InstantIdiocy

Nielsen Hugely Underestimates BitTorrent Traffic

Nielsen, one of the largest market research companies worldwide is probably best known for their TV-show ratings in the US. However, they’re also looking into less old fashioned media outlets such as BitTorrent. Most recently, they say they have found an interesting trend in Australia. “Total visits by Australians to BitTorrent websites including Mininova, The Pirate [...]

Search For Movie Piracy Equipment Was Invasion of Privacy

A little while ago we reported on a case in the UK where a woman went to the cinema and claimed she was “treated like a criminal.” Searching for movie camming equipment, staff instead found some candy. Because she wouldn’t hand it over, they called security to deal with her and the whole thing descended [...]

Panera Bread’s Evil Torrent Filter

With over 1250 free WiFi access points across the US, Panera Bread is offering a much appreciated service to its customers. Tens of thousands of people use their free wireless Internet every day, and the company even lists it as one of their selling points on their website. “Send an email as you munch a [...]

Soulseek P2P Application Vulnerable to Remote Takeover

Soulseek, created by former Napster programmer Nir Arbe, is a lessor known file-sharing network/application. Although files of any type can be shared, its specialty lies in the diverse independent music to be found within – for electronic music lovers Soulseek an absolute goldmine. But it’s not all good news. In July 2008, security researcher Laurent Gaffié [...]

Downloading 3322 Copyrighted Movies is Okay in Spain

Today, the Criminal Court of Pamplona ruled that a man didn’t break any laws by downloading thousands of movies and an undetermined number of songs. The defendant was acquitted of copyright infringement charges because there was no evidence that he profited from downloading the movies and music, or sharing them with others. The judge acknowledged that [...]

ACS:Law Anti-Piracy Lawyers Are Copyright Infringers

We recently reported that ACS:Law appear to have taken up where notorious UK lawyers Davenport Lyons left off, sending threatening letters to alleged BitTorrent and eDonkey copyright infringers demanding payment of hundreds of pounds or face legal action. Sadly, ACS:Law don’t appear to be practicing what they preach, despite taking the moral high-ground with the hundreds [...]

Pirate Bay Judge Indeed Handpicked

Unlike other criminal trials in Sweden, the judge in the Pirate Bay trial wasn’t selected at random. Instead, he was chosen because of his expertise with copyright related issues. Indeed, as a member of various pro-copyright organizations, Norström is very involved in the issue. However, the ties to these lobby groups might also cloud his judgment [...]

Anti-Piracy Group Raids P2P Admin’s House Without Warrant

Allow us to introduce computer science student, Juan Jose Carrasco Colonel. The 26 year-old resident of Bonar, Spain, lives with his parents and brother. He also ran two eD2k file-sharing link sites – Elitemula and Etmusica – which were recently shuttered after a court order was served on the site’s host. Yesterday things took a turn [...]

Pirate Party Backed by Sweden’s Most Prolific Writer

Lars Gustafsson is a Swedish poet, novelist and literary critic whose controversial writings often go against the establishment. For several years he worked as a professor at the University of Texas teaching philosophy and creative writing, until he retired in 2006. True to his defiant nature, Gustafsson – who has moved back from Texas to [...]

Operation Jackal: Police Track Down Charity Song Pirates

In April hundreds of people were killed after an earthquake hit L’Aquila in Italy, prompting several initiatives to raise funds for those affected. One project saw 56 artists and musicians come together to record a song called “Domani 21/4.09″ (Tomorrow 21/4.09). Inevitably the song leaked onto P2P networks before its official release. Normally, the leak of [...]