Digital Trends
Last week in court, Boston college student Joel Tenenbaum admitted illegally downloading and sharing music files. As a result, he’s been hit with a fine of $675,000, payable to four major record labels.
Tenenbaum told AP he was initially happy the fine wasn’t in the millions:
"That to me sends a message of ‘We considered your side with some legitimacy’."
However, his lawyer is planning an appeal.
Joel Tenenbaum is the second person in the US to be taken to court for illegally downloading music. To try and avoid potentially massive fines, the teen has admitted he downloaded and shared hundreds of songs.
The first of these cases to land in court, that of Minnesota’s Jammie Thomas Rassett, saw her hit with $1.92 million in fines for sharing 24 songs.
Tenebaum has been accused to using a computer both at college and at his parents’ home to share music. US law allows recording companies to receive $750 to $30,000 per infringement, although a jury can increase that amount to $150,000 per track for wilful infringements.
Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Minnesota mom who was convicted again of file-sharing in her second trial and given a $1.92 million fine, is seeking yet a third trial.
Calling her conviction for downloading and sharing a grand total of 24 songs through Kazaa "excessive, shocking, and monstrous," she had her lawyers argue a motion that the damages awarded to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) were “grossly excessive,” and that rather than pursue justice, they instead made an example of her.
The filing read:
A federal jury in Minnesota has found Jammie Thomas-Rasset guilty of infringing 24 music copyrights and awarded the record labels a stunning $1.92 million in damages to the music industry. The jury verdict represents the second time Thomas has been found guilty of infringement, although the first verdict—for a mere $220,000 in damages—was thrown out by the trail judge because he found he had made an error instructing the jury, thus opening the door to a retrial.
These days, electronics retailers are feeling increasing pressure from watchdog groups, municipalities, and even consumers to help clean up some of the so-called e-waste they help create: by peddling new phones, computers, televisions, and other gizmos, they help generate a surfeit of unwanted technology items, many of which contain hazardous chemicals and toxic materials. Throw them away, and that stuff essentially goes straight into the environment—and ground water.
Privacy advocates may have been powerless to prevent Google from cataloging pictures of their homes and lawns when Street View debuted last summer, but residents of one small Minnesota town have found a way to prevent it entirely: own the streets. Residents of North Oaks, Minn. have successfully removed their town from Street View because of its unique system of privately owned streets.
Minnesota’s Digi International has introduced its Wi-Point 3G, a three-in-one network router that combined Wi-Fi and Ethernet capabilities with a PC card-based, 3G cellular router. With the Wi-Point 3G, users can set up secure, high-speed ad-hoc networks with Internet access from a wide range of locations.
“The Digi Wi-Point 3G allows remote sites and devices to wirelessly connect to the Internet or securely integrate into a corporate network—even if that remote device happens to be driving down the highway,” said Digi’s senior VP of global sales and marketing Larry Kraft, in a statement. “It is ideal for applications such as temporary networks, remote Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile/transportation deployments, disaster recovery, security and more.”
The Recording Industry Association of America may be running into resistance in Oregon, but further up in the judicial system, the organization’s pursuit of small-time file sharers is being viewed favorably. In a brief filed Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice sided with the RIAA in a file-sharing case where $220,000 in damages had been racked up against one person.
Specifically, the case was that of Jammie Thomas, a single mother in Minnesota who had the full weight of the law fall on her for sharing 24 copyrighted songs on her computer. After her first trial resulted in statutory damages of $9,250 per song – $220,000 in total – being assigned, she appealed the case and hoped to show that such damages were unconstitutionally excessive.
Telecommunications operator Sprint and high-speed wireless company Clearwire have announced they’re mutually calling off an agreement to work together on deploying a nationwide high-speed WiMax network by the end of 2010. According to Sprint, the companies could not see their way through the “complexities” involved in the agreement and could not agree to terms of a formal business arrangement.
“We are on track for soft launch late this year in the Chicago and Baltimore/Washington markets and commercial launch in 2008,” said Keith Cowan, president of Sprint’s strategic planning and corporate Initiatives, in a statement. “In line with Sprint’s mandate of improving the customers experience and simplifying our operations, we look forward to working with Clearwire on opportunities such as roaming and standards.”
Back in 2002, Microsoft agreed to a landmark settlement in its huge antitrust case with the federal government. Part of the settlement was that Microsoft agreed to oversight of its business activities to ensure the company did not abuse its monopoly position in the computer operating system market. Most of those restrictions were set to lapse on November 12, 2007, but Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who is responsible for overseeing the antitrust settlement, has agreed to a delay to consider whether those restrictions should be extended another five years.
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