More filesharing news from Sweden this week. A 31-year-old man was found guilty of filesharing copyrighted material, but he escaped jail, instead receiving a heavy fine.

The man was initially accused of uploading 23,000 tracks to filesharing network Direct Connect, but the charges were eventually reduced to just 4,500 tracks.

The man was also accused of uploading 30 movies to the same filesharing network. The prosecution sought to have the man thrown in jail, but the judge in the case decided otherwise.

The fine for the man’s filesharing antics came to about $10,000, including court fees. The court actually suggested that the music industry must start taking some of the blame for the current filesharing problems.

Sweden is home to the Pirate Bay and is a country that often hits headlines for filesharing news. Whether or not this ruling will have any impact remains to be seen.

The rock band Nine Inch Nails has succumbed to industry pressure somewhat: it is releasing its latest album through its website for free.

Free music downloads downloads from a headline act is nothing new, and British act Radiohead tried this tactic (or at least something very much like it) last year with its album “In Rainbows”. Thom Yorke, lead singer of the band, has mixed views on free music downloads downloads: he recently told The Hollywood Reporter trade paper that his band’s pay-what-you-want offer was a one-time thing. “I don’t think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again”.

Free music downloads downloads are out there, it’s just whether the bands choose to embrace that fact or hide from it that will make the difference over the coming years.

Certainly with producers like Sony giving in and offering its back catalogue to free music downloads services like We7 there must be something that is worth taking note of.

The RIAA took a few punches this week with the news that a US federal judge has shot down the claim that simply making songs available for free music download on filesharing networks counts as distribution.

The RIAA has been steamrolling ahead with suing anyone and everyone accused of filesharing under the impression that making tracks available is enough to get a court verdict in their favor. This all seems to be changing.

Pamela and Jeffrey Howell are accused of making tracks available over the filesharing network Kazaa. They were originally ordered to pay $40,000 in damagers, but after an appeal, the case will now go before a jury after the judge overturned the initial decision.

The “making available” argument has typically been a big weapon in the RIAA’s battle against filesharing. The RIAA responded by calling the decision strange and against hundreds of other filesharing rulings in the US.

Might be a sign of things to come.

A children’s charity in the UK has decided to take on the issue of filesharing and spread the word about the evils of illegal music downloads, which are both against the law and “unsafe”, apparently.

One converted child said, “I used to use Limewire, but didn’t realise it was wrong and my parents didn’t know what I was doing.”

Oh dear.

Childnet admirably campaigns to improve Internet safety for children. There’s nothing wrong with that. The charity is sending a leaflet to schools to persuade kids to take care while surfing the net and using their mobile phones.

The clear message is that filesharing is an adults’ games. While America’s college students haven’t been so lucky, UK children will be “educated” about the errors of their filesharing ways. How noble.

However, for the million of non-children who still use filesharing programs like Limewire, there is no hope of salvation.

More campus activity this week. This time, the University of Arkansas has been targeted by the RIAA for filesharing students.

The RIAA has formally requested that UA complies with its dealing with filesharing activities, which means that the university must supply the names that match up to IPs that show illegal filesharing activity.

This has caused much uproar, as some at the university have slammed the request, saying that the RIAA does not have the right to do such a thing.

One senior compared this filesharing monitoring to phone tapping. The RIAA has basically requested that UA keep records of all Internet filesharing activity that occurs on campus.

What this means is that the UA’s IT department finds filesharing culprits who are getting free music downloads and passes on their names to the RIAA, who in turn send a letter to the students demanding damages or a court case.

UA responded by issuing a statement saying that students’ details will not be passed on unless a there is a subpoena.

There is a new drug on the block and it is making inroads into the markets previously dominated by Marijuana and LSD. The good news? It is entirely legal. The bad? It might not be legal for very long.
Salvia is a plant with hallucinogenic properties hailing from Mexico. Its sale, use and possession is entirely legal in most U.S. States and in Mexico, and the plant is solid in both leaf and extract form on the Internet. Its use induces hallucinations lasting for around one hour. While the effects are said to be stronger than those provided by Marijuana they only last an hour or so.
Pro-Salvia commentators claim that Salvia is a relatively harmless drug and that those wishing to see it banned are making a lot of fuss over a very small problem.
Some states have already banned Salvia or limited its use in some way, and with others likely to follow perhaps now is the time to make the most of Salvia’s legal status.