warner-music

Feds seize MegaUpload; Anonymous retaliates

In one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought, the U.S. Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation have seized and shutdown popular file-sharing site MegaUpload. With 150 million registered users and nearly 50 million hits daily, MegaUpload was among the world’s biggest file-sharing sites. The so-called locker site allowed users to transfer large files like movies and music anonymously. The movie industry has long hurled copyright infringement allegations at the site and complained that it was profiting off pirated material. In a grand jury indictment, MegaUpload is accused of causing $500 million in damages to copyright owners and of making $175 million by selling ads and premium subscriptions. Though, with the site being based in Hong Kong and MegaUpload operators living in New Zealand, jurisdiction was a tricky issue. However, the revelation that some of the alleged pirated content was being hosted stateside on leased servers in Virginia was enough for U.S. prosecutors to act.

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Feds seize MegaUpload; Anonymous retaliates

warner-music

McAfee to plug spam hole

McAfee’s defences have sprung a spam leak, but a plug is on its way. McAfee has acknowledged that a flaw in one of its programmes has left its customers’ PCs vulnerable to being hijacked by spammers. However, the anti-virus firm said it planned to release a patch by the end of today. The problems began to surface as McAfee customers reported via blog posts and forum sites that spammers were using a hole in McAfee’s RumorServer relay service to send spam from their machines without their knowledge. According to David Marcus, director of security research at McAfee Labs, the flaw is isolated to the SaaS Total Protection anti-malware service and there is no evidence that customer data has been compromised. “The patch will be released on January 18 or 19, as soon as we have finished testing,” said Marcus. “Because this is a managed product, all affected customers will automatically receive the patch when it is released.” Furthermore, there are two issues with the software – the ability for hackers to misuse both ActiveX controls and “open relay” technology. “The first issue has much in common with a similar issue patched in August 2011,” Marcus explained

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McAfee to plug spam hole

warner-music

YouTube Silences Copyrighted Music

In an effort to better protect copyrighted music, popular online video site YouTube has muted clips that contain unauthorized music by artists under the Warner Music Group (WMG) label.

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YouTube Silences Copyrighted Music

warner-music

Google Nets 72% of December U.S. Search Market Share

Don’t like Google’s Internet ubiquity? Think it could do a better job of protecting user data? Feel like Street View violates privacy standards? Apparently, you’re in the minority.

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Google Nets 72% of December U.S. Search Market Share