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Leaked Oscar Screener DVDs Already Appearing Online

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 20, 2005 - 7:20am.
Los Gatos, Calif. -- Several of the advance DVD screener copies of movies up for Academy Awards, sent to members of the Academy for voting purposes, have already popped up on file-sharing services, according to BayTSP, an anti-piracy firm working with studios to monitor file-sharing networks. "Screeners have been distributed to Academy members and many of them are already appearing online," said BayTSP CEO Mark Ishikawa. "It's common knowledge in the pirate community that screeners are digitally watermarked and some groups make attempts, usually unsuccessfully, to erase those marks." The leaks come despite the well-publicized ouster of a member of the Academy last year for passing his screeners to several others, who were then prosecuted for posting them online. BayTSP did not disclose which studios it has worked with to watermark their screener DVDs, which Oscar contender films are now available online, or what actions are being taken to potentially identify any leakers.
tags: Internet | DVD | Oscar | Leak |

U2 Album Leaked Onto Internet Two Weeks Ahead of Release

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 11, 2004 - 4:20am.
London -- Irish rock band U2's upcoming album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" has appeared on Internet peer-to-peer file-sharing networks two weeks before its scheduled retail release, Reuters reported. An unfinished copy of the U2's forthcoming album was stolen while the band was at a photo shoot in France over the summer, prompting the band to announce that it might move up the album's release date if the tracks surfaced online, as well as immediately release the album through Apple's iTunes Store. A London spokeswoman for the band told Reuters on Monday that U2 was aware of the situation but had not yet made decisions regarding a new release date for the record.
tags: Internet | Music | U2 | Leak |