© jrossol

Research firm NPD Group reports that there were a million fewer buyers of digital downloads in 2009 than in 2008.

"Russ Crupnick, an NPD senior industry analyst, told a gathering of music and technology executives on Wednesday at the Digital Music East conference here not to panic," writes CNET News' Greg Sandoval. "Those who stopped purchasing music online were mostly older consumers who came online for the first time in 2007 and 2008, tried out downloading music, then lost interest, Crupnick said."

"Meanwhile, the amount consumers are spending on digital song downloads rose from an average of $33 per year to $50 per year," writes Digital Media Wire's Mark Hefflinger. "NPD also found that free Internet radio services like Pandora lead to a 41 percent increase in paid downloads, while free, on-demand services like Spotify actually led to a 13 percent drop in paid downloads."

More here from AfterDawn.com ... and more here from Music Ally.

© 1suisse

The FTC has warned more than 100 organizations that their private data has been leaked over P2P networks.

"At the root of the problem appear to be staff members who are using P2P software but have it configured in such a way that it gives people access to private files," writes The Inquirer's Nick Farrell.

"The offending organisations included schools, local governments, private corporations and small businesses," writes The Register's John Leyden. "All were privately urged by the FTC to review their security policies and to apply tighter controls. The FTC issued a statement on this action, which is hopes will act as a wider warning against a real risk."

"In addition to the letters, the FTC has also opened private investigations of an unspecified number of other companies over inadvertent data leaks involving sensitive customer and employee data," writes Computerworld's Jaikumar Vijayan.

More here from ZeroPaid ... and more here from InformationWeek.

The Next Step in RIAA Education: Electric Shocks and GPS Tracking via iPod P2P File Sharing

Obligatory lawsuit included. It's the RIAA Apple Signature iPod. [...] Read More


Judge Slams RIAA, Award Now Over $100K P2P File Sharing

In Capitol v. Foster: Justice At Last and RIAA Lawsuit Setback: Defendant Wins Attorney Fees, defendant Debbie Foster of Oklahoma was granted attorney fees. RIAA dropped The suit against the mother after it appeared her daughter was the likely violator. The judge initially set the fees at $55,000. RIAA filed to reconsider the award. The judge reaffirmed the award and denied the motion, calling plaintiffs' counsel "disingenuous" and their motives [...] Read More


RIAA Training video leaked; more stupid than expected. P2P File Sharing

A training video produced by the RIAA has leaked it's way onto the internet, and from what I've heard from a friend (you know what I mean ;) ), it's utterly hilarious. Probably the most hilarious part is how it apparently links to other crimes, saying that apparently, it'll help you get into drug houses and even be linked to terrorist networks. I honestly can't comprehend how stupid that is.... it's [...] Read More


Blogging world supports the RIAA? Digital Music - The Future

The Washington post ran a story on Wednesday saying that the RIAA was suing a man for copying a CD he purchased onto his computer. The columnist Marc Fisher quoted a legal brief and alleged that the Record Association of America said that MP3 files that someone creates form their own CD's are "unauthorized copies." Turns out that wasn't the case at all. The RIAA has retaliated and said that uploading [...] Read More


Judge Slams RIAA, Award Now Over $100K Digital Music - The Future

In Capitol v. Foster: Justice At Last and RIAA Lawsuit Setback: Defendant Wins Attorney Fees, defendant Debbie Foster of Oklahoma was granted attorney fees. RIAA dropped the suit against the mother after it appeared her daughter was the likely violator. The judge initially set the fees at $55,000. RIAA filed to reconsider the award. The judge reaffirmed the award and denied the motion, calling plaintiffs' counsel "disingenuous" and their motives [...] Read More

© wili_hybrid

Security researchers Larry Pesce and Mick Douglas have warned that personal data can easily be intercepted over P2P networks.

"At the 2010 ShmooCon security conference... the duo showed off the extremely sensitive information they've been able to intercept, including driver's licenses and passports, tax return forms with Social Security numbers; someone's last will and testament and information on one man's secret activities that could potentially be exploited by terrorists," writes Computerworld's Bill Brenner.

"Pesce described the findings as a lesson in stupidity and compared the act of stealing identities through P2P to 'clubbing baby seals,'" Brenner writes.

"Using search terms such as word, doctor, health, passwd, password, lease, license, passport and visa; file names like password.txt, TaxReturn.pdf, passport.jpg, visa.jpg, license.jpg and signons2.txt; and a myriad of file extensions, they managed to get their hands on tax forms containing complete personal information of the taxpayer, IRS forms with identification numbers on it, driver's licenses and passports, event schedules (names, hotel room numbers, performance dates and locations), financial retirement plans, and even information about a student that offered to help U.S. forces in Iraq and is currently hiding for fear of torture and death," writes Help Net Security's Zeljka Zorz.

© Tambako the Jaguar

Kazaa, now a legit $20-a-month music service, was recently flagged as adware by Symantec's security software.

"This prompted Brilliant Digital Entertainment, the company that operates Kazaa, to issue a special notice/consumer alert to its customers," writes TechCrunch's Robin Wauters. "And it isn't pulling any punches."

"[Some] Kazaa users with Symantec software installed were unable to use their music service because Symantec's security software flagged the Kazaa software as adware," the alert states. "While users of the service had never seen advertising on Kazaa, some of those who contacted us with their concerns were sufficiently spooked by Symantec's unilateral action that they followed Symantec's advice to remove the software."

"A cursory glance at the Kazaa website or a simple test of the service would be enough to prove that Symantec's claim was just plain wrong," says company CTO Emanuel Krassenstein.

More here from p2pnet news.