The TorrentFreak blog has outed the RIAA and U.S. Department of Homeland Security as harboring downloaders of pirated songs by hip hop artists and crime-based TV shows, but the RIAA denies it.

TorrentFreak said it used the YouHaveDownloaded.com site to find instances of IP addresses within the RIAA and the DHS linked to downloads of copyrighted content from BitTorrent.

Six RIAA IP addresses were linked to downloads of music by Jay-Z ("American Gangster") and Kanye West ("My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"), as well as the first five seasons of "Dexter," a "… Read more

Google.org is spreading some end-of-the-year cheer to about four dozen nonprofits with $40 million in grants, including recipients that are fighting to eradicate slavery.

Many of the grant recipients are typical tech world targets, such as groups that encourage students to study math, science, technology and engineering; that help girls in developing countries get education; and that use innovative technology to help people in different ways.

But this time around Google is adding another target group -- modern-day slaves, such as forced laborers in African mines and sex trafficking in the U.S. -- a situation many people don'… Read more

Legal sparring between hosting site Megaupload and Universal Music Group has taken an interesting, if confounding, turn.

To summarize: Megaupload posted a promo video on YouTube a week ago featuring a raft of hip-hop stars. It was quickly removed after Universal Music Group (UMG) complained. Megaupload sued UMG on Monday and asked the court to bar UMG from blocking the distribution or display of the video. The video was back up on YouTube last night, but Megaupload vowed to continue the court case. (For the longer replay read "In SOPA's shadow, Megaupload strikes back against Universal.")

The … Read more

Sprint, which for weeks has defended its use of Carrier IQ software on mobile phones, is now disabling the software, a Sprint spokeswoman confirmed today.

"We have weighed customer concerns and we have disabled use of the tool so that diagnostic information and data is no longer being collected," spokeswoman Stephanie Vinge-Walsh said in a statement.

"We are further evaluating options regarding this diagnostic software as well as Sprint's diagnostic needs," the statement said. "At Sprint, we work hard to earn the trust of our customers and believe this course of action is in … Read more

While Congress debates the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a real-world copyright dispute has been unraveling with a major music conglomerate flexing its muscle against an online content hosting company based in Hong Kong.

Megaupload posted a promo video for its online hosting and file transfer service on YouTube on Friday, and Universal Music Group quickly had it removed for alleged copyright violation. The video features Kanye West, Puff Daddy, Snoop Dogg, Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige, and others voicing, and even singing, their praise for the service. UMG claimed some of the artists had not consented to appearing … Read more

Someone in the home of French President Nicholas Sarkozy, a strong proponent of anti-piracy legislation, has been using BitTorrent to download pirated versions of music and movies, according to a French blog.

An associate of the Nikopik Web site found IP addresses allocated to the Elysee Palace, Sarkozy's residence, on YouHaveDownloaded.com, a Russian-based site that tracks public downloads from BitTorrent.

It appears that copies of movies including "The Tower Heist," "Change-Up," and "Arthur Christmas," as well as the "The Beach Boys Greatest Hits" album were among six downloads linked to … Read more

Carrier IQ executives have been on a steep learning curve in recent weeks since controversy erupted over their software, which carriers use to diagnose network problems but critics say invades user privacy.

Carrier IQ says the software--used by AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile--doesn't record keystrokes or the content of text messages. But Android developer Trevor Eckhart, who first disclosed the privacy issues, insists otherwise, and complains that consumers don't know the software is there and haven't given permission for the data sharing. A video he released appears to show Carrier IQ doing things the company and … Read more

Twitter experienced sporadic outages this afternoon before being resolved a short time later. Some users reported error messages when trying to use the service, although TweetDeck--owned by Twitter--was still working.

Attempts to access Twitter in San Francisco resulted in a message that displayed the Fail Robot and stated: "Something is technically wrong. Thanks for noticing--we're going to fix it up and have things back to normal soon.

Others saw the Twitter Fail Whale and a message saying "Twitter is over capacity."

The site was accessible to visitors in other parts of the country, however.

Via email, … Read more

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating allegations that Carrier IQ software is being used by operators to track cell phone activity without user permission, The Washington Post reported today citing anonymous officials.

Andrew Coward, vice president of marketing at Carrier IQ, told CNET he could not say whether there was an official investigation or not but said he spent Monday and Tuesday in Washington, D.C., talking to officials from the FTC and the Federal Communications Commission and answering their questions.

"Investigation is probably too strong a word," he said. "We sought the meetings with … Read more