News on Internet File Sharing

FTC notifies 100 organizations about P2P leaks

2010-02-23T04:15:18Z

<div id="subtitle">The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday it alerted nearly 100 companies, both small and large, that their sensitive data was leaked on file-sharing networks.</div><div><p>The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday said it has identified widespread data leaks from businesses, schools and local governments on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks. As a co...

FTC warns firms, organizations of widespread data breach

2010-02-22T16:16:20Z

<div><p>The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Monday it has notified nearly 100 companies and organizations of data breaches involving personal information about customers or employees.</p><p>The FTC declined to identify the companies or organizations involved, but said they were both "private and public entities, including schools and local governments."</p><p>The c...

Judge slashes 'monstrous' fine in music piracy case

2010-02-22T15:11:08Z

<div><p>Condemning a two-million-dollar fine meted out to a Minnesota woman for illegally downloading music over the Internet as "monstrous and shocking," a judge has slashed the penalty to 54,000 dollars.</p><p>US District Court Michael Davis said the fine imposed ...

Comcast Settles File-Sharing Lawsuit

2010-02-23T11:44:39Z

<div id="subtitle">Complaint alleged that carrier blocked peer-to-peer connections</div><div><p>Comcast has agreed to settle a class action accusing the wireless provider of blocking access to peer-to-peer websites. The agreement brings an end to two years of litigation that sparked heated debate over whether Innternet providers should be allowed to filter content, and ho...

China closes file-sharing sites in crackdown

2010-02-23T18:34:29Z

<div id="subtitle">China closes file-sharing sites in what it says is copyright crackdown</div><div><p>China has closed one of the country's largest file-sharing sites in what it says is a fight against copyright infringement, but could be seen as another measure aimed at controlling what content the country's Web users can find online.</p><p>The file-sharing site BTCHINA...

Joost assets bought by online ad company Adconion

2010-02-24T01:09:41Z

<div id="subtitle">Video startup Joost gets bought by online ad company Adconion Media Group for undisclosed sum</div><div><p>The struggling online video startup Joost, begun with much fanfare by the creators of Skype and Kazaa, has been sold to an online advertising co...

House lawmakers push ban on peer-to-peer software

2010-02-24T03:53:25Z

<div id="subtitle">Lawmakers want to restrict use of 'peer-to-peer' after disclosure of ethics committee report</div><div><p>Stung by an embarrassing electronic leak last month revealing ethics investigations into dozens of lawmakers, Congress moved Tuesday to prohibit federal employees from using the same type of Internet file-sharing software blamed for the disclosure.</p><p>The Secure Federal File Sharing Act,...

UK threatens Web access block in piracy fight

2010-02-24T13:20:36Z

<div><p>WATFORD, England (Reuters) - Britain is to push ahead with a law to clamp down on illegal file sharing, that would start with a series of warning letters and could result in repeat offenders losing their Internet connection.</p><p>The proposals, which were set out by Ludvig Werner, chair...

House weighs bill protecting accidental P2P data leaks

2010-02-24T22:14:21Z

<div id="subtitle">A bill now under consideration by the U.S. House requires peer-to-peer providers to tell users when they are sharing files that all can see.</div><div><p>The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee has passed a bill ...

Army Special Forces document leaked on P2P network

2010-02-24T22:14:12Z

<div id="subtitle">A leaked document contained the names, Social Security numbers, home phone numbers and home addresses of 463 soldiers.</div><div><p>A recent breach involved a U.S. Army Special Forces document containing the names, Social Security numbers, home phone numbers and home addresses of 463 soldiers from the Third Special Forc...

France approves ban for illegal downloaders

2010-02-25T04:07:43Z

<div><p>The French parliament on Tuesday gave its final approval to an Internet piracy bill that has drawn attention from around the world with its provision to cut illegal downloaders off from the Internet.</p><p>The bill, which was opposed by consumer groups but had the backing of the music and film industry, is one of the toughest ever drafted in the global fight against the illegal downloading of films, music and computer games.<...

British pop divided in file sharing debate

2010-02-25T04:38:01Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - Top British pop acts disagreed on Monday over how to tackle illegal file sharers, with singer Lily Allen challenging a new statement from a group of artists that includes Annie Lennox and Radiohead.</p>&...

Ilegal downloaders face web ban in France

2010-02-25T07:04:57Z

<div><p>A bill that will allow authorities to cut illegal downloaders off from the worldwide web was on Tuesday approved by French lawmakers.</p><p>One of the toughest ever drafted in the global fight against Internet piracy, the bill has drawn attention from across the world as countries debate how to deal with the illegal downloading of films, music and computer games.</p><p>The revamped bill passed through

French Culture Minister Mitterrand reacts after the Internet piracy law vote at the National Assembly in Paris

2009-09-15T10:41:31Z

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand reacts after the Internet piracy law vote at the National Assembly in Paris September 15, 2009. France's disputed Internet piracy law so-called "Hadopi" law, which would allow authorities to disconnect repeat illegal downloaders, passed the lower house of parliament in revised form. REUTERS/Charles Platiau (FRANCE ENTERTAINMENT POLITICS ...

UK proposes cutting Web access to file sharers

2010-02-25T16:09:22Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - Repeat offenders who persist in illegally downloading music from file-sharing sites such as Limewire could be blocked from accessing the Web under British government proposals issued on Tuesday.</p><p>The government said it was publishing new ideas to speed up the process of tackling unlawful peer-to-peer file sharing to prevent damage to the conten...

The Technology of Peer-To-Peer (P2P) Downloads

2010-02-25T22:16:56Z

It was just about two decades ago that an online technology called Peer-to-Peer evolved. Also known popularly and in short as P2P, it refers to the connection of 2 computers or 2 network systems via the internet. In P2P downloads, there is no intermediary server involved; the 2 computers are the server and the client.<br><br>Their roles change depending on which of them is downloading and which is uploading. Sometime, both actions can happen simultaneously so that ...

Why Legal Movie Download Sites Will Supersede Bootleg Movies Online

2010-02-26T01:34:53Z

There has been an increasing number of legal movie download sites appearing online, since Clickbank and other began to rein in the illegal P2P sites that have been prevalent in the past. However, bootleg movies online downloads have not decreased very significantly because of this, which indicates that there is still a market for illegal downloads in spite of the increased availability of the legal equivalents.<br><br>Why is this? Is it because of the thrill of bea...

Music Downloading

2009-07-31T07:30:37Z

Joel Tenenbaum, a graduate student from Providence, R.I., poses outside federal court, after taking the stand in his defense in his copyright-infringement trial, Thursday, July 30, 2009, in Boston. Tenenbaum is accused of illegally swapping music through an online file-sharing network. (AP Photo/Bizuayehu Tesfaye...

First lady's safe house location leaked on P2P

2010-02-26T02:48:28Z

<div id="subtitle">Also found: a listing of the locations of all U.S. nuclear facilities and a document containing the personal information of hundreds of thousands of U.S. military members.</div><div><p>A recent high-profile breach that illustrates the continuing risk of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing programs has ex...