Posts made by raphjd

Torrent sites are banning it, but many Yahoo groups still post them.

German Government - Data Retention is for Terrorists, Not Copyright Infringers

Last year, ZeroPaid reported on the German music industry saying it would sue 1000 file-sharers every month in the year of 2007.

This crackdown on copyright infringement was an attempt to deter file-sharers, making it seem as though one couldn't get away with it in Germany. A new report on Heise Online seems to show a significant setback on the file-sharing crackdown - namely the new resistance to using data retention laws in civil matters.

The Justice Minister of Germany Zypries said in an interview for Focus Magazine, "Connection information can assist in the prosecution of terrorists and organized criminals but cannot be used to help the music industry pursue its rights under civil law" Ouch. Not good news for the IFPI when they were jumping for joy earlier over the new laws. A Google translation of an earlier report showed a chairman of the German arm of the IFPI saying that it would be contradictory for the government to not hand over all the information over to them for copyright legal pursuits.

The data retention laws would have all internet service providers retain all the information that goes through their networks for six months starting on January of this year. It's little wonder why the record labels would want to have access to that information.

It may not be too far fetched to believe that the German record labels will simply give up after being told 'no', but for now, it looks as though the record labels will have to go back to their old tactics which is probably similar to some of the questionable information gathering techniques employed by their US counterparts.

The article below is dated 9 Jan 08.

Wants to make sure that no consumer is being blocked from using legal software like BitTorrent.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was asked a number of questions yesterday at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show(CES) and none was more anticipated by yours truly than what his plans are to address Comcast's throttling of BitTorrent traffic.

"Sure, we're going to investigate and make sure that no consumer is going to be blocked," he said.

The FCC's response will be an important test of its support for net neutrality, which the agency has a broadly stated policy supporting, but has yet to enforce the principle with ISPs. It does say ISPs have an exception for "reasonable traffic management." Comcast has said the practice of BiTorrent throttling falls under this exception.

"The question is going to arise: Are they reasonable network practices?" Martin said Tuesday. "When they have reasonable network practices, they should disclose those and make those public."

What Comcast has yet to acknowledge though is that even under the guise of "traffic management" it is essentially playing de facto gatekeeper of content by inhibiting people's ability to share large files which BitTorrent is so adept at handling. For independent film producers for example, this means that sharing your work with others online will be more difficult than it would be otherwise.

NOTE: The title of this article is the title of the thread.

EU's Top Court: 'ISPs Don't Have to Name File-Sharers'

European Court of Justice ends dispute between a Spanish music copyright group and a Spanish ISP.

In a big blow to copyright groups' attempts in fighting online piracy, the European Court of Justice ruled today that in civil cases member countries can refuse to provide the names of suspected illegal file-sharers.

The case is an important one because it reaffirms the fact that under EU laws ISPs are required to only give up the names of subscribers in criminal cases and not civil ones.

"Community law does not require the member states, in order to ensure the effective protection of copyright, to lay down an obligation to disclose personal data in the context of civil proceedings," the court said in a statement.

The case is centered around a dispute between the Spanish music copyright holders association Promusicae and the Spanish ISP Telefonica.

Promusicae wanted Telefonica to disclose the names of individuals who illegally shared copyrighted music using the KaZaA P2P file-sharing program so that it could start civil cases against them.

"There are several community directives whose purpose is that the member states should ensure, especially in the information society, effective protection of industrial property, in particular copyright," the court said.

"Such protection cannot, however, affect the requirements of the protection of personal data. The directives on the protection of personal data also allow the member states to provide for exceptions to the obligation to guarantee the confidentiality of traffic data," the court added.

Civil proceedings are cheaper than criminal proceedings which typically require a higher burden of proof.

EU rules do not preclude the possibility for EU countries of laying down an obligation to disclose personal data in the context of civil proceedings, it said.

"However, it does not compel the member states to lay down such an obligation," the court said.

European Union countries can refuse to disclose names of file sharers on the Internet in civil cases, the EU's top court said on Tuesday in a blow to copyright holders trying to fight digital piracy.

According to a statement by the court:

Community law does not require the member states, in order to ensure the effective protection of copyright, to lay down an obligation to disclose personal data in the context of civil proceedings.

There are several community directives whose purpose is that the member states should ensure, especially in the information society, effective protection of industrial property, in particular copyright.

EU rules do not preclude the possibility for EU countries of laying down an obligation to disclose personal data in the context of civil proceedings.

