BTjunkie, one of the largest torrent file-sharing sites, shut down voluntarily over the weekend. The service ranked among the top five torrent sites on the Internet and was never involved in legal action, but recent moves against the likes of MegaUpload and The Pirate Bay have influenced BTjunkie's closure.

"This is the end of the line my friends," reads a short message from BTjunkie owner, now visible on the site. "The decision does not come easy, but we've decided to voluntarily shut down. We've been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it's time to move on. It's been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best," the message says. -[PC World]

In related news, prison sentences were recently made final for Pirate Bay founders Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundström after being denied appeals to the Swedish Supreme Court.

Federal prosecutors in Virginia say they have shut down one of the world's largest Internet file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws.

An indictment accuses the company of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. -[New York Times]

This strangely/coincidentally/ironically/suspiciously/somethingly comes just one day after more news of Universal being pissed off which was also the same day (yesterday) that the internet protested the related SOPA & PIPA bills (which were somewhat successful in helping that issue).

Megupload is run by, no shit, CEO Swizz Beatz who recently helped create a video promoting the site with testimonials from the likes of Kanye West, Diddy, The Game, Ciara, and Alicia Keys. That video was controversially removed (by Universal) and then put back on YouTube in December (by Google). Universal Music Group and Megaupload are now suing each other, though it looks like that's the least of Megaupload's problems at the moment. Universal says the endorsements were "unauthorized". Watch the video in question below...

Continue reading "Megaupload shut down by the feds (not long after its public fight with Universal began)"

The blog is in fact deleted.

Lily Allen @ Roseland Ballroom (more by Natasha Ryan)

"I havent written on here for a while but I've taken the time to write this as I think music piracy is having a dangerous effect on British music, but some really rich and successful artists like Nick Mason from Pink Floyd and Ed O'Brien from Radiohead don't seem to think so. Last week in an article in the Times these guys from huge bands said file sharing music is fine. It probably is fine for them. They do sell-out arena tours and have the biggest Ferrari collections in the world. For new talent though, file sharing is a disaster as it's making it harder and harder for new acts to emerge." [Lily Allen on MySpace, September 14, 2009]

On September 20th Lily Allen started a blog called "It's Not Alright". Her first post was a letter by James Blunt that started with the line "Lily is our Leader". Other posts include a letter from Tim Rice Oxley from Keane, one from Matt Bellamy from Muse, and, ironically, a post about 50 Cent that she lifted without credit from Techdirt. She has since, sort of, apologized. There are also posts by/about Mark Ronson, The Futureheads, Patrick Wolf, and Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan.

TorrentFreak is reporting that as many as six former OiNK users have been arrested in the United Kingdom for allegedly uploading pre-release music on the now-defunct site.

The arrests were made May 23 and May 28, TorrentFreak said Monday. Former OiNK admin Allan Ellis remains free on bond after his arrest last October on allegations of criminal copyright violations. [Wired]

Most music comes from friends or from peer-to-peer file-sharing, according to NPD Group research. [Guardian]

DOWNLOAD: Cut Off Your Hands - You and I (MP3)

"French president Nicolas Sarkozy is endorsing a plan that would ban the provision of Internet access to file sharers caught pirating three times. The plan would use information from ISPs on "high-volume users" to find file sharers. Serial offenders would see their accounts suspended or terminated after their third strike. Music and film industries, naturally, are in favor of the plan." [Valleywag]