Posts Tagged: "online piracy"

The Latest Online Book Piracy Scams: Catfishing, Profile Theft and False Endorsements

In my previous article for IP Watchdog, “An Awareness Crusade Against the Online Piracy of Books,” I delved into the growing problem of book piracy. I knew the harmful effects of this illegal activity all too well. My award-winning book, Profit and Prosper with Public Relations®: Insider Secrets to Make You a Success, for which I have a U.S. trademark registration for the title and a registered copyright, was being offered as a free download without my knowledge or permission. In countless other situations, these unscrupulous sites don’t actually give away copies of people’s books at all, but instead, offer malware to unsuspecting participants, damaging an author’s name, reputation or brand. With this in mind, it is even more concerning that a new and disturbing trend is now emerging. I recently came upon a fake website that was advertising “free” copies of my book. It featured reader photos and comments indicating that they were endorsing my work. The people profiled appeared to be personally asking for these free copies.

Rhonda Rees

August 28, 2019

Amazon.com: A Retail Giant With Major Counterfeit, Piracy and Data Privacy Issues

It’s not just counterfeits of gadgets or luxury fashion items available for sale on Amazon, lining the already deep pockets of Bezos. As we’ve noted in other reports, there are plenty of counterfeit items that mimic badges and official documents from law enforcement agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Secret Service. But a recent letter sent by the Federal Communications Commission in late May of this year indicates that Amazon is also allowing the sale of set-top boxes which falsely use FCC logos in the branding, indicating that the device is permitted by FCC regulation when in fact it is not.

Steve Brachmann

June 24, 2018

USTR: Counterfeit and pirated physical products valued at nearly half a trillion dollars

According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, imports of counterfeit and pirated physical products are valued at about half a trillion dollars, or about 2.5 percent of all imports around the globe… The recent review of notorious markets by the USTR identifies 43 such markets offering counterfeit or pirated goods either through physical stores or online channels. A total of 25 notorious markets identified in the report operate in the online space as websites either facilitating infringing conduct or lacking consumer privacy safeguards, some of which even enable the installation of malware on consumer computers. This malware can include remote access Trojans (RATs) which can steal sensitive personal information, like bank account information, or gain control of computer hardware.

Steve Brachmann

February 6, 2018

An Awareness Crusade Against the Online Piracy of Books

According to the Association of American Publishers, the publishing industry as a whole has lost $80 to $100 million dollars to online piracy annually. From 2009 to 2013, the number of e-book Internet piracy alerts that the Authors Guild of America has received from their membership had increased by 300%. During 2014, that number doubled. I’m certain that in 2016, the statistics will go even higher.

Rhonda Rees

March 10, 2016

Game of Thrones, Interstellar and Drake among 2015’s most pirated digital media

Digital piracy was alive and well in 2015. Not surprisingly, the incredibly popular HBO television series Game of Thrones was the most pirated TV show with 14.4 million downloads, far outpacing its TV viewership of 8.1 million American viewers. Game of Thrones also has the distinction of breaking the all-time record for most simultaneous peer shares via torrent with 258,131 peers engaging in simultaneous shares.

Steve Brachmann

January 12, 2016

OPEN Act Would be Ineffective at Stopping Online Piracy

Simply stated, the OPEN Act would be completely and totally ineffectual and, therefore, it must be opposed. There is simply no point in enacting more pointless legislation, we have enough pointless legislation already. Content creators cannot create in a vacuum devoid of economic reality. If you take eyeballs away and/or provide things for free that are supposed to be paid for you are causing injury and making it all the more difficult to be a content creator. Think about it for a second. The content that you most value, is that created by commercial enterprises or people just doing it for free as a hobby in their spare time? If you are honest with yourself we both know the answer.

Gene Quinn

February 15, 2012

Will Congress Break the Internet?

We must find reasonable ways to stop infringement of intellectual property on the Internet. Such a solution must be fair to the victim of the infringement. It must uphold the principles of the Constitution of the United States. And it must not break the Internet. SOPA and PIPA may not be perfect implementations of such protection, but they meet all of these requirements. There may be better strategies that can be reached through measured and thoughtful debate, but not through excessive hyperbole and misrepresentation.

Bob Zeidman

February 8, 2012

Stopping Online Piracy in the Age of Entitlement

As for the particulars of SOPA, perhaps there are some who are against the legislation for valid, thoughtful reasons and would like to see something better. That, however, seems to be the substantial minority. Those who are against SOPA seem to want to protect online piracy as if they are entitled to access the creative works of others for free. In economic terms those who steal intellectual property are freeloaders. These freeloaders are just like the many non-productive members of society who only take and give nothing back, expecting those of us who are productive to pick up the tab for them. There are certainly people in society who need and deserve help, and we should be there to help them, but by any fair estimate the entitlement mentality is running amok. No one “needs and deserves” free access to the latest blockbuster movie the opened just yesterday in theaters.

Gene Quinn

February 3, 2012