Madonna hacker gets 14 months

Adi Lederman whpo hacked and released a number of unfinished and demo tracks from Madonna's Rebel Hart album in December 2014 when it was a work in progress has received a 14-month jail sentence from the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Thursday as part of a plea-bargain deal following his conviction for cyber crimes against the pop singer. Lederman, a former contestant on Kochav Nolad, Israel's version of 'Pop Idol', hacked into Madonna's computers last year, having accessed passwords from the email accounts of her manager and musical director. It's thought Lederman also accessed part of the singer's work schedule in addition to the unfinished tracks from her album 'Rebel Heart'. He was charged with computer trespassing, fraud, and intellectual property offences against the superstar, 

After the leak Madonna released six tracks and moved up the release date of the full album to March saying “I have been violated as a human and an artist!”  Lederman had previously stolen a song from Madonna in 2012, which he sold rather than leaking himself.

Lederman was also fined NIS 15,000 (US $4,000) by the court, which said its sentence should “send a message of deterrence” and uncompromising commitment to the law to others like Lederman.

The sentence was more lenient than it might have been, in light of Lederman's medical issues, as well concerns that a full trial could lead to unintentional further exposure of Madonna’s personal details and those of people working with her.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israeli-sentenced-to-14-months-in-jail-for-hacking-Madonna-408512 and http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/07/hacker-who-leaked-madonnas-rebel-heart-sentenced-to-14-months-in-prison/

Israel publishes bill on disability-related exceptions

From Tamir Afori (a partner in the Tel-Aviv law firm of Gilat, Bareket & Co.) comes news that the Israeli Ministry of Justice has now published a bill in which it is proposed to add an exception to the Copyright Act (as well as an exception to the Performers and Broadcasters Rights Act).  The proposed exception follows the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled [full text here, Agreed Statement on its interpretation here], but it covers all sorts of disabilities, not only sight. (thus it may apply to, for example, hearing disabilities).

The bill also relates to the exporting of "adapted copy" for the benefit of people with disabilities outside of Israel. Here is a link to the Hebrew version (no English translation is yet available).

This blogger notes that Israel has acted surprisingly swiftly to legislate a Marrakesh-type exception when that country is not yet a signatory to that Treaty (which is not yet in force).

Copyright Law, Getting in the Way of Getting Copyrighted Works

“The biggest barriers that consumers face in accessing copyright works
are those created by copyright law.”  And with that profound statement, Consumers International begins its exploration into how copyright and consumers interact, investigating the barriers consumers face when attempting to find information.

The book is Access to Knowledge for Consumers: Reports of Campaigns and Research 2008-2010, and it presents the findings of two years of studies conducted by Consumers International.  These studies included surveys of consumers across a wide variety of countries, in-depth reviews of the effects of enacting new flexibilities in the copyright laws of Australia and Israel, and reports from six country groups involved in advocacy at the national level.

Consumer Survey

The global survey looked at potential barriers to access (to knowledge) in four different categories: Political, Economic, Social and Technological.  The book includes a full copy of the survey questions, highlights of notable qualitative answers and full charts of quantitative breakdowns.  Unfortunately, the charts are a bit hard to read sideways on a computer screen.  A surprising finding of the survey was that African consumers have the highest respect for copyright law.  A not-so-surprising finding was that consumers are confused about FOSS (free and open source software) and open licensing.

However, in combination with the other studies, Consumer International also found:

Part of the solution to the access barriers that consumers face is the wider use of open content, such as Open Educational Resources (OER) and free and open source software (FOSS). Our survey found that most consumers are aware of these alternatives, and ready to give them a try.

Based on this information, Consumers International has identified “the need for education of consumers on the unique features of FOSS and (though not covered in the phase one survey) other forms of free licensing such as Creative Commons.” 