However, it does not compel the member states to lay down such an obligation.

Civil proceedings are apparently cheaper than criminal ones which usually require a much higher burden of proof by the plaintiffs and therefore will certainly make it tougher for copyright groups to go after suspected illegal file-sharers.

Damaged Undersea Cables Prompt Egypt to Ask File-Sharers to Take it Easy

Egyptian users of P2P and file-sharing services are being asked to help out after two of three cables that carry Internet traffic deep under the Mediterranean Sea snapped, disrupting service Thursday across a wide swath of Asia and the Middle Eas

The cables lie undersea just north of the Egyptian port of Alexandria, but repairs could take a week once workers arrive at the site, and engineers were scrambling to reroute traffic to satellites and to other cables.

"Two of our cables are affected; everyone will go onto a third cable," ministry spokesman Mohammed Taymur told AFP. "But that will not be enough bandwidth. The cable will be overloaded and no one will be able to get access" unless people honour the ministry request.

"People should know how to use the Internet because people who download music and films are going to affect businesses who have more important things to do," he said.

I'm not a hardcore techie, so I'm just repeating what I've seen on the news pages and other sites about it.

I'm sure for most users, it would be the death of their computer because they would have no idea how to fix it.

From the articles on it, someone is using it to get a swarm of attack bots to do DoS {Denial of Service} attacks.

Other than the original person{s}, no one is purposely sending it out. It uses your various contact lists to propagate itself.

This is why everyone needs to get and keep updated their anti virus software and firewalls.

There was a relatively short lived trojan of the same name last spring that killed the zero sector of your hard drive making it completely unusable as it wiped out the firmware.

If you ever get an email with the title "you have recieved a postcard from {insert name}" DO NOT open it. Microsoft classes this as the most destructive virus/trojan to date.

This is not to be confused with the "virtual card for you" hoax from last summer.

Please see this site for more info;

hXXp://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp

No, I actually like the song.

My point is about the hypocrisy of the BBC ruling/decision.

If the word was nigger, paki, cunt, kike, etc, they would not have even attempted to bleep the word out, the song would have been banned outright. They also would not have backed down to the pressure of the public on the issue.

hXXp://news.uk.msn.com/ledger-story.aspx

Hate group targets Ledger

Members of Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas plan to picket the funeral of actor Heath Ledger with signs claiming the actor died and is in Hell because he played a gay character in Brokeback Mountain.

The church website displays a bulletin that reads: "Heath Ledger thought it was great fun defying God Almighty and His plain word; to wit: God Hates Fags! & Fag-Enablers! Ergo, God hates the sordid, tacky bucket of slime seasoned with vomit known as 'Brokeback Moutain' Heath Ledger is now in Hell, and has begin serving his eternal sentence there."

Westboro Baptist Church, is not affiliated with a larger denomination and is made up mostly of Fred Phelps' extended family members. Phelps and his church gained national attention when they protested at the funeral of Matthew Shephard with signs that read "No Fags in Heaven" and "God Hates Fags."

Recently the radical church group has been known for picketing the funerals of soldiers who perished in Iraq. Last year a Baltimore jury awarded the father of a Marine whose funeral was targeted by Fred Phelps' group nearly $11m in damages.

The funeral protests have lead 22 US states, including Illinois, to enact or propose laws to limit the rights of protesters at funerals.

Westboro Baptist Church is also known to condemn Muslims, Roman Catholics and Jews.

Louis Theroux's BBC documentary America's Most Hated Family followed the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church last year.

According to the latest news, he had at least 6 different types of prescription sleeping pills in his system and at high doses too.

It's still being treated as accidental and not suicide.

@salsamat:

I understand I have been blocked for the ratio of 0.171 and all activity has been stopped but I cannot comprehend how that is possible since I have been seeding for a while now and actually have re-seed requests on seeds that are blocked at this moment.

I understand that you want to get rid of the leechers however, blocking me all together including my seeding?

How am I to get my ratio up now??????

You have downloaded 6 videos but they are all stopped. Four of those videos have leechers wanting the files.

It kinda looks like Rick Donavon.

Understand that encryption works best if both pusher and puller encrypt , no?

That is correct.

For encryption to work fully, both sides need to use it.

I like the idea. Hopefully there will people willing to help you with this.

I don't regret a single thing.

I do wish that being gay made no difference to anyone and that we were treated as total equals in society.