Earlier this year the sentences against the Pirate Bay defendants were made final. Aside from prison sentences, they will have to pay damages to the entertainment industries, including €550,000 to several major music labels. The court awarded the damages to compensate artists and rightsholders for their losses. However, it now…
In a hearing over Megaupload’s motion to dismiss the criminal case against the company on Friday, the U.S. Government claimed it can keep Megaupload’s assets even when the case is dismissed. The U.S. sees Megaupload’s property as proceeds of criminal activity. Ars reports that the Government says it can freeze…
Contrary to the endless lobbying and subsequent defending of the now-dead SOPA and PIPA frameworks, a leaked report shows that earlier this year the RIAA's Deputy General Counsel admitted that the legislation was "not likely to have been effective tool" for dealing with music piracy. All efforts are now being…
A severe DDoS attack has brought down one of the most famous BitTorrent trackers. Demonoid has been inaccessible to its millions of users for more than a day and is expected to remain offline for quite some time. The tech admin of the troubled BitTorrent tracker told TorrentFreak that the…
A leaked presentation from the RIAA shows that online file-sharing isn't the biggest source of illegal music acquisition in the U.S. The confidential data reveals that 65% of all music files are "unpaid" but the vast majority of these are obtained through offline swapping. The report further shows that cyberlockers…
Starting last night Demonoid became inaccessible to its millions of users. The site has been showing the following message for nearly a day. “The action you requested could not be completed because the server is too busy. Please try again in a few minutes. TorrentFreak asked the Demonoid admins what’s…
Grammy award-winning artist Swizz Beatz has publicly defended his role with Megaupload. The U.S. authorities hinted recently they might involve Beatz more in the case, but the rapper/producer seems unfazed. "I'm a fan of music, i'm a fan of people who work hard and I would never be a part…
This coming Friday the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics will be streamed for free in more than one hundred countries, but not in the United States. In the U.S., Olympic live streams will only be available to those who have a paid cable subscription, which excludes millions of people.…