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NEWS ABOUT: file sharing

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Fed Crackdown Panics File-Sharing Sites

Top cyberlocker sites move to restrict usage, some shut down

(Newser) - The FBI-led shutdown of Megaupload last week has many of the top file-sharing sites around the world panicking, causing them to shut down their controversial services, reports ABC News . Two—Uploadbox.com and x7.to—are completely closing, while seven others have introduced restrictions. Limits include restricting users' ability to... More »

Sweden Has Official New Religion: File Sharing

Believers join Missionary Church of Kopimism

(Newser) - Sweden may not condone file-sharing—it's still illegal—but the country is officially OK with belief in the practice. Some 3,000 passionate file-sharers have gotten their beliefs recognized as an official religion. The Missionary Church of Kopimism—as in, "copy-me-ism"—has sought official status in Sweden... More »

Illegal Downloaders' Punishment: Slow Internet

Internet providers strike deal to penalize pirates

(Newser) - Media companies and Internet providers have agreed on a system to put the brakes on the service of users of illegal file-sharing services. The ISPs have agreed to alert customers up to six times if they believe their account is being used to illegally download music and movie, Reuters reports.... More »

NZ Pol Tweets About Breaking Her Own Law

Melissa Lee votes for strict file-sharing law, tweets about listening to mixtape

(Newser) - This week's installment of "lawmakers ignoring their own laws" comes to you from New Zealand, which recently passed one of the world's strictest file-sharing laws. Melissa Lee voted for the "three-strikes" law, which says people can be fined up to $15,000 and lose Internet access... More »

Harry Potter Film Leaked Online

First 36 minutes of Deathly Hallows on file-sharing sites, Warner launches probe

(Newser) - The first 36 minutes of the new Harry Potter movie have been leaked online days before its worldwide theatrical debut, and Warner Bros. officials are on a hunt to find the culprit. The footage made available for download on file-sharing sites like the Pirate Bay was watermarked, meaning it came... More »

Judge Kills Off LimeWire

File-sharing site ordered to permanently disable software

(Newser) - File-sharing site LimeWire has been effectively killed off by a court order. A federal judge has issued an injunction ordering the service to permanently disable its software and to end the sharing of unauthorized music files, the Wall Street Journal reports. The popular site was found liable for copyright infringement... More »

Europe Swoops In on Web 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... More »

5K Hurt Locker Downloaders Sued

Company vows to find out their real names

(Newser) - If you illegally downloaded The Hurt Locker, now might be the time to delete. The Oscar-winning film's production company Monday filed suit against 5,000 John Does who illegally shared the movie, and is now trying to get the sharers' Internet service providers to reveal their names, CNN reports. More »

France Mulls 'Google Tax '

Levy on ad revenue would be used to bolster music, film, media

(Newser) - France is considering helping out industries hit hard by the digital revolution by slapping a tax on Google and other search portals. The proposal, outlined in a government-commissioned report, calls for a share of ad revenue to be turned over to the music, film, and publishing industries. The tax would... More »

To Save the Music Industry, Ban Music—and Whistling

The copyright arguments aren't going to stop until the day music dies

(Newser) - The music industry wants royalties for the 30-second previews on iTunes—which is "bullshit," writes Nicholas DeLeon for TechGear. It's yet another foolish move in the battle to save the music industry, complains DeLeon. Luckily, he has a "foolproof" way to do just that: Ban music, "... More »

How to Save the Music Biz

(Newser) - The album is dead. Touring is on the fade. File-sharing is killing download profits. Adieu, music biz? Not so fast, reports The Wrap, which offers five fixes:
  • Drop the price. Ninety-nine cents for a song? Try 10. "Lower the price point, and you undercut the very foundation of illegal
... More »

New Pirate Bay Goes Legal With Fee-Payback Plan

(Newser) - Under new ownership, the beleaguered file-sharing powerhouse Pirate Bay is going legit through an innovative payment model, the AP reports. The new system will involve user fees, but users can work those off—or even earn a profit—in part by sharing their computers' storage capacity with the Pirate Bay... More »

Swedish Firm Nabs Pirate Bay for $7.7M

Buyers to remodel site so content providers 'get paid'

(Newser) - A Swedish software company has purchased file-sharing site Pirate Bay for $7.7 million after the site was fined $3.6 million, the Register reports. “We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site,... More »

Minnesota Mom Fined $1.9M for Illegal Music Downloads

Guilty verdict given in do-over of country's first file-sharing trial

(Newser) - A Minnesota woman has been fined $80,000 per song for each of 24 music files she illegally downloaded, CNN reports. The court ordered Jammie Thomas to pay $1.92 million to the Recording Industry of America. Her original trial—America's first for music file-sharing—granted the RIAA just $220,... More »

French Court Throws Out Anti-Piracy Law

(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,... More »

Swedish Pirate Party Scores EU Seat

(Newser) - Sweden’s Pirate Party scored a major victory last night, capturing one of the country’s 18 seats in the European parliament, AFP reports. The party—which advocates for the legalization of peer-to-peer file sharing, stronger digital privacy protections, and reforms in copyright law—was formed in 2006 and saw... More »

EU Parliament Next Stop for Pro-Piracy Party

Swedish group's membership up 215% after Pirate Bay case

(Newser) - Swedish pirates could soon be invading the European parliament, the Times of London reports. The Pirate Party, a political group whose sole aim is encouraging Internet copyright infringement, is poised to win several seats in next month’s elections. “The plan is Sweden, Europe, the world—in that order,... More »

Authors Want Boom Lowered on Book Pirates

Book piracy balloons with growth of e-readers

(Newser) - A surge in book piracy has followed hot on the heels of the growth in ebooks, the New York Times reports. Publishers trying to stamp out unauthorized editions online say the ease with which books can now be copied online make their efforts little more than a game of "... More »

Pirate Bay Judge Belongs to Pro-Copyright Groups

(Newser) - One of the men convicted in the Pirate Bay file-sharing case is demanding a retrial, claiming that the judge is in cahoots with copyright-protection organizations, the Local of Sweden reports. Judge Tomas Norstrom acknowledges being a member of such groups but denies any conflict of interest. Last week, he found... More »

Conficker Worm Threat Lingers

27 tech giants have banded together to fight it

(Newser) - April Fools’ Day passed without major incident, but the Conficker computer worm is still contacting 500 websites daily from millions of infected computers, reports PC World. A conglomerate of 27 tech heavyweights—including Microsoft, Facebook, and AOL—have managed to limit the peer-to-peer worm’s communicability. But Conficker is still... More »

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