Valleywag
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Posts Tagged “
File Sharing
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Microsoft's antipiracy protection may doom video Zune
Part of the deal between NBC and Microsoft to sell television shows to Zune owners is that Microsoft will attempt to build in antipiracy technology that keeps anything you might have downloaded through less than legitimate means off the device. In other words, you can say goodbye to trading MP3 files or videos with your friends on the Zune — instead, you'll have to use officially authorized sources to charge it up with content. How will the Zune know if the video you're trying to download to the device was downloaded illegally or, say, created by you? Until digital watermarking technology improves significantly, it won't, and even then, who knows. So for you lonely Zune owners, prepare to get even lonelier, because the second the company implements this "feature," it can kiss goodbye to what little market share it now enjoys. (Photo by AP/Ted S. Warren)
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The Pirate Bay's new blog platform inspired by WordPress.com censorship
BayWords is the new blog host from those lovable Swedish outlaws at The Pirate Bay. The blogging platform is built atop open-source WordPress code. Which is a little ironic, since TorrentFreak reports that the project was started after a WordPress.com user who linked to copyrighted material lost his account. As for the new site, almost anything goes. "As long as you don't break any Swedish laws in your blog, we will defend it," says The Pirate Bay's Peter "Brokep" Sunde. Looks I'll be spending the weekend reading up on Sweden's legal code.
file sharing
Sandvine reports $7 million first quarter loss
Canadian network equipment manufacturer Sandvine reported a $7 million loss for the quarter ending February 29th, the first "disappointing" quarter in the company's history according to CEO Dave Caputo. The company makes network management equipment such as the deep packet sniffers Comcast was accused of using to throttle file sharing protocols such as BitTorrent. Caputo assured investors that the debate over ISP traffic management and network neutrality is "cooling somewhat." I'm not so sure — I'm expecting the rescheduled public hearings on Comcast's traffic management policies at Stanford next Thursday to be rather charged. Sandvine's stock is trading at a quarter of it's one year high.
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Bell Canada's peer-to-peer throttling mess
Bell Canada, the largest Internet service provider for our neighbors to the north, has admitted to using "deep packet sniffers" [Ed's note: Sounds intriguing, am assigning Melissa to look into these people] to throttle peer-to-peer protocol transfers such as BitTorrent downloads. Executives there obviously hadn't spoken to peers at national broadcaster CBC, which recently started legitimately distributing shows via P2P, as has American network NBC and musicians like Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. The company also throttled traffic from ISPs that buy bandwidth wholesale from the company. Net neutrality groups are lobbying Canadian officials to regulate Bell Canada into submission. But Minister of Industry Jim Prentice is opposed to any further regulation, and the Conservative Party-led government has been in favor or easing current regulations on telcos. Meanwhile, here in the states, Comcast has cozied up to BitTorrent and the FCC has proven more amenable to arguments in favor of net neutrality.
file sharing
Comcast cuddles up to BitTorrent while still choking users
Cable and internet service provider Comcast, half of the local broadband duopoly here in the Bay Area, has promised to stop throttling traffic generated by users of the BitTorrent protocol. This comes in the wake of a mountain of bad press sparked by the discovery that Comcast was interfering with customers' file-sharing transmissions — including an AP reporter's entirely legal Bible download. In return, BitTorrent Inc. promises to optimize the company's client for Comcast's network. However, Comcast isn't showering away the stink; it's just applying deodorant. More »
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Antigua could offer The Pirate Bay safe harbor
Antigua has fired a salvo against the United States in a long-simmering dispute over trade regulations, promising to give free reign to intellectual property piracy if the US doesn't allow Americans to access Antigua's lucrative online gambling businesses. The World Trade Organization awarded the tiny island nation the right to ignore American copyright laws last December if negotations fail. Antigua's hope is that the Motion Picture Association of America and software companies like Microsoft will pressure the US government to come to terms — after all, The Pirate Bay has been looking for an island paradise. Why doesn't Antigua threaten to publish details of the local tax shelters used by studio and tech executives and their financiers? That seems easier. (Photo by AP/Johnny Jno-Baptiste)
file sharing
Why Verizon isn't fighting file sharing
While Comcast has been trying to curtail file sharing, Verizon has taken a hands-off approach. Why? It's not because Verizon executives are free-the-Internet libertarian nutjobs. No, it's because file sharing can make them more money. The phone company partnered with peer-to-peer software startup Pando Networks to speed video downloads. When DSL customers share files with others on Verizon's network, it cuts costs 75 to 90 percent and dramatically reduces the load on Verizon's network. Before you hold up this capitalist move as an argument for network neutrality, consider this: Verizon had to share data about its network with Pando to optimize delivery of the video files. (Photo by /Mark Lennihan)
your privacy is an illusion
Harvard student data hacked and posted on BitTorrent
Harvard University had data on 10,000 graduate-school applicants stolen from a hacked server and posted on BitTorrent. 6,600 students had their birthdates, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers and more released. Don't worry, though. The university is paying for identity theft protection for all affected students. "Protecting personal information is something Harvard takes seriously, and we are truly sorry for the inconvenience and concern this incident may cause." Not serious enough to keep from getting hacked, though. Whatever. The University of Chicago would never let this crap happen. Even better? The file was posted on The Pirate Bay in February. What took you so long to make a statement, guv'nors?
comcast
FCC chair "ready to act" against Comcast -- so what is he waiting for?
