Music piracy - archive for January 2005

Music piracy ('muziekpiraterij' in dutch) is a very complex phenomenon to comprehend. These pages wishes to address all of you who are interested in music piracy in a broad sense. You'll find articles related to music and video piracy (with special attention to articles from Belgium and the Netherlands).

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Archive

BitTorrent Remains Powerhouse Network

The month of December 2004 was an ill-fated month for BitTorrent. First, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) began a worldwide campaign to eradicate BitTorrent and eDonke2000 indexing and listing sites. On the surface, the effort seemed successful as Youceff Torrent (BitTorrent), ShareConnector (ED2K) and many others were forced off line. The second blow came on December 19, 2004, when Sloncek announced that SuprNova.org would discontinue its existence (...)

Date: 2005, January 31 | Source (EN): Slyck News

Why punish the technology?

"Grokster and StreamCast are simply digital-age versions of the record sellers or dance-hall operators that, when facing liability for failing to supervise or control the infringement from which they directly profit, seek to evade that liability by leaving the dirty work to others."

Date: 2005, January 31 | Source (EN): Zdnet

Noorse student veroordeeld voor mp3-links

Een Noorse student moet een boete van bijna 16.000 dollar betalen omdat hij op zijn site links naar mp3-bestanden aanbood.

Date: 2005, January 29 | Source (NL): Webwereld

RIAA sues 717 alleged copyright cheaters

The latest bout of legal action brings the total number of individuals sued for allegedly sharing music illegally to almost 8,500. The RIAA last fired off a round of lawsuits in December 2004, targeting 754 alleged copyright infringers.

Date: 2005, January 28 | Source (EN): The Register

Plans for Australian download chart delayed by retailers

The Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) is moving ahead with plans to develop a chart for downloaded tracks, but its launch has been delayed because of the reluctance of some online retailers to participate.

Date: 2005, January 28 | Source (EN): Zdnet

New Round of Lawsuits Brought Against 717 Illegal File Sharers

More than seven hundred illegal file sharers were sued today by the music industry for copyright infringement as part of its ongoing effort to protect the work of record labels, musicians, writers, producers and others from theft through illegal downloading on the Internet. The number of university network users targeted in these suits is nearly three times the number sued in recent rounds, signaling a continuing effort to step up anti-piracy enforcement on college campuses.

Date: 2005, January 27 | Source (EN): Collegiate Presswire

File-sharing battles leave us out

You think the red state-blue state divide is deep? Nothing rivals the shrillness between the content industry and P2P file sharers. You want name-calling? File sharers are "thieves" and "pirates." The Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America are "evil," and one commenter to a recent CNET News.com story said the RIAA sought nothing less than world domination.

Date: 2005, January 27 | Source (EN): Cnet

Norway Court Upholds Napster Conviction

Norway's supreme court ruled Thursday that a student whose Napster.no homepage was linked to free Internet music files must compensate the music industry. The country's highest court upheld a lower court ruling that ordered the student to pay $15,900 in compensation. The published version of the court ruling withheld the student's name.

Date: 2005, January 27 | Source (EN): Forbes

Sony preps PlayStation 'music download service'

Sony is to make a second attempt to challenge Apple's lead in the digital music download market and the Mac maker's almost-ubiquitous iPod courtesy of the PlayStation Portable. According to a Marketing magazine report, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) plans to launch a music service specifically for the PSP, which is expected to arrive in Europe and the US in March.

Date: 2005, January 27 | Source (EN): The Register

Online ruilen komt onder Amerikaans vuur te liggen

De Bush-regering is van plan strenger op te treden tegen de illegale online handel in films en muziek. Daartoe is een verzoek ingediend bij het Amerikaanse Hooggerechtshof, om eerdere uitspraken over illegaal kopiëren te herzien. Een 21 jaar oude uitspraak van het Hof staat centraal in de zaak, bericht IT-tijdschrif Techweb. In 1984 werd Sony vrijgesproken van inbreuk op auteursrecht door de verkoop van Betamax-videorecorders - toen een splinternieuwe technologie. Film- en televisiemaatschappijen klaagden dat Sony "illegaal kopiëren" mogelijk maakte.

Date: 2005, January 26 | Source (NL): Zdnet

Coalition supports RIAA, MPAA in Grokster case

A broad group of trade groups, recording artists, and state attorneys general have filed briefs in support of the U.S. entertainment industry in its U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit against vendors of peer-to-peer (P-to-P) software.

