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German eDonkey servers shut down
2007-07-17 19:28:00
File-sharing service eDonkey suffered a heavy blow on Friday as Germ an music industry lawyers won a fight in the battle to to shut down the Donkey’s servers. The District Court in Hamburg has made a temporary injunction to the operator of an eDonkey server. Heise reports that the computer must be taken offline for “as long ...
More About: Servers , Shut , Serve

Zune DRM successfully cracked
2007-07-16 18:45:00
The digital rights management scheme that guards media bought from the Zune Market place has been compromised, says a forum post and subsequent reports from users themselves. An updated version of the controversial FairUse4WM now exposes and strips the secret keys for the proprietary format as well as any song or video that uses the ...
More About: Cracked

uTorrent v1.7.3341 Final
2007-07-13 14:13:00
uTorrent is an efficient and feature rich BitTorrent client for Windows sporting a very small footprint. It was designed to use as little cpu, memory and space as possible while offering all the functionality expected from advanced clients. Changelog - Change: use cached scrape stats if scrapes fail (up to 24 hours) - Change: “When µTorrent has reached ...
More About: Software , Final , Utorrent , Fina

Hollywood Transformers Terror
2007-07-12 16:00:00
Scary stuff isn’t just restricted to the screen anymore Tinseltown, in a travesty of pure horrible power, has listed five people arrested for allegedly using a camcorder to film the new Tran sformer s movie. Regular officers were conscripted to this duty as unpaid corporate copyright cops, as p2pnet puts it.
More About: Hollywood , Terror

The Pirate Bay Interview
2007-07-12 15:52:00
TorrentFreak has some info on the latest BitLord episode in which they interview Brokep of the infamous Pirate Bay: The BitLord show released a special episode in which they interview with Brokep from The Pirate Bay . Brokep talks about TPB?s contribution to the BitTorrent scene, their secret upcoming project, the new anonymous P2P protocol they are ...
More About: Interview , Rate , Irate

TPB launches image hosting
2007-06-22 12:24:00
The Pirate Bay, which bills itself as the world?s largest bittorrent tracker, has launched a completely uncensored image hosting service called BayImg. They support .zip and .rar files as well for archives and maximum file size is 100mb.
More About: Hosting , Image , Image Hosting

Judge halts RIAA ?illegal? activity
2007-06-21 11:34:00
The RIAA’s campaign against students in New Mexico has been stalled after a federal judge forbade the anti-piracy body from getting private data from university networks. The RIAA had put up a case against 16 people it claimed were file sharing. It wanted to use the court’s powers to get the university to provide the names ...
More About: Judge , Piracy , Illegal , Riaa

MusicGiants: WMA Lossless Music, DRM-Free
2007-06-20 12:54:00
MusicGiants isn?t the most well-known online music download service out there, but they?ve been pumping out WMA Lossless files since 2005. Until a couple weeks ago, all of the super hi-res files were locked down with Windows Media DRM, but no more! Right now you can only get Paul McCartney?s Memory Almost Full DRM-free in ...
More About: Music , Free

Mininova hits 2 billion downloads
2007-06-14 11:35:00
Mininova, one of the most popular BitTorrent search engines, experiences a massive growth in the first half of 2007, and today they served the 2 billionth .torrent download, according to TorrentFreak: In January, when mininova celebrated its second anniversary, they passed the 1 billion download mark. It wasn?t really a surprise that getting to 2 billion ...
More About: Internet , Downloads , Hits , Nova

TorrentSpy ordered to start tracking visitors
2007-06-11 16:37:00
TorrentSpy, one of the world?s largest torrent dump sites, has been ordered by a federal judge to monitor its users in order to create detailed logs of their activities which must then be handed over to the MPAA. According to CNET News.com. federal judge Jacqueline Chooljian requested that Torrentspy (what?s in a name) must start creating ...
More About: Torrent , Start , Visitors , Tracking , Visi

uTorrent 1.7 Beta 2539
2007-06-10 12:38:00
uTorrent is an efficient and feature rich BitTorrent client for Windows sporting a very small footprint. It was designed to use as little cpu, memory and space as possible while offering all the functionality expected from advanced clients. Download | Change Log | Homepage — 2007-06-07: Version 1.7 (build 2539) - Fix: Switch focus to the tab control ...
More About: Software , Beta , Rent , Utorrent

