Law & Policy

Litigation against file-sharers rolls on. On the film front, "potentially trying to avoid a pr disaster after suing a … Wisconsin grandfather for $600,000 because his 12 year-old grandson downloaded four movies, the MPAA has offered Fred Lawrence a deal: pay $4,000 over 18 months to settle the case," BetaNews reports. The grandfather says he knows nothing about file-sharing, they already own three … [Read more...] about Latest P2P news

Grokster, the file-sharing service that played the "title role" in the Supreme Court case decided last June, has agreed in a legal settlement with the RIAA to stop distributing its P2P software, many tech-news outlets report. Illegal file-sharing probably won't be affected much by this and similar shut-downs, however, because "millions of people already have the Grokster software on their … [Read more...] about P2P service shut down

More risks online, that is. A new study of youth online behavior found that 51% of US 8-to-18-year-olds say their schools' computer-use rules are tougher than their home rules. "The findings suggest that less rigid supervision at home increases kids' freedom to surf inappropriate Web sites, download digital copyrighted works such as software and music without paying for it, and chat with … [Read more...] about More risk-taking at home

Who would've thought a music CD could harm the family PC?! That's basically what digital music fans have discovered about Sony BMG CDs that've been sold since last March, and there is quite an uproar about it, the Washington Post reports. It does make one think twice about buying Sony CDs if the copyright-protection tech on them can make one's computer vulnerable to hackers and viruses. The … [Read more...] about Sony anti-piracy move: Music fans irate

What will it be like for the some 10 million people using P2P services at any given moment around the world? The Washington Post looked at that question, but I don't think it's fully answered yet. I hope any readers who have file-sharing experts at their house will send me their answers! The Post says that "in the simplest terms, the P2P sites will begin using a filter to keep users from trading … [Read more...] about File-sharing’s future