TorrentFreak

With more than a billion downloads since its first release, VLC is one of the most popular media players around. It’s free, open source, and can play virtually every video file available. In the near future it could also become the first mainstream media player with the ability to download and stream torrent files. A group of VLC supporters has put up a $10,000 bounty for the developer who can deliver the right code.

BitTorrent is used by millions of people every day, even in places where you wouldn’t really expect. New data suggests that employees at the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division are sharing movies and TV-shows with the rest of the world. Is the FBI gathering information on BitTorrent users, or could it be that the feds harbor in-house pirates?

CBS and CNET have asked a Californian federal court not to grant a ban on the distribution of file-sharing software through Download.com. They responded to a request for a preliminary injunction from a coalition of artists and billionaire Alki David who claim that CBS induces piracy. According to the media conglomerate this is not the case, and CBS argues that there are many non-infringing uses for BitTorrent.

BitTorrent Inc. has released a new application that allows users to securely sync folders to multiple devices using the BitTorrent protocol. The free application has no storage limits and can serve both as a public backup system and a shared drive. BitTorrent Sync is especially efficient for groups who need to share many large files over the Internet,.

In the last decade file-sharing has turned from a hobbyist activity into something with mass market appeal. From just a handful of sites there are now many thousands, many of them in the rat-race to become the biggest, fastest, most exclusive location, or a combination of all three. The problem is that for many options are narrowing, particularly when it comes to financing their operations. Is it time for file-sharing to go back to its roots?

A man and woman from New York have been ordered to pay $7,000 in damages for downloading a “For Dummies” eBook using BitTorrent. New York Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered a default judgment against the pair for infringing the copyright and trademark of major book publisher John Wiley and Sons. The recent verdicts pale in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of dollars movie pirates had to pay last year.

The popular private BitTorrent tracker bitGAMER has shut down its operation. The site’s owners mention that the legal climate has changed over the years and say that they are ready to move on with their lives. The founders have considered handing over ownership but chose not to share any sensitive user data with a third-party. The site’s 65,000 members, meanwhile, are looking for alternatives to resume their torrenting habits.