The Peer-to-Peer Weblog

Spain Outlaws P2P Networks - June 30, 2006

A new law in Spain 86'es P2P networks, bans ISPs from "facillitating filesharing" and imposes a blanket tax on blank media. "The tax will go into a fund which will be shared among copyright holders to compensate for piracy." But, the story goes on, according to a European Commission statement, "The logic of levies would also have to be applied to broadband and infrastructure service providers including telecommunications providers that carry content."Yikes, this bill sounds like it.
http://p2p.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/30/spain-outlaws-p2p-networks/

RIAA Sells Anti-Piracy Propaganda To Your Children - June 29, 2006

The rapid expansion of the definition of intellectual property continues unabated, with the RIAA taking the battle for hearts and minds directly to the auditorium of your kid's school.The RIAA has teamed with iSafe, "a nonprofit organization that teaches kids, teachers and parents how to be safe on the Internet, with topics such as awareness about predators, not to give out too much personal information, and the risks of getting on P2P networks."Sounds fine so far. When you add in the idea of...
http://p2p.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/29/riaa-sells-anti-piracy-propaganda-to-your-children/

P2P Legal Insurance Available in Sweden - June 28, 2006

Such an obvious idea, but what perfect timing. According to Slashdot, a Swedish company is now offering insurance against possible P2P lawsuits. "A new insurance company in Sweden is offering a new policy to protect you from the RIAA Swedish. For a mere 140 SEK ($19 USD) per year, they will pay all your fines and give you a t-shirt if you get convicted for file sharing. Interesting development in Sweden indeed."I don't speak a word of Swedish, but I'm pretty sure the T-Shirt loosely translates..
http://p2p.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/28/p2p-legal-insurance-available-in-sweden/

Swedish Police Keep Pirate Bay Servers - June 28, 2006

We've reported on the Pirate Bay raid and ensuing mess several times over recent weeks. Now it seems, according to p2pnet, that the Swedish Police have decided to keep the Pirate Bay servers confiscated during the recent raid. "Internet hosting company PRQ had demanded the return of both paperwork and computer equipment seized by police, saying that the material had no significance for the investigation and arguing that it was vital for PRQ's work," says The Local.Appeals are said to be in the..
http://p2p.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/28/swedish-police-keep-pirate-bay-servers/

BitTorrent Movie Distribution Deal is about Real-Time Delivery - June 28, 2006

Today saw the announcement of a partnership agreement between BitTorrent and San Jose based ISP GNi. GNi will provide BitTorrent with a single connection that peers into six networks to ensure consistent access to fast connections. "Essentially we partnered with GNi because as BitTorrent becomes a key player in the online video distribution space, it is imperative that we have reliable IP support," said Lily Lin, director of communications for BitTorrent. "With a secure, scalable and fast...
http://p2p.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/28/bittorrent-movie-distribution-deal-is-about-real-time...

German P2P Users Feel Safe Despite Lawsuits - June 24, 2006

Based on traffic figures for P2P networks popular in Germany, the German people aren't scared of recent enforcement efforts. Barely a month after 3,500 file-sharing network users were placed under investigation by the public prosecutor's office in Cologne, the figures for P2P network use are back to where they were. This is a result of an analysis undertaken by the Leipzig-based company ipoque GmbH. This seems to be the story all over the world, the RIAA MPAA IFPI CIRA et al lawsuits...
http://p2p.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/24/german-p2p-users-feel-safe-despite-lawsuits/

Sweden Pressured To Take Down Pirate Bay - June 21, 2006

The raid and take-down of Bittorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay led to a veritable shower of press, and a substantial backlash from the Swedish people. During the course of Pirate Bay events, several sites and news organizations have cited pressure from the U.S. as a contributing reason for the raid. Reports of U.S. involvement stem from a report by SVT.se, a respected Swedish news organization, who reported that the MPAA and the US government pressured the Swedish Minister of Justice to take..
http://p2p.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/21/sweden-pressured-to-take-down-pirate-bay/

P2P Fear Mongering or Vaild Business Concern - June 20, 2006

Former White House security advisor Howard Schmidt, turned private-sector president of R&H Security Consulting warned corporations they need to address a "new generation" of security weaknesses enabled by peer-to-peer (P2P) networks on the systems of third-party contractors and business partners."It's a very important and emerging issue," Schmidt said. "We talk a lot about intrusion detection and antivirus...but one thing we're not paying enough attention to is P2P file sharing networks and.
http://p2p.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/20/p2p-fear-mongering-or-vaild-business-concern/

Swedish P2P Gains Political Boosters - June 19, 2006

It looks like The Pirate Bay raid may have done more harm than good, at least if you're on the side of the content owners. Swedish politicians are looking towards a September election, and 5 of the 7 major political parties have agreed to look at Swedish copyright law reform, even in the face of an EU directive that prohibits "unauthorized downloading or uploading of copyright-protected files" "The fallout from the May 31 raid on The Pirate Bay has made clear just how widespread and.
http://p2p.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/19/swedish-p2p-gains-political-boosters/

G2P : Finding Mp3s Using Google - June 19, 2006

The latest fad in P2P isn't P2P at all. Some clever soul has created a simple interface that allows the layperson to search using Google for Mp3's. Something tells me this won't last long. "Quick and dirty website allowing you to search Google for MP3s. No need to remember all those funny codes and parameters." Funny codes and parameters indeed. A few quick tests with the G2P interface show that it does find files containing the artist name, and with an extension of "mp3". The...
http://p2p.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/19/g2p-finding-mp3s-using-google/