FBI agents raided residences throughout the USA yesterday which were hubs for the “Underground Network.” About 7,000 users connected to the network via file-sharing software known as “Direct Connect.” According to law enforcement officials, not only were music files shared, but, also movies not yet released theaters, DVD or video. “Today’s actions send an important message to those who steal over the Internet,” said Attorney General John D. Ashcroft. “The Department of Justice is committed Continue reading Justice Department Raids P2P File Sharers→ Continue reading Justice Department Raids P2P File Sharers→

By Elliot Zimmerman, Attorney At Law, Fort Lauderdale, FLThe GNU (“Generally Not Unix”) General Public License (“GPL”), or GNU GPL for short, which can be viewed here, is used by authors who want their works to remain free for others to copy and change. Under the terms of the GNU GPL, the author first copyrights the original work then licenses it to the public to use for free, provided that anyone who redistributes it, with Continue reading What’s GNU?→

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in MGM v. Grokster et al. declares defendants not liable for indirect copyright infringement in P2P music file sharing cases, upholding the lower court’s decision.

Click Here for RIAA’s Form Doe Settlement Agreement in a Music File Sharing Direct Copyright Infringement Suit.

Procedural and Evidentiary Considerations in Music File Sharing Direct Copyright Infringement Suits. Consider: 1) Procedural Defenses Include (Verizon and its Progeny): a) How did plaintiff learn of your client? Did your client receive a letter from his/her/its ISP stating that plaintiff was requesting his/her/its IP address? There is case law suggesting that your client may have been denied procedural due process if certain steps were not taken by the ISP and plaintiff respecting your client’s Continue reading Defenses to P2P Direct Copyright Infringement→

Wired reports that U.S. representatives are worried that the Digital Millenium Copyright Act has criminalized otherwise innocent activities, such as making a personal copy of a purchased CD, or trying to get a DVD to play on a Linux computer. The representatives are backing a bill that would overturn major portions of the DMCA, allowing people to copy CDs and DVDs more freely.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Case No. 03-15313, rules that DirecTV cannot sue individuals for “mere possession” of technology that is capable of intercepting DirecTV”s satellite signal. See DIRECTV, INC., a California corporation, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus MIKE TREWORGY, Defendant-Appellee; on Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida; before ANDERSON, HULL and PRYOR, Circuit Judges; Order (June 15, 2004 by PRYOR, Circuit Judge. See Order here (pdf format).

On Tuesday, May 25, 2004, Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed bill (SB 2574) giving the attorney general authority to bring civil action against the sender of an email with a deceptive subject line (e.g. the email subject says account overdue, but is actually a sexually explicit ad), or anyone helping the sender, and impose $500 fines for each occurrence.

On Friday, March 13, 2004, the FBI requested the FCC to force ISPs, broadband and dsl providers to rewrite their networks to allow wiretapping by the government. The FBI’s proposal would force cable providers that sell broadband to come under the jurisdiction of 1994’s Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), Read the article here. Caveat: Big Brother is watching!

CNN reports that AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo and Earthlink have joined forces and filed 6 federal lawsuits against hundreds of alleged spammers citing the Can-Spam Act. The suits were filed in CA, GA, WA, and VA. The allegations included, but were not limited to, deceptive solicitations and disguising the originating source of the spam. Read the article here.