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Der Oberste Gerichtshof der USA wird sich mit einem langjährigen Rechtsstreit beschäftigen: Dabei geht es um die Frage, ob Sammelklagen gegen Microsoft zulässig sind, weil die Xbox 360 in einigen Fällen die Disc beschädigt hatte. (Xbox 360, Microsoft)

Der Journalist Norbert Häring will den Rundfunkbeitrag dadurch unterlaufen, dass er auf Barzahlung besteht. Jetzt hat er das Geld für den Hessischen Rundfunk beim Amtsgericht Frankfurt hinterlegt. (Rundfunkbeitrag, GEZ)

As the phenomenon of chasing down alleged movie pirates continues around the world, so-called copyright trolls are continually honing their techniques in order to pin down individuals to force settlement.

While those accused rarely get off lightly in any jurisdiction, in the United States the situation is particularly grim.

Companies that pursue pirates have the luxury of huge statutory damages at their disposal, meaning that a failed defense of a willful infringement claim could mean that a defendant is on the hook for up to $150,000 in damages.

While such large awards are rare, it does mean that companies are motivated to spend more time on a case than they would in other regions where statutory damages do not exist. To that end, when faced with accusations from copyright holders, people who merely pay the Internet bill at a residence sometimes face deposition.

In these cases a deposition is a pre-trial hearing during which a witness answers questions under oath about the alleged offense. The idea is to find out what the witness knows but ultimately depositions allow plaintiffs to gain ammunition towards achieving their key aim – cash settlement.

At this stage the account holder might be the assumed (putative) defendant while remaining an unnamed ‘John Doe’ as far as the lawsuit goes. All that could change after the deposition of course, which is why people are advised to obtain legal advice before taking part in one. Sadly, people’s financial situations often dictate this is not possible.

However, an interesting find by the troll-watchers at FightCopyrightTrolls reveals that putative defendants in Oregon won’t have to walk blindly into a potentially damaging deposition.

In response to a wave of lawsuits filed by notorious troll lawyer Carl Crowell, Chief Judge Michael Mosman has decided that targets of settlement demands should have legal assistance, whether they can afford it or not. A recently drafted standing order details his offer.

“Plaintiffs have subpoenaed the Internet Service Provider (‘ISP’) to obtain the identity of the party assigned the ISP account associated with the infringing activity, commonly called the subscriber. The subscriber may or may not be the same as the alleged infringer,” Judge Mosman writes.

“In order to find out whether the subscriber is an innocent third party and, if so, the identity of the alleged infringer, plaintiffs request the Court to enter Orders allowing them to take certain action, such as issuing a subpoena to the subscriber for a deposition.”

The Judge notes that if Internet subscribers fail to respond, plaintiffs could ask the Court for a default judgment. It is therefore advisable for subscribers to receive legal advice. To that end, subscribers will now get that support regardless of whether they can afford it or not.

“The Court has established a panel of lawyers who are willing to provide assistance and advice to subscribers in these lawsuits at no charge for up to 3 hours,” Judge Mosman writes.

The offer of support before deposition will be welcomed by subscribers while a case management order issued alongside should ensure that lawyers like Crowell are kept in line. The order mandates that multiple does can’t be filed in a single case and, crucially, subscribers must be informed of the free legal advice being made available.

“The ISP subpoena must include a copy of [the standing order] from the Court regarding the availability of pro bono counsel with any communications to the subscriber/account holder,” the order reads.

The prospect of a deposition will be a scary one for Internet subscribers so the fact they have this support should certainly lighten the load, especially for those who simply pay the bill and have played no part in any infringement.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Blumen für die Astronauten: Auf der ISS ist erstmals eine Blume aufgeblüht. Sie dient allerdings nicht zur Dekoration, sondern wurde zu Forschungszwecken gezogen. Beinahe wäre das schiefgegangen. (ISS, Raumfahrt)

Die Zukunft des transatlantischen Datenaustauschs ist unklar. Eigentlich muss bis Ende Januar ein verbindliches Safe-Harbor-Nachfolgeabkommen gefunden werden - doch die Verhandlungen gehen offenbar kaum voran. Unternehmen zeigen sich besorgt. (Safe Harbor, Datenschutz)

Mehr Takt als AMDs und IBMs Modelle: Intels neuer Xeon-Prozessor soll eine höhere Frequenz aufweisen als alle bisherigen CPUs. Der Broadwell-EP-Chip wird allerdings Einschränkungen aufweisen. (Xeon, Prozessor)

Von Ambient Occlusion bis Vsync: Kurz vor dem Beginn des geschlossenen Betatests von The Division sind die recht umfangreichen Einstellungen der PC-Version bekanntgeworden - zusammen mit Vergleichsbildern mit niedrigen und hohen Grafikoptionen. (The Division, Ubisoft)

Zwei Neuigkeiten zu 3D Xpoint: Erstens handelt es sich wie erwartet um eine Art von Phase Change Memory und zweitens sollen einige darauf basierende Produkte etwas später als geplant erscheinen. (3D Xpoint, Speichermedien)

Auch Technologie kann rassistisch oder sexistisch sein. In einer zunehmend digitalisierten Welt wird das zum Problem. (Internet, Google)

This week we have two newcomers in our chart.

Spectre and Bridge of Spies were both released as a DVDrip a few days ago.

The Big Short is the most downloaded movie for the second week in a row.

The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.

RSS feed for the weekly movie download chart.

Ranking	(last week)	Movie	IMDb Rating / Trailer
torrentfreak.com
1	(1)	The Big Short (DVDscr)	8.1 / trailer
2	(7)	Spectre	7.9 / trailer
3	(2)	The Revenant (DVDscr)	?.? / trailer
4	(8)	Bridge of Spies	7.9 / trailer
5	(4)	The Intern	7.4 / trailer
6	(3)	The Martian	8.2 / trailer
7	(…)	Black Mass (Web-DL)	7.1 / trailer
8	(5)	Solace	6.4 / trailer
9	(…)	The Last Witch Hunter (WEB-DL)	6.0 / trailer
10	(9)	Sisters (Webrip)	6.5 / trailer

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.