Exposure Adjustment on a Sunset (2009)
Video of a full sunset altered so that the brightness level remains constant from beginning to end.
THIS MEANS WAR
—————————————— Original Message ——————————————
Subject: Official Copyright Violation Notice - First
From: resnet-dmca@ucsd.edu
Date: Thu, November 19, 2009 12:20 pm
To: avierkan@ucsd.edu
—————————————————————————————————————
OFFICIAL UCSD NOTICE
Academic Computing and Media Services (ACMS)
University of California, San Diego
SUBJECT: AUP Violation - Illegal Distribution of Copyrighted Material
Dear avierkan,
We recently received a notice regarding the illegal distribution of
copyrighted material from your computer (critical information from the
notice is listed below). Unauthorized copying and/or distribution of
copyrighted material is illegal and a violation of federal copyright law
as well as a violation of the UCOP Digital Copyright Protection policy
<http://ucop.edu/irc/policy/copyright.html>, and the ACMS and ResNet
Acceptable Usage Policies <http://www-no.ucsd.edu/security/policies.html>.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA -
<http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645&PARENT_ID=254>) requires UCSD (as an
Internet Service Provider) to respond to those who have violated federal
copyright law in a specific way.
UCSD’s response will be as follows:
1. The first notice is a warning, but your connection has been blocked
temporarily in case your computer has been compromised and to prevent you
from getting more copyright violations. You must follow all the
requirements below (A, B, C and D). Student Judicial Affairs has been
notified of this warning.
2. A second notice of illegal distribution of copyrighted material will
prompt ACMS to refer your case to Student Judicial Affairs for
prosecution. You will be required to attend another Copyright Violation
Presentation and schedule a meeting with the ACMS Help Desk Manager. You
will be required to have a security scan done on your computer. Your
connection will be blocked until you meet all these requirements, or as
decided by your college Dean.
3. A third notice of illegal distribution of copyrighted material will
result in the permanent loss of your network privileges and a second
referral to Judicial Affairs.
When you download or distribute copyrighted material without
authorization, you are breaking the law and are risking the possibility of
prosecution by Federal authorities and/or lawsuits from the copyright
owner. Most peer-to-peer file sharing software has a default setting that
enables file sharing (distribution). Though this is somewhat deceitful on
the part of the software, you are still responsible for these actions. For
these reasons, ACMS/ResNet highly recommends that you remove any
Peer-to-Peer file sharing software from your computer.
To avoid further action, you must:
A. Contact the ACMS Help Desk (858-534-3227 or acms-help@ucsd.edu) to
register for a Copyright Violation Presentation. This will last
approximately 1 hour.
B. Have an ACMS Help Desk technician conduct a security scan on your
computer. We highly encourage you to come before your scheduled
presentation. You are required to be there. Scan times will depend on how
secure the computer is. Computers that are clean (no viruses) and secure
usually take less than 15 minutes.
C. Cease distributing copyrighted material.
D. Click on the following link or paste the entire URL in your web browser
to fill out the Copyright Violation Agreement:
http://loofah.ucsd.edu/cgi-bin/helpdesk/server.pl?_action=dmca_new.questions&_record=2551
Once you have attended a Copyright Violation Presentation and had your
computer looked at by the ACMS technician (to make sure that your computer
is secure and to verify that you know how to remove your file sharing
software if you choose to do so), your connection will be restored.
If you do not understand any aspect of these notices, contact the ACMS
Help Desk at (858) 534-3227 or acms-help@ucsd.edu. If you do not fill out
the online form within 3 days of getting unblocked, your network
connection will be blocked again.
For information about copyright law, see:
<http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html>
<http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/copyright/>
For more information about peer-to-peer file sharing, see:
< http://resnet.ucsd.edu/copyrightintro.aspx >
For any other questions, contact the ACMS Help Desk by emailing them at
acshelp@ucsd.edu or calling them at (858) 534-3227 .
Academic Computing and Media Services
———————- Critical Information From Notice ———————-
>From: universal-studios-no-reply@copyright-compliance.com
>Subject: DMCA Notification Notice ID: 14-19391581
>Sender: universal-studios-no-reply@copyright-compliance.com
>Reply-To: universal-studios-no-reply@copyright-compliance.com
>Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:38:26 -0800
>
>——-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE——-
>Hash: SHA1
>
>Reference ID No. 14-19391581
>
>You are being contacted on behalf of NBC Universal and its
>affiliates (“NBC Universal”) because your Internet account was
>identified as having been used recently to illegally copy and/or
>distribute the copyrighted NBC Universal motion picture(s) and/or
>television show(s) listed at the bottom of this letter. This notice
>provides you with the information you need in order to take
>immediate action that can prevent serious legal and other
>consequences. These actions include:
>
>1. Stop downloading or uploading any motion pictures or TV shows
>owned or distributed by NBC Universal and/or its affiliates without
>authorization; and
>
>2. Permanently delete from your computer(s) all unauthorized copies
>you may have already made of such films and/or TV shows.
