ZeroPaid.com

My last piece for Zeropaid looked at the recently announced iPad specifically as a video device.  Does Apple’s latest gadget have the potential to be a game changer in the video arena, as it may have in the mobile and publishing fields?  I have some serious doubts based on what we [...]

Princeton senior investigates what kinds of files are available on mainline public BitTorrent tracker sites.
We all know BitTorrent is currently probably the most popular way for people to share files online, but not clear is the type and nature of those files. Sauhard Sahi, a Princeton senior, decided to answer these questions.
“Sauhard chose a [...]

Warns that Digital Economy Bill, as written, will only “hasten the migration away from P2P” as people develop tools and applications to evade anti-piracy measures.
Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone is calling for the Government to come to its senses over its threat to disconnect illegal file-sharers from the Internet.
Dunstone was speaking at [...]

Says legal action is not the best first contact with alleged illegal file-sharers, and that it should be “reserved for the most persistent or serious offenders.”
The British Phonographic Industry is speaking out against the mass lawsuit approach of ACS:Law, a UK-based law firm that “specializes in assisting intellectual property rights holders exploit and enforce [...]

Spokesperson also tells audience at the Congressional Internet Caucus’ State of the Net conference that there are “many conversations going on at different levels” about disconnecting repeat file-sharers in the US.
Last week the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee hosted the 6th Annual annual State of the Net Conference as part of its regular attempts [...]

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tells reps from the MPAA that it plans to “target the new threats enabled by the Internet in the same way that we have targeted ‘hard goods’ in the past.”
The federal govt seems to be buying into the hair brained MPAA notion that illegal file-sharing is supporting terrorism and criminal [...]

Which?, the largest consumer body in the UK, receives dozens and dozens of letters from people claiming to have been falsely accused of illegal file-sharing.
Which?, the largest consumer body in the UK with over 650,000 members, is reporting that more than 150 innocent people have received warning letters so far from ACS:Law, a UK-based law [...]

In the unlikely case you were somehow unaware of the big news from yesterday, Apple announced the iPad, a new device (and category) somewhere between a smartphone and a laptop that will either revolutionize the entire computing space, or will flop miserably (depending on which analyst you read).  So much has been tweeted, facebooked, blogged, [...]

Ipredator offers safe, encrypted communication between you and the Internet for only $7 bucks a month.
Last March I mentioned how BitTorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay would begin Beta testing a new VPN service called Ipredator which would allow file-sharers to download copyrighted material anonymously.
The name Ipredator is a spin on the Swedish Intellectual Property [...]

After having offered to settle the case with Jammie Thomas for as little as $25,000, down from the $1.92 million original verdict, and from the most recent $54,000 judgment reduction on appeal.
Last Friday the case of accused file-sharer Jammie Thomas grew more complex after Judge Davis of the United States District Court lowered the original [...]

BT network upgrades will mean much faster broadband speeds, but new traffic management equipment will restrict P2P bandwidth.
UK ISP BT has launched a new Infinity broadband service that will give residential customers a 40Mbps download speed, and up to a 10Mbps upload speed. The current highest residential speed service it offers is 20Mbps.
The catch? The [...]

Angry royalty groups demand monthly fee for listening to music with customers, tell customers to bring iPods instead.
Hairdressers in Spain have decided to protest a recent crackdown by royalty collecting groups there by silencing their salons and urging customers to bring in their iPods instead.
“From now on, when you come to the hairdressers don’t forget [...]

Spokeswoman says she was misquoted, that she didn’t say it had “cut some people off,” but had instead said it “could” cut people off.
Verizon is denying a recent story that it’s apparently enacted a “three-strikes” program on its own by disconnecting users repeatedly warned of illegal file-sharing.
“We’ve cut some people off,” is what
said Bobbi Henson, [...]

Criticizes Pharrell Williams’ stance on illegal file-sharing, and insists that it can be stopped if only we would “take the gloves off.”
Yesterday I mentioned how Pharrell Williams, Billboards’ just declared producer of the decade, and Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, told an audience at MIDEM (short for Marché International du Disque et de l’Edition [...]

Tells audience at MIDEM, the world’s largest music industry trade fair, that technology has increased consumer options and choices and that record labels are to blame for its struggles with digital music for trying to ignore it.
Pharrell Williams, Billboards’ just declared producer of the decade, and Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, told an audience (Jan 23rd [...]

Worse still, ISP emphasizes it doesn’t verify infringement claims, that it only forwards warning letters from copyright holders who themselves have no way of knowing what individual is truly responsible.
More than a year ago the RIAA declared “peace in our time” and supposedly ended – cases still abound more than 1 year later – [...]

Judge Davis of the United States District Court lowers $1.92 million verdict against Jammie Thomas, the first person convicted of illegal file-sharing in the US, from $80,000 per song to $2,250 per song, saying “statutory damages must still bear some relation to actual damages.”
In an all too surprising verdict, Judge Michael J. Davis of the [...]

Angry over not guilty verdict that sent Alan Ellis free, and even let him keep the ₤200,000 pounds ($320,000 USD) he collected in user donations for running the famed BitTorrent tracker site.
Last week I mentioned how Alan Ellis, admin of the famed BitTorrent tracker site OiNK, and the first person to be prosecuted for [...]

Says consumers wont get music “when, how, or where they want it until we address piracy” in its annual Digital Music Report, the one that shows digital music sales are up some 940% since 2004.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has just released its annual Digital Music Report and the results are [...]

British Phonographic Industry ( BPI ) claims ISPs are exaggerating the financial hardship they will have to bear in order to enforce proposed “three-strikes” legislation.
Late last month I reported how UK ISPs warn that enforcing proposed “three-strikes” legislation will force them to add £25 ($40 USD) a year to individual Internet subscriber bills.
That’s aside from [...]