The Canadian Copyright Board is causing a stir when it announced that it has ruled that it will begin implementing taxation on music downloads from online sources. The board enacted the rule after the SOCAN (equivalent to the RIAA) pushed for such due to the increasing trade in pirated music. The board has already defied world economics when it ruled that the sale of digital media players was to be taxed in order to make people more responsible with their use. If only such measures were easy to implement in America and elsewhere (which the RIAA and MPAA are finding to be very much difficult if not impossible.
The new rule has online music stores (which would surely be increasing prices) pay a tax of 3.1 cents for each individual track that is downloaded off their web sites. For full album purchases a 1.5 cent tax is placed on ever song which would surely hurt the music download industry which has been booming in spite of the many illegal sources out on the internet. Such drastic measures might be the only solution to curb piracy which is now a global problem that defies borders. From Europe to Asia, the piracy problem has been a thorn in the side of movie, music and governments fro quite sometime. Let’s give it for the Canadians for getting in the news with outrageous solutions to the piracy problem.
Tags: Music Taxation, Taxes
Categories: Downloading Legally, Music, ipods
In the USA, colleges and Universities are under strict orders to control and prevent the illegal sharing of files within the school’s networks. This would be quite difficult for school and university administrators due to the mere fact that almost 80% of all students use external access points to the internet. The aim is to curb piracy in their classrooms and lecture halls where most students have iPod’s plugged in loaded with pirated music. The rule applies mostly to those educational facilities which receive financial aid from the Federal Government but is causing much dismay from school administrators who will have to implement it or face reduced or revocation of government assistance.
The MPAA and RIAA say that millions of dollars of lost revenue due to shared and used music and movies by students who are in university. Such acts are hard to police and can only be controlled if the access is done through the school’s network itself. Policing each and every digital player, laptop and media player would be next to impossible and can be called an invasion of privacy. This is also seen as a source of unnecessary costs which would be spent on control measures to check for such activities and site blocking systems that would allow proper management and detection of such illegal files. Administrators recommend authorized sites such as Ruckus which is strictly for college students and faculty and many other local sources for their needs.
Students are the highest users of pirated songs and movies they get off the internet and legislators are taking notice of such activities. The law is quite broad and still needs refining for it to become realistic and applicable to their intended targets.
Tags: Colleges, Piracy, University
Categories: DVD Videos, Downloading Legally, Mobile Phones, Music, ipods
Nice section from ZDNet which discusses problems computer users from mall over the world encounter, offering real-life solutions and suggestions. The site is also a source of a lot of free stuff such as network scanners, tools, utilities and many more. They also offer a lot of help in the form of registry cleaners and other free stuff you can sometimes get for free, and purchase if you find them extremely helpful for full versions. These downloads are sometimes frustrating yet from time to time you’ll get your hands on a gem that’s worth all the waiting for the download to complete.
They have MP3 software, video, drivers and many more. The section on spy ware horror stories highlights the risks of not having enough protection from the many malware that are coming out all the time. They come in throngs and without proper intrusion protection, problems such as system slowdown, identity theft and other similar stuff happens. The best thing is to invest in a reliable intrusion prevention system that offers coverage of most bases (NO SECURITY SYSTEM IS PERFECT and due to the constant mutation of malware some will get through however expensive they cost). The best ones offer local scanning and active scanning on internet and mail traffic preventing hackers and their minion malware from getting through. If you do happen to have a licensed version of anti-virus protection software, keep them updated or better yet have them update themselves whenever there are available updates (this is set from their set-up options where you can set automatic updates to happen when possible.), which if you’re like me who is always online, would be a great idea for threats just keep coming.
If you do get infected or suspect you have some unauthorized program stealing data (which realistically speaking is not to easy to determine except if you’re a geek or very proficient in computers and programming), simply re-install your Operating System which by the way I hope is official for you’ll be missing out on important updates if its not.
Tags: Anti-Virus Software, Intrusion Protection Systems, Spyware, ZDNet
Categories: Downloading Legally, Freeware, Resources
One of the problems associated with the illegal file-sharing off P2P sites, is that they also become the method by which malware and other malicious code spread which can be a major problem if say all your files get corrupted by a virus you get off a file you took from a P2P site. It has been said again and again; the real licensed stuff is assured to be free of such malware and should be a lesson which I am sure many have learned the hard way. Another problem is the many hackers who are sure to be part of the millions of P2P users out on the net who are after more than your music files but even your other confidential files as well. When one signs up to a P2P service, one agrees to make their hard disks or parts of it available to others on the net who might have an interest for files you want to share with others. The more you share, the more you get for they work as a way of establishing your niche as a preferred customer/supplier of sorts. If one get’s caught in the process of sharing, fines and jail time are stiff yet the corners of the world who have weak enforcement and internet policing are still major breeding grounds for such illegal file sharing.
If have not yet fallen victim to malware from illegal file sharing, then heed the warning. It is not easy to recover files or documents lost to malware so take them off. If you do want to share music, try to resist the use of P2P sites for they might be easy and free yet you are impacting the lives of millions upon millions of people all over the world who make their living off their work. Buy legal and support legal.
