TorrentFreak

As part of an investigation the RIAA has filed a declaration at a federal court in California to obtain the personal details of one of YouTube’s users. Through the legal action against YouTube, the RIAA hopes to find out more about the person who uploaded a recording of Britney Spears’ concert at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas a few weeks ago.

It is no secret that the MPAA and RIAA spend millions in Washington to guarantee that their anti-piracy interests are secured. However, it turns out that not all the lobbying dollars go to secure the well-being of workers in the entertainment industry. The MPAA has also spent significant funds on the implementation of a Wall Street reform law, one that was proposed by the new MPAA CEO Chris Dodd when he was senator.

Mitch Bainwol held the position of chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America for eight years but will now take up a new role in the automotive business. His successor will be current RIAA president Cary Sherman, who sounds remarkably upbeat on the issue of defeating online piracy, something that has eluded the recording industry group for more than a decade.

A federal court has slashed the verdict in an infamous file-sharing case from $1.5 million to ‘just’ $54,000. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis branded an earlier jury decision in favor of the RIAA and against Jammie Thomas-Rasset as “appalling.” Judge Davis has now overruled a jury three times in this case. The RIAA are reportedly unhappy with the verdict and are considering their options.

Yesterday we posted an article about the Swiss IFPI boss who quit following fraud allegations. In the U.S. the RIAA is not a stranger to creative accounting either, although they do stick within the boundaries of the law. In an excellent video titled “How To Sell 1 Million Albums and Owe $500,000″ lawyer Martin Frascogna [...]

For years BitTorrent sites have remained untouched by the RIAA’s legal battles, but recent court filings indicate that this may change. After settling their dispute with LimeWire earlier this year the RIAA is now targeting several BitTorrent indexers. The record industry group has filed a complaint at the U.S. District Court of Columbia and has obtained subpoenas to reveal the identities of individuals behind three large torrent sites.

A breakthrough coalition of the MPAA, RIAA and other copyright holders have signed an agreement with AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon to curb piracy. Under the agreement the ISPs agree to send “copyright alerts” to subscribers whose Internet connections are used for copyright infringement. Repeated offenders will not be disconnected from the Internet, but could be slowed down instead.