VERY,VERY HOT READS, I Would Read The News In This Thread This Thead Is To post Any Thing Ye Want About The News,,NEWS WAS MOVED,READ MY FIRST POS...

Google yanks p2pnet ads: II,

p2p news / p2pnet: Google, perhaps not the best arbiter of fair dealings, believes in the maxim, Guilty until proven innocent.

The white strip on the right used to contain Google Adsense panels. But Google pulled them without discussion or warning because, it claimed, p2pnet had been 'violating' its terms of service.

The claim is a load of old bollocks. I'm not dishonest, all other considerations apart.

Google also yanked the Google p2pnet search bar, which brought in a few dollars - a very few dollars - every month. The one you see at the moment is a temporary no-pay version while I find a replacement.

Except for the first few months when I opened the account in 2004, the Adsense income has been pitiful. But I need every penny I can get to keep p2pnet online so .........

Back to the allegation, once in a while p2pnet runs stories which may annoy someone and several people suggested perhaps the spurious clicks were, in effect, attacks on the site.

For example, jen_eric999 wondered, "doesn't this mean that anyone can get anyone else's ads pulled just by running a script against their site? Businesses could do this to competitors. Maybe some party that dislikes the content has 'framed' you with automatic clicks".

On the day I received the 'take down' notice I emailed The Google AdSense Team.

"What are you talking about?" - I asked. "I've done absolutely nothing to enhance click-throughs in any way and I'm absolutely furious at your unsupported allegation. Please immediately send details to back up your claim."

The next day I sent the email below to Google press contacts David Krane, corporate PR; Michael Mayzel, advertising PR; Nathan Tyler, technology PR; Eileen Rodriguez, consumer PR; and, Debbie Frost, international PR, with whom I'd had previous correspondence when Google was found to have been censoring news inside Communist China.

Hi all:

Part I:

My p2pnet Google account has been closed because of unsubstantiated and completely unwarranted claims that the site "violates our terms of service" and has been deliberately generating "invalid clicks". [http://p2pnet.net/story/7791]

You have my word that this is completely untrue. On the two occasions I fell foul of your policies, I immediately remedied the situations.

p2pnet's stance has created enemies and I'm writing to you to suggest Google may have been used as a weapon of attack. As a reader said to me in an email, "All you have to do is go to a competitor's site and keep clicking on the Google Ads on their pages - mission accomplished." And as another reader says in a comment post, "... I wonder, if the supposed bogus clicks can get a site booted off adsense, doesn't this mean that anyone can get anyone else's ads pulled just by running a script against their site? Businesses could do this to competitors. Maybe some party that dislikes the content has 'framed' you with automatic clicks." [http://p2pnet.net/index.php?page=comment&story=7791&comment=33169].

If you'd care to reinstate my account with an apology, and agree to pay me the money you owe me, I'll immediately close the account. That way, we can at least part company with no bad feelings, on my part, anyway.


Part II (for a follow-up to story 7791, above):

Is it possible for someone to run a script against another site to generate false clicks on that site?

Is it possible someone to simply go to a site carrying Adsense and click on the ads to generate false clicks?

Do you know if Google ever been used to attack sites via spurious 'click generating'? If so, I'd appreciate an example or two.

What are your general comments on the story (7791) on Google's decision to shut down the p2pnet account?

Cheers! And thanks.

Jon
http://www.p2pnet.net

I haven't had a reply and No, I'm not holding my breath.

Then this morning I received this from 'The Google AdSense Team' -

As you know, Google treats instances of invalid clicks very seriously. By disabling your account, we feel that we have taken the necessary measures to ensure that invalid clicks will not continue to occur on your site. Due to the proprietary nature of our monitoring system, we're not able to disclose any specific details of these clicks.

Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further participation in Google AdSense. However, if you can maintain in good faith that the invalid clicks we detected on your ads were not due to your actions or negligence, or the actions or negligence of others working for you, you may appeal the closing of your account.

Google reserves sole discretion in considering whether to take any action on an appeal.

In order to appeal the disabling of your account, please email us at adsense-adclicks-appeal@google.com with the details requested below.

Please compose a new email and do not reply to this message. We're unable to consider appeals that do not contain all of this information:

- Your name
- Your company's name (if applicable)
- Your publisher ID number (located in the AdSense code on your website with the format, pub-################)
- Your website's URL
- Date your account was disabled
- Your website's audience
- The source of your website's content
- Frequency of content updates
- The primary sources of your website's traffic
- The number of people involved with the administration of the site
- Any relevant information that you believe would explain the invalid click activity we detected

If Google decides to evaluate your appeal, we will do our best to inform you quickly and will proceed with appropriate action as necessary. If we have reached a decision on your appeal, subsequent or duplicate appeals may not be considered.

Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team

To hell with that.

The take-down email was private. But there was also the Google search bar and for hours, until I had an email about it, in fact, every time someone tried to do a search they saw, "Forbidden" and, "Unfortunately, the site [p2pnet] violates our terms of service so your search could not be completed."

Amazingly, Google even published my IP address.

Bearing in mind I'm totally clueless when it comes to anything even slightly technical, and given that Google's policy is to suppose alleged 'violators' are guilty before making any effort to discover the true facts of the situation, I wonder if Google Adsense is, in fact, being used as a weapon to both deprive honest web site owners of income and cause them public humiliation?

