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In yet another snub to anti-piracy efforts, infamous Swedish BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay has taken over IFPI.com, a domain formerly owned by the recording industry group by the same name. IFPI, previously known as the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, pushes for anti-piracy enforcement in 75 countries.

The Pirate Bay, the world’s largest torrent tracker has taken up a surprising new residence. The site, which hosts over 630,000 torrents, moved aboard the domain ifpi.com, which formerly belonged to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

While many may be unfamiliar with the IFPI, its work is familiar to many. The IFPI is the parent organization of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

The IFPI has been a champion of lawsuits against internet pirates, increasing the scope of copyright laws and developing DRM technologies to stop users from copying their songs or media. Its actions have been mirrored by its lower level affiliates such as the RIAA.

The group, one of the world’s leading BitTorrent trackers, has hoisted its flag over the IFIP.com domain.

The address was, until recently, owned by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), an industry body representing the recording industry worldwide.

In an interview with the Torrentfreak blog, the Pirate Bay team said it would use the domain to host a site for the International Federation of Pirate Interests (alsoIFPI), a newly formed organisation dedicated to spreading the word about piracy.

association of america, bittorrent trackers, bpi, british phonographic industry, ifpi, international federation of the phonographic industry, internet pirates, Legal Issues, piracy, pirate bay, recording industry association, recording industry association of america, riaa, snub, torrent tracker

Founder and chief editor of MacRumors.com recently wrote this in his blog ..

I personally don’t thing that the name could do any harm to apple as whole website was related to iPhone and indirectly promote iPhone ….. on second thought, why would they need anymore popularity .

Apple, blog, chief editor, domaners, iphone, ipod, Legal Issues, macrumors

The Internet Commerce Association (internetcommerce.org) recently addressed more than 50 domain name owners at the SedoPro conference in New Paltz, New York to discuss potential threats to the value of domain names.

Phil Corwin, a representative of the ICA, says the domain community should try to prevent the disorder the private equity industry faces right now due to the introduction of a bill to tax private equity profits at a higher rate. Corwin says mainstream press has already brought attention to the wealth the domain name industry has been creating, which could get the attention of legislators in Washington and cause a similar situation. However, he says it’s not too late to influence policy making.

In his presentation, Corwin mentioned a few specific threats to domain names including domain name classification as a property versus a license. He says the ICA wants domains to be classified as property and the domain industry should take the lead on getting this position solidified. Another issue is the fact that many registrars are retaining the best expiring domain names, which creates a conflict of interest.

One of the biggest issues he mentioned had to do with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and its willing to sacrifice the domain industry’s interests for backroom deals, such as the VeriSign settlement.

He also brought up his issues with ICANN’s role in the .xxx domain dispute and the fact that ICANN is looking into becoming a private international organization to insulate itself from litigation.

Source : thewhir.com

corwin, Domain Names, domain industry, domain name, expiring domain names, Legal Issues, private equity industry, take the lead, verisign

This is an update on the termination of RegistrFly as an ICANN accredited registrar.As was previously advised ICANN sent a notice of termination to RegisterFly effective 31 March 2007. Under the agreement RegisterFly can initiate arbitration challenging the termination. RegisterFly has decided to do that and has notified ICANN. That means the termination has to be stayed by at least an additional thirty days. Consequently there will be no bulk transfer to another Accredited registrar until further notice. This clearly does not help registrants. It is another example of RegisterFly putting its own interests ahead of its customers.

ICANN is committed to pursuing RegisterFly under the terms of the Agreement.

ICANN has filed suit in Federal Court in the Central District of California to require RegisterFly to turn over all registrant data and to require them to provide updates every 48 hours and open up their books for audit. This will assist in making sure the data is accurate when a bulk transfer does occur or if the data is otherwise not available from the operators of RegisterFly. ICANN. RegisterFly is still required to assist registrants who want to transfer to another Registrar. ICANN will provide more updates as information becomes available.

accredited registrar, arbitration, central district of california, Domain Names, further notice, icann, Legal Issues, notice of termination, registerfly

Wayne Mansfield faces financial ruin after Federal Court Justice Robert Nicholson yesterday fined him $1 million and his business seminar company Clarity1 Pty Ltd $4.5 million in a 19-page judgment.

