file-sharing

Thousands of legitimate files are being blocked and removed from users' Mega accounts, even when the file is legal for sharing, according to a report.

TorrentFreak tested the situation, uploading a number of files free for sharing, including, amusingly, a video explaining fair use and a copy of Mega founder Kim DotCom's own music single. All were removed within minutes, with TorrentFreak receiving e-mails from Mega explaining that a take-down notice had been issued on the files.

The problem is that Kim DotCom recently took to Twitter to claim that Mega was receiving only 50 copyright take-down notices a … Read more

Fredik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, and Peter Sunde, founders of popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay, are about to hit the big screen.

A documentary on the notorious site, titled "TPB AFK" (The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard), will debut February 8 at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.

The filmmakers will also release the documentary online under a Creative Commons license, allowing others to share and use the film in their own works for free. A date has yet to be announced for the online release. … Read more

Entrapment is one of MegaUpload's claims in its legal battle against the U.S. government. The feds are now saying this claim is "baseless."

"Megaupload's allegations are baseless, as even a cursory review of Megaupload's pleading and the search warrant materials at issue disproves the allegation that the government misled the court as part of a conspiracy to entrap Megaupload," the government wrote in a Friday filing (PDF).

MegaUpload, which was founded by Kim DotCom, is the highest-profile service to be accused of criminal copyright violations by the U.S. government -- and … Read more

Convicted file-sharer Jeramiah Perkins has been handed the longest prison sentence even given in a U.S. file-sharing lawsuit: five years.

The 40-year-old man from Portsmouth, Va., was given the sentence today by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen, according to Wired. During his lawsuit, Perkins pled guilty to conspiracy to commit copyright infringement by file-sharing movies, music, games, and more on the Internet.

Perkins -- a.k.a. Butch Perkins, Stash, and theestas -- is said to have been the head of a group that went to theaters, camcorded the movies, recorded the audio, synched the files, and … Read more

Acting on her promise, Jammie Thomas-Rasset has finally fought her music uploading case all the way to the Supreme Court. Her lawyers announced today that they have filed an official petition asking the Supreme Court to review her long-running case, which has moved up through the courts over the past five years.

In 2007, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) accused Thomas-Rasset of copyright infringement for sharing 1,700 copyrighted songs -- the equivalent of 150 CDs. But the RIAA whittled down the number to 24. A jury heard the evidence against her and rendered a $222,000 verdict.… Read more

In what looks like another blow in the U.S. case against MegaUpload founder Kim DotCom, New Zealand's spy agency is forced to turn over records of its illegal surveillance and raid of DotCom's home.

According to Reuters, New Zealand's high court ordered the agency to reveal the records to DotCom, which could possibly aid him in his battle to fight U.S. extradition. The court also ruled that DotCom and his company managers could seek damages from the government because of the agency's unlawful actions.

DotCom's saga has played out over the past year … Read more

The default file-sharing protocol for OS X is Apple's "Apple Filing Protocol" (AFP) service, which is the primary service enabled when you select File Sharing in the system preferences. Enabling this will allow Macs on the same network to discover and connect to shared folders on the system, but there may be times when an error will occur that prevents users from logging on. When this happens, the client systems attempting to connect will get an message that states "this file server will not allow any additional users to log on."

This error happens because … Read more

The "six strikes" copyright enforcement plan that aims to curb illegal downloads and peer-to-peer file-sharing has been postponed until 2013.

The executive director of the Center for Copyright Information, which is in charge of the copyright warning system, announced today that because of damage from Hurricane Sandy the organization's alert system will not begin until next year.

"Due to unexpected factors largely stemming from Hurricane Sandy which have seriously affected our final testing schedules, CCI anticipates that the participating ISPs will begin sending alerts under the Copyright Alert System in the early part of 2013, rather … Read more

Remember Cubby? It's the new file-syncing and -sharing service from LogMeIn (makers of my longtime favorite remote-access tool).

Cubby's been running a closed, invitation-only beta for some time, but I've got good news: now it's an open, no-invitation-required beta. That means anyone can sign up for a free Cubby account, which includes, among other things, 5GB of cloud storage.

But hold on a sec -- this isn't just another Dropbox wanna-be. For starters, the latter gives you only 2GB of free storage; Cubby gives you 5GB. And for each friend you refer who signs up, … Read more