The clampdown on illegal file sharing in Australia continues.
With the Australian Recording Industry Association still in court in a bid to make Sharman Networks liable for the copyright violation committed using their Kazaa software, the industry organisation's Music Industry Piracy Investigations unit has confirmed it raided a Perth based internet service provider called Swiftel Communications who were accused of enabling BitTorrent downloading.
Reports suggest the ISP, keen to avoid liability, handed over details of BitTorrent downloads that had been transferred via their networks. BitTorrent downloading, of course, transfers files in a special way, allowing the quicker transfer of large files.
It is particularly useful when transferring movies, hence why in the US it has been the film industry who have been most proactive in their attempts to stop BitTorrent file share systems on the net. However, in Australia, the MIPI says there may be further raids on companies seen to be supplying or enabling BitTorrent downloading.
Not that everyone in the music industry is against BitTorrent downloading.
Organisers of the aforementioned South By Southwest music convention in Texas are making a huge 2.6GB file featuring MP3s from some
750 bands who are performing at SxSW this year available as a BitTorrent download. The mega-file provides delegates with a 'soundtrack to the convention' which they can download onto their iPod before the event begins.