The European Commission (EC) has agreed to requests from a human rights watchdog to monitor Virgin Media's planned deep-packet inspection test on its network to determine the level of illegal file sharing. Virgin will use software called CView that will sniff traffic over the Gnutella network, eDonkey network and through BitTorrent and will be capable of retrieving file names.

The system is setup currently so that individual users cannot be identified by CView. However, Privacy International is concerned that using the software will breach UK privacy laws. "Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) intercepting communications is a criminal offence regardless of what you do with the data," Alexander Hanff, head of ethical networks at Privacy International, said.

He has vowed to file a criminal complaint if Virgin starts using CView. Legislation proposed in the UK would use a measured response to fight piracy. It would start with a warning letter to a customer of an ISP (from the ISP once it receives a complaint) and those who persist will get further, stronger warnings before eventually being suspended from the service.

While CView has the ability to identify files being shared illegally, Virgin claims it is will not be used to weed out pirates for warnings or suspension. "It was never designed to capture identities. This isn't an answer for that," said Asam Ahmad.

"We want to understand what we can do to reduce illegal file-sharing. This will tell us things such as the name of the top ten tracks being shared as well as the percentage of legal versus illegal." He admitted that traffic from up to 40 percent of the ISPs users could be scrutinized, and that customers will not be warned in advance. He pointed out that Virgin Media will not be alone in using deep packet inspection, saying that BT already does.

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According to CVG, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was given the opportunity to sign up as part of the device that we now know as Project Natal, but declined because he felt they could not launch it at mass-market price.

The technology was demoed by Israel-based 3DV Systems in 2007, but Iwata and other executives declined to accept it as a Wii peripheral.

"Iwata-san only ever invests in something he can guarantee will work for a Nintendo audience," says an unnamed "top" executive, via CVG. "3DV showed off a camera that detected motion in 3D, and had voice recognition - but Iwata-San was unconvinced he could sell it at a Nintendo price point. He also had some worries around latency during gameplay."

Despite agreeing that Microsoft has improved on some aspects of the technology since it purchased 3DV last year, the exec adds: "What we witnessed at E3 was smaller and the facial [reading] stuff had improved, but it's the same technology. We remain unconvinced Natal will deliver on the more sophisticated elements of what Microsoft is promising at the price they're aiming for."

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More than 150 people have contacted consumer publication Which? Computing claiming to have been wrongly targeted with written warnings for Internet piracy activity. ACS:Law has sent thousands of letters to users in the UK accusing them of illegally sharing copyrighted content on the Internet, and providing a chance to pay about £250 to settle the case.

Which? claims to have been contacted by a number of people who say they have no knowledge of the alleged offense. One such case involves a 78 year old man who was accused of downloading and sharing pornography. "He doesn't even know what file-sharing or BitTorrent is so has certainly not done this himself or given anyone else permission to use his computer to do such a thing," Which? was told in a complaint.

The consumer advocate is now concerned that users might be accused wrongly. "Innocent consumers are being threatened with legal action for copyright infringements they not only haven't committed, but wouldn't know how to commit," said Matt Bath, technology editor of Which?. "Many will be frightened into paying up rather than facing the stress of a court battle."

It has encouraged people who have been wrongly accused of piracy to "rigorously deny it and, if possible, provide physical evidence of where they were when the infringement took place". ACS:Law is convinced that its methods provide accurate results however, and promises that more will be sent out soon.

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Samsung has announced that they have begun mass producing displays for 3D LED HDTVs, a move that puts a lot of support behind the technology that many critics have called a "gimmick."

Being in mass production should mean lower prices for the end user in a short time frame. 3D TVs have so far come with a heavy price tag.

"Recently, 3D displays have captured the industry spotlight. Samsung Electronics aims to lead the global 3D TV panel market in pioneering mass production for 3D LED and LCD TVs," reads the press release.

The displays being produced are 40-inch, 46-inch and 55-inch.

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The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is preparing for a third trial to once again determine damages, which have so far ranged from $54,000 to $1.92 million, to be paid by Jammie Thomas-Rasset who has been accused (and found guilty) of sharing 24 songs illegally on file sharing networks. Last year, the mother of four from Minnesota was ordered to pay $1.92 million in damages for sharing the music.

Last week, Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis reduced the damages to $54,000, declaring that the $1.92 million figure was "monstrous and shocking." The RIAA was given until Wednesday to accept the decision or to reject it, which would result in a new trial. The trade group announced it will reject the decision and go to another trial, as Thomas-Rasset turned down an opportunity to settle the case.

