EliteTorrents administrator found guilty
According to a Department of Justice press statement, Daniel Dove, administrator for the defunct EliteTorrents torrent tracker has been found guilty by a jury of his peers and now faces 10 years in jail for criminal copyright infringement.
To give a quick refresher on the situation, EliteTorrents, for at least a 3 year period ended 2005, was the most popular public torrent tracker in the US and was the site responsible for the pre-release of the workprint version of “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” before its theatrical release. It was all downhill from there for the site and its 3 administrators. The MPAA, FBI, local police and US Customs all came together as part of Operation D-Elite and forced the site off line while arresting the administrators. Scott McCausland and Grant Stanley, the other administrators, pleaded guilty to their crimes and were sentenced to 5 months of prison.
“The jury was presented with evidence that Dove was an administrator of a small group of Elite Torrents members known as “Uploaders,” who were responsible for supplying pirated content to the group,” the Department of Justice press release states. “The evidence showed that Dove recruited members who had very high-speed Internet connections, usually at least 50 times faster than a typical high-speed residential Internet connection, to become Uploaders. The evidence also showed that Dove operated a high-speed server, which he used to distribute pirated content to the Uploaders.”
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BT wants to cut off pirate’s Internet
BT, the largest broadband service provider in the UK, has begun threatening “pirates” with disconnection from the Internet if they are found to be sharing copyrighted music over file sharing networks.
An anonymous broadband user forwarded one such email to TheRegister and the letter indeed showed that the woman was being threatened with disconnection for the unauthorized sharing of “Biology” by Girls Aloud. The sharing occurred using the file sharing program Ares in May and she received the letter this week.
Geoff Taylor, the chief of UK record industry trade body the BPI said in a statement, “Establishing partnerships with ISPs is the number one issue for the BPI, and we are beginning to form positive working relationships with BT, Virgin Media and most of the other major ISPs.”
It was still unclear whether BT has signed on to the so-called “three strikes” procedure agreed upon by the record industry and the government. Accused users will get two warnings for infringing music copyright and the third strike will be disconnection from the Internet.
Taylor added, “Everyone agrees on where we need to be, and we are working closely with our colleagues across the music community, the more progressive ISPs, and government to get us there.”
BT did not comment but did say if the BPI provides evidence against BT broadband customers, those customers can expect similar threatening letters.
You can read the full BT letter here.
Portugal now has its first convicted file-sharer
In order to “set an example”, Portugal’s first convicted file sharer has been sentenced to 90 days in prison. The man, who remains unnamed, had been in court after the Portuguese version of the RIAA accused him of unauthorized uploading of music on P2P networks.
The punishment was decided upon by the court in Portimão in an effort to set an example for future file sharers.
The Portuguese Phonographic Association (AFP), the Portuguese equivalent of the RIAA sent out a complaint about the file sharer which was confirmed by EMI. The user was accused of uploading a couple hundred of EMI’s copyrighted songs. The courts confirmed that there were over 100 other complaints being investigated currently.
A spokesperson for the EMI said he was pleased by the decision, a “necessary evil” that should be employed to stop future file sharers. “The problem is people know they are doing something illegal, but they also know there are no consequences, at least until this week,” he added.
There was word however, that the jail sentence can be replaced with a large fine, but there was no word on the compensation.
Joss Stone wants her music to be shared, calls piracy “brilliant”
Following in the footsteps of a few artists before her, the Australian singer/songwriter Joss Stone has begun encouraging fans to share her music online, going as far as to call piracy “brilliant”.
In a recent interview, the artist admits she loves music but hates the music industry and feels that most artists are brainwashed by the industry.
When asked after a recent concert how she felt about piracy and unauthorized downloads on the Internet, she replied, “I think it’s great…yeah, I love it. I think it’s brilliant and I’ll tell you why,” Stone continued. “Music should be shared. [...] The only part about music that I dislike is the business that is attached to it. Now, if music is free, then there is no business, there is just music. So, I like it, I think that we should share.”
“It’s ok, if one person buys it, it’s totally cool, burn it up, share it with your friends, I don’t care. I don’t care how you hear it as long as you hear it. As long as you come to my show, and have a great time listening to the live show it’s totally cool. I don’t mind. I’m happy that they hear it.”
Late last year, the rapper 50 Cent made positive statements for piracy, and bands like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have even offered their albums on their own sites, disregarding the record labels. More recently, Kidrock told fans to “steal” his album all they wanted.
Rogers requires 3 year contract for iPhone 3G
Would-be iPhone 3G customers in Canada have just been hit with the news that Rogers will require a 3-year contract for the smartphone along with the mandatory data plan.
