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.

The weekly Samknows.com news round-up continues, making sure nothing slips you by in your travels through cyberspace. This time we’re looking at alchemy, Big Brother and a Quantum of Torrents.

Spotify has been pressured for months to seal its legitimacy and sign up for a PRS for Music licence and SamKnows can now reveal that the hugely successful music streaming service has agreed terms with the UK body which represents music writers and publishers.
Although Spotify’s Chief Technology Officer, Andreas Ehn, would only coyly reveal last [...]

Spotify’s announced plans for streaming over mobile phone networks, social networking integration and finally reach out to our friends across the pond. The Swedish music service, which currently has over a million UK users, is seen in some quarters as the music industry’s potential saviour.