Law & Policy

The trend snowballs (already). We're barely into the "Everywhere TV" era, and already there are tools for putting TV on the video iPod and Playstation Portable, The Register reports. First it cites TiVoToGo and blinkx.tv To Go, adding that "four other US companies, Hauppauge Computer Works, InterVideo, Proxure and Bling Software have launched products this week that do something similar, mostly … [Read more...] about More ‘everywhere TV’

At least not in the UK. I'm referring to lawsuits by the music industry against file-sharers and a just-released study about it cited in The Guardian. The survey, conducted by market research firm Mori for AOL UK, found that "51% of those who currently download tracks do so illegally." It also indicated "a large degree of confusion among consumers about whether or not they were breaking copyright … [Read more...] about Lawsuits not ‘helping’

The operative word in that headline is "loses." This is one of the rare cases in which the defendant didn't settle with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). But it's interesting that the defendant was mainly identified as a mother in the coverage: Nearly all of the 100+ news sites and papers around the world that picked up the story have "mom" in their headlines. In this case, … [Read more...] about File-sharer loses case

File-sharers may think I'm talking about Kazaa, whose parent Sharman Networks has complied with an Australian federal court order in an interesting way. Instead of adding a filtering system that blocks copyrighted music, as ordered, Sharman has only "cut off Australians' access to the Web site from which the file-swapping software Kazaa can be downloaded," CNET reports (for more detail and … [Read more...] about File-sharing unabated

To a file-sharer, Kazaa will not even be a shadow of its former self, this still-popular service that was once No. 1 but long ago overtaken by eDonkey and BitTorrent. A federal judge in Australia has ordered Kazaa's parent Sharman Networks to add to the software "filters aimed at preventing users of the software from swapping copyrighted material," the Associated Press reports. What that means, … [Read more...] about The new Kazaa