THE SONY PS3 is steadily making progress after previous reports of multiple woes and setbacks for Sony. Never far from controversy, Mark Rein, Epic Games Vice President, has been promoting the capabilities of recently arrived dev-kits. In a recent video interview for Eurogamer, Rein emerged as a considerable steward for the new console from Sony. [...]

In a meeting that will go down in internet history, the United States government last night conceded that it can no longer expect to maintain its position as the ultimate authority over the internet. Having been the internet’s instigator and, since 1998, its voluntary taskmaster, the US government finally agreed to transition its control over [...]

File-sharing site Kazaa will become a legal music download service following a series of high profile legal battles. The peer-to-peer network has also agreed to pay $100m (£53m) in damages to the record industry. The announcement follows the release of a music industry report that says more than 20 billion music tracks have been downloaded [...]

Newly relaunched Netscape.com has been getting into a bit of a slanging match with Digg – the site which gets its users to rate news stories. The new Netscape does something very similar but pays its would-be-editors up to $1,000 a month for their recommendations. Kevin Rose, from Digg, and Jason Calacanis, from Netscape, have [...]

Key Internet freedoms are under threat in a legal battle between online search leader Google and pornography publisher Perfect 10, a prominent Internet rights foundation said. At issue in the landmark case being appealed to the San Francisco circuit court of appeals is whether Google infringed on copyrights by creating links to Perfect 10 pictures [...]

Chris from Zeropaid recently had the chance to sit down with Shawn Hogan, who is an interesting guy fighting an MPAA settlement agreement. Shawn was accused of downloading Meet the Fockers (a DVD he actually owns), offered the traditional $2500.00 settlement, and instead opted to see the fight through to trial. We will be following [...]

Accompanied by heavy lobbying, the German authorities are currently debating an amendment to the Copyright Act – the so-called `second basket’ of copyright reform. In the autumn of 2003, Germany transposed only the mandatory provisions of the European Union (EU) Directive on Copyright in the Digital Age – the `first basket’. The Government appears to [...]

A DUTCH clinic that has begun offering the world’s first treatment for computer game addicts has been overwhelmed with pleas for help from parents and children all over the world. “It’s amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Keith Bakker, the American director of the Smith & Jones clinic in Amsterdam. “The phone has [...]

Many people don’t realise that the majority of traffic on illegal P2P networks comes not from those hunting big budget flicks but rather users in search of the latest transatlantic TV episodes. It isn’t about stealing, cost cutting or copyright violation but rather because in countries outside the US there hasn’t been a legal alternative. [...]

The guy who recorded Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer has joined other performers in a lawsuit against Sony Music over royalties for downloaded music. One-hit-wonder Elmo Shropshire, a San Francisco veterinarian who tours as Dr. Elmo, joined a list of plaintiffs that already includes rockers Cheap Trick and The Allman Brothers Band. The [...]

Here’s how the Israel-Hezbollah conflict is playing out on the Internet’s latest window into the human experience, YouTube.com: Videos of young girls driving around smoking and joking about Hezbollah, next to shaky footage of grieving men toting dead bodies through rubble as sirens wail. Old propaganda films alongside homemade documentaries about the conflict. Internet video [...]

Microsoft wants to block an effort for a shareholder vote forcing the world’s largest software maker to explain its support for Internet network neutrality, according to a company letter obtained by Reuters on Tuesday. The Free Enterprise Action Fund, a mutual fund that says it offers both financial and ideological returns, wants Microsoft shareholders to [...]

After years of helping TV viewers skip past ads, TiVo unveils an initiative Wednesday that will enable Madison Avenue to measure the damage. And, in the process, it is taking on longtime TV viewer tracker Nielsen Media Research in trying to quantify the impact of TV commercials. The digital video recorder pioneer has created a [...]

India has decided against getting involved in Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child scheme – which aims to provide kids in developing countries with a simple $100 machine. The success of the project depends on support, and big orders, from governments. The loss of such a potentially huge, and relatively technically sophisticated market, will be [...]

BT has signed up for Universal’s movie download package. The deal will allow the telco to sell PC-only full-length films online from the end of this month. It’s essentially the same package UK online video reseller Lovefilm.com announced in March this year. Some 150 Universal titles will be made available to downloaders, who can pay [...]

The RIAA, owned by France’s Vivendi Universal, Britain’s EMI, and Sony BMG from Japan and Germany, with the only American company, Warner Music, bringing up the rear, quite literally accuses school kids of all ages of being criminals and thieves. Every time one of them shares or downloads a digital music file, somehow, a sale [...]

Popular Sitcom ‘Friends,’ Sci-Fi Epic ‘Babylon 5′ & the Previously Unreleased ‘Aquaman’ Pilot Now Available on iTunes. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and Apple® today announced that classic hit programming from Warner Bros.’ vast television library is now available for purchase and download on the iTunes® Music Store (www.itunes.com). The new content features favorites such [...]

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) ended its “Operation Red Card” anti-piracy campaign in mid-July, declaring victory and citing a record number of illegal disc and optical disc burner seizures, the industry group said Tuesday. Coinciding approximately with this year’s World Cup soccer tournament, the MPA worked with local law enforcement agencies throughout Asia to provide [...]

In February, someone from the recording industry began calling Stephen and Patricia Hereth’s house in Pawtucket, accusing them of violating copyright laws by downloading music and sharing it with other people. The caller offered to settle the matter for $4,600. “I thought it was a scam, to be honest with you,” Patricia Hereth said yesterday. [...]

After a protracted holdout, Metallica has now licensed its catalog for digital download on the iTunes Music Store. “Over the last year or so, we have seen an ever-growing number of Metallica fans using online sites like iTunes to get their music,” the band said on its website. The group also noted that it is [...]