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Court Forces Spammers to Cough Up $3.7 Million |
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07-03-2009 - 09:57 PM - by Darth Sushi
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Court Forces Spammers to Cough Up $3.7 Million
By Kevin Parrish, published on July 3, 2009 at 12:50 PM
" A U.S. district court is forcing a spam group to cough up $3.7 million they collected through fake weight-loss products and human growth hormone pills
An alleged international spam ring--with key players located in Canada and St. Kitts--was ordered by a U.S. district court to give up a whopping $3.7 million racked in by spam emails. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the illegal email drove traffic to websites that offered hoodia gordonii plant extract that claimed to cause significant weight loss, and a "natural human growth hormone enhancer" that supposedly reversed the aging process.
The FTC originally filed the complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, back in October 2007. The complaint included eight defendants--Spear Systems, three corporate defendants, and four individuals. Spear Systems, an individual located in the U.S., and an individual located in Australia settled in May 2008. However, the FTC was unable to reach a settlement with the remaining five defendants who must now answer to the court order.
The FTC's original complaint said that the claims made by the emails were false and unsubstantiated, thus violated the FTC Act and the CAN-SPAM Act. The U.S. Safe Web Act also came into play, a law that enables the FTC to trade information with foreign counterparts, and to protect consumers from internet fraud and cross-border spam; Congress gave... [Read More]
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2 Replies | 16 Views
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Windows 7 preorder a hit (save 50% ordering now) |
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07-02-2009 - 06:47 PM - by SonsOfLiberty
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Microsoft's program for preordering Windows 7 at a discount is proving quite popular, at least at Amazon.com.
The program, which kicked off on Friday, allows people to order an upgrade version of Windows 7 Home Premium for $49, more than half off its $119 suggested price, or Windows 7 Professional for $99, half of its suggested price.
Both options run only until July 11 and are also limited in terms of the number of copies Microsoft will sell at those prices, though the software maker won't clarify what the limits are. (Users will get their copy of the operating system after it is made broadly available on October 22.)
The two offers have proven exceptionally popular on Amazon. The Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade package vaulted to No. 1, not just in Amazon's software store, but among all electronics products on the site. Meanwhile, the Windows 7 Professional upgrade was No. 2 among software products. Amazon also has a lot of Windows 7 info on its site, as well as a paid delivery option that guarantees that the product will arrive on October 22.
I'm checking into how the preorder program is doing at other stores. It is also being offered at the brick-and-mortar and/or online outlets Best Buy, Costco, Newegg, Office Depot, Office Max, Sam's Club, Staples, Tiger Direct, Wal-Mart, as well as at a few regional spots, such as Fry's Electronics and Nebraska Furniture Mart.
Best Buy, for its part, said preorders of Windows 7 immediately took off on Friday--faster than with previous preorder programs. Overall, though, it said sales are in line with its projections.[Read More]
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13 Replies | 138 Views
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RIAA Wins Against Usenet.com |
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07-02-2009 - 02:24 AM - by Darth Sushi
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RIAA Wins Against Usenet.com
By Kevin Parrish, published on July 1, 2009 at 4:10 PM
" The Recording Industry Association of America came out as the victor in its legal battle against Usenet.com.
Late yesterday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Harold Baer of the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of the record companies listed in the federal lawsuit against newsgroup provider Usenet.com.
According to court documents (PDF warning), the Usenet service is guilty of direct infringement, inducement of infringement, contributory infringement, and vicarious infringement. The ruling also said that Usenet.com cannot claim protection under the 1984 Sony Betamax decision which states that companies selling devices cannot be held liable for infringement despite the actions of the buyer.
In addition to the Sony Betamax decision, Usenet.com attempted to find refuge under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a "safe harbor provision" that keeps internet service providers from taking the blame for illegal activities conducted by subscribers. However, the DMCA plea was denied, leaving Usenet.com wide open for prosecution. As reported by CNET, Baer said that Usenet.com failed to understand the difference between Sony selling a Betamax and terminating a relationship with the end-user, and Usenet.com keeping a relationship open with the end-user while also retaining some control over the... [Read More]
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2 Replies | 249 Views
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A Glimpse at The Pirate Bay’s Uncertain Future |
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07-02-2009 - 02:12 AM - by SonsOfLiberty
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I've seen so many posts and what not, I've decide to cull some threads from various sources, mainly from TF, but in a condensed form.
After Global Gaming Factory X announced that it intends to buy The Pirate Bay for $7.8 million, the CEO of the company bombarded the press with his revolutionary plans for the site. By paying both the copyright holders and file-sharers the company aims to reshape the digital media landscape. We have our doubts.
The sale of the largest BitTorrent tracker in the world to Global Gaming Factory X (GGF) blasted like a shockwave though the BitTorrent community yesterday. For years The Pirate Bay has been a synonym for free file-sharing, something that many fear will change in the near future.
However, thus far GGF’s plans for the site and tracker are rather vague and uncertain. First of all there is a huge divide between what the Pirate Bay co-founders think will happen to the site and what GGF is telling the public.
TorrentFreak has spoken with Pirate Bay co-founders Peter Sunde and Fredrik Neij who both think that the Pirate Bay will stay pretty much like it is now for the time being. The only difference in the short term, according to their knowledge, is that the site will link to torrents hosted on a third party domain tracked by a third party tracker.
Both the torrent hosting service and the tracker they are referring to are still in development, the co-founders said. They are not aware of any concrete plans to turn the site into a legal venture. In an attempt to find out we asked GGF to elaborate on their future plans... [Read More]
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2 Replies | 136 Views
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Usenet.com says RIAA 'whittling down' Betamax |
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07-01-2009 - 06:37 PM - by Hairbautt
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Usenet.com says RIAA 'whittling down' Betamax
July 1, 2009 11:06 AM PDT by Greg Sandoval
"Usenet.com lawyers lost their copyright infringement case to the music industry on Tuesday and now must prepare for what the judge decides Usenet must pay in damages. The judgment could could be hundreds of millions.
In the long list of copyright cases brought by the Recording Industry Association of America, this one stands out for all the drama it provided, and depending on which side you talk to, the amount of precedent-setting decisions. Usenet.com lawyers argue the presiding judge diluted the Betamax case. RIAA attorneys sigh, and say their opponents are just trying to inflame the public.
In what became a provocative sideshow during the proceedings, the RIAA alleged that Usenet.com destroyed evidence and prevented employees from being questioned by RIAA lawyers, going so far as shipping some of them off on extended trips to Europe. Baer was unamused and sanctioned Usenet.com.
Usenet.com is a company that enables users to access the Usenet network, an early electronic discussion forum and formerly popular way to share binary files. In October 2007, the RIAA filed suit against Usenet.com, which charges up to $19 for access "to millions of MP3... [Read More]
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1 Reply | 239 Views
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