Tips on how to not get busted for file-sharing
2007-06-07 16:06:00
ZeroPaid has a good list of basic tips on how to enjoy sharing your favourite files, and not get busted while doing so. Check it out.
More About: File Sharing , Tips , Torrent , File , Busted

RIAA backed Congress people named and shamed
2007-06-04 18:37:00
The Consumerist magazine has published a list of Congress people who have taken money from the Recording Industry of America (RIAA) in a bid to get themselves elected. The money is not large by campaign fund standards but might give an indication of who the RIAA thinks supports it in Congress. They seem to be a mix ...
More About: People , Sham , Riaa , Shame

Pirates of the Internet: At Intellectual Property?s End
2007-05-31 13:18:00
The ever controversial Pirate Bay is messing with Hollywood again. They?ve put up a new logo which links to pirated copies of the blockbuster movie ?Pirates of the Caribbean: At World?s End?. To make it even more juicy, they are also selling a T-shirt with the logo on it in the new and improved Pirate ...
More About: Internet , Piracy , Property , Torrent

New AACS key is found
2007-05-31 13:14:00
The hackers over at the Doom 9 forums have once again conquered AACS by discovering the updated decryption key used on new HD DVD and Blu Ray discs. According to forum posters, the key has been verified to work on new movies like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man?s Chest. Interestingly the key was originally posted ...
More About: Copy Protection

Apple?s DRM free music has secret weapon
2007-05-31 13:01:00
Apple’s iTunes “DRM free” music has a large amount of user details embedded in the track. Songs sold without an DRM will have a user’s full name and account e-mail embedded in them. The big idea is that if you stick the DRM-free song on your favourite P2P network it could come back to get you, ...
More About: Music , Downloads , Apple , Free Music , Free

P2P users tricked into becoming pirates
2007-05-31 12:58:00
P2P networks are increasingly being used to trick PCs into attacking other machines, according to New Scientist magazine. The trick is to subvert the P2P network so that several connected PCs gang up to attack a single machine to make a DoS attack. Darren Rennick of internet security outfit Prolexic told New Scientist that this sort ...
More About: Pirates , Torrent , Users , Rates , Ming

DRM-free iTunes set this week?
2007-05-28 20:48:00
Apple is prepared to launch its DRM-free catalog of music from EMI this week, according to French sources familiar with negotiations for multiple online music stores. The seeming delay for introducing the new tier of content has been primarily attributed to a desire to offer the entire catalog at once in the unprotected format rather ...
More About: Itunes , Free , Week , Tune

DirecTV Sues Comcast Over False Advertising
2007-05-26 13:36:00
Competition in the cable and television industry is as fierce as it is in the IT industry. This week, two major television giants DirecTV and Comcast go up against each other in a case over false advertising. DirecTV filed a lawsuit against Comcast this week over an ad campaign that DirecTV claims is untrue. According to ...
More About: Advertising , Advert , False Advertising , Vert

Blu-Ray Lawsuit Filed Against Sony
2007-05-26 13:27:00
According to the story, the lawsuit alleges that Sony ’s use of the Blu-Ray disk drive violates patents Target Technology has on reflective layer materials in optical discs. Target is seeking an injunction against Sony along with unspecified damages. Full Story: GameSpot.com
More About: Lawsuit , Ray L , Suit

RIAA Wants Public Radio to Pay Royalties
2007-05-25 12:23:00
DailyTech has a story of how the RIAA is now going after public radio and wants a royalty fee from them soon. An excerpt: Recent studies show that sales of music have actually increased over the last several years despite arguments from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) that online MP3 sharing negatively impact sales. ...
More About: Radio , Public , Want , Ants , Royalties

AACS body proposes DRM ease-up
2007-05-25 12:19:00
It seems that the hubbub over DRM might persuade the copyright cops to leave consumers with some of the rights they already have. Like the right to make a copy of a disk you own, just in case you lose or spoil the original. As the copy control body in charge of AACS (Advanced Access Content ...
More About: Body , Copy Protection , Ease , Pose , Prop

Nine Inch Nails Frontman Says His Record Company Is Run By ?Thieves?
2007-05-24 15:53:00
Trent Reznor points out the very problem with the music industry in this day and age. The people in charge of the decision making are arrogant, money hungry, and will do what ever it takes for the bottom line. I’m willing to bet that this backward thinking of pricing it at $35 will actually net ...
More About: Company , Other , Nine Inch Nails , Nails , Inch

