The entertainment industry is a crybaby again. A recent ruling from the district court for Asker and Bærum was given against its claims and hopes. The court decided that Norwegian ISP Telenor will not be forced to block access to The Pirate Bay.

From the beginning of the year, the movie and music industries have looked for ways to determine Telenor to block the popular file sharing site. The ISP, however, kept a firm stand and refused to give in to warning letters or trail threats saying that there is no legal grounds for any company such as itself to serve the interests of copyright owners by blocking individual sites.

Telenor pointed out repeatedly that “It's not reasonable to saddle ISPs with a censorship role on the Internet, Telenor said in a statement,” and that “blocking sites doesn't solve the problem of illegal file sharing — it just moves the problem elsewhere.”

The company sees only a way out of the trouble for the industry - to improve its services so that popularity of file sharing sites like The Pirate Bay would decrease.

In the light of the latest events linked to p2p regulations, such as Lord Mandelson’s announcement for implementing disconnection plans and EU’s scheduled amendment for the current legislation which we reported earlier today, file sharers could still benefit from a discarded "three strikes" piracy model.

One of the artists opposing such a model has always been Radiohead’s guitarist Ed O'Brien, who while not supporting UK government's decision to enforce the cutting-off plans, believes that something must be done to stop online piracy and he sees bandwidth throttling as a good solution.

Here are some good points why "three strikes" legislation is, ultimately an aberration.

File sharers in Europe could be given some (legal) break.Later this month the European Parliament and Council will decide upon its Telecoms Reform Package. Internet users from all 27 EU states accused of copyright infringement will be granted through this package a "fair and impartial procedure" before having their Internet connection cut off. However, so far, we have no clear definition of the syntagm "fair and impartial".

All Europe's telecoms regulations have been subjected to thorough examination which will result in this amendment.

Monique Goyens, the director general of BEUC, the European Consumers' Organisation, was quoted by the BBC News: "It has been long hard battle but at least all sides have acknowledged that fundamental rights of users need to be guaranteed in the digital world."

She further added: "However, these rights will be meaningless if Hadopi-style laws are allowed to be enforced at national level."

For those unfamiliar with the Hadopi law – it equals the ‘three strikes’ rule - illegal file-sharers would first be sent an e-mail warning, then a letter, and, it they don’t stop downloading files, would be disconnected. In France, Hadopi was adopted earlier this year.

This is no Star Treks or Star Wars! This is emotional!

Sam Rockwell - a great performance in 'Moon'

This film has substance and, personally, it reminded me that you can still find intelligence and deep concepts in Sci-Fi movies in this epoch dominated by sub-mediocre Hollywood productions in which hundreds of millions are invested.

Two things lie at the core of this production – an extraordinary idea and an extraordinary interpretation of the character Sam Bell delivered by Sam Rockwell(also remarkable in “Choke”, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”) who practically carries all by himself the entire film.

“Moon” is really admirable for the way in which it addresses human loneliness, identity and existence altogether. Perhaps, at some points, by half-way, the film loses some of its initial ‘weightiness’ but though it pays many tributes to films of the genre from70s (the robot Gerty, for instance, whom Kevin Spacey borrowed his voice, reminds us of HAL from “2001: A Space Odyssey”) it can still stand on its own feet.

This is actually the directorial debut of Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s son) and he brilliantly unfolds a psychological drama/thriller using Sci-Fi merely as a pretext to investigate the human mind. You won’t be seeing much of the astounding effects latest Sci-Fi productions have got you used to besides those having Sam Rockwell playing a double-role in long, complex scenes, plus, the moon base setting which has quite a realistic feel to it (as far as my poor perception and imagination can lead me to assume that).

Ultimately, “Moon” is a film worth watching by any movie lover not just Sci-Fi enthusiasts.

Plot Summary for Moon (imdb)

With only three weeks left in his three year contract, Sam Bell is getting anxious to finally return to Earth. He is the only occupant of a Moon-based manufacturing facility along with his computer and assistant, GERTY. The long period of time alone however has resulted in him talking to himself for the most part, or to his plants. Direct communication with Earth is not possible due to a long-standing communication malfunction but he does get an occasional message from his wife Tess. When he has an accident however, he wakens to find that he is not alone. He also comes to realize that his world is not what he thought it was.