Date: 2005, January 25 | Source (EN): Infoworld

Hollywood: P2P is Not About Technology

The entertainment industry urged the U.S. Supreme Court Monday afternoon not to give the companies developing peer-to-peer (P2P) music file swapping software a "perpetual free pass" to engage in "mind-boggling" copyright infringement.

Date: 2005, January 25 | Source (EN): Internet News

Devil's Advocate: Little sympathy for the music industry

The record labels would have you believe they've been victimised by music pirates and downloaders. But Martin Brampton reveals the other side of their story... Have you been shedding tears for the music industry? These embattled companies have been struggling to secure their rightful revenues against a disgraceful surge in thieving by web surfers. At least that is what they would have us believe.

Date: 2005, January 25 | Source (EN): Silicon

2005 wordt het jaar van de online muziekdiensten

In 2005 zal de online verkoop pas echt goed van de grond komen, voorspelt de IFPI. Dat is ook de mening van analistenbureau Jupiter Research, die verwacht dat de online muziekmarkt dit jaar in vergelijking met 2004 zal verdubbelen.

Date: 2005, January 25 | Source (NL): Zdnet

Warez P2P Interview

Date: 2005, January 25 | Source (EN): Slyck News

Warez P2P Claims 2 Million

"We are excited by the extreme growth of Warez P2P. It took only 4 months to go from 1 million to 2 million online," said Kaleb Kain, marketing director of Warez.com

Date: 2005, January 25 | Source (EN): Slyck News

Online music catches on, but profit is hard to find

Napster is about to expand into Germany, MTV is starting an online music store in the United States, and mobile phone companies are hard at work turning their handsets into pseudo iPods.

Date: 2005, January 24 | Source (EN): International Herald Tribune

Net music piracy goes to high court

The recording industry -- preparing for a Supreme Court showdown over online music piracy -- today files legal briefs to support its argument that operators of online song-swap networks should be liable for the actions of the people who use them. The Supreme Court hearing scheduled for March 29 will put a spotlight on why the industry believes it needs more help in stamping out piracy, which shows no signs of abating.

Date: 2005, January 24 | Source (EN): Usa Today

Bragging rights to the world's first MP3 player

Ask even seasoned MP3 buffs about the first MP3 player, and they're almost certain to name the Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300. If they really know their stuff, they'll even tell you it came out in late 1998. They're wrong either way,...

Date: 2005, January 23 | Source (EN): Cnet

Webpiraten riskeren 5 jaar cel

Twee Amerikaanse internetgebruikers hebben bekend op grote schaal muziek, films en software te hebben uitgewisseld. Zij kunnen maximaal vijf jaar gevangenisstraf krijgen en een boete van 200.000 euro. Volgens de Amerikaanse justitie betreft het de eerste veroordelingen wegens piraterij via zogenoemde peer-to-peer -netwerken (ruildiensten).

Date: 2005, January 22 | Source (NL): De Standaard

Music exec defends file-sharing lawsuits

The global music industry is fighting a determined war on piracy, suing thousands of persistent violators from teachers to managing directors, its trade association said Saturday. (...) (...) 7,000 people were sued in 2004 for sharing music illegally online, including one case of a 12-year-old girl.

Date: 2005, January 22 | Source (EN): Cnet

Muziekindustrie verandert koers inzake digitale muziek

"Eindelijk is de bedreiging een belofte geworden" Misschien wel voor het eerst in zijn geschiedenis is de IFPI positief over het aanbieden van muziek via het internet.

Date: 2005, January 21 | Source (NL): Zdnet

eXeem opens new file-swapping doors

Underground programmers hoping to capitalize on the BitTorrent file-swapping community on Friday unveiled highly anticipated software that some peer-to-peer advocates believe could blunt recent legal attacks from Hollywood. Called eXeem, the software aims to merge the speedy downloads of BitTorrent with the powerful global search capabilities of Kazaa or eDonkey. The first public version of the program was released by a company called Swarm Systems but has been associated with SuprNova (...)

Date: 2005, January 21 | Source (EN): Cnet

Supreme Court to probe P2P in March

The US Supreme Court will begin hearing spoken testimonies from the movie industry and the world of peer-to-peer networking on 29 March in order to help it decide whether P2P software providers are responsible for the actions of their users.

