459 sued for file-sharing in Europe, 28 in the UK
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The European music industry today announced a major crackdown against file-sharing, the practice of sharing copyrighted songs over the internet using networks like Kazaa, with the filing of 459 suits against file-swappers, 28 of whom are British.
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Following the footsteps of its American counterpart, Britain&#39;s British Phonographic Industry announced it was bringing suit to 28 file-swappers.
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The UK music industry has today launched a &#39;rolling program of legal action&#39; against illegal downloaders, the first of its kind in the country.
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The British music industry is to sue 28 internet users it says are illegally swapping music online. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) says it is targeting &quot;major uploaders&quot; - those who make music available to share free with others.
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The Consumer Association has today complained to the UKâs Office of Fair Trading that downloading tracks from Appleâs iTunes costs UK consumers more than their counterparts in France and Germany.
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Late last month, the Court of First Instance in Brussels issued a decision ordering Scarlet, one of Belgium&#39;s leading ISPs, to begin blocking copyrighted material that passes through its servers. The court gave the ISP six months to implement one or more technologies recommended by a court-appointed expert, and threatened the company with fines of up to 2,500 euros per day (roughly US$3,400) if it fails to comply.
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The recording industry is seeking legislation in Europe that would require the filtering of Internet connections to block the illicit transfer of copyrighted material and more.
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The music industry is to sue 28 people in London and the South-east alleged to have illegally swapped music over the internet, mimicking tough legal action in the United
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The UK music industry has scored a legal victory with a High Court ruling that requires Internet service providers to provide names and addresses of British citizens who share copyrighted music over peer-to-peer computer networks.
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The effort to crack down on illegal music downloads moves across the pond.
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The British music industry stepped up  its campaign against illegal file-sharing on Monday by  demanding that two Internet service providers suspend 59  accounts it believes are being used to swap copyrighted songs.
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Damages of up to $30,000 (Â£16,300) per film are being sought by the Motion Picture Association of America in an unknown number of lawsuits filed against people caught illegally downloading digital copies of films.
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Switzerland has warned a company that tracks file sharers for copyright violations that its tactics violate the country&#39;s telecommunication law.Logistep, which supplies information on suspected file sharers to law firms around the world for use in copyright violation cases, has until Feb. 9 to respond to the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), said Marc Schaefer, the agency&#39;s legal advisor.Under Swiss law, the identity of a subscriber to an ISP (Internet service provider) can only be revealed during the course of a criminal case, not a civil one, Schaefer said.&#160;The IP (Internet Protocol) address&#160;of a computer controlled by the subscriber is considered &quot;personal&quot; information.In order to try to claim damages from people suspected of trading songs or movies, Logistep has asked Swiss prosecutors to open criminal cases, Schaefer said. As the criminal cases progresses, Logistep receives information from prosecutors that identifies the file sharer.Logistep then initiates a civil case against the file sharer while the criminal case is ongoing. Prosecutors usually drop the criminal case against the person, Schaefer said.By starting a criminal case &quot;to obtain the identity behind an IP address ... they just found a way to avoid the telecommunication law,&quot; Schaefer said. &quot;Therefore, we told Logistep to stop their work until there is a legal basis which allows such an identification.&quot;The FDPIC&#39;s recommended to Logistep to stop the practice, but is prepared to take the matter to court, Schaefer said. Logistep would be in the clear if they pursued a civil case after the criminal one is complete, he said.Logistep has issued a statement contending an IP address is not personal information. Company officials could not be reached Friday.An IP address can indicate the location of a computer but not necessarily who is using it. Several people could share the same computer, which would have one IP address. But ISPs, as well as wireless routers used in home, can also dynamically assign IP addresses, which adds further ambiguity regarding who is using the computer and who may be responsible for illegally activity conducted on the PC.That means the person paying the bill for the Internet service may end up as the target of the civil proceeding rather than the offender, adding another worrying factor into the lawsuits, Schaefer said.On its Web site, Logistep said it can compile a history of illegal files shared by someone, even if encryption or proxy servers are used to mask the sharing.The row comes amid growing concerns over how personal data is collected and retained in Europe.On Monday, a top European data protection official, Peter Schaar, said at a European Parliament hearing that an IP address should be considered personal information since it can be used to identify people.Schaar is chairman of the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, which is looking at personal data and privacy issues, such as what kind of data search engines retain. A report is scheduled for release by April.Also earlier this week, privacy activists claimed victory over music and content industry lobbyists concerning a report issued by the European Parliament&#39;s Committee on Culture and Education.Struck out of the report was a suggestion that ISPs should monitor content and ban users for suspected copyright infringement, wrote Danny O&#39;Brien, international outreach coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which lobbied against the suggestion as well as others.The report, entitled Cultural Industries in Europe, will be used to make recommendations to European Union countries on intellectual property and other issues.&#160;
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LOS ANGELES  - File-swappers beware. Illegally downloading movies can now get you sued. Like the recording companies, movie studios are fed up with computer users sharing unauthorized copies of
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THE firm behind leading file-swapping network Kazaa is being sued by the record industry in the latest round of a fight over copyright.
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Legal wrangling over competing hard drive technologies continues.
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Last week, members of the Motion Picture Association of America filed 11 lawsuits against hundreds of people they accused of using file-sharing networks to share copies of movies.