Millions of Brits who receive new MP3 players this Christmas may have to pay tens of millions of pounds for music and videos they have already legally downloaded.

Those who receive a new make of music player could be in for a shock when they find that they cannot transfer music they have already downloaded and paid for from their old player.

And with the Microsoft Zune, set to be a major rival to the iPod, due to be launched next year, those who buy it may find themselves paying hundreds of pounds to download all of their music again because the new system isn’t compatible with their old player.

Today music bosses were accused of holding millions of musci loving Brits to ransome.

Martin Higginson, founder of mobile content provider MonsterMob Group plc, said that companies were effectively locking customers into staying with them for life to save paying twice for their music.

He also warned it could encourage people to download music illegally.

Mr Higginson said: “The likes of Microsoft and Apple must not be allowed to continue to hold the consumer hostage in this way. The future could prove to be even more costly and confusing as more products and devices enter the market.”

A grand jury’s handed down indictments to eight people who allegedly used LimeWire to help with their identity-theft circle.

The Denver District Attorney announced that three main players, Michael Sarrasin, 27, Shawn Adams, 32, and Tamara Stesney, 36, were indicted yesterday (Nov. 30) on 115 charges, including racketeering and computer crime. The indictment follows an October arrest in the Mile High City that linked the peer-to-peer file-sharing network LimeWire in an identity theft ring.

Authorities allege the Sarrasin, Adams and Stesney, along with five others, used LimeWire to access names and account information from personal computers and use them to open fraudulent accounts at Denver-area banks, where they’d deposit phony checks and then turn the money over to purchase methamphetamines. Police peg victims’ losses at about $70,000.

No details about how the trio used the software to gain access to personal data were given. Court dates are pending.

According to Gensler’s arrest affidavit obtained by the Grand Junction Sentinel, his downloads were first flagged during May 2005 by the FBI’s Innocent Images Unit, which tracks the traffic in child pornography over peer-to-peer networks.

The FBI said that some videos on the computer showed adults engaging in sex acts with children as young as 1 year old.

Gensler told agents he found the images by searching for “under age” in the Limewire software, according to the arrest affidavit.

Gensler is not accused of abusing any of the children himself. He is due back in court on Dec. 19.

The Innocent Images Unit recently expanded to include investigations involving all areas of the Internet and online services, including:

Internet Web sites that post child pornography
Internet news groups
Internet relay chat (IRC) Channels
File servers (“FServes”)
Online groups and organizations (eGroups)
Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing programs
Bulletin board systems (BBSs)

A US TELEVISION station has had to back down on claims that P2P software will fill your computer with viruses.

7News reported how during its ‘exclusive’ test it downloaded Limeware software only to find it contained password cracking software. Sure enough, after a bit more digging it turned out the TV hack had got it all wrong and confirmed that Limewire did not include any password cracking software.

“The error in my findings was the result of a unique license file downloaded by the installation of LimeWire on our computer. This license file is not a threat to a computer, Kovaleski said.

It turned out that his malware detector had triggered on a unique GNU license downloaded by LimeWire to 7News’ computer. This licence had a “digital fingerprint” (SHA-1 hash) which was associated with only one application in a database of thousands of software products which turned out to he an older version of a password cracker.

Eight people were indicted for allegedly using the file-sharing software LimeWire to help them steal tens of thousands of dollars over the last year.

Seven of the eight suspects have been arrested in connection with an identity theft investigation that resulted in a 115-count indictment, the Denver District Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

The indictment alleges that Michael Sarrasin; 27, Shawn Adams, 32; and Tamara Stesney, 36; were the primary makers and distributors of stolen and counterfeit checks, saying they used LimeWire to access account information from personal and business accounts across the country. Police said they would then use the information to open new bank accounts in the Denver area.

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A grand jury’s handed down indictments to eight people who allegedly used LimeWire to help with their identity-theft circle.

The Denver District Attorney announced that three main players, Michael Sarrasin, 27, Shawn Adams, 32, and Tamara Stesney, 36, were indicted yesterday (Nov. 30) on 115 charges, including racketeering and computer crime. The indictment follows an October arrest in the Mile High City that linked the peer-to-peer file-sharing network LimeWire in an identity theft ring.