Date: 2005, January 21 | Source (EN): The Register

'Podcasting' Allows Anyone To Become An Instant International DJ

Thanks to the hot medium called "podcasting," thousands of budding radio personalities are spouting off on everything from music and movies to technology, pagan spells, food, fishing, art, beer and the local farm report. Podcasting -- a term coined by podcasting.net's Dannie J. Gregoire as a blend of "broadcasting" and "iPod" -- is the latest wrinkle in the blogging phenomenon, allowing tech-savvy bloggers to record their own radio programs and beam them out as MP3s.

Date: 2005, January 20 | Source (EN): Mtv

Jim downloadt de hits

Muziekverkoop via het internet vertienvoudigt BRUSSEL - De muziekzender Jim zendt een hitlijst uit die gebaseerd is op de liedjes die gekocht werden op de site van Stella Music. De zender speelt daarmee in op het groeiende succes van de on line muziekwinkels. Meteen wil hij de jongeren ook duidelijk maken dat illegaal downloaden niet door de beugel kan.

Date: 2005, January 20 | Source (NL): De Standaard

Two CU Students Now in RIAA Crosshairs

The Recording Industry Association of America subpoenaed two Columbia students Dec. 16 in a round of 745 lawsuits, bringing the total number of computer users it has sued for downloading copyrighted material of its member companies to 7,704. (...) Fighting the lawsuits in court could incur a potential cost of $750 to $150,000 per song, plus attorneys' fees, which Schultz says explains why the majority of cases are settled outside of court.

Date: 2005, January 19 | Source (EN): Columbia Spectator

Amerikaanse on line piraten pleiten schuldig

De twee, een 50-jarige man uit New York en een man van 47 uit Texas, hebben elk schuldig gepleit aan een samenzwering met de bedoeling om de auteursrechten te ontwijken. Deze beschuldiging kan hen tot 5 jaar cel en een boete van 250.000 dollar, exclusief schadevergoeding, kosten.

Date: 2005, January 19 | Source (NL): De Standaard

Legal music downloads take off

The global music industry has hailed the increase as a sign the digital music market has "taken off". A million songs are now available to buy on legal sites, according to an International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) report. IFPI boss John Kennedy said: "At last the threat has become the opportunity."

Date: 2005, January 19 | Source (EN): Bbc

Department of Justice Scores First Criminal P2P Convictions

The operation targeted the illegal file sharing of copyrighted materials over five P2P networks that belonged to a group known as the Underground Network. According to the DoJ, the networks required users to share a minimum of 1GB to 100GB of computer files with other users on the network.

Date: 2005, January 19 | Source (EN): Internet News

Global Music Sales Slipped Again in 2004 - Survey

Global music sales slipped again in 2004, but after four years of declines the record publishers will see the return of growing revenues in 2005 due to online stores and music DVDs, a survey found on Monday. Hit by piracy, Internet song swappers and saturated markets, music sales fell in 2004 by one percent to $32.1 billion. But 2005 will make up for the damage with a one percent increase, said research group Informa.

Date: 2005, January 18 | Source (EN): Reuters

Miniproducten voor een massamarkt

Van de iPod en de iPod mini gingen er in het laatste kwartaal van 2004 liefst 4,5 miljoen stuks over de toonbank. In de laatste drie maanden van 2003 waren er dat nog maar 733.000. Apple heeft met de iPod nu 70 procent van de markt van mp3-spelers in handen. Vorig jaar in januari was dat nog maar 31 procent. (...) Wereldwijd zijn er via iTunes al 230 miljoen nummers verkocht. Iedere dag worden er gemiddeld 1,25 miljoen nummers gedownload.

Date: 2005, January 18 | Source (NL): De Standaard

State bill could cripple P2P

A bill introduced in California's Legislature last week has raised the possibility of jail time for developers of file-swapping software who don't stop trades of copyrighted movies and songs online. The proposal, introduced by Los Angeles Sen. Kevin Murray, takes direct aim at companies that distribute software such as Kazaa, eDonkey or Morpheus. If passed and signed into law, it could expose file-swapping software developers to fines of up to $2,500 per charge, or a year in jail, if they don't take "reasonable care" in preventing the use of their software to swap copyrighted music or movies--or child pornography.

Date: 2005, January 18 | Source (EN): Cnet

Peer-to-peer 'seeders' could be targeted

File traders who seed peer-to-peer networks with copyrighted material can be identified and traced, according to a US company. BayTSP, based in California, US, monitors peer-to-peer (P2P) trading networks using a technique called software "spidering". The new software, called FirstSource, allows it to determine which user first uploaded a particular file for trading.