Federal Communications Commission chair Kevin Martin reiterated the FCC's position on Comcast's file-sharing misdeeds. Giving a speech at Stanford Law School, Martin said the commission is "ready, willing and able" to take action against the company. But this is the exact same wording he used at the first net neutrality hearing at Harvard several weeks ago. The FCC remains "ready" — but it isn't doing anything. Mr. Martin, sir, as my grandmother would say: "Shit or get off the pot."
followup
FCC chief says no new hearing "planned" after Comcast debacle
Freakishly boyish FCC chairman Kevin Martin isn't exactly denying our earlier report that his commission was considering a "do-over" hearing on net neutrality. The first hearing, held at Harvard, dealt with regulations on what Internet service providers can do to privilege some kinds of Net traffic over others. It was marred by a seat-packing scandal: Comcast paid people to hold spots in line for Comcast employees who never showed up. A FCC representative gave News.com this unhelpful quote on the subject of a new hearing, which we've heard could be held at Stanford: More »
digital music
Nine Inch Nails offer free tracks on BitTorrent, double album for $5
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has made the first section of a four-part album available as a BitTorrent download. The rest of the 36-track album is available on the band's website or on Amazon.com, without copying restrictions, for $5. Reznor has been a constant critic of record labels and the music industry for years. Last year he admitted that he frequently pirated music himself. He included this statement in the upload notes for the album, Ghosts I: More »
exclusive
The FCC is considering holding a fresh hearing on net neutrality, with Comcast and Verizon again in attendance — and this time it may be at Stanford. The do-over comes after a mini-scandal erupted over the first hearing, held at Harvard; Comcast flacks confessed they'd paid people off the street to act as seatwarmers. Let this be a lesson to you all: If you're going to meddle in politics, do it skillfully enough not to get caught.
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FCC contemplating do-over Comcast hearing at Stanford
The FCC is considering holding a fresh hearing on net neutrality, with Comcast and Verizon again in attendance — and this time it may be at Stanford. The do-over comes after a mini-scandal erupted over the first hearing, held at Harvard; Comcast flacks confessed they'd paid people off the street to act as seatwarmers. Let this be a lesson to you all: If you're going to meddle in politics, do it skillfully enough not to get caught.
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politics
FCC chair to Comcast: Stop lying about file sharing
At a Congressional hearing, Comcast executives said the company needs to filter some traffic to keep the flow of data constant on its networks — like blocking BitTorrent file-sharing, as it was caught doing last fall. Federal Communications Commission head Kevin Martin is having none of it. "I think it's important to understand that the commission is ready, willing and able to step in if necessary to correct any (unreasonable) practices that are ongoing today," he said today. Martin wants Internet service providers to be more "transparent." Network operators have the right to manage data traffic, but that "does not mean they can arbitrarily block access to particular applications or services," he added. Translation? If you're going to block file sharing, stop lying about it.
the pirate bay
Yahoo removes file-sharing site from its search
Links to Swedish file-sharing site The Pirate Bay's homepage have disappeared from Yahoo's search results. Pirate Bay cofounder Brokep had some harsh words for Yahoo:It's dangerous to trust a company like Yahoo when they filter the searches. It's a new China, but this time Yahoo is the dictator. Yahoo should let the governments decide, not themselves. It's dangerous when companies take the law into their own hands.More »
file sharing
95 percent of music downloads are illegal
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry — that's the RIAA for the rest of the world — says illegal music downloads outnumbered legal ones 20 to 1 in 2007. The music-industry association also expects CD sales, which dropped 11 percent between 2005 and 2006, to drop further in 2007. To the industry, this means we should all support measures like the one recently proposed by French President Nicholas Sarkozy. More »
broadband
"Tru2way" just another false promise from the cable industry
Tru2way, the newly rechristened OpenCable standard that allows cable providers to do all sorts of crazy things with your TV set, was announced during CES. But now that the nerd sweat has dried, branding agency Siegal & Gale decided it was prime time to proclaim its genius to the world — how it managed to convey "true, two-way interactivity" in an "imprimatur" by coming up with "Tru2way" as a name. Of course, it didn't take into consideration the whole other side of the big, bad cable mess. Namely, nothing about cable is two-way. Let's see, AT&T is attempting to filter every piece of Internet traffic for illegal content. Comcast has been caught throttling file-sharing apps on its network. Now Time Warner wants you to pay extra for the bandwidth it promised you in the first place. Cable's direction has been every which way but true.
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