In a worldwide clampdown on internet piracy, the International Federation for the Phonograph Industry (IFPI) has issued a huge wave of lawsuits against peer-to-peer fileswappers. A total of 8,000 individuals in 17 countries are being sued, which includes the first cases to be filed in Brazil, Mexico and Poland.

The trade group, which represents the world’s music companies, has said some 20 billion songs were illegally downloaded worldwide last year - 1 billion of those being in Brazil - the largest market in Latin America. The latest crackdown sees the total number of lawsuits soar to 31,000 worldwide, with 18,000 coming from the United States.

Those targeted for litigation were the “uploaders” — those who put songs on filesharing networks without permission for others to download. File sharing networks targeted include BitTorrent, eDonkey, DirectConnect, Gnutella, Limewire, SoulSeek and WinMX, the IFPI said. Countries involved in the latest round of suits are Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Singapore and Switzerland.

Sources:
- Reuters
- Betanews

Realizing that little was being accomplished via the Russian government, the IFPI took the clever step of striking AllofMP3 at its financial revenue source - credit card payments. According to Ars Technica, the IFPI lobbied Visa to reject payments from AllofMP3.com. The plan worked, and according to an IFPI spokesperson, the plug was pulled in early September.

“IFPI drew to Visa’s attention the fact that allofmp3.com was not licensed by its members,” the spokesman told Ars Technica. “Visa has a policy position of not supporting such sites and had its facilities removed accordingly. In fact, the facility was removed in early September.”

If this is the case, AllofMP3.com has remained quiet on the issue. Only since Wednesday has news of Visa’s cutoff surfaced. And today, AllofMP3.com has resumed its public relations blitz, claiming Visa and MasterCard’s decision to discontinue its relationship has no legal justification.

The AllofMP3 operation is becoming a major bone of contention between the US and Russia in negotiations to secure Russia a place in the World Trade Organisation.

“Visa and MasterCard should immediately re-qualify AllofMP3,” said Vadim Mamotin, director general at the company. “There is no valid reason and absolutely no legal basis for the action.”

http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1313

Microsoft Corp.’s latest tactic against those pirating its software in the U.K. appears to be paying off, and has reduced the piracy rate sooner than expected.

The software maker’s “Keep IT Real” programme, which it first launched back in February, has seen piracy rate for its Windows XP operating system drop from 16.7 percent to 12.4 percent according to its head of antipiracy for the U.K., Michala Alexander. “We were really pleased to see the rate dropping so quickly,” she said.

Microsoft had originally hoped to reduce the rate to 11.7 percent within three years of starting the campaign — in which members of the company’s anti-piracy team visit computer retailers and PC building outlets accross the U.K. inquiring about piracy issues — but now aims to hit that goal by next February.
Source: infoworld

Google Inc.-owned video-sharing site YouTube.com has removed nearly 30,000 video files from its site after after complaints of copyright infringement by Japanese media companies, an industry group said on Friday.

Many analysts and journalists accross the tech world predicted that Google had bought itself a whole heap of copyright trouble when it recently acquired YouTube for $1.65bn.

The Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers found some 29,549 music video, movie and TV clips which had been posted onto the popular site without permission.

Source: Reuters

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has issued a press release announcing its latest battleplan in its war on movie piracy. The trade group will team up with Los Angeles Area Boy Scouts of America to educate some 52,000 young scouts about the value of copyrights in an attempt to change attitudes towards theft of intellectual property.
“One of the most important tools we have to fight piracy is education and I commend the Los Angeles area Boy Scouts for working with us to help raise awareness about piracy among their troops in Los Angeles,” said MPAA CEO & Chairman Dan Glickman. “The film industry is a major contributor to the Los Angeles economy and as such, it is important to protect the economic vitality film brings to L.A. and the state of California. Working with the Boy Scouts of Los Angeles, we have a real opportunity to educate a new generation about how movies are made, why they are valuable, and hopefully change attitudes about intellectual property theft.”

Press Release, www.mpaa.org

Hardware manufacturers Asus, Planex and QNap are to embed file-sharing software BitTorrent into their product ranges which include wireless routers, media servers and network storage devices.

Two of the devices made by Asus can be configured to download digital files via BitTorrent without the use of a PC, according to Cnet News.

“These are the places where people will store their media in the future,” said BitTorrent’s co-founder Ashwin Navin. “People don’t want files to clutter their home PCs. Our technology working with these devices allows an entire family to share a jukebox.”

http://news.com.com/

Do not pay for file sharing software! Most of the people selling these “file sharing subscriptions” or programs are ripping you off. They usually charge you more than their website might say or simply charge you more than once. On top of that, the file sharing software they sell is usually not made by them, but freeware programs that are to be distributed for free only.

Don’t let yourself be misled, refunds are usually ignored.

SAN FRANCISCO—Google Inc. is snapping up YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion in a deal that catapults the Internet search leader to a starring role in the online video revolution.The all-stock deal announced Monday unites one of the Internet’s marquee companies with one of its rapidly rising stars. It came just hours after YouTube unveiled three agreements with media companies in an apparent bid to escape the threat of copyright-infringement lawsuits.

The price makes YouTube, a still-unprofitable start-up, by far the most expensive purchase made by Google during its eight-year history.

Although some cynics have questioned YouTube’s staying power, Google is betting that the popular Web site will provide it an increasingly lucrative marketing hub as more viewers and advertisers migrate from television to the Internet.