Meanwhile, the 'Team' owes me an apology and the promise of an investigation as to how this came about in the first place.

Stay tuned.

http://p2pnet.net/story/7820

 

Pixel counting joins film in obsolete bin
By David Pogue
The New York Times
Published: February 4, 2006,

You can see it in Kodak's startling-looking V570 camera, which has two built-in lenses, each with its own sensor (a nonzooming wide-angle lens and a 3X zoom lens). You also see it in Sony's sleek hinged M2 slab, which has so little resemblance to a camera, you have to explain it to people. Canon has displayed prototypes with clear acrylic bodies, giving you a transparent look into the guts.

Image stabilizers
The hot trend for 2006 is image stabilization. This feature, available in a flood of new camera models, improves your photos' clarity by ironing out your little hand jiggles.

go here to read the total story,
http://news.com.com/Pixel+counting+joins+film+in+obsolete+bin/2100-1041_3-6034570.html?tag=nefd.lede

 

Spyware tunnels in on Winamp flaw


By Joris Evers
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: February 3, 2006, 5:34 PM PST
Tell us what you think about this storyTalkBack E-mail this story to a friendE-mail View this story formatted for printingPrint

A security bug in Winamp is being exploited by miscreants to install spyware on machines running the media player software, experts have warned.

Earlier this week, security companies warned that attack code for exploiting the flaw was circulating on the Internet. On Thursday, Sunbelt Software said it had found a Web site hosting a malicious Winamp playlist file. Opening the file loads spyware onto an unwitting user's PC, it said.

"After surfing to a malicious Web site on our test machines, the file 'x.pls' begins to download," Sunbelt's Adam Thomas wrote in a posting on the anti-spyware software maker's corporate blog. "Almost immediately, Winamp starts to execute the play list and remote code execution begins."

The flaw was disclosed on Monday, when Winamp maker Nullsoft, a division of America Online, released an update to fix it. The company posted version 5.13 of Winamp, while Secunia and other security companies issued alerts about the problem. Secunia rated the issue "extremely critical," its highest rating.

"Not following the recommendation from Nullsoft to upgrade to version 5.13 could result in the extremely nasty CWS Looking-For.Home Search Assistant infection as well as an installation of our good friend SpySheriff," Thomas wrote. Antivirus software is not yet detecting this exploit, he wrote.
Home Search Assistant might monitor a user's activity and send out confidential information to its creator, according to Sunbelt's threat database. SpySheriff will display a false warning that the computer is infected with spyware. It then tries to persuade the user to buy a SpySheriff product, according to Sunbelt.

Distributors of adware and spyware often exploit security vulnerabilities in programs to get their applications onto PCs. Makers of such software often pay distributors per installation of the adware or spyware.

The Winamp problem affects version 5.12 of the media player. Earlier versions may also be affected. On Friday, the malicious Web site referred to by Sunbelt, 008k.com, appeared to be offline. The site displayed a message: "Site is closed for abuses."
http://news.com.com/Spyware+tunnels+in+on+Winamp+flaw/2100-7349_3-6035188.html?tag=nefd.top

 

xSP
February 2, 2006
New Firefox Kills Bugs
By Sean Michael Kerner

The first new Mozilla Firefox point release of the year is now out addressing a number of bug and security issues. Overall, Danish security firm Secunia rates the aggregate of all the security issues "highly critical."

When you dig down into the actual security issues, though, there is only one that Mozilla, publicly at least, has labeled "critical."

Firefox 1.5.0.1 fixes one critical security issue referred to as "Localstore.rdf XML injection through XULDocument.persist()." The vulnerability could have potentially allowed a hacker to inject XML that could include arbitrary JavaScript commands to run on the user's PC.

Also in the release are four moderately critical security issues that address cross-site scripting and systems-information exposure issues. At least three security issues that Mozilla has rated as "low" are also addressed in the update.

In addition to security fixes, the 1.5.0.1 release indicates that there are 12 notable bug fixes in the update, ranging from a printing area bug to a copy and paste bug.

The new release also fixes six different crash conditions. One of the fixed crash conditions trigged a crash in the browser when a user attempted to print a text selection.

That bug is the fifth-highest-rated crash as ranked on Mozilla's Topcrashers site.

Memory leaks are also addressed in the new release with two different leak conditions fixed.

All the bugs and security fixes addressed by the 1.5.0.1 release are also reflected in Firefox's SeaMonkey.

In March, Mozilla announced it would no longer officially release its namesake Mozilla suite, which was developed under the code name "Seamonkey."

The Mozilla suite included both browser and e-mail components and was considered by some to be bloated, hence the focus on the leaner code bases of Mozilla Firefox for browsing and Mozilla Thunderbird for e-mail.

A group of non-Mozilla Foundation developers banded together to form the SeaMonkey Council and this week released SeaMonkey 1.0.

