House Approves P2P User Act

Roy Mark reports:

The third time proved the charm for Rep. Mary Mack Bono (R-CA) as the U.S. House approved the Informed P2P User Act Dec. 8, mandating P2P (peer-to-peer) software vendors to provide a “clear and conspicuous” notice to consumers about the files being shared by the software and to obtain user consent for sharing the files. Mack had unsuccessfully pushed for the same legislation in two previous sessions of Congress.

The bill, approved on a voice vote, mandates P2P vendors’ disclose the notice and consent immediately prior to the installation or downloading of P2P file-sharing programs. The legislation also prohibits P2P vendors from blocking users’ reasonable efforts to disable or remove from their computers P2P programs.

Read more on eWeek. The bill is H.R. 1319, the Informed P2P User Act.

Telia forced to reveal file-sharing customer

Swedish Internet provider TeliaSonera has been forced to disclose the identity of a customer believed to be behind file-sharing site Swetorrents, after losing a court case to a consortium of film companies in the District Court.

If TeliaSonera refuses to reveal the name and address of the IP address holder, the company will face a fine of SEK 750,000.

The court based its decision on the grounds that there is a probable case for copyright rights infringement.

Read more in The Local (Se).

File sharing in Sweden nears record high

Did Swedish anti-piracy law backfire or did it just do no good in the long-term, or what?

Following a severe drop in the aftermath of Ipred, Sweden’s new anti-piracy law implemented in April, illegal file sharing is once again on the rise, reaching record high levels.

Many experts believed that the Ipred law wouldn’t have any effect on file-sharing. But the results were dramatic, with a 40 percent drop in Internet traffic the night before the law went into effect on April 1, according to statistics from Netnod, a Swedish organization that coordinates national Internet service providers (ISPs).

At the time, Netnod figures were generally considered to be the best measure of illegal file sharing.

The entertainment industry was satisfied and hoped for a boost in record sales. And according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), music sales increased by 18 percent over the first nine months of 2009.

But after the feverish downloading at the end of March and the abrupt decline in April, file sharing has steadily recovered. Several weeks ago, Internet traffic passed the previous all-time high, reported in March.

But the numbers are not so straightforward. Netnod statistics are an extremely rough measure of file sharing and there are several other factors that could have contributed to the increase in Internet traffic. Some of it can also be attributed to entirely legal businesses.

Spotify and the various television channels ‘Play’ sites haven’t yet released their statistics. There is guaranteed to be certain increase in file sharing, but it isn’t possible to tell exactly how much,” said researcher Kristoffer Schollin, who studies file-sharing and gave expert testimony during the Pirate Bay trial in March.

At the same time, Internet security company McAfee estimates that the number of file-sharing sites has exploded by 300 percent since the spring. The decisive factor was the Pirate Bay trial in March, when many believed that the Pirate Bay site would be shut down, according to McAfee.

Read more in The Local (Se).

New fast-track P2P clampdown proposals announced

According to the Guardian and reports this morning, Government officials today have announced that they intend to put in place a strong clamp down on illicit file sharing to ‘support’ record and film industries they wrongly believe are threatened.

This is the wrong moment to go in this direction. Online music revenues are going up, illicit filesharing is going down.

Instead of letting the market solve the problems, the government seems intent on heavy-handed intervention, that could include disconnection and other account restrictions. This would be in direct contravention of their own goal of universal broadband access, as well as a curtailment of people’s freedom of expression.

Read more on The Open Rights Group

UK file-sharers to be ‘cut off’

The UK government has published new measures that could see people who illegally download films and music cut off from the net.

The amendment to the Digital Britain report would see regulator Ofcom given greater powers to tackle pirates.

The technical measures are likely to include suspending the net accounts of “hardcore copyright pirates”.

It is believed that Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has intervened personally to beef up the policy.

Read more on BBC.

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