Magistrate Judge: Neither Ray Beckermann Nor The RIAA Vexatious TechDirt
Remember last year when the RIAA sought to have lawyer Ray Beckermann declared a vexatious litigant and asked for sanctions? Well, a magistrate judge has now said that the RIAA’s complaints were “largely overstated” (shocking, I know) and that Beckermann should not face any sanctions: “Although defendant’s counsel took an unusually aggressive stance and, at times, veered into hyperbole and gratuitous attacks on the recording industry as a whole, I do not find clear evidence of bad faith on counsel’s part.” Beckermann had filed a similar complaint in response, claiming that the RIAA was vexatious, but the judge ruled against that one as well (again, I’d say reasonably). All in all, this looks like sour grapes on the part of the RIAA who wasn’t used to any lawyers actually challenging its lawyers on its overly aggressive legal campaign. [Also see Judge rejects RIAA sanction demands ]

Peer-to-Peer Passé, Report Finds Wired
Peer-to-peer file sharing has been the bogeyman of the internet, but a new report suggests it`s destined become a fear of the past — replaced by cheap streaming video. Rising from the ashes in the early 2000s of banned services like Napster, P2P soon became demonized as an imminent threat to software industry, Hollywood and the internet`s backbone, prompting high-profile piracy trials, federal government hearings on traffic management and hand-wringing from ISPs who said torrents of illicit traffic would overwhelm the net. But peer-to-peer file sharing is falling out of favor quickly, according a new report from Arbor Networks, a network-management firm used by more than 70 percent of the world`s top ISPs. Falling out of favor so fast that the report declares that P2P is dead to ISPs.

C4 to air content on YouTube Financial Times
Channel 4 has signed a pioneering content deal with YouTube , becoming the first broadcaster to make a comprehensive range of full-length television programmes, such as Skins , Hollyoaks and The Inbetweeners , available on the Google-owned video sharing site. Channel 4 will make its entire 4oD video-on-demand “catch-up” service of new programmes available to YouTube users, free of charge, shortly after broadcast. It will also make available around 3,000 hours of programming from its archives, including shows such as Brass Eye, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Teachers . Content will be fully available from next year, and will be limited to UK viewers. Media companies in the US have deals to show some full-length content on internet video sites like YouTube and Hulu, but Channel 4 is the first to do such a comprehensive deal.

Hell awaits for illegal file-sharers Guardian
In the war against albums being illegally uploaded on to the internet before they are released, David Tibet of the underground band Current 93 may have struck a minor, if resounding, victory. “This is a promotional CD,” announces a little girl on the promo copy of Current 93’s new album Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain. “Anyone illegally selling, copying, uploading or downloading this material is condemned to eternal hellfire. Happy listening, God is love.” Then Tibet a devout Christian with strong views about the impending apocalypse intones “murder” over a guitar riff heavy enough to terrify Satan. It makes you wonder whether a casual upload is really worth being cast into Hades for.

Eastlink DNS Hijacking … dslreports
Just a heads up to anyone who is on Eastlink in Canada (located in Halifax). Eastlink this past week has decided to dabble in DNS hijacking.I’ve opted out twice so far. It’s nice to suddenly find all your computer names no longer resolve properly to internal addresses but resolve out to search.eastlink.ca instead.

Anti-File Sharing Propaganda Back To Focusing On That Horrible Malware You’ll Get TechDirt
The thing that you sort of need to admire about the copyright maximalist lobby is that they attack the problem from so many different directions on such a constant basis. It’s almost impossible to keep up — though, you do begin to notice some patterns. A particularly popular move is to alternate between the moral argument against copyright infringement (stealing! bad!) and the idea that file sharing is going to destroy your computer (we’re just looking out for your safety!). It looks like the industry is back on that latter kick, as two recent stories indicate.

Truth or Hot Air: Balloon Boy’s Father Speaks Out People
Richard Heene faced his own wild ride on Friday, battling rumors that Thursday’s frantic rescue effort to save his 6-year-old-son Falcon who was believed to be aboard a homemade helium-filled balloon that floated high over Colorado for more than two hours with National Guard and sheriff’s helicopters in its pursuit was the result of a publicity stunt. Appearing on Friday’s Today show, Heene said such accusations were making him angry. As he spoke to the NBC morning program’s Meredith Vieira, Falcon, who had safely hidden in the rafters of the family garage while the balloon adventure played out on national TV, got sick to his stomach on camera.

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October, 2009

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 1:40 pm and is filed under P2P. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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