by Ernesto @ Torrentfreak

Together with the charity Childnet, IFPI recently launched a campaign to educate kids, teachers and parents about the dangers of filesharing. Ironically, the legal alternatives they suggest direct the kids to LimeWire, Kazaa and sites that sell hardcore adult movies.

read more | 29 reads

by Eric Bangeman @ ArsTechnica

After a federal judge awarded the MPAA a summary judgment against former BitTorrent tracker TorrentSpy late last year, the only question left was how much it would end up costing TorrentSpy's admins. We've got our answer, and it comes in the form of a staggering $110 million damage award, or $30,000 in statutory damages for each of the nearly 3,700 files in the MPAA's complaint.

read more | 51 reads

by Erika Morphy @ TechNewsWorld

Though it has an impressive record of legal victories against individuals who illegally distribute copyrighted music on the Internet through file-sharing technology, the RIAA stumbles once in a while. Its latest setback may force the group to rethink its tactics, but it's no get-out-of-jail card for people caught in its sights.

read more | 100 reads

by Nate Anderson @ ArsTechnica

Law professor Michael Geist, one of the leading Canadian authorities on copyright, gave a talk this week to the Public Policy Forum in which he tackled five major copyright myths. All take aim at the idea that Canada needs a major new set of IP protections to "keep up" with the rest of world. In Geist's view, this isn't just wrong but completely bass-ackwards; Canada in many ways needs a more flexible IP regime to bolster innovation in the new century. While the myths he addresses focus on Canada, they are arguments trotted out by certain content owners (by no means all of them) in jurisdictions around the world, and it's worth taking a look at what's wrong with the ideas they embody.

read more | 105 reads

by Reihan Salam @ Slate

What would you do if a bully—let's call him "Joey Giggles"—kept snatching your ice-cream cone? OK, now what if Joey Giggles then told you, "If you pay me five bucks a month, I'll stop snatching your ice cream." Depending on how much you hate getting beaten up, and how much you love ice-cream cones, you might decide that caving in is the way to go. This is what's called a protection racket. It's also potentially the new model for how we'll buy and listen to music.

read more | 168 reads