Patrick O'Keefe's Profile

About five years ago, the county made a free wireless Internet connection available in the block surrounding the Coshocton County Courthouse at 318 Main St.

It was disabled last week after someone used the wireless local area network address to illegally download a movie.

Each of the 270 to 300 computers in the regular county system have password protected secure log-ins, and so could be readily identified if illegal activity had taken place at one of those locations. Its firewall also prevents access to illegal sites, said Commissioner Dane Shryock.

LaVigne has done some homework and found a program that would prevent the illegal downloads from happening in the future; however, it would cost the cash-strapped county about $2,900 to implement, $2,000 for equipment and then $900 annually for the filtering program.

Commissioners questioned whether the investment would be justified for the free service, but LaVigne said it could be put to use on the entire county system to monitor activity.

"Part of the battle here is to sensitise the public to the fact that there is a real issue involved. It is not simply a victimless crime," he added.

members of the group

searches, seizure of their computers and other assorted items, and later questioned at length.

The suspects were charged with Conspiracy to Defraud (the music industry), released on bail and ordered to reappear at later dates. One was later released with a police warning and told that charges would not be pressed against him.

the alleged leader of DV8 had his bail pushed back to mid November pending further investigations. TorrentFreak’s previously-reliable sources positioned close to the case have now informed us that the individual answered his bail a few days ago and was subjected to another day of questioning. He has allegedly been charged with ‘defrauding the music industry’, although the conspiracy element appears to have been dropped.

Earlier we reported that two more arrests were made of suspected pre-release music suppliers to DV8. One of those individuals was an executive at a record label. Our information is that this executive has now lost his job, but no charges have been brought against him.

during the last few weeks there have been further raids on people linked to the group.

One is reportedly a writer at a music publication, who allegedly supplied music to the leader of the group. We are told he was raided 2 weeks ago.

"We are happy to be working with the ISP community to raise awareness about inappropriate online activity," the company said. "The notice from NBCU that accompanies the ISP's letter includes a link through which consumers can learn about legitimate content online, and provides a number to call if consumers feel they have been contacted in error. We note, however, that virtually no users have contested the accuracy of the notices."

While Verizon has agreed to do little more than forward letters to customers accused of copyright violations, the partnerships signal a shift in the second largest phone company's approach to the copyright wars.

With the exception of a similar agreement struck with Disney in 2005, Verizon has declined to help with antipiracy efforts. In comparison, many of Verizon's competitors have issued the same kind of letters for a long time. Others, including Cox Communications, take much stronger measures in dealing with suspected file sharers, going as far as terminating service of chronic violators.

At this point there's only speculation but broadband companies have indicated they want greater access to premium TV shows and feature films.

"I've never seen anything like this," Hellerstein said, referring to the fabrication of evidence. He called Fairey's acknowledged wrongdoing a "serious transgression," but also said he wanted "this case to be decided on the merits."

The AP's attorneys said Hellerstein granted their request to question Fairey and his original attorneys about why he changed his story.

Fairey's new attorneys include Geoffrey Stewart of the Jones Day law firm and William Fisher III, director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, who is representing Fairey only in a personal capacity.

Dale M. Cendali, a lawyer for the news agency

She said the "fabrication goes to the heart of this case" and that "he should be sanctioned from being able to proceed with this case."

Hellerstein said he did not expect a delay in the proceedings and that a trial was possible by early summer. The next hearing was set for March 5.

Judge William Alsup struck what may be a death blow for Psystar by granting Apple’s motion for summary judgment while denying Psystar’s counterclaims.

Judge Alsup basically ruled that the OS X End User License Agreement (EULA), which prohibits the installation of the software on non-Apple hardware, is legal and means exactly what it says. It is just the latest in a long string of ruling upholding EULAs, sometimes called shrinkwrap or click-wrap licenses.

Judge Alsup sidestepped Psystar's claim that it was protected by the first sale doctrine, which generally gives the buyer of a protected work the right to resell it without the permission of, or any payment to, the copyright holder. The judge said first sale only applies to legal copies and that the way in which Psystar had modified the software to let it run on clones meant that the copies did not meet this standard. The judge rejected out of hand Psystar's claims that it made legal use of Apple's trademarks and that Apple has misued it copyrights.

A hearing on remedies is scheduled for Dec. 14.

There is also similar litigation pending in Florida, where Psystar is based.