piracy 3

Pirates still exist. According to the International Maritime Organisation, 266 committed or attempted acts of piracy were reported last year. Although this was a lower figure than in 2004, in part because many small-time pirates died in that December’s tsunami, risk experts say that a more brazen, violent and organised strain has emerged. Pirates are said to have injured or assaulted 152 crew in 2005; they abducted 652, of whom 11 are still missing. They hijacked 16 ships; a tug and a barge are unaccounted for. ...

“Dude, Where’s My Car” tops the list of movies pirated on the Internet in July. The pirating is usually through file sharing software. Unlike music companies, studios are moving with the wind, before it gets too late.

After telling Yahoo to remove Nazi memorabilia from its auction site, France is now considering taxing computers and other recording devices to compensate artists for piracy. I mean, Paris and art is all fine, but this is crazy! And Germany’s apparantly already done this.