Piracy Police Accidentally Hit Non-Pirates

Servers shut down in 13 countries in file-sharing crackdown

(NEWSER) - Police in 13 European countries have raided dozens of locations in an attempt to crush illegal file-sharing rings that distribute pirated movies and TV shows. A total of 48 servers were shut down, according to the BBC . Seven locations were raided in Sweden, including a university and the ISP believed to host WikiLeaks and the Pirate Bay, though authorities say the raids had nothing to do with either site. More»

(NEWSER) - France’s constitutional council today shot down the country’s newly minted “three strikes” law against Internet piracy, Ars Technica reports. The council said the law, which set up an administrative body to punish pirates, violated basic principles of French law, assigning essentially judicial duties to a non-judicial body, and putting the burden of proof on the accused, not the accusers. More»

RIAA takes new tack in battling online file sharing

(NEWSER) - After five years of suing everyone from single mothers to teenage girls for illegally sharing music files, the recording industry is dropping the legal campaign that has ensnared 35,000 individuals, the Wall Street Journal reports. Instead, an industry group is making deals with Internet-service providers to warn those sharing music files via email. Those who refuse may receive slower service, or be booted offline. More»

Label to lift piracy protection—except on iTunes downloads

(NEWSER) - Universal Music will ditch the anti-piracy software on music it sells through most outlets, making it easy—but still illegal—to copy its tunes. In what one analyst calls “a bold-faced move to blunt Apple’s influence,” the plan conspicuously excludes iTunes. The company says Apple is a “control group” in its study of piracy, the LA Times reports. More»

Millions of users' personal documents at risk: firm

(NEWSER) - Megaupload users, be warned: Your data could be deleted starting Thursday. A wealth of personal photos and documents are stored by way of Megaupload, according to the company. That data has been inaccessible to users amid an investigation over pirated materials . Megaupload pays storage companies to house its users' data—or did pay, until the government froze its money—and two of those firms have been given permission to start deleting the content this week, according to a letter filed by US prosecutors. Having carried out their search warrants, authorities no longer have a right to access to the data, they say. More»