The same letters were also sent to other P2P operators such as BearShare and Limewire, however both networks appeared to be operational Thursday morning.

The RIAA said at the time of the cease and desist letters that after the Grokster ruling companies had "ample opportunity to do the right thing," and continued to operate "at their own risk."

Since modern P2P networks often have no central location, it is near impossible to completely them shut down. But in some P2P structures, by removing a node that assists in indexing what is on the network, usually called a "supernode," download capabilities can be severely crippled. | more...

The "John Doe" lawsuits -- where the filing litigant is given a set amount of time to positively identify the defendant -- were filed across several federal district courts in eight states.
 

"Sharing a digital music collection with co-workers can be fraught with social perils, a study of US office workers has revealed.

Amy Voida and colleagues from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Palo Alto Research Center in California, US, interviewed 13 US office workers who routinely listened to each others’ music via their company's computer network, using Apple's iTunes music software.

Participants confessed to forming judgements about co-workers based on the taste - or lack of taste - revealed by their music collection. Many also admitted to tailoring their own music library to project a particular persona, and some said they deliberately hid particularly embarrassing tracks from others.

iTunes provides a simple way to manage music files and can be used to upload songs to an iPod music player or buy tracks from the iTunes Music Store. But another feature lets users share songs across a computer network. Activating the sharing function lets others view and listen to playlists stored in a computer's library."  [ more... ]

"Netscape pioneers Mike Homer and Marc Andreessen are back on the start-up scene, launching a TiVo-like online network for distributing and viewing public TV, radio and grassroots media.

The free service, called the Open Media Network, is aimed initially at letting traditional public broadcasters and independent filmmakers distribute their work on the Net. But it will also allow ordinary computer users to publish their files.

Part TiVo, part BitTorrent file swapping, the network puts publishers' content into a peer-to-peer distribution network that could help lower bandwidth costs substantially. The service then creates a TV-like program directory that potential viewers can use to find and subscribe to automatic downloads of individual shows.

In the process, it's also serving as an advertisement for Homer's main company, content distribution service Kontiki, which provides the network's technology.

"We're trying to create a free consumer service that would allow the viewing of public service content on the Internet," said Homer, who is chairman of the Open Media Foundation, which is backing the project, as well as Kontiki's chairman. "Right now there is no easy way for consumers to (publish and view) these things. It has not been a consumer phenomenon, it's been an early adopter phenomenon."

The Open Media Network is one of several tools that have recently emerged aimed at letting people publish or find large files online, while organizing content into a familiar TV-like format."  [ more... ]

Daemon writes "The Globe and Mail reports that Videotron, a Canadian ISP, will not be fighting the request to turn over the names of music swappers to the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). According to a lawyer for Videotron, producing the identities of Internet users alleged of wrongdoing happens so regularly that they believe that it is justifiable to hand over the names of people who share large volumes of songs on-line. The five Internet service providers named in the case -- Shaw Communications, Rogers Cable Communications, Bell Canada, Telus Communications and Videotron -- can't divulge the information without a court order because privacy legislation requires them to keep customer information sealed."

John Leyden of The Register writes, "The Nopir-B worm, which appears to have originated in France, poses on P2P networks as a program to make copies of commercial DVDs. In reality the application offers no such function. Instead it attempts to delete MP3 music files on infected PCs. Nopir-B also attempts to disable various system utilities and wipe .COM programs whilst displaying an anti-piracy graphic. Nopir-B only infects Windows machines.

"The Nopir-B worm targets people it believes may be involved in piracy, but fails to discriminate between the true criminals and those who may have legally obtained MP3 files. Whichever side of the fence you come down on in regards to internet piracy, there's no debate about the criminal nature of this worm," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

Malware capable of zapping MP3 files is rare but not unprecedented. The Klez-F worm, for example, which was widespread in 2002, overwrote MP3 files (and other file types) on certain days of the month. The Scrambler worm was programmed to scramble MP3 files to sound like a scratched record while the Mylife-G worm overwrote MP3 files with the words "my lIfE".

Nopir-B is slightly unusual in this category because it spreads on P2P network, albeit modestly. Few copies of the worm have been spotted and it poses only a low risk."

"Several ISPs (Verizon,Charter) have fought the RIAA in court to protect their users' personal information (a fight the RIAA continues to lose in court). Meanwhile Reuters is reporting that one Comcast subscriber is suing the cable company for giving her personal information freely to the RIAA, who then hired a collection agency to gather $4,500 - or face the RIAA in court."

