Swedish police conduct file sharing raid The Local
Suspected file sharers were targeted in four raids at locations across Sweden on Tuesday, as police acted on information from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Police raided two locations in Gothenburg on Tuesday and confiscated computers allegedly hosting so-called DC hubs, which connect file sharers through Direct Connect software. A 28-year-old man has been questioned regarding the administration of the hubs. A further three raids were conducted at two locations in Stockholm, and one in Kramfors in northern Sweden. “A large number of computers and other equipment have been seized and it will take some time for the police to analyze them,” Fredrik Ingblad at the Stockholm City prosecutor’s office told The Local on Wednesday.

Rupert Murdoch says destiny of News Corp newspapers is in paid-for online content Telegraph
Rupert Murdoch said the destiny of News Corporation’s newspapers is in paid-for content, claiming that his media empire is ‘on the cusp of a digital dynasty’Unveiling a $284m (£178m) post-tax profit for the three months to December, Mr Murdoch proclaimed ‘content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things electronic.’ Promising to announce major developments ‘in the next two months,’ the owner of the Sun and Wall Street Journal said consumers want content on an array of devices, and are willing to pay. Mr Murdoch disclosed that News Corp is in ‘advanced discussions’ with other media companies about how to monetise newspaper content, as well as holding ‘very substantive conversations’ with device makers to allow readers to access ‘high quality journalism wherever and whenever they want it.’ ‘We’re looking at various alternatives, and I don’t think we’re ready to announce anything yet,’ he continued. In the UK, the Sunday Times is set to trial an unknown paid-for content model on a standalone website later this year – although Mr Murdoch declined to say when. The ‘content clan has gathered around our ideas,’ he said, and ‘instead of an existential debate about value, we are now merely haggling about valuations.’

Twitter, Facebook use rising among gang members Associated Press
When a gang member was released from jail soon after his arrest for selling methamphetamine, friends and associates assumed he had cut a deal with authorities and become a police informant. They sent a warning on Twitter that went like this: We have a snitch in our midst. Unbeknownst to them, that tweet and the traffic it generated were being closely followed by investigators, who had been tracking the San Francisco Bay Area gang for months. Officials sat back and watched as others joined the conversation and left behind incriminating information. Law enforcement officials say gangs are making greater use of Twitter and Facebook, where they sometimes post information that helps agents identify gang associates and learn more about their organizations.

China Works to Toughen Hacking Laws IDG News Service
Chinese police and judicial officials are formulating new measures that govern how hacking crimes are handled by courts, the country’s latest step to strengthen its cyber laws, state media reported. China’s police are working with the country’s highest investigative organ and the Supreme People’s Court to release a judicial interpretation on hacking crimes, according to the People’s Daily, the official paper of the Communist Party, citing a Chinese police representative. The report gave no details, but such documents are used to direct lower-level Chinese courts on how to apply laws. The move would be the latest of China’s efforts to strengthen laws against cybercrime, which have come alongside a growing number of reported arrests and court sentences for hacking in the country in the last year.

A-G to repeal internet law in SA – AAP
The opposition is calling for South Australia’s top law officer to be sacked after he backed away from controversial internet censorship laws ahead of next month’s state election. Attorney-General Michael Atkinson says he’ll cancel a law which requires anyone posting comments about the March 20 poll on the internet to use their real name and address. Under the law, people voicing personal opinions on social networking sites, or even commenting on online news forums, under a pseudonym without an address could have faced prosecution. Individuals blogging about the election could have been hit with fines of $1250, while businesses weighing into the foray faced fines of up to $5000. Shadow attorney-general Vickie Chapman said Mr Atkinson’s backdown signifies the looming election and a Labor government in damage control. “Yesterday the attorney-general said he wouldn’t change the law, this morning he said that he couldn’t, and yet this afternoon he now says that he will,” Ms Chapman told reporters.

