Has online piracy reached a tipping point?

For years, digital technology and the internet have provided a virtual buffet of digital content from which million have feasted for free. There are not supposed to be free lunch. According to the executives. They maintain that at a time of massive corporate cutbacks and layoffs, media and entertainment firms have to cut a little deeper because piracy.

• You Tube once swelled with pirated clips of movies, TV shows, and music videos. In the last year, however, the site has begun filtering out illegal content. The move came after media conglomerate Viacom filed a $1 billion copyright lawsuit and as YouTube began partnering with Hollywood in a bid to offer premium TV shows and films.

• Amazon handed over control of the Kindle 2's text-to-speech application when the Authors Guild claimed the function violated copyright law and could cut into sales of audio books.

• In cooperation with the film and music industries, AT&T has begun testing an escalating system of warnings or graduated response. The ISP says it would never terminate service without a court order. Apparently, not all ISPs are as squeamish.

Reference: Has online piracy reached a tipping point by Greg Sandoval [Online], 28th sept 2011

URL: http://news.cnet.com/has-online-piracy-reached-a-tipping-point/#ixzz1ZA2gjLZX