Law & Policy

Hollywood has an interest in keeping kids' file-sharing under control, and now they've delivered on it. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is providing free software called "Parent File Scan" that scans your computer for P2P programs and movie and music files. Here's a review and explanation of how the software works at Freedom to Tinker, personal blog of Princeton University … [Read more...] about Free anti-P2P tool for parents

This week saw the first convictions of file-sharers, Reuters reports. But the two middle-aged men from Texas and New York state were not your run-of-the-mill users of P2P services like Kazaa (more than 7,000 of whom have been sued by the recording industry to date). They "operated hubs in a file-sharing network that required members to share between one gigabyte and 100 gigabytes of material, the … [Read more...] about File-sharers convicted: A first

And everyone else - maybe including parents, teachers, and librarians who worry that students have forgotten about libraries and media other than the Web! At least there will be more good material to find on the Web, with Google's announcement today. Google is adding some of the world's best libraries to its database, bringing them "to life online," as CNET put it. "Google itself was born out of a … [Read more...] about Good news for young researchers

Here's a twist - sort of like iTunes and Kazaa in a single package. "While the music industry attempts to shutter peer-to-peer services in court and in Congress, one company is using P2P networks to promote and pay artists," Wired News reports. It's called Weed and it allows file-sharers to download a song and play it three times for free. The fourth time, they pay a dollar (iTunes-style pricing). … [Read more...] about Blending free and fee in P2P

To enlist parents' help in discouraging kids' file-sharing, the film industry will offer free software that detects "P2P files," CNET reports. The Register goes a bit far in its assessment that the Motion Picture Association of America's move "is designed to split families right down the middle. The MPAA hopes that new software will encourage parents to turn their children over to the authorities … [Read more...] about MPAA’s ‘favor’ to parents