Category — Police Actions

Boston Herald movie critic, Paul Sherman, was arrested and charged with selling over 100 “screeners”—preview copies of movies on DVD handed out to reviewers—to various pirate groups over the last few years. He was paid US$4,714 for the use of his screeners. He faces a maximum penalty of US$250,000 and three years in prison. He will be sentenced in October.

Sources: ars technica  |  cinematical  |  boston.com

Categories: Piracy, Police Actions

Digg Del.icio.us No Comments 

Alexander Eric Smith was arrested after a three-month stretch where he periodically parked in front of a coffee shop off-and-on with a laptop and used its wireless Internet connection.

Sources: ars technica | Engadget | San Francisco Chronicle | techsearch | EETimes | iTnews.com.au | katu.com

Dale’s Comment: Still another arrest for another victimless crime. See my comments to a similar story on March 23, 2006. In this particular case, if the coffee shop wanted to ensure against external users, then they should have used password access control. Otherwise, if people make their wireless access available without protection, passers-by should be entitled to use it.

Related Stories:

• Another WiFi Arrest - This time in Vancouver Washington (June 22, 2006)
• Illinois WiFi ‘Freeloader’ fined $US$250 (March 23, 2006)
• Paramount Sues Man for Piracy - But Can’t Find any Evidence (December 14, 2005) - a man cleverly used his unsecured wireless connection as an affirmative defense to allegations that he was pirating movies from Paramount Pictures.
• ‘Stealing’ Your Neighbor’s Net (August 10, 2005)
• Florida Man Charged with Felony for Accessing Third-party WiFi (July 7, 2005)

Categories: Police Actions, WiFi Access

Digg Del.icio.us 1 Comment 

The site was raided by Swedish law enforcement and its server farms confiscated. Three were arrested. It’s servers host only .torrent files, not actual copyrighted material. As a tracker site, ThePirateBay.org’s function is to index .torrent files and to direct BitTorrent traffic and maintain the swarm (uploads and downloads).The legality of indirectly linking to copyrighted material has apparently not yet been tested by Swedish courts.

Sources: ars technica | Slyck | CNet | Forbes | ABC News (AP) | Wired | The Register

Dale’s Comment: Another one down, infinite tracker sites to go!! But is it? The day after the raid, The Pirate Bay promised to be up and running again within days - in another country. I’ll keep you posted.

Related Posts:

• As Promised, The Pirate Bay is Back! (June 5, 2006)
• BitTorrent Site PirateBay.org Raided - Servers Seized (May 31, 2006)
  
• The Pirate Bay: Here to Stay? (Wired Feature) (March 13, 2006)

Categories: BigMedia v P2P Providers, Police Actions

Digg Del.icio.us No Comments 

German authorities searched over 130 premises of alleged eDonkey pirates in Cologne and Bergheim on Tuesday. Police have charged thousands of eDonkey users alleging they were sharing up to 8,000 copyrighted works. The individuals face large fines of up to $19K and even jail time.

Sources: BBC | Slyck | Register | ZDNet | Reuters | MP3.com | United Press Int’l | Mac World

Related Posts:

• eDonkey Settles for $30M and Shuts Down after Adverse Ruling (September 12, 2006)
• Spanish Police Target BitTorrent & eDonkey Sites (April 8, 2006)
• Music Industry Releases New Waive of Lawsuits (April 4, 2006)
• Hollywood Hails eDonkey P2P Shutdown (February 22, 2006)

Categories: BigMedia v P2P Providers, Police Actions, Privacy

Digg Del.icio.us No Comments 

The global campaign against BitTorrent and eDonkey2000 indexing sites continues. In apparently the first Spanish action of its kind, Spanish police arrested 15 administrators/owners related to 17 BitTorrent and eDonkey2000 indexing sites. While the sites themselves are located outside of Spain, the Spanish-resident operators were the target of the arrests.

Sources: Slyck  |  Addict 3D  |  CD Freaks.com  |  Asociacion de Internautus (Spanish)
 
Related Posts:

• Music Industry Releases New Wave of Lawsuits (April 4, 1006)
• Hollywood Hails eDonkey P2P Shutdown (February 22, 2006)
  

Categories: BigMedia v P2P Providers, Police Actions

Digg Del.icio.us No Comments 

Legal actions have taken place recently that put dents in P2P file sharing around the world. The South Korean file-sharing network Soribada announced on Monday that it has agreed to a settlement with KAPP (the Korean equivalent of RIAA in the US) related to charges of copyright infringement before that country’s Central District Court. Soribada will pay KAPP the sum of KRW 8.5 Billion (US $8.7 Million) to end the dispute.

Source: DMR Watch

Categories: BigMedia v P2P Providers, Decisions, Police Actions, Settlements

Digg Del.icio.us No Comments 

Swiss and Belgian police have shut down a major component of the eDonkey file-sharing network, used mainly to trade copies of copyrighted movies and music.

Sources: ZDNet | MSNBC | The Register | Reuters | Inquirer | MP3.com | CD Freaks | TG Daily | PC Pro | ITWorld | afterdawn.com

Categories: BigMedia v P2P Providers, Cases, Police Actions

Digg Del.icio.us No Comments 

A Korean, P2P Network, Soribada, was shut down after its Central District Court to enjoined the service at the behest of the Korean Association of Phonogram Producers (KAPP — the equivalent of the RIAA in the US). A lower Korean court had previously cleared Soribada of wrongdoing.

Sources: DRM Watch | Chosun | The Register | afterdawn.com

Categories: BigMedia v P2P Providers, Injunctions, Police Actions

Digg Del.icio.us No Comments