Former head of the RIAA, Hillary Rosen, says she regrets the RIAA’s decision to sue individual downloaders, noting that it the policy simply ignores the reality of an evolving technological landscape.

She’s say that people regularly accuse her “…of suing college students and other “innocents” in my past role as Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America The lawsuits against individuals initiated by the RIAA was (were) started after I left.”

In a blog posting on “The Huffington Post,” she makes plain her opinion that the RIAA’s strategy is altogether wrong and irrational as it fails to address the root causes of the problem or even address the future of technology and media sharing that they have long watched pass by them from the sidelines.

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The Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman has ruled that the Apple iTunes service breaks the law, and has given the company two weeks to fix the problem.

In January, the Consumer Council asked the Ombudsman to look at iTunes because of concerns that it breaks consumer protection law.

Today’s decision backs that complaint.

According to the ruling, iTunes breaks section 9a of the Norwegian Marketing Control Act. The regulator said it was not reasonable that the consumer must sign up to a contract regulated by English law, rather than Norwegian law. It also said iTunes must accept responsibility for damage its software may do, and said it is unreasonable to alter terms and conditions after a song has been sold.

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More than 50 law enforcement officials raided 10 locations, confiscating the computers and detaining three people.

ThePirateBay.org had described itself to be the largest search index for BitTorrent, a system used for sharing large files across the internet.

The entertainment industry welcomed the action against a site it argued was a major source of music and film piracy.

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A man who duped customers into believing they could download copyrighted MP3 files without violating the law has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that his claims were false.

Cashier Myricks, Jr., operator of mp3downloadcity.com, agreed to pay $15,240 to the 611 customers who signed up to use the service to exchange music, movie and game files.

The FTC said in a statement that Myricks is also barred from misrepresentations about P2P (define) file-sharing products or services and must explain the civil and criminal liability risks of downloading copyrighted material without the owner’s permission.

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A lawsuit filed Wednesday accuses the Motion Picture Association of America of hiring a hacker to steal information from a company that the MPAA has accused of helping copyright violators.The lawsuit (click for PDF), filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by Torrentspy.com parent Valence Media, doesn’t identify the man the company says was approached by an MPAA executive. But the suit calls the man a former associate of one of the plaintiffs and alleges that he was asked to retrieve private information on Torrentspy.com, a search engine that directs people to download links.

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The prosecution of six men over allegations of software piracy as part of Operation Blossom racked up £18.4m in legal aid fees plus prosecution fees of more than £750,000. The case culminated with the conviction of all six men. One man was sentenced to two and a half years, the Guardian reports.

While the courts were happy to dole out porridge because of the case, the defendents’ lawyers are in a far happier position. Six firms of solicitors coined more than £14m between them while a team of 15 barristers who worked on the case won’t be short of a bob or too either.

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MTV, the television company that is credited with popularising music videos, is turning its attention to the online and digital download market. Its music service Urge will offer users 2 million songs from Wednesday that can be bought either separately for $0.99 (£0.53) or via a monthly subscription.

The service will be the featured music player on Microsoft’s Media Player. Urge will be compatible with more than 100 digital music players but not with the market leader, Apple’s iPod. ‘Well-recognised brand’ “We will concentrate on people who don’t have iPod’s,” said Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music Group.

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In response to the RIAA’s irrational lawsuit campaign against the tens of millions of American P2P users, EFF set up a petition asking Congress to stop the madness and support ways for artists to get paid without fans getting sued. We’re now close to our goal of 100,000 signatures, and, with your help, we hope to surpass it by a longshot and deliver the petition to Congress. After over 18,000 lawsuits and counting, file sharing has continued to increase rapidly.

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The US Patent and Trademark Office has published two patent applications today which offer some clue to the future shape of the iPod, and also Apple’s ambitions as a digital media distributor. As well as an intriguing glimpse of what a wireless iPod could do, it potentially sets Apple on a collision course with the major cellular phone networks.

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The Hong Kong High Court on Tuesday ordered four Internet service providers to provide the identity of 49 Internet users suspected of pirating three local movies using BitTorrent file-sharing software, local media reported.Hong Kong’s Motion Picture Industry Association, which represents the three movie producers in filing the suit, said they suspect that 49 Internet users shared among themselves files of the movies during the Chinese New Year holidays earlier this year, Cable TV reported.

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The law, being debated by the French Senate, will ban the unauthorised downloading of copyrighted files.

Around 300 people laid a wreath “in memory of private copying and free software in France” near the city’s culture and communications ministry.

It follows a decision by the government in March to scrap a bill to legalise downloading in return for a flat fee.

The draft copyright law introduces fines of between 38 and 150 euros (£26-£104) for people pirating music or movies at home.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - A new mobile phone that includes a link into the Robbie Williams Web site and plays his songs is another step in a “digital revolution” that the recording industry must take advantage of, not spurn, his manager said.

Williams, one of Europe’s most successful entertainers, has angered music industry executives in the past by praising internet piracy, once even calling it a “great idea”.

In an interview ahead of the pop singer’s world tour, which starts on Monday, his manager Tim Clark said the industry should classify digital music seekers as customers, not criminals.

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With the new operating system, Microsoft is offering plenty of new graphics tricks, including translucent windows, animated flips between open programs and “live icons” that show a graphical representation of the file in question.

But before Vista will display its showiest side, known as Aero, it will run a check to make sure the software was properly purchased. “Those who are not running genuine Windows will not be able to take advantage of the Windows Aero user experience,” a Microsoft representative told CNET News.com on Wednesday.

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Although it may seem similar to such accepted activities as selling off old CDs, vinyl records, and tapes at garage sales—or eBay—the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says that reselling an iPod or MP3 player with music already preloaded on it is illegal.

In a statement made to MTV.com, the RIAA said that “selling an iPod preloaded with music is no different than selling a DVD onto which you have burned your entire music collection; either act is a clear violation of U.S. copyright law.” The RIAA went on to say that it will be monitoring the situation closely and that sellers need to be aware that this activity is infringement. The RIAA is in the process of making an agreement with eBay such that anyone who tries to sell a loaded iPod will get a warning.

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Continuing their fight against online music piracy, the Recording Industry Association of America today announced that they have discovered a new foe: Usenet.

“Whenever brand new and up and coming technology such as Usenet is created, we are committed to ensuring that it is utilized in a lawful, copyright-friendly manner,” said Hilary Rosen, President of the RIAA. Rosen, who stumbled upon Usenet while surfing the internet yesterday, believes Usenet was likely created recently as a response to the RIAA’s lawsuit against Napster.com. Like on the music-sharing service Napster, many Usenet subscribers trade MP3 files. A single Usenet post can make one file freely available for download to millions of other users. “This is an affront both to record companies and to artists,” Rosen said.

Unlike with Napster, the RIAA has had difficulties determining who, exactly, owns the Usenet service. “We posted messages to several Usenet discussion groups, we asked who is in charge of this Usenet thing, and we called several ISP’s. Our questions were met with laughter and derision. Obviously, there is some sort of conspiracy going on to keep secret the identity of Usenet’s controlling authority.”

Rosen said that the RIAA will, if necessary, take legal action against the owners of Usenet. The RIAA has previously defeated web sites such as MP3.com through litigation, and they are confident that a lawsuit can and will shut down Usenet.

“Record corporations have always been at the forefront of the development of new technology,” Rosen said. “I don’t understand why people keep calling us ‘clueless AOLers’.”