Say what you will about this exit survey for unsubscribing Netflix customers, but at least it’s realistic about why people cancel Netflix. It’s especially thoughtful of Netflix to include the addresses of still-functioning torrent sites for those users who aren’t yet familiar with them. (Thanks, MedicallyNeedy!)
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Well, At Least Netflix Is Being Realistic
By 5.4.11
Test If Your ISP Is Shaping Your Download Speed
By 11.17.10
Ever have one of those days where you’re browsing along, everything is cool, but then it seems like whenever you try to watch YouTube or download, your speed suddenly plummets? Your ISP could be “shaping” your traffic, intentionally throttling your rates for certain kind of media. To test it out, you can try running this Glasnost test. [More]
Personal Info For 100 Million Facebook Users Harvested Into One File
By 7.28.10
Do you share your personal info with everyone on Facebook? If so, there’s a decent chance that data is now part of a file — containing information for around 100 million users of the social networking site — that’s now making its way around the Web. [More]
Awesome Game Offer Removes All Incentives For Piracy, Gets Pirated Anyway
By 5.10.10
Wolfire Games is running a special sale called the Humble Bundle, where you can pay as little as one penny via PayPal, Google Checkout, or Amazon, for five cross-platform indie games that are completely free of DRM or even serial numbers. Despite that, says the company, it looks like over 25% of downloads are coming from “shared links from forums and other places without actually contributing anything.” That’s not counting anything happening over BitTorrent. [More]
Erotic Japanese Game "Cross Days" Tricks Pirates Into Posting Personal Info Online
By 3.31.10
If you’re trying to pirate the Japanese erotic manga game Cross Days–and I don’t care what people say, I love that I live in a world where I can type that phrase–you should know that the game’s developers are wise to you, and they’re going to do their best to shame and embarrass you. [More]
No More Daily Show Or Colbert Report On Hulu
By 3.2.10
The New York Times is reporting that Viacom plans to pull its Comedy Central programming from Hulu next week because it can’t reach an agreement with the video site on compensation. In a post today on its blog, a Hulu executive notes that Hulu was “unable to secure the rights to extend these shows,” and that they’ll be gone as of 11:59 pm PST next Tuesday, March 9th. After that, you can continue watching them on TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com. [More]
"Don't Copy That 2" Might Scare You Straight, If You Have Never Heard Music Or Seen A Video
By 9.18.09
At first we thought this was a new Black Eyed Peas video, but then we watched from the beginning and realized that it’s actually an attempt to convince you that you should not copy that. Our favorite bit starts at the 2:24 mark, when the little girl’s criminal activity leads to government agents bashing down the door to her house and attacking her poor mama.
Qwest Says It's Throttling Customer's Online Video Streaming, Then Says It's Not
By 5.4.09
Update: It turns out the problem is with OpenDNS, not Qwest. The original post is below.
The Comcast Throttling Scandal And Its Consequences, Summarized
By 2.25.09
NPR spoke with Daniel Roth, a senior writer at Wired Magazine, over the file sharing fiasco that Comcast found itself in about a year ago—the one where a Comcast customer discovered that the company was secretly impersonating his computer to interrupt bittorrent transmissions.
Use Google's M-Lab To Test Your Internet Connection
By 2.9.09
Google has assembled a suite of free tools (developed by researchers, not by Google itself) that let you measure things like BitTorrent throttling, upload/download speeds, and last mile snafus. In exchange for “free,” the test data is being made public to enable further study of broadband connections. You might want to bookmark the site for future reference when you’re trying to figure out what’s going on with your ISP.
Walmart Shuts Down Music Store, Deactivates DRM-Protected Songs
By 9.30.08
Last week, Walmart sent out emails to its online music store customers letting them know that on October 9th, 2008, they will no longer be able to play any DRM-crippled tracks. Unlike Yahoo, which did the right thing by offering free replacement downloads of unprotected songs when they killed their DRM program, Walmart simply brags about its new unlicensed model and tells you to burn your protected tracks to CD if you really want to listen to them in the future. Good job, Walmart, there goes another betrayed consumer into the welcoming arms of digital piracy. And another. And another…
The Methods That Target DMCA Violators Are Flawed
By 6.17.08
When we read stories like Tanya Andersen’s and consider the countless others who have been wrongfully targeted by trade groups like the RIAA, it becomes evident that the system by which DMCA takedown notices are issued is very far from perfect. For the uninitiated, DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notices are official statements which assert that an artist’s or company’s intellectual rights have been violated (i.e. copyright infringement) and often threaten legal action against an individual. In a study conducted by the University of Washington, researchers proved that this system is seriously flawed, according to the New York Times. In one experiment, the team received takedown notices from the MPAA which accused 3 laserjet printers of downloading the latest Indiana Jones movie and Iron Man. More, inside…
By 5.20.08
../../../..//2008/05/20/comcast-has-defended-its-bittorrent/
Comcast has defended its BitTorrent blocking by saying it only does it when network congestion is high, but a new study finds that they’re doing it basically all the time. [The Inquirer]
Azureus: Other ISPs May Also Be Throttling BitTorrent
By 4.22.08
A few months ago Azureus petitioned the FCC, which led to a FCC hearing in February. One of the complaints from the commission was that there is little data available on the scope of BitTorrent throttling, a gap Azureus now tries to fill by collecting data on the prevalence of TCP-resets among ISPs worldwide.
By 4.18.08
../../../..//2008/04/18/bittorrent-tracking-site-the-pirate/
BitTorrent tracking site The Pirate Bay was raided by Swedish Police, and now the site claims they found evidence that the chief of police who called the raid was in the employ of Warner Brothers. [The Pirate Bay]
By 3.6.08
../../../..//2008/03/06/trent-reznors-free-sample-music/
Trent Reznor’s “free sample” music marketing experiment is a success. [Ars Technica]
Video Of Comcast's Opening Remarks During Net Neutrality Hearing With Seats Stuffed By Company Employees
By 2.27.08
Here’s a video of Comcast VP David Cohen’s opening remarks during the FCC hearing on Monday, the one where Comcast bused in employees. These employees all wore yellow highlighters to identify themselves to company organizers.
Comcast Stacks FCC Hearing Seats With Sleepy Shills
By 2.26.08
Comcast admitted to paying its employees to sit in at a F.C.C. hearing on net neutrality at the Harvard Law School today, depriving angry protesters from their right to sit in those folding chairs. Despite the venue being filled to over capacity, keeping some people from entering, not everyone inside seemed appreciative of their privilege. One Comcast employee admitted on tape, “I’m just getting paid to hold someone’s seat, I don’t even know what’s going on.” According to SaveTheInternet.com, the Comcast employees, “arrived en masse some 90 minutes before the hearing began and occupied almost every available seat, upon which many promptly fell asleep.” The stacked audience’s behavior was limited to wearing a yellow highlighter, sleeping during the proceedings, and loudly applauding when Comcast VP David Cohen got on the mic.
