Ex-MPAA and IFPI Anti-Piracy Enforcer Shot Dead

A man described as an “anti-piracy hero” has been gunned down in Thailand. Kasim Cha Tong, a former director of the MPA and anti-piracy campaigner for the IFPI, died by a single shot from a sawn-off shotgun. The killer escaped. Police are investigating the possibility that this was an assassination.

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Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent

TV shows are by far the most wanted files on BitTorrent, and according to some, it’s becoming the modern day TiVo. But what are all those people downloading?

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BitTorrent Sites Step Closer to Legality in Spain

In September a Spanish court decided that the eDonkey indexing site Sharemula operated legally, indicating that linking to copyright infringing material is permitted under the law. Now that decision has been reinforced as a court decides that a torrent site previously shutdown by the police, also operated legally.

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ISP Disconnects Customers with Open WiFi

In copyright infringement cases, having an unsecured wireless router creates plausible deniability. Not all ISPs are happy with customers who have open WiFi, however, and some even threaten to disconnect those who do.

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Sony Urges ISPs to Cooperate Against Piracy

In a keynote speech at the Broadband World Forum, John McMahon, President of Sony Pictures Television asked ISPs to join their battle against piracy. McMahon further said that DRM is one of the major causes of piracy, but says Sony doesn’t have any plans to get rid of it.

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The Pirate Bay Clashes with Book Publishers

Swedish book publishers have presented a study in which they show how widespread book piracy is in Sweden. The publishers think that this copyright infringement has a disastrous effect on their income, while The Pirate Bay is surprised to see that the publishers used their torrent database illegally.

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Warez Scene Member Gets 3 Years Probation, $2000 Fine

A Florida man was sentenced to three years probation on Thursday for his part in running a ‘warez’ server. The 55 year old, known online as ‘kidzap’, would’ve most likely been sent to jail, but avoided incarceration by pleading guilty to conspiring to commit copyright infringement. He collects a $2,000 fine.

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RIAA’s Week of Hell

It’s been a bad week for the RIAA. First their headline campaign victory over Jammie Thomas was thrown out, and then the government said it ’strongly opposes’ a bill lobbied for by the entertainment industries.

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Pirate Bay Wins Court Case, Italian Block Lifted

The Pirate Bay has successfully appealed the decision of an Italian judge who had ordered ISPs to block access to the popular BitTorrent tracker last month. The Court of Bergamo decided that this block was unlawful, and that Italian users should regain access to the site.

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Linking to P2P Downloads Confirmed Legal in Spain

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Pirate Bay Boycotts Press after Public Witch-Hunt

Following a turbulent week where The Pirate Bay was smeared by the mainstream media for linking to publicly available autopsy photos of two murdered kids, The Pirate Bay has decided to boycott all press for the time being.

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RIAA: Lobbyists or Law Enforcers?

When a story appears in the media involving piracy, it inevitably mentions how lobby groups like the RIAA get involved in helping establish evidence. Is this really needed, or does this compromise the cases? Should representatives for the victims really be used to form the basis of a criminal case, or should evidence be gathered by the police?

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