In an article in its website, the editor in chief of TorrentFreak said Ballarat had made many mistakes during the preparation stages for the said report, stressing that the researchers and writers failed to gather the right information about the current situation of BitTorrents sites.

It will be recalled that Ballarat’s Internet Commerce Security Laboratory (ICSL) recently released a report claiming that some 89 percent of BitTorrent files were infringed or have violated several copyright laws.

ICSL mentioned in its report that Torrentz.com, one of the leading search engine of peer-to-peer (P2P) files on the Internet, contained about 90 percent copyrighted materials, which it claimed have been shared and downloaded illegally by the P2P file-sharers.

The report was also brought to the attention of the media by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, dubbing it as a “victory” in a war against illegal file-sharers in the online world.

However, TorrentFreak was quick to dismiss the claims, saying that the report’s conclusions were drawn by the anti-P2P organizations based on a “painfully inaccurate data and methodologies.”

Based in its own findings, TorrentFreak said that the ICSL failed to prove there were more than one million music, video, and document files that can be found online.

“In sites like isoHunt, users can find at least five million files,” the editor in chief said.

He also debunked Ballarat’s claims that BitTorrent has over 117 million seeds, saying that there were only 10 to 20 million estimated number of seeds in the P2P file-sharing websites.

Also, he said that there was no truth over claims that “The Incredible Hulk” reached more than 1.1 million seeds.

“Even the best seeded torrent in the world to today only has 13, 738 seeders,” he added.

TorrentFreak said that the report was only part of the continued harassment and demolition job by the anti-P2P advocates against BitTorrent websites.

Judge Nancy Gertner of the US District Court – Massachusetts has reduced the damages awards against Tenenbaum to one-tenth of the original fine, from $675, 000 to $67, 500.

In her ruling, the judge expressed belief that the new fine was still excessive. But she said that it would deter other lawbreakers from conducting similar activities on the Internet.

“There is no question that this reduced award is still severe, even harsh. It not only adequately compensates the plaintiffs for the relatively minor harm that [Joel] Tenenbaum caused them; it sends a strong message that those who exploit peer-to-peer networks to unlawfully download and distribute copyrighted works run the risk of incurring substantial damages awards,” Gertner said in her order.

It will be recalled that Tenenbaum was asked to pay the original sum after the jury found him “guilty” of illegal file-sharing activities over P2P networks.

In August 2009, a group of record companies has filed charges against the plaintiff for downloading and sharing at least 30 music files online.

The jury even said that Tenenbaum has to pay at least $22, 500 per song, which was later lowered down by the judge after he filed for an appeal to reduce the damages awards.

Meanwhile, Tenenbaum’s legal counsel said that they will file for a retrial, saying that they feel vindicated when Gertner agreed to lower down the damage.

“It is only a step along the way toward recognizing the abusiveness of the [Recording Industry Association of America's] litigation campaign. The next step is to demonstrate that Joel was denied a fair jury trial when Judge Gertner told the jury in her instructions that it could award an unconstitutionally excessive amount,” the lawyer said.

USCG, backed by Dunlap law firm and Grubb & Weaver lawyers, has filed the cases before the US Federal Court against thousands of John Does, which could potentially reach into a settlement worth more than $20 million.

The group also said that the scope of litigation could further expand, saying that they are still investigation thousands more for the case.

In a statement, lawyers who organized the mass filing of cases said that the action was part of the overall attempt by the film industry to suppress the continued proliferation of criminal activities such as illegal file-sharing over P2P networks like BitTorrent.

The lawyers said that they have initiated the action against these “cybercriminals” on behalf of the independent movie makers and film producers who cannot take a lone stand against millions of file-sharers on the Internet.

Among the independent movies being pirated over P2P include “Far Cry,” “The Gray Man,” and “The Hurt Locker,” which has recently bagged the Best Movie Award the the Academy Awards.

However, many of the civil liberty organizations and other concerned individuals questioned the action of USCG, saying that the group is merely a moneymaking venture by groups of lawyers who wanted to turn thousands of Internet users into a “milking cow.”

Civil liberty groups also questioned the validity of such charges, asking whether mass lawsuits are the answer for the illegal file-sharing activity on the web.

“The USCG and other organization as such were formed solely to sue thousands of John Does and fund additional lawsuits from the money it made from an earlier litigation,” said Atty. Jennifer Granick of the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation.

USCG has acquired the services of German technology firm GuardaLey to track and identify the Internet addresses of each individual who has downloaded or shared movie files over P2P networks.

