Tag: FILESHARING

Share We get a big kick out of picking on the RIAA here at Switched. And with good reason. There are few organizations out there as openly hostile to its customers as this front for the recording industry. When the group isn't busy suing file sharers, it's spreading propaganda and pressuring Congress and universities to crack down on piracy. While we don't approve of illegal activity, the RIAA ...

Remember Joel Tenenbaum, the college student who'd been ordered by a federal jury to pay $675,000 in damages to four record companies, all because he illegally downloaded and shared music? When we first caught wind of this story, we were shocked (and more than a little terrified) to realize that P2P file sharing could wind up costing us such a hefty chunk of cash. But now, the same judge who ...

The halcyon days of freewheelin' file-sharing may be drawing to a quiet close today at universities across the country. As CNET reports, yesterday marked the final deadline for colleges receiving Title IV federal aid to comply with the anti-piracy measures outlined in the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008. The act covers a broad range of issues pertaining to higher education, but ...

In March, 'The Hurt Locker' became the lowest-grossing film to take home Best Picture honors at the Oscars. A few months later, in an apparent attempt to shore up their balance sheet, the producers behind the film promised to file as many as tens of thousands of lawsuits against people accused of illegally downloading the movie. Now, Voltage Pictures has finally provided a little bite to back up ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... Apple may have to mount a wholesale offensive against Vietnam if developmental gadgets keep surreptitiously appearing in the Asian nation. An iPhone 4G recently surfaced, and now an iPod Touch with a 2-megapixel camera has materialized, as well. This begs just one important question: When can we get one? [From: Engadget] Google ...

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2010/05/03/riaa-can-unmask-anonymous-file-sharers-u-s-court-rules/'; If you've ever been unlucky enough to get caught in the crosshairs of a copyright infringement case, chances are that whoever was pressing charges knew your full name. If you think about it, it's pretty creepy. But, according to a U.S. appeals court, it's completely legal. A recent ...

We're accustomed to overstatement and morally questionable tactics from the MPAA and RIAA. Remember, these are the crews that sued a single mom for $1.9 million over 24 illegally downloaded songs, wanted anti-virus companies to start scanning for pirated media and called file sharers a bunch of drug-dealing Al Qaeda operatives. But nothing they've done before could possibly approach the level of ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... The iPad extravaganza has officially begun, and after weeks of leaks and hints, the wave of app announcements and partnerships is reaching tsunami status. According to various reports and screenshots, iPad owners will have access to thousands of appealing apps, including offerings from ABC, Netflix and Hulu. [From: Engadget and ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... The iPad arrives in just a few days, and Apple is apparently trying to reveal a few unattractive contract specs inconspicuously while the media is occupied with the grand public unveiling. According to the iPad licensing agreement, owners will be eligible to receive one free OS upgrade, but will be forced to pay for any ...

Share Part of being a good user and consumer is understanding how technology works, why we use it the way we do, and what the barrage of acronyms and PR jargon means. We're here to help you make sense of it all and give you a better appreciation for how that pile of transistors, pixels, and antennas works together to deliver the conveniences of the modern world to your living room or office. ...

In case you forgot, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is still dropping lawsuits on folks. Some of the easiest and most common targets of these copyright cases are college students. After all, those troublemakers are always trying to get something for nothing, right? Well, one enterprising dumb University of Georgia employee recently decided he'd exploit students' fear of the ...

Back in July, a grad student from Providence named Joel Tenenbaum was ordered by a federal jury to pay four record companies $675,000 worth of damages for illegally downloading and sharing music, and to destroy all of his illegally obtained songs. In a memorandum (PDF) released on Monday, though, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner explained her reasoning for not ordering Tenenbaum to refrain from ...

Matthew White, of Sacramento, California, has found himself in a rather unfortunate situation; he's been accused of downloading child pornography. On the advice of his public defender, White is pleading guilty in hopes of cutting his potential 20-year sentence down to three and a half years. After serving his time, White will have to serve 10 years of probation and register as a sex offender. ...

In their never-ending game of finger pointing, music executives have blamed everyone and everything under the sun for the industry's woes. But after learning about a new study from the U.K., the suits might have one less scapegoat, and a little more cause for concern. According to the Independent, a new poll commissioned by Demos, a U.K. think tank, found that people who admit to illegally ...

A new government proposal, together with recent actions taken by Apple, could greatly restrict and hamper the Web activities of many British residents. The U.K. government is reportedly targeting illegal file sharing on peer-to-peer sites like LimeWire. The government crackdown involves a plan to implement several restrictions against repeat offenders who illegally download protected material ...