The U.S. Senate's Judicial Committee unanimously passed the controversial 'Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act' today, a bill that could be used to crack down on many BitTorrent sites and other file-sharing platforms. The bill would give the Department of Justice the unprecedented power to take over domain names of…
Davenport Lyons, the law firm which pioneered the lucrative file-sharing pay-up-or-else scheme in the UK, will head off to Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal proceedings next year. According to details just made available, among other things Davenport Lyons partners were responsible for knowingly targeting the innocent and relied on unreliable evidence in…
After the Mulve music downloading app burst onto the scene in September, it didn't take long for it to be closed down and cold water poured on the fun. Now, just a couple of months later, a new application has appeared which not only does everything that Mulve did, but…
Exactly a year ago The Pirate Bay team surprised friends and foes when it announced that the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker was shutting down for good. The site's torrent index would remain online, but millions of users had to find alternative trackers or rely on trackerless technologies to share their…
One of the most interesting leaks of the year has just occurred with the appearance of the first 36 minutes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 on dozens of BitTorrent sites. The upcoming Harry Potter film will have its worldwide premiere later this week, but not before…
Yesterday, the long-running case of Usenet community FTD versus the Eyeworks movie studio was heard in The Hague Court of Appeals. The Court largely reversed an earlier decision, ruling that it is not illegal for Internet users to inform others where illicit material can be found. However, FTD was found…
Operation Payback has been without a doubt the longest and most widespread attack on anti-piracy groups, lawyers and lobbyists. Despite the massive media coverage, little is known about the key players who coordinate the operation and DDoS attacks. A relatively small group of people, they are seemingly fuelled by anger,…
Conor Lenihan, Minister of State with responsibility for Science, Technology and Innovation, has indicated he hasn't given up on the chance of a negotiated settlement of the illicit file-sharing issue in Ireland. In an Intellectual Property debate, Lenihan praised the IRMA/Eircom agreement and said that while he hopes there can…