Canada court rules 'iPod levy' illegal

The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal has ruled that special levies applied to the sale of MP3 players, such as the iPod, are illegal. The court ruled that the Copyright Board of Canada did not have the legislative authority to introduce such charges, which were intended to counteract the 'harm' caused to writers and publishers by copying of digital content. Under Canada's Copyright Act - reports the Canadian Globe and Mail - such a levy has traditionally been applied to blank media, such as audio tapes or, more recently, recordable optical discs. ...more

Colombia criminalises DRM cracking

Colombia is the latest country to criminalise copyright violations and introduce stiff new penalties. President Alvaro Uribe has signed laws that increase both the maximum prison term, from five to eight years, and the minimum term from two to four years. The laws also introduce criminal sanctions for the violation of technological protection measures. ...more

Napster fingerprint detector

In an attempt to appease the judges, Napster is using audio recognition software to block illegal downloads. The audio filtering technology identifies music tracks by their audio fingerprint, rather than relying on identifying songs by a filename that can be easily altered. The company has licensed the software from audio specialists Relatable, whose TRM software can actually seek out song files by their waveform alone, even if the music file has been distorted. ...more

Newsagents to sell Napster top-up vouchers

Napster is to make 'top up' vouchers for its online music service available throughout UK newsagents. From 25 November, customers at shops owned by TM Retail - such as McColl's, Martin's, and Forbuoys - will be able to buy subscription time on Napster, or simply a set value to spend of track downloads. Blue vouchers offer two or four months' subscription at ?20 or ?40 respectively while bundles of 10, 22 and 33 downloads can be had for ?10, ?20 and ?30 respectively. ...more

Sticky tape - the future of data storage

A German researcher has discovered a way of storing information on a roll of humble sticky tape. Steffen Noethe of the European Media Lab in Heidelberg had the idea two years ago, one Friday the 13th, when he opened his desk drawer and saw a roll of tape. A laser beam is used to engrave a digital hologram on a roll of the Tesa brand of adhesive tape. ...more