Towards a kinder, gentler “three strikes” for file-sharers Ars Technica
“Three strikes” may be controversial when applied to Internet disconnections for copyright infringement, but I suspect broad agreement could be had on applying the principle to the dreaded “car analogy.” Draw three infelicitious and inaccurate parallels between an automobile and a copyright question, and you lose the right to publicly make analogies for a year. The Honourable John Robertson, a UK Member of Parliament who takes the lead on many communications issues there, earned his first strike last week when speaking at a major DC tech policy conference (watch the panel here). Defending the UK’s new Digital Economy bill, which contemplates penalties (including disconnection) for Internet accounts linked repeatedly with copyright infringement, Robertson explained why musicians were so outraged by having their work “stolen.” “If I was to borrow your car without telling you and drive it about… you might be kind of upset,” he said. The comment followed a rhetorical question about how there would be little live music to see if people continued to download songs for free—an implication that, no matter how much copyright infringement concerns you, should seem more than a bit odd. (Live music has been earning record revenues over the last few years.) And yet, when the wreckage of Robertson’s statements was cleared away like a totaled car from an accident scene, he made two terrific points about “graduated response” laws that are instructive for the US.

Senator seeks information on tech firms in China Associated Press
A top Senate Democrat is asking 30 leading technology, Internet and communications companies to provide detailed descriptions of their operations and human rights practices in China. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois sent letters on Tuesday to technology companies including Apple Inc., Facebook and Twitter seeking information about their business in China and their plans for protecting human rights, free speech and privacy there. Other companies that received letters include Amazon.com Inc., eBay Inc., AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. Durbin’s letter comes nearly three weeks after Google Inc. said it would stop censoring search results in China and threatened to pull out of the country altogether after uncovering a hacking attack that emanated from China and attempts to snoop on dissidents.

Film studio blames money woes on economy, tech CNet News
Some of the same technological forces that have consumed large portions of the music sector appear to be eating away at the film industry. Sony Pictures Entertainment, one of the six biggest Hollywood film studios, told employees Monday that in March the company will lay off 450 workers, the equivalent of 6.5 percent of its global workforce, according to a story in The Los Angeles Times. “Our industry is affected by two things: It’s affected by the economy, of course, and it’s affected by technology,” Amy Pascal, the studio’s co-chairman, said in a video message to employees. “Over the last two years, it’s changed people’s DVD-buying habits, which has had a huge effect on our company and the industry at large.” Sony Pictures, which has produced such recent films as “2012,” “This is it,” and “District 9,” saw an earlier round of layoffs less than a year ago. In March 2009, the studio cut 250 jobs.

The Twitter Train Has Left the Station New York Times
George Packer usually writes about foreign affairs, politics and books for The New Yorker, but this week he decided to attack Twitter in a blog post that ironically got much of its attention because a link to it was reposted more than 700 times on Twitter. ‘Every time I hear about Twitter I want to yell Stop,’ he writes. ‘The notion of sending and getting brief updates to and from dozens or thousands of people every few minutes is an image from information hell.’ Unfortunately, Mr. Packer’s misgivings seem to be based entirely on what he has heard about the service — he’s so afraid of it that he won’t even try it. (I wonder how Mr. Packer would feel if, say, a restaurant critic panned a restaurant based solely on hearsay about the establishment.) ‘Twitter is crack for media addicts,’ he writes. ‘It scares me, not because I’m morally superior to it, but because I don’t think I could handle it.’ Call me a digital crack dealer, but here’s why Twitter is a vital part of the information economy — and why Mr. Packer and other doubters ought to at least give it a Tweet.

SublimeVideo: Demoing the Future of HTML5 Video ReadWriteWeb
Switzerland-base development and design firm Jilion recently launched a site demonstrating their latest project, SublimeVideo, an HTML5-based video player. Although not publicly available as of yet, this sleek, fast, and plug-in free video player shows off the potential of the upcoming web standard HTML5. If you’ve been wondering what the future of web video looks like, look no further than here. Last month, big name social video sharing sites YouTube and Vimeo each announced the debut of HTML5-based videos. In YouTube’s case, the new players are only available via their test site “TestTube” while interested Vimeo users must opt-in to the beta test by clicking links below each video. As exciting as both announcements were, neither project holds a candle to what SublimeVideo currently offers. The HTML5-based videos on both sites still feel slow – not exactly demonstrating the internet revolution promised by this new web standard. In addition, neither company is yet offering full-screen HTML5 videos.

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February, 2010

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 4:02 pm and is filed under P2P. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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