Tags: Hacking, Illegal Music Sharing, Piracy
Categories: Downloading Legally, Music
The non-profit group’s aim is to promote awareness of the real issue behind the music piracy scene. There are many similar organizations that do the same and their voice is the same, stop piracy and the trade of illegal music which is booming into a major problem. Their research shows that there are over 243 million files which were shared over illegal P2P sites impacting those who compose and sing them down to the people who earn their living selling music in the retail stores world-wide. The advent of digital TV and radio contributes to the problem due to the digital format which allows it to be saved onto other digital media for playback later and some end up shared over P2P sites as well.
Of the almost 250 million files that are illegally shared over the internet, a vast majority are music files which are shared without control. The demise of copy protection software which used to be included in audio CD’s themselves has amplified the problem causing more and more people using and sharing them without proper licenses. All works of intellectual bearing are protected by several copyright and intellectual rights management yet they seem to be quite inadequate due to increasing sharing of such. The talent and gifts embodied by songs are not only the livelihood of the millions of artists around the globe but also their way of sharing the beauty of music yet they seldom get their hard earned buck which compared to a street-side performer who gets a dime or so in his hat for every performance they do. They are affected the same way and aim to raise the cause that it is illegal and against the law to do such file sharing.
Not all people prefer to share illegally yet some fall victim to malware which opens their computers leaving them vulnerable to copying by people who take over control without them even knowing it.
Tags: Illegal File Sharing, Malware, P2P, Piracy
Categories: Downloading Legally, Music
The problem why the practice has become so chronic, even with the well advertised penalization of serving 5 years of jail time plus $250,000 in fines is not stopping millions upon millions of people from sharing them over the internet. The problem may be in the internet itself and it can be likened to a water hose that hast several branches what was suddenly punched holes into leading to leakage. The weakness of the internet being so large and with its global reach, enforcement is not an easy task. There are laws and there are convictions in piracy cases yet people just take the risk to get at their favorite music. China, the world’s biggest country with almost a tenth of its population is a very big problem for they have long history of infringing on copyrights and other product designs. The advent of cheap digital Music players didn’t help either for they have spurred many of the younger generation to grab anything they can to stuff their gizmo’s with and use as they go throught the day. Their insatiable need for more drives the P2P piracy trade and it’s getting worse by the minute.
Take the toys industry for example, in a news brief I heard a few months back, you can have a toy fair in China with one stall having a doll with full features one day and tomorrow have all the hundreds of stalls offering the same products. Another incident involved a reputable furniture maker who went there to get supplies only to end up with sub-standard products no one would buy back home.
The root of the problem may be the internet itself and the only way to do that is to totally control it which is almost next to impossible. Most of us don’t feel the urge but the younger generation seems to be inclined on getting what they want when they want it. The world of digital music may not be the same without piracy for to some extent it is driving some to go legal. It may be illegal yet the trade goes on and artists feel robbed of much needed royalties and other benefits they get from their work. So, buy legal and when you do try to download, do it legally. Help support the artists and their work for tomorrow.
Tags: P2P, Piracy, Piracy trade
Categories: Downloading Legally, Mobile Phones, Music, ipods
Some Service Packs have been hailed as a total waste of time, as in the case of Vista SP1 which many users hailed as a partial flop due to the un-noticeable difference in the performance and security of those with them installed and those without them. So for savings in time and effort, one is advised to carefully read the upgrade/service pack descriptors so one knows what is about to be installed and if they are really needed. Some updated may have already been installed by auto update so installing the SP isn’t that essential. There are however some things that these developers do not tell you which comes in forms of very critical updates that are done non-verbosely meaning without the user’s knowledge or detailed knowledge. These may come in the form of patches that are to correct a very elementary problem that leaves a desktop or just about any system vulnerable that was unknowingly left out of the programmers and developers. The auto update feature of windows has the ability to tell you that updates are ready for your system from the Microsoft web page but clicking install and update simply updates them without giving you the details of what and which programs are to be updated. Like the Windows Genuine Advantage tool Microsoft included with patches that suddenly left users unable to connect to the Microsoft Update site itself leaving people pissed and mad about the incident. Microsoft was suppose to use the tool to search for pirated copies of it’s OS’s which would result in denial of access to resources such as the update site. These problems were corrected after a deluge of complaints; the WGA program was also suspended for sometime, but re-instated after the bugs were identified and fixed. Others looked at the tool as spyware with most not opting to install or even trying to uninstall the said tool which was automatically installed by AutoUpdate.
Be mindful of the updates that are being installed onto your computer and try to learn as much as possible about the process by going to the auto update FAQ’s so you get the stuff you need as you need them. That way, you avoid loosing precious space on your hard drives while keeping your system in tip-top shape. More info on the following posts from the IT Security Blog regarding the need for such updates and the problems that arise from them.