This week also saw the first public beta of Microsoft's challenger to Mozilla's innovation, IE 7 beta 2.
http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3582551

 

25 Florida Strippers Nabbed
Tampa-area clubs again raided in undercover sting operation

FEBRUARY 3--Florida investigators yesterday returned to the scene of the grind, arresting more than two dozen strippers in an undercover investigation. According to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, the dancers were allegedly involved in a variety of criminal activities, including cocaine peddling, prostitution, lewdness, exposure of sexual organs, and the improper solicitation of alcohol sales. The strippers, who were nabbed late last night and early this morning, worked at six Tampa-area clubs: Lollipops; Calendar Girls; Vegas Showgirls; Brass Flamingo; Bare Assets; Foxy Lady; and Club Extasy. Last July, dancers at five of those clubs were arrested as part of a lunchtime sting operation. Below you will find mug shots of 25 strippers arrested as part of the latest Pasco County probe, which involved undercover officers infiltrating the joints and, in some instances, receiving lap dances that, um, rubbed the cops the wrong way. According to criminal complaints, of the 25 women arrested, 23 (or 92 percent) were inked, including one woman who had a "Daddy's Girl" tattoo on the back of one shoulder.

(25 pages) of pictures
here
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0203062strip1.html?link=rssfeed

 

LOL, seems like it's only you posting in this thread ireland.

 

weazel200

i guess thats the way the cookie crumbles..
it does not matter if no one posts in this thread,
i feel that this thread is not being read,i will give it a couple more days..then see.

i do keep my site updated on the news.more so then here.

 

New RIA anti-p2p weapon?

p2p news / p2pnet: Will a $14.99 Addonics cable become another Big Four record label cartel latest weapon for use against ex-customers it's trying to sue into buying 'product'?

"By itself, the $14.99 cable provides a connection between the 1.8-inch Toshiba hard drive and a standard 2.5-inch 40-pin IDE hard drive interface," writes ExtremeTech.

But, it was also commissioned by computer forensics experts, Addonics president Bill Kwong is quoted as saying.

They needed a way to, "determine if illegally copied data - such as music illegally copied from RIAA artists - was stored on the iPod's drive," says the story. "A standard IDE write blocker can be used to turn the Toshiba drive into a read-only device for forensic applications, he added, preventing the intentional or accidental destruction of data."

However, the cable can also be used to back up an iPod and, "in a worst-case scenario, where an iPod may be close to failing and its data inaccessible, the cable may allow the user to rescue some data from the drive, Kwong said," states ExtremeTech.

"Really, we're not intending that users should use this on a running iPod," Kwong said. "But if you really need to take the hard drive out - that is where [the cable] would become useful."

Also See:
ExtremeTech - Could Addonics iPod Cable Be RIAA's Next Weapon?, February 3, 2006

(Saturday 4th February 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/7823

 

Detroit's Spy Bowl XL,

p2p news / p2pnet: This year's Super Bowl XL at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, will be about more a lot more than just football.

A state national guard 'Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team' will be, "patrolling the stadium and nearby neighborhoods with handheld computers and special sensors tied together in a uniform system to fight terrorist threats," says Computerworld.

It'll be the first time allow security officials to use a single interface, one wireless network "and a variety of related equipment" to "monitor potential threats, providing real-time data wirelessly to all security personnel, says the story.

"The big advantage here is that it uses Internet protocols, so [the incoming data] can be loaded into secure or classified Web sites, so personnel up to thousands of miles away can get readings in real time," LtCol Clark Hinga of the Michigan National Guard’s 51st Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team is quoted as saying.

It's also being used by the Michigan National Guard, "as a field test for the U.S. Army’s Tank and Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), which is testing the technology to find ways to link sensors, military personnel, vehicles and other equipment using high-speed wireless networks for instant and reliable communications," Hinga said, according to Computerworld.

Also See:
Computerworld - Super Bowl security to use sensor fusion to fight WMD threats, February 2, 2006

(Saturday 4th February 2006
http://p2pnet.net/story/7821

 

RIAA tries forcing settlement out of a woman despite no PC
Posted by Seán Byrne on 05 February 2006 - 00:00 - Source: Red Herring - Industries

No matter whom the RIAA suspects of file sharing, whether they are dead or alive or even without a PC, they will try their best to force settlements out of the person. In this case, they are after a home health aide in Brooklyn, New York, who claims she never operated a computer, never mind switch one on. Now, she has had to get an attorney to request a pre-motion conference with the District Court judge in order make a summary judgement to dismiss her case. Her attorneys and relatives insist she is innocent.

While there was no computer in her apartment for the time the RIAA accused her of illegally sharing out content, apparently her apartment had an Internet connection over the time which was connected up to an insecure wireless router. As a result, even though neither she nor her family had access to a computer over that period, it would have been possible for someone outside of the apartment to connect to the wireless router and operate a file sharing application, which would have been possible during the accused time.

Unfortunately, no matter how often her son, Mr. Raymond explained the situation to the RIAA's attorneys, they kept harassing him saying that she must pay $4,500 in settlements for the music they claim she downloaded. It seems like they have no interest in getting the issue resolved, believe what the RIAA want them to believe and only what her to settle. Thanks to RTV71 for letting us know about the following news:

Music industry association charges woman with downloading files illegally, even though she doesn’t use a computer.

A home health aide in Brooklyn, New York, has been sued by the Recording Industry Association of America for illegally downloading music files, even though the woman claims she has never used a computer, or even turned one on.

Attorneys for Marie Lindor with the New York City-based firm Beldock Levine & Hoffman sent a letter Thursday to Judge David G. Trager of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York asking for a summary judgment dismissing the RIAA’s complaint, along with attorney fees.

