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The Pirate Bay ditches its servers to become raid-proof
- The Pirate Bay has been making a few adjustments to how they operate the infamous file-sharing site over the years to avoid potential takedowns from authorities. They shut down its tracker in November 2009, stopped hosting .torrent files in favor…
Study: Filesharers spend 30% more on music than non-P2P users
- Despite being condemned as thieves by the recording industry, peer-to-peer users spend more money on music than non-filesharers, according to a new study by The American Assembly. Examining the music collection habits of respondents across the US and Germany, the…
AT&T to launch six-strike anti-piracy plan Nov 28, leak shows
- Leaked internal training documents indicate AT&T is gearing up to launch a six-strike anti-piracy initiative on November 28. This may not prove to be much of a surprise for readers who caught headlines earlier this year regarding an impending graduated response supposedly…
The U.S. music piracy rankings: Gainesville (FL), New York, Los Angeles top the list
- In spite of the growing number of well-promoted music subscription services available on the U.S. market like Spotify, Rdio, Amazon, iTunes Match, among others, music piracy remains a fact of life for many.
French court convicts first internet user over Hadopi anti-piracy law
- A French court has ordered a man to pay €150 for breaking the country’s controversial three-strike anti-piracy law, Hadopi, despite his soon to be ex-wife testifying under oath that she was responsible for downloading the two pirated songs in question. …
$220,000 award upheld in RIAA v. Jammie Thomas-Rasset lawsuit
- Yes, Jammie Thomas-Rasset is still embroiled in a legal battle against the Record Industry Association of America -- and yes, the infamous P2P file-sharer from Minnesota is still on the losing side. It appears the most recent verdict totaling $220,000…
Opinion: The stalemate against piracy in PC gaming doesn't help anyone
- The PC's biggest asset, for users, is its amazing flexibility. The modern computer is both a tool and a toy, a generalist device customizable to nearly any needs. With the barest amount of prodding, comparatively speaking, it can be, and…
Ubisoft scraps always-on DRM, favors one-time activation
- In an interview with RPS, Ubisoft worldwide games director Stephanie Perotti divulged that the company is dropping its infamous always-on DRM strategy. In fact, Ubisoft already quietly euthanized the program a few months ago -- probably following the From Dust…
Multiple Android piracy sites seized by US law enforcement
- A number of Android-based piracy websites have reportedly been seized as part of a joint venture involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, multiple US attorneys’ offices as well as Dutch and French law enforcement officials. A…
Site owner gets 4 years in prison for unauthorized video sharing
- Surfthechannel.com owner Anton Vickerman has landed himself a stiff four-year prison sentence after running a website which hosted links to unauthorized video content. That's substantially less than the maximum of 10 years he faced, but almost certainly more than he…
Demonoid operators arrested in Mexico, Anonymous vows revenge
- Fresh details emerging this week have helped answer some ongoing questions about the orchestrated takedown of Demonoid. Knocked offline by a DDoS attack on July 24, early reports suggested that the torrent tracker's downtime would be somewhat temporary, pending repairs…
Microsoft tightens Windows 8 activation policy to curb piracy
- Piracy is a fact of life for Microsoft. Case in point: just two days after the company began distributing the finalized version of Windows 8 to partners around the globe, the code became publicly available across various file sharing sites.…
Full version of Windows 8 leaked to file sharing sites
- The final version of Windows 8 has leaked onto the Internet just one day after Microsoft made the upcoming operating system available to OEM partners. The leaked copy is an “N” version of Windows 8 which means it doesn’t include…
TPB fines to be used to fight more piracy cases, not refund artists
- After a lengthy legal battle, last February the founders of The Pirate Bay were ordered by the Swedish Supreme Court to pay $675,000 to music labels in order to compensate artists who lost out on royalties due to piracy. Except…
Google says plaintiffs haven't proved scanning books hurts sales
- It appears Google has asked for a summary judgment regarding the legality of scanning books and posting them online via Google Books. Google defended its book-scanning project (formerly known as Google Library) on the basis of fair use, preserving those works,…
New Zealand's three-strikes law reportedly halved movie piracy
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Online piracy has been drastically reduced in New Zealand since the introduction of a graduation response system last year, according to the entertainment industry. The nation passed a three-strikes law (dubbed "Skynet") last April that works similar to France's policy...
Google might have to filter piracy-related searches in France
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Google might be required to filter filesharing-related search terms in France, pending a decision by the nation's Court of Appeal. In early 2010, French recording industry group SNEP sought legal action in an effort to have terms like "torrent," "Rapidshare" and "Megaupload" censored from...
China's software piracy clampdown has cost $157 million in licenses
- China has spent over 1 billion Yuan ($155.9m) on the purchasing of licensed software as part of a three-year long national anti-piracy campaign to turn the tides on the use of pirated software across its government offices, according to Chinese…
Kim Dotcom agrees to voluntarily travel to the US if assets are unfrozen
- MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom has agreed to voluntarily travel to the US to face piracy charges, but only if the Justice Department agrees to unfreeze his assets to help him cover living expenses and pay for legal representation. Dotcom announced…
TPB blockade makes no difference, says ISP XS4ALL
- Despite European courts forcing ISPs to block access to The Pirate Bay, the move has had little impact on the internet's most well known, longest-running torrent website. In fact, according to a blog post by one of Europe's largest ISPs, XS4ALL,…
ACTA suffers overwhelming defeat in European Parliament
- The European Parliament has defeated the international Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement, also known as ACTA, with a decisive 478 votes against the controversial treaty versus just 39 in favor and 165 abstentions. While 22 of the 27 European member states had…
Man fined $7,000 for sharing 'WordPress for Dummies' via BitTorrent
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Robert Carpenter of Poughkeepsie, New York has been ordered to pay $7,000 in damages for sharing a copy of "WordPress All-in-One For Dummies" on BitTorrent. Carpenter was part of a mass filing by publisher John Wiley & Sons last October that included 27 John Does...
Ofcom presses on with Digital Economy Act crackdown on piracy
- The British communications regulator, Ofcom, announced plans to press on with new measures under the Digital Economy Act today, warning broadband providers and their millions of customers it plans to crackdown on internet piracy as fast as possible following the…
Steve Wozniak shares his thoughts on the MegaUpload case
- Steve Wozniak visited New Zealand last month, stopping by MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom’s Auckland-area estate during the trip. When Dotcom was allowed back online last week, he tweeted a photo of the two during the visit and publically thanked him…
PayPal freezes VPN provider's account, spooked by BitTorrent
- TorGuard, a VPN service provider, was recently given the cold shoulder by PayPal for providing BitTorrent-related services. Upon discovery of TorGuard's relationship with BitTorrent, PayPal abruptly froze the company's account, preventing the virtual network provider from sending or receiving payments…
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