Tag: RIAA

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell issued a ruling that would make it easier for copyright holders to obtain personal information on anyone suspected of illegally downloading copyrighted files. The verdict was met with complaints from ISPs and consumer rights groups, with many arguing that it would allow copyright holders to pursue frivolous lawsuits in the hopes of striking ...

LimeWire officially shut its doors in October, and many potential pirates have been left in a lurch wondering where they can get the latest Lady Gaga album for free. Alternatives like FrostWire and BitTorrent have seen an uptick in use since the insanely popular sharing network went down, but not quite the jump one would have expected. In fact, since the courts brought down the P2P file-sharing ...

Add 'BitTorrent' and 'RapidShare' to the long list of terms for which Google won't help you search. In an apparent attempt to curry favor with the MPAA and RIAA, the company has begun blocking all "piracy related" terms from its Autocomplete feature. (TorrentFreak reports that Instant search results have also been blocked, but searches still instantly appear for us, once we complete the term. It ...

Over Thanksgiving weekend, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized 82 websites, most of which were shut down for selling counterfeit designer handbags and sunglasses. But caught up in the massive virtual raid were several music blogs, including OnSmash.com, RapGodFathers.com and rmx4u.com. The sites were shut down for posting copyrighted material without the permission ...

According to sources in contact with CNET, the FBI is pushing forward with an investigation of 4chan and the Internet vigilante collective known as Anonymous, which has loose ties to the controversial message board. Anonymous and its members, who frequent the 4chan boards, have unleashed a flurry of DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks over the past few months on individuals and ...

Jammie Thomas-Rasset has endured a long legal battle with the recording industry ever since she was accused of illegally downloading files in 2006. Her case took another turn for the worse yesterday, after a Minneapolis jury decided -- in her third trial -- that she was liable for $1.5 million in copyright infringement damages to Capitol Records. The Minnesota woman was ordered to pay the ...

Cash-strapped record labels are undoubtedly rejoicing today, now that LimeWire has officially shut down its peer-to-peer filesharing client. As All Things Digital explains, the move comes in response to a federal court injunction that requires the company to shut down "the searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality, and/or all functionality" of its core ...

Selling a platinum album may seem like small potatoes for a band like Soundgarden, whose hit 'Superunknown' went five times platinum following its release in 1994. But, in the era of iTunes and rampant piracy, even going gold is a serious accomplishment. With the release of its greatest hits album, 'Telephantasm,' Soundgarden has scored its fourth platinum-selling album, and this one on the first ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... The "Old Spice Guy" just valiantly strode off with an Emmy award, and Urlesque is honoring the viral phenomenon's accomplishment with a variety of LOLcat-themed captions. [From: Urlesque] The appearance of 'Halo Reach' on filesharing sites has prompted Microsoft to ominously, in the words of a 12-year-old messageboard flamer, warn ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... There might not be a media circus surrounding overnight campers, limited supplies or celebrity line-cutters, but the promising $199 Droid X super phone is making its official Verizon debut today. [From: Engadget] This summer, the World Cup cemented itself as the Earth's (and -- somewhat surprisingly -- the U.S.'s) most watched ...

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 ...

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 ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... The Recording Industry Association of America recently triumphed over filesharers in a momentous Limewire copyright suit, and now the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) apparently hopes to achieve its own victory over Google. The BPI has issued a cease and desist letter to the search engine in hopes that Google will remove ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) already nailed the file-sharing site Limewire in court, but the RIAA won't be content with a possibly devastating monetary settlement. The organization is reportedly seeking a permanent injunction against the site, because it wants the courts to "rein in this massive infringing ...

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 ...