All About News

Piracy bills: Support for two online piracy bills in Congress appeared to wane Wednesday after opponents of the legislation staged a dramatic protest in which vast swaths of the Web effectively went dark. The Senate version of the bill lost several of its co-sponsors, including Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Issa introduces OPEN in the House: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) officially introduced an alternative to the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House late Wednesday, weeks after posting the bill online and gathering input from the Internet community. The bill, called the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN), differs from SOPA by proposing that the International Trade Commission be granted jurisdiction over online copyright infringement cases. “OPEN is a smarter way to protect taxpayers’ rights while protecting the Internet,” Issa said in a statement.

“The bill is not an effective tool for combating online intellectual property theft.  Kodak files for bankruptcy: Eastman Kodak Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday, after weeks of rumors about the company’s dire financial situation. Facebook adds more partners: Facebook added support for over 60 new apps on Wednesday with partners including Foodily, Ticketmaster, Pinterest and others, giving interested users the chance to share more about their daily activities. That system of sharing has drawn criticism from privacy advocates who believe the new sharing system might violate the company’s privacy policies.
Piracy whistleblowers: The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) won a D.C. appeals court decision that affirms its right to protect an informant in a software piracy case against Solers Inc. Solers, a Virginia-based technology company, accused an anonymous informant of defamation and served the SIIA with a subpoena to discover that person’s identity. The Washington Post filed an amicus brief supporting the organization.