatures
The slightest breach depressurizes the dome
Nothing but a pipe dream
On the brighter side, there are no Republicans there
That second link to Musicmetric (incorrectly labelled Musicmatch) for the download of the raw data should actually go here since it's a little hard to find the link on the Musicmetric website. So much for posting comments into the Firehose to help the editors edit, huh? ;)
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
For those too lazy to look. Here's the Top 20 "pirate" countries.
1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Italy
4. Canada
5. Brazil
6. Australia
7. Spain
8. India
9. France
10. Philippines
11. Mexico
12. Netherlands
13. Portugal
14. Poland
15. Greece
16. Hungary
17. Chile
18. Romania
19. Sweden
20. Belgium
Interesting is the absence of China and Russia, countries not known for having authoritarian copy laws. Maybe the Chinese and Russians are happier exchanging thumb drives and DVDRs. I would be very worried, if I were Hu and Putin, of all that info that can't be censored or monitored with a few key strokes.
While the presence of India at #8 isn't surprising, given its huge population, somewhat surprising is the presence of smaller Third World countries like Brazil and Philiippines that you don't expect to have the broadband speed necessary for a decent BT download.
Why would people who pirate things not use an anonymizing proxy? Is there something about the bidirectional aspect of bittorrent protocol that stops this working?
I tried one for web browsing when they were discussing the establishment of the great firewall of Australia (which failed to eventuate), and while it did slow things down, it seemed to work fine. Websites that guessed at my location would be completely wrong.
If you love music, download legally
I'd like to ...
Where's the store that I can go to with my 20 gbp cash and a usb stick and download/buy music/software/movies?
It doesn't exist. That's the problem.
Only about 20% of copying happens over the net. The majority comes from swap parties between friends as they copy MP3s or AACs from one drive to another. (Yes there's a source for this. It was published here on /. but I can't find the article.)
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
So maybe America should be on its own Special 301 Report list of countries that are "watched" for piracy? Kinda ironic and super funny.
Memorable quotes for
Looker (1981)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082677/quotes
"John Reston: Television can control public opinion more effectively than armies of secret police, because television is entirely voluntary. The American government forces our children to attend school, but nobody forces them to watch T.V. Americans of all ages *submit* to television. Television is the American ideal. Persuasion without coercion. Nobody makes us watch. Who could have predicted that a *free* people would voluntarily spend one fifth of their lives sitting in front of a *box* with pictures? Fifteen years sitting in prison is punishment. But 15 years sitting in front of a television set is entertainment. And the average American now spends more than one and a half years of his life just watching television commercials. Fifty minutes, every day of his life, watching commercials. Now, that's power."
##
"The United States has it's own propaganda, but it's very effective because people don't realize that it's propaganda. And it's subtle, but it's actually a much stronger propaganda machine than the Nazis had but it's funded in a different way. With the Nazis it was funded by the government, but in the United States, it's funded by corporations and corporations they only want things to happen that will make people want to buy stuff. So whatever that is, then that is considered okay and good, but that doesn't necessarily mean it really serves people's thinking - it can stupify and make not very good things happen."
- Crispin Glover: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000417/bio
##
"It's only logical to assume that conspiracies are everywhere, because that's what people do. They conspire. If you can't get the message, get the man." - Mel Gibson (from an interview)
##
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." - William Casey, CIA Director
##
"The real reason for the official secrecy, in most instances, is not to keep the opposition (the CIA's euphemistic term for the enemy) from knowing what is going on; the enemy usually does know. The basic reason for governmental secrecy is to keep you, the American public, from knowing - for you, too, are considered the opposition, or enemy - so that you cannot interfere. When the public does not know what the government or the CIA is doing, it cannot voice its approval or disapproval of their actions. In fact, they can even lie to your about what they are doing or have done, and you will not know it. As for the second advantage, despite frequent suggestion that the CIA is a rogue elephant, the truth is that the agency functions at the direction of and in response to the office of the president. All of its major clandestine operations are carried out with the direct approval of or on direct orders from the White House. The CIA is a secret tool of the president - every president. And every president since Truman has lied to the American people in order to protect the agency. When lies have failed, it has been the duty of the CIA to take the blame for the president, thus protecting him. This is known in the business as "plausible denial." The CIA, functioning as a secret instrument of the U.S. government and the presidency, has long misused and abused history and continues to do so."
- Victor Marchetti, Propaganda and Disinformation: How the CIA Manufactures History
##
George Carlin:
"The real owners are the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians, they're an irrelevancy. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the statehous
"The Mind Has No Firewall" by Timothy L. Thomas. Parameters, Spring 1998, pp. 84-92.