Movie Data

Moon (2009)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 2008
Running Times: 96m 43s
Length: 8,704 ft
Format: 35mm/Super 35
Colour Format: colour
Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: Dolby
Director: Duncan Jones

Watch the trailer below:

Important: (support film-making!) Go watch the movies you like in theaters, or buy the official DVDs when released.

Download "Moon" (via Kickasstorrents)

Last week's movie recommandation

After Google has recently announced the release of its music search service, now one of its partners in the new deal (along with MySpace,  Pandora, imeem, and Rhapsody) comes with a second announcement meant to promote the first one - on Tuesday Lala said it would make available several tracks as free MP3 downloads for a limited time.

"These tracks can all be found through a simple Google search, and as with all Lala tracks you find through Google, you can preview them full-length from the Lala player. Of course, these tracks are all also available on Lala," says the company.

Those interested will be able to download the following tracks from the site: "Still" by Tim McGraw; "Keep It Goin' Louder (Diplo Remix)" by Major Lazer; "Lasso (2 Door Cinema Club RMX)" by Phoenix; "History (a capella)" by Mos Def; and "Darling (Acoustic)" by Zee Avi.

The promoting strategy was expanded to Lala and MySpace offering 17 exclusive songs, including "Torch Song (Demo From Crash Love Sessions)" by AFI and "Catapult" by Artic Monkeys, as well as tracks by Bon Jovi, Green Day, Lady Gaga, and Snoop Dogg.

The EMI guys must be very upset. After US digital music store BlueBeat announced last week that it was selling Beatles albums (tracks priced 55 cents, that is 25 cents per song and 30 cents for ‘processing’) spoiling EMI’s own announcement for the first legitimat release of the Beatles back catalog digitally, the record label is now suing for copyright infringement.

EMI said BlueBeat is selling Fab Four without a license. It almost makes you sympathetic, doesn’t it? – when you think that Tuesday night they so proudly ‘released’ the big surprise news they have been cooking - to put on the market 30,000 apple-shaped devices, with the 14 recently-remastered Beatles albums preloaded as FLAC and MP3 files. Ohhh! Damn it, BlueBeat, you ruined their surprise (especially that the price is a little high in comparison)! The devices will be available starting with7 November in Europe and 8 November in the US, with a price point of £200 in the UK and $279.99 in the US.

(via Music Ally)

Another movie producer with another brilliant idea on how to thwart online piracy! At a conference organized by the German anti-piracy organization GVU, Max Wiedemann voiced his theory about eradicating piracy - having ISPs block access to streaming video sites that offer unlicensed full-length feature movies.

According to the German film producer sites like Kino.to should be banned. Over the last year Germany offered ground for experimenting similar methods of blocking access to websites and with book publishers’ pressure for popular hosting services like Rapidshare to be shut down, industries join forces in an ever-increasing censorship.

But, of course, ISPs have their own say in this. They are opposing these claims as most of them are opposing the ‘three strikes’ policy.

At the same aforementioned event, a representative of the German ISP association eco said that procedures to tackle the issue of illicit content are already considered and hinted at the usefulness of an authorization that would have police investigate crime over the Internet more efficiently.

(via P2P-Blog)

Here’s a new interesting site for those looking to socialize around videos – FilmNet. The site makes a good resource for filmmakers and those involved somehow in creating or distributing video content but can also be a self-promoting tool for aspiring artists everywhere.

As a social network, FilmNet offers ‘room’ for what may develop into an interesting community – it sets up a vibrant environment for people to meet and even check out each other’s works.

From the site:

FilmNet provides a platform for all types of video content creators and distributors – indie and pro filmmakers, musicians, film festivals and schools – to exhibit their films and videos in high quality and professional manner. We will help filmmakers to distribute and monetize their work, as well as find collaboration partners, cast, crew or resources for their productions.
For regular viewers and film buffs seeking quality, fresh video entertainment, we provide just that in a highly organized library for absolutely free. Our real-time social networking features allow users to befriend and keep up with other viewers who share similar interests and with the filmmakers who produce the content they like to watch.”

The site serves as an entertainment source for the content it offers but also as a place where you can promote your creativity.

In my personal top most annoying things lately, I would have to include people who talk about p2p, BitTorrent and illegal file sharing without having a single clue about any of these. What annoys me, in fact, is this ‘talking' being done on TV shows by biased, opinion-forming TV hosts who don’t even do their homework properly before appearing in front of the camera to pass on sententious judgments and claims.