Attorneys for Thomas-Rasset said she would not accept a settlement offer from the RIAA, which would have her paying $25,000 to a charity for struggling artists. "Jammie is not going to agree to pay any amount of money to them," Attorney Joe Sibley said, adding that it doesn't matter to Thomas-Rasset whether the damages are $25,000 or $1.92 million.

"For her, it's all the same. She just doesn't have the money to pay any of those, and it would be financially ruinous," Sibley said. She will continue to fight the case on principal, believing that the statutes that allow for such hefty damages in these types of cases are wrong.

"It is a shame that Ms. Thomas-Rasset continues to deny any responsibility for her actions rather than accept a reasonable settlement offer and put this case behind her," said RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth.

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Netflix has reported its highest number of new customers in a single quarter in the company's history, adding more than 1.1 million new subscribers in the fourth-quarter. It took four years to hit 1 million subscribers after Netflix launched in 1999. Investors applauded as the company revealed its results for the quarter, including a 36 percent rise in the Q4 profits for the rental-by-mail service.

Netflix now has more than 12 million subscribers, with a boost in new subscribers in response to new plans that bundle the rental-by-mail service with unlimited video streaming over the Internet, for prices as low as $9 per month. The good news didn't stop there for investors either; Netflix management expects Q1 2010 to be even more successful, projecting between 1.2 and 1.5 million new subscribers by the end of March.

Fourth-quarter revenue climbed 24 percent to $444.5 million, missing analyst expectations by $1 million. The shortfall however was overshadowed by pledges from management to boost profit margins to 11 percent from its previous 10 percent target.

Netflix got a big boost in the fourth quarter when services available through the PlayStation 3 (PS3), while already being available through Xbox 360 and it is reportedly heading for the Wii console.

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Nokia Corp. has decided not to bundle its 'Comes With Music' service with its flagship X6 music phone model, in an effort to boost sales of the device. By cutting the unlimited music service, Nokia can cut the price of the phone by a third. Nokia launched 'Comes With Music' in 2008 in Britain as a test for the service, but it has only received a lukewarm reception, largely due to a large price overall.

"Nokia will have unbundled Comes with Music with heavy heart. It's a cornerstone service for flagship products like the X6, but this move reflects operators' reluctance to offer it," said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight. Nokia wanted to boost the service by bundling it with the X6 phone, but retail outlets and operators weren't warm to it.

"This was an expected move -- in our view, the early demand for the bundled X6 has been soft," said analyst Tero Kuittinen from MKM Partners. "The lack of confidence in Comes with Music has kept European operators from marketing it aggressively." The phone went on sale last year, bundled with 'Comes With Music', for around €450 ($634), excluding taxes and subsidies.

Now with the music service cut from the package, the X6 model will sell for €299, excluding taxes and subsidies. It also comes with a 16GB memory card, half of the original size.

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Ubisoft is looking to reduce the amount of pirates playing its PC games while tackling some of the common problems that Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology causes for legitimate consumers. The company has said that a new anti-piracy system will allow users to install their games on as many PCs as they want and there will be no need to insert a disc for authentication purposes either.

"If you own a hundred PCs, you can install your games on a hundred PCs," said Brent Wilkinson, Director, Customer Service and Production Planning at Ubisoft. While these changes will sound great to those affected by Ubisoft's use of StarForce DRM, there is one major problem. The game is authenticated by the user by signing into his/her Ubi.com account before playing -- even on a single player game.

This obviously raises issues for people who do not have constant access to the Internet, or might regularly suffer service outages. However, Ubisift is not convinced that this will be a big problem. "We think most people are going to be fine with it. Most people are always connected to an Internet connection," Wilkinson said.

One advantage of the service however is the ability to store game saves with your Ubi.com account, which means you can load your saved from any PC with the game installed. This is also available for some games offered through Steam.

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The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has lost a lawsuit against China's biggest search engine, Baidu. The trade group, which represents record companies from across the world, said that it was disappointed by the loss, and is currently taking time to plan its next steps. It has accused Baidu of "deep-linking" users to hundreds of thousands of illegal MP3 downloads.

The IPFI brought the lawsuit against Baidu in 2008 at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court. Baidu said it is pleased with the court's decision and that it will continue to comply with all laws.

"The verdicts do not reflect the reality that these services have built their music search businesses on the basis of facilitating mass copyright infringement, to the detriment of artists, producers and all those involved in China's legitimate music market," an IFPI representative said.