“Ms. Lindor is a home health aide who not only never ‘downloaded, distributed, or made available for distribution’ any files, but has never purchased, used, or even turned on a computer in her life,” wrote Morlan Ty Rogers, an attorney with the firm.

If this is how bad the RIAA treats someone without a PC, then chances are that there are a lot more users that the RIAA have sued who do have a PC, but are totally innocent. As long as they have filed a lawsuit for what they assume is a copyright infringing user, it seems that all they are interested in is getting settlements out of the individual no matter how innocent that person may be. It is like a traffic cop writing speeding tickets out to people they assume have sped before, even though they may never have driven a car!

On the other hand, assuming that an outside user connected to her wireless router was the culprit, this clearly shows that there is a lot more than fraudsters spying on people’s data to worry about if one does not secure their Wi-Fi connection.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13029

 

Teen Wanted in Gay Bar Rampage Is Caught



By NOAH TRISTER, Associated Press Writer 36 minutes ago

GASSVILLE, Ark. - A teenager suspected of a hatchet-and-gun attack in a Massachusetts gay bar shot and killed a small-town police officer and the teen's female passenger before he was critically wounded in a gun battle with police Saturday, authorities said.
ADVERTISEMENT

Jacob D. Robida, 18, was shot twice in the head and "it doesn't look good right now," said Massachusetts prosecutor Paul Walsh Jr.

Walsh said the teen shot Officer Jim Sell, 56, twice during a traffic stop in this northern Arkansas town.

About 25 miles away, Robida sped over spike strips set out by state troopers, but continued to drive with two punctured tires into downtown Norfork. Robida's car then careened into several parked vehicles to avoid a police barricade.

"When he wrecked he started firing at our officer and a state police officer and the officers returned fire," said Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery.

Walsh said the teen shot his unidentified female passenger before he was wounded in the shootout with police.

Robida was taken to a Springfield, Mo., hospital, according to state police spokesman Bill Sadler.

Investigators had searched for Robida since Thursday's attack at a bar in New Bedford, Mass., that left three men wounded, one critically.

The hatchet used in the attack was found outside the bar, but detectives believed Robida still had the gun.

Robida was a high school dropout who friends say glorified Naziism but never expressed any specific prejudice against gays.

"This is insane," said Heather Volton, 22, of Fall River, Mass., who had known Robida for more than a year. "That kid never so much as raised his voice at me ... This is all pretty much a shock to me, like everyone else."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060205/ap_on_re_us/gay_bar_shooting

 

On Capitol Hill, playing WikiPolitics
Partisanship tests Web site's policies
By Yuki Noguchi

Updated: 3:00 a.m. ET Feb. 4, 2006
WASHINGTON - This is what passes for an extreme makeover in Washington: A summer intern for seven-term Rep. Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.) altered the congressman's profile on the Wikipedia Web site to remove an old promise that he would limit his service to four terms.

Someone doctored Sen. Robert C. Byrd's (D-W.Va.) profile on the site to list his age as 180. (He is 88.) An erroneous entry for Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) claimed that he "was voted the most annoying senator by his peers in Congress."

Last week, Wikipedia temporarily blocked certain Capitol Hill Web addresses from altering any entries in the otherwise wide-open forum. Wikipedia is a vast, growing information database written and maintained solely by volunteers. In December, the database received 4.7 million edits from viewers, of which a relatively small number -- "a couple of thousand," according to founder Jimmy Wales -- constituted vandalism.

 

Pentium 4 gets overclocked to 5GHz

And they said it couldn't be done

By INQUIRER staff: Sunday 05 February 2006, 13:16
A REPORT ON Japanese website Impress Watch said that a store has overclocked a Pentium 4 to over 5GHz.

The chip overclocked appears to be a 631, a 3GHz chip, but needed a bit of gas cooling to make the thing leap forwards to that speed.

More, with pics, on the site, here. µ
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/akiba/hotline/20060204/etc_p45ghz.html

 

Patti Santangelo's new lawyer

p2p news / p2pnet: Patti Santangelo now has a team. Its members are Patti herself, her new lawyer, Jordan Glass and you.

And you guys are taking on Warner Music, Vivendi Universal, EMI and Sony BMG, the desperate Big Four Organized Music Goliaths.

They don't stand a chance.

Glass who, bottom line, quite literally wouldn't be beside Patti without help from p2pnet readers, was officially accepted into the New York court system last week and, he told me, he guarantees he'll stay on the case to the end.

"I have to thank all of the p2pnet readers who've contributed to the Fight Goliath Campaign," Patti said today. "Their donations so far have enabled me to hire a new attorney, Jordan D. Glass.

"I wanted very much to continue this fight on my own but when I sat down with the pile of paperwork, I realized that without an attorney who understood the discovery process, I'd surely lose."

Glass is a one-man band in a private practice firm. We'll tell you more about him shortly and we'll also give you details of how the money you're donating is being spent, together with estimates of up-coming outlays.

In two other important developments, we now have a private New York PO Box address for snail-mail contributions, and all donations are going into an escrow account administered by Patti herself.

And while the RIAA is targetting Santangelo and people like her, on November 15, 2004, in testimony before the Federal Trade Commission, the RIAA openly admitted tmost P2P end users don't even know their files are in a shared files folder, says Recording Industry vs The People.