Here’s the latest example – how piracy affects Hollywood was a ‘fat’ topic Sunday night on Leslie Stahl’s 60 minutes. The broadcast started off with what seemed a dramatic Hollywood script introduction – “Mobsters have moved into the movie piracy business and it is bleeding Hollywood to the tune of billions of dollars a year.” The rest of the ‘story’ continues in the same note, like the MPAA itself had been commissioned the text (or did they?). Besides being grossly inaccurate this ludicrous piece of so called journalism lacks what any piece of journalism should render – objectivity.

When Stahl took on the task of explaining what P2P networking and Bit Torrent technology are, she did it not suggesting, but clearly stating that they are ONLY used for pirating movies, totally neglecting the fact that so many media companies are using this technology to distribute their content due to its low price and high efficiency or the digital epoch we live in and the irreversible progress (that is not all evil) that copyright laws must cope with altogether.

There are so many errors in Stahl's report to make a list of. She juxtaposes the image of pirates selling physical copies of movies to make money illegally with file sharers who are swapping or distributing content for free online. Moreover, file sharing is lined up next to drug selling and prostitution as gravity and issue to be dealt with by police. However, she wasn’t so comprehensive as to inform that P2P technology has legitimate content distribution purposes and when interviewing MPAA spokespersons and director Steven Soderbergh she didn’t stop to wonder or ponder how come MPAA members are in partnership with BitTorrent after all.

Anyway, watch the video below and judge it yourself:

Without further comments I let you instead read some of the comments from those who’ve also watched the program:

KSpyrka
“The pirates are reacting the way any pirates react. They are seizing the opportunity the Industry has left to them by pricing their mediocre product way too high.”

Exx-Traddition
“The actual copyright law is not compatible with the internet and all the new technologies, and since it's obvious we can't stop progress and the internet won't go away, the solution is to change the law and to try to stop the internet…. which is just impossible anyway.

if you succeed to block one download software or protocol a new will rise, the movie and music industry refuse to acknowledge that things are changing, and so they need to find new way of doing business. They are 10 years too late anyway, the internet is here to stay and it should remain neutral, and free for government control. Otherwise it would mean killing one of the greatest invention of the 20 th century.”

Luciousbrutus
“Businesses will always make money. I am a file sharer, but I still go to the movies. I still pay for cable. But when a movie or song has been out for a long time; when it has had a chance to become more common than grass or rain water, then attempting to charge for it is dubious. Of course by time this information has proliferated across the Earth, the media companies have already made millions. They will always make millions so long as they stay innovative and find newer and better ways of doing what they do, thus giving people new reasons to buy their goods.”

LarryMovies
“File-sharing is wrong, don't misunderstand me. But equating millions of individuals with physical pirates and the mob is just yellow journalism. You don't get to fix a problem with your best customers by suing them (see the most recent survey in the UK saying file sharers are the largest purchasers of content). It took the record industry some 30,000 law suits against consumers before they realize what a toll it was taking on their own industry's image amongst its best customers.

This is a really, really embarrassing piece. I have seen infomercials with more accurate facts than this "report."”

The influence the Pirate Bay has on the p2p scene seems never ending. A new report by Internet security firm McAfee reveals that the temporary shutdown of the file sharing site led to a 300% growth of similar sources that provide links to copyrighted content.

An infantile attempt to stop the Pirate Bay or a large part of the massive online piracy altogether occurred back in August when Swedish courts ordered that the access to the site be blocked.

The move actually served piracy and inspired pirates as they realized TPB was just one source that may not be here forever so why not creating many others (as in the old saying “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”, right?)

“Pirate Bay is just a redirect site to lead people to sources where they can get media and other files,” PC Pro quotes McAfee security analyst Greg Day. “Once it was temporarily shut down, those people still wanted the torrents so they went elsewhere, and that meant lots of other sites popped up to take advantage – we saw a 300% increase in sites hosting and distributing movies and software.

The study righteously points out “The Pirate Bay example shows how difficult it is to 'stop' data once it is on the web. A website can be shut down, but anyone who has accessed the content may still be able to redistribute it.”

File sharers are and probably always will be one step ahead of the industry and authorities’ efforts to prevent them from downloading files – take, for example The Pirate Bay case – hardly had to site’s closure transpired when pirates everywhere were distributing copies of the site’s database or even setting up new file sharing sites of their own.

And yet…neither the entertainment industry nor the industry (I wonder why I’m referring to them as two distinct entities in this issue) seems to learn the lesson…

(via PCpro)