Date: 2005, January 17 | Source (EN): New Scientist

Anti P2P software developed

Music industry rejoiceth: A US p2p monitoring group reckons that it has come up with software that can identify and trace file-traders. BayTSP uses a technique called software "spidering" to determine which user first uploaded a particular file for trading. The software, called FirstSource, sends out multiple requests for a file extremely quickly. It deduces the original file sharer by assuming that only they will have the full file, having uploaded the original.

Date: 2005, January 17 | Source (EN): Inquirer

Golden oldies seek a new lease of life

(...) the value of some of the world's greatest recordings, including Elvis Presley's Blue Moon of Kentucky and That's All Right, went down. Thanks to arcane laws that govern the music industry, records lose their copyright protection in Europe just 50 years after they are made. After this period, at the start of the following January, people can sell and use recordings without paying a penny to the performers.

Date: 2005, January 16 | Source (EN): Telegraph

RIAA files suit against 2 more Penn students

The Recording Industry Association of America has filed two more lawsuits against unnamed Internet users at Penn. The two defendants are accused of illegally uploading copyrighted music onto Internet file-sharing programs.

Date: 2005, January 13 | Source (EN): Daily Pennsylvanian

Altnet seeks patent royalties from P2P

Just a few months after suing the Recording Industry Association of America, peer-to-peer company Altnet has begun seeking royalties from file-swapping companies over the same patent issues. For almost two years, Brilliant Digital Entertainment subsidiary Altnet has said it has patent rights to a basic means of identifying files on peer-to-peer networks. Now it's finally sending letters to popular file-swapping companies such as LimeWire, BearShare and StreamCast Networks, saying they need to pay for licenses or risk legal action.

Date: 2005, January 13 | Source (EN): Cnet

Audioblogs spread the musical word

By day, he's [Oliver Wang] a freelance music critic and ethnic studies student, who just finished his doctoral thesis at the University of California at Berkeley. But with a click of a mouse, he leaves the world of professors and editors and becomes O-Dub, keeper of the popular audioblog site Soul Sides (www.soul-sides.com). Soul Sides is where O-Dub can express his thoughts on Memphis soul and Latin jazz, on Billy Butler's "Twang Thang" and Jack McDuff's "Electric Surfboard." It's where you can read his astute criticism and download his favorite music. For free. He knows he's breaking the law, to the tune of about 1,500 hits per day. And he has plenty of company in the booming audioblog world.

Date: 2005, January 13 | Source (EN): Newsday

Customs seizes 300,000 CDs, DVDs to check illegal export

Customs authorities seized about 300,000 CDs and DVDs at different international airports in Pakistan over the past six months to check the export of pirated optical discs. "Due to the good efforts by Customs the exportations by airfreight companies of pirated optical discs (CDs and DVDs) have declined dramatically," said Willem Van Adrichem, Regional Coordinator, Anti Piracy Enforcement, International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) here today at a training session.

Date: 2005, January 13 | Source (EN): Pakistan Tribune

Napster targeted by infringement suit

Napster is once again the target of an intellectual-property lawsuit, this time on the receiving end of a patent infringement claim from a small company called SightSound Technologies. SightSound, which holds several patents related to selling and downloading music and video online, on Monday asked a court to block Napster from selling music online while the trial unfolds. Licensing discussions had broken down, leading to the suit, SightSound executives said. (...) Napster CEO Chris Gorog has said in previous interviews that the company would likely expand into distributing other forms of media aside from music over time. But the company has announced no such plans as of yet.

Date: 2005, January 13 | Source (EN): Cnet

[VIDEO] Klacht over spotje Filmdiefstal.nl afgewezen

De filmindustrie mag in trailers zeggen dat het uitwisselen van films illegaal is. De Reclame Code Commissie heeft een klacht hierover afgewezen. Een Amsterdammer diende eind vorig jaar een klacht in bij de Reclame Code Commissie tegen de trailer van Filmdiefstal.nl waarin het illegaal uitwisselen van films op internet wordt vergeleken met diefstal. De trailer draaide twee maanden in Nederlandse bioscopen en staat nu op vrijwel alle dvd's die worden uitgebracht.