Tags: Apple Leopard, Linux, Microsoft, Service Packs, System Updates
Categories: Downloading Legally, Providers, Resources
All of the most commonly used Operating Systems in use require constant upgrades and patches from their developers who may have found some weaknesses and vulnerabilities as they go live online with the millions of users everyday. These patches may be allowed to do their thing automatically which means that the Operating system is configured to check for updates and patches when it detects a connection to the internet during a user-specified schedule. Some come in bundles forms such as the Vista SP1 and the previous XP SP1, SP2 and the upcoming SP3. Apple has also released a service pack for their OS X Leopard and the many open-sourced OS systems like Linux constantly have upgrades for specific modules that may need attention.
Most of these upgrades are security and privacy related which has become the number one priority with the growing number and increasing complexity of hacker attacks. Some of these updates are quite publicized but if one wishes to optimize the usage of space on their computers and they know the workarounds of their operating systems, there are quite a lot of patches and upgrades that can be quite useless therefore the user can opt not to install them. Advanced users can opt to have in Windows for example, to have the OS check for updates but let you choose which ones to install and which ones to ignore. This action is advised only for advanced users and if one does not know which system files are vital and may need updating, just leave auto-update do the whole process for you.
Tags: Apple Leopard, Linux, Microsoft, Service Packs, System Updates
Categories: Downloading Legally, Providers, Resources
Market studies are showing that more than 35% of all of those who love music are opting to get them through paid legal sites or through off-the shelf audio Cd’s they rip and covert for use on their portable digital players. This may be signs that efforts other than those of the built-in DRM which has suffered blow after blow till it’s demise in the form which was incorporated with audio CD’s. All major record labels now sell audio cd’s without DRM software included plus moves to lower the prices of these CD’s has proven to be slightly successful. More and more people are beginning to realize the advantages of buying original which is what most industry experts and promoters of Digital Music Rights has been saying all along.
Music labels on the other hand have accepted the fact that there is nothing they can do to curb the illegal trade of digital music than to take it in as somewhat a form of competition. A majority of users still get tracks and albums from P2P and music sharing sites, but now they opt to buy the originals after sometime as they want to enjoy more of the other bonuses you get from the real thing. Lyrics, backgrounders of their favorite and loved artists as well as tons of other details one can only get from the original CD’s. These stuff are not even available from iTunes where you get only a digital copy of the artwork.
Students may they be in college or high school are also beginning to realize the advantages of buying original which they prefer after enjoying or sampling as they call it music they get from alternative sources. Fears of prosecution, viruses and other forma of malware and the prevalence of Phishing and other illegal activities is killing these file sharing sites which started the craze of promoting unregulated music sharing over the internet. This year, more and more people are becoming amiable to the concept of giving the artists they love and enjoy the support they need in promoting and making their music better through commissions and royalty they get from each and every album sold. Piracy robs them of these earnings which kills some independent artists which results in wasted talent and loss to fans of artists who might have been promising to them as the next big thing in music.
Categories: Downloading Legally, Music
Good news for promoters of Digital Music Rights, it seems like the newer generation of music fanatics are preferring more of the licensed audio CD’s they buy of stores as opposed to those they get of the internet. They say they prefer to get the best tracks of their favorite independent artists off the shelves where they can show of the artwork and get the bonus tracks as opposed to the totally legal tracks they get from ITunes or other sources that charge an average of $1.00 per song.
I mean, we still get the hottest tracks and music from P2P and other file sharing sites students say in an article from the Stanford Daily, yet they have a knack for supporting independent artists who do get to come out with nice music yet they are not available online due to lack of commercial backing. They may or may not have these songs form the other sources yet still opt to buy the real thing to allow their favorite artists to get the money they deserve to promote and improve their music, for who knows they might make it big someday.
These new additions to the digital age of music after the reason for the huge increase in the sales of audio CD are who suddenly feel the urge to go original. They are after the artwork and literature from the originals. They buy them of the shelves after having them for sometime off the internet wanting more from the artists that the digital forms can have. There are those who still go purely illegal, but the majority are beginning to see the light so to speak in terms of the advances their favorite artists get from the sponsorships and other stuff they earn off the legal stuff. Many students get music through ITunes which is one of the most popular music source and playback devices due to the iPod which is almost in every classroom. They accompany their users from the shower to the canteen to the gym when they are used again and again. Their small size makes them ideal for students who seem to love music from all genres and artists from all over as they seek distance form hectic school life.
Tags: Audio Cd's, DRM, Paid-Legal-Downloads
Categories: Downloading Legally, Music, ipods
The Canadian Copyright Board is causing a stir when it announced that it has ruled that it will begin implementing taxation on music downloads from online sources. The board enacted the rule after the SOCAN (equivalent to the RIAA) pushed for such due to the increasing trade in pirated music. The board has already defied world economics when it ruled that the sale of digital media players was to be taxed in order to make people more responsible with their use. If only such measures were easy to implement in America and elsewhere (which the RIAA and MPAA are finding to be very much difficult if not impossible.