Authorities allege the Sarrasin, Adams and Stesney, along with five others, used LimeWire to access names and account information from personal computers and use them to open fraudulent accounts at Denver-area banks, where they’d deposit phony checks and then turn the money over to purchase methamphetamines. Police peg victims’ losses at about $70,000.

No details about how the trio used the software to gain access to personal data were given. Court dates are pending.

http://www.aversion.com/news/news_article.cfm?news_id=7713

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?

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Movies File Share Top Ten Downloads this week - Bittorrent

01     Jackass
02     Scary Movie
03     Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
04     Poseidon
05     RV
06     The Sentinal
07     Silent Hill
08     V For Vendetta
09     The Black Dahlia
10     Invincible

LimeWire LLC has returned fire in its copyright dispute with Recording Industry Ass. Of America (RIAA), accusing its members of operating an illegal cartel to control the online distribution of music.

In a recent lawsuit, The RIAA attacked LimeWire and its top developers for facilitating copyright theft, through its peer-to-peer (P2P) file swapping service.

Limewire denies the charges, noting that it is merely the developer of an open source software. Limewire notes that it is a true P2P service - there are no central servers to facilitate file exchange. As such, people who download LimeWire swap files entirely of their “own volition”, it claims. Hmm. We can’t see a US court buying this argument.

A much more interesting line of defence is LimeWire’s attack against the music industry. It says the case is “part of a much larger conspiracy to destroy all innovation that content owners cannot control and that disrupts their historical business models”. The RIAA and its members are using the law for anti-competitive means, not to control piracy, LimeWire charges.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/limewire_riaa_counterclaim/

The biggest record companies, according to the lawsuit, are engaged in a “modern conspiracy” to acquire “a monopoly over digital distribution of commercially valuable copyrighted music.” In all, the suit names 13 record companies.

In a statement, the industry association called the countersuit “a kitchen sink of frivolous charges” that doesn’t change the Supreme Court ruling last year in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster holding that file-sharing companies can be sued for copyright infringement.

Mr. Paczkowski called LimeWire’s language “heavy-handed,” but concluded that it’s not off base. LimeWire cites the recording industry’s relationship with iMesh, a file-sharing service it sued, but which is now essentially working at the industry’s behest, operating a fee-based downloading service. “While from all outward appearances iMesh is not controlled by the R.I.A.A.,” the lawsuit states, “dealings with iMesh by LimeWire and other P2P companies demonstrate, in reality, that this is not the case.”

That accusation “merits some looking into,” Mr. Paczkowski wrote.

“Much more interesting,” according to Nate Anderson of ArsTechnica, “is the lengthy section in which LimeWire discusses its decision to ‘go straight’ ” (arstechnica.com).

LimeWire says it had planned to introduce a system that would prevent copyrighted material from being traded, but the music labels would not license the necessary technology to make it work. The only way it could be done is if LimeWire and other file-sharing outfits became partners with iMesh. The plan, according to LimeWire, was to allow sharing of noncopyrighted files and to send users who wanted copyrighted works to legal sites like iTunes. “If you don’t think that this sounds like a profitable strategy, you’re not alone,” Mr. Anderson wrote.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/business/30online.html

The recording industry has spent the past several years picking off one peer-to-peer file-sharing company after another: Napster, KaZaa, Grokster and several others have settled lawsuits, been acquired or agreed to stop allowing users to share copyrighted music. But LimeWire is standing firm. In response to the industry’s lawsuit against it last month, the company that owns the LimeWire file-sharing software filed a counterclaim last week, accusing members of the Recording Industry Association of America of anticompetitive practices, restraint of trade, tortuous interference and other claims (info.riaalawsuits.us).

The countersuit is “encouraging,” wrote John Paczkowski, an editor at SiliconValley.com who writes Good Morning Silicon Valley (gmsv.com). Paczkowski called LimeWire’s language “heavy-handed,” but concluded that it’s not off base. “Much more interesting,” according to Nate Anderson of ArsTechnica, “is the lengthy section in which LimeWire discusses its decision to ‘go straight’ ” (http://arstechnica.com).

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/04/Business/On_The_Web.shtml