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The hacker behind the first proper breach of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console's security has released the exploit for others to tinker with. It won't let you launch a "hello world" program easily, but its definitely a start for others who are up to the challenge now. George Hotz (geohot), known for his work Apple's iPhone, ran a blog for a few weeks following his efforts to crack the console security, and then on Friday announced that he had "hacked the PS3".

Here's his latest blog post.

Here's your silver platter
In the interest of openness, I've decided to release the exploit. Hopefully, this will ignite the PS3 scene, and you will organize and figure out how to use this to do practical things, like the iPhone when jailbreaks were first released. I have a life to get back to and can't keep working on this all day and night.

Please document your findings on the psDevWiki. They have been a great resource so far, and with the power this exploit gives, opens tons of new stuff to document. I'd like to see the missing HV calls filled in, nice memory maps, the boot chain better documented, and progress on a 3D GPU driver. And of course, the search for a software exploit.

This is the coveted PS3 exploit, gives full memory space access and therefore ring 0 access from OtherOS. Enjoy your hypervisor dumps. This is known to work with version 2.4.2 only, but I imagine it works on all current versions. Maybe later I'll write up how it works

I've gotten confirmation the exploit works on 3.10. Also I've heard about compile issues on Fedora. I did this in Ubuntu. I would really like someone to write up a nice tutorial :)

Source: http://geohotps3.blogspot.com/2010/01/heres-your-silver-platter.html

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The popey.com blog has reported today that all new versions of Ubuntu Lucid will come with Firefox using Yahoo! as the default search engine instead of Google after the companies struck a deal.

Canonical, the group behind the Lucid releases, made the revenue sharing deal as a way to generate income for the company and its developers.

Obviously, if you hate Yahoo or just prefer Google, Bing, Ask, etc., you can switch the search engine back, but Canonical will not see any of the money from your searches. The browser start page will also feature Yahoo instead of Google now, but that is easily changed as well.

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The time for Apple's big product announcement has come. As the rumors suggested it's a tablet, which they're calling the iPad.

At first glance it looks like a giant iPod Touch. So far Steve Jobs has shown off web browsing capabilities, which conspicuously didn't include a Flash plugin, much like the iPhone and iPod Touch.

With a 9.7 inch LED backlit LCD display, the iPad is half an inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds.

It features between 16GB and 64GB of storage with a 1GHz Apple A4 CPU, Bluetooth 2.1 support, and a 802.11n Wi-Fi interface. It can run almost all the apps from the iPhone App Store.

The iPad will be available in March, and will sell for a (suggested retail) price of $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 32GB model, or $699 for the 64GB version. In April there will also be models with both Wi-Fi and 3G capabilities and suggested retail price of $629 (16GB), $729 (32GB), and $829 (64GB).

Two different AT&T iPad data plans for the 3G version were also announced. For $14.99 you will be able to get a plan with a 250MB limit. There will also be an unlimited plan for $29.99 per month.

This is significantly cheaper than standard data plans using a USB 3G modem, but is also more limited since it will only work with your iPad.

Apple will be selling the iPad in the US directly from Apple, both online and in their brick and mortar stores, as well as "select Apple Authorized Resellers."

The specific third party retailers are as of yet unknown, perhaps even to Apple.

As expected, the iPad comes with an eBook reader application. The company is also launching an eBook store, predictably called iBookstore. It will presumably work similarly to the iPhone App Store.

If you want to use your iPad for playing audio and video it supports the same formats as the iPhone, including MP3, AAC, and Apple Lossless Audio, as well as MPEG-4 AAC and MPEG-4 SP video in resolutions up to 720p at 30fps.

Battery life is reportedly up to 10 hours of use or a month on standby.

Among the accessories available will be a dock which will hold your iPad in an upright position while charging it and another that also adds a full size keyboard. There will also be attachments to add USB support for connecting digital cameras.

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Samuel Lassoff, a class action attorney in Pennsylvania has announced today that he has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft over the virtual Microsoft Points, the currency system used to buy games and content through Xbox Live.

Lassoff says the system rips off users, and that he recently was charged for downloads which could not be completed "due to nature of the download system."

Says the filing: "Microsoft has engaged in a scheme to unjustly enrich itself through their fraudulent handling," of accounts.

Although we do not know the exact details of what occurred with his account, the points system being a ripoff is not a new claim. $20 USD will get you 1600 MS points, unlike Wii virtual points, where that same $20 will get you a more straightforward 2000 points. The points you buy also never seem to add up correctly for games you want to buy and you are left with leftovers that are useless until you supplant them with more points.

Because some users just let those points go to waste, Lassoff says "Microsoft breached that contract by collecting revenues for digital goods and services which were not provided."

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