Hefty fine for French downloader
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A schoolteacher is among the first to be fined in France for illegally swapping music on the internet.
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"Copyright officials recommended on Thursday that U.S. law be amended so that companies that rely on copyright infringement to make a profit can be held liable for their actions."  Which of course applies only to US companies.  Kazaa should be free and clear.  ...  Should have supplied a link.  I'm a BAD blogger!
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(InfoWorld) - A Belgian Internet service provider has appealed a ruling that it must block illegal file-sharing on its network in a case that tests two European Union directives concerning copyright and the extent of responsibility that ISPs have for transmitted content. The appeal contestsÂ a rulingÂ in June by Belgium's Court of First Instance against Scarlet Extended, an ISP formerly owned by Tiscali. Scarlet Extended was ordered to install within six months filtering technology made by software vendor Audible Magic Corp. The company makes software that can identity and block copyright content based on the characteristics of a file, which it calls "digital fingerprints." The ruling has brought into focus two E.U. directives, which E.U. states are required to incorporate into their national laws. While the E.U. E-Commerce Directive says that ISPs are mere conduits and not liable for monitoring content on their networks, the court disagreed, ruling that filtering is not the same as monitoring. "It's a distinction that the judge makes with very little explanation," said Struan Robertson, senior associate with Pinsent Masons and editor of the legal Web site Out-law.com. The judgment "simply says the mere conduit defense is irrelevant in the circumstances." The judgment appears to reinforce the E.U.'s Information Society Directive, also known as the copyright directive, which says a copyright owner should be able to obtain an injunction against an intermediary that's used for piracy. While the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said after the June ruling the case could set a precedent, it's unclear how the case could influence other European piracy-related cases. "Outside Belgium, other courts might be influenced by this ruling, but they are not bound by this ruling," Robertson said. "Other courts with the same facts might come to a different conclusion." The lawsuit against Scarlet Extended was originally filed in 2004 by the Belgian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers, known as SABAM. The organization requested an injunction against Scarlet Extended, then known as Tiscali, for allowing music files to be traded on peer-to-peer networks. Â
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The label thinks about selling its downloads without restrictions.
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Blog: The video is safe, but the download mod it advertises is not.
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I saw an ad in yesterday's NY Times that offered the complete New Yorker magazine archive, including all the cartoons and ads, going back to 1920-something for a bit more than the hard disk would cost. The ad was from J&R, the company that makes the product is Pexagon. $149. Sounds like there might be DRM. I asked for something like this from the music business. A hundred gigs of popular music for $500, all pre-installed on the disk without DRM.  Someone at the New Yorker had this idea too? It's a good one. Bulk content for collector types. Another source of revenue. I want to run my own personal radio station, so having every song of a certain genre or from a certain period makes the diff.
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(InfoWorld) - France TÃ©lÃ©com, the parent company of mobile phone operator Orange, is offering a service that lets mobile phone users access videos, music and other content from their PCs. Called "Mon PC Ã  distance," it marks the second launch of the remote mobile access technology from Orb Networks in Europe. The service requires users to download a free software client onto their PCs. They can then use any mobile device with standard browsing and multimedia capabilities to view photos or videos and listen to music stored on their PCs. No special client software is needed on the mobile device. Mon PC Ã  distance, announced Thursday, was actually introduced last month. The service may roll out in France TÃ©lÃ©com's other mobile markets, which include Switzerland, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, and the U.K. Orb introduced the mobile component of its offering in early November. Previously, Orb enabled remote PC access from other computers. Orb is one of the services offered with 3 Group's X-Series mobile data offering, although it can be accessed by any mobile phone with a browser and media player. 3 is charging customers Â£10 ($19) per month to use Orb and another service that lets them watch TV on their mobile phones. Orange customers pay â¬10 ($13) per month for unlimited use of Mon PC Ã  distance.
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Slammed for touting unavailable but unlicensed content
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Copyright groups have hailed a Belgian  court decision making an Internet service provider responsible  for illegal file-sharing on its network as a European first  that could help the music industry.
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RealNetworks rolls out a media player with clip downloading functionality.
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Plan promises downloads of up to 3mbps to lure in gamers and other high-bandwidth users.
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Watch a movie or make a mobile phone call. Soon, in France, you might not be able to do both at once...
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Paid music and movie download service launches today.
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The Usenet Download World Record contest offers $1,000 to the speediest downloader using UseNext's software. The resulting clips -- showing breathtakingly speedy Ubuntu downloads -- could be the least-likely viral videos of all time.
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The world's highest capacity flash-memory MP3 player -- for now
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InfoWorld - French authorities will give out 175,000 USB memory sticks loaded with open-source software to Parisian high-school students at the start of the next school year.
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Japanese consumers will be spared the agony of downloading Microsoft&#39;s internet connection throttling Service Pack 2 -- they&#39;ll be able to pick up a free CD containing the software at their local post office.