Free Republic

I am about to dive in and get a cable modem, but right as we are about to, my wife starts in on the "I don't want you downloading any more music. I don't want you doing anything illegal". Arent there some programs that are actually legal now? I used to use Winmx because I was under the impression that it was one of the legal ones, but she asked me to remove it til we found out for sure.

Several readers responded to our Wednesday item on the Saddam torture video by asking where to find it. The American Enterprise Institute has links on this page. AEI warns that the video is "very graphic" and "not suitable for children." We've seen part of it, and we're not sure it's suitable for anyone, so proceed at your own risk.

SEATTLE - RealNetworks Inc. and Starz Encore Group LLC are launching an Internet movie subscription service Monday, 18 months after the two companies first announced plans for the offering. Seattle-based RealNetworks and Starz of Englewood, Colo., had planned to begin the service in the spring of 2003, after announcing it in December 2002. But RealNetworks vice president Karim Meghji said it was delayed because the companies didn't think the market was ready for the offering, which lets people download movies to watch on computers. One big hurdle was broader adoption of high-speed broadband Internet connections, which Meghji said allows the...

<p>In its largest round of lawsuits, the recording industry sued 532 unnamed people on Wednesday, accusing them of sharing copyrighted songs over the Internet. The move was intended to show that despite a recent legal setback, the industry was not letting up on its crackdown on file sharers.</p>

I paid $24.94 for unlimited downloads, for a lifetime. The company is Mp3downloadcity. Am I now safe to download mp3s?

<p>LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Turning the tables on record labels, makers of the most popular Internet song-swapping network are suing entertainment companies for copyright infringement.</p> <p>Sharman Networks Ltd., the company behind the Kazaa file-sharing software, filed a federal lawsuit Monday accusing the entertainment companies of using unauthorized versions of its software in their efforts to root out users. Entertainment companies have offered bogus versions of copyright works and sent online messages to users.</p>

I've used Kazaa to download music files. There, I've said it so I guess it is only a matter of time before the Canadian Recording Industry Association or the Recording Industry Association of America sends me a nasty letter or hits me with a lawsuit for stealing copyrighted music. To be honest, the RIAA's recent decision to fire off 261 lawsuits in the United States sends shivers up my spine. These guys are have become serious -- even if means further alienating their consumers. I guess the RIAA is frustrated that after five years of legal warfare, there are still...

I'd like to review all methods of sharing files online. Rating them by Security, Speed, Accuracy, Availability, and Selection. I've always used Kazza. I've used it for years. It was one of the best ways to download music, software, games, movies, videos, etc. It had a decent selection of music. Especially if the music was new. If the music was new then you could almost always find it there. Speed of this type of file sharing software depended on the person downloading, and the person being downloaded from. Unforunately Kazza has been a target of the RIAA and siince it...

A fast-spreading Internet worm infecting more than a million computers worldwide forced the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration to shut its offices for the day and is causing problems for other computer networks in the Washington region. The worm, dubbed "Blaster" by security experts, is having a "sporadic" effect on federal agency networks, said a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security......(snip) [Article is long but good]

RIAA nails 1,000 music-lovers in 'new Prohibition' jihad By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco Posted: 19/07/2003 at 11:26 GMT The Recording Industry Association of America's attack on US culture has escalated at an alarming pace this week. On Friday the lobby group that works on behalf of the large, mostly foreign-owned, music conglomerates that own the music copyrights and distribution channels confirmed that it was serving subpoenas at the rate of 75 a day on US citizens for the crime of sharing the music they love. This signals a change of tactics for the RIAA: as now each individual file...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Tuesday he favors developing new technology to remotely destroy the computers of people who illegally download music from the Internet. The surprise remarks by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, during a hearing on copyright abuses represent a dramatic escalation in the frustrating battle by industry executives and lawmakers in Washington against illegal music downloads. During a discussion on methods to frustrate computer users who illegally exchange music and movie files over the Internet, Hatch asked technology executives about ways to damage computers involved in such file trading. Legal experts have...

Kazaa claims 230 million downloads Fri May 23,11:30 AM ET By Dawn C. Chmielewski, Mercury News If the most powerful emotion is neither love nor hate -- it's got to be the desire to get stuff for free. That's what one must conclude from an announcement expected today from Sharman Networks, which says its Kazaa Media Desktop has been downloaded 230 million times -- setting the record as the most popular software application ever distributed over the Internet. In just over a year, the software used to download free music over the Internet has surpassed all other applications distributed through...

Four university students on Thursday agreed to pay thousands of dollars each to settle online music piracy charges, ending the record industry's most aggressive thrust yet against individual file swappers.The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued four students separately last month for running services that searched computers connected to their college networks for MP3 song files. The students also shared copyrighted music from own machines. The lawsuits marked the first time that the RIAA directly sued students, as opposed to companies, associated with peer-to-peer piracy.The settlements will see each student making payments to the RIAA totaling between $12,000 and...

Back home now, I know you're probably sleepin' Over here it's the middle of the day I finally found some time to write a letter Sittin' here a half a world away I heard about all them folks protestin' As if I really want this war But that don't stop me from believin' There's just some things worth fightin' for (chorus) And if I die before you wake, I pray the world will take A good look at what God's given us That we could only understand , everything is in His Hands All we need is a little faith...

In the strongest attempt yet to create a legitimate alternative to free music-trading sites, America Online will introduce a service today that lets users download and listen to a large catalog of songs. For $8.95 a month, users will be able to listen to a catalog of music, now at 250,000 songs and growing, on their computers. Moving songs to CD's or portable players will cost more. AOL is selling a version of a service from MusicNet, which is a consortium of RealNetworks; the BMG unit of Bertelsmann; EMI; and Warner Music, which like America Online is a unit of...

LOS ANGELES -- The entertainment industry has announced new offensives in its battle with online piracy. The Motion Picture Association of America has filed lawsuits against nine ventures the association claims sold pirated titles through eBay. The Recording Industry Association of America reports that it has shut down an Internet site offering free copies of CD artwork and liner notes.

UNIVERSITY PARK - As electronic file-swapping keeps playing its illegal jingle, the recording industry is upping complaints against universities nationwide -- possibly including Penn State. Mike Negra, president of Mike's Video Inc. in State College, said compact-disc sales in college towns in 2002 are "probably down somewhere between 50 and 60 percent" from 1999. "Stores such as mine, and other stores in college markets across the country, were the first to see the potential impact of file-swapping," Negra said. "Business, generally, in that group of stores in the second half of 2000, was down about 40 percent," he said. Writing...