Cyber Law

Austria vs The Pirates

August 18, 2015 — Leave a comment

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It is official. The Austrian busy little cyber bees, who are not too much eager to pay for the digital content, can forget about the Pirate Bay, Isohunt.to, 1337x.to, and h33t.to. You do not have to ask why, do you? The Europeans are trying to make a point in an endless fight against piracy, or what?

On the other hand, we just could not help ourselves noticing an impressive list of countries, which have agreed to cancel the local hospitality for these notorious pirate websites. So, what is this supposed to mean? Are we going to eradicate cyber piracy in Europe? Somehow, we are not too optimistic about it.

Why? Well, for what is worth, the online pirates have proven themselves more than once to be one tough opponent. Their ability to change, adapt, and find new creative ways to continue with their forbidden work is quite an impressive one. They will think of something, in the meantime, that is for sure.

The only thing we are not sure about is, how long this meaningless legal game of a cat and a mouse is going to last. Until we become dead tired, or Hollywood spends all of its money for lawsuits, or pirates disappeared completely, or else? Or we stop writing about this topic?

MPAA vs MovieTube

August 4, 2015 — Leave a comment

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The busy little legal bees in the MPAA (The Motion Picture Association of America) have obviously found a way to end the pirate reign of the MovieTube. This notorious piracy website, including a couple more similar sites associated with it are offline.

But, for what is worth, this is only the beginning. The MPAA is after some legal blood, including the substantial compensation claims. Yet, it is always interesting to see what is going to happen in the legal, financial and piracy aftermath of these events.

Is it possible to end the online piracy with a single lawsuit? How come we cannot find a middle ground after all of this time? The entertainment industry is merciless and unwilling to compromise, while on the other side, the pirates themselves are stubborn and innovative.

It sounds like a nice scenario for a disaster movie. The only difference is that we are talking about the real life people and events within the virtual world. There is no win-win outcome here. Does the entertainment industry earn more than enough? Can the pirates find other things to do? Questions with no answer.

The Living Room Pirates

July 31, 2015 — Leave a comment

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It is nice thing to fight piracy from the Hollywood’s perspective. However, there is this question, we need to ask. Can you exaggerate a little bit, from time to time? We dare to say, this is exactly what has happened in the UK cyber and law field. Have you heard about their piracy laws?

The UK lawmakers have adopted one of the most rigorous no-copy policies in the entire cyber history and world. Even if you are the rightful owner of a certain video or music CD or similar, you cannot make a copy for yourself. Under any circumstances. Seriously?

Not so long ago, this strange law, at least to say, had a reasonable limitation. You can get yourself in trouble, if you make copies in order to share them with your friends, or earn money by doing so. This make sense, but what is with this no-copy zero tolerance?

How they are going to prove that the UK users have done something wrong, in the first place? They are going to chase or spy people in their living or bedrooms? It just does not make any sense. So, what should we do? Leave your CDs at home when you are planning to travel to London. Right?

Deadly Cyber Games

July 21, 2015 — Leave a comment

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One South Korean intelligence officer committed a suicide as a result of the unprecedented cyber spy scandal, which has deeply disturbed this country. It turns out that South Korea was importing some software “solutions” from Italy, which are supposed to be used against the North Korea.

With all due respect, the North Korean IT infrastructure is rather a modest one. Therefore, you really do not have to bother yourself with the state of the art spy technology in this field. In addition, someone among South Korean intelligence officers has figured out that this thing can be used in the home field.

This is how, we have ended up with one of the biggest cyber scandals in the recent South Korean IT history. Someone has been spying on his or her own fellow citizens. The pressure was so strong that one man took his own life, rather than to be a part of this scandal.

So, what is the moral of this sad story? One thing obviously comes without saying. Cyber actions derived from the virtual world can have the serious real life consequences. You just cannot play with other people’s privacy with no consequences, this way or another. RIP you poor man.

China-Cyber-Town

November 19, 2014 — Leave a comment

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The trouble for the Chinese government in controlling the Internet is that there are so many users in China. The Chinese busy little cyber bees come in such unimaginable numbers and communicate with such a speed that is literally impossible to control it effectively. This makes us ask the following question?

What if, when even the legendary Great Firewall of China is not enough? Well, you hire an entire cyber army to keep an eye on your national Internet. Yet, according to some very serious rumors Chinese government wants more control. So, what they are going to do about it? You should be prepared for this one.

We should never underestimate the true power of China. In the matter of hours, the Chinese government can shut down the entire national cyber network and launch the new one made entirely in China. The completely independent national Internet is not a secret, but no one thinks it is possible to introduce it on such a large scale.

We shall wait and see how it can be possible to control almost one billion online users. We sure hope that some other countries will not get funny ideas from this most probable scenario in China. The Internet was supposed to be all about freedom. Right? Can you control the World Wide Web?

Chloe’s Law

November 2, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Does it really have to be this way? Do we really have to suffer from something malicious in its nature, before we finally act in order to protect the future victims? Unfortunately, the cyber world follows the footsteps of the real world, it should not have. We had to see Chloe’s suffering in the cyber world, first.

And then, to do something about it in the real one. Now, you will think twice before you make any threats on Twitter or Facebook, or anywhere else on the Internet. Instead of six months you are very likely to spend up to two years for these cyber crimes in the UK. Even if no harm is to follow eventually.

Is this fair? If you are asking yourself this kind of a question, then Chloe a famous UK model who faced rape threats on Twitter can help you with that. The days when you could publish all kinds of things that come across your mind online are long gone. Every threat hurts, whether it is a real or cyber one in its nature.

We sure hope that one day we will be able to witness the namless laws, which will have nothing more than a series of simple meaningless letters and numbers. The day when we see that there are no names associated with the new laws will be the day when no victims will be required for their birth.

I Am The Cyber Law?

October 17, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Yes, we have modified the timeless movie line used by the Judge Dredd. You can rest assured that it is more than appropriate for our story. For what is worth, and it is worth a lot, the UK Government has launched a course about the cyber security especially designed for lawyers and accountants.

Well, no need to wait any longer, our hats off to this invaluable initiative. Someone has obviously put a finger on his forehead and said to himself, let us do something that truly works. Let us focus on a certain group and improve their awareness about the cyber threats and how to successfully protect from them.

We sure hope this will become a tradition, which will include more professionals not only from the legal and accountancy field. When it comes to the cyber security the proper prevention is the key. Just imagine how important the potential savings can be in this field. Better to pay for prevention than a cure.

Or, let us be a little bit more precise with this one, shall we? It is always better for an affordable cyber prevention, than to spend huge amounts for the expensive cyber cure, including the aftermath sanation process. There is a cyber law and cyber accountancy, but this is something completely different.

New Law Blade For A Fair Trade

September 23, 2014 — Leave a comment

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The US House of Representatives has finally acknowledged something that should have been done years and years earlier. As you probably know the US law has been extremely protective when it comes to the IP (Intellectual Property) field. On the other side, the trade secrets were left on their own.

Now, with this new law the US companies have a unique opportunity to address federal courts in cases associated with the trade secret thefts. So far, only the IP theft cases had the granted access to the US federal courts. What is the motivation for this law? Well, this one just could not be more obvious.

The US companies have approximately 5 trillion reasons for it. Let us not forget to mention the cases of cyber espionage, which are also covered by this law. This is definitely a good news from the business point of view. Yet, there is more than one practical question to be answered in this matter.

The Chinese government will obviously get an additional chapter to discuss. On the other side, if the US government is so thoughtful about the business related interests, what about our privacy related concerns? There is no such a law on the horizon. What do we have to do to change that?