According to the report, at least 17 percent of adult users were not aware of the violations they are committing every time they copy CD contents into their computers or music players.

“The so-called format shifting or changing of CD music contents into MP3, MP4, or other music formats is illegal under the British copyright law. When a person has upload the music files from the CDs to their computers, the shift in the content format can already be considered illegal, even if they listen to just one file,” said Consumer Focus International Director Jill Johnstone.

The government-backed organization’s survey was conducted to more than 2, 000 adult users.

Meanwhile, in a separate survey, research firm Ofcom said that more than 41 percent or rough 18 million adults in UK own MP3 digital music player or iPod devices. The study also showed that there are at least five million Brits who own mobile phones and other devices that can play music files downloaded from their PCs.

Consumer Focus said that since the law was approved by the legislative body, not a single person has been charged or prosecuted with regards to format shifting.

The company also said that the music industry has to seriously consider in pushing for the law to be changed if it want to address the growing problem of piracy not only in the Internet but also in the personal level.

Consumer Focus said that the legislation should be enacted together with the Digital Economy Bill, which is still subjected to debate in the parliament, for the government to be able to be true to its crackdown against illegal file-sharers.

“The credibility of the UK government in the fight against illegal file-sharers and other copyright infringers will fall underneath the floor if they will not be able to address this problem,” Johnstone said.

Jersey Police identified the suspect was Daniel Gonclaves, a computer technician, who was accused of hacking into the accounts belonging to Leslie and Albert Angel.

The suspect allegedly transferred the name rights of the P2P.com domain so that he could auction it on oneBay. Reports said that it was NBA player Mark Madsen of the Los Angeles Clippers who won the auction for $111, 000.

NJ authorities said that the suspect made a mistake by naming the stolen domain under his name, which led the police into his residence. It was the first ever domain theft arrest that was made by authorities.

In its investigation, police said that Gonclaves was able to acquire the login information of the Angels’s GoDaddy account after being able to break the password of the couple’s AOL account.

He then requested for all the necessary information to access the said domain. After being able to access the Angel’s GoDaddy domain, the suspect then transferred the registration of the domain into another account which was listed under his name.

Gonclaves even created a simulated Paypal.com transaction to make it appear that he legitimately bought the domain account to the Angels. It was said that he “bought” the account for only $1, 500.

The suspect was using an alias consisting his first name and his girlfriend’s last name, or as Daniel Louvado.

If proven guilty, Gonclaves could land a jail term of up to 30 years.

Meanwhile, Madsen denied that he had any link to Gonclaves, saying that he didn’t know that it was stolen.

The NBA player plans to resell the rights for the domain on eBay, which might land him $200, 000 or more.

Towns made the announcement following a hearing at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee where its members learned that highly sensitive and Top secret documents have been found circulating on P2P websites.

The documents that were allegedly leaked to the file-sharing network contained information such as the location of the US first lady’s safehouse, including the route to reach it. Such sensitive information was only used by the Secret Service in case of national emergencies.

Representative Towns, who also chaired the committee, said that the inadvertent leak of data to the P2P networks only showed the lack of security features of its software.

Citing the other leak data, Towns said that the ban for government and contractors to use similar platforms is necessary since major, if not all, of the P2P file-sharing networks is unwilling and unable to secure users from leaks.

The New York representative describe his action as a referee on the field calling to what he thought is “foul” action by the websites.

Meanwhile, Town’s proposal gathered mixed reactions from the panel, some of which going to the extent of closing down websites that violated or failed to secure data that their users share.

Progress & Freedom Foundation Director and Washington-based think-tank Thomas Sydnor said that it was an excellent move by Towns to push for security measures in the file-sharing websites but he raised the question over the governing body that will handle to cases.

Washington, for several years now, has been debating on how it could regulate P2P networks. In 2004, the White House Office of Management and Budget has issued a directive ordering federal agencies to govern the use of file-sharing networks used by the Feds and contractor networks.

The documents, dated July 2009, were allegedly used by the US Secret Service to find the exact route and location of former First Lady Laura Bush’s safehouse. Also included in the leaked documents were the precise location of structures and missile silos, which holds nuclear weapons and fuel.

Users who logged in to P2P networks were also able to view surveillance photos of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of an alleged mafia hitman. Along with the photos were documents of the person’s trial and the names of people who testified against him.

Some of the names were highly secured people, who availed the government’s witness protection program.

During the hearing at the House Government Oversight & Government Reform Committee, congressmen tackled the issue by questioning P2P executives on the security of the websites.

Tiversa Inc. chief executive Robert Boback said that their investigation found even more vital information such as lists of social security numbers for every master sergeant of the US Army. Even their information about their families was also recorded in the document.

“We even found medical records of some 24, 000 plus patients at a hospital in Texas,” Boback said during the committee hearing.

Tiversa Inc. is the company who led the investigation that searched for these sensitive data in the file-sharing websites.

Boback said that they were able to trace the P2P users who downloaded and shared the files in four locations in France.

He said that these facilities were top secret to the extent that it is not accessible even under the Freedom of Information Act. And yet, users can download it in plain text using P2P networks.

Reports also told that investment through P2P has given consumers the confidence they lost during major job cuts amid recession. In the said reports, people made up to 12percent profit after investing their money in such scheme.

The P2P lending works by directing loans to borrowers through accredited firms like Lending Club.com, which in turn will sell the loans as notes. This way, it could by pass high-interest rates offered by banks and other credit institutions.

P2P users can now borrow money at the comfort of their own homes. The new scheme also offers people viable options in borrowing money for auto, home, and college bills as more and more banking systems in the US raised bar on the money it offers to the consumers.

Records from the Federal Reserve showed that some 65 percent of US banks decreased its credit limits on credit card consumers as more and more banks are experiencing difficulty on circulating money to the system. Analysts believe that this is due to the saving habit that consumers are now implying to avoid future problems amid the recession.

Economic analysts said that P2P lending is a “great opportunity” for investors to compete with major financial systems as these banks continues to rip off the people with high interests and low credit limit.

Meanwhile, other investors, who were disappointed by the current situation of the stock market, are now also looking to P2P as other way to get their money back. Most of these investors lost their money and other investments during the long months of recession.

Records showed that LendingClub.com’s loans doubled in the second quarter of 2009 to $12.5 million, from Q4 of 2008, which only reached $5.3 million.