“The growing problem of piracy has become the PSP system’s biggest problem. It affects everyone, from the biggest developers to the smallest videogame publishers,” said Rob Dyer, Sony Computer Entertainment America’s senior VP of publisher relations.

Now, Sony is arming itself against piracy as it gathers hundreds of videogame developers to educate them about a new technology that would hill them prevent attacks from pirates 30 to 60 days after the release of products.

“We want to have an industry-wide protection of the games that are being released in the market. At least 30 to 60 days of protected shelf life will be a good showing for the videogame industry,” he said.

According to Sony, download of pirated videogames accounts to more than 24 percent of the overall data being shared by users in peer-to-peer file-sharing websites.

“Even the Humble Indie Bundle, which cost a penny for a collection of five indie games, is now being pirated. No one is spared,” he added.

Dyer pointed out that the last time a PSP game made it to the Top 10 sales chart was during the launch of Dissidia: Final Fantasy in August.

He said that sales have been hurting the company for the past several quarters due to the proliferation of piracy on the Internet and other unchecked or unlicensed stores.

“We are alarmed with the declining sales of our major titles like Gran Turismo, Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines, and LittleBigPlanet. All these games have made their mark in the past but piracy has left us vulnerable in our coming titles,” he added.

“Piracy is killing forthcoming titles. We are not getting the full-line support of the industry in North America. Unlike in Japan were games are being protected by a tougher piracy law,” Dryer added.

Among the Top 5 copyright violators were China, Canada, Mexico, Spain, and Russia, the US Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus said.

In its 2010 International Piracy Watch List, the commission cited the continued sharing, downloading and uploading of copyrighted materials by these countries on peer-to-peer file-sharing websites, causing major harm to the music, movie, and videogame industries for the past several years.

According to the caucus report, the countries have failed the international community and have “greatly disappoint” by failing to make meaningful assessment of the overall status of the piracy in their countries.

The 70 members of the House of Representative have unanimously agreed on the findings, saying that last year was one of the worst times for the music and movie industries after these countries failed to protect copyrighted works from being shared illegally over P2P networks.

“Billions and billions of dollars have been lost and we continued to lose more because of inaction by these countries. They are robbing Americans,” Utah Senator Orrin Hatch.

“The United States is a very unfortunate for being in the wrong end of the spectrum as the greatest thieves now put their worst into mankind,” he added.

According to the report, an estimated $25 billion worth of annual sales was lost last year due to piracy.

Meanwhile, the US lawmakers said that they will start publishing the “List of Notorious Offenders” to give the public an overview of the entire problem. These will include websites that allowed unauthorized downloading and sharing of digital files over their networks.

The lawmakers singled out the websites, which include China’s Baidu, Canada’s isoHunt, Ukraine’s MP3fiesta, Sweden’s Pirate Bay, Germany’s Rapidshare and Luxembourg’s RMX4U.

The WIP-funded survey was conducted in Australia by the ARC Center at Swinburne University of Technology.

Around 1, 000 Internet users participated in the survey.

According to the study, the price of the digital content is the deterring factor why many Internet users will not subscribe for music, movie, and newspaper downloads. Many of the respondents see the Internet as free form of entertainment and relaxation.

Also, the study also showed that 71.4 percent of the Internet users are not considering on paying to what they want to read online while only 7.2 percent of the respondents said that they are willing to pay – at the cost of $1.50.

However, the survey failed to mention the frequency the users will download or read such paid contents.

WIP has conducted the study after the launch of the new Apple iPad, which is now being utilized by major newspaper and advertising companies to sell their products. One of the best examples is the new iPad News application, which offers users daily new articles for around $4.99 a month.

The number of people buying and downloading music and movie files on the Internet has doubled since 2007 to 2009. However, despite the increase in the figures, around 80 percent of the people are not willing to spend their cash on digital copies.

“Many of the people that we have asked said that they are not willing to pay for such service online, saying that they rather buy hard copies (CDs and DVDs) from their local music record outlets.

But despite the claims of the respondents, the amount of downloads in the Internet today continued to go up as more users enjoy the free services that the online world has to offer.

Citing the recent ruling of the United States Supreme Court against online music service Grokster, a US District Court judge on Tuesday ruled versus LimeWire and its owner Mark Gorton, saying that the file-sharing website was found “guilty” of copyright infringement and unfair competition.

In his 59-page ruling, Judge Kimba Wood said that LimeWire has infringed and violated copyright laws by sharing music files owned by some 13 music labels.

“The evidence establishes that LimeWire users directly infringed plaintiffs’ copyrights and that LimeWire engaged in purposeful conduct intended to foster that infringement,” the order added.