Date: 2005, January 08 | Source (NL): Webwereld

Beltonen zijn big business

GSM-gebruikers hebben in België vorig jaar minstens 5,5 miljoen beltonen gedownload om hun mobieltje persoonlijker te laten rinkelen. Hitsingels blijven de populairste deuntjes. ,,Het aantal illegale downloads is opvallend laag'', zegt Louis Vuchelen van Sabam. (...) WERELDWIJD zou de handel in beltonen al goed zijn voor bijna drie miljard euro. Het Britse studiebureau The Arc Group verwacht dat de omzet in gsm-gerinkel in 2008 zou stranden op 5,2 miljard euro, andere onderzoekers berekenen dat de markt nu aan zijn piek zit.

Date: 2005, January 06 | Source (NL): De Standaard

Parks Associates: Music Piracy More Common in Canada

Canadians are significantly more likely than Americans to download music files from the Internet and use peer-to-peer, file-sharing networks, according to Global Digital Living, a new multinational survey conducted by Parks Associates.

Date: 2005, January 06 | Source (EN): Tmcnet

iTunes-klant klaagt Apple aan

Dat aangekochte iTunes-liedjes enkel afspelen op de iPod, ontstemt een Amerikaan zo erg dat hij een rechtszaak aanspant tegen de uitbater van de online muziekwinkel Apple.

Date: 2005, January 06 | Source (NL): Zdnet

Court rejects RIAA request to identify song-swappers

A U.S. appeals court has rejected a tactic used by the music industry to identify alleged file-swappers in order to sue them, marking the second time a federal court has struck down subpoenas that seek names of Internet service provider (ISP) subscribers. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday overturned a Missouri district court ruling that ordered ISP Charter Communications Inc. to turn over about 200 subscriber names to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Date: 2005, January 06 | Source (EN): Macworld

Lawsuit claims Apple violates law with iTunes

An unhappy iTunes online music store customer is suing Apple Computer, alleging the company broke antitrust laws by allowing iTunes to work only with its own music player, the iPod, freezing out competitors, court filings showed. (...) The suit was filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif. One antitrust expert called it a long shot, but Californian Thomas Slattery is hoping for unspecified damages for being "forced" to buy an iPod, one of the most successful electronics products in years.

Date: 2005, January 06 | Source (EN): Cnet

A new hope for BitTorrent?

Official confirmation of the Exeem program, released at a time when BitTorrent Web sites are under aggressive legal attack from Hollywood, raises the potential of mass migration for the millions of people around the world who have grown accustomed to using the technology to download movies, TV shows, music and software. The shifting loyalties are now a familiar phenomenon in the peer-to-peer world, as lawsuits from the record industry or Hollywood studios have repeatedly driven users away from other once-popular networks such as Napster, Scour and Audiogalaxy. In each case, new services have eagerly risen to take their place, despite legal risks.

Date: 2005, January 05 | Source (EN): Cnet

40 Locals Sued for 'Illegal' MP3 Downloads

80 state residents including nearly 40 in Acadiana are being sued by the RIAA for allegedly downloading copyright protected music over the Internet.

Date: 2005, January 05 | Source (EN): Katc3

Music Industry Must Respect Privacy of Filesharers

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today that will stop entertainment corporations from gaining access to the names of people using peer-to-peer (P2P) networks unless the companies file lawsuits against them and furnish actual evidence of copyright infringement. The case was sparked by a series of subpoenas sent by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to Missouri-based Internet service provider (ISP) Charter Communications, Inc. The record companies claimed that these subpoenas, which demanded that Charter identify customers accused of offering infringing music on P2P networks, were authorized by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Date: 2005, January 04 | Source (EN): Electronic Frontier Foundation

Spain launches anti-piracy plan

Spain's ruling socialist party has announced a five-point Integrated Government Plan to deal with the country's rampant music and film piracy. Culture Minister Carmen Calvo told a crowd of film and music executives the government will create an anti-piracy commission made up of politicians, trade representatives, and consumer representatives, Daily Variety reported Monday. (...) Spain [is] the only western nation named as a top 10 priority piracy territory [in the Ifpi's 2004 Commercial Piracy Report]. The IFPI said Spain's music piracy market was worth $58 million in 2003.

Date: 2005, January 04 | Source (EN): Big News Network

The Shadow Internet

Date: 2005, January 03 | Source (EN): Wired

Exeem Successor to Suprnova Announced

After the demise of Suprnova, hype has risen over Exeem, the supposed heir apparent to the popular BitTorrent index.

Date: 2005, January 03 | Source (EN): Slashdot