illegal downloading

Read the latest news about illegal downloading on Newser.com

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iTunes Purchase May Be Downfall of Pirate Website

FBI arrests Artem Vaulin of website KAT with help from Apple

(Newser) - It might—might—be a little tougher to grab illegal downloads off the Internet in the near future: The FBI says it arrested the owner of the biggest illegal site on the Internet, with help from Apple, reports MacRumors . Artem Vaulin, a Ukraine native, was arrested in Poland and accused...

Jury: Woman Downloaded Child Porn to Frame Hubby

Meri Woods faces up to 9 years and $20K in fines

(Newser) - A Pennsylvania jury convicted a woman on Wednesday of downloading child pornography onto the family computer and trying to blame it on her husband, Raw Story reports. Prosecutors said Meri Woods of Clymer, Penn., downloaded more than 40 child-pornography images, then delivered the computer to state police and tried to...

ISPs Kick Off Effort to Stop Your Illegal Downloading

ISPs look to slow, yank Internet access via 'six strikes' system

(Newser) - Many of the biggest Internet Service Providers have a new plan to keep customers from illegal downloading, and they're rolling it out over the next few days. The "six strikes" Copyright Alert System involves six notices, sent with increasing urgency, that your ISP suspects you of peer-to-peer piracy....

Congressional Offices Pirating Movies—Again

Dozens of films, TV shows downloaded illegally in recent months

(Newser) - A new report shows staffers in Congress—or maybe even the lawmakers themselves—are big fans of illegal downloading. A site called ScanEye tracked downloads via IP addresses and found that congressional offices downloaded all kinds of illegal fare over the last four months, from the mob flick Lawless, to...

Japan's New Fine for Illegal Downloads: 2 Years in Jail

New penalties take effect today

(Newser) - Japan is really cracking down on online piracy: As of today, anyone who possesses illegally downloaded music or movies could go to prison for as long as two years, CNN reports. They also face fines of nearly $26,000. Possessing content that infringes on copyright laws has been illegal in...

Avatar Tops List of Most Pirated Movies

'Dark Knight' and 'Transformers' aren't far behind

(Newser) - The 2009 3D blockbuster Avatar ranks No. 1 on the list of most pirated movies, reports MovieFone via TorrentFreak . Despite director James Cameron's prediction that 3D would discourage illegal copies, pirates still downloaded Avatar 21 million times. (It's still the highest-grossing movie of all time.) Runners-up for...

Javier Bardem Wants Treaty Against Movie Pirating

Oscar-winner appeals to UN for actors' rights

(Newser) - In No Country For Old Men, Javier Bardem's character mercilessly collected unpaid debts with a deadly bolt gun. Thankfully, he toned down that approach a bit during his appearance today at the United Nations in Geneva, where he argued against the illegal downloading of movies. Bardem said downloading films...

Illegal Downloaders' Punishment: Slow Internet

Internet providers strike deal to penalize pirates

(Newser) - Media companies and Internet providers have agreed on a system to put the brakes on the service of users of illegal file-sharing services. The ISPs have agreed to alert customers up to six times if they believe their account is being used to illegally download music and movie, Reuters reports....

New Law Makes Sharing Netflix Log-In Illegal In...

...Tennessee, the first state with an entertainment theft law

(Newser) - Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has signed into law a groundbreaking bill that makes it a crime to use a friend's login, even with permission, to listen to songs or watch movies from services such as Netflix or Rhapsody. The Tennessee measure was pushed by recording industry officials to try...

France Warns 100K Illegal Downloaders

Sarkozy's anti-piracy campaign gets into gear

(Newser) - France's campaign to stop illegal downloads is well under way, with the program nicknamed Big Brother sending out warning emails to 100,000 people so far, reports the Guardian . Repeat offenders—whose details are gleaned through service providers—face fines and banishment from the web for a year. It's a...

The Most Pirated Movies of 2010
The Most Pirated
Movies of 2010
Dec 22, 2010 2:50 PM CST

The Most Pirated Movies of 2010

'Avatar' still managed to make out OK

(Newser) - Avatar made more than $2.5 billion dollars worldwide—despite the fact that it was the most pirated movie of 2010. The details:
  1. Avatar (16.6 million illegal downloads)—Avatar also holds the record for most illegal downloads in a year. Last year's most pirated movie, Star Trek, was downloaded
...

Judge Kills Off LimeWire
 Judge Kills Off LimeWire 
Oct 27, 2010 5:50 AM CDT

Judge Kills Off LimeWire

File-sharing site ordered to permanently disable software

(Newser) - File-sharing site LimeWire has been effectively killed off by a court order. A federal judge has issued an injunction ordering the service to permanently disable its software and to end the sharing of unauthorized music files, the Wall Street Journal reports. The popular site was found liable for copyright infringement...

Look Out, Downloaders: It Now Pays to Sue You

Virginia lawfirm makes RIAA actions pale by comparison

(Newser) - The recent lawsuit against those who illegally downloaded the Hurt Locker is likely just a sign of things to come. But that's not because the movie industry has suddenly decided to go after pirates; it's because a group of lawyers—they go by the name the US Copyright Group—has...

To Save the Music Industry, Ban Music—and Whistling

The copyright arguments aren't going to stop until the day music dies

(Newser) - The music industry wants royalties for the 30-second previews on iTunes—which is "bullshit," writes Nicholas DeLeon for TechGear. It's yet another foolish move in the battle to save the music industry, complains DeLeon. Luckily, he has a "foolproof" way to do just that: Ban music, "...

Student Must Pay $675K for Illegal Downloads

(Newser) - A Boston graduate student must pay $675,000 to the music industry for illegally downloading 30 songs, a federal jury ordered today. Joel Tenenbaum, 25, essentially admitted yesterday to grabbing the music via file-sharing network KaZaA. The fine averages out to $22,500 per song—significantly less than the $80,...

Minnesota Mom Fined $1.9M for Illegal Music Downloads

Guilty verdict given in do-over of country's first file-sharing trial

(Newser) - A Minnesota woman has been fined $80,000 per song for each of 24 music files she illegally downloaded, CNN reports. The court ordered Jammie Thomas to pay $1.92 million to the Recording Industry of America. Her original trial—America's first for music file-sharing—granted the RIAA just $220,...

Danger Mouse's Latest Album a Blank CD

Producer pushes listeners to illegally download, burn songs

(Newser) - Legal wrangling reportedly led to the shelving of Danger Mouse’s latest album; now, instead of dropping Dark Night Of The Soul, the producer behind acclaimed Beatles/Jay-Z mash-up the Grey Album is releasing a book of photographs by director David Lynch—with a blank CD enclosed, XXL reports. “For...

Assembly Votes Surprise Non on French Web Piracy Law

(Newser) - The French legislature has put a stop—for now—to an anti-piracy law that would deny Internet access to repeat offenders, AFP reports. The law, a pet of President Nicolas Sarkozy, would deal the ultimate blow to illegal downloaders after three strikes, and replace the current regime of fines and...

France Plans to Monitor, Foil Illegal Downloaders

(Newser) - France is poised to enact a far-reaching crackdown on those who illegally download music and movies, the New York Times reports. A new law expected to be approved tomorrow allows the music and film industry to monitor the downloads of individual users and report any violations to a new copyright...

Pirated Wolverine Already Viewed by 1M

Execs fear massive downloading will claw into box-office take

(Newser) - Canned Fox columnist Roger Friedman is in very good company—the unfinished copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine has been downloaded more than a million downloads since it was leaked online, TorrentFreak reports. Execs are panicked by the leak—described by Gawker as the "biggest Hollywood crime of the decade"...

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