"International demand for bandwidth grew 42 percent in 2004, reports Wired News, who add that growth is largely thanks to a migration toward video-file trading. Studying North American traffic, several firms note there has been no p2p traffic difference since the RIAA launched their legal assault. In some cases, the efforts drew more users toward the services."  [ more... ]

H.R. 1201 was introduced on March 9 by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), with original cosponsors John Doolittle (R-CA) and Joe Barton (R-TX), Chairman of the Energy & Commerce Committee. Today, HRRC Chairman Gary Shapiro underscored the need for H.R. 1201's Betamax codification provision:

"For innovation and for consumer freedom, the doctrine originally announced in the Betamax case is the magna carta and the Declaration of Independence rolled into one. Without the protection of this doctrine - that it is not a copyright violation to manufacture or distribute a product capable of substantial noninfringing uses - large corporate content providers would exercise a veto over every new function of every new product."  [ more... ]

Financial Times reports that, the global music industry has, "launched its largest legal action against alleged online pirates with almost 1,000 lawsuits in 11 countries.

Leading music groups including Universal, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner have endorsed the drive to curb internet file-sharing, estimated to cost the industry $2.4bn (€1.8bn, £1.3bn) a year in lost sales.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), representing 1,400 record companies, said the latest action would target Asia for the first time, with lawsuits in Japan."

Ted Bridis of BusinessWeek online reports that, "The recording industry intends to sue hundreds of college students accused of illegaly distributing music and movies accross Internet2, the super-fast computer network connecting leading universities for researching the next generation of the Internet, industry officials said Tuesday.

The Washington-based Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the largest labels, said it will file federal copyright lawsuits Wednesday against 405 students at 18 colleges with access to the Internet2 network, which boasts speeeds hundreds of times faster than the Internet."  [ more... ]

hjf writes "According to a new presidential decree, and effective July 31, 2005, telecom carriers in Argentina will have to log every activity, including Internet chats, website visits, e-mails, phone calls, etc, made in Argentina. The data must be stored for 10 years, and must be available to the police and intelligence agencies within one hour, 24 hours a day. The telecom companies must pay for 'everything': software, hardware, and human resources, and will be required to use state-of-the-art technology as soon as it is available. This news was known already in specialized circles, but only yesterday it was published in major media. This is causing outrage among legislators and businessmen. Lawyers claim that it violates privacy laws and Constitutional rights (article 14), and the 'presumptive innocence principle' (innocent until proven guilty)."

The Register has an interesting article on a proposed 'code of conduct' for ISPs, "

Not content with creating a continent-spanning lawsuit-sharing network using special P2P (person to perpetrator) technology, the record companies' consortium, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) now wants your ISP to sign up to a new "code of conduct" that it has helpfully drafted with the help of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). A warning, though: you probably won't like it.

Here's a sampler. Under the new code, ISPs would put in place filtering technology to block services and/or sites that "are substantially dedicated to illegal file sharing or download services". They would retain data beyond what law enforcement agencies require, with the aim of helping track down copyright infringement. They'd hand that data, plus your identity, over to the IFPI or MPA if there was even a complaint - not a court order - against you for, you guessed it, copyright infringement. (And you'd have signed or clicked something agreeing to allow that.)"

According to European Digital Rights, the International music and movie industry is thrusting a number of new "self-regulatory" demands at ISP's. Among them, ISP's should: remove links to sites that "do not respect" copyright holders, implement new filters, store and retain info on customers to be used against them in court, terminate the accounts of repeat offenders, and change their TOS to include customer consent that their personal info will be divulged if they violate copyright. 

As the Supreme Court mulls the fate of file-swapping networks, justices are studying a rarely used element of copyright law that sparked bitter controversy when raised in Congress last year.

Last week, the nation's top court heard arguments from the entertainment industry and file-swapping software companies in a landmark review of the legal status of peer-to-peer networks. In the course of that hearing, several of the justices appeared interested in finding a middle ground that would focus on companies that actively encouraged, or "induced," copyright infringement.

A similar idea was at the core of last year's debate over the "Induce Act," a U.S. Senate bill sponsored by the record labels and staunchly opposed by much of the technology world. Applying this concept to file-swapping companies would be an unusual twist in copyright law, but the idea has been backed by some influential groups, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE.  [ more... ]

limber writes "During this past weekend's Juno awards (a vapid Canadian music industry shindig) Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla brought up proposed new legislation that would make downloading music on the Internet without paying for it illegal. High (or low) lights of the legislation include: forcing 'ISPs to monitor individual customer Internet connections for suspicious activity,' and giving the music industry and songwriters 'the tools to sue' illegal downloaders. Frulla further noted she 'wanted to persuade children that downloading music for free is wrong.'" [ more... ]