Tenenbaum Fined $675,000 for Sharing 30 Works
After the judge simply told the jury to decide on a fine, and not asking them to consider the validity of evidence presented by the copyright industry among other things, the Jury found that Tenenbaum be fined $675,000 for sharing 30 songs.
Rewinding a little, during the original trial of Jammie Thomas, Thomas was fined $222,000 [...]
Major Record Label Admits CD Sales is Not a Measure of Success
In the face of another major slump in CD sales, the major record labels say they have other streams of revenue as well.
A report from the New York Times has some interesting comments from the major record labels. Neilson Soundscan reports that CD sales have slumped this year with the top selling album selling [...]
RIAA Loses Ability to Appeal in Jammie Thomas Case
The Jammie Thomas case has recently took a turn for the worse for the RIAA.
Is merely putting a song in a shared folder copyright infringement in the United States? That’s what the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was hoping for, but at seemingly the last possible moment, the precedent that would dictate such [...]
Senators Push for Transparency for ACTA
The hot-button issue of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) not being transparent became a major issue again recently. Three senators are demanding that ACTA be made more transparent and that it wouldn’t undermine congress’s ability to govern.
Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter issued an open letter to Susan Schwab today regarding ACTA, a controversial international [...]
Freedom Not Fear Campaign Going from Europe-Wide to Worldwide
Protests against over-reaching surveillance powers isn’t just for Europeans anymore – the campaign appears to be expected to make it all the way to the United States among other countries.
After an unusually long time without announcements, EDRI posted observations of the ‘Freedom, Not Fear’ campaign. The report contains the following:
After last year’s demonstration for [...]
US – Public Pressure Caused ISP Cable One to End Customer Snooping
An interesting report reveals that Cable One had been quietly conducting targeted advertising on its customers, but pulled the plug once pressure mounted to end such trials.
It’s been quite a spectacle. ISPs being under fire for privacy related issues with its own customers has frazzled more than a few nerves in the past couple [...]
FCC – Comcast Was Wrong to Throttle, but Prioritizing Packets is Fine
It seems like a victory for many to see Comcast punished for throttling BitTorrent, but now it seems the FCC has become confused about what to do at this point on the case.
There was already word that there is some dissent on the FCC ruling over throttling BitTorrent, but commentary from CNET seems to point [...]
Digital Frisking for Copyright Infringement at US Border Disclosed
It may have been little more then an intimidating demand from businesses at ACTA negotiations, but now the Department of Homeland Security is saying that copying hard drives and iPods at the US border is now part of border security policy without suspicion of wrongdoing.
It seems to be the trend for US authorities and lawmakers [...]
EFF – New US Copyright Enforcement Proposal and ACTA Could be a Catastrophe
There is a new proposal that could further restrict copyright laws in the United States. With the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on the minds of many people around the world, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is calling the new copyright proposals potentially catastrophic.
Copyright and surveillance laws have been the subject of much discussion in [...]
EFF Demands Investigation for Suspicionless Digital Searches at Border
Does border security have a right to search your iPod, laptop or USB sticks? This has increasingly become a central question and some, like the EFF, are arguing that such searches are unconstitutional.
One of the ideas behind ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is the idea that you can have your iPod, laptop, or any other [...]