"As an initial matter, P2P software may, upon installation, automatically search a user’s entire hard drive for content," states P2P File-Sharing Workshop – Comment, P034517 - Comments of The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), November 15, 2004, going oin:

"Files that users have no intention of sharing may end up being offered to the entire P2P network. Continued sharing of personal information is hard to avoid and is facilitated by confusing and complicated instructions for designating shared items. A study by Nathaniel S. Good and Aaron Krekelberg at HP Laboratories showed that “the majority of the users…were unable to tell what files they were sharing, and sometimes incorrectly assumed they were not sharing any files when in fact they were sharing all files on their hard drive."

So far ....
... 558 p2pnet readers have contributed a total of $7,588.27. And there were two single snail-mail donations to the old snail-mail address - one of $40, and one of $50.

The total of $7,678.27 looks like a lot, but it isn't. It allowed Patti to retain Glass, but much more will be needed for the discovery process, which has to be completed by May 5. How much more? We're working on an estimate, but for now, it'll be anything upwards of $100,000.

If you're having doubts about the money, check out Alex H's thoughts on the matter.

And if you're wondering if it's all dollars down the tubes, I, the 558 current donors, Jason Rohrer, who wrote the donations script and set up the central donations tracking page, Jordan Glass, Patti and her kids clearly don't think so.

As Alex H sums it up, he's imagining himself standing in the Valley of Elah, "holding a betting slip with 'David - 100 Shakels To Win' written on it."

We are too and when Patti wins, shattering the Bkig Four's delusions that we depend on them, instead of the other way around, it's going to make a huge difference to the more than 18,000 people already being pilloried by the Big Four, not to mention people yet to be victimized.

You can make an immediate contribution to the Goliath Fund by clicking the PayPal button under the pic. Or you can send it to Patti by snail-mail, address beneath it.

Patti Santangelo
C/O PO Box 57
Cedarhurst
New York 11516, USA

If you're a web site owner and you want to post a donations button, go here for the code. You'll find a list of sites featuring donatioins buttons, and some p2pnet story links in the struggle.

For now, go here to see what's in so far.

Cheers, and thanks. And all the best…

420 million vs almost three billion
For anyone who's not familiar with the case, Patti, a New York mother of five, is the first of the more than 18,000 people - men, women and even young children - so far victimized by the Big Four's RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).

Through a vast international PR and propaganda blitz involving the mainstream media and scores of 'trade' organizations, the labels, worth billions of dollars, are trying to claim they're being "devastated" by people who share files on the p2p networks. The RIAA sue 'em all campaign is the American element.

Santangelo was distributing copyrighted songs online, says the RIAA. It's unlikely it'll get far with that so the next targets will, inevitably, be Patti's children. They are Michelle, 19 (wht Patti, left), Bobby, 15, and Ryan, 7 (centre) and Nicole (17) and Jack, 10 (bottom left), all of whom live at home.

Behind specious claims of a thriving corporate music download market, RIAA spokesmen Mitch 'The Don' Bainwol and Cary 'Scary' Sherman' claim their lawsuits are driving significant numbers people to the tiny handful of sites they service and supply, although the reverse is true.

In its latest report, the Big Four's IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industries) boasts, "Music fans downloaded 420 million single tracks from the internet last year". And, "legitimate digital music business is steadily pushing back on digital piracy," declared Kennedy, contradicting his and other statements that "Illegal activity on peer-to-peer networks has stayed static in the last year". Meanwhile in the real world of online music, 60 million Americans had logged on a year ago, says the Digital Media Project, and, say statistics from p2p research company BigChampagne, the numbers are steadily increasing year by year.

During September, 2005, the average number of files available on p2p networks for download at any moment (average simultaneous files) was 2,789,154,393, BigChampagne told me. Spelled out, that's almost three billionfiles.

In America in December, 2005, on average, 6,978,715 people were simultaneously logged onto the p2p networks at any given time, says p2p research firm BigChampagne, which produces statistics centering on the file sharing phenomenon.

In 2004, the number was 5,500,314 and in 2003, 3,239,298, says the firm, which compiled statistics for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Information Technology Outlook report for 2004.

Globally, in December, 2003, 5,602,384 people were logged onto the p2p nets at the same time at any point around the clock, in 2004 the number had swelled to 7,582,248 and in December, 2005, it was 9,554,298.

But neither the Big Four Organized Music cartel members, Warner Music, Vivendi Universal, EMI and Sony BMG, nor their shareholders, are benefitting from this huge Net music phenomenon. They're still locked in the last century with outmoded physical business models and, "Many in the music industry grumble that downloading has been their downfall, and the business has aggressively tried to stop illegal file sharing," says AP.

The Big Four spare no expense in their bitter war against the 'consumers' whom, they claim, are thieves and criminals who "illegally" download music without paying for it.

This isn't, however, a criminal matter, efforts by the cartel's RIAA to elevate it to that level notwithstanding. It's a civil one. And what's at issue isn't if someone's broken a law it's whether or not he or she has infringed a copyright, which is a very long way from "criminal" or "illegal".

At the beginning of the case, Patti was a client of prestigious New York lawyers Beldock, Levine & Hoffman. However, a single mother, she couldn't afford the fees and she and B, L & H decided the only way she could continue was to become her own lawyer.