>
>The illegal downloading and distribution of copyrighted works are
>serious offenses that carry the risk of substantial monetary damages
>and, in some cases, criminal prosecution.
>
>Copyright infringement also undoubtedly violates your school’s
>policies governing acceptable use of campus network resources and
>could lead to serious disciplinary action.
>
>A motion picture industry website, www.respectcopyrights.org, offers
>step-by-step instructions to ensure that your Internet account is
>not being used to violate the copyright laws. The site also can
>point you to an array of legal choices for enjoying movies and TV
>shows online. You can also learn there how movie theft damages our
>economy and costs thousands of Americans their jobs, thereby
>reducing employment opportunities for new graduates.
>
>If, after visiting www.respectcopyrights.org you still have
>questions, or if you believe you have received this notice in error,
>you may contact NBC Universal by email at antipiracy@nbcuni.com or
>by calling (818) 777-4876. Please cite the Reference ID noted at
>the top of this letter in the subject line of your email or in any
>voicemail you may leave. You should take immediate action to
>prevent your Internet account from being used for illegal
>activities. Today, there are many ways to enjoy movies and TV
>programs legally.
>
>This letter is not a complete statement of NBC Universal’s rights in
>connection with this matter, and nothing contained herein
>constitutes an express or implied waiver of any rights, remedies or
>defense, all of which are expressly reserved.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Mark Ishikawa
>CEO, BayTSP inc.
>c/o NBC Universal Anti-Piracy Technical Operations
>100 Universal City Plaza
>Universal City, CA 91608
>
>tel. (818) 777-4876
>fax (818) 866-2026
>antipiracy@nbcuni.com
>
>
>*pgp public key is available on the key server at http://pgp.mit.edu
>
>** For any correspondence regarding this case, please send your
>emails to antipiracy@nbcuni.com and refer to Notice ID: 14-19391581.
>If you need immediate assistance or if you have general questions
>please call the number listed above.
>
>
>Title: Daylight
>Infringement Source: BitTorrent
>Initial Infringement Timestamp: 17 Nov 2009 11:44:41 GMT
>Recent Infringement Timestamp: 19 Nov 2009 03:12:16 GMT
>Infringing Filename: daylight.1996.HDDVDRip.1080p.Rus.Eng~GreenRay
>Infringing File size: 9052839101
>Infringers IP Address: 128.54.2.43
>Infringers DNS Name:
>Bay ID: c51b3b223de4ed97e3ba99d080adca0392bba74c|9052839101
>Port ID: 60598
>
>- —-Start ACNS XML
><?xml version=”1.0” encoding=”iso-8859-1”?>
>
><Infringement xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance”
>xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation=”http://mpto.unistudios.com/xml/Infringement_schema.xsd“>
> <Case>
> <ID>19391581</ID>
> <Status>Open</Status>
> </Case>
> <Complainant>
> <Entity>NBC Universal</Entity>
> <Contact>Mark M. Ishikawa, c/o NBC Universal Anti-Piracy
>Technical Operations</Contact>
> <Address>100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California
>91608 United States of America</Address>
> <Phone>818-777-4876,818-866-2026</Phone>
> <Email>antipiracy@nbcuni.com</Email>
> </Complainant>
> <Service_Provider>
> <Entity>University of California - San Diego</Entity>
> <Address></Address>
> <Email>twood@ucsd.edu</Email>
> </Service_Provider>
> <Source>
> <TimeStamp>2009-11-19T03:12:16.000Z</TimeStamp>
> <IP_Address>128.54.2.43</IP_Address>
> <Port>60598</Port>
> <DNS_Name></DNS_Name>
> <Type>BitTorrent</Type>
> <UserName></UserName>
> <Number_Files>1</Number_Files>
> <Deja_Vu>No</Deja_Vu>
> </Source>
> <Content>
> <Item>
> <Title>Daylight</Title>
> <FileName>daylight.1996.HDDVDRip.1080p.Rus.Eng~GreenRay</FileName>
> <FileSize>9052839101</FileSize>
> <URL>http://tracker.openbittorrent.com/announce</URL>
> </Item>
> </Content>
it’s over
But—and as the article I’m embedding below reinforces—I don’t actually remember the last time I ran a search on TPB. I’ve been on torrentz.com for a long time at this point.
Today marks the end of an era, as The Pirate Bay team announces that the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker is shutting down for good. Although the site will remain operational for now, millions of BitTorrent users will lose the use of its tracker and will instead have to rely on DHT and alternative trackers to continue downloading.
In the fall of 2003, a group of friends from Sweden decided to launch a BitTorrent tracker named ‘The Pirate Bay’. It soon became one of the largest BitTorrent trackers on the Internet, coordinating the downloads of more than 25 million peers at its height.
