Free Republic

SALT LAKE CITY— Utah’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force arrested 39 suspects on suspicion of dealing in child pornography after a month-long investigation. It is part of Operation FrostyLime Squeeze. The unique name stems from FrostWire and LimeWire.com, two of many file-sharing websites local police, the FBI and the Utah Attorney General cracked down on from February 28 to March 31. The most arrests came out of Utah County with many of the suspects in positions of trust and lived a double lifestyle, according to investigators. “These are your next door neighbors, pastor, scout master, teacher, the coach....

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday granted the music industry's request to shut down the popular LimeWire file-sharing service, which had been found liable for copyright infringement, the company said. The ruling requires LimeWire to "disable the searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality, and/or all functionality of the software," according to LimeWire.

Lime Group, whose LimeWire software has allowed people to share songs and other files over the Internet, received a federal injunction Tuesday to disable key parts of its service.(Snip)The injunction, issued by U.S. District Court in New York, compels Lime Group to disable LimeWire's searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and distribution features, effective immediately.

While YouTube managers do victory dances following their massive courtroom win in the copyright case brought against the video service by Viacom, the triumph appears to have done little to buoy file-sharing service Lime Wire. Lime Wire, the Web's largest and most popular file-sharing service, has fended off allegations that it violated the copyrights of the four largest recording companies for four years, but U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood last month granted summary judgment in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America. The court found Lime Wire and founder Mark Gorton liable for copyright infringement and that decision is...

* Obama evacuation plan leaked online * Lawmaker slams file-sharing software * More: Technology news and reviews SENSITIVE documents including plans for the emergency evacuation of US President Barack Obama and motorcade routes have been leaked on a file-sharing network, authorities say. Chairman of the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Edolphus Towns said the documents had been discovered with file-sharing program LimeWire. Other sensitive documents found with the peer-to-peer program included FBI files, medical records and social security numbers. Mr Town used evidence of the leaks to argue for the regulation of file-sharing programs. "As far as I...

Details about a U.S. Secret Service safe house for the First Family -- to be used in a national emergency -- were found to have leaked out on a LimeWire file-sharing network recently, members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee were told this morning.Also unearthed on LimeWire networks in recent days were presidential motorcade routes and a sensitive but unclassified document listing details on every nuclear facility in the country, Robert Boback, CEO of Tiversa Inc. told committee members. The disclosures prompted the chairman of the committee, Rep. Edolphus Towns, (D-N.Y.), to call for a ban on the...

Peer-to-peer (P-to-P) file-sharing software developer Lime Wire has countersued the biggest record companies, charging them with anti-competitive behavior. The suit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, follows the closing of most of the popular file-sharing Web sites due to lawsuits initiated by record companies. It also comes on the heels of a suit filed by 13 record companies against Lime Wire, accusing the developer of music piracy and demanding damages that could amount to $476 million. Lime Wire now charges the record companies with colluding to create a monopoly over the digital...

(AP) LOS ANGELES -- A coalition of major recording companies sued the operators of the file-sharing program LimeWire for copyright infringement Friday, claiming the firm encourages users to trade music without permission. New York-based Lime Group LLC, its subsidiaries who designed and distribute LimeWire, and the corporation's top executives, are named in the federal court lawsuit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York, the Recording Industry Association of America said in a statement. Record labels owned by Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Britain's EMI Music are behind the complaint, which...

Louise: "No these are not my songs." They are however downloaded right onto her computer. Louise:"I was embarrassed when they gave me a print out of these songs." She got this printout because of lawyers. She also got this letter telling her she was being sued for copyright infringement.Parents, there are other popular file sharing programs you need to know about: Morpheus: morpheus.com Kazaa: www.kazaa.com Bearshare: www.bearshare.com Limewire: www.limewire.com Louise: "I was in shock..I was stunned." The letter is part of a music industry crackdown.Singers, songwriters and music companies tired of people downloading and burning copies of music without paying....