Now, spread the word. Blog, post, use IM, emails, ICR, whatever. Contact your local tv / radio station / newspaper. Can you get something on slashdot? Can you get the Fight Goliath campaign on Digg or anywhere else? And it doesn't matter where in the world you are. The results of the Patti case will affect you as well. That's why sites from countries such as Italy and the UK feature donation buttons.

Cheers! And thanks. And all the best ...

See:

Mother of 5 takes on Big Music - p2pnet Q&A with lawyer Ray Beckerman, August 28, 2005
RIAA victim talks to p2pnet - p2pnet Q&A with Patti Santangelo, September 4, 2005
The 'We're Not Taking Any More' club - Patti isn't the only who's who's had enough, September 17, 2005
Wanted: p2p tech experts - Santangelo's lawyers aren't impressed by RIAA 'evidence,' October 24, 2005
RIAA mass lawsuits 'improper' - Beckerman believes the RIAA oversteps the mark with mass subpoenas, November 21, 2005
1st RIAA trial: victim to defend herself - First news that Santangelo is on her own, December 6, 2005
Teens next RIAA victims - Just before Christmas, the Big Four decide Patti's children might also make targets, December 23, 2005
Santangelo picks up steam - Forced to acknowledge the saga, the mainstream media finally pick it up, December 28, 2005
Tech expert hacks at RIAA evidence - Zi Mei sets out to debunk RIAA 'technical' evidence, December 29, 2005
Patti Santangelo fights Goliath: II - Patti says, 'Thanks for the support,' December 17, 2005
Patti Santangelo campaign launch! - It's the last day of 2005 and the Fight Goliath campaign officially goes up, December 31, 2005
Sceptical about Patti Santangelo? - p2pnet columnist Alex H has a few thoughts for doubters, January 8, 2006

Donate sites:

* http://jasonrohrer.n3.net $2324.82
* http://p2pnet.net $1759.35
* http://boingboing.net $1149.48
* http://www.fightgoliath.org $879.03
* http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com $329.78
* http://www.downhillbattle.org $328.84
* http://www.p2pforum.it $135.26
* http://boycott-riaa.com $114.12
* http://www.p2pjihad.org/ $79.69
* http://virtualturntable.fourstones.net $72.22
* http://www.bl0g.co.uk/ $47.75
* http://www.azoz.com $42.79
* http://www.bizzarscripts.com $33.68
* http://psx00.com $30.84
* http://www.yourmercifulgod.co.uk/ $28.89
* http://theangrywoodchuck.blogspot.com/ $24.04
* http://www.swissreporter.ch $21.49
* http://psg.com/ $19.12
* http://www.boycott-riaa.com $19.12
* http://www.tomb-of-nil.com $19.12
* http://www.pod2peer.blogspot.com/ $18.92
* http://www.livejournal.com/users/obscure411 $14.45
* http://blog.andrlik.org $14.26
* http://www.annabet.com $14.11
* http://www.peteyp.com $9.60
* http://http://www.myspace.com/brizmo $9.41
* http://www.quiglag.com $9.41
* http://www.xnlb.com/ $5.65
* http://www.soundnet.co.uk/ $4.50
* http://bandnet.org/ $4.13
* http://www.pdmedia.org $2.61
* http://www.timcormier.com $2.31
* http://scattermall.com $0.67

(Monday 6th February 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/7839

this news thread will be winding down as with no action from ye guys
the new will continue on my site.

 

Bill Would OK Drunks on Bikes
By JOE KAFKA
AP
PIERRE, South Dakota (Feb. 2) - South Dakota lawmakers decided Wednesday that it's better to have drunks on horses and bicycles instead of behind the wheel of an auto or truck.

The state Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill 6-1 that will exempt horses and bikes from drunken driving laws, meaning intoxicated people who either pedal or saddle up to get home after a night at the bar cannot be arrested for drunken driving.

Sen. Lee Schoenbeck said it will make the roads safer for other motorists.

"If I have to choose ... a problem drunk with 1,500 pound or 2,000 pounds of metal coming at 50 miles an hour or a two-wheel Schwinn, I'm going to win and my family is going to win," he said. "I'd much rather have a drunk on the bike."

A former lawman, Sen. Gene Abdallah, agreed. Better to have drunks on bikes and horses than motor vehicles, he said.

"I can't believe that a horse is going to intentionally run into anything," Abdallah said. "This is a good avenue to get some people home."

Prosecutors opposed the bill. Chuck Schroyer, lobbyist for the State's Attorneys Association, said there have been arrests in several counties for riding horses while intoxicated.

In one instance, a drunken rider passed out and his horse was struck by a car, injuring several people, Schroyer said.

"There are people that are injured that are in control of these instruments," he said. "This does happen in the real world."

Legislators, however, said prosecutors still can charge drunken riders on horses and bicycles. Rather than drunken driving, they can be charged with disorderly conduct, it was suggested.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
02/01/06 17:55 EST

 

WHEN ARE YE GUYS GOING TO GET IT IN YE HEADS,(Patti Santangelo's } IS FIGHTING FOR YOU.
And ye guys will be next and soon ye guys will be taking on Warner Music, Vivendi Universal, EMI and Sony BMG, the desperate Big Four Organized Music Goliaths. as a knock on ye door or per telephone call.