Copyright Law Flexibilities

Australia’s 2006 amendments to its copyright act added flexibilities that made time-shifting and formatting-shifting legal.  Before the enactment of the amendments, arguments arose that the amendments would interfere with the markets for legal downloads and a threat to nearly every type of copyright protected work.  Results of the research conducted revealed that the content industry’s nightmares did not come true. 

[T]here was evidence to suggest that the amendments may have increased compliance with the law – not only by legalising the common and harmless consumer practices in question, but by improving some consumers’ respect for the fairness of copyright law in general.

When looking at Australian’s perspectives on whether and when it is ok to download copyrighted material, the book again presents a mix of quantitative data and qualitative information. Some of the justifications of those who feel it is ok to download to their heart’s content are rather amusing.

“Because when I see what happens, when people like Britney Spears
get paid what they do and act like they do. This means to me the
entertainment industry can kiss my arse!!!!!!!!”

Israel introduced fair use into its British-based copyright act in 2007.  To study the effects of the introduction of this provision, researchers compared case law before and after 2007.  The concept of fair use existed in Israeli copyright before 2007, but it was not codified.  Results of the analysis was slightly disappointing but hopeful.  Finding that fair use claims rarely succeeded and that courts were applying the doctrine in disparate ways, the researchers also expressed belief that this will change with the progression of more cases.

In conclusion, we find the law in Israel, while evolving to meet the
new digital creativity landscape, still lacks the balance which will reflect the social understanding of what should constitute a fair use and how copyright can foster creativity and innovation.

Country Group Reports

The book includes reports on national advocacy from Brazil, Cameroon, India, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia.  Each of these reports discusses activities done in the country to promote access to knowledge and the strengths and weaknesses of these activities.

 

Access to Knowledge for Consumers: Reports of Campaigns and Research 2008-2010 is a 336 page book, but it will not cause you back strain.  The entire book is available in pdf, released under a Creative Commons BY-SA license.

Watching sports is "socially important", rules judge

I spotted this case while travelling and forgot to finish writing it up. It's an action brought by the (English) Premier League in Israel to close down a pirate website that was showing live football matches free of charge. The league sought to force Israeli ISP Netvision and web portal Nana to reveal the identity of the Israeli owner of LiveFooty.org, a website which used servers based in that jurisdiction to stream live footage of Premier League matches for nothing.

Tel Aviv District Court judge Michal Agmon-Gonen held that this was an instance of "fair use", since no profit was made from the broadcasts and, under Israeli law, infringement of "broadcasting" copyright only applied in respect of cable or wireless transmission, but not streaming over the internet.

The site, added the judge, had important social aims: "watching sports events is socially important and should remain in the realm of mass entertainment, and not just be for those who can afford it", accepting that those who view online were not damaging the revenues of broadcasters but primarily "those of small means or who are not sufficiently interested in sport to pay".

When the rabbis dance ...

While this weblog normally avoids religious issues, this one is too good to 'pass over'. Two of Israel's most prominent rabbis, HaRav Yosef Sholom Eliyashiv and HaRav Ovadiya Yosef, have ruled that wedding hall owners in that country's religious communities must pay copyright royalties as required by law. Those who fail to do so, say the rabbis, are transgressing the laws of 'gezel' (this word, often translated as 'theft', is a substantially wider concept).

Despite copyright laws, hall owners in the orthodox sector have refused to pay ACUM –- the local collecting society for musicians and other copyright holders -– claiming there is no ruling under Jewish law which requires them to pay to play music at events such as weddings.

While HaRav Eliyashiv and HaRav Yosef agree as to the end to be achieved, they disagree with regard to the reasoning by which their conclusion is reached. According to HaRav Eliyashiv,

"Since the hall owner receives a licence to open the facility he is obligated to adhere to all legal requirements, and if the law requires [paying royalties], he has to meet that obligation. If not his licence is not a licence".

HaRav Yosef responded to the question from a different angle, applying the principle of Dina d’malchuta dina (the statute law of a secular state becomes part of Jewish law if it does not contradict any of the latter's fundamental principles).