file sharing
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Swedish site offering insurance to content pirates
Here's an innovative business plan for you: start up an insurance company whose sole purpose is to cover your customers' fines should they get busted for illegal file sharing, thereby creating a clientele that by default is composed completely of criminals. Well believe it or not, a Swedish "entrepreneur" has begun to offer this very service to his fellow citizens -- for only $19 per year, Magnus Braath's company Tankafritt promises to pay any penalties incurred from crackdowns on your rampant piracy, and he'll even throw in a free T-shirt to help you glorify your outlaw status. (Yes, you guessed it, the shirt actually does read "I got convicted for file-sharing and all I got was this lousy T-shirt"). Braath claims that he started the business as a statement against recent changes in Swedish law that had the nerve to criminalize illegal downloading, and that low conviction rates and relatively minor fines will allow him to keep the venture financially solvent. Hey Magnus, if you're looking to expand your operation, we hear that Spain's just passed some legislation that will probably create quite the demand for your unique little service -- who knows, with some hard work and a bit of luck, you could end up becoming the Geico of software and content piracy.[Via Techdirt and Slashdot]
Spain cracks down on file sharing
It's a sad day for Spanish content pirates, as formerly lax laws allowing P2P file sharing for personal use have just been overturned in favor of strict new rules that make file swappers financially liable for any unauthorized downloading they partake in. Furthermore, the new regulations -- which, unsurprisingly, have been blessed with the MPAA's seal of approval -- also hold ISPs accountable for the P2P activity of their customers, which could be seen as an incentive for service providers to block what they consider suspicious traffic. Even regular law-abiding citizens will be affected by the recent crackdown, as a small tax will now be levied on all blank media to reimburse copyright holders for earnings lost to piracy. While we're totally in support of intellectual property owners getting paid for their content, we worry that these tough new rules will discourage and even prohibit the many legitimate uses of P2P networks that have nothing to do with stealing movies and music -- as usual, a few bad apples (well, maybe more than a few) have caused everyone else to suffer.[Via Slashdot]
Maxtor teams up with Fabrik on personal server
So Maxtor and Valley startup Fabrik are up to something together, which they're calling Project Fusion. It sounds very cloak and dagger and whatnot, but it's actually pretty transparent and literal: they're building a personal server (i.e. a big external hard drive) that connects up to the Internet with Fabrik's service and allows you to access your data with a web-accessible frontend. There's even a new buzzword to describe the package: "personal media portal." Ok then. According to Maxtor the device could go for as much as $799 for a 500GB, which leaves a bit of a bad taste in our mouths (especially when there's, you know, about ten thousand companies out there trying to get your files online for you), but Om likes Fabrik, and you can't really argue with Om.
Long-time holdouts Red Hot Chili Peppers in the iTunes Music Store
Do you remember when Napster was huge (about ten years ago), and digital file sharing was on everyone's minds? Metallica and The Red Hot Chili Peppers were sort of leading the anti-p2p charge. Several years later, when the iTunes Music Store demonstrated that the online distribution of music could be accomplished successfully, the Peppers refused to participate, stating that (among other things), they didn't like that customers were able to purchase individual tracks, as it interrupted the flow of the album, or some other artsy thing like that.Anyway, this is why I was very surprised to find nine Peppers albums in the iTMS this morning [iTunes link], including some exclusive stuff and videos. I'm glad you guys have come around.