The carrier also announced the price of the plans, with the cheapest at $60 CAD and the most expensive being $115 CAD although the the carrier did not say how much the phone itself will cost when it hits on July 11th.
The lower end plan will come with 150 minutes of voice calling, with unlimited evenings and weekends, 400 MB of data, 75 sent text messages, and unlimited incoming texts and visual voicemail messages.
The medium $75 plan will get you 300 weekday minutes, 750 MB of data, and 100 sent texts.
The most expensive, $115, will get subscribers 800 minutes of daytime calling, 2 GB of data, and 300 sent text messages.
Rogers said the 400MB plan is enough bandwidth for 200,000 emails and 3000 web pages browsed. The 2GB plan will get you 1 million emails and 16,000 web pages.
Despite unlimited access to all Rogers Wi-Fi hotspots, many predict that even 2GB will not be enough to satisfy most iPhone users. In comparison, in the US AT&T offers an unlimited data plan for $30 USD on top of a $39 USD voice plan.
BBC building iPlayer set-top box?
According to an article in the Financial Times, the BBC is planning on bringing a set-top box to the market that will allow iPlayer users to transfer web video to their HDTVs.
The set top box, which will face competition from Apple TV and the newly introduced Roku from Netflix would allow users with broadband connections to have instant IPTV.
Mark Thompson, BBC director-general, added, “There are many things out there in the market but what we haven’t got is a simple standard, to mean that you can get services like iPlayer and Kangaroo.”
It also appears the BBC is talking with content owners hoping to strike deals making their content available. If the set top box does come through, the BBC will most likely more directly compete with BSkyB and its digital video recorder service Sky+.
Update: Panasonic denies OLED reports
Panasonic executives are denying recent reports that they will have a 37-inch OLED TV on the market by 2012, and instead say that the launch date is closer to 2015. Official timelines were not available but the company did say R&D was continuing in Japan.
The recent reports had Panasonic readying commercial OLED displays at its Himeji production facility beginning in 2010. The manufacturer confirms the facility will eventually produce the OLED panels but not in time to have mass-produced displays by 2012.
“We are currently advancing research and development in view of OLED production at IPS Alpha’s Himeji Plant for the future, but nothing specific has yet been decided on the commercialization of our OLED TV at the moment,” added a spokesperson.
Crytek CEO speaks out about PC game piracy, again
Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli is in the news again for talking about how PC game piracy has affected his company and sales of its blockbuster hit Crysis. Last month, Yerli said the company would no longer be PC exclusive because of piracy and would bring future titles to multiple platforms.
In this most recent interview, Yerli was asked what he felt were the reasons behind Crysis’ “lacluster” sales and he responded with putting most of the blame on PC piracy.
“The PC industry is really, at the moment, I would say the most intensely pirated market ever. It’s crazy how the ratio between sales to piracy is probably 1 to 15 to 1 to 20 right now,” Yerli said.
“For one sale there are 15 to 20 pirates and pirate versions, and that’s a big shame for the PC industry. I hope with Warhead I hope we improve the situation, but at the same time it may have an impact on [our] PC exclusivity in the future.”
Real opens DRM-free MP3 store
Today, Real announced the beta launch of its DRM-Free Rhapsody MP3 Store, a completely different service then its current DRM-based subscription service.
The new store will sell MP3s and has already secured the full catalogs of all the Big 4 music labels. The store also promises to allow subscribers full-length previews of any song they want before purchasing while non-subscribers can preview up to 25 complete songs.
Giving the store another edge over rivals such as iTunes, Amazon and Napster is Real’s exclusive connection to MTV, CMT and VH1. Facebook users can also access the service and individual songs directly using the iLike application.
The Rhapsody service will not however, offer re-downloads for misplaced music like Amazon does.
Pricing for the service is identical to that of Napster, with individual songs costing 99 cents and full albums usually priced at $10. The company adds “Windows-only subscriptions will remain in place and cost $13 per month for PCs alone or $15 for those who also want device transfers to Rhapsody-compatible devices.”
DualShock 3 finally headed to Europe
Sony Europe has confirmed that the PlayStation 3 DualShock 3 controller will finally hit Europe on July 4th, months after it was launched in Japan and North America.
The controller adds “rumble” vibration technology to the PS3, a feature that many gamers missed when the Sixaxis controller was released with the console.
“We are delighted to confirm that DualShock 3 will be released in SCEE territories in early July. We hope this will add to the intense gaming experience for our fans, as we continue to evolve PS3, its software and its peripherals,” added David Reeves, president of SCEE.
The DS3 will cost GBP 39.99 and is usable for games such as Resistance: Fall of Man, Gran Turismo 5 and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune as long as you have firmware 1.94 or higher.
