Tech

Aussie Court: ISPs Not Liable for Users' Copyright Infringement

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 4, 2010 - 9:37am.
Sydney - A federal judge in Australia has ruled that Internet service providers cannot be held liable for copyright infringements committed by their subscribers, dealing a blow in a closely-watched lawsuit filed by U.S. movie studios against Aussie ISP iiNet, according to published reports. Justice Dennis Conroy found that, while it was shown that iiNet had knowledge that its customers were committing copyright infringement, this knowledge did not equate to "authorizing" the activities.

Italian Court Reinstates ISP Block on The Pirate Bay

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 8, 2010 - 11:25am.
Los Angeles - An Italian court has ruled that ISPs in the country must block access to file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, reinstating a ban that had been previously overruled, then reaffirmed by Italy's Supreme Court, TorrentFreak reported.

Swedish Web Movie Service Voddler Gets $3.5 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 8, 2010 - 9:44am.
Stockholm, Sweden - Voddler, a provider of streaming video services, has raised $3.5 million in new funding from Eqvitec Partners.

File-Sharing Raids in Sweden Net Alleged Site Owner

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 3, 2010 - 9:44am.
Los Angeles - Swedish authorities have conducted new raids and arrested the alleged operator of a file-sharing hub under its new IPRED law, which authorized greater resources to go after file-swappers, TorrentFreak reported.

Twitter Scam Sought User Passwords via Torrent Sites

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 3, 2010 - 8:02am.
New York - Twitter has disclosed a plot to gain access to some of its users' passwords and accounts, using fake BitTorrent file-sharing sites and forums, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"Lost" Hawaii Beach Screening Camcorded, Leaked Online

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 2, 2010 - 11:01am.
Los Angeles - A preview screening of the first hour of the premiere episode of the new season of ABC's (NYSE: DIS) "Lost," held recently on a beach in Hawaii, was camcorded by an attendee and is now available for download on the BitTorrent file-sharing network, TorrentFreak reported.
tags: Video | P2P | TV | ABC | Lost | Copyright | BitTorrent |

File-sharing News Blog p2pnet to Shutter

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 2, 2010 - 9:28am.
Los Angeles - The publisher of p2pnet, a site covering file-sharing and the online entertainment industry, announced in a blog post on Tuesday that he will shutter the site after nearly ten years.

Grandmother Cleared of Piracy Charge; Internet Access Restored

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 1, 2010 - 9:53am.
San Francisco - A 53-year-old grandmother was wrongly accused by copyright holders of downloading 18 films and TV shows, and further had her Internet service suspended by Qwest before media inquiries eventually helped resolve the matter, CNET News.com reported.
tags: Video | Law | Policy | P2P | TV | Music | Movies | MPAA | Copyright | EFF | Qwest |

Report: "Three-Strikes" Part of Intl. Trade Agreement Talks

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 29, 2010 - 10:11am.
New York - Nations involved in talks around the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) are "secretly" discussing the possibility of enacting "three-strikes" measures that would sever the Internet connections of repeat file-swappers, the Financial Times reports, citing leaked drafts of the agreement. If ratified, the pact "would transform copyright law in the U.S. and European Union," analysts told FT.

File-Swapper Rejects RIAA Offer of Further Reduced Damages

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 27, 2010 - 10:24am.
San Francisco - After a federal judge last week reduced the amount of damages convicted file-swapper Jammie Thomas-Rasset must pay from $1.92 million to $54,000, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on Wednesday offered to accept payment of just $25,000 -- provided Thomas-Rasset ask the judge to "vacate" his reduced damages decision, CNET News.com reported.

Vodafone Claims 450,000 European Music Service Subscribers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2010 - 10:11am.
London - European mobile network operator Vodafone (NASD: VOD) has attracted nearly 450,000 customers to its music subscription services, including 100,000 in December alone, and now claims the largest base of paying music subscribers in Europe.
tags: Mobile | Music | DRM | Vodafone |

Authorities Raid Home of EliteBits File-Sharing Admin

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 25, 2010 - 12:32pm.
Los Angeles - The home of the operator of EliteBits, a BitTorrent file-sharing tracker site, was raided on Friday by a representative from a Danish court accompanied by several representing anti-piracy agency Antipiratgruppen, TorrentFreak reported. The admin, known as "Laeborg," told TorrentFreak that the men who came to his house informed him that his bank account was traced from donations made to EliteBits. The men took screenshots of his computer of staff profiles, and lists of top downloaders and uploaders -- and also asked for the user database.

