illegally

A new survey has found that people who regularly download pirated material spend more money on legitimate downloads than individuals who don't download pirated material. The same survey also revealed that about one in every four downloads breaches ... copyright in some way. The survey was carried out by a media company working for Ofcom, the United Kingdom's equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The researchers spoke to a total of 21,745 Britons over the course of a year. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) The figures are all based on survey responses rather than actual activity data, so ... (view more)

The company that publishes "For Dummies" books is taking to court the people it accuses of pirating its titles and releasing the content via BitTorrent. This could be the first time an American jury has considered a case involving BitTorrent users. ... BitTorrent is a technology for sharing large files, legally and illegally. It involves breaking down a file into hundreds of small pieces and downloading the pieces from many different sources, all at once. The method allows a computer to obtain different pieces of the same file in any convenient sequence, making the transfer process much quicker ... (view more)

Imagine being fined almost $2 million dollars for illegally downloading two albums' worth of music. Minnesota single mom Jammie Thomas-Rasset couldn't believe such a decision, and neither could a U.S. District court judge, who recently cut the fine ... down to $54,000. Original Fine $200K, Upped to $1.92M Thomas-Rasset's case is a long and prolific one, dating back almost four years. It was in 2006 that a case was brought against her on behalf of the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA), for the illegal downloading of 24 songs. At the conclusion of that trial, Thomas-Rasset, who is a ... (view more)