THIS IS TO IMFORM ALL OF YOU,IF (Patti Santangelo's } LOOSES HER CASE YE MUSIC AND MOVIE DOWNLOADERS WILL BE NEXT TO BE SUED AS SOON AS THEY GET YE IP OR E-MAIL ADDRESS.

if ye can send her some money to help her to fight for you...

 

i have a thread for all of ye,the rules are not as tight..
but this is one rule that must be kept.
PIRACY AND LINKING TO EITHER ILLEGAL OR PIRATED MATERIAL IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED

in this thread ye can use caps,lower case,SIGNATURE'S PIXS ARE ALLOWED IN this thread.pictures..jokes..and all i ask ye is to watch ye language..and this is one thread that will not get locked for a silly reason...

this thread is on afterdawn/dvdxcopy site
the thread is here
http://dvdxcopy.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/292106

main board
http://dvdxcopy.afterdawn.com/forum_view.cfm/74


just have fun..remember this is ye house,club or what ever..

its called
Afterdawn, Moderator, AfterDawn Addict, Senior Member, Members,, Junior Member, Newbie B/S Any Thing Go's Thread

 

Legalization of P2P inches forward in France

2/5/2006 6:34:47 PM, by Ken "Caesar" Fisher

In late December the French Assemblée Nationale surprised the world when it voted to essentially legalize P2P usage. While the headlines were indeed unanticipated, a closer look at the situation revealed no small amount of politics. The bill in question had passed by a vote of only 30 to 28, leaving the 519 other deputies out in the cold; they were on vacation, you see. Questions immediately rose about how realistic this legislation is, and why a vote on such a heated matter would happen under such curious circumstances.

The legislation is moving forward, but it has a long way to go before being enshrined as law. This coming week Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, the French Minister of Culture, will attempt to address matters relating to the law in front of a special parliamentary session, and there's no shortage of issues to address. Questions will range from the economic feasibility of the plan to its relation to European Union intellectual property laws to competing ideas in the realm of cultural production. Despite the considerable amount of cheerleading behind the bill, there are significant doubts about its future.

The proposed law would not make P2P both free and legal, although this popular misconception has persisted. Rather, P2P usage would be made legal in exchange for a monthly surcharge on Internet access, to the tune of circa €5 per month. Some users are jumping for joy at the idea of being indemnified against copyright infringement for a mere ~€60 a year, but not everyone. Like all taxes and surcharges, the fees would have to be paid by everyone, but not everyone thinks it's a great idea (especially the entertainment industry). In late January, for example, EMI Chairman Eric Nicoli called the bill an "aberration," adding:

"If France continues down this road, it could jeopardize the promising growth we’re now seeing in the legitimate online market. Many French artists, authors, indies, majors, film producers and entertainment retailers have expressed their strong opposition to the proposed ‘global licence’ and to other detrimental proposals," he said.

Other industry representatives were less dramatic, suggesting instead that the situation is worth monitoring, but ultimately not a major threat.

"We are concerned and monitoring the situation closely," said Francine Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry music trade group (IFPI). "But it has a long way to go before it becomes law." A spokeswoman for the Motion Picture Association in Europe also said, "everything we're hearing from the government is that it won't happen."

Optimism in the industry stems in large part form the fact that the government's current P2P dramatics were born from proposals that would have mandated stiff jail sentences and fines for P2P sharing. My own view is that this current wave or pro-P2P politics is a backlash against earlier proposals—a backlash meant largely to diffuse the rhetoric that would see sentences of 3 years and fines of over 300,000€ made commonplace. I also think, quite honestly, that a scenario such as that proposed by the legislation would be a mistake.

A compulsory license to copyrighted material is questionable in terms of fairness to both users and content owners. "Everyone pays" sounds great to those who make use of P2P, but those that do not are not thrilled at the prospect of paying fees for others' use. I have no problem paying for the content that I want, or better yet, not paying for the content that I don't want. But a compulsory license is, at the end of the day, little different from a tax, and the idea of sending even more tax money to large corporate interests sits uncomfortably with me. Questions about the state of the industry aside, important issues like broadband adoption and the development of new, independent media would be hurt by any kind of flat-fee "make it go away solution" that simply reduces Joe Citizen to a feudal vassal.

Entertainment industry types, on the other hand, believe that a flat-fee payment system could "average out" revenues and harm competition in the marketplace. I tend to agree, and while I might feel inclined to make some snide remarks about the state of competition right now, I'd rather use my energy to say that providing a direct revenue stream from the pockets of every French Internet user to the entertainment industry simply won't make anything better. How could it?

Last but not least, there's the problem of legal jurisdiction; a fee-supported P2P culture in France must still grapple with content that appears on P2P networks which is not legally available in France to begin with. Thus, the headaches don't go away, the threats don't go away, but someone is still getting paid.

Call me old fashioned, but paying any sort of monthly fee tacked on to Internet access charges for "free P2P" sounds a lot like paying mobbed up goombahs for "protection" on top of your rent. Except this time, the usual suspects don't want anything to do with it, either (although for different reasons).
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060205-6119.html

 

Communist China?

p2p news / p2pnet: The People’s Republic of China without question qualifies as one of the most repressive regimes in the world. There, Net censorship is a given. Literally thousands of public and secret Net police run the largest and most sophisticated IP blocking and content filtering system anywhere, and it's all about stopping the Chinese people from accessing the information and news that's freely available online ...

