The defendant in Britain’s first prosecution over illegal file-sharing has been found not guilty.

Maybe EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding wasn’t completely wide of the mark when she warned Spain over internet disconnections. Although the Spanish government says it has dismissed the idea of disconnecting individuals caught downloading illegal content from the internet, it has come up with new ways of severing communications services.
An estimated 3-4 million people [...]

The owner of a pub that doubles as a Wi-Fi hotspot has paid out £8,000 after someone illegally downloaded material subject to copyright laws on their premises. Meanwhile, a new survey shows that as many as one in five wireless users could be vulnerable to Wi-Fi hijacking across Britain.

Even though the Spanish government has reportedly already dismissed this option.

One of the UK’s biggest ISPs says a late amendment to an European Union agreement on telecoms regulations means it’ll now be “almost impossible” for film studios and music labels to force ISPs to disconnect customers who are suspected of illegal files-sharing without obtaining a court order first. The so-called “Internet Freedom Provision” – deemed by the EU to “strengthen the rights of Internet users” – is part of a package of measures that could come into force as early as next year.

A new BitTorrent program could be good for consumers and even, for a change, internet service providers. The news comes as UK ISP Entanet prepares to implement traffic-shaping measures – citing the heavy demand put on its network by peer-to-peer file-sharers as one of the reasons.

Now the Government’s put a timetable in place for its plans to disconnect persistent online pirates, one ISP is considering a counter-attack that could see more than individual file-shares up in court. TalkTalk says it may resort to legal action if Lord Peter Mandelson continues with his plans – and it’s not the only one unhappy with the business secretary.

“Three strikes” law allowing disconnection for illegal filesharers will be effective before the end of the year.

The culture secretary has revealed the Government is stepping back from its new tough stance on illegal file-swapping, following widespread outcry against the move. Ben Bradshaw now says that a court order will have to be obtained by those wanting punish those they suspect of being persistent offenders – and that nobody will just be cut off “willy nilly.”

After BT made the claim that getting tough on Internet piracy would cost around £1 million per day, the body representing the music industry has launched a counter-offensive. BPI boss Geoff Taylor says broadband companies have seen their revenues rising while those of the record business have gone the opposite way because of piracy – and that the ISP’s stance is “just about protecting profits.”

Various musicians campaigned against peer-to-peer file-sharing in the States – but one band in particular gained an international notoriety that refuses to go away. While Napster has long been rebooted as a legal music downloading website, musicians in the UK are now queuing up to become Britain’s answer to Metallica – and one artist in particular is at the front of the line.

BT says that clamping down on Internet piracy could cost as much as £1 million per day – and that the consumer is going to have to pick up the bill in the end. John Petter, the firm’s consumer division boss, is warning of a future “arms race” between those who pirate and those who try and police them. Meanwhile, BT is expected to make an announcement about extending its ADSL2+ infrastructure.

Football is big business, with domestic rights alone to broadcasting Premier League matches worth around £1 billion per year. Illegal Internet coverage is seen as a threat that could undermine that bonanza – and representatives of England’s top division are working to make sure that, when football’s coming to your home, it doesn’t do so in the wrong way.

Four hundred and forty-five million people in the world have broadband subscriptions. More than two million people have fibre to their home in Europe. And seven million people are pirating online media in the UK – or should that be more like half that? Samknows takes a look at some of the numbers racing around the press at the moment.

A new advertising campaign’s being launched to try and deal with what’s being called “Generation Y-pay,” using soft sell tactics and avoiding the sensationalism of previous attempts. At the same time, it’s emerged that a UK law firm is finally preparing to file its first court cases against online piracy – after sending out hundreds of letters warning alleged file-sharers it would do just that.

While the mainstream media were getting themselves worked up about YouTube and PRS finally coming to a financial settlement, it has emerged a band of bodies representing major musicians is mounting a protest against the Government’s recent u-turn on the road towards Digital Britain. The coalition, which the likes of Sir Paul McCartney and Damon Albarn associate themselves with, says the ministers’ new proposals are “extremely negative,” expensive and just don’t make sense.

The owner of what’s thought could be one of the oldest BitTorrent sites on the web has had his home raided before being arrested and having possessions seized. UK-based Filesoup, which was founded in 2003, was targeted by police and copyright infringement officers on Monday.

The Digital Britain report may have the aim of reducing UK online piracy by up to seventy per cent but one British ISP is having to deny it has jumped the gun and taken matters into its own hands. Meanwhile, experts in the US say weaker copyright protection is actually of benefit to society.

A man who downloaded over three thousand copyrighted movies on the Internet has been let off the hook in the Spanish courts. Meanwhile, police in Russia – previously seen as a safe haven for file-sharers – have launched what could be their first ever raid on a BitTorrent tracker.

There are around seven million people engaged in illegal file sharing in the UK and, while they may be downloading songs and movies for free, the British economy is paying the price. That’s according to a new study from the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP), which estimates the cost as being in the tens of billions of pounds.