Teen accuses record companies of collusion
A 16-year-old boy being sued by five record companies accusing him of online music piracy accused the recording industry on Tuesday of violating antitrust laws, conspiring to defraud the courts and making extortionate threats.
In papers responding to the record companies’ lawsuit, Robert Santangelo, who was as young as 11 when the alleged piracy occurred, denied [...]
BBC’s download plans get backing
TV shows like Doctor Who are expected to be available for download later this year after the BBC Trust gave initial approval to the BBC’s on-demand plans.
Under the proposals, viewers will be able to watch popular programmes online or download them to a home computer up to a week after they are broadcast.
But the Trust [...]
Web giants ask for feds’ help on censorship
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft representatives on Tuesday implored the US government to help set ground rules for complying with demands by foreign law enforcement agencies for user records or censorship.
But a key question that remains after the U.S. Department of State concluded its inaugural global Internet freedom conference here is how to determine when such [...]
Private, Encrypted P2P Solutions Gaining Popularity Amongst File-Exchangers
Over the years, large-scale peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa and eMule have enjoyed significant popularity, as users scrambled to download the latest Madonna and Metallica albums without paying a penny. More recently, “Torrents” have also appeared, adding a similar system to the downloading craze, with music and movie fans enjoying free content with just a [...]
Grooveshark startup Plans to Pay Music Pirates
The people behind Grooveshark, the groundbreaking new P2P music download service, answer the tough questions like what benefits users will get from contributing, what content they can contribute, and what the they think of the RIAA and the IFPI.
Last week I wrote an article describing the upcoming start of a revolutionary new P2P music [...]
First Blu-ray movie released on BitTorrent
Ice Age 2: Meltdown makes history as the first Blu-ray Disc to wind up in the popular BitTorrent file-sharing community.
It’s been reported that Ice Age 2: Meltdown has become the first Blu-ray movie disc to be leaked onto BitTorrent.
This comes on the heels of recent news noting how a user by the alias [...]
Sony finally settles case with the FEDs over rootkit DRM fiasco
The last chapter in Sony’s infamous attempt to stem piracy has been announced today, with the company agreeing to compensate users for damaged PCs.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced today that a settlement had been reached concerning the rootkit DRM that Sony had secretly embedded on music CDs sold to customers.
Windows users were informed [...]
EU may challenge U.S. Net gambling law
US restrictions on online gambling may be challenged by the European Union, the bloc’s top financial regulator said Tuesday.
“In my view, it is probably a restrictive practice, and we might take it up in another” forum, EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy told the European Parliament.
The United States was protecting its own gambling industry by [...]
FBI turns to broad new wiretap method
The FBI appears to have adopted an invasive Internet surveillance technique that collects far more data on innocent Americans than previously has been disclosed.
Instead of recording only what a particular suspect is doing, agents conducting investigations appear to be assembling the activities of thousands of Internet users at a time into massive databases, according to [...]
Spanish pirates flip for disk drives
Spain’s uphill battle against piracy is getting steeper.
The reason: small modem-like boxes, with remote controls and a computer USB plugs. Sold in department stores, they sport names like Best Buy’s Easy Player Jumbo Plus HD 400GB or Argosy’s Mobile Video GDD 400 GB.
They’re hard disk drives that plug into PCs and then TV sets, allowing [...]