… thanks largely to expertise and technologies developed and supplied by firms large and small based in supposedly democratized nations.

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are getting it in the neck at the moment, but sadly, they're far from being unique in dealing with what p2pnet has been calling Communist China. And we started doing that because most mainstream media reports simply say something like, 'X' or 'Y' company has announced it's opening a research company in China, as though the PRC were just any country.

But it isn't. So we added 'Communist' to try to underscore that point.

However, we've been questioned on this policy several times, the most recent critic being Andy Gianniotis, 34, from a Sydney, Australia, suburb known popularly as the Punchbowl.

He used to sell futons but these days, he says, he works under contract, in particular creating and maintaining databases and running desktop publishing jobs for various activist organisations, including his local peace group.

"I'm a bit of a computer head - my major project to date has been the 'Windows 98 Seven Years Later edition' which can be found on msfn.org, and I also created and maintained for four years one of the world's largest online collection of revolutionary political imagery," he says, going on, "I've been involved in politics to the point of running for office - the Queensland State Senate - where our clearly left-wing policies garnered us 4300 votes!

"I'm now more into mass-action politics and I say to anyone who wants to listen that my main job in life is to help overthrow capitalism, which I've been trying to do for 10 years now."

Not only but also, Gianniotis says he's been file-sharing since the days of the original Napster, and is also in a garage band which will "soon to take the world by storm (we hope)".

OK. So? Well, here's why he takes issue of p2pnet's (former ; ) practice of calling China 'Communist China' >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The 'C' word
By Andy Gianniotis

I'm a veteran file-sharer who is quite serious about his file-sharing, especially the library of media files I make available. I consider my collection simply the finest collection of political documents currently openly shared on the emule network (the library network). Well, maybe not the 'finest' (but I haven't found its equal so far) but it's good. I'm passionate about human freedom and human rights (eg, I have a huge Noam Chomsky collection that I share) and I quite like your stance on the issues of the day, as most 'progressive' people in general would.

If there's a political issue connected with file-sharing, I know where to look for good info. p2pnet. Love the site ...

... except when the "C" word gets involved. Then it's not-so-good. The word is 'Communism'.

The p2pnet article on 'Cuba's Net hunger striker' I suspect was included more because it seemed it was about those terrible Communists being all dictatorial again instead of an article of interest due to the link to the internet and net freedom. Although I could be wrong. But in every report on China, you never fail to attach the evil-sounding word Communist to the word China which is exactly what the mainstream press does. When they do it, even China's missiles are called 'Communist missiles' - as if machinery can have an ideology.

Jon, I am a communist. That is, I believe social classes are an abomination and are by far the largest cause of human suffering in the world. In a class society, one class lives upon the labour of another and does so by dictatorial means. In any society that has a government, classes exist. Right now, in 2006, in every case except Cuba, Venezuela, Vietnam, and just recently Bolivia and Chile, the government that is in power is a tool of the rich minority class. China especially. In the five countries I mentioned as an exception, their governments are ideologically opposed to class divisions between rich and poor, ie, they're true socialists/communists. And that's especially true in Cuba, an island economically blockaded for 40 years by the richest and most powerful nation on earth. The government of Cuba represses those trying to restore the power of the rich minority class. I support Cuba's repression of these attempts to destroy the gains of the social revolution that started in 1959 and continues to this day. The vast majority of Cubans recognise the gains of the revolution and what would be lost in the return to a free market system and don't go on hunger strikes claiming that the lack of internet access is due to repressive measures by the government trying to silence dissent. They rightly point the finger at the blockade, and at capitalism in general.

Country by country, the peoples of Latin America are choosing clearly left-wing candidates - Venezuela has already been won over, and now recently Bolivia and Chile - and what do these governments do? They immediately side with the Castro government and denounce US imperialism! Go team !! And, like me, they wouldn't piss on the Chinese government if it was on fire but then again, they are under no illusions that the Chinese government has any socialist character left at all.

And Communism? There's never been a communist country because we've been defeated in every attempt so far to end the 8,000 year old reign of the social class.

A really quick check to test if a country is communist or not is to check if it has a government. Ping! There's no communism to be found.

What's really happening is that there's an attempt to rubbish the ideas of the second greatest thinker of the millenium (as voted by half a million BBC voters) which the greatest thinker of the last millenium supported as well. The greatest thinker was Albert Einstein viz 'Why Socialism' which he wrote in 1948. The second greatest thinker was Karl Marx and it was his understanding of social classes that inspired millions upon millions to become communists themselves, including Einstein. And me.

So that's why I'm writing. It's a bit of a blind spot you've got, Jon, that could use some illumination.

In the same way you don't prefix the word 'capitalist' before 'USA' (even though it is), if you can just avoid doing the same for Communism and China (because it's clearly not), that would be tops. You can say the 'oppressive' government of China by all means or even better - the government of class betrayal, whatever fits best.

Jon, you can say whatever you want, I'd just thought if nobody's pointed this out to you before, well someone's got to be the first to do it ... someone did it for me.

Cheers,
Andy Gianniotis or, Andy G, as I'm known in the movement.

(Tuesday 7th February 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/7842