Some may disagree with his opinions, but very few dispute the fact that Ray Beckerman has maintained the biggest and most valuable resource regarding litigation brought on by the copyright industry. According to fresh reports released this evening, the Recording Industry Association of America took issue with his stance on the copyright debates and decided that litigation was warranted.

From the report:

The Recording Industry Association of America is declaring attorney-blogger Ray Beckerman a “vexatious” litigator and is seeking unspecified monetary sanctions to punish him in his defense of a New York woman accused of making copyrighted music available on the Kazaa file sharing system.

The RIAA said Beckerman, one of the nation’s few attorneys who defends accused file sharers, “has maintained an anti-recording industry blog during the course of this case and has consistently posted virtually every one of his baseless motions on his blog seeking to bolster his public relations campaign and embarrass plaintiffs,” the RIAA wrote (.pdf) in court briefs. “Such vexatious conduct demeans the integrity of these judicial proceedings and warrants this imposition of sanctions.”

Beckerman, whose blog is Recording Industry vs The People, said in an interview the allegations were “frivolous and irresponsible.”

There’s two issues being raised here. Is he being sued for defending p2p defendants or is he being sued for compiling information and offering opinions on his blog. From the looks of things, it’s more likely the latter as there is a direct quote from the RIAA saying this.

For the more likely reason, this case raises serious concerns with free speech online. Such debates have been mainly restricted to things like racism for the most part, but for the first time in the United States, it appears to be for opposing the stance of the copyright industry.

The case may not be heard for a while since the papers were only recently filed, but one possible result in all of this is the appearance of intimidation for anyone who opposes the copyright industry’s view on the copyright debates. It might never be known how many, if any, would voluntarily give up blogging about the copyright debates – or reporting for that matter – would back away from the subject as a result of this litigation.

Observers would very likely note that this is pretty much an open and shut case for free speech since most, if not, all of Beckermans information comes from public sources to begin with. Either way, it’s going to land the lawyer in a large spot-light where even more people will be watching than before.

[hat tip: BoingBoing]

Robert Scoble writes the Scobleizer web log, one of the most-read sources of technology commentary on the internet.

He owes his status to the three years he spent at Microsoft, where he was given free rein to comment on the company’s affairs from the inside. The Economist magazine has credited Scoble with playing a significant role in softening the software giant’s former reputation for monopolistic bullying.

In the past, Scoble has tended to be sympathetic about Microsoft’s failings. However, he was provoked into stinging criticism last week after a series of triumphalist remarks, including some disparaging comments about Google made by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive.

At a “global summit” of its most-valued software developers, Microsoft repeatedly declared that it would “win” in search and other parts of its Windows Live internet strategy.

READ REST OF ARTICLE….

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SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”

The site is called “radio.blog.club,” and is much easier and more convenient to use.

You simply type in a desired artist’s name and let the search engine do all the work.

In addition to the standard streaming feature, you can also embed the songs on your blog, MySpace page, or whatever other site you have access to.

It also has a “Hot Picks” feature that periodically compiles a “day” and “night” mix for you to listen to and hear artists you may otherwise never hear of.

Here’s what it looks like.

To show an example of the selection of music it offers I did a search query for the artist “Beck,” which I’m sure you all have heard of.

If you take a look at the results, the available tracks are pretty extensive, as it even has the rare track “Debra,” which I recommend for all those that have never heard it before.

The search returned well over 8 pages of tracks in fact, making for a diverse and fairly complete listing.

To add tracks to a playlist, you must first register of course. After registering simply select the “heart” icon of the track you wish to add and click “My Playlist.”

Returning to the main page and clicking on the “Jukebox” tab, you can see and play the playlist you created.

Yet, the site gets even better.

For those of you with blogs, or MySpace accounts, you can even embed each of the tracks into your site pages. It also allows you to customize the colors of the embedded music player.

If you take a look below I’ve customized the player’s colors and also highlighted the embedding code for you.

All in all it’s a pretty cool music streaming site and a little less cumbersome than FineTune.

The ability to embed the tracks on private sites and pages makes it all the much nicer.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT RADIO BLOG

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SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”

According to the Department of Telecommunications, blogs which were blacked out three days after the Mumbai blasts will soon be restored.

Post 7/11, the Government decided to block sites without saying why and the ISPs decided to go ahead, do one better and block all blogs.

The Centre issued an order to block 22 websites after a two-page write up containing derogatory references to Islam appeared in a blog.

Despite the increased prevalence of advanced spam-fighting tools, spam is once again on the rise, and spammers are abandoning more traditional methods of electronic communication in favor of those that permit more targeted spam blasts, according to new research by MessageLabs.

The research also indicated that spammers have begun to develop more sophisticated and malicious software to harvest e-mail addresses and even steal the identity of unsuspecting netizens.

“The increased convergence of threats across e-mail, Web, and instant messaging — combined with the increased sophistication of techniques — is an interesting new development,” said Mark Sunner, chief technology officer at MessageLabs. “A harmless looking e-mail can quickly become a Web threat.”