Electronic Arts' "Mass Effect 2" Leaked Online Before Release

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 25, 2010 - 10:37am.
Los Angeles - Days before its official release, video game publisher Electronic Arts' (NASD: ERTS) "Mass Effect 2" was uploaded to file-sharing networks and has since been downloaded over 300,000 times, TorrentFreak reports.

Judge Slashes $1.92M File-Sharing Verdict to $54,000

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 25, 2010 - 8:50am.
Duluth, Minn. - A federal judge on Monday set aside a $1.92 million damages verdict against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the first person to be convicted of copyright infringement on a file-sharing network. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis has instead reduced the damages award from the $80,000 per song for the 24 songs she was convicted by a jury of sharing on the Kazaa file-sharing network, to $2,250 per song -- for a new total of $54,000.

IFPI Mulling Civil Action Against OiNK P2P Admin

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 21, 2010 - 11:42am.
London - While a U.K. court recently acquitted the administrator of BitTorrent site OiNK of charges of "conspiracy to defraud" the recording industry, that industry is now considering filing civil actions to reclaim what it says are the admin's ill-gotten gains from the site, TorrentFreak reported.

Report: Global Music Sales Down 10% in '09; Digital Up 12%

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 21, 2010 - 9:38am.
London - Global recorded music sales were down 10% in 2009, as the digital share of the market grew 12% to $4.2 billion -- and now accounts for 27% of the total market -- according to data from IFPI, a trade group of the major record labels. The IFPI maintained that, despite growth of the legitimate digital market, it believes 95% of downloads are still unauthorized, and "illegal file-sharing and other forms of online piracy are eroding investment and sales of local music in major markets."

Chinese Video Portal Youku Adds Copyright ID Platform

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 20, 2010 - 12:51pm.
Beijing - Chinese video portal Youku on Wednesday announced the launch of a new copyright identification management platform, calling it "the first of its kind in China." The company said it plans to "embark on content acquisition on an unprecedented scale" this year, and that the new system will "accelerate the industry's movement toward legitimate content." "Trial operation of the copyright identification system has already begun for European and American audio-video copyright holders," said Yao Jian, Youku's chief technology officer. "Following this initial stage of operations, we will continue to improve and perfect the system, making it more efficient and more convenient to use."

tags: Video | TV | Movies | China | DRM | Copyright | Youku |

CNET: Verizon Suspending Service of Repeat File-Swappers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 20, 2010 - 12:19pm.
San Francisco - Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) acknowledged that it has penalized an undisclosed number of its Internet access subscribers who failed to comply with multiple file-sharing warning letters with service interruptions, CNET News.com reported. "We've cut some people off," Verizon Online spokeswoman Bobbi Henson told CNET.

Obama DOJ Defends $675,000 File-sharing Damages Award

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 20, 2010 - 11:28am.
Washington - The Obama Justice Dept. has submitted a filing defending a $675,000 damages award for copyright infringement on a file-sharing network, the Copyrights and Campaigns blog reported. Joel Tenenbaum was found guilty of sharing 30 songs on Kazaa, and ordered to pay the record labels damages of $22,500 per song. He has since asked the court to either reduce the damages or grant him a new trial, arguing the damages amount is unconstitutional.

Oxford University Bans Streaming Music Service Spotify

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 19, 2010 - 12:48pm.
London - Britain's Oxford University has banned students from using the streaming music service Spotify, having classified it as a peer-to-peer application and thus prohibited on campus networks, The Register reported, citing student paper Cherwell. The Register notes that Spotify's use of peer-to-peer technology is actually intended to reduce the bandwidth load on service providers, by caching songs locally on users' computers rather than delivering many individual streams of the same track from a single, central source.