The judge also said that the “free” music distribution being made by LimeWire in its website has directly compete with the music owners, thus, affecting record sales.

With this, the court has granted the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment over the unfair competition charges against the online giant.

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Chairman Mitch Baiwol has welcomed the court’s ruling, saying that “it is an important milestone for the music industry and the creative community of artists.”

He said that the fight to reclaim the World Wide Web as a legitimate and legal platform for music commerce has seen light with the court’s decision.

“The court, in its order, has made it clear that LimeWire and its owner are liable for inducing widespread copyright infringement using their software. This is an extraordinary victory for the people in the music industry,” Baiwol added.

The case against LimeWire starte in 2006, six years after it has released its peer-to-peer (P2P) networking capability, allowing millions of users to share music files illegally.

The plaintiffs included in the complaint are the Interscope Records, Arista Records, Atlantic Recording Corp., Sony BMG Music Entertainment, BMG Music, Capitol Records, UMG Recordings, Elektra Entertainment Group, Laface Records, Motown Record Co.,Priority Records, Virgin Records America and Warner Bros. Records.

However, many of the complaints, according to legal experts, would be much like the “John Doe” lawsuits of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which has sent out hundreds of thousands of letters to Internet Service Providers for them to identify the alleged file-sharers on such websites.

USCG, according to reports, has now taken the case to the court, asking the legal body to order the ISPs to identify the said John Does.

The reports also told that it would take the court at least two weeks before it can release a subpoena on the ISPs.

The Copyright Groups is also moving forward with more vigor and is now asking the court to identify not only those responsible for sharing “Hurt Locker” but also those who upload movies like “Far Cry,” “Steam Experiment,” and “Uncross the Stars.”

According to the anti-piracy group producers of “Hurt Locker” lost potential millions of dollars due to piracy acts of individuals on the Internet.

Hurt Locker is one of the biggest winners in the last Oscars Awards night, even winning the Best Picture Award. However, the movie has turned to be a box office flop with only $16 million in tickets sold.

But the owners, through the US Copyright Group, wanted to open up revenue streams by taking legal action for those who are responsible for the upload.

“We want to make up with the lost revenue by creating a revenue stream and monetizing the equivalent of an alternative distribution channel,” said US Rights Group lawyer Jeffrey Weaver.

In a letter sent by the RIAA on February 28 and March 21, some 805 file-sharers and 35 universities and colleges were asked to pay settlement amounting to the number of copyrighted materials and music files they have downloaded or shared using P2P file-sharing networks.
 
RIAA, which has been quiet for the past 15 months or so, said that the move was part of the campaign strategy to discourage university and college students from doing illegal activities on the Internet.

“This is a new process that we have put in place whereby students have the opportunity to settle the claims against them at substantially discounted sums before a lawsuit is ever filed,” RIAA spokeswoman Jenni Engebretsen said in a statement over the agency’s website.

Based on a obtained copy of the letter, RIAA is informing the users that they must settle the amount immediately with the record labels they have neglected or they will be sued for copyright infringement. The letter also said that the amount being charged against the users were at “a substantial discount” and “timely fashion”.
 
She also said that some 116 out of the first 400 letter receivers have already settled the amount.

Meanwhile, Engebretsen refused to further comment on how much it will cost the students if they settle online.  But reports earlier told that the settlement amount could reach $3, 500 to $5, 000.

Known as the Secure Federal File-Sharing Act, Democratic Representative Edolphus Towns of New York said that there is a growing sentiment among members of the House for the Office of Management and Budget to immediately enact the new legislation that would ban the use of P2P networks like Limewire and BitTorrent on government owned computers.

“We can not tolerate such actions by our employees and we can no longer ignore the massive threat to the sensitive government data and business establishments. Securing these data is critical to our national security,” Towns said.

The new bill would also require the OMB to make new guidelines and policies for thousands of federal employees, who telecommute or access government data on their personal PCs, to refrain from using file-sharing websites.

Rep. Towns, who is also the chairperson of the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee, said that the bill has already passed Congress with a landslide vote of 408 to 18.

The new bill has been pending decision in the House for quite some time now following hurdles requiring approvals and definitions of new policies by concerned government agencies.

The US Senate is also seen not that serious in passing the Secure Federal File Sharing Act since it is considering its own version of the bill called P2P Cyber Protection and Informed User Act.

The P2P Cyber Protection aims to protect people by requiring all Internet users to install sharing software that would alert them every time a P2P program is being introduced to their computers.