The human body, much like a computer, contains myriad data processors. They include, but are not limited to, the chemical-electrical activity of the brain, heart, and peripheral nervous system, the signals sent from the cortex region of the brain to other parts of our body, the tiny hair cells in the inner ear that process auditory signals, and the light-sensitive retina and cornea of the eye that process visual activity.[2] We are on the threshold of an era in which these data processors of the human body may be manipulated or debilitated. Examples of unplanned attacks on the body's data-processing capability are well-documented. Strobe lights have been known to cause epileptic seizures. Not long ago in Japan, children watching television cartoons were subjected to pulsating lights that caused seizures in some and made others very sick.
Defending friendly and targeting adversary data-processing capabilities of the body appears to be an area of weakness in the US approach to information warfare theory, a theory oriented heavily toward systems data-processing and designed to attain information dominance on the battlefield. Or so it would appear from information in the open, unclassified press. This US shortcoming may be a serious one, since the capabilities to alter the data- processing systems of the body already exist. A recent edition of U.S. News and World Report highlighted several of these "wonder weapons" (acoustics, microwaves, lasers) and noted that scientists are "searching the electromagnetic and sonic spectrums for wavelengths that can affect human behavior."[3] A recent Russian military article offered a slightly different slant to the problem, declaring that "humanity stands on the brink of a psychotronic war" with the mind and body as the focus. That article discussed Russian and international attempts to control the psycho-physical condition of man and his decisionmaking processes by the use of VHF-generators, "noiseless cassettes," and other technologies.
An entirely new arsenal of weapons, based on devices designed to introduce subliminal messages or to alter the body's psychological and data-processing capabilities, might be used to incapacitate individuals. These weapons aim to control or alter the psyche, or to attack the various sensory and data-processing systems of the human organism. In both cases, the goal is to confuse or destroy the signals that normally keep the body in equilibrium.
This article examines energy-based weapons, psychotronic weapons, and other developments designed to alter the ability of the human body to process stimuli. One consequence of this assessment is that the way we commonly use the term "information warfare" falls short when the individual soldier, not his equipment, becomes the target of attack.
Information Warfare Theory and the Data-Processing Element of Humans
In the United States the common conception of information warfare focuses primarily on the capabilities of hardware systems such as computers, satellites, and military equipment which process data in its various forms. According to Department of Defense Directive S-3600.1 of 9 December 1996, information warfare is defined as "an information operation conducted during time of crisis or conflict to achieve or promote specific objectives over a specific adversary or adversaries." An information operation is defined in the same directive as "actions taken to affect adversary information and information systems while defending one's own information and information systems." These "information systems" lie at the heart of the modernization effort of the US armed forces and other countries, and manifest themselves as hardware, software, communications capabilities, and highly trained individuals. Recently, the US Army conducted a mock battle that tested these systems under simulated combat conditions.
US Army Field Manual 101-5-1, Operational Terms and Graphics (released 30 September 1997
The USA is a pirated country from the native Americans. It would only be appropriate that we would be number 1 on the list. I believe we pirated German scientists in order to build our nuclear arsenal so as we could pirate more bounty! I sense a theme here!
My man.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Even the use of the word "piracy" prevents us from reaching an effective (or at least a working) solution. Many simple ideas are out of question when you slam the table and starts yelling "where is my money?".
But then, it's not directly about money, is it?
Stop calling it piracy. Downloading something not even close to the same thing as getting on a boat and using weapons to take control of another vessel. Pirates murder, pillage, rape, etc. Slashdot sounds more and more like the lamestream media every day.
I used to live in the Isle of Wight, you inconsiderate clod!
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
when the music industry steals from artists it would be good to see how bad it is and how much they are stealing from taxpayers. It could be used to warn Musicians from signing bad music deals.
I'm confused. Ed Sheeran was born to Irish parents, and a lot of English hate us Irish, or is it just the right-wing side.
Oh, wait a minute, I understand, it's bit torrent. It's a bid to stop Ed from making any money off his talents! :)
I'm not paranoid enuf. Where's my weed?
I would have thought that streamtuner and the like would have killed music piracy by now. I suppose most people simply do not know how convenient internet radio stations are. I haven't pirated or purchased music in years. Their is no need to do so, with hundreds of internet stations listed.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
but my wife wouldn't let me go!