PirateBay Launching YouTube Competition
2007-05-20 17:44:00
The rumors have been flying about all week that the mega torrent site was entering the video foray, and these rumors now seem to be true. It has now been confirmed by the TPB guys that they are in fact in the process of building a YouTube competitor. The interesting part is that TPB is ...
More About: Youtube , Competition , Rate , Petit , Piratebay

First BitTorrent convict loses appeal
2007-05-18 21:04:00
Chan Nai-ming, the Hong Kong man reportedly the first to go to court over using BitTorrent, lost his appeal last week and must now face the music. Nai-ming was convicted in late 2005. After spending several weeks in jail, his motion for appeal was granted. However, the second ruling also found him guilty. He must now be in prison for another three months. BitTorrent has become a popular means of illegal peer-to-peer file distribution, but it’s difficult to track down the originator of a copyrighted file. Nai-ming was actually caught with pirated versions of three motion pictures during a standard customs check. They then traced him to sharing the movies online via BitTorrent. “He plainly succeeded in distributing copies of the films in question. The appeal must accordingly be dismissed,” said the judges in their ruling. The case can not be appealed any higher. Source: TGDaily.com
More About: First , Rent , Bittorrent , Appeal

New HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc Copy Protection Defeated Before Release
2007-05-18 20:57:00
The Advanced Access Content System (AACS) Licensing Administration’s soon to be released patch designed to keep pirates from copying HD-DVDs which has already been hacked. The new volume key used by high-def films scheduled for release next week has already been cracked before it even hits the shops. The AACS LA had invalidated the previous volume key after it was shared across the Internet. Version 3 will be used on all HD DVDs from now on. However SlySoft’s AnyDVD HD program can apparently be used to rip HD DVD discs that use AACS version 3. This is known because although Version 3 will not hit the shelves until next week, pirates have already successfully tested SlySoft’s program with early release previews of the Matrix trilogy. It appears that hackers are able to adapt to AACS revisions and is demonstrating a capacity to assimilate new volume keys at a rate which is making the AACS look very silly. AACS LA chairman Michael Ayers said early this month that the ...
More About: Release , Copy Protection , Copy , Lease , Blu-ray Disc

Amazon announces long-rumored DRM-free music store
2007-05-16 19:20:00
Amazon announced this morning that it plans to launch a music store later this year that will sell unprotected MP3 files from thousands of record labels. Amazon has licences to sell music from 12,000 record labels, including EMI Group’s digital catalogue. Millions of songs will be sold without Digital Rights Management (DRM) software, allowing ...
More About: Music , Amazon , Free Music , Free , Store

Pirate Bay says stolen database safe
2007-05-14 20:24:00
p2p site The Pirate Bay assured the guys at the Inquirer that their stolen database is safe, with the sensitive data intact and uncompromised. “There was a stupid coding error and they found a hole in the blog software which they exploited through a SQL injection,” Sunde said, but insisted he wasn’t going to “rat them out”. “As soon as they put it onto the net, I rang them up and let them know we knew who’d done it. They told us they got a copy of all the user names and the encrypted passwords but they couldn’t crack it,” he claimed. “They realised they had done something stupid and disposed of all the data,” he said, implying it was a group of youngsters who were out to impress but “afraid of a backlash” from more ’senior’ groups. Full Story: TheInquirer.net
More About: Stolen , Database , Taba , Safe

Hackers breach PCs via Quicktime and Winzip
2007-05-14 20:13:00
Cyber criminals are trying to gain unauthorized access to PCs via security holes in QuickTime and WinZip programs, security firm Symantec has warned. In its latest security alert, Symantec said malicious websites have been modified to exploit security flaws in both pieces of software. Although the flaws had been identified early as last year, Symantec said that this is the first time they had observed their use for hacking online. The attacks work by placing malicious code with multiple exploits on websites, Symantec said in a security alert. The sites appear to be that of a trusted financial institution, but instead attempt to silently install keystroke-logging software, according to Symantec. Links to the sites are likely to be advertised in spam, it said. Source: ComputerWeekly.com
More About: Hackers , Reach , Breach , Quicktime , Brea

Trent Reznor: ?No wonder people steal music?
2007-05-13 15:05:00
Nine Inch Nails’s Trent Reznor has updated his blog: As the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more. A couple of examples that quickly come to mind: * The ABSURD retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia. Shame ...
More About: Music , People , Wonder , Teal , Steal