“We are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers,” said Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive officer.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1544284,00.html

Free Limewire Downloads, Free Lime Wire Pro. There are more scam websites today than ever before. You know the reason why? I have come to the conclusion that most people on the internet are computer illiterate. Those people be it you or me are easy pickings.

Limewire is a filesharing program. The basic version is free to download which we have a copy here. Yes, we have a free limewire version. No pop-ups, and well…. I like reading Digg, but it gets to me to see how many people spam the comments system without and ability to have them banned. There is this one poster who just posts “Free Lime Wire”. When you click on it it takes you to this screen. Never seen it?

Then be glad as you have never been scammed or sent to pop-up hell. Well when I click on the “Get it Now”, I end up with a porno website, in the Philippines. Now how the hell do we get there?

Read more »

Allofmp3 has for months been a p[ain in the rear of the RIAA. The on-line Shop sells current albums in the MP3-Format at only a fraction of the price compaired to others. Individual Songs are approximately 15 cent - with the competition, customers usually pay a euro for it. Hardly amazingly that the Russian on-line Shop is very popular also in other countries. The reason for the off-peak rates.

The Russian music store acquired no rights to the songs, which it sells on-line. Allofmp3 however still stresses to its users not to act illegaly. They point out to loop holes in the law, which would permit the selling of music also without the possession of appropriate licenses. In September a forced change of Russian copyright laws could change this as the music industry has already complained. But so far Allofmp3 continues operating.

According to an internal study P2P file sharing - depending upon time of day - has a portion between 50 and 80 per cent of the overall traffic arising in the Internet and thereby occupied more range than all other applications. Performance losses and increased communication costs are the result.
http://www.itseccity.de/

Bittorrent already offers some old monochrome photographic films - for example in the column John Wayne, cowboy and the game west -. Now the enterprise wants to enter in larger framework into the business with film and series downloads. Bittorrent plans to start an on-line Shop for films and series.

The enterprise is thereby according to their own statements around it, the users material, also out of China, which can be found with difficulty, Japan and India to offer. The service will thus not step therefore into competition to video download portals such as Unbox, which was bought recently by Amazon.com, or approximately against Apple iTunes begin - with those both primarily Mainstream announced is. Instead of one wants its content marked out, which users want, but difficulties have to find. In addition for example Bollywood films or series based on Japanese Manga Comics count. “we used a niche, therefore we decided to supply content which nobody offers otherwise”, said Ashwin Navin, president and co founder of Bittorrent in an interview. In the USA, in particular outside of large cities, such content is  impossible to find. In the second step Great Britain is to follow, at the beginning of next yea. Gradually the service is to be developed then world-wide.

http://www.pcwelt.de/news/online/57429/

The eDonkey2000 Network is no longer available.

If you steal music or movies, you are breaking the law.

Courts around the world — including the United States Supreme Court –
have ruled that businesses and individuals can be prosecuted for illegal
downloading.

You are not anonymous when you illegally download copyrighted material.

Your IP address has been logged.

Respect the music, download legally.

MetaMachine, operator of the P2P-network eDonkey and publishers of the Client software of the same name has given up! Under the address edonkey.com is now the brittle reference to the attitude of the service as well as a legal note, according to which one offends against the law, if one steals. With the following threat that the IP address of the visitor is stored, it retires also eDonkey as one the last commercial P2P services. The mourning over this parting holds itself measurably within limits. The Client software eDonkey 2000 was replaced in its meaning already long by the open SOURCE software eMule and is now in its newer versions absolutely useless. Only older versions of the Client software should be now still usable. Nevertheless does not show the eDonkey traces. At present in the P2P-Network still has 4.3 million users. Now compare this to March when it only had about 3.5 million.

http://www.intern.de/

American universities are to proceed more strongly against the illegal exchange of in copyright matters protected contents in their nets. Representatives of the US federation of the music industry (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) demanded that of yesterday with a hearing of the congress sub-committee “competitive ability for 21 Century ” to possible measures against file sharing on the Campuses, which is the industry already a thorn in the eye. “The technology is there”, said MPAA boss Dan Glickman. But many universities did not use it. Modern filter systems are in the best way suitable, in order to filter in copyright matters protected contents from university nets, explained RIAA president Cary Sherman before the delegates.

For instance the suppression of the entrance to freely available contents could be excluded in such a way. The industrial representatives referred once more to the economic damage, which they calculated for their industries by the “illegal Downloads”. Pirating is the largest economical obstacle for the film industry, deplored Glickman. According to a study the US film industry lost world-wide 6.1 billion US dollar in the past year by Piraterie. From the losses on the US market went according to Glickman approximately 500 million US dollar or 44 per cent on the cap of American college students. Daily 400,000 films were illegaly downloaded.

Each Filesharer knows the problem: Despite having a 6Mbit line, downloading and getting your files out of Emule or Limewire can be difficult as the uploader simply might not have the bandwidth. Worst yet is that you completed 99.9% of the file and that 100kb is being elusive. P2P can be a bitch!

ProxyShare is a bit more interesting! What it does is rather straight forward. It uses the “Cache Servers” of you ISP to store the files. ProxyShare cuts the file you are uploading and leaves these chunks of data on the ISP server. The next person looking to download that chunk from you, will not download it from you but from the cache server of your ISP. This would be at fullspeed! This would be the reverse of what True Move was doing in Thailand, where they too cached chunks of data from the P2P networks.