Clarity1 sent more than 213 million commercial emails, 41 million of them to 5.6 million addresses illegally “harvested” from the internet, between April 2004 and April 2006.

The nature of the breaches of the Spam Act, enacted in April 2004, was “flagrant and unapologetic”, the judgment said.

Australian Communications and Media Authority anti-spam team manager Bruce Matthews said it was the first successful prosecution under the Act. “We are very happy with the decision because we think it sends a very strong message to potential Australian spammers that we will vigorously enforce the Spam Act,” he said.

The decision would send shock waves through the internet industry. “It certainly will receive significant international attention,” he said.

Richard Keeves, president of the anti-spam Internet Industry Association, said: “I suppose at some level you would say (Mr Mansfield and Clarity1) are being made an example of but I think it is a perfectly legitimate process.”

Mr Mansfield said he was disappointed at the “considerable fines”. “Obviously I will consider my options, including the possibility of an appeal on the amount of the fines, but we have, personally and as a business, moved on and no longer are involved in any activities that the decision refers to,” he said.

The fines are more than 10 times the penalty imposed on former Telstra director Steve Vizard for using confidential information to make sharemarket plays in three companies.

Mr Mansfield’s Business Seminars Australia fell into liquidation in March 2004 owing creditors more than $206,000. This year he set up Blast! Into 2007 and 272 Corporation.

[via thewest.com]

australia, Legal Issues, spam, spamming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress was pushing on Friday to finish legislation that would boost security at U.S. ports, but at the last minute lawmakers added provisions to prohibit Internet gambling.

Rushing to finish their work by the weekend to go home and campaign for elections in which control of Congress is at stake, lawmakers were linking up unrelated measures in an effort to get them approved.

The House passed an Internet gambling ban earlier this summer, but the bill had difficulty moving in the Senate. However it was a priority of Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, and attaching it to the popular port security bill appeared aimed at insuring its passage.

Votes were expected by midnight Friday in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Port security advanced as an issue in Congress this year after an outcry over the Bush administration’s decision to allow an Arab company, Dubai Ports World, to buy major U.S. port assets.

House and Senate negotiators agreed late on Thursday on the outlines of the port security legislation. It would authorize $3.4 billion over five years for actions such as installing radiation detectors at the largest U.S. ports.

There were attempts on Friday to add other unrelated amendments, but apart from the Internet gambling provisions, the others were rejected, a top House leadership aide said.

Those rejected included an attempt to shield telephone companies from liability for privacy violations if they supply the U.S. government with access to customer records. This idea came from Alaskan Sen. Ted Stevens, Republican sources said.

“Our bill is slimming down and I’m very pleased with the port security portions,” said Rep. Dan Lungren, a California Republican and one of the key negotiators on the legislation.

Another proposed add-on that was rejected would have tightened security at courthouses and stiffened penalties for attacks on judges.

Language that would have added billions more for rail and mass transit security had been stripped out of the port security bill earlier, lawmakers and their aides said. So was language to lift a cap on federal airport security screeners.

The heart of the port security bill deals with cargo container security. Only a fraction of the millions of containers that enter U.S. ports each year are inspected. That has prompted warnings that sea cargo remains a serious security risk, five years after the September 11 attacks.

The issue languished in Congress until earlier this year when lawmakers said they had security concerns Dubai Ports World’s acquisitions at six major U.S. ports. To quell the uproar, the company said it would sell the port assets.

The ports bill requires the government to finish installing radiation-screening equipment at 22 major U.S. ports, which handle 98 percent of all containers, by the end of 2007.

It also sets up a pilot program at three foreign ports to test the feasibility of scanning cargo headed for the United States while it is still overseas.

But another bill that was inspired by the Dubai furor — proposed tightening of the rules governing approval of foreign takeovers — has stalled in Congress. The two chambers passed competing versions and have not reached a compromise.

bill, gambling, internet, Legal Issues, security, united states, us