Company claims ability to wipe out file-sharing Music, movie sharing doomed, say Finns By : Monday 18 April 2005, 12:13 A FINNISH COMPANY, Viralg Oy, says it can wipe out file-sharing in an instant. The company says it has developed digital rights protection software that can be incorporated into digital movie, music or software releases and set to play havoc with P2P networks on which releases may appear. Viralg says it has a "virtual algorithm" which is capable of, "mixing together files in P2P networks in a way that the illegal downloader will end up downloading useless garbage instead of...

Music Labels Step Up Internet Piracy Hunt TED BRIDIS Associated PressWASHINGTON - The embattled music industry disclosed plans Wednesday for an unprecedented escalation in its fight against Internet piracy, threatening to sue hundreds of individual computer users who illegally share music files online. The Recording Industry Association of America, citing significant sales declines, said it will begin Thursday to search Internet file-sharing networks to identify music fans who offer "substantial" collections of MP3 song files for downloading. It expects to file at least several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages within eight to 10 weeks. Executives for the RIAA, the Washington-based...

<p>A California Democrat introduced a bill Thursday that would make sharing of copyrighted files illegal, and would indemnify copyright holders from taking whatever actions they chose to prevent the sharing of those files.</p> <p>The effect, if approved by Congress and signed into law, would be to virtually outlaw file-sharing as is commonly known. The bill was authored by and introduced by Rep. Howard L. Berman, a California Democrat representing the 26th Congressional District, which includes North Hollywood. Berman is the ranking member of the Congressional Committee on the Judiciary's subcommittee on courts, the Internet, and intellectual property.</p>

<p>Country music, that bastion of soulful, twangy Americana, was responsible for something very out of character this week. Steve Earle, an on-again, off-again alternative country star, hit an off-note by recording a sympathetic ballad about the travails of a certain young ex-Taliban soldier from Northern California.</p>

WASHINGTON – Responding to the widespread creation and free distribution of CDs, videos, DVDs and books over the Internet without regard to copyright laws, as well as other major areas of copyright and patent infringement, a consortium of groups met yesterday to find a solution to the piracy of intellectual property. The Institute for Policy Innovation, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank founded to develop solutions to public policy problems, co-sponsored the forum, entitled "Invasion of the Idea Snatchers," along with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an organization dedicated to free enterprise and limited government. Guests from the entertainment, software, hardware and...

"...A MAN WITH SOUL SO DEAD..." : In a shocking turn of events, it appears that Steve Earle, whose new song "John Walker's Blues" is being hailed from Baghdad to Mogadishu, has also written a new version of his hit song, "I Ain't Ever Satisfied" : I Have Been Osamafied (Cat Stevens Earle) My arms sport some serious tracks And my brain's been fried by horse and crack Spent some hard time in the man's prison where I felt the pain of my brother Muslim Aie-ei-ei-ei-ei-ei-ei-ei-ei-ei I have been Osamafied Aie-ei-ei-ei-ei-ei-ei-ei-ei-ei I have been Osamafied Now I know nothing about...

'U.S. Taliban' Inspires Controversial Ballad Mon Jul 22,11:00 AM ET By Aly Sujo NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) - A new country-rock song that compares American Taliban John Walker Lindh to Jesus Christ is drawing both raves and howls of indignation just days after the 21-year-old pleaded guilty to aiding the former Afghan regime. Recorded in Nashville by the maverick Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Steve Earle, "John Walker's Blues" is a stately ballad punctuated by the sound of Arabic prayers, and makes reference to Lindh's interest in music videos, boy bands, and religious fanaticism. Over a layered backdrop of electric guitars recorded backward, the...

<p>NASHVILLE — American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh is glorified and called Jesus-like in a country-rock song to be released soon by maverick singer-songwriter Steve Earle.</p> <p>The controversial ballad called "John Walker's Blues" is backed by the chanting of Arabic prayers and praises Allah.</p>

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The record industry pleaded on Wednesday with consumers to stop downloading and recording music for free because piracy was strangling the multi-billion-dollar industry. Profits have plummeted, especially in Europe. CD sales in Germany last year were 185 million whereas the number of blank CDs used to copy music was estimated at 182 million. Record executives also believe there are now more unauthorized music files available on the Internet than at the height of Napster ( news - web sites)'s success in the field. "Music for free means less new music, fewer new artists, less choice, thousands less...