Despite this success, The Pirate Bay operators today decided to pull the plug and close down the tracker permanently. The evolution of the BitTorrent protocol has made trackers redundant they say, as BitTorrent downloads work well with trackerless solutions such as DHT and PEX.
“Now that the decentralized system for finding peers is so well developed, TPB has decided that there is no need to run a tracker anymore, so it will remain down! It’s the end of an era, but the era is no longer up2date. We have put a server in a museum already, and now the tracking can be put there as well,” the Pirate Bay crew write on their blog.
Aside from this shutdown, there is also another major development quietly under discussion.
TorrentFreak has learned that behind the scenes the Pirate Bay operators are talking to other BitTorrent site owners to encourage them to follow suit and completely ditch torrents in the future. BitTorrent has reached a point where trackers and torrents are no longer needed to download files successfully. Supported by all of the major BitTorrent clients, DHT and PEX can handle the transfers and Magnet links can largely replace traditional torrent files.
“We’re talking to the other torrent admins on doing magnet links and DHT+PEX for all sites. Moving away from torrents and trackers totally – like pick a date and all agree ‘from this date, we’ll not support torrents anymore’,” a Pirate Bay insider told TorrentFreak.
Switching to trackerless and torrentless downloading on public BitTorrent sites does indeed seem to be an option. Previously, many people thought that BitTorrent would collapse if a dominant tracker like the Pirate Bay went down, but this doomsday scenario never unfolded. In fact, the recent downtime of the tracker did not slow down or stop many transfers, as DHT and PEX seamlessly took over.
Those BitTorrent users who don’t want to go trackerless just yet can of course still use OpenBitTorrent and PublicBitTorrent, or indeed one of the many other alternative trackers currently available.
Whether or not The Pirate Bay and others will move away from torrent files in the future, the closure of the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker is nevertheless a milestone in the history of the Internet. Starting today, the Pirate Bay has changed its tagline from “The world’s largest BitTorrent tracker” to “The world’s most resilient (magnetic) BitTorrent site.”
<3<3<3
“ Le livre comme livre, appartient a l’auteur, mais comme pensée, il appartient -le mot n’est pas trop vaste-au genre humain. Si un des deux droits, le droit de l’écrivain et le droit de l’esprit humain, devait être sacrifié, ce serait, certes, le droit de l’écrivain, car l’intérêt public est notre préoccupation unique et tous, je le déclare, doivent passer avant nous.
Victor Hugo discours d’ouverture du congres littéraire international 1878 (via larueeverslyon) / Victor Hugo, Speech at the Opening of the International Literary Congress of 1878
Roughly translated: “The book as a book belongs to the author, but as thought it belongs to—this word is not too broad—mankind. If one of two rights, the right of the writer and the right of human thought, should be sacrificed, it would be, certainly, the right of the writer because the public interest is our only concern and all, I declare, must pass before us.”
Preview image, Exposure Adjustment on a Sunset (2009)
Preview image, Exposure Adjustment on a Sunset (2009)
“ In the good old days of Really Existing Socialism, a joke popular among dissidents was used to illustrate the futility of their protests. In the fifteenth century, when Russia was occupied by Mongols, a peasant and his wife were walking aIong a dusty country road; a Mongol warrior on a horse stopped at their side and told the peasant he would now proceed to rape his wife; he then added: “But since there is a lot of dust on the ground, you must hold my testicles while I rape your wife, so that they will not get dirty!” Once the Mongol had done the deed and ridden away, the peasant started laughing and jumping with joy. His surprised wife asked: “How can you be jumping with joy when I was just brutally raped in your presence?” The farmer answered: “But I got him! His balls are covered with dust!” This sad joke reveals the predicament of the dissidents: they thought they were dealing serious blows to the party nomenklatura, but all they were doing was slightly soiling the nomenklatura’s testicles, while the ruling elite carried on raping the people
Slavoj Žižek, First as Tragedy, Then As Farce p.12 (2009)
(via berserker)
This is a screencap from a syllabus I’m working on.
I’m really glad that the things my friends pull out of it are exactly the sentences I was happiest to write.
Can you explain to me how a copyright infringement warning/reprimand is indicative of a person doing good, conceptually sound work? Obviously I’m seeing this out of context of the entire document, but it doesn’t seem to me that the two necessarily go hand in hand with each other or should be rewarded in the same way.
I guess that is to say, by putting this on a syllabus for an academic course, it implies that copyright infringement is a key to doing this kind of work, which I think isn’t the case at all, and I think you would agree. So I suppose I’m questioning pedagogy here? Just some thoughts.
I agree, copyright infringement isn’t enough to make a project good—it can add an interesting dimension to the right project, but for the most part it’s unnecessary unless you’re intentionally taking a political stance through the act of piracy / filesharing / whatever.
But the syllabus in question is a proposal for a class which would be called Theft, so in this case it’s an appropriate reward for anyone pushing the boundaries of copyright enough to get some push back. It’s kind of bait to keep them from being timid.
