Weinstein

Indie film legend accuses Apple, Google of Web piracy

Harvey Weinstein, the tough-talking indie-film producer, has strongly condemned the pirating of movies and TV shows via the Internet and has accused Apple and Google of being part of the problem.

During a keynote speech in London at the BFI Film Festival, Weinstein attacked Internet companies that profit from the distribution of movies, music and other content but don't compensate the creators, according to a report in the British publication The Register.

Weinstein, who with his brother Bob founded the legendary indie studio Miramax, called for the creative community to band together and fight the infringement of intellectual property … Read more

The 404 999: Where we press all the right buttons (podcast)

Stupid Andy helps us out today with a busy rundown that includes Netflix earning first rights to new movies before cable TV; an interactive ad in the U.K. that claims it can recognize gender at a 90 percent success rate; a new Low Latency comic on Crave, and YouTube getting caught with its pants down!… Read more

DOJ pressed for details on Internet tracking plan

Members of Congress chided the U.S. Department of Justice today for suggesting a new law requiring Internet companies to keep records of user activity, but not disclosing details on how it should be crafted to aid criminal investigations.

At a House of Representatives hearing, as CNET was the first to report, the Justice Department endorsed the concept of forcing Internet companies to collect and store data about their customers that they would not normally retain. This echoes the Bush administration's position under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

But Jason Weinstein, deputy assistant attorney general for the criminal division, irked … Read more

Justice Department seeks mandatory data retention

Criminal investigations "are being frustrated" because no law currently exists to force Internet providers to keep track of what their customers are doing, the U.S. Department of Justice will announce tomorrow.

CNET obtained a copy of the department's position on mandatory data retention--saying Congress should strike a "more appropriate balance" between privacy and police concerns--that will be announced at a House of Representatives hearing tomorrow.

"Data retention is fundamental to the department's work in investigating and prosecuting almost every type of crime," Jason Weinstein, deputy assistant attorney general for the criminal … Read more

GOP pushing for ISPs to record user data

The House Republicans' first major technology initiative is about to be unveiled: a push to force Internet companies to keep track of what their users are doing.

A House panel chaired by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin is scheduled to hold a hearing tomorrow morning to discuss forcing Internet providers, and perhaps Web companies as well, to store records of their users' activities for later review by police.

One focus will be on reviving a dormant proposal for data retention that would require companies to store Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for two years, CNET has learned.

Tomorrow's data … Read more

Microsoft Blue Hat starts on Thursday

Microsoft's eighth Blue Hat conference will take place on Thursday and Friday at the software giant's Redmond, Wash., campus. Entitled "C3P0wned," the invitation-only conference features two full days of sessions.

Day one features a select group of security researchers, with team members from Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) presenting on the second day. It is an opportunity for Microsoft engineers to hear first hand from leading security researchers. The last Blue Hat conference was held in April.

Of interest on day one is a talk by Dan Kaminsky, director of penetration testing at IO Active, who … Read more