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RIAA hates you still but...
Judge Declares Mistrial in RIAA-Jammie Thomas Trial
Remember that woman that lost a case with the RIAA for sharing music online.
The RIAA tries to sue the single mom for a few 100 thousand.
Well, a judge has declared that the RIAA needs to stop being such dicks and actually have proof next time.
So as far as I know, the RIAA has never ever won a case. Judge Declares Mistrial in RIAA-Jammie Thomas Trial Remember that woman that lost a case with the RIAA for sharing music online. ... more -
EA Choose BitTorrent for Warhammer Online Distribution
Electronic Arts, the publisher of the upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, has chosen BitTorrent for the distribution of the closed Beta client. Included in the documentation is a recommendation to use a TorrentFreak ’speed up’ guide.
warhammerDeveloped by Mythic Entertainment, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is a long-awaited WoW competitor, due for general release on September 18th this year. As with many games of this type, the developer is beta testing the software, helped by players in the US, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.
To become a tester in the beta, many people were selected via applications, contests and prize draws. The first stage of testing was over in the final quarter of 2007 and during February 2008, invites to test were sent out to lucky recipients. July this year saw the activation of so-called ‘Guild beta’ keys which signaled the start of the next stage of testing and on August 10th, keys were sent out for Beta 3.
The Warhammer Online beta gaming client is quite a size, weighing in at over 9.3GB. Providing a download of this size for testers could turn into a needlessly expensive exercise for the publisher, Electronic Arts, and the developer, Mythic, so they have made the decision to utilize BitTorrent instead, dramatically reducing distribution costs.
There is no other way to download the client, indicating that EA/Mythic are completely confident that their target market will have no trouble using torrents but just in case, they provide a comprehensive BitTorrent guide which covers basics like client selection, up to more advanced techniques such as port forwarding. An eagle-eyed reader who is involved in the beta testing pointed out that the guide also includes advice to follow a TorrentFreak guide to speed up transfers.
The Mythic tracker is located at http://torrent2.eamythic.com and currently reports around 1300 seeds and over 7000 leechers. A search on the hash value of the torrent, reveals the beta is (unsurprisingly) being tracked by other torrent sites too.
The Warhammer Beta team was contacted for a response, but hasn’t responded before publication. Electronic Arts, the publisher of the upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, has ... more -
EFF Tool Hunts BitTorrent Throttling ISPs
Comcast must feel it’s being attacked by all sides. It’s been hit by lawsuits, investigated by the FCC, and roundly criticised everywhere else. It has brought the issue of traffic shaping to the forefront of people’s minds, and into public discussion. Aiming to highlight ISP’s and their shaping, the EFF has released a new tool for users to test their connection’s integrity.
Switzerland logoIt’s been about a year since we first broke the story about Comcast and their torrent-throttling practices. Today, they were ordered (doc|pdf) to cease their practices by the end of the year, and disclose their practices by the end of August. Many expect Comcast to appeal, but others feel that Comcast has no grounds for it.
Regardless, Comcast is not the only ISP that is throttling. As was revealed in the stats from Project Glasnost, Cox is also throttling heavily. So, while some are popping the champagne corks over this victory, others are still working hard to keep our ISP’s honest, and ensure that their customers are getting what they paid for.
The latest of these, is a project called Switzerland by the EFF. Still in very early alpha, it’s an attempt to not just detect sandvineing by an ISP, but other forms of throttling as well. Unlike Glasnost, which uses a central server and known torrent streams to detect activities from the ISP interfering, this will use a more decentralised method, where peers running Switzerland swap information about the packets they send to other Switzerland users, in encrypted data packets sent via a central server. In effect, it’s a checksum of torrent activity sent via a 3rd party. As Peter Eckersley, staff technologist for the EFF, and developer of Switzerland puts it “Alice and Bob are exchanging packets, they connect to a neutral server (Switzerland) to arbitrate between their different views of the packets”.
When asked why the EFF started this project, and why they believe a neutral network is important, he told TorrentFreak: “There were several reasons why we started the Test Your ISP project, and designed and built Switzerland. One reason was pragmatic: we were trying to run systematic tests of the interference that Comcast was deploying against P2P networks, and we decided that the only sensible way to do that was to build an automated sensor network. So we set about doing that.”
