.Tech policy: browsers and privacy, Courtney Love and tweets, music and piracy, Verizon and net neutrality

Blogs.siliconvalley.com– Are consumers’ privacy concerns finally being heard? Last month, the U.S. government proposed a couple of privacy initiatives amid growing concern about the tracking of Internet users online: The FTC called for a “do not track” option for Web browsers. And the Commerce Department proposed creating a new Privacy Policy Office. (See From Uncle Sam, frameworked online privacy.)

Unloading on downloading- Woman held up as example of illegally downloading music

The Montage student paper in St. Louis reports, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a Minnesota woman, stands as the first person in the United States to go to trial for illegally downloading music.

While she only downloaded 24 songs, it’s enough to bring the total to almost $2 million.

Thomas-Rasset is still in court fighting the 2009 verdict from which she was fined $80,000 per song.

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Lupe Fiasco Explains How Piracy Affects Artists

Ology.com- Lupe Fiasco, an American Hip-hop artist talks to JT Langley, a writer for Ology.com about music piracy and how it affects artists.

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Net Neutrality Hearings Might Make You Pay For Illegally Downloading Music

Prefixmag.com- The Internet is all aflutter over an announced Dec 21 hearing in which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will potentially announce new net neutrality regulations. The big news is that the FCC will finally put down net neutrality laws on paper.

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Supreme Court rejects illegal downloading argument

The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from a Texas teenager who got in trouble for illegal downloading of music—a potential blow to students who might claim to be “innocent infringers” of copyright laws after downloading music without paying and bogging down campus networks.

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US High Court Won’t Consider Defense Against Music Piracy Lawsuit

 ADVFN.com– On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider whether a Texas woman who was sued for downloading music illegally can argue that she was too young and naive to know she was violating copyright laws.

Should harsher penalties be put into place?

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RIAA Getting Desperate: Now Blames Journalists For Its Piracy Troubles

PCmag.com reports the music industry wants to start laying blame on Journalists for music piracy.

Is this a step too far?

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Mexican Court Convicts 14 Music Pirates

MI2N.com- A Mexican judge in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, has sentenced 14 music pirates to five years and three months in prison after they were found guilty of copyright infringement in violation of the Mexican Federal Criminal Code. The judge also ordered each defendant to pay a fine of approximately US$4,000. The trial took place on 15th October and was the culmination of a case that began on 20th July 2009 when the 14 individuals were arrested in an anti-piracy operation that was conducted by the Mexican Army.

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Dutch Artist Unions Call Government to Legalize File-Sharing

Torrentfreak.com– A strong coalition of two Dutch artists unions and the local consumer watchdog have submitted a proposal to permanently legalize file-sharing of music and movies. In exchange, the parties call for a levy on MP3-players and other devices that can play and record movies and music. In the future, this has to be changed to a general levy on Internet subscriptions.

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Industry Upset At PC Mag Article On Music Piracy

FMQB.com- Multiple industry organizations, including the RIAA, A2IM, SoundExchange and The Recording Academy, have sent an open letter to PC Magazine, in response to recent article that listed P2P services and suggested readers use them for illegal downloading.

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