Being in the UK, I just entered an "area related postcode" into the BBC searchbox, and it claims that the most illegally shared artists in my area are
1. Ed Sheeran
2. Rihanna
3. Frank Ocean
Now, I've heard OF Rihanna, though I've absolutely no interest in her product, but the other two? Not a blip on my radar. I'm thinking thie is a music industry advertising campaign to raise the profile of little-known performers....
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this hits government at some point.
You know some retarded MP will come out with something like "it would be in the countries best interests to tax the internet so everyone can just download music for free"
Yes, because I sure like funding some of those scummy companies who refuse to change. Not to mention a whole bunch of scummy artists as well.
(note the 2.0. This would be THE SECOND TIME)
Like many electronic goods, you can find them on amazon.com, but they won't sell to you because the rightsholder has refused.
The one who is gaining monetary reward from the efforts of someone else who did the work of copying and insisting on revenue from that in perpetuity?
Look at the film "About a Boy".
There's a freeloader for you.
And if this is supposed to be a purchase agreement, where is the AGREEMENT? Oh, it's a Hobson's Choice "agreement". If I counter their terms and conditions to something acceptable to me, if they refuse, am I stealing anything by taking someone else's copy, doing the work of copying and then using that copy I made?
Because the "author" (never actually the author, just the copyright holder who pays the author as if it were a work for hire, but requiring rights for a work done independently) hasn't lost a thing except voluntarily. By your reasoning, his demand for money for the work when he refused an offer, HE is the freeloader.
The overwhelming majority of musicians are unpaid amateurs and do it for fun.
Of those who make a living at music, almost all derive most of their income from instrumental teaching.
Of those who derive their income from playing, almost all are paid per performance (think session musicians, orchestral musicians etc), not on a royalty basis.
This whole issue is about a tiny proportion of musicians (mostly modern rock & pop) who perform almost entirely for recorded distribution. The recording business talk of 'killing music' is hysterical horsesh*t.
Human beings have been making music for over 30,000 years. Downloads are not going to stop them.
I spend a considerable amount of time and Russia and Ukraine on business. Let's put it this way: ALL THERE IS in Russia and Ukraine is piracy. Let me give you some examples.
- you can go down to the corner shop and buy DVDs and CDs of your favorite movies, music, and/or games. They are all pirated, and professionally so.
- companies that sell legitimate entertainment products last about a week in most places before they close for lack of sales.
- even large electronics outlets sell pirated goods
- use of torrent is extremely widespread
- you'd be hard pressed to find anybody under 20 who has ever legitimately paid for music or games, ever. and i really mean that.
- a major university in ukraine that i know of has on its campus intranet a 400+TB system exclusively for piracy. I mean, university set up, where people upload movies, music, games, software, etc. this is actually a university function that they figure saves them on outgoing bandwidth.
- the first thing people do when they buy a new computer is to take it to a local 'repair shop' where for $5-$10 you get a full suite of every application you might want, nicely installed. This practice is extremely widespread.
if you think "fine, because these are disadvantaged countries..'" well, you're only fooling yourself. while the per capita gdp of those countries is somehwat low, it is also highly unequal. the ones with the PCs, ipads, and university educations doing the pirating are highly likely to be quite well off indeed.
the authoritarian laws are there. there is simply no will to enforce them.
The most startling fact I found out when reading this article is that I am now, at 29 years old, past it. I had heard of hardly any of the "top" artists in these lists never mind pirate their music.
Darth Vader: Noooooooooooooooooo!
Sig. Sig. Sputnik
With a six-pack of Pale, listen to the Hoods and watch the Double Blues boys prevail.
That's a good vibe, as good as the first time you saw Hilltop Hoods live...
The problem with this survey is the fact that most UK users access via a small number of ISPs, and the IP addresses being reported are highlighting this fact. I live in Edinburgh, scotland, but a geolocate on my home ISP puts me in Oldham, just outside Manchester.
The survey is not showing pirate hotspots, it is showing ISP locations
Where's Germany? Did they not collect any data for it?
Under what metric? Russia is the largest in geographical size and population?
Just the European part of Russia comprises roughly 3,960,000 square kilometres to Germany's 357,000. That's more than ten times the size of Germany(!)
Against documented sources you couldn't disprove http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3110069&cid=41346029 which you ran from, troll.
- a major university in ukraine that i know of has on its campus intranet a 400+TB system exclusively for piracy. I mean, university set up, where people upload movies, music, games, software, etc. this is actually a university function that they figure saves them on outgoing bandwidth.
Ooh I remember the times of FTP hubs on all uni networks in Poland. All administered by students on the uni WAN. They only forbid it like 5 years ago. Those were the days...