“The bigger picture, of course, is that without transparency the Internet won’t remain the amazing open and innovative thing that it has been,” Eckersley says. “And EFF’s mission is to make sure that the Internet stays open and innovative. We need to shine lights into the dark corners of the network, and make sure that ISPs aren’t setting themselves up in some control room and saying “protocol A okay, but protocol B doesn’t fit with our business plans, so let’s give it second-class treatment or stop it from working entirely.”
Some might worry that the client might open up people to being monitored by anti-p2p companies or other undesirables, using the system as another method of verification, but there is really no way around it. The simplest method to avoid that is, in Peters words, “avoid exchanging copyrighted files between Switzerland clients. The copyright risks are probably lower if you run your own Switzerland server, but it’s still going to keep logs.”
The question of what the FCC will do about these other ISPs and their traffic management is one to ponder. Our inquiries on this matter have been acknowledged, but not replied to at the time of publication. Comcast must feel it’s being attacked by all sides. It’s been hit by lawsuits, investigated by the FCC, and roundly criticised everywh... more -
YouTorrent riparte con 67.170 contenuti legali
Abbiamo già parlato di YouTorrent, motore di ricerca per file torrent, intimato in passato da minacce legali. Come già anticipato qualche tempo fa, YouTorrent ha deciso di ripulire il suo database di tutti i contenuti non legali. Adesso il motore di ricerca permette di trovare file tra 67.170 contenuti “legali”.
Nessuno dei responsabili del sito si era aspettato una popolarità così enorme in poco tempo. Ma purtroppo questa popolarità ha portato qualche problema. Dal mese di aprile YouTorrent ha smesso di indicizzare siti come ThePirateBay e isoHunt, ovvero siti che forniscono contenuti non autorizzati.
Dopo un po’ di tempo di traffico stabilizzato, il sito ha continuato a crescere di nuovo e oggi, dopo questo nuovo cambiamento drastico, YouTorrent è pronto a diventare il faro del file sharing legale. Ora il sito si concentra su fonti come Jamendo, LegalTorrents, Legittorents ecc… Abbiamo già parlato di YouTorrent, motore di ricerca per file torrent, intimato in passato da minacce legali. Come già anticipato qual... more -
Virgin Media cracks down on torrent abusers
"Virgin Media and the BPI have announced a new campaign to crack down on those customers illegally downloading and distributing music illegally.
“As part of the campaign, customers whose accounts appear to have been used to distribute music in breach of copyright will receive informative letters, one from Virgin Media and one from the BPI,” Virgin’s press release informs us." "Virgin Media and the BPI have announced a new campaign to crack down on those customers illegally downloading and distributing m... more -
Six Torrent Users Arrested
So we finally see some more action on the case of OiNK. Six users have been arrested for questioning, but why exactly these 6? One of them uploaded a single album to the website. It seems as though the BPI is trying to get more information about the site.
Which brings me to another concern...If all the information about OiNK's users wasn't enough to incriminate them, then how did they get enough information to arrest these users? There may be more to the story than we know. So we finally see some more action on the case of OiNK. Six users have been arrested for questioning, but why exactly these 6? One of ... more -
How to download YouTube videos
YouTube is the most successful video hosting site in the cyber world today. It is a phenomenon in its own rights. At this time of writing YouTube is hosting a more or less 6.1 million videos requiring about 45 terabytes of storage space.... YouTube is the most successful video hosting site in the cyber world today. It is a phenomenon in its own rights. At this time of writ... more
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Reznor makes $750,000 even when the music is free
This may perhaps be the new model for making money and using torrents and even infamous pirating site "The Pirate Bay" for music once again.
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails released the first part of his album for free and uploaded in The Pirate Bay for anyone to download. A higher quality version is available for $5, and digital versions of all four parts are available for $10 including CD versions of them. $75 and $300 deluxe versions were also released which included things like Blu-Ray format and typical "Special Edition" material (behind the scenes fodder, deluxe packaging, etc.)
He made $750,000 in three days. Multiple price points may be the way to go. This may perhaps be the new model for making money and using torrents and even infamous pirating site "The Pirate Bay" for m... more -
RIAA Keeps Settlement Money, Artists May Sue
Music artists and their managers are suing the RIAA for not sharing the compensation money from large legal settlements such as Napster and KaZaA.
“Artist managers and lawyers have been wondering for months when their artists will see money from the copyright settlements and how it will be accounted for.” Music artists and their managers are suing the RIAA for not sharing the compensation money from large legal settlements such as Napste... more
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