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ISP Content, Technology Provider Synacor to Raise $82 Million in IPO

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 7, 2007 - 11:49am.

Buffalo, N.Y. - Synacor, a provider of online content and technology for Internet service providers, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering of stock to raise an estimated $86 million.

tags: Deals | Publishing | ISPs | Synacor | IPOs |

German Court Rules ISPs Can Protect Privacy of Alleged File-Swappers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 18, 2005 - 8:02am.
Hamburg, Germany -- A court in the German state of Hamburg has ruled that Internet service providers there cannot be compelled to reveal the identities of subscribers alleged to have traded copyrighted songs, the German newspaper Heise Online reported. The Higher Regional Court in Hamburg ruled that current German law protects the privacy of ISP customers, following a similar ruling in the state of Hesse -- although new federal legislation is in the works in Germany that might change this. A lower court had ordered the identities of the operators of an FTP server in Hamburg that offered free downloads of songs from the band Rammstein turned over to the band's label, Universal. But the recent ruling from the Higher Regional Court overturned this decision, and the alleged file-swappers will remain anonymous for the time being.
tags: Law | File-Swappers | German | ISPs |

Dutch ISPs Agree to Forward Copyright Notices to File-Swappers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 14, 2005 - 5:31am.
Amsterdam -- The Associated Press reported on Monday that five Dutch Internet service providers have agreed to partly cooperate with the recording industry's efforts to target their subscribers with copyright infringement actions on peer-to-peer networks. While the ISPs stopped short of supplying the Brain Institute, a Dutch entertainment industry trade group, with the names and addresses of their alleged file-swapping subscribers -- they agreed to pass along warnings to the subscribers indicating that copyright infringement is illegal. "This is a service, a warning to clients that they are doing things that are against the law," Maaike Scholten, spokeswoman for two of the providers, HetNet and Planet Internet, told AP. Brain Institute director Tim Kuik told the Associated Press the letters would also demand that downloaders pay for songs, movies and other copyrighted content they have downloaded, and that the Brain Institute expects to eventually file suit against those who don't. "We'll see what happens to them if they don't pay," Kuik remarked.
tags: Deal | File-Swappers | ISPs | Copyright Notices |

U.K. High Court Orders ISPs to Identify 31 File-Swappers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 14, 2005 - 3:41am.
London -- The U.K. High Court has ordered local six Internet service providers (ISPs) to provide the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) with the names and addresses of 31 individuals alleged to have uploaded large numbers of music files onto peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. "Once again, the Court has accepted that BPI has evidence that file-sharers in the U.K. are infringing copyright and has ruled that the identities of these 31 individuals should be disclosed so that the BPI can take legal action," said BPI General Counsel Geoff Taylor. "(This) result is a blow for illegal uploaders who believe that the law simply does not apply to them." The BPI said it planned to contact the individuals concerned, set out the details of their infringements and offer them the opportunity to settle the case before proceedings are issued. The ISPs in question now have less than two weeks to provide the requested information.
tags: U.K | File-Swappers | ISPs | High Court |

Tech Firms, ISPs, Librarians Propose Alternative to "Induce Act"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 24, 2004 - 2:04am.
Arlington, Va. -- A group of technology firms, Internet service providers and library groups have submitted an alternative to a proposed copyright bill that would ban peer-to-peer file-sharing networks and any device that might "induce" consumers to infringe copyrights. The Consumer Electronics Association -- a large group of manufacturers -- as well as ISPs Verizon and SBC signed onto the "Don't Induce Act," meant to narrow language presented in the "Induce Act" that was debated at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month. The group's proposed changes to the language of the bill "address mass, indiscriminate infringing conduct while preserving the Supreme Court's Betamax decision, the Magna Carta of the technology industry which is in no small measure responsible for our nation's preeminence in technological innovation and entrepreneurship," the group said of its Don't Induce Act, which would narrow the Induce Act from banning "any" device capable of inducing copyright infringement to those "specifically designed" to enable piracy. Responding to the rewritten legislation, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) vice president Mitch Glazier told CNET News.com, "I don't think that as written anyone could be found liable...But I'm glad that people are trying to draw the line between the good guys and the bad guys."
tags: ISPs | Tech Firms | Librarians | Induce Act |

French ISPs to Start Cutting Illegal Downloaders' Connections

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 19, 2004 - 5:13am.
Paris -- An agreement between French Internet service providers (ISPs) and the local music industry may allow government authorities to pull the plug on people who download music illegally, according to French news daily Liberation. Spearheaded by the French Ministries of Industry, Culture and Finance, the agreement could be signed as early as this week, Liberation said. If the agreement is approved, record labels monitoring peer-to-peer (P2P) networks would be able to file complaints about specific repeat offenders. In turn, a judge would be able to order an ISP to shut down that individual's Internet connection. Studies show that file-sharing is becoming increasingly popular despite the efforts of the international music recording industry. According to the OECD Information Technology Outlook 2004, the number of people using P2P networks to download music, movies, images, games and software from the Internet increased by 30% compared to the same period last year.
tags: French | Illegal | ISPs | Downloaders' Connections |

Canadian Judge Postpones Ruling on ISPs Revealing Song-Swapper IDs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 18, 2004 - 8:28am.
Toronto -- A Canadian federal judge yesterday adjourned until March 12 a motion from the Canadian Record Industry Association (CRIA), that asks the court to compel five Internet service providers to reveal the names of 29 subscribers' identities that CRIA believes illegally uploaded songs to file-sharing services. Judge Konrad von Finckenstein ordered the ISPs to keep a record of Internet activity from the time periods in question, but granted them more time to review technical and privacy aspects of the motion. Joel Watson, a lawyer representing ISP Telus Corp., told Canada's Globe and Mail that it has reached two of the three subscribers accused of copyright infringement -- while the third did not hold an account with Telus last fall when the alleged infringement was to have occurred. Another ISP, Shaw Communications, said that it will mount a legal challenge to the motion, asking the court to respect the privacy of its subscribers.
tags: Canadian | Postpones | ISPs | Song-Swapper | IDs |

Australian Police Raid ISPs for Subscriber Data in Music Piracy Probe

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 6, 2003 - 1:49am.
Sydney, Australia -- Australian federal police executed search warrants at several Australian Internet service providers as part of a music piracy probe, the Australian newspaper Australian IT reported on Thursday. Australian ISP Telstra, which serves 1.4 million subscribers, and several other ISPs were served with orders asking for details on subscribers purported to be trading music files worth up to $36 million. A police spokeswoman confirmed to Australian IT that officers, accompanied by computer forensics experts, visited a Telstra facility in Melbourne and ISP Eftel's Perth offices, as part of ongoing investigations. Simon Ehrenfeld, the chief executive of ISP Eftel's parent company Datafast Telecommunications, told Australian IT the company cooperated with police, provided information relating to a subscriber and closed the subscriber's website.
tags: Piracy | Music | Subscribers | Police | ISPs | Australian |

Group Opposes Penn. Law Making ISPs Block Child Porn Sites from Residents

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 21, 2003 - 2:42am.
Washington -- A digital civil liberties group said that it may mount a legal challenge to a recent Pennsylvania law that forces ISPs operating in the state to block a list of 423 child pornography sites determined by the attorney general's office from its residents. The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) has called the law unconstitutional because it will unwittingly block other innocent sites, and has asked Pennsylvania attorney general Mike Fisher for details on the process. One problem with the statute was evidenced by a recent study by a Harvard University researcher, which found that in some cases over 900,000 websites may share the same IP address -- meaning that if one offensive site was among them the other 899,999 would be blocked from Pennsylvania users as well. "It would be as if mail delivery for an entire apartment building were stopped because one tenant was accused of wrongdoing, said CDT staff counsel John Morris. "We've worked with Web hosting companies and ISPs to ensure that the illegal and offensive material is taken down and not any legal sites that may share that space," Pennsylvania attorney general's office spokesman Sean Connolly told CNET News.com. http://www.cdt.org/press/030220press.shtml http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/cld/cseuform.cfm
tags: Websites | Child Porn | ISPs | Pennsylvania law | Residents |

U.K. Music Industry Develops Links With ISPs for Anti-Piracy Efforts

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 18, 2003 - 3:00am.
London -- The British Phonograph Industry's Anti-Piracy Unit said that it is hosting meetings between U.K. Internet service providers (ISPs) and music groups to discuss how both can work together to tackle Internet piracy. "Our close relationship with the ISPs has already assisted us in removing huge numbers of illegal files from their servers," said Jollyon Benn of the BPI. A closely-watched court case in the U.S. will determine whether ISP Verizon will be compelled to submit data on an alleged file-swapping subscriber as a result of a subpoena issued by the Recording Industry Association of America.
tags: Music | U.K | Anti-Piracy | ISPs |