piracy

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a trade organization which represents the interests of U.S. recording industry distributors, says that Google isn't doing enough to prevent copyright infringement and piracy. In a recent report, ... the RIAA claims that Google has done very little to prevent people from pirating music -- despite the fact that the search giant promised to focus significant attention on discouraging piracy roughly six months ago. RIAA: Promises Remain Unfulfilled And while RIAA lawyer Steven M. Marks says that the RIAA does "recognize and appreciate that Google ... (view more)

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has shut down a leading "direct download" file-sharing site: Megaupload. In addition, employees have been charged with copyright-related offenses. Megaupload is designed to share files, regardless of ... legality. The site also allowed users to post links to the copyrighted files so anyone could obtain them. Overall, critics suggest Megaupload was much easier to use than other file-sharing sites, such as torrents or newsgroups. The site was also free of charge for most users. Anyone prepared to pay for premium membership got priority service, higher ... (view more)

A year-long study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reveals that claims by Hollywood and the music recording industry about the devastating effect of piracy have been overblown. The GAO, the audit and investigative arm of Congress, ... was asked by lawmakers to conduct the study in 2008 because they were trying to find ways to strengthen efforts to protect intellectual property. The GAO studied digital music, movies, and software. (Source: cnet.com ) The GAO spent a year studying how piracy and illegal counterfeiting affects the United States, but still can't make any positive ... (view more)

Four parties responsible for the widespread bootleg version of Microsoft's Windows XP in China have been found guilty and sentenced to spend as much as three and a half years in a Chinese prison. China has long been linked with international cyber ... crime and foreign malware. However, according to Xinhua -- the official news agency of the People's Republic of China -- the hundreds of thousands of other cases of online deviance pales in comparison to the bootlegged "Tomato Garden" version of Windows XP. Biggest Piracy Case in Chinese History Created in 2004, the Tomato Garden has had a ... (view more)

In the aftermath of the Pirate Bay verdict , many are now on the lookout for other forms of online piracy. Among the latest batch of uncovered copyright-snubbing websites is a Google-based search platform called Torrent Search. Want to watch a hot ... new theater release, but are unwilling to pay the price of admission? Type in the movie title on Torrent Search and you can be instantly directed to thousands of popular piracy websites. Google Fueling Pro-Piracy Campaigns While the search platform was probably not created by someone working for Google, seeing as how almost anyone can create a page ... (view more)

It's a bit cliche, but the message still holds true: when the President of the United States speaks, the world listens. Such was the case when President Obama laid out his recent economic stimulus plan with the desire to invest billions of dollars ... towards the expansion of broadband access across America. Now, Britain is once again following in America's footsteps, this time in the field of technology. If all goes well, the government predicts that every home in Britain could have Internet access by 2012. (Source: nytimes.com ) The U.K. government wants